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Chapter 38
[Quest: Solve Hector Winchester’s problem and gain his recognition.]
The moment Hector posed the problem, a new message appeared before my eyes.
It felt a little different from an “achievement,” which unlocked restricted functions or leveled me up.
A quest demanded something specific from me—and, more importantly, it came with a reward.
[Quest Reward: 100 Rubies, The Blue Hawk’s Secret]
For reference, the store function where rubies could be spent was still locked, but I already had 50 rubies from selling items.
I had a hunch that saving them up would be useful once the shop opened.
And “The Blue Hawk’s Secret”—it was a cryptic phrase, but since it was listed as a reward, it might be quite the valuable item.
So of course I was wracking my brain trying to solve the Duke’s mystery.
“Let’s put it in water!”
“You mean you want to put the ball in water, my lady?”
I nodded, and Maya lifted the ball and set it floating atop the fountain.
In novels, mysterious items often revealed their secrets when placed in water.
“Hm… it floats nicely.”
But the ball showed no reaction.
No matter if I rolled it, tossed it, or dunked it—nothing happened.
Could it really be just an ordinary ball with no hidden mechanism?
Aside from the name Eshir Taylors engraved on it, there was nothing else on the golden ball.
I gazed at the quiet garden and imagined a twelve-year-old girl playing with it.
A gold ball that rolled when tapped with her foot, and Eshir smiling as she caught it.
Far away, watching Eshir, Kaisa Taylors had a murderous look in her eyes.
Why had she sacrificed Eshir out of all five children?
What about her had seemed so special to Kaisa—or so unbearable?
“…My lady?”
“Yes, Maya?”
I snapped out of my daze at Maya’s voice, my eyes still on the ball bobbing in the water.
“It looks like it’s going to rain.”
I looked up at the sky.
The black clouds were growing thicker.
“You should head inside now, before it starts.”
“Mm. Let’s go.”
I nodded, and Maya took the gold ball in one hand and my hand in the other.
The moment we stepped into the mansion, the rain began to pour.
The early autumn rain chilled the air enough to raise goosebumps on my arms.
“Maya, you know…”
“Yes, my lady?”
“Can you find out where this was made?”
She studied the ball intently before answering.
“It’s quite old, so it won’t be easy to know for sure. Especially since it’s from the Taylors.”
True—there probably wasn’t even an Elle Toyshop a hundred years ago.
“You must really want to solve this mystery, my lady.”
“Mm. I will!”
Maya smiled faintly at my determined tone.
“In that case, why not ask one of the young masters for help?”
“I don’t want Othello!”
“At least ask Master Jin…”
I hesitated.
Jin Winchester was the family’s top scholar.
If not for Evan Taylors’s ridiculous dominance as the protagonist, Jin might have conquered the world himself.
And there wasn’t any rule saying I couldn’t get help.
I stopped walking.
Jin had dismissed Maya and closed the door.
Now, only the two of us were in his room.
The room was huge—about the size of a living room with an attached bedroom by modern standards—just like Othello’s room I’d visited before.
Jin picked up the ball and examined it closely.
“So… you’re curious about this.”
I kept my bright, shining eyes fixed on him.
“Yes.”
[View Character Data]
[1. Ricardo Winchester
Title: Lord of Black Flame
Causality Rate: 8%]
I scrolled down.
[2. Jin Winchester
Title: None
Causality Rate: 9%]
[3. Othello Winchester
Title: None
Causality Rate: 10%]
[4. Chenoa Taylors
Title: Lord of Clarity
Causality Rate: N/A]
[5. #@$% , #$%%, $#$%^^$$#@
Further information cannot be displayed.]
[6. Permetis Winchester
Title: None
Causality Rate: N/A]
[7. Hector Winchester
Title: Guardian of Black Flame
Causality Rate: N/A]
(Hector Winchester added to character list.)
Anyway, the person with the highest causality rate with me right now was, ironically, Othello.
Jin’s was high too, but Othello’s double-digit score put him ahead.
“…Shasha.”
It took a long while before Jin finally moved his lips.
“Yes?”
“When did you get this? Did anyone tell you to be careful with it?”
I answered promptly.
“Just now. Grandpa Hector gave it to me! Nobody said anything like that.”
Was it my imagination, or did his gaze turn sharply cold for a second?
Jin frowned at the ball again and muttered,
“…Unbelievable.”
I didn’t understand what he meant.
I blinked my round eyes at him, and he held up the ball.
“To give something like this to a child…”
“What do you mean?”
He twisted his lips and summoned black flame into his hand.
The intense energy wrapped around the ball, heavy enough to make my chest tighten.
The flame spun around it, then seeped inside.
So it really wasn’t an ordinary ball after all.
“Eshir Taylors was a child born to a woman of the Quelln family.”
I startled at the unfamiliar fact.
Eshir Taylors… also had a mother from House Quelln, like me?
Jin handed the ball back to me.
It felt no heavier than before.
His deep eyes reflected my face.
“Sleep with this tonight, and you’ll be able to solve the problem.”
I blinked.
“…Really?”
So it was that simple? Just sleep with it?
“I’ve infused it with black flame, so nothing dangerous will happen.”
But his brow was taut, his gaze cold.
“I’m only giving it back because you insist on solving the problem.”
Then he added,
“…One warning. Never trust anyone in the Winchester family.”
My heart thumped hard.
The ball suddenly felt heavier.
From the moment I learned my birth family’s name, I’d decided to keep my distance from the Winchesters.
But now that I was a little older, I was starting to realize—it wasn’t that easy.
After all, my heart wasn’t made of black flame.
After a pause, I asked quietly,
“…Even you, Jin?”
At that, his brows twitched, as if my question had caught him off guard.
I suddenly remembered the moment I’d first seen him at the summer mansion—when I’d wondered how long this calm could last.
After a short silence, Jin finally spoke.
“When you’re a little older…”
It wasn’t an answer to my question.
“…I’ll tell you then, Shasha.”
He ruffled my neatly combed hair absentmindedly.
Whatever emotion had flickered in his eyes vanished as quickly as it came, replaced by his usual guarded expression.
I stared at him for a long time.
And as I left his room, I thought—
I didn’t get my answer about whether I could trust him, but at least for what he’d told me, I’d try believing him.
My gaze fell to the ball filled with his black flame.
In Ricardo’s office.
He was reviewing documents and signing them.
The storage of spoils received from Vacheron, the acquisition of the summer mansion, and the review of conditions proposed by the Taylors family.
There was never a shortage of matters to handle.
“The Grand Duke has given the young lady Eshir’s golden ball.”
Ricardo frowned slightly at Rowen’s report.
Eshir’s golden ball? So Hector Winchester had been keeping it all this time.
“Master Jin has taken precautions in case of any lingering thoughts within it.”
“…I see.”
“I can’t fathom the Grand Duke’s intentions. Does he truly favor the young lady? Even so, to give her something like that…”
Ricardo’s quill paused briefly, then resumed moving.
“And if the young lady fails to read the ball, the burden will fall on Master Jin, who infused it with black flame.”
A heavy silence filled the office.
After finishing the review and signing, Ricardo set the quill back in its stand.
“He’s testing Shasha—and warning Jin.”
“I can understand the test, but the warning…”
“Twisted desires bring ruin, one way or another.”
Rowen fell silent, clearly not understanding.
Ricardo gazed coldly at the blackened window.
Just as every past head of House Winchester, himself included, had lacked something essential, so did Jin. That was why he’d given him a warning before.
No doubt Hector had also seen right through Jin’s nature.
“It’s something he needs to remember.”
Especially because an obsessive urge to collect favored things must be strongly restrained during one’s formative years.
Even if something that powerfully provoked that urge was right beside him.
“She’s not an object to be collected—she’s someone to be protected.”
