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Chapter 7
Ezekiel, who had remained silent for a moment as if giving her a chance to answer, spoke again in a voice lower and rougher than before.
“Everything in the empire will become entangled with that child’s residence and survival. In a situation like this, do you truly believe there exists even one person without ulterior motives?”
“This matter has already been approved by His Majesty the Emperor.”
“That’s complete nonsense!”
At last, his shout exploded through the room.
I flinched instinctively. Before I realized it, my hands clenched the fabric of my skirt tightly atop my knees.
I’m scared.
And it wasn’t because this child’s body wasn’t used to yelling.
No, this was entirely my problem.
Because I had once been Beatrice, I couldn’t suppress the instinctive terror surging up inside me. The memories of prolonged abuse still had parts of me trapped in their grip.
In the needle-sharp silence, Marquis Mafilda finally spoke.
“It was a measure ordered in the Grand Duchess’s final will.”
“What?”
Ezekiel’s face twisted as though he had just heard something utterly absurd. It wasn’t anger—just pure disbelief.
Only then did some of the tension leave my shoulders.
…How frustrating.
The moment I relaxed, anger welled up instead.
It infuriated me, painfully so, that I was still affected by that man’s emotions, still frightened of him.
Quietly, so no one would notice, I let out a long breath and thought of Mom.
Did she know now how Ezekiel had treated me?
If she somehow came back to life knowing all that, what would she do?
If Mom were standing here right now…
She’d probably refuse to let that man leave alive.
Honestly, it’d be a relief if all she did was scream about skinning him from head to toe and hanging the hide outside the castle walls.
Even if Ezekiel bore the title The Exterminator and possessed monstrous strength as a mage, my mother—who defended the border against demons—was just as terrifyingly inhuman in strength.
A murderous demon-like mother charging to kill him, and Ezekiel Ricard desperately dodging attacks because explanations wouldn’t matter in the slightest…
Just imagining it made me feel a tiny bit better.
But apparently, I wasn’t the only one thinking about Mom.
“That woman truly…”
Ezekiel muttered something under his breath before abruptly stopping when he noticed me staring directly at him.
Even he wouldn’t curse a dead mother in front of a three-year-old.
Not when I wasn’t Beatrice anymore.
…Well, enough pointless thoughts.
In any case, enduring the sting of tears and glaring at him had paid off. I decided to leave it at that.
“Hoo…”
As if trying to cool the blazing anger inside him, Ezekiel exhaled slowly.
“…I need to hear the contents of that will.”
I could see Marquis Mafilda’s cheeks puff slightly, as if she were smiling. Her clear response came immediately, almost as though she had been waiting for those words.
“Of course. However, there is one thing I must say first. As Your Grace surely already knows, when one attends the unveiling of a will, one assumes a moral obligation to cooperate in fulfilling the deceased’s wishes.”
Her smile deepened slightly.
“And sometimes… it becomes something beyond merely moral.”
Wait a minute. That wording sounded awfully suspicious.
No matter how I looked at it, this wasn’t a sincere warning so much as—
—the sort of disclaimer swindlers give right before conning someone while trying to avoid legal responsibility.
Apparently Ezekiel, who was likely experiencing treatment this outrageous for the first time in his life, realized the same thing.
“Wasn’t dragging matters this far your goal from the beginning?”
His voice had become almost a growl, clearly irritated that he was dancing in Marquis Mafilda’s palm.
“As expected, Your Grace is remarkably perceptive.”
Yet Marquis Mafilda didn’t so much as blink.
Wow.
To corner and tease that Ezekiel Ricard—someone born with everything, someone so talented that he had every reason to believe he was superior and actually was—
…I should learn from her!
A fierce desire for self-improvement rose within me.
Though that was probably something for later. Right now, something else mattered more.
Mom left another will behind.
The official testament covering inheritance, succession, and other public matters had already been delivered to the imperial family and announced before the retainers prior to the funeral rites.
So this one was undoubtedly a far more private and personal document.
My heart pounded.
I was happy simply knowing there was another trace of Mom left behind in this world.
What does it say? I want to hear it already. But when are they bringing it out? Who’s going to retrieve it?
However, instead of fetching some carefully guarded document, Marquis Mafilda merely stood where she was and elegantly swept her hand once through empty air.
At the same time, light scattered along the path of her gesture like fluttering fairies.
And where the light vanished…
A rolled-up scroll appeared.
Wait a second, this is—
Even though I had never seen it before, it matched almost perfectly with what I had learned in theory.
—Could it be the Oath of Sol-Lapis?
While I stared in silent shock, Marquis Mafilda bent one knee before me first.
“My apologies for informing you so late, Your Highness. It was the Grand Duchess’s command while she still lived. She ordered that the existence of this will only be revealed once your biological father was present.”
Then she turned toward Ezekiel.
“Furthermore, Duke Ricard himself was designated as the second executor. We had no choice but to wait until he arrived.”
Though the words seemed directed at me, they were truly aimed at Ezekiel.
Sol-Lapis was a kind of magic activated only after the death of the one who made the oath.
It contained the deceased’s final wish—the desire they wished fulfilled even after death—as well as the designation of agents who would carry out that wish in their place.
Those agents were called executors.
And if a designated executor attended the unsealing ceremony…
…a contract was formed obligating them to assist in carrying out the will.
Knowledge I had never once used in practice drifted chaotically through my head like scattered shards.
Meanwhile, Marquis Mafilda knelt before me once more in respect before turning back toward Ezekiel.
“I, Ellyn Turmara Mafilda, who bore witness to the sealing of Rosalind Hennessy Caledro’s oath and sealed it with a drop of my blood, now ask as witness to this sacred promise and as the first executor entrusted with fulfilling the will beyond death—”
Placing her hand atop the blood-red wax seal, she smiled faintly and drove the words home like a nail.
“Ezekiel of Ricard, designated second executor… may I break the seal?”
“And if I say no, will that stop you?”
Instead of answering, Marquis Mafilda’s cheeks curved again in a smile.
Soon, the crimson wax beneath her fingertips began to melt away like dissolving blood.
With a soft rrrrk, the glowing scroll unfurled itself.
Even after reaching the floor, it continued rolling outward like the tail of a serpent.
And at a glance, not a single section from beginning to end was blank. Tiny writing packed every inch so densely it looked less like text and more like some intricate pattern.
Um… Mom, isn’t this a bit excessive?
Even I, seeing an Oath of Sol-Lapis for the first time, could immediately tell this was far from a normal amount.
The sheer volume blatantly revealed her determination to control every possible event that might occur after her death—and to crush any unwanted outcome before it could even begin.
