Episode 100
"Clana, wait a moment..."
"Hurry up and follow me. I told you they're about to close soon."
Thanks to Clana, who was thoroughly annoyed, rushing me, my attempt to pause for a moment ended in failure.
I usually tried to accommodate Clana, but I never expected the dessert café to have such a lovely atmosphere.
"Clana, not here. There's a place I know well..."
"So you're saying we should go there after coming all this way? I have no intention of spending that much time because of you."
I expressed hesitation and tried to somehow prevent us from entering, but Clana was adamant.
How can a person change so much just from recalling a single oath?
"Welcome..."
As I entered the shop holding Clana's hand while thinking such thoughts, the employee who was about to greet us with a bright expression froze.
Well, it's understandable to be flustered.
After all, the Empire's Third Princess and the Duke household's First Son were bursting in at late night.
"The most expensive seat in this shop, and the most expensive course."
"Ah, y-yes, understood!"
The employee, who had been staring at my and Clana's faces with their mouth wide open, quickly scurried away after hearing Clana's order.
"Judging by how the employee was flustered seeing you, it doesn't seem like you've been here before."
"You don't need to know."
As I looked at the employee and asked Clana with a curious expression, her curt answer came back.
"...I came a few times in the past."
Of course, her mumbling followed without fail.
'If she says in the past... is she referring to the previous cycle?'
Sensing the unmistakable bitterness underlying Clana's words, I quietly entered the room while watching her reaction.
"You, come here for a moment."
"Huh? Ah... yes."
As I stood blankly staring at the room's design that made my face heat up just looking at it, Clana called over a distant employee and began whispering something.
"Understood. Then with that design..."
"Please take good care of it."
After cutting off the employee's words and offering thanks, Clana turned her head and began glaring at me.
"Is this incident also connected to you?"
"Hmm..."
I pondered for a moment at the question that popped out of her mouth, then answered with a smirk.
"What if it is?"
"Haah..."
When I asked to test Clana's reaction, she let out a sigh and began speaking.
"Are you going to keep being uncooperative like this? Even though we have the oath?"
"Oath..."
"Yes, if you keep betraying me like this... you're just giving me leverage to betray you."
Clana, who had scolded me with a stern expression, continued speaking in a voice full of sullenness.
"And, you also made that oath back then, didn't you? If you can't make me Emperor..."
"I'll give you everything I have?"
"That's right."
When I repeated the exact words I had heard from her unconscious mind with Kania, Clana nodded and said.
"If you continue to interfere with me becoming Emperor like this..."
"Then I'll have to give you everything, won't I?"
As I said this with a smile in my eyes, Clana's face began to redden.
"Stop with the jokes."
"Jokes?"
"There's no way you'd give me everything. In the first place, if it weren't for the oath, you wouldn't have cooperated with me at all."
As I watched Clana turn her gaze away while saying that, I asked in a quiet voice.
"What if it's not a joke?"
"...Stop it."
Then Clana wore a cold expression and began emitting sun mana.
It seems I should stop teasing her here.
"You, how much do you remember about today?"
"Huh? Well, naturally..."
When I cautiously asked Clana while thinking such thoughts, she who was about to answer immediately stopped speaking and began to fidget.
"W-wait, umm..."
"Ah, the dessert is here."
"...I see."
Seeing that, I roughly guessed the situation and quickly pointed to the dessert that had arrived, and Clana, who had been wearing an awkward expression, accepted the cake.
"Huh...?"
But the cake looked very familiar somehow.
"It's a silver cat decoration."
A cake with the exact same design as the one I had seen in a dream long ago, and the one Kania had specially ordered, was placed before me.
Come to think of it, it was none other than Clana who had prepared the cake in that dream.
What a truly coincidental twist of fate.
"My, what might you all be doing here?"
"...You?"
While I was thinking such thoughts, a familiar voice suddenly came from behind Clana.
"Why have you come here?"
"Princess, why did you take Frey with you?"
When I peeked out with an incredulous expression, Serena was stroking a white owl on her shoulder.
"His birthday party was ruined, so I must at least do this much. I have an obligation to do so."
"Then this is an impromptu birthday party?"
When Clana quietly nodded at that question, Serena smiled and sat down right next to me.
"Then there's no reason I, as Frey's fiancée, cannot participate."
"Serena, I didn't know you could be this rude."
"However, Princess, you took Frey away unilaterally without even consulting me."
"I have the power and authority to do so."
"Well... I think I'm still stronger in both power and authority."
As I blankly listened to the ensuing conversation between Clana and Serena, I whispered a question to Serena who was retorting to Clana right beside me.
"Serena, what about the aftermath?"
"It was an event with such clear context that even the incompetent royal investigation team is sufficient. Since the culprit has already fled, there's nothing to be done. Of course, we'll need to investigate that suspicious person."
"What about Kania?"
"......She says there's something to investigate."
I had asked about Kania's whereabouts and was shrinking under Serena's fierce gaze when someone suddenly burst into the shop, and I jumped up from my seat in surprise.
"Clana! Are you alright!"
"Per... Perloche?"
Because that someone was none other than Perloche.
"What did that bad Frey do this time!"
Perloche, who had been catching her breath as if she had been running for a while, opened her mouth while glaring at me.
"You! Because of you, lately Clana has been..."
"First, sit down, Perloche."
"...Ugh."
When I quickly suggested she take a seat as Perloche was about to trigger Clana's implanted trial memories, she plopped down on the chair with a pouty expression.
".........."
And then, silence began to flow.
'...I already had birthday parties with Kania and Irina, so I guess it's these ones this time.'
Recalling the birthday party content written in the prophecy book, I quietly asked Perloche a question.
"How did you get here?"
"Ah, well. I was invited to today's ball too, but I got lost..."
According to Perloche's subsequent explanation, although she has a bad relationship with the imperial family, as the Saintess who appeared after a thousand years, she too had received an invitation to this birthday party.
However, Perloche had gotten off the carriage briefly to buy fireworks and lost her way, and as a result, she arrived at the ballroom late to find it already in ruins.
In that situation, she somehow managed to find out through inquiries where Clana and I had headed, and thinking I might have done something to Clana who had been hearing bad rumors lately, she rushed over only to find this situation.
"So, why did you buy fireworks?"
"That's... because it's a birthday..."
Perloche, who had answered my question like that, suddenly pointed the fireworks at me and pulled the trigger vigorously.
-BANG BANG BOOM!!
"...Perloche, such behavior is rude."
"I-I'm sorry."
Though it seemed like an intentional act, fortunately Serena blocked my face with her fan in time, so no major problem occurred.
"By the way, what is this right now?"
"...A birthday party."
"What?"
"We're holding a birthday party for Frey."
When Clana averted her gaze and mumbled in response to Perloche's question after being scolded by Serena, Serena answered with a smile.
"So Perloche doesn't need to stay here. You must be tired, so please return now..."
Serena then tried to drive Perloche out with that momentum.
"I'll stay too!"
"What?"
"I'm going to watch so Frey doesn't do anything bad to Clana!"
When Perloche made a determined expression and clenched both fists, Serena, who had been sighing, moved closer to me and said.
"...Then, please sit over there."
"Yes!"
When Perloche answered and headed to a chair slightly away from me, Clana, who had been wearing a dissatisfied expression until then, took out a candle and muttered.
"Anyway, happy birthday..."
And so, a modest birthday party began.
Still, it was one of the best birthday parties I've experienced so far.
.
"...Clana."
"Yes?"
When Frey, who had been eating several times more than usual perhaps because he had secretly been looking forward to today's birthday party or because the cake was tastier than expected, finally went to the bathroom, Serena quietly asked Clana a question.
"What do you plan to do with Frey from now on?"
"Hmm..."
Then Clana, who had been quietly eating cake, let out a sigh and answered.
"I still detest him terribly, but I suppose I'll have to try to rehabilitate him."
"What is the reason for suddenly changing your position?"
Serena, who clearly remembered Clana sending her consultation about assassinating Frey, pressed the question, and Clana closed her eyes and answered.
"...You don't need to know."
"Hmm..."
Of course, Serena, who had already heard the truth from Kania earlier, gazed at Clana with ambiguous eyes and then turned her gaze to Perloche.
"Perloche, you..."
"This is too much to eeeeeat...!"
"...I see."
When Serena discovered Perloche stuffing cake into both cheeks like a hamster and chewing, she let out a sigh and withdrew her gaze from her.
"Serena, what have you been looking at so intently since earlier?"
Clana, who had been glancing at Serena, tilted her head and asked a question as she watched Serena, who normally couldn't resist sweets, continuously stare at something without even glancing at the cake.
"I'm solving a riddle."
"Is there a riddle you can't solve?"
When Serena answered with a serious expression, Clana asked again out of pure curiosity.
Quite apart from the fact that Serena had been looking annoying since earlier, the fact that there was a riddle she couldn't solve was quite surprising.
"There's too little information... and perhaps I'm thinking too complicatedly... I still have a long way to go."
When Serena answered with a bitter smile to Clana, Perloche, who had been chewing on cake, spoke up.
"That riddle! I'll solve it!"
"Huh?"
"I-I'm confident with riddles!"
Serena, who had been blankly staring at Perloche with twinkling eyes, smiled and began speaking.
"Well, as the Eastern Continent proverb says, even a sheet of paper is better when held together... perhaps a new and unique perspective different from mine is needed."
"W-what do you mean?"
"...I'll tell you the riddle, so think about it carefully. Of course, it would be good if Clana helps too."
While Perloche looked at Serena with an expectant expression, Clana nodded quietly even while wearing a skeptical expression.
"One coincidence, five realizations. And... a boomerang passing between a half-moon and a crescent moon."
"......?"
When Serena revealed the riddle to them, Clana and Perloche began wearing puzzled expressions.
"I think I roughly understand the first two... but I can't figure out the last one at all."
"What does that..."
"When I try to apply it to a solar eclipse, something's off... and when I search for related legends, nothing comes up... perhaps it's an ambiguous expression? No, no matter how I think about it, I seem to be thinking too complicatedly..."
"Serena?"
"I wondered if there might be some magical mark that only the Starlight family could see, so I even lied to Frey saying I couldn't see the letters to check, but the letters he and I read definitely matched. Then why..."
When Serena stopped explaining and fell into her own thoughts, Clana frowned and asked.
"Um, you need to explain where this came from. If you just say riddle-like words without that..."
"I think we need to find the meaning hidden in that sentence. Because a new path opens only then."
"...Hmm."
After Serena's answer, a long silence flowed through the room.
"Half-moon and crescent moon... isn't it related to the moon's cycle? Or perhaps a solar eclipse..."
"I've already thought about both of those."
"Then, it could be a metaphorical expression."
"...Perhaps."
Clana, who broke the silence instead of the overconfident Perloche, began talking with Serena while wearing a slightly interested expression.
"A boomerang... returns, right? But for that boomerang to pass between a half-moon and a crescent moon..."
"Hmm..."
"Could there be a name for the middle process when a half-moon changes to a crescent moon? If there's a name for that and its meaning exists..."
"...There isn't one."
Clana, who had been actively offering opinions, slightly frowned when Serena shook her head and answered.
"I really do hate the moon."
".........."
At those words, Serena glanced at Clana.
"Give me paper and a pen!"
"Huh!?"
Perloche said with a confident expression.
"If words don't work, we can just draw it!"
.
Meanwhile, at that same time.
"...Alright, this should be enough."
The Demon King, who had been running for a while carrying the fake hero's armament.
"Now, it begins in earnest."
Upon reaching the bustling streets, he stopped walking and raised the corner of his mouth while muttering.
"Begins, you say...?"
And behind the Demon King, a girl wearing a black robe just as someone had done before, was following.
"...What exactly is beginning?"
The girl's left ring finger was still shining.