novelraw Chapter 83 : Chapter 83
Chapter 83 : Chapter 83
Chapter 83: If There Is an Answer in This World (1)
A few days later, in the basement of the Orléans family villa.
Osmond tilted his gaze. The surroundings were bleak. At most, a table, two chairs, and a pen and paper. The space, set up for an interrogation, was filled with dampness.
Was it raining? Raising his head, Osmond wondered. It seemed so. The rain clouds that had soaked the Saint-Pierre estate must have reached the capital. The distance from the North to the capital must be far, but did they still have so many raindrops to pour?
“Osmond Epanoui.”
Suddenly, Iris opened her mouth.
Iris was sitting opposite Osmond.
Even so, he didn't know. Osmond didn't know Iris’s name, nor did he know anything about the Orléans family. He just stared straight ahead.
“I received the data you provided. It was all encrypted. I’ve only deciphered the beginning, but it will be a great help in understanding the Parousia Denomination.”
“It's Lady Fleur’s legacy. Please cherish it.”
Iris didn't say anything.
She just swallowed the cigarette smoke.
“What are you going to do now?”
Osmond asked. In a small voice.
“Are you going to let me live? Or kill me?”
“You ask as if you don’t care either way.”
Iris shrugged her shoulders.
“You slaughtered the members of the Saint-Pierre family. You have quite a useful skill. Rather than charging you with murder, I plan to ask you a different question.”
Would you not follow the Orléans family, she said.
Iris whispered to Osmond.
“Abel told me. That you would be quite useful. I was just in need of a spy. If you follow me, I will conceal all your crimes. I have the power to do so.”
“What’s a spy?”
“It means one who observes and reports on the situation.”
“Where do I go, and what do I report?”
“It’s fine wherever you go. It’s fine whatever you report. The equipment and travel expenses will be provided by the Orléans family. I want the trends of the entire world.”
“Is that really what you call spying? It sounds like you’re just letting me go free?”
“You have a lot of questions. It's like watching a child.”
“I'm sorry. Was that a bit much?”
Osmond didn't smile.
He had never smiled in the first place. He had only had convulsions.
It was because of the drugs that Deserick had injected. The drugs, which had an analgesic effect, remained in his body, but their original efficacy had disappeared, leaving only side effects. From time to time, his facial muscles would twist, and he would make a laughing sound.
Laughed, laughed, and laughed. Everyone was like that. The fairy children who died at the hands of the Saint-Pierre family all laughed without exception. Innocent children died, forced to laugh. Because the fairies in the fairy tales were always supposed to be smiling.
“The evil deeds of the Saint-Pierre family and the Arcturus family, including Deserick de Saint-Pierre, will be gradually announced.”
Revealing the truth required time and order.
It was because it was too gruesome. The number of bones buried beneath Saint-Pierre Castle could not be counted. Countless knights had their corpses desecrated against their will, and children who should never have died had passed away. In the first place, not all the circumstances had been revealed. The Zylon family was just conducting an investigation.
“……It’s regrettable.”
Iris let out a sigh.
The content of the newspaper article published just today was dire.
The members of the Saint-Pierre and Arcturus families who attended the banquet, including the head of the family, Deserick de Saint-Pierre, and the evangelist, Fleur de Saint-Pierre, were all massacred. By a mysterious murderer and the forces of the apostates who supported him.
That was all.
“If there is one thing I wish for……”
Iris whispered quietly.
“I hope you will never be caught.”
“Hey, you know.”
Osmond raised his head.
“I'm sorry for asking so many questions, but can I ask one more thing?”
Iris approved with silence.
She propped her chin on her hand and observed Osmond. A man with one arm and one leg made of bone. The body revealed beyond the black armor was at first glance gruesome. To the extent that his fairy-like, youthful face felt rather creepy.
That was why.
Osmond asked as one of the fairy children.
“……Do I have the right to survive?”
“I don't know.”
Iris stood up.
“I cannot answer that question. So……”
Creak.
The sound of a door opening.
“……Why don't you ask this child?”
Osmond’s eyes trembled slightly.
The closed door opened, and Monika appeared.
It seemed she had come in the rain. Monika’s school uniform was soaking wet.
“Thank you, Your Highness. For calling me.”
“That’s enough. Please talk comfortably.”
Monika bowed her head, and Iris turned her back on Osmond.
The sound of Iris’s footsteps grew distant. And so, only the two of them were left.
Monika and Osmond met their gazes. After a very brief silence, Monika sat down opposite Osmond.
“Fleur will be arriving in the capital soon.”
Osmond heard about the recent events.
The Saint-Pierre estate was abandoned. It would become a Papal State until a new lord was appointed. The bodies found at the banquet hall would be buried in a cemetery belonging to the Saint-Pierre estate, but it was decided that only Fleur would be buried in the capital. This was Monika’s wish, and Abel’s measure. Under the pretext of honoring her achievements as an evangelist.
This was Abel and Monika’s wish. She would be interred in the national cemetery under the pretext of being an evangelist.
Because she wouldn't want it.
Fleur, to be buried with the members of her family.
“The clerics have agreed to transport the coffin.”
Will you come with me?
You should see Fleur off.
To Monika’s suggestion, Osmond,
“……I don't have the right to do that.”
shook his head and refused.
“The sensation of piercing her heart is still vivid. No matter what, I killed her with my own hands. Lady Fleur told me not to feel guilty, but……, I can’t.”
I'm not ready yet.
I don’t have the courage to face her.
Osmond muttered so.
“What about you, Monika? Do you think I have the right?”
To Osmond’s question, Monika lowered her head.
“You wanted Lady Fleur to survive, Monika. That’s why you helped us. But only I survived. I'm so sorry. It would have been better if Lady Fleur had survived instead of me……”
“……Osmond Epanoui.”
Monika swallowed hard.
She extended her hand and picked up the pen and paper.
“You should follow Her Highness Orléans. You must become a spy and roam the world freely. Look around for a reason to live. Fleur would want that.”
Letters were written on the paper.
In clumsy handwriting, Monika wrote down an address.
“I heard from Teacher Abel. That you were an abandoned disabled child in the North. That Fleur saved you when you were about to be killed by the marquis. Please don't question your life. I'm glad that you survived. You also inherited the surname of Epanoui.”
So please tell me, she said.
Holding out the piece of paper, Monika spoke.
“Please tell me about your life. I want to know where you've been and who you've met. I would appreciate it if you would write me a letter.”
“Monika, to me……”
Osmond’s voice began to tremble.
It wasn't a convulsion of laughter. His fairy-like face was crumbling. His eyes turned red and his lips quivered. Fairies don’t cry, so was that why? Osmond just desperately suppressed the welling up tears.
“……Do I have the right to survive?”
A hand made of bone, and a hand made of flesh.
Osmond’s two hands were folded on the table, and,
“Of course.”
A hand made of flesh, and a hand made of the remains of a monster.
Monika’s two hands covered Osmond’s two hands.
“──Even if you die and die again, there is always someone who survives.”
So it's a relief.
I'm so glad that you survived.
* * *
Six clerics crossed the main street of the capital.
They were carrying a wooden coffin. The flower petals decorating the coffin were vivid even when wet with rain.
In front, the holy knights were walking. Behind, the inquisitors were walking. The death of an evangelist must be a major issue for the Papacy. Moreover, for a young evangelist, the sadness is doubled. There were many eyes watching Fleur’s funeral procession in the pouring rain. Monika cut through them.
“──Hey, will you buy a flower?”
An old troll man held out a flower towards Monika.
A red rose. Monika shook her head. She passed the flower seller and ran hastily.
“What on earth is this……”
Marco stared blankly ahead.
It hadn’t been long since the Moonlight Day. He had heard the news of a death before the festive atmosphere had even faded. Fleur de Saint-Pierre was dead. Marco had run here, unable to believe it. The girl who had smiled with a flower crown on her head had returned in a coffin. He knew the answer to his unrequited love would be a rejection, but he never thought it would be death.
Monika passed such a Marco.
“What a foolish person.”
Louise stood with her servants.
So she would leave like this in the end. What on earth had she been fighting against? Holding her umbrella, Louise wondered. The giant of fire that had appeared in the Saint-Pierre estate, the holy knight in huge armor, the vast flower that had bloomed to fill the sky. She couldn't forget what she had witnessed a few days ago, and Fleur’s smiling face flickered in her mind as well.
Monika passed such a Louise.
“Um……, Fleur……, Fleur unni is……”
“You don’t have to say it, Roberta. We’re watching too.”
“Er. According to Father, it seems a battle took place in the Saint-Pierre estate.”
“……Is that why Fleur unni died?”
“It seems a big battle did take place. There are rumors that a Sword Saint appeared. It seems that is also highly likely to be true.”
“I get it, so be quiet, you idiot. Roberta is crying.”
“Sorry. Come here, Roberta……”
Roberta cried in Demian’s arms.
Ernst crossed his arms and bit his lower lip, and Demian stroked Roberta’s head and looked into the distance.
Did they know Fleur well? The three of them wondered at the same time, and at the same time, they denied it. They were in the same class, but Fleur didn't show her feelings well. She always had a smile on her face, but it was just a way of hiding her lips with a flower petal.
‘Why is everyone dying?’
But Roberta was sad.
As the only daughter of a family that made a living by manufacturing weapons, she cursed the technology that kills life itself, and,
‘Damn it! Fleur was too young.’
in addition, Ernst lamented.
As the eldest grandson of the Tresckow family, stained with intrigue, he hated the struggle that put life on the line itself, and,
‘So it’s different from knightly literature after all.’
and Demian had a premonition.
As the heir who would inherit the brilliance of a famous swordsmanship family, he wondered if the ethics of dealing with life itself might be powerless.
Monika passed them all.
She ran, stamping her footprints in the puddles.
She pushed through the bustling crowd and found Abel. Among the colorful umbrellas, only Abel was getting soaked with his bare body. He was holding a black umbrella in one hand but hadn't opened it. He was just staring at Fleur’s coffin crossing in the distance.
“……You'll catch a cold.”
Monika whispered, stopping beside Abel.
“What are you doing with an umbrella if you're not going to use it?”
“I'm fine.”
Abel looked down at Monika.
Monika was also soaked in the rain. Her breath, blooming from her lips, was damp. And so, her body trembled. Regardless of Monika’s will, she shivered. Monika wrapped her arms around her body and clenched her teeth. As if to press down on her trembling body.
“……I bought it to give to you.”
Flutter.
An umbrella opened above Monika’s head.
Abel held out the umbrella to Monika. He grabbed Monika’s hand and forced her to take it.
“Monika, look at me.”
Abel knelt on one knee.
Monika’s gaze turned to Abel. In the gap of his wet hair, she saw Abel’s face with a faint smile. He's forcing himself to smile. Monika easily guessed. That Abel was smiling because she was in front of him. To soothe her heart.
“Fleur left something for you.”
Abel fumbled in the inner pocket of his formal wear.
A small key. A key was on Abel’s palm.
“Take it. It’s the key to the greenhouse she owned.”
Monika’s eyes trembled slightly.
She remembered. The greenhouse covered in rotten flowers. Although it had been concealed as if it were lively through a spell, Monika had noticed that the flowers filling the greenhouse were dead. Sarrifis was a place overgrown with flowers and trees, and Monika had also often helped with cultivating crops.
“It was mixed in with the data passed on by Osmond Epanoui. It seems Fleur wanted to give that place to you.”
Go, he said.
Abel whispered.
“See Fleur off there.”
Monika’s hand reached out.
She placed the key in her trembling palm. With it pressed to her chest, Monika was silent. With an umbrella in one hand and a key in the other,
“……Thank you.”
Monika answered with a determined expression.
She took a step, and then another, and soon Monika began to run hastily. Abel, who had stood up, stared at Monika’s back. After watching Monika disappear into the crowd, he wiped the smile from his face and was about to look at the funeral procession for Fleur again when,
“──Hey, will you buy a flower?”
An old troll man held out a flower towards Abel.
A red rose. Abel nodded his head. He received a rose from the flower seller and savored its scent, then,
“You’ve come, Teacher.”
he whispered in a small voice.
Towards the old troll man standing before him.
“Teacher?”
The troll man laughed.
“I was never stronger than you.”
The teacher-student relationship was just a formality,
and you were stronger than me since you were ten, he said.
The troll man muttered, standing side by side with Abel.
“Abel of the Margin, the youngest Sword Saint.”
And so, Abel and the troll man watched at the same time.
The youngest Sword Saint and the oldest Sword Saint witnessed the death of the young evangelist together.
“──I have come to hold you responsible.”