Chapter 120
“Sigh… I told you to send the physician away.”
It seemed the physician, who had been given the special mission to find out what illness she had, was visiting once every hour.
At first, the physician was desperate because if he couldn’t figure it out, his head would roll.
But after a few days, his attitude changed.
There was no doubt that her physical condition was different from normal.
If asked whether she was sick, it was slightly different, but it was unusual nonetheless.
However, no matter how thoroughly he examined her or tried new treatment methods, he couldn’t discover the cause.
As Angelina said, the only conclusion was that it was a “rare disease.”
The physician, who had prided himself on having skills no less than the imperial physicians, began to feel his pride wounded and examined her even more doggedly.
Above all, seeing the young lady smiling as if nothing was wrong despite knowing she would soon die made him feel sad, which fueled his determination even more.
“Miss, it’s me.”
The one who opened the door and entered wasn’t the physician but Jake, who had been guarding the front of the building.
“What is it?”
“Well…”
He glanced at Haley and Laura before speaking.
“Duke Kadenhart has arrived. It seems he might be here to see the Marquis, but…”
Angelina’s eyes sparkled.
“Tell him to come in!”
“Miss…!”
Before Haley and Laura could say anything, she quickly gave the order, and naturally, Haley stamped her feet in frustration.
“Why? I’m forbidden from going out, but there was no order against receiving visitors, right?”
“But…”
“If you have a complaint, tell him to come and chase the Duke away himself. In. Person.”
“…Hmph.”
Knowing that saying such a thing would incur the full wrath of the Magic Tower Master, Haley became sullen, and Laura let out a small sigh as she began preparing to welcome the guest.
***
“Welcome, Duke.”
Angelina greeted him cheerfully.
Seeing the smile spread across her face, Blake instead wore a dubious expression.
“I didn’t expect such a warm welcome.”
“Of course, Duke. You’ve come to visit us. Was the journey difficult? Have some cookies and tea. Oh, if you’re tired, would you like your tea cold?”
“Has something happened?”
“Why would you think that?”
“This forced attempt to lift the mood isn’t like you, Miss Flaubert.”
“…Is it that obvious?”
“Yes.”
It was so blatant that it would prick her conscience to lie and say it wasn’t…
“Sigh… It’s nothing…”
Angelina, who was about to deny it, stopped mid-sentence.
She felt there was no need to lie to him. She let out a deep sigh and spoke honestly.
“I had a small argument with my brother.”
“What? With the Marquis?”
“You seem very surprised.”
“Ah, I apologize. It’s just… I can’t imagine it. Neither you getting angry nor the Marquis expressing anger towards you.”
“It was my first time hearing my brother speak like that, too.”
“I won’t let you die.”
It was terribly fierce. Just recalling it now made her body tremble.
“So, about that… I think our plans might face various setbacks. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but I’ve been placed under a ban from going out.”
“Ah…”
This was also an unexpected measure, and Blake looked bewildered.
Both the Marquis imposing an outdoor ban on his adult sister and Angelina following it…
“Then you can use me as your proxy.”
“You, Duke?”
“Didn’t we promise to do everything together anyway?”
“That’s true, but that’s something people might misunderstand if they heard it.”
A Duke acting as a Marquis’s sister’s proxy.
“Still, thank you for the comfort. It would never happen, but it makes me feel good to hear it.”
Angelina knew what he meant, so she smiled and let it pass.
“By the way, there have been rumors lately that the Duke has been engaging in secret dealings with the Magic Tower Master. It seems you’ve been interacting frequently?”
Although she didn’t attend social events, she could still access current rumors through gossip magazines and newspapers. The talkative Haley was also helpful.
‘I didn’t know they were still meeting after the Black Land deal.’
The reason Angelina asked was because she was curious if he was still seeing Aesi.
She was worried because she didn’t know where he was or what he was doing.
“I’m trying to make it appear that way.”
But Blake’s answer meant that he wasn’t really meeting him, just making it seem that way in social circles, which dimmed the brief hope that had settled in Angelina’s heart.
“I see.”
It seemed that the only way to find her brother’s whereabouts was to press Haley and Laura.
“But what is this…?”
Blake pointed to the bundle lying on the table.
The bundle was open, and inside lay Artoas.
“Ah, I was just examining it. I was curious about the seal they mentioned.”
She attached a plausible excuse, but the reason Angelina had been looking at it was simply because of what she had seen in that ‘memory.’
It wasn’t just that it contained the power of lightning, but it was a power so strong that it could be said to rule the skies.
How did it come to be sealed?
The subject of that ‘memory’ must be the Saint who appears in the book from Kuns Village, right?
Since she heard the command to kill the witch in the memory, it must be so.
If that’s the case, the seal must also be related to that witch. Then perhaps it’s related to the sacred object?
Would something change if I touch it?
So she had been touching it here and there.
But nothing happened. She had hoped to see more memories, but there was no response.
“A magic sword’s seal that even the Magic Tower doesn’t know about—it’s strange no matter how you think about it, isn’t it?”
How could the Magic Tower, the source of magic, not know about it?
Even if there are no records, shouldn’t the Magic Tower Master be able to figure it out with a little research?
“The day it’s sheathed in its scabbard, the sealed power will return.”
“Its scabbard?”
“It’s a saying passed down in the Duke’s family.”
“But it’s already in a scabbard, isn’t it?”
“According to the old tale, that’s not its original scabbard. The original was lost over generations, and this is just a temporary one that was made.”
“Really?”
“It’s just a legend, though.”
“Legend… Ah, just a moment.”
Angelina picked up the relic book she had set aside. She turned the pages one by one, checking if there was any related story.
“It’s not here.”
She thought there might be a story about Artoas since there was one about Zeplictus, but there wasn’t.
Actually, this wasn’t the first time she had looked for stories about Artoas.
After learning that the knight and priest in the song lyrics were related to Artoas and Zeplictus, she immediately searched through this.
But there was no story about the sword anywhere.
Now that she had heard about the ‘scabbard’ from Blake, she looked again with that in mind, but there was nothing about that either.
“How strange.”
Angelina put down the book and crossed her arms. She tapped her chin, deep in thought.
‘Even our family heirloom, Zeplictus, isn’t actually in the storage.’
There were old antiques piled up here and there, but the place where Zeplictus should have been was empty.
Only the case remained with no contents, so Angelina was momentarily shocked, thinking it might have been stolen, and informed Ante about this.
Of course, since he wouldn’t meet her, she had to speak through Haley and Laura.
But the answer that came back from him was ‘That was never there to begin with.’
It was an absurd situation. Zeplictus wasn’t where it should be, and there was no way to unseal Artoas.
‘Well, I guess that’s why the Order is thriving in the shadows.’
If the secrets of the past, which are no different from legends, could be solved this easily, they would have been solved long ago.
Unless they had solved them and taken all the power, it was natural not to understand.
‘The only clue left is this one…’
Angelina turned her gaze to the relic book.
[With a brilliant light, the person and the million divine beasts vanished without a trace.]
A short phrase written at the end of the story, along with the statement that the one with silver wings retrieved Zeplictus and disappeared.
[Even as the flesh rots and the soul wears away, the mission never disappears.
Until the day the heart suffers its final fever, the million divine beasts would crouch in the rugged valley, guarding the person’s side.]
‘The problem is that I don’t know what this means.’
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