“No one… no one could have imagined something like this would happen.”
The thought of being unaware of such a horrific event filled her with guilt. She was one of the many who had believed without a shred of doubt that the previous Grand Duke had been at fault. That realization weighed heavily on her conscience. And of course, Kurthu wasn’t the only one shocked by this wretched past. Tiaki, who had been listening in a daze, was visibly appalled, lost for words, and Prince Ressas stood with his eyes cast downward, his face drained of all color.
Still trembling, Kurthu instinctively glanced at Ressas’s face. His sorrow was different from that of the Grand Duke. His long eyelashes quivered, hiding his deep purple eyes that seemed sunken into shadow, making it impossible to read exactly what he was feeling.
Was it guilt because his mother, Queen Leana, had been involved in all of this? From the memories Kurthu glimpsed in Jasper’s mind, the Queen had been manipulated by some unknown force—perhaps Mental Indoctrination—so it was hard to place full blame on her.
“Is your ability truly without a trace of falsehood?”
Just as Kurthu was lost in thought, the Grand Duke, who had remained silent with a grim expression, finally spoke. She quickly turned away from Ressas to study the Grand Duke’s demeanor. His face had returned to its cold, indifferent expression, as if the earlier moment of vulnerability had been nothing but a lie. He appeared so utterly frigid that Kurthu began to question whether she had truly felt his emotions before.
Yet from the hand gripping her arm—firm and fierce—the same surge of emotion still flowed into her. The searing pain that seemed enough to melt her insides was pouring from him. While Tither were unable to use their powers to influence each other directly, meaning she couldn’t read his thoughts or memories, the emotions she felt were undeniably his.
Why won’t this man let his sorrow show?
If it had been her, she would have gone mad right there. Even though she had grown up without parents, if her Nana—the one who raised her—had died so unjustly, she would have lost her mind. Even to her, someone who had known nothing of this, it was a horrifying tale. Yet the Grand Duke had composed himself with terrifying swiftness.
“I only read what’s etched into memory. I’m not clever enough to make up lies while watching them…”
She responded while looking at the Grand Duke with a mix of confusion and sympathy—but before she could finish, blood started pouring from Kurthu’s nose. Like rain, it dripped down before gushing forth. Though she had used a Guide’s purification to push past her usual limits, she had evidently overextended herself. Her body couldn’t handle the strain. She casually wiped the blood away, but it showed no sign of stopping.
“Lower your head.”
The Grand Duke’s voice was curt and barren. As Kurthu obediently tilted her head down, his large, firm hand released her arm and pinched her nose. Unlike the forceful grip he had held her with before, his fingers now pressed with measured pressure. Slowly, the bleeding began to stop.
From the thumb and forefinger pressing gently against the bridge of her nose, she caught the scent of snow melting in sunlight. The feeling was strange. It had been a long time since anyone had tended to her side effects like this. In Desertus, such things were brushed aside—everyone was expected to handle themselves. For someone like the Grand Duke to care about her trivial injury…
“For now, none of you are to speak of this matter. It seems everyone who could have known about what happened back then is either dead or in that wretched state, so return and await my instructions.”
After confirming that her bleeding had stopped, the Grand Duke withdrew his hand and addressed Tiaki. Tiaki, who had seemed at a loss for words until then, finally opened his mouth.
“…Your Grace, are you all right? I truly… I’m sorry.”
“It’s already in the past.”
The Grand Duke’s reply was cold. Without so much as a glance at Prince Ressas, he let his gaze linger on Jasper, who stood there in a daze. Though he hadn’t been able to recall the memories on his own, the shock of having everything he believed turned upside down was plainly written on his face. The Grand Duke looked at Jasper—ashen-faced and trembling—for a moment before turning his back and speaking to the prince.
“He’s your knight, so deal with him as you see fit. Though he wasn’t involved in the crime, I don’t believe he’ll be of much help in his current state.”
“I’ll do as Your Grace wishes.”
At last, Prince Ressas spoke, as if he’d been waiting for the Grand Duke’s permission. The Grand Duke tightened his lips at those words, his gaze falling on the prince. Beneath his blank expression, there flickered a hint of veiled anger and resentment. Then a sneer crept into his voice.
“Your Highness is incapable of granting me anything I truly desire.”
With those words, the Grand Duke wiped all emotion from his face, gave a short nod, and turned.
“You should go back for today.”
He didn’t seem to want to exchange another word. With a chilling air, the Grand Duke turned his back to the prince and exited the room first. Tiaki, unsure whether one should treat royalty like that, furrowed his brow in clear discomfort. Jasper looked stricken with fear. As Kurthu silently watched the scene unfold, Prince Ressas turned back to them.
His face, once twisted in anguish, regained a measure of calm. Speaking softly, his voice flickered like a candle on the verge of extinguishing.
“If it’s all right, could you accompany Jasper back near the palace? He’s not looking well. I think it’d be best for him to rest. I’ll compensate you appropriately for escorting him.”
“It’s not a difficult task, so I’ll do it.”
“Thank you.”
With that, Ressas looked to Kurthu and offered a faint smile with sunken eyes.
“You’ve suffered a lot—your body’s in rough shape. Since you’ve gone through so much, if we meet again, let me perform a purification for you. As long as I’m alive, I’ll offer you my aid.”
Then he reached out. Like before, his hand didn’t quite touch her but stopped near her forehead, emanating a cool, calming energy. The turbulent waves within her began to settle, gradually flowing like a tranquil river.
“And Jasper, whether you return or not is up to you. But I hope that after all this, now that you know the northern houses aren’t what you thought they were, you’ll carry yourself with a little more humility.”
Prince Ressas, having withdrawn his hand, issued one final order to Jasper. Jasper, who had been listening in a daze, raised his head and asked in a confused tone.
“But… my lord… I don’t understand. Why would one Tither do something like that to another? I don’t even remember it myself. Isn’t it possible that she read a lie with her twisted power? Otherwise, how could something so unbelievable…”
It seemed he couldn’t bring himself to believe a memory he couldn’t recall, even if it had happened to him. Ressas turned slightly toward the path the Grand Duke had taken. That quiet, subdued smile he had shown Kurthu still hung faintly on his lips. Then, after a brief silence, he offered just a single line.
“People don’t move by logic alone.”
And before anyone could question him further, he followed the Grand Duke’s trail and left the room.
…Huh?
Something about the prince’s demeanor struck Kurthu as strange. Despite his face being paler and more stricken with sorrow than even the Grand Duke’s, he hadn’t seemed particularly surprised by Jasper’s question. Kurthu tilted her head in confusion and locked eyes with Tiaki. He, too, seemed overwhelmed by the complexity of the situation, letting out a sigh as he clutched his head for a moment. Then, with a still-hazy look in his eyes, he stepped up to the dazed Jasper.
“Not wanting to accept it doesn’t change the truth. So stop standing there like an idiot and start thinking about how you’re going to survive. Judging by the way the House of Shildras has treated you, it looks like they’ve kept you around for exactly this reason. If you start acting like you know something, don’t you think they’ll kill you?”
Exactly. Kurthu was impressed by Tiaki’s analysis. Jasper, his face drained of all color, asked Tiaki in a trembling voice:
“D-Do you think… the Duke of Shildras knows about this?”
“Who knows?”
Tiaki’s expression turned grave.
“You can’t judge the truth just by what’s on the surface.”
At that, Kurthu recalled the Grand Duke’s face. Then came the flood of rumors surrounding him. She had once firmly believed those stories—that he was a devil who summoned ghosts—and felt ashamed of herself. Absentmindedly, she rubbed the bridge of her nose where he had touched her earlier.
***
Seiyad crossed the desolate halls of the estate in silence. He had no idea where he was going, his feet treading over a dust-covered carpet laid across the worn marble floor. His footsteps echoed into the emptiness—thud, thud—like the weightless sound of bone dust scattering into the air.
The past, when he had guarded this empty estate alone, overlapped with the present. He had once passed countless days swallowed in darkness, surrounded by nothing but pitch-black void. In his dreams, he would sometimes recall the days when his mother had still been alive.
And when he did, foolish lingering hopes would bubble up. If only his mother had lived. If only his father hadn’t taken his own life. If only Cecilia hadn’t left him. What would this place be like?
Though he knew imagining what could never be was pointless, there had been a time when his heart had acted on its own. Seiyad had always hated the pain that came with such thoughts. He hated knowing that no matter how much he imagined and grieved, nothing would ever change.
And even now, it was no different.
His mother was already dead. His father had long ago cast himself into a sea of sorrow. The dead do not return. There was no reason to mourn them any longer. What he needed to focus on was that his mother’s testimony had been true—and that the former Duke of Shildras had conspired with someone to orchestrate a plot. He had to uncover what purpose had driven them to such ends.
“Grand Duke.”
In the memory Kurthu had read from Jasper, there had been someone else besides the former Duke of Shildras. If that person had the ability to tamper with memories, it meant a hidden Tither existed, one not officially known.
Seiyad’s thoughts turned to Nir’a, the being his mother, Jasper, and other boys had seen. The very idea was disturbing. That a Nir’a appeared during the day was shocking enough—but it even acted with cunning intelligence, as if it were obeying the will of Shildras and that mysterious entity.
There were too many troubling details. One man had claimed that if Shildras achieved his goal, all life on this land would be extinguished. If that were true, then Shildras wasn’t doing this for mere political gain.
“Grand Duke, please wait.”
Why? Why had the Duke of Shildras killed his mother in such a way?
“Just a moment—just a short moment is all I ask.”
Why? After all the time they had leaned on each other and fought side by side? More than anything, they had borne the duty to kill the “monsters.” Even if they harbored resentment toward one another, comrades who shared that burden should never have turned on each other.
No matter how hard he searched, there was no reason. No justification that could explain the Duke’s actions.
“Eid.”
His body, which had been walking forward without pause, was caught by a hand that reached out and stopped him. The stubborn steps came to a halt. Seiyad immediately reacted with a sharp, fierce motion and slapped the hand away. A loud, painful sound rang out in the air. As the sound of skin on skin echoed, he saw Ressas standing behind him, the rejected hand lowered. With thick brows twisted in anguish and a face full of grief, Ressas gazed down at Seiyad.
And when Seiyad saw that face, something unexpected surged inside him. The emotions he had kept buried even after learning the horrific truth—emotions so violent he could cough up blood—finally erupted.
“Don’t touch me with those hands.”
The thought that the same hands that had once comforted Shildras had now touched him filled him with an unbearable, sickening disgust.
