🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 8
“Huh? What do you mean by that…?”
Tristan asked back as if he doubted his own ears.
At this point, he had probably been certain I would back down. Even if I was young, I was still a saint candidate, so he must have assumed I knew at least basic manners.
“I want to contact the Duke right now. I’m in a hurry too.”
But manners and humility like that didn’t matter to me.
‘And I have no reason to care about someone like Tristan’s circumstances.’
To begin with, if he hadn’t been tormenting Kain, we never would’ve ended up opposing each other.
‘You reap what you sow.’
I turned to Rain and spoke.
“Please. Contact the Duke for me—”
“W-wait just a moment, Lady Winiel!”
Tristan interrupted me in a panic.
“Then before you send the message, I will hear its contents first. If I judge it important, I shall contact the Duke afterward.”
Unlike his urgent tone, Tristan spoke as though he were generously offering a reasonable compromise.
I deliberately answered carefully.
“You mean… I should deliver the message to Sir Tristan?”
“Yes. I am currently handling the ducal estate’s affairs in the Duke’s absence, so perhaps the matter can be resolved at my level instead. It would certainly be faster that way.”
“So in other words, the ‘important message from a saint candidate that must be delivered directly to Duke Argent’… should be entrusted to Sir Tristan?”
“……”
When I kindly spelled it out for him, Tristan’s expression stiffened.
No matter how much authority he held in managing the estate, saying he would personally decide whether a saint candidate’s message deserved to reach the Duke was essentially the same as insulting the Temple itself.
Of course, I personally didn’t care whether the Temple was insulted or not, but I still covered my mouth with both hands and blinked innocently.
“T-that is not what I meant. Ahem. I merely intended to manage communications sent to the Duke under the Young Master’s orders.”
Tristan hurriedly tried to recover the situation by bringing up Kain.
“The Young Master does not wish the Duke to learn of this attack. I was worried that while explaining your circumstances, you might mention the incident. That is why I suggested another method. However, if you insist on speaking directly to the Duke, then I ask that you refrain from disclosing matters concerning the estate.”
In short: say only what you came to say and nothing else.
It was similar to what Kain had told me earlier.
But what came to my mind upon hearing it was completely different.
“But there’s something I’m curious about. If you’re acting as the estate’s administrator, shouldn’t you be trying to report this instead of hiding it? The Young Master was attacked by dark magic.”
“The Young Master wishes for it to remain hidden.”
“Ah, so you’re saying that when the young master—who was the victim of the attack—said it should stay secret, the adult in charge of the estate simply replied, ‘Understood,’ and accepted it immediately.”
I clapped my hands together as though I finally understood perfectly.
Tristan flinched.
‘Kain is one thing, but you shouldn’t be acting like this.’
That was the message I wanted to convey, and it seemed to have gotten through.
“……Haha, that is a misunderstanding. I conducted my own investigation into the dark magic attack before arriving at that conclusion.”
Tristan forced the corners of his stiff mouth upward.
“The reason I was absent these past few days was because of that investigation. Unfortunately, I discovered nothing. That is precisely why I agreed that informing the Duke would only cause needless worry.”
“Oh dear, you gave up after only a few days? The attacker must have hidden themselves awfully well without leaving behind a single clue.”
“……Furthermore, the Young Master was not injured. He likely believed there was no point in making a fuss over it. I happened to agree.”
“From what I can see, he didn’t even receive purification treatment. So how can you be so sure he wasn’t harmed? Even if the Young Master thought so, shouldn’t you, Sir Tristan, have insisted he undergo purification? Of course, that’s only my personal opinion.”
“……”
Tristan said nothing.
But his face had turned bright red.
“……If you insist on speaking like this, then I have no choice. We shall ask the Young Master directly whether you may contact the Duke.”
In the end, Tristan played his trump card. He must have judged it impossible to stop me on his own.
Without even waiting for my response, he left the basement and spoke to a knight waiting outside.
A short while later, that knight really did bring Kain down.
“What exactly are you doing? I told you not to.”
Kain snapped at me the moment he entered the basement, apparently having already heard the general situation.
Behind him, Tristan looked at me with relaxed confidence.
‘If Kain tells them to stop at this level, Rain probably won’t help me anymore.’
And even if I explained everything to Kain and begged him, it didn’t seem likely he would agree.
‘Then I have no choice.’
I’d have to use that card.
“Hello again, Young Master. We meet once more.”
“……”
Kain frowned when I greeted him brightly.
“You…”
“Perfect timing. I had something to tell you.”
I quickly cut him off before he could continue.
“You told me to state what I wanted as repayment and leave, right? I’ll say it now.”
“……What is it?”
“Please allow me to speak with the Duke.”
I didn’t want to use my favor like this, but right now taking even a single step forward mattered.
‘Asking him to destroy the villain organization would ultimately benefit Kain too. Once his trauma eases a little, if I explain it properly, he’ll probably help me even without it being repayment.’
At least, I desperately hoped so.
“The Duke?”
Kain narrowed his eyes.
“You told me to hurry and ask for my reward since I saved your life…”
Afraid he would reject me outright, I muttered first before he could speak.
Kain stared at me for a moment in thought before finally sighing.
“Ha… I didn’t promise repayment for something this ridiculous.”
“I won’t mention anything you’d be worried about. I truly do have something I need to discuss with the Duke.”
Of course, “worrying” was subjective, so Kain and I might have different opinions on that.
“……Do as you wish.”
After my relentless persuasion, Kain finally gave permission with obvious irritation and turned away.
“……!”
I could practically feel Tristan panicking beside us. But perhaps realizing there was no longer a way to stop this, he said nothing.
“Yes!”
I answered immediately before Kain could change his mind and turned toward Rain.
“Please use it now.”
Rain glanced around nervously before activating the communication magic device.
“Please write your message here.”
Then she handed me a sheet of paper and a pen from beside the device.
“This is specialized stationery for the communication artifact.”
‘So this is how messages are sent through it.’
Apparently ordinary paper couldn’t be used.
‘As expected of such an expensive magic tool.’
I’d better be careful not to waste anything.
After asking everyone to wait a moment, I placed the paper on the table and picked up the pen.
Then I suddenly felt an obvious stare from somewhere.
“Don’t look.”
“Ahem, hm…”
When I glared while shielding the paper with both arms, Tristan coughed awkwardly and stepped back.
‘First, introduce myself… Ah, I should mention seeing the future too.’
I carefully wrote each word.
“Here.”
Finally, after adding, ‘I would like to explain the details in person,’ I handed the paper to Rain.
‘I didn’t mention the dark magic attack in the forest because I thought Kain might insist on reading it.’
I glanced toward Kain.
But rather than caring what I had written, Kain looked as though he simply wanted to leave as soon as possible.
‘If I’d known it would be like this, maybe I should’ve written everything after all.’
Still, Tristan had been staring at my paper so intensely, clearly trying to peek.
‘Whatever. I’ll tell the Duke everything in person later.’
I stopped thinking about it and turned toward the device.
As soon as Rain inserted my message, the magic device began making loud mechanical noises.
“That signal means the other side has received it.”
“They got it quickly! Then the reply should come soon too.”
We waited for a response.
But after a moment, the machine fell silent again.
“……Maybe they’re thinking about the answer.”
“……That appears to be the case.”
Several minutes passed.
Yet the device still made no sound.
“……Should we send it again?”
“……That may be best.”
When I suggested it, Rain pulled out a fresh sheet of paper. At that moment, Tristan stepped in.
“The Duke has judged that a reply is unnecessary. That is enough now.”
His expression looked refreshed, as though he had finally overcome a crisis.
“It could just mean the reply is delayed.”
“That is precisely what being busy means. No matter what happens at the estate, it is treated as secondary.”
‘How can he say something like that!’
Startled, I looked at Kain.
Even after hearing those words, Kain remained expressionless.
As though he had expected this all along.
‘Has this happened before?’
A heavy sense of guilt hit me, as though I had dragged up painful memories for him.
“Everything is settled now, so let us leave.”
Even then, Tristan continued smiling kindly as he tried ushering me out of the basement.
I clenched my fists tightly.
‘Settled? Not even close. We’ve only been ignored once.’
If we left it at this, all it would do was reopen Kain’s wounds.
‘I don’t want that!’
I shook off Tristan’s hand and headed back toward the communication device.
“W-wait!”
“Ah!”
Suddenly, Tristan grabbed my arm.
I stumbled and fell hard onto the floor.
“Lady Winiel!”
Rain rushed over to help me. I wasn’t actually hurt, but I pretended to be and stayed down for a moment.
Apparently panicked, Tristan hurriedly apologized.
“I-I apologize, Lady Winiel! Since magic devices operate through mana, I instinctively reacted because I feared your holy power might damage it…”
As Tristan said, mana and holy power were fundamentally incompatible. If holy power touched a magic tool directly, it could break.
But…
“I’m a person. I can control my holy power.”
I answered stiffly.
‘Does he think I just leak holy power everywhere?’
That only happened with objects like purification stones.
‘Objects?’
Wait… could it be…?
At that moment, something clicked in my mind.
“Lady Winiel?”
I sprang to my feet and hurried toward the device.
Before anyone could stop me, I tore off the metal plate from the area I had touched earlier.
Clunk.
A stone about the size of my fist dropped out from inside.
So the familiar sensation I had felt earlier hadn’t been my imagination after all.
“There was a purification stone inside. No wonder I sensed holy power coming from the device.”
I picked up the stone and looked toward Tristan, who was desperately trying to hide his shock, before finally turning to Kain.
“If something like this was inside, the device probably wouldn’t function properly. For example…”
I paused.
“The letters could become completely distorted and unreadable. Like meaningless scribbles.”
