Shadowless Night

“Rosaline. I believe that people can become strong for the sake of precious things.”

Ricardis’ thumb rubbed her wrist bone.

“Rosaline.”

“… Yes.”

“Rosaline Esther.”

“Yes.”

“The Radwiell’s Rosaline Esther.”

“Yes.”

“The sharpest and brightest.”

It was familiar. Rosaline recalled the sense of deja vu. It was the mouthwatering phrase she said to the emperor when she won the martial arts tournament. Rosaline looked up slowly. Her gaze, freed from the necklace of Haqab, contained something brighter than that.

“My sword.”

Ricardis smiled. Rosaline stared blankly at him before opening her mouth.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Ricardis gripped the hand he was holding tighter. It didn’t hurt, but it was very tight. Rosaline did not resist and moved her hand according to his strength. The outstretched hand gradually curled up. Haqab’s necklace in her hand began to disappear.

“Be strong for me.”

Rosaline’s hand completely took on the appearance of grabbing something. The necklace that had confused her mind with its brilliant gold color was no longer in sight. The man, who seemed fragile enough to break, seemed to have thrown off a layer of something. Even though the hand he was holding was shaking, he never shook. His manner of speaking was friendly and gentle but never soft.

“I will be strong for you.”

Ricardis’ words swelled her resolve, which had been crouching small. The melancholy that had filled Rosaline came out in the form of tears. Her eyes were slightly wet.

Even the thought of losing Ricardis struck her with fear. That was the reason for the conflict over Haqab’s proposal. It was an emotion beyond her control.

Learning from the past ‘Rosaline’, the emotions burned the inside of her heart, melting as if pouring hot molten iron into each cut. Her instincts realized before her foolish thinking that she could not endure it twice. She had decided to turn down the offer, but she didn’t know why she kept Haqab’s necklace within reach and in a position where she could retrieve it at any time.

It’s like…

A strange noise came from her hand. It was a scream when metal rubbed against each other under intense pressure. Ricardis felt Rosaline’s hand tremble in his grasp, but he could see that the tremors weren’t from her confusion. Bones stood out in her clenched fist. The trinkets that used to fit into each other’s gaps were condensed to the limit.

Thang!

A rupture sound like metal falling on a pile of metal hit the space like a wave and then disappeared. It was a powerful sound that caused tinnitus in one’s ears. The remains of the necklace fell from her hand. Half-wrinkled pendants and accessories fell one by one, glittering in the red sunset through the gaps in the curtains.

Rosaline said, clenching her fist, looking at him, “Yes, Your Highness.”

***

As soon as he opened the door, Calyx was silently applied by the sight he saw. A naked man was wandering around the room. What kind of crazy situation was this? Calyx quickly went in and locked the door, afraid of anyone watching.

A feeling of skepticism hung over Calyx’s face as he suddenly pondered at himself rushing to be alone with a naked man. His mind was restless.

The gray-haired man, who was as tall as Raymond, wandered around peacefully, found the wine cabinet, and immediately exclaimed brightly, “Oh, there’s a lot that looks expensive.”

The man took out a bottle without the owner’s permission. Calyx didn’t know how the man knew, but it was the most expensive wine on display in the wine cellar.

The man clapped the neck of the bottle with the blade of his hand. The top part fell off with a sharp cross-section as if it had been cut with a blade. Perhaps worried about the glass pieces going in, the man blew the cut section, inhaled the wine, and made a loud, old-man-like sound.

Even though his favorite wine decreased in real time, Calyx didn’t say a word because it was ridiculous.

“… Macaron. When did you come?”

“A moment ago. Let’s go quickly.”

Macaron sat cross-legged on the sofa. He looked comfortable, but Calyx didn’t like it because the center part of his body was especially noticeable as he was naked.

“Would you like some…clothes?”

Calyx’s desperate wish was thwarted by Macaron, who answered, “No, I’m lazy. I’m about to fly soon.” Calyx honestly didn’t want to see it, so he said as he walked to the table, ignoring him as much as possible.

“You came just in time. The item from last time has arrived.”

He rummaged through the drawers and carefully placed the leather-wrapped items on the table. Macaron roughly tossed the wine bottle on the sofa and picked it up.

“Oh, really?”

Calyx looked at the red marks on the sofa in vain and answered, “… Yes, it’s ‘Fragments’.”

It was the weapon used by the assassins of the Black Moon during the hunting competition and had been shown to Rosaline before. The evidence obtained through the cooperation of Count Drywood was kept in the castle within the Radwiell estate.

A few weeks ago, Macaron asked if there was any way to get the ‘Fragments’. He had just returned from the mission with the greatest risk of encountering ‘Fragments’, so why had he asked for it only now? That question was quickly resolved because another danger had come to the imperial castle: the delegation of Balta.