Chapter 14
Adi could sense that this felt like a meaningful situation. Though she hadn’t committed any crime, she felt her body instinctively shrinking back.
Yuls’ eyes moved from Adi’s face to her hand. Seeming to realize Adi was holding something, his gaze remained fixed. Adi opened her hand.
“A butterfly.”
As she opened her palm, a pure white butterfly sat still. Its wings and antennae quivered slightly.
Yuls reached out his hand. The butterfly alighted on it. As Adi watched the butterfly crawl across Yuls’ fingers, seemingly unafraid of humans, she noticed that Yuls’ hands were larger than she’d expected.
Yuls got up and tossed the butterfly out the window. Then he casually returned to the sofa. He paid no attention to Adi’s presence. His expression seemed to ask why Adi was standing there blocking the way.
Adi stepped back.
“I heard you were working all night.”
“That’s right.”
“If there’s anything I can do to help…”
“Your help is…”
Yuls was about to say he didn’t need it, but he looked at the mountain of gift lists piled in front of him. If just the lists were like this, he couldn’t imagine how long it would take to actually find the item.
One week. He’d waited ten years, so surely waiting one week shouldn’t be difficult. But perhaps because the time given was so specific, it felt even longer.
“Those documents in front of you are gift lists.”
At Yuls’ words, Adi looked at the papers on the table.
“If you see anything strange, peculiar, or that catches your attention, let me know.”
Adi began to leaf through the documents. Strange or peculiar things.
Unicorn horn, mermaid’s hand, three-clawed deer hoof, starfish from the Northern Continent, coral from the edge of the Eastern Continent, elf hair…
“Which of these should I mention?”
Pottery from the Eastern Continent, an automaton that moves without magic, the first painting said to be drawn by a dwarf, a stuffed gargoyle from Genuu, ogre teeth, a single gallstone taken from the stomach of someone with abdominal pain, a collection of scorpions preserved in alcohol…
“Whatever you find strange.”
Most of the items on the gift list were like that. Adi wondered if she was supposed to pick out things that were especially strange or peculiar, but she didn’t dare to ask and simply replied, “Yes.”
After that, there was only the sound of turning pages. Some weren’t paper but parchment, making a heavier sound.
While guarding the Duke, Adi had only seen gifts being brought into the reception room once. Even that was a gift brought by a lady who was a close relative of the Duke. But the list contained many more names and gifts. As if they had gone straight to storage without even entering the reception room.
Yuls looked up. His expression was somewhat dissatisfied. Finally, he called out, “Adrian.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“Sit down while you work.”
“Yes.”
Adi sat down across from the Duke. She took off her sword so she could draw it quickly if needed, placing it beside her seat.
Among the gifts, jewels seemed to be the most common. Some people sent artwork. Usually, daughters of noble families would have an appreciation for art or music, but Adi hadn’t received such education and didn’t know if these were valuable or not.
Count Grimaldi had no interest in culture or arts. Originally, culture and arts only flourished in recent times; in the past, people were busy with wars and witch hunts. There were also many books on the gift list, but Adi couldn’t tell which ones were valuable. Was what they were looking for really among these?
“Your Grace.”
“What is it?”
“Does something like an orc head hunting trophy count?”
“……”
Judging by his expression, it seemed not. Whoever gave a monster’s severed head as a decoration for a gift must have terrible taste.
Besides, aren’t these things hard to see these days? Of course, you might occasionally see them near forests or border areas, or places not cultivated by humans, but it had been a long time since humans and monsters lived in separate worlds.
If monsters attacked humans and caused harm, humans would wage war against them, but they wouldn’t hunt other humans.
Quite some time seemed to have passed. The list showed no signs of diminishing. The Duke’s expression was serious. Even though he looked like a child, his face was full of worldly contemplation as he stared at the documents.
Whatever he was looking for, it was clearly necessary and important to the Duke. But Adi couldn’t understand why he hadn’t kept it separate from the beginning when he received the gifts, instead of searching for it belatedly.
The document Adi picked up this time only listed gold coins and jewels, so she skimmed through it quickly. Yuls looked up at Adi, but Adi didn’t notice.
More time passed, and the sound of the door opening was heard. At the intrusive sound, Adi grabbed her sword.
It was a servant Adi recognized. The servant gave a puzzled look at Adi, who was holding a sword in one hand and documents in the other, then bowed slightly before leaving again.
Faced with this confusing behavior, Adi didn’t know what to do, but the Duke told her to sit down and continue examining the documents. Adi sat back down.
Soon, the reception room door opened again. It was the servant. Pushing a trolley, he set down teacups and snacks on the table where the Duke was sitting. Then he offered a teacup to Adi. The empty cup felt warm to the touch.
Adi watched the tea being poured in an elegant stream, then picked up the cup. She took a sip, set the cup down, and looked back at the documents.
The Duke and the servant gave Adi a strange look. It seemed they hadn’t expected him to drink first. After turning about three pages, Adi spoke.
“There’s no poison.”
“……”
It seemed he had been checking how long it would take for poison to affect him.
“Of course not. He’s my servant.”
Yuls said. Although assassination threats were common, they had decreased lately, and there was no chance his own chosen servant would attempt to poison him.
The people Yuls brought along looked like ordinary servants, but among them were a healing mage, an assassin, and a secret knight disguised as a servant. There was only one proper servant.
If anything, Adrian Grimaldi was more dangerous here than the servants. That’s why the servant hadn’t left and was standing guard in the back.
“Does the Grimaldi heir also taste for poison?”
“My job is to guard you.”
That may be true, but if it came to protecting Yuls from the threat of poisoning, that servant would be more excellent than Adi Grimaldi.
No matter how he thought about it, it was strange. Had he not received proper education from his family, using the curse as an excuse? The more time he spent with him, the more peculiar his behavior seemed. He had heard Adi was Palesa’s dog, so he expected him to be a cunning fox like Spencer Grimaldi… But this, well, he seemed excessively loyal. And this was just for a guard assignment that would last at most a season.
Perhaps because of this, Yuls felt a strange curiosity. However, he didn’t want to ask directly about Adrian. Thinking of what to bring up, Yuls suddenly said, “Your sister.”
“Pardon?”
“Tell me about your twin sister.”
“……”
“I’m just curious.”
At Yuls’ words, Adi was at a loss for what to say. Yuls had expected her to ask what he was curious about or why he was asking such a thing, but instead, Adi just gaped with a stupid expression, looking like someone who truly hadn’t received proper education.
Spencer wouldn’t have raised his son like that, so Yuls began to suspect that this might be a fabricated persona.
“What would you like to know?”
“The end of someone who died cursed.”
“Why…?”
“I wonder if that’s how I’ll end up when I die.”
Adi blinked at the unexpected answer.
Death seemed somewhat distant from the Duke. They say people of high status always feel threats to their lives, but why did it feel like this didn’t apply to men? It wasn’t simply because he was young. There was just something odd about this man. He was actually someone who time seemed to pass by.
“There were many who were cursed. Their deaths are also recorded.”
“But there are no records of a curse like mine.”
“……”
“Well, I suppose curses wouldn’t matter to you.”
“I too am cursed, according to what they say.”
“But you survived.”
“You survived too, Your Grace.”
Yuls laughed at Adi’s words. The weight of survival might be different, but yes. They both survived the curse. At least they hadn’t died yet.
Yuls told Adi to say anything and turned her attention back to the documents. Say what… Adi was flustered. Stories about herself? Or about Adrian? The two sets of memories seemed to mix together.
Was it because they were twins? Sometimes she had memories that seemed to be from Adrian’s perspective rather than her own. The long blonde hair had been her, but strangely, she felt like she had seen that image from someone else’s point of view. As if the dead Adi’s memories remained in his mind.
“Death is…”
Right, he had asked if that’s what happens when you die.
“It seems fair to everyone.”
She remembered the blue-tinged Adrian. And the fine golden hair covering him. Had that image felt like herself?
“She just suffered for a long time, and died like that. She was weak from birth.”
“I heard that you were the one born weak.”
Yuls said. His expression seemed to be probing, as if wondering if he had been misinformed.
“That’s why everyone blamed your sister, I hear.”
“…Yes, that’s right. But it was my twin who suffered for a long time and died.”
“Did you feel guilty?”
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I’m not sure.”
Guilt? Why should she feel guilty? Adrina had never once felt guilt. People said that her existence had cursed Adrian, but Adrian had never said that. Adrian…
“My memories of Grimaldi are hazy. They’re so blurry that I wonder if such a place really existed.”
He said he was glad I was there.
“Except for winter.”
