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Chapter 41
「♩♪♬.」
「♩♪♬♩♪♬♩♪♬……」
“…Ha!”
Psyche woke up to a noisy sound tightening around her ears.
It was a song hummed by a woman with a thin voice.
She half-opened her eyes and looked at the ceiling. A thin white line of light slanted across a panel painted with an antique picture.
‘Morning.’
It was the light seeping in through the curtains.
Out of habit, Psyche reached to the side of the bed with the back of her hand, then sat up. This was her bedroom, and as expected, the Grand Duke was not there.
“You seem to have been bewitched by a ‘Siren.’ The library has excellent books, so I recommend you consult them.”
“If it’s because of the ‘Siren’s Tear’ I gave you, you may deal with it however you like. Break the pearl, or drive out the soul inside it. It is yours now.”
‘After putting me to sleep, he left.’
Her long history of severe insomnia had followed her ever since the moment she realized her family’s debt would be a lifelong burden.
Yet on nights she fell asleep beside the Grand Duke—more accurately, when he forced her to sleep—Psyche always slept deeply.
A refreshing feeling ran down her spine, then suddenly stopped as a sound pierced her ears.
「♩♪♬—」
Ah, there it is again.
A woman’s singing.
A calm humming echoed clearly in her ears.
This is…
‘Is this really a Siren’s song?’
Sirens were monsters shaped like mermaids. More precisely, they were nymphs, but they were called monsters because they seduced humans and led them to death.
They sang beautiful songs so enchanting they clouded the mind and lured people in.
‘And if you don’t fall for the temptation, you feel unbearable shame and die.’
Psyche suddenly turned her head toward the drawer where she kept the Siren’s Tear the Grand Duke had given her.
Because this song must be coming from there.
A sorrowful scream. Psyche listened carefully and slowly closed her eyes.
With her eyes shut, the sound pierced straight into her mind.
It was insanely beautiful, yet at the same time,
a sorrowful cry,
and something terrifying.
She was afraid. Like someone afraid to face the truth, she looked at the box holding the Siren’s Tear with trembling eyes.
「♩♪♬♩♪♬—」
It echoed as if the song were being sung right into her ears.
Breathing shakily, Psyche finally opened the box.
“…Huh.”
Contrary to her fear, the Siren’s Tear inside the box was quiet.
As if the sound she heard had been an illusion, it was completely calm.
Psyche reached out to close the box again.
Then—
「Aaaaaah—!」
A deafening scream exploded, and she hurriedly covered her ears.
Someone’s scream began to grip Psyche’s mind.
“A-ah, st-stop…”
「Let me go! Please save me—!」
It was a scream. Not one meant to harm her. It was a cry, a desperate plea.
Psyche decided to try speaking to the round pearl.
“If I can help you, I will. So please stop…”
The ringing sound stopped.
Then a strange voice stabbed directly into her mind.
「O w n e r」
The voice did not reach her ears, nor did she see anything.
It simply forced itself into her thoughts.
Psyche took a deep breath and tried to stay calm.
“How can I help you?”
She was not a magician, nor did she know much about supernatural things.
But she decided to listen first.
The pearl called the Siren’s Tear—she could clearly feel its desperate desire.
Soon, the voice continued.
「Let me go.」
“I can’t. I don’t know how—”
As soon as she answered, a piercing ringing tore through her ears again.
Gasping, she covered her ears and let out a strained breath.
“Alright. Where should I release you? Would the sea be okay?”
Surprisingly, the sound stopped again.
「You are the one who owns me.」
“…What?”
She had been thinking about where to abandon this talking pearl, but now she let out a confused breath.
「You are my master. So you just need to let me go.」
If she could, Psyche wanted to release it immediately.
She just didn’t know how.
“Please tell me how.”
「I don’t know either.」
If neither of them knew, how was she supposed to release it?
「Send me back to where I belong.」
“Alright. Then I’ll leave right now. There’s a castle built into a cliff at the edge of this land. Below it is the sea. Would that work?”
「What?! You’re throwing me into the sea? You’re trying to kill me?!」
“You said you wanted to go back to where you belong.”
The conversation kept going in circles, and her head began to ache.
Maybe because it had been inside the box for so long… the Siren’s Tear did not seem to understand human speech well.
「No. No. The sea where Sirens live is different from an ordinary sea. I have no body now, so I can’t even swim there.」
“Then until we find it again—”
「A woman with blue blood trapped me here. And… she took me as a trophy.」
As Psyche tried to put the pearl back into the box, it suddenly shone.
Then it began a long explanation.
「I was nothing more than that woman’s trophy. To prove she conquered our sea, she sealed me—the heir of the Sirens—inside this, and mercilessly burned everything. Fire is the enemy of water, but we couldn’t withstand her flames. Still, in the end, even she fell.」
“I see. Thank you for the very kind explanation.”
A woman with blue blood.
And the Grand Duchess Roxalana, who defeated the Sirens and obtained the ‘Siren’s Tear’ as proof.
She was the one who first made the Grand Duchy independent.
Not only independence, but territorial expansion as well. Turning barren land into a vast Grand Duchy was also one of her achievements.
「That woman slaughtered our entire race without mercy. And instead of guilt, she laughed and said it was fun.」
Somehow, it sounded believable for someone who shared the Grand Duke’s blood.
“…How can I help you?”
After staying silent, Psyche spoke carefully. The more she heard, the more pitiful it sounded.
「I don’t know. Time stopped for me here.
My family… what happened to them?
Is our sea still safe?
I’m slowly losing myself.」
The soul talking now was the true value of the Siren’s Tear.
This was no ordinary pearl.
Those who knew its worth called an object holding someone’s soul a treasure.
And they even praised the suffering of the trapped soul as something beautiful.
“…I’ll look for a way. For now, it’s better to keep your identity hidden.”
The Grand Duke must not have expected this when he gave her the gift.
As Psyche said that and tried to close the box, a hurried voice stopped her.
「Wait, wait! Hold on.」
She stopped her hand and looked down at the pearl.
A perfectly shaped sphere.
「Carry me with you all the time.」
「I’m a pearl, so people will think I’m jewelry, right?
And I’m a great treasure!」
“Yes… that’s true. But to make jewelry, you’d have to drill a hole through the pearl.”
「What?」
“…Is that okay? If you just carry it, you might lose it. If it’s alright, I can drill it right away—”
「No no no no no! Absolutely not! Never!
This is my heart.」
“Oh my.”
Psyche sighed and carefully placed the pearl in her palm.
“I’m thinking of going to the library. We might find a clue there.”
Hadn’t the Grand Duke told her to check the library? She was sure she could find something important there.
“But what should I call you?”
「Temptation.」
“…Excuse me?”
「Call me Peithinoe.」
“Alright, Ms. Peithinoe.”
「Too long. Just call me Pei.」
“Understood, Pei.”
Thinking it was a relief that it had a proper name instead of the unsettling word Temptation, Psyche started walking.
