MCFPM 30

Sherilotte frowned as she looked down at Ren, who was having a panic attack.

“As expected.”

Why had Peregrine lured the raptor-kin village that lived on the cliff into a trap? Because raptor-kin are the most agile and free-moving of the beast-kin tribes.

He had lured the dragon to raise assassins, and slaughtered all the humans who had barely survived.

And when she realized Leonat had intervened, she had already considered one possibility.

Memory loss and distortion.

“That’s Duke Leonat’s specialty — messing with people’s minds.”

Sherilotte shuddered, as if picturing a cruel wizard mad with experiments.

“Sherilotte, aren’t you being a bit dramatic?”

The Duke Leonat disliked her. He despised and looked down on her so much that he even performed experiments on her under the pretext of examination and treatment.

He only stopped after her body reached its limits and, on top of everything else, she nearly died from poison intended for the archduke’s son.

Of course, he didn’t stop because his conscience pricked him — he stopped because he feared Odeli would discover his games.

“He tried to erase my memory right after that.”

Leonate probably believed he had completely wiped her memories. For some reason, Sherilotte’s memories had remained intact even after the erasure attempt.

“It was horrible then, but now it’s almost a blessing.”

Because of that, she had been able to save people, hadn’t she?

“Ugh… hngh…”

The brain-holding indoctrination seemed to be loosening; Ren writhed.

Sherilotte gripped the railing tightly as she watched the boy in pain.

“Lea Masel had almost no traces of magic in her brain. But Ren Masel was different. Once I placed a blessing, so many things started coming through.”

After Eonian reported the anomaly, Sherilotte had guessed the one who’d been brainwashed assassin would be Ren, not Lea.

“His brain must’ve been tampered with far more than mine.”

So the boy needed continuous stimuli first — triggers that would bring back real memories, a decisive moment.

“Hearing Cecile’s scream must have been effective.”

The dark-haired woman in the footage looked like Cecile. Sherilotte didn’t know whether Ren had overlapped the woman with his sister, but she refused to give up any chance and was determined to salvage the boy.

She spoke quietly toward Rodier, who was protecting Cecile.

“How’s he over there?”

“Fine.”

Cecile was physically all right but looked exhausted.

It was understandable. The two orphaned siblings she had hired had turned out to be spies. She must be swimming in betrayal, resentment, and pity right now…

At that moment of her thoughts—

Boom!

A sudden thud from the floor. Sherilotte turned her head and saw a longsword.

Lea Masel.

An assassin from Peregrine. But she had betrayed her master, become Leonat’s pawn, and now attacked the slightly careless Sherilotte.

“You damned cat—!”

Yes, you talk just like Duke Leonat.

Watching Lea’s brown bob whipping chaotically, Sherilotte closed her eyes. Then—

Crack!

“Argh!”

Lea Masel’s body slammed into the wall and folded.

Ren, who had momentarily forgotten his panic in his scream, looked up to the second floor. His trembling eyes fixed on the blood-splattered stone wall.

Surely the Archduke Chartreuse had been up there? As he unconsciously turned his gaze in puzzlement, he noticed a flash of gold hair at the edge of his sight. Startled, Ren looked at the archduke standing beside him; her pale green eyes met his.

“…No way, from the beginning.”

“A double trap is standard.”

“……”

Ren’s mouth fell open.

Bird-kin generally have fragile bones. Because they must stay light enough to fly, their bones are often hollow.

Lea hadn’t realized the wall was closer than the illusion. In the end she met the kind of demise befitting a bird-kin.

“Rodier, arrest Ren Masel.”

“Yes.”

“As for Lea Masel… collect the remains.”

The archduke’s bitter smile made Ren’s eyes shake.

She looked very sad. What had earlier appeared as simple pity now felt like cruelty by comparison.

Ren staggered as Rodier bound him, and then darkness closed in.

“Did you hear? There was a spy.”

“Oh, who hasn’t heard that in the Northern Castle?”

As soon as the archduke regained consciousness, the rumor mill inside the castle sprang into life.

The talk was that Lea Masel had been a spy, had confessed that Duke Leonat was behind everything during interrogation, and had died.

Sherilotte hadn’t proclaimed it herself, but as soon as the name of that eastern great noble came up, those who had been suspecting one another were delighted. Instead of easing their unease, the servants and retainers began tearing into Duke Leonat, who had become everyone’s common enemy.

“Hm? Then what about the younger brother? He hasn’t been seen lately, right? Maybe he was a spy too?”

“No, he collapsed from shock. Apparently he didn’t know anything at all.”

The rumors about Ren Masel were much milder compared to those about Lea.

Some people had suspicions about him, but as more people — including Mina and Cecile — testified to having seen him faint, the doubts died down.

And after a short while…

Now Ren, who had been stripped of the Masel name, faced the archduke and the archduke’s heir.

“Are you physically all right?”

Noting the kindness in her manner, Ren bowed his head slowly.

“…Yes, thank you, Your Grace.”

In truth, he didn’t feel great. He had received treatment, but the previous night he had scratched at his neck and arms until exhaustion and simply fallen asleep.

As a result, his forearms and neck were wrapped in bandages. Sherilotte, glancing at the wounds peeking out from the wraps after having Eonian hand her the tablet, asked him something.

“What is your real name?”

“…Quez. Ren Quez.”

Sherilotte wrote his name on the tablet and pulled over a chair to sit nearby.

“You were an assassin for Peregrine.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Were you colleagues with Lea Masel?”

“We were, but it wasn’t a good relationship, even if you say it nicely.”

“I suppose so. Lea Masel was an assassin attached to both Peregrine and Leonat.”

Ren snapped his head to her at the mention of Leonat. When Sherilotte shrugged at his look asking how she knew, she said,

“Lions are just that sly.”

“…Is that so.”

Ren clicked his tongue and turned his head, resting it heavily against the wall.

“So I was just used and discarded, huh.”

“……”

At that, Sherilotte asked,

“Do you intend to take revenge on Peregrine?”

Ren gave a hollow laugh and shook his head.

So that was his concern.

Revenge. The two-syllable word tasted maddeningly sweet when rolled around in his mouth; he burst into bitter laughter.

“Your Grace.”

“Yes?”

“Peregrine is someone the eastern archduchess dotes on.”

“I know that.”

“He’s carried out the eastern shadow post for generations.”

“Then his pride must be considerable. Fine.”

“……”

Ren watched the archduke as she kept answering him. After a pause, she asked dryly:

“How can you be so certain?”

Ren couldn’t understand.

Peregrine had been the master to whom he had given more than half his life. Even if the brainwashing was undone by blessings and external stimuli, where would Peregrine’s cruelty and coldness go?

Convinced of this, Ren wondered if Archduke Chartreuse might be underestimating Peregrine. The world, once only black and white to him, suddenly had color — it was natural everything would look suspect.

“The owl sees everything in the dark with its eyes, and its talons are sharp. It hunts not only rabbits or mice but even cats. And among owls, Peregrine is—”

Ren glanced at Eonian’s wolf ears.

“an alpha.”

“……”

“He ruthlessly crushed those of his own kind who opposed being subordinate to the East. Because it was more profitable—!”

Sherilotte’s brows lifted, but Ren continued.

“Given how things are, how could I possibly take revenge on him?”

“……”

“I can’t even imagine that man falling…”

At the moment Ren bowed his head—

“You don’t know what weapon I use.”

Sherilotte cut in. When Ren looked up, a flintlock — when had she produced it? — clicked.

The barrel gleamed as if well maintained. She tapped the muzzle and murmured,

“It’s what bird-hunters use.”

The loaded bullets were small but sharp, better suited to catching quick reflexive birds.

“You don’t think I’m unaware of Peregrine’s existence, do you?”

“……”

“Remember that I’m the one who freed you from their brainwashing.”

Ren’s eyes widened.

The archduke had anticipated Leonat’s brainwashing techniques and Peregrine’s assassin training.

Even if she had been living at the archducal residence continuously, if she had only surrendered to fear she would never have made that judgment.

“I polished this gun every day to make those bastards disappear from this world. You and I aren’t so different.”

Sherilotte stared at Ren.

“I won’t rashly promise to let you live as a proper human. But your enemy is my enemy…”

She placed her hand over her chest.

“Use me.”