The second daughter of Loam, said to be chosen by God, possessed an invariably tyrannical temperament.
Before Anneli was beheaded, everyone in the Loam household who had witnessed her outrages at the closest distance unanimously said they could not understand why she had been chosen by God.
"I am curious how she subdues monsters, though."
"Did you hear how she subdued the Dullahan at the Imperial Palace?"
"They said it was just a few words."
"So her viper-like tongue works on monsters too."
With no one to watch their words, their speech grew rougher. This much was not particularly harsh, to be honest.
Originally, Anneli was the one who suddenly returned to Loam and caused turmoil, so it was only natural that the knights could not offer her their loyalty.
The knights, having easily justified their actions to themselves, continued their conversation with the subject omitted.
The words that were initially moderately softened grew rougher as time passed. Added to this was the resentment that had been building up inside due to the humiliation they received from Anneli's escorts, making their tone quite fierce.
"Those who cause turmoil in the family should be rooted out... Argh!"
It was then. The knight who had been enthusiastically rattling on suddenly looked to his side and recoiled in fright. A pitch-black cat was quietly watching them, though no one knew how long it had been there.
"Ugh, what bad luck!"
The knight, stroking his startled chest, spat on the ground. In the distance, Anneli could be seen returning. Unfortunately, she looked perfectly fine.
"Tch."
The knights of Loam swallowed their regret and reluctantly began walking.
The cat fixed its gaze on their retreating figures.
The bead attached to the thin collar around the cat's neck was gleaming strangely, but the light was so faint that no one noticed.
* * *
After finishing all my business, it was much later than I had expected.
When I left the forest and returned to the Lindea River, the knights greeted me with dissatisfied expressions in the gathering darkness.
Samuel and Zenon did not trust them at all, but with no excuse, they could not follow me all the way to Loam. Eventually, the two decided to stay at an inn for the time being, and I returned to Loam under the half-hearted escort of knights who disliked me.
Having exhausted my energy while dealing with the last, massive cluster of Rusalkas entangled together, I had no appetite.
So I intended to wash up quickly and go to bed early. That is, if my father had not summoned me to his office.
"You left the knights behind at the Lindea River and moved on your own."
My father's expression was stiff as he rubbed his forehead.
I looked at him for a moment, then calmly turned my gaze away.
It seemed the knights had struck first, worried that I might find fault with their neglect of duty.
"Father, I am quite tired from expending my mental energy."
"You say you returned safely by luck, but if something had happened, Loam would have been in quite a difficult position as well."
My father did not seem inclined to let me rest. Swallowing a sigh, I pressed down hard on my eyelids.
Then, I took out a small pouch from my bosom.
"I was going to tell you after dealing with it, but I suppose I should have told you from the start if I knew you would press me like this."
"What?"
My father's eyes widened at my words. I continued as if it were nothing of consequence.
"They are recording crystals."
What I produced were disposable crystals that, while incapable of recording video, could record short conversations.
They were expensive, could only record voices, and even those recordings were not long, so they were often treated as useless magical tools.
However, for me who had money to spare, they were very useful. Unlike crystals that could record video, these were small enough to fit several in a pouch.
So small, in fact, that if attached to an animal's collar, they looked like decorative beads.
"Recording?"
My father asked with a bewildered expression.
"Since Father does not seem to know well the intentions of this household's servants, I took it upon myself to look into it."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that Loam's vassals do not obey the will of the Loam family head."
Smiling faintly, I activated the crystals one by one. The voices of servants working throughout the Loam estate flowed from the crystals. Among them were the voices of the knights who had accompanied me to the Lindea River today.
The explicit words and agitated voices were all criticizing me. The Dullahans had worked so hard to record this.
"Father's silence did not end at merely making my position precarious. Father, it seems these people have forgotten that they are serving in the Loam household. Considering that they express such intense hostility toward the one Father chose."
My father's expression turned cold. He seemed surprised that the servants had cultivated such hostility toward me while his attention was turned outward, dealing with external matters.
To gossip so much about the heir chosen by the Loam family head was something that should not be tolerated.
That fact alone would make Father very displeased. But what would displease Father even more... would be Mother, who had failed to discipline the interior all this time.
The internal affairs of the household were entirely the domain of the lady of the house.
That Mother had overlooked the servants' loose tongues meant that the things they were saying ultimately reflected Mother's intentions as well. At least, that was what Father would think.
"I understand your grievance."
"My grievance is not important. I am merely a bit worried."
Having activated several crystals simultaneously, the recordings ended around the same time. The vulgar language that had been noisily filling the office disappeared, and a heavy silence descended.
"Mother seems to have found an alternative other than me. Did Father know about this?"
It was a question I asked knowing full well he did not.
And as I expected, Father could not answer immediately.
Seiri was still young, and the external political situation was unstable. Whoever was ultimately established as heir, for now they would need a shield that would draw attention while being reasonably plausible.
Mother was the type who only moved after finishing all her calculations. She only nodded when she was certain it was sufficiently safe and would proceed according to her will.
Naturally, this time as well, apart from Lilia's proposal, she must have been calculating various factors.
Between Frigian, the older sister who had left home but was always watching for a chance to return, the resurrected one attracting external attention, and Loam's youngest who had grown up obedient and well-behaved.
"The two of you cannot always agree in opinion. I know that Father always respects Mother's opinion. But I was taught in the Loam household not to defy the Loam family head."
Once again, Father did not answer. Father, who had been staring down at the crystals I had placed on the desk, bluntly issued an order to leave.
"Return to your room."
My body was limp and my head was groggy. I readily nodded.
Even if Father and Mother fought over this matter, in the end, Father would be the one to yield. However, once a crack began to form, it was bound to lead to a greater rupture eventually.
If he accepted Mother's opinion and designated Seiri as the final heir, only to realize that everything had gone wrong?
If the result of accepting Mother's judgment led to the destruction of the household?
No one knew whether Father's noble love would remain intact even then.
'Too easy.'
I thought as I walked down the long corridor. It was too easy.
Trampling Loam bit by bit, leading everyone to their ruin—it was truly easy.
So easy that I felt no excitement whatsoever.
* * *
After renting an inn room, washing up, and finishing preparations for bed, I sat on the bed and found it was already midnight.
"...."
Zenon, lying flat on the bed with his arms supporting the back of his head, stared blankly at the ceiling. This was because Anneli's appearance just before they parted ways when returning from the Lindea River earlier would not leave his mind.
「Wait for me.」
Was it his imagination that her expression seemed particularly exhausted?
Zenon slowly retraced his memories. Until the first battle with the Rusalka, Anneli had been reasonably fine.
She had even been energetic enough to throw a punch at the first Rusalka. After that, she kept receiving the Rusalkas' attacks and waking up repeatedly.
Except for the fact that the time spent dreaming gradually grew longer, Anneli when awake seemed to have no particular problems.
'What changed was...'
The last one.
When she collapsed from the attack of the grotesquely clustered Rusalkas and woke up.
Until then, Anneli had slept for only a few minutes at most, but after the last attack, she lay there for nearly several hours.
He was surprised by the suddenly increased time, but once she had fallen into an illusion, he could not carelessly touch Anneli.
Also, since Anneli had a power she needed to recover from within the illusion, he could not arbitrarily kill the Rusalkas that had put her to sleep.
Of course, it was true that his killing intent toward the Rusalkas had risen as time dragged on.
Quietly stroking Anneli's bangs as she lay with her eyes closed, Zenon recalled the Empress who was said to be asleep. The Empress who would not wake no matter what was done.
When anxiety showed at his fingertips and he finally concentrated his magic power, Samuel, who had been quietly monitoring the Rusalkas, spoke.
「Endure it.」
「Endure it? Are you not worried about Lady Anneli either?」
「Is a mage's patience shorter than a beast's?」
Only after Samuel's pointed remark did Zenon realize that the animals Anneli usually kept around were quiet.
Technically, they were not animals but Durahans pretending to be animals, but...
Zenon also knew well how particularly attached the Durahans were to Anneli. And the Durahans were simply watching over the sleeping Anneli calmly.
At that moment, Zenon felt a strange sense of dissonance.
'It felt like... they were sharing some kind of bond among themselves.'
Even Samuel, for that matter.
The only one on that scene who did not properly grasp the situation and was anxious was Zenon. Realizing this, a heat haze-like displeasure rose in Zenon's chest.
He had feelings for Anneli, but he did not know everything about her.
Anneli was generous with him, but she did not explain everything to him.
Unless she explained first, Zenon had not pressed for details either. That had always been the case until now.
What exactly her relationship with the Durahans was, what exactly the power she possessed was, what her past life had been like that she suffered from troubled sleep...
He had thought that if it was something he needed to know, Anneli would explain, and if she did not explain, it must be because there was no need for him to know.
'But until when?'
Along with the rebellious feeling that surfaced, Zenon recognized his own emotion.
This was jealousy.