Chapter 58
She could not know if he was listening, but she had to try calling out at the very least. Then, several birds with long feathers took flight in the distance with a rhythmic fluttering.
While her gaze briefly followed a bird with blue-green tail feathers, the bushes rustled. The movement gradually drew closer, and a lanky man cautiously poked his head out from within.
“So it was Lord Levia’s greenhouse after all.”
Theticia broke into a bright smile of relief. She never expected her habit of remembering voices and perfumes, due to her inability to recognize faces, would be put to such use. Come to think of it, she recalled Levia telling her to visit his greenhouse during the party.
“A-Ah, hello, Theticia.”
Emerging from the bushes, Levia pushed back the robe he wore over his head and offered a small greeting. Beneath the mana lamps shining like the sun, his pale complexion appeared even more bloodless. The dark shadows cast heavily under his eyes were also more distinct.
“Hello, Lord Levia. I am so relieved it is someone I know.”
The tension completely drained from her stiff body. Since Levia was close with Asmod, her first thought was that he might help if she explained the situation well.
“I apologize for arriving without any notice. Lord Asmod bought me your Bestiary, and I ended up falling in here the moment I opened it. There must have been a problem with the book. For instance, perhaps it had a magic spell leading to the author’s house.”
Having recently learned the concept of enchanted items, her thoughts naturally drifted in that direction. To think she had trespassed into another Archduke’s greenhouse right after trespassing into the bathroom of the Archduke’s villa.
Theticia wore a sheepish, awkward smile.
“H-How is it, now that you are here? My greenhouse?”
Despite her unannounced arrival, Levia immediately asked for her impressions without the slightest hint of panic or surprise. Theticia hid her bewildered expression and continued.
“Ah……. it is beautiful, incredibly so! It truly feels as if a forest from The Surface had been moved here.”
“I-Is that so? I airlifted them directly th-through the door leading to The Surface over there.”
Levia spoke while pointing to the far side of the greenhouse; then, unable to fully suppress his mounting excitement, he continued.
“B-But, there are not o-only plants from The Surface here.”
Levia suddenly leaned his large upper body forward. Startled by his suffocating proximity, Theticia took a half-step back. Paying no mind to this, Levia pushed aside the plant near Theticia’s feet.
A pale blue Moon Trumpet was forming buds in the shade of a heavenly bamboo adorned with countless white blossoms.
“……Is that a Moon Trumpet?”
“M-Mm. Th-this is a space to r-refine demonic plants so they can adapt to The Surface.”
“How fascinating. I thought monsters only grew in the Contaminated Forest.”
Levia’s head snapped rapidly toward Theticia.
“D-Did you see it? The Contaminated Forest?”
“Pardon? Y-Yes.”
Meeting those flashing green eyes sent a chill down her spine. Levia raised his lanky body, offering a gloomy, creeping smile. His shadow, turning its back on the artificial sun, cast itself heavily over Theticia.
“I-It is a breed I refined.”
“It is fas…….cinating, but why are you making these refinements?”
“T-To make The Surface like the Demon Realm. If d-demonic plants that breathe out mana grow, it will become a comfortable world for demons to live in.”
A freezing coldness emanated from his slow, awkward voice. Only now did the moth-eaten green leaves of the heavenly bamboo and its sparse, dried-up buds catch Theticia’s eye.
‘Demonic plants for the war…….’
Private soldiers in the form of demonic plants, capable of contaminating The Surface faster than the demon army, were being cultivated in this greenhouse.
The war on The Surface, which she had always considered someone else’s problem and felt impossibly distant, suddenly flashed through her mind. Even though the viscounty was near the north, there had not been many occasions where she could actually feel the weight of the war.
Seeing Theticia’s darkened expression, Levia hastily corrected himself.
“O-Of course, this greenhouse is also my p-personal preference. On the other hand, it is meant for r-raising plants from The Surface that adapt well to the Demon Realm.”
“I……. I see.”
The realization dawned on her that the title of Archduke was not given lightly. There was no way an Archduke would not participate in the long-standing war being waged between demons and humans.
Perhaps Asmod, who was also an Archduke, was likewise…….
“S-Still, it is a r-relief that Theticia likes this greenhouse.”
Theticia’s thoughts completely severed at the sound of Levia’s laughter-tinged voice.
“Pardon……? Does it matter if I like it?”
Theticia looked up at Levia with an uneasy expression.
“There is e-exactly one thing missing in this greenhouse. O-Other humans all end up dying, no matter how many I catch and put inside.”
“What do you…….”
Startled by his gentle voice, Theticia squeezed the Horned Rabbit tightly in her arms. Letting out a piercing squeal of alarm, the Horned Rabbit ultimately escaped her embrace.
“B-Because it is the place where Theticia will have to live, I thought it would be nice if it suited your t-taste. Theticia has a-adapted to the air of the Demon Realm, so you will be able to live well here too.”
Deathly pale, Theticia hesitantly backed away.
“Theticia, l-let us converse forever.”
Theticia bitterly regretted her own dullness. When the unexpected happened, she should have remembered what she suffered at the hands of Cellis.
This was not a trespass…….
It was a kidnapping.
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