Chapter 96
An attendant entered behind Claude, who lay sprawled with his leg over the sofa’s armrest. As he opened the curtains and windows, the smoke that had filled the room gradually dispersed. Though the breeze was humid, it felt fresher than the room’s smell.
“Your Highness.”
Claude looked up with hazy eyes. The attendant, seemingly accustomed to this, handed him a glass of water. Claude gulped it down. Water droplets ran down his chin, soaking his clothes. Still not satisfied, he held out the glass again. The attendant poured more water, which he drank in one breath.
His eyes were hazy, whether from sleep or something else. Soon grimacing and clutching his head, Claude turned over and lay down again, closing his eyes.
“Your Highness, please come to your senses. You have visitors.”
The attendant said. Claude opened his eyes.
“Visitors?”
“Duke Woodpecker is waiting.”
“Did I make an appointment?”
Claude asked. Before the attendant could answer, the door opened. Both turned to look. Claude observed Yuls and Adi entering with the same grimacing expression.
“What rudeness is this, Yuls?”
“You’re the one being rude. Making me wait ten minutes.”
“I don’t remember making any appointment.”
“That doesn’t mean the promise disappears.”
That was true. But he really couldn’t remember. How much had he drunk yesterday? Perhaps what he ate was more the issue than what he drank. Still, it seemed he’d returned to his room quietly without causing other trouble. If not, the attendants would have had to drag him back.
Claude sat up. Yuls sat across from him. Unlike Claude, Yuls maintained an neat appearance and proper posture, with Adi standing behind him.
“I can give you time to wash up.”
Yuls said. Claude ignored Yuls’s words and smiled at Adi behind him.
“Pretty one, you’re wearing knight’s attire today.”
Unlike yesterday’s red dress, the knight’s uniform that concealed body lines and favored mobility gave an ascetic impression that proved rather stimulating. Clothes that covered the body – it was better than expected.
“Don’t be rude to my knight.”
“Do you always keep them close? I’m envious.”
“Your Highness should have another glass of water or tea. You still seem unable to think clearly.”
“I feel like a smoke would help clear my head.”
“Don’t smoke in front of me. It’s disgusting.”
Yuls said. This time Claude lowered his tail. With his dizziness and upset stomach, smoking would be too much. The attendant offered Claude tea and recommended some to Yuls as well. Yuls raised his hand in refusal, indicating he didn’t need any.
The tea seemed to bring some clarity, as Claude, who had been hunching over, leaned back and asked, “So what appointment did I make yesterday?”
Yuls frowned. What and how much had he consumed to lose his memory?
“After you left yesterday, various discussions were going around. Especially the Council of Elders seems to be planning something.”
“Ah, did I ask you to tell me about that? But what are they planning?”
Claude said, sprawling on the sofa again. A little more and he would be completely lying down.
“The Audit Bureau.”
Yuls said.
“They seem to think the audit authority lacks independence and neutrality. Since the Audit Bureau’s authority extends to occupational supervision from the start, there’s talk that it needs to be rationally controlled. And that Audit Bureau is…”
“Under my jurisdiction.”
Claude said this as he sat up. While subordinates would naturally engage in various suspicious activities, he hadn’t expected them to harbor antipathy toward the Audit Bureau. If so, couldn’t they just do well from the start without resorting to backdoor schemes? He couldn’t understand.
“And they say you’re abusing your pardoning power.”
Claude pointed to himself with his index finger. Abuse of pardoning power? While he might not know about other things, that didn’t apply. If they were going to slander him, they should at least make it plausible – why bring up something so unlikely—
“Especially regarding Count Grimaldi.”
“…Ah. I did do that.”
“There are many people unhappy about how strictly the Count acted when he was in the Privy Council. They say bills weren’t processed quickly because of him. Originally, once the committee reviewed and discussed something, it should move to the next stage, but they say he kept things pending in the Privy Council for long periods. They seem to want to make it automatic referral.”
“Automatic referral… Reducing the Privy Council’s role?”
“More your authority than the Privy Council itself.”
“Just mine? The King’s authority would decrease too, he won’t stay quiet.”
“The King won’t. But what about you?”
Claude closed his mouth. The current King wouldn’t be greatly affected. Even if the Privy Council’s authority was reduced, everything ultimately followed the King’s decision.
“The Council of Elders’ goal will be reducing your power. They won’t be able to handle you like this once you become King. You know many people don’t like you?”
“That’s why they’re approaching you.”
Before the Count killed him, there had been Luigi, but he was already gone from this world. Though they held a state funeral, even that was done simply in Palesa, so he had little presence in Ionad.
While nobles might joke and laugh about him being born in Palesa and dying there, none but Lady Connolly would mourn his death. Even Lord Connolly wouldn’t care.
Luigi had no attachment to Dalkatir to begin with. Yet he came here trying to claim a position – it made no sense.
Meanwhile, Yuls Woodpecker…
“It’s frustrating having such an impressive cousin.”
He had both power and popular support.
“No one in the Privy Council would have thought me impressive. The same goes for parliament and the Council of Elders, of course.”
“That’s because you were young then.”
“I only appeared young.”
“People judge by appearances. So the current you would work, right?”
Anyone could see he was striking now. Though his features resembled the witch’s prettiness, his build prevented any feminine impression. His red hair wasn’t the common carrot color but ruby crimson, and his eyes…
“I’m curious how many people will want to support you as King now.”
Exactly like the previous Duke’s. Though his expression was different, that color was similar.
The previous Duke had been born with notably light pigmentation. His white skin, light hair, and red eyes were so pale he was suspected of having albinism.
The man who always wore black clothes and a black hat due to light sensitivity could supposedly move freely only in that forest. The dense oak forest where sunlight barely reached. And there, they say, he met a red-haired woman whose hair matched his eye color.
“I don’t need any of that,” Yuls said.
“Why? It’s a position everyone wants.”
“That’s your thought because you want it. I like the South.”
“Even though you’re not of Southern blood.”
“I am of Southern blood. You know that well.”
“…Ah, right. The witch was from the South.”
In his youth, Claude had wondered: How could a witch and human reproduce?
“Well, as long as you have that forest, you won’t leave.”
What was a child born between a witch and human – witch or human?
“It’s been that way since old times.”
“Because it’s my territory.”
“It could mean more than that.”
The answer was easy to know.
Witches could only birth witches. All who came from witches were witches. In other words, they were a species that only produced female bodies using others’ seeds.
Claude smiled at the mutant before him, the witch’s son.
They say the previous Duke Woodpecker kept the witch who tried to leave for the forest. And for her, growing more heartbroken by the day, he built a greenhouse. He planted all the plants inside as if recreating the Woodpecker forest, giving the witch a place to rest.
It was like a beautiful fairy tale. Though it soon turned into a horror story.
In the thick forest, amid strange cries and continuing misfortunes, they say the witch became pregnant. And those ominous signs soon became reality.
“Well, shall we get to the real discussion? You didn’t come just for that, right?”
Because a male child was born.
“Right.”
A witch can only bear one child in their lifetime.
“The territorial lords want to move independently.”
One witch to carry on themselves, their name.
They say when Julius was born, the Duke was overjoyed but the witch could only despair. The witch called him human and abandoned him to humans. And before dying, they say she left a curse on the human who had brought her despair.
While the exact name of the curse was unknown, from that day Julius stopped growing.
“Independently?”
And in Palesa, the curse was broken.
“Our grandfather held powerful authority, but…”
Since then, Claude had constantly thought.
“The current King can’t do the same.”
If he could only know what broke the curse, he could control Julius.
