Chapter 58
Once she had arrived at the library under Gorgo’s guidance, Lucy had set out to find books dealing with dragons, rituals, and holy power.
Then she had gathered as many books as she could and begun reading.
She needed something to focus on, if only to dispel the anxiety creeping over her.
Among the books she was reading, one contained the information that expending too much holy power at once could cause fainting.
“Right. I knew something was off.”
Only then did she understand why she had suddenly suffered a nosebleed and lost consciousness in the bathtub.
It wasn’t just excitement⌠Edward had also been sucking down her holy power at a rapid pace.
‘When you think about it, it’s not entirely because my body is weak.’
Honestly, it seemed like Edward was partly to blame as well.
Yet she was the one being attackedâor not quite attackedâfor being physically weak. It felt a little unfair.
‘He could have just enjoyed himself a little less.’
Of course, she had enjoyed herself far too much to say that out loud, so she had no room to talk…
“First, ascertain the limits of your holy power…. I should remember that.”
And so she read, and read some more.
“When utilizing it for healing purposes… hoh.”
Read, and read some more…
“Hmm, the sealing of demonic beasts…”
As a result of sitting motionless and devouring everything she could get her hands on.
Lucy was fortunate enough to find several clues about the ritual.
They weren’t decisive clues, but even this much progress was remarkable.
“As expected, the library of the place where an incarnation is born is different.”
Materials that seemed as though they’d be hard to come by elsewhere kept turning up.
And as it happened, perhaps someone before Lucy had searched for information on incarnations and dragon rituals, because the books were cleaner and less dusty compared to the others, making the work easier.
All that remained was to find the missing puzzle pieces and somehow combine that knowledge with the information she had read in the original work to recreate the incarnation ritual.
‘Though I don’t plan on telling him until the contract is settled.’
“For now… shall I stop here for today?”
She had concentrated so hard that quite a bit of time had passed.
Lucy was just stretching out her stiff, aching body whenâ
“…Um.”
A timid voice called out to her.
“Erm, regarding your meal…”
Turning around, she saw several maids with awkward expressions looking at her.
‘I’m getting a sense of dĂŠjĂ vu.’
The knights of Thesseron whom she encountered while using the training grounds with Edward always looked at Lucy with exactly those eyes.
Eyes that seemed to say they had no idea how to treat her.
“If you wish, no, if you would like, a meal has been prepared in the dining hall…”
“So, which dining hall is it, the servants’ dining hall, no, the dining hall in the main hall…”
It was plainly obvious from their ambiguous speech, neither formal nor informal, and the way they dithered over their guidance.
‘They don’t know how to treat me either.’
She could understand.
Lucy was, at present, an existence floating in limbo within this residence.
She couldn’t be called a guest, for she had come here under a contractual relationship, and Edward himself did not treat her as a guest.
Yet she wasn’t exactly a servant either, as the contract remained unsigned.
And so the maids and knights alike found themselves at a loss as to how to deal with her.
Lucy, too, felt equally awkward.
“Uh, well… the meal… could I have it a little later…”
“His Grace said to make sure you eat well…”
In the end, the conversation carried on with an ambiguous feelingâas if they were speaking to each other, yet not quite.
“At any rate, if you wish, the dining hall is…”
Perhaps the awkward atmosphere had become unbearable.
The maids fled as soon as they had delivered their message.
Lucy watched their retreating figures, feeling rather sheepish.
‘Well. I have been going hungry.’
She might as well take the opportunity to eat.
Even amidst all this, the maids’ words came back to herâthat Edward had told them to make sure she ate well. Her feelings grew muddled.
‘He won’t sign the contract. He won’t tell me the important things.’
And yet he makes sure I eat. As if to weaken a person’s heart.
Grumbling inwardly, Lucy stepped out of the library and moved her feet.
No, she tried to move them.
Halt.
A moment later, a crucial fact flashed through her mind.
‘I forgot to ask where the dining hall is.’
Lucy still didn’t know the layout of the ducal castle well.
She had tried to memorize it, but the place was so vast and sprawling that there was no helping it.
She didn’t even know which dining hall to go to, much less where any of them were, which was an even bigger problem.
Growl.
In the midst of this, her stomach, belatedly recognizing its hunger, began to rumble loudly.
Lucy stopped in place for a moment and sighed.
‘…Should I just go back to my room and sleep?’
Thanks to her life in the shelter, she was capable of enduring hunger.
This possessed body, too, had often gone without food, so skipping a meal or two wouldn’t cause any issues.
Lucy was just about to turn around, trudging weakly, whenâ
“Ah!”
A young maid, running with a basket in hand, collided with Lucy.
Thump!
The face of the maid, watching the basket roll across the floor, crumpled into tears in an instant.
Lucy, with an embarrassed expression, quietly picked up the fallen basket.
“Are you all right?”
The maid hesitated, yet accepted the basket from Lucy.
Her expression, upon opening the basket, crumbled even further toward tears.
“Ah, if that was something important…”
What then?
She was just thinking, feeling bleak as to whether she could take responsibility, whenâ
The maid cautiously spoke to her.
“Um, then…”
“Yes?”
“It’s a little damaged, but… would you be willing to eat it?”
Clunk.
Soon, the basket opened, revealing its contents.
Though slightly disheveled from tumbling, it was a sandwich that anyone could see had been made with great care.
* * *
“I’m so relieved there was someone to eat it!”
“No, I’m the one who’s grateful, Clara. You saved me.”
A short while later.
Lucy was munching on the sandwich and walking with the maid.
The maid’s name was Clara, and she, too, was a newcomer who had only recently entered the ducal castle.
“I made it so diligently, told to bring it to the knights, but when I got there, they’d already finished their meal, you know.”
“What a shame. It’s so delicious, too.”
“…Truly?”
“Yes. It’s a pity for those who missed out.”
Indeed, Clara’s sandwich was delicious.
It was generously sized, and the ingredients were good.
“But they said they’d already eaten. Could the orders have overlapped?”
At that, Clara’s expression turned a little bitter.
“It was probably hazing, I expect.”
“Hazing?”
At the unexpected word, Lucy’s eyes went round.
Clara, her face steeped in worry, let out a long sigh.
“…The Ducal Castle of Thesseron has many long-serving servants.”
“That’s true.”
From what Lucy knew through the original work, the ducal castle was home to many who, like the head butler Rosendal, came from families that had served the dragons for generations.
Clara continued, as though troubled.
“I’m an outsider, you see.”
“I see.”
“And what’s more, ever since the previous duke passed away, there’s been factional strife even among the servants…”
“Factions?”
This was unexpected.
‘With Edward here, other factions are possible?’
As she looked at Clara with questioning eyes, Clara nodded readily.
“Yes. Those who follow the will of the previous duke, and those who follow the current… that is, Duke Edward’s will.”
“Ah…”
“Besides, the Grand Madam, wife of the previous duke, is still alive.”
“Aha.”
She answered as though she understood, but Lucy only fell deeper into confusion.
The Grand Madam?
‘She never properly appeared in the original work.’
Not that she never appeared at all.
However, she was merely the level of an extra villain who exited within a single line.
The forces of the Grand Madam and the previous duke had tried to manipulate Edward, only to be subdued in an instant and driven out.
After that, there had been no further appearances.
There had never been any mention that they had been significant enough to form factions among the servants either.
‘Well… it just might not have come up in the original story.’
Edward would handle everything himself anyway, so there was nothing for her to worry about separately.
‘But the Grand Madam, though…’
Isn’t she Edward’s mother?
A mother who vied for power against her own son, only to be purged like some extra villain.
Somehow, she had the feeling this was no ordinary personality.
Though Edward himself, who refused to yield even to his mother and ultimately confined her, was the most broken personality in this entire work.
…And yet, despite all that, the fact that he held his tongue around commoners was truly remarkable.
Even if it was how he’d been raised.
‘Still, when he annoys me, at least he says something.’
While Lucy was thinking of Edward without any particular concern, Clara continued, sounding troubled.
“The people who work here are ultimately forced, as well.”
“Into what?”
“Choosing a side.”
Was the Grand Madam’s faction that large?
Though questioning it, Lucy answered sincerely.
“That must have been hard.”
“…”
“It’s upsetting, isn’t it, things like that.”
She herself had memories of being pushed around this way and that in the shelter.
Even there, there had been people who took sides and fought, and every time she was caught in the middle like a shrimp whose back broke, she had felt wronged.
At those words, Clara flinched for a moment and then smiled somewhat bitterly.
“Yes. It was terribly awkward. I don’t want to take either side, you see.”
“Hmm.”
“Thanks to that, I suffer this sort of hazing. These days, especially, the servants loyal to Duke Edward…”
“To His Grace?”
“…Yes, erm… I hadn’t meant to tell you this much.”
Clara, with a restless face, rolled her eyes.
“Every time someone new arrives, they’re openly stiff and hostile, worried they might harm His Grace.”
“Ah…”
“Just look now. They’re starving you like this, miss.”
