Chapter 38 :

Chapter 38

Ren, who came running in a fluster after hearing the commotion, found the Elder standing amid a swirling dust storm, his beard fluttering.

“Are you all right?”

“What would there be to not be all right about?”

At Ren’s worried question, the Elder calmly answered while brushing the dust off his beard.

“The outsider may truly be someone sent by the imperial family.”

Looking at Ren, who could not hide his anxiety, the old Elder silently smiled.

Thinking that such a thing probably would not happen.

At that calm appearance, Ren let out a sigh.

“I have served you for many years, but this time, I do not understand you in the slightest, Elder.”

“You speak as if you understood me even a little normally?”

“It took time, but yes. But right now.......”

After pausing for a moment, he looked around the ruined library.

“Ratel is still a child with many shortcomings. Entrusting a child who must be polished and refined for a long time to that person’s hands is.......”

Patting Ren’s shoulder as he could not continue speaking, the Elder opened his mouth.

“To temper a sword, one must go to a forge. No matter how much we, who are not craftsmen, strike it, the sword will only grow dull. If one makes a mistake, a famed sword may become a plowshare used to till a field.”

“Then do you think that old man is such an incredible craftsman?”

The Elder once again smiled without answering.

From their standpoint, even saying he was the only craftsman left would clearly only add to the worries of Ren, who already had many concerns, so the Elder swallowed his words.

Along with the fact that they no longer had much time left.

* * *

Anna moved her feet while being careful not to let the small cage shake.

The child, who had come somewhere other than the Seventh Prince’s palace for the first time, had to walk with force, hoping that her body, stiffened by the disciplined atmosphere that was not loose at all, would not drop the cage.

Anna glanced at the maid leading her ahead.

Even though they wore the same maid uniform, she was far too different from the older girls who were her colleagues in the Seventh Prince’s palace.

Having received the order that she only had to quietly deliver something to the Eighth Prince’s palace, she tightly gripped the handle of the cage, hoping she would not need to risk her life for this matter.

Anna had been pushed forward when it was said that the prince was calling for one employee with a heavy mouth.

Among the colleagues she worked with, Anna was the youngest, so she was often called for such tasks.

To slip away tactfully, she needed to be a little more diligent than others, but this time, there had been no hole to escape into.

On the day the Eighth Prince came, Anna fainted and could not finish the task assigned to her, and someone had to do more work than what was originally theirs.

“Anna has had it easy lately, so should she not go?”

Anna could not say anything to the colleagues who pushed her forward at the Seventh Prince’s summons.

Anna had no complaints about being called into this matter because her unavoidable negligence had become the pretext.

The people she worked with were not generous, but they were not bad people either.

She had no complaints about them demanding compensation for labor.

She only had anxiety.

Anna, who entered the Seventh Prince’s office while tightly clenching her trembling hands, did not miss the expression of Ran Abiran, which crumpled for a moment and then returned.

To Anna, who had become intimidated by that and deeply lowered her head, the prince spoke bluntly.

—Come to the office when the sun has fully set and the guards change shifts. There will be a cage on the desk. Take it and leave through the back door. Someone will be waiting, so follow them. Once you move the item, do not say anything and simply return.

Anna trembled, feeling as if she was going to get entangled in something serious, and could not even meet the prince’s eyes.

However, as a faithful employee, Anna barely opened her mouth.

—Th-then...should I let the others know that I am doing that?

At Anna’s question, she felt the prince silently look down at the top of her head.

—Tell them you have completely taken over the job of feeding the squirrel. It just so happens that feeding it every hour has become bothersome.

For someone saying that, you seem to carry a handful of acorns in your pocket every time.

Anna thought that, but because she was a child who knew when to keep her mouth shut, she only quietly nodded.

It also seemed as if there had been a little laughter mixed into the answer to her question.

* * *

When she faithfully went to the office after night had deepened, the cage placed on the desk was covered with black cloth.

Anna was curious about what was inside, but she did not have the courage to lift the cloth, so she carefully picked it up and moved her feet.

The one waiting at the back door was a woman wearing the same maid uniform as Anna.

Though she was far more mature, far more blunt, and far quieter.

She led the way silently, and Anna also followed silently.

However, when she headed toward the Eighth Prince’s palace, Anna could not stop her hands from trembling.

Anna felt as if the sky were collapsing, wondering if she had been sent because she had incurred the Eighth Prince’s wrath during the previous incident, but soon she reminded herself that she was merely one of the maids chosen at random and calmed herself down.

‘He said I just need to deliver this and leave.’

Then that is what it is.

The maid ahead did not care what Anna was thinking, so she guided the child to the stairs leading to the third floor without hesitation.

“I cannot follow you from here. Go up, touch nothing, and knock three times on the third door from the stairs. When His Highness the Eighth Prince comes out from inside, give that to him and come back down. This place is different from where you work, so you must not touch anything.”

Because Anna was far too tense, she was startled by the obvious fact that the woman could speak and could not answer, only nodding her head diligently.

The woman lowered her head expressionlessly and stood in front of the stairs without saying anything again, and Anna moved her heavy feet.

The child, who reached the front of the door, let out a small sigh, squeezed her eyes shut, and knocked on the door three times.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

I just need to quickly give this to him and leave. Anyway, the Eighth Prince would not even remember a face like mine!

If I lower my head deeply and give it to him, he will not know who I am.

The self-suggestion meant to calm herself did not last long.

Bang.

“Why are you so late!”

The door opened somewhat roughly, and from inside, along with a loud complaint, which felt like a shout to Anna, the Eighth Prince burst out with bloodshot eyes.

He looked at the cage, then slowly raised his gaze toward Anna, who was holding it.

“I-I was told to deliver this to you.”

Anna, who had chewed her words again, held out the cage.

The Eighth Prince’s eyebrows crumpled sharply.

He tilted his head as if recalling something.

“You.......”

Hic.

Self-suggestion was utterly useless.

The Eighth Prince she saw again was still huge and still terrifying. He even seemed to have recognized her.

Minimum, a beating. Maximum, death.

It was the moment just before Anna’s legs, which had started hiccupping from fear, were about to give out.

“Squeak!”

The black cloth covering the small iron cage was lifted, and a small brown furball quickly sprang out.

Then it struck the Eighth Prince’s shoulder and ran straight into the room.

“Hey, you bastard! Stop right there?!”

At that reckless movement, Celos Abiran’s gaze left Anna and turned into the room.

“Damn it. You, get lost quickly.”

The Eighth Prince roughly muttered to Anna and turned around irritably.

“E-excuse me.”

Anna creaked as she pushed the cage into the room and hurriedly closed the door.

Then she walked out of the corridor without looking back.

The maid was still standing there as she had been.

While being guided by her and returning to the Seventh Prince’s palace, Anna calmed her pounding heart.

Once her heart rate returned to normal, what the child had just seen with her own eyes began to enter her head properly.

The thing that had rushed into the Eighth Prince’s room.

That was definitely a squirrel, right?

Why is the squirrel the Seventh Prince was raising going into the Eighth Prince’s room?

Anna moved her feet quickly without coming up with an answer.

It was a night filled only with confusion for Anna.

* * *

It must have arrived by now.

After sending Anna out, peace came to Celos’ room.

Celos Abiran, who had been running here and there to catch me, was sitting on the bed and glaring at me after I became calm.

I stood by the window and examined the scenery outside.

Because I had transformed into a squirrel, my field of vision had become much lower, but it was not insufficient to see the beautiful scenery different from the Seventh Prince’s palace.

Unlike the uneven and empty Seventh Prince’s palace, the scenery created by various carefully calculated trees and plants was softly illuminated by the three moons floating high above.

The beautiful Empress’ palace visible far away also showed, unlike the Seventh Prince’s palace, that thought had been put into its landscaping.

From the position of someone who had come to ruin this peaceful space, it was quite a regretful sight.

The infiltration into the Eighth Prince’s palace had gone according to plan, and smoothly.

Though Anna’s appearance had been a little unexpected.

She had tried in her own way to suppress it, but the trembling vibration was transmitted through the cage, shaking even my body as a squirrel.

This is a problem, since she may have to move me a few more times in the future.

“Damn it, you cursed squirrel. You take after your owner, so you damn well do not listen.”

What broke my idle thoughts was Celos Abiran’s muttering, as if he was worried I might run away again.

That is not something to say to someone who came to help you.

When I turned my gaze toward him, the guy flinched, then soon frowned sharply as if he did not understand why he had done that himself.

“That annoying Seventh Prince bastard. It had better really work. If there is anything you can do, do your very best to protect me, got it?”

Seeing the Eighth Prince arrogantly point at me, I felt my desire to help him disappear.

Though helping him had not originally taken up even ten percent of this matter’s goal, I still felt bad.

By the way, this bastard, when he is alone, seems to call me the Seventh Prince bastard?

I resolved that the next time I saw him person to person, I would make him repeat “elder brother” ten times.

Clack.

At that moment, the sound of someone grasping the locked room’s doorknob was heard.

The blood drained from Celos Abiran’s face.

He tightly hugged the useless sword to his chest and pressed his back against the bedhead.

Clack.

Clack. Clack.

Clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack.

The sound of the handle rattling madly continued.

“Hey, hey! Hurry and go block it. Hurry!”

Along with it was the Eighth Prince’s frightened, noisy urging.

I quickly approached the door.

Outside, as seen through the keyhole, he was there again today.

Ego Crisa, clad in scraps of rags.

What a relief.

I had been worried that he might no longer come after our last encounter.

“Huh? Huuuh? What are you doing right now?! You said you would stop it from coming in!”

The flustered Celos pressed me.

When did I?

I said it might drive away things that were not alive.

Leaving behind the Eighth Prince’s scream of horror, I kicked the lock on the locked doorknob open with my hind leg.

Was there not a saying that, to catch a tiger, one must enter the tiger’s den?

In this case, even if one said I had invited the tiger into the house, I would have nothing to say.

The door opened, and Ego Crisa slowly stepped into Celos’ room.

For a moment, I thought I heard the sound of Celos Abiran fainting and losing his breath.