‘The former duchess.’
Ludville’s mother.
The woman with a gentle, beautiful face was looking at the baby who had just begun to toddle with an endlessly loving gaze.
“I heard it was an accident.”
The year Ludville turned five, the carriage the duchess had been riding in overturned on a trip she had taken alone for rest.
Of all things, it fell off a cliff, and they couldn’t even recover the body.
“So that’s what she was like.”
Camilla couldn’t take her eyes off the image until it ended.
Seeing, for the first time, the tender existence called “mother” felt unfamiliar, and yet left a faint ache.
[...Young Lady, Miss Camilla.]
“Ah, yes.”
Even long after the recording finished, Camilla stood blankly until she finally responded to Derrin calling her.
“I think we’ve sorted this well enough. Let’s head out.”
[Yes.]
Camilla carefully placed the Recording Orb back into the box.
“But why is this here?”
If it was a recording showing the late duchess, it had to be very precious.
“Did Father set this aside on purpose? For my mother’s sake?”
When one remarried, clearing away the previous wife’s belongings was a kind of courtesy. Maybe Derrin knew something.
[...I’m not sure.]
Huh?
His reaction was a little strange.
‘What’s with him?’
He’d done the same a moment ago—ever since the Recording Orb was found, he kept avoiding her gaze.
He was the one who always answered anything she wondered about without a hitch.
Watching Derrin grow more flustered and inch away from her, Camilla realized one thing for certain.
Derrin was terrible at acting.
‘If you can’t control your face like that......’
How had he ever served as Chief of Black Shadow? The current chief, Butler Rube, was so adept at masking his expression you could never read him.
‘I don’t know.’
Seeing how troubled Derrin looked, Camilla didn’t dig deeper and quietly left the storage.
****
“Wow! Camilla, the children are going to love these!”
“Then that’s good.”
“They don’t look used at all.”
“I picked only what was still fit to use.”
A mountain of items was unloaded from the carriage Camilla had ridden in. Laila kept letting out little exclamations as she saw them.
So did the others. When they heard these were things once used by Ludville, the prodigy of the sword, and Ravi, who stood out in magic, everyone’s eyes lit up.
The club head’s gaze turned sharp as she had to fend off hands that wanted one as a sort of charm.
“......”
Camilla gave a vague response to their enthusiasm, then looked at someone with a hint of disbelief.
“What?”
“......”
“Say it.”
Arsian was standing there.
“If you’ve got something to say, say it.”
“...Why are you even here?”
“Can’t I be?”
“No, it’s not that you can’t, it’s just......”
...So this is what that felt like.
The strange reactions she’d seen from Ravi and the Duke of Sorpel when she’d said she joined the Service Club finally made sense.
She probably had that exact expression now.
“Are you really joining this club?”
“Yeah.”
“...You’re going to do volunteer work?”
Of all people, Arsian Sephra, you?
The guy who sent fists and Killing Intent the instant anyone asked him for a favor—doing volunteer work...?
“What’s with that reaction?”
“I’m happy, it’s just......”
If you make a face that murderous, what am I supposed to say?
Camilla gave an awkward smile and slid her gaze away from Arsian’s.
“All right, if everyone’s here, shall we go in?”
“Yes!”
At the club head’s words, Laila answered the brightest.
The others, brought along because she coaxed Arsian here, couldn’t even answer properly while watching him.
“Let’s go in too, Camilla.”
Petro, who had come to her side at some point, addressed her kindly as always.
“You’re here again.”
“I joined, so I should participate properly.”
Aren’t you two busy?
Camilla subtly shook her head at the sudden club activities of the two top talents in the Sword Club. What would the sword instructor say if he found out?
With a sigh, she stepped inside and /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ saw those who’d arrived first.
Peers around their age were handing out gifts to the children or playing with them.
“Oh! You’re here?”
A few teachers who noticed them came over.
“There are a lot of people today?”
“Yes, they come often too. They’re from the temple nearby.”
It seemed true they came often—the children followed that team well.
“Oh! It’s the witch big sis!”
“Really?”
“Wow! Witch sis!”
These brats.
“Have you ever seen such a pretty witch?”
“Witches can’t be pretty?”
...Are all the kids at this orphanage geniuses? They go straight for the heart of it every time.
“Read us a book today too!”
In an instant, the children clustered around Camilla.
“...Witch?”
Arsian, looking back and forth between the kids and Camilla, spoke with genuine admiration.
“Impressive.”
“What is?”
“They see your true nature right away.”
“What about my true nature?”
“Witch sis!”
“Witch big sis!”
“......”
Right on cue, the children’s excited shouts rang out, and Camilla clamped her mouth shut.
“Kh.”
“Hahaha.”
Arsian and Petro burst out laughing together.
‘...Let’s find a book.’
One full of virtuous people! I am shedding this witch title today if it kills me!
“Hello.”
Just then, a woman came up to Camilla. She was from the temple side who had arrived earlier than them.
“......”
Camilla’s eyes wavered for an instant when their faces met.
“You’re Lady Camilla of the Ducal House of Sorpel, aren’t you?”
“...You know me?”
Hearing her own name from a stranger’s mouth, Camilla’s expression cooled.
Even meeting those wary red eyes, the woman kept a bright smile and gestured toward the children playing to one side.
“I heard from the children.”
Silver hair that shone even more in the sunlight slanting in through the windows, and blue eyes.
For some reason the colors felt familiar, and her smiling face was truly lovely. Every time she smiled, the corners of her eyes curved so prettily it drew Camilla’s gaze without meaning to.
But even seeing that pretty face, Camilla couldn’t smile along in ease.
“It’s so nice to meet you like this.”
In contrast to Camilla’s face growing steadily harder, the woman’s smile bloomed brighter.
“My name is Rania.”
“...Rania?”
“Yes. We might be seeing each other often, so let’s get along.”
We might be seeing each other often?
‘Why?’
Why did those words grate so much on the ear?
Camilla said nothing. No, she couldn’t. Her head was a tangled mess.
Above all else, one thing in particular kept catching her eye.
The bracelet on Rania’s wrist.
She had definitely seen that bracelet before.
‘In the storage.’
She saw that bracelet in the Recording Orb she found while sorting the box of things Ludville had used.
Ludville’s mother had worn that bracelet.
Isn’t it just a similar piece?
No. She could swear her eye for detail wasn’t bad.
The blue gem that looked as though someone had taken Ludville’s blue eyes and set them whole had looked so uncanny that, even then, that bracelet had leapt out at her.
“Isn’t it pretty?”
Sensing Camilla’s gaze, Rania lifted the arm with the bracelet and smiled radiantly.
“My mother gave it to me.”
“...Your mother?”
“Yes!”
Her smile deepened.
“Sister Rania, shall we go?”
“Ah... It’s already that time.”
After that brief exchange, Rania glanced at the clock propped on the wall when the people she’d come with called her.
“See you next time.”
She moved away as if truly reluctant.
Camilla couldn’t turn her head easily from Rania, who waved as she left.
“What’s wrong?”
“No, it’s just......”
She didn’t have the bandwidth to care about the puzzled looks from Arsian and Petro beside her.
She stared holes into Rania’s retreating back.
She’d missed something. There was definitely something she hadn’t noticed......
In that instant, someone overlapped over Rania’s figure.
‘Ah.’
Camilla found one more reason she’d felt something strange from Rania.
‘She looks alike.’
With Father, the Duke of Sorpel.
****
[Young Lady, why do you keep watching this recording?]
“I need to check something.”
After meeting Rania, Camilla headed back to the storage.
She meant to check the recording again. She might have seen it wrong.
But after replaying it several times, Camilla could be certain. The bracelet in the recording and the bracelet on Rania’s wrist were......
Once she’d ordered her thoughts, Camilla opened her mouth carefully.
“Derrin.”
[Yes, Young Lady.]
“That bracelet.”
[Do you mean that blue-gem bracelet?]
“Yes. Do you know anything about it? Any story tied to it.”
He seemed to know it well—his answer came at once.
[It’s a bracelet His Grace had special-ordered to commemorate Lord Ludville’s birth. He later gifted it to the duchess, and I remember she cherished it dearly.]
“It must be a precious gem.”
If the Duke of Sorpel had ordered it himself, it wouldn’t be cheap.
She tossed out the bait though she knew the answer, and Derrin swallowed it whole.
The naive ghost floating in midair nodded with a benevolent smile.
[It’s a jewel made by a famous master named ‘Arti.’ He passed away long ago. I heard that bracelet was his last work.]
“Could there be another with the same design?”
Workshops that served nobles generally didn’t sell the same design to multiple people.
Still, she asked just in case.
[No, that should be the only one. Other craftsmen are like that too, but Arti was especially strict about such matters. He never left out rarity when it came to what makes the recipient feel special.]
Derrin shook his head at once.
He added that the jeweler Arti was famous for never making anything similar.
[That blue gem is also very rare. They specifically searched for a stone that produced the exact color of Lord Ludville’s eyes. I heard they combed the entire continent.]
In short, there couldn’t be another bracelet like it.
Camilla’s head grew even more complicated.
‘How am I supposed to take this?’
A girl around her age holding the late duchess’s bracelet.
On top of that......
“I see Father’s face.”
[Pardon?]
Rania’s features and air were far too much like the Duke of Sorpel’s.
If they walked together down a street, anyone would believe they were father and daughter.
