96 – Unveiling the Truth (2)
Shock(衝擊)
Aria’s claim was nothing short of a shock.
The astonishment at Reinhardt, so noble, so dignified,
abandoning his own child.
The surprise that even the man everyone vilified
had a reason behind it all.
Even now, students unable to close their mouths,
students collapsed in their seats, stand as proof.
“Th-Then all that… is that really true…?!”
“Lo… Lord Reinhardt…
He wouldn’t have… It’s a lie… *sniffle*…!”
There were those who desperately tried to deny
the scene unfolding before their very eyes,
but knowing Aria’s meticulous nature,
there’s no way she would bring only one witness.
“Ah… that… his impression was like…”
“Take your time, Senior Caroline.”
“Stern… he was stern, but even so, not as much as
the rumors would have you believe…”
“He seemed…not a bad person.”
Caitlynn.
The woman who hunted intermediate monsters alongside Jennison.
Her nature was so timid and frail,
it seemed she lacked even the courage to lie.
“…He was completely different from the rumors.
So much so that I wanted to erase my past,
when I judged him as I pleased, based solely on hearsay.”
“That…you mean…”
“The man I saw, at least,
didn’t seem to have any penchant for randomly tormenting others.”
Breithan,
Like Caitlynn, a man who aided him
in subduing intermediate monsters.
A nobleman, yet unarrogant,
a frank and easygoing fellow.
Perhaps because of that, despite belonging to a family
whose rank was not particularly high, he had quite a few friends.
Others too, several witnesses, appeared,
uttering opinions in agreement,
and in the end, they too had no choice but to acknowledge it.
That what they had seen was the truth.
“B-but…!”
Someone began to speak.
Someone who still couldn’t completely
accept the truth before them.
“But…if that’s how it really was,
it’s not like we could help but misunderstand…!”
“….”
“T-that’s right, now that I hear it…
There was no way for us to have known.”
“Y-yeah, this isn’t our fault.”
The atmosphere shifted.
The creeping tendrils of guilt that had been
slowly rising a moment ago
vanished in an instant, without a trace.
However, that too,
Aria had anticipated.
‘..From the start, I didn’t expect them to feel guilt over something like this.’
“Never even expected to be among those who would possess it.”
It was then.
Once again, from somewhere,
the murmur of voices arose.
“Hey… but if this is real…
the Reinhardt family…honor…prestige…”
“…Should we…tell…Father…? How…?”
Two cadets, far off, noses practically touching,
whispering loud enough for all to hear.
But those voices weren’t
the only ones murmuring.
A man, hand to his chin as if deep in thought,
rubbing it pensively.
A woman, fan concealing her mouth, beckoning
her attendant to her side, issuing instructions.
Students abruptly producing communication artifacts,
attempting to contact someone.
“…Is there any way to record this scene─”
“You, go to my father at once and convey
these facts with utmost clarity─”
“Yes, it’s likely true.
Let’s discuss where best to use this─”
Even with someone from the Reinhardt family
standing right before them, they made no attempt to hide their actions.
It seemed many were eager to relay this news
to anyone at all.
This news was nothing short of information
that could tarnish the Reinhardt Dukedom,
and furthermore, the honor of the Four Great Houses,
and it was information that could be sold
for a hefty price to those not present.
And that was precisely what she desired.
Others might wonder why she sought to
bring shame upon her own family,
but Aria cared for none of that.
She simply couldn’t bear to look upon the family
built upon the honor bought with her brother’s sacrifice.
And she hoped, even in the slightest, that
the father she once admired would regret his mistakes.
“..I want to become confident, even towards you, oppa.
And towards the people of the world too.”
As Aria repeated these thoughts to herself,
a pair of eyes watched her from the side.
A woman, her pink hair swaying,
fingering the dagger strapped to her thigh,
one of those who had hunted monsters alongside Jenison,
and, much like the Aria before her,
a daughter of the Four Great Houses, the Charlotte family.
Sino Charlotte.
She watched Aria slowly, then, licking her lips,
pulled out her communicator with swiftness.
“Hello? Uh, Papa? I think I’ve heard something
*very* interesting…”
Her face bloomed with a smile, one so amused she could barely contain it.
“Hey, what are you all doing!”
“It’s class time now…hurry, hurry,
get to the classrooms and prepare for lessons!”
The Academy instructors, sensing the unnerving atmosphere,
came out to disperse the crowd,
but it was already too late.
Nearly all the students present
had already informed their families of the incident,
meaning this matter would already be
spreading stealthily throughout the Empire.
*
“Young Master, but why did you decide to stop by here?”
“..There are some things I need to acquire.”
“Ah! Then shall I go and purchase them?”
Seeing Ella’s enthusiastic willingness
to do anything asked of her,
I chuckled softly,
and pulled out a piece of paper and a quill,
beginning to list the items I needed to buy, one by one.
“Uhm…? Young Master, what are you
planning to use all these things for…?”
“Well, just in case, you know?
Can’t hurt to have these things on hand.”
“Ah… Yes! I understand.
I’ll buy them right away and be back!”
Ella, saying so, darted out of the carriage,
looking utterly delighted. I, meanwhile, remained
motionless, there inside the carriage, awaiting her
while relishing the comfortable cushion against my back,
and closed my eyes as they were.
“Er, Mis-ster… Ah, fast asleep, I see?”
“….”
“Hmm… for a bit, it should be alright.
Oof… urgent, urgent!”
Finally, even the coachman, himself, vanished
toward the privy, and before I knew it, all that could be
heard nearby was Jennison’s shallow breathing,
the soft rasp of his slumber.
*Tap-*
*Tap-tap-*
*Rustle rustle-*
Except, of course, for the sounds of his bag,
which was ever so slowly, beginning to stir.
*
What was the world, to her?
Darkness itself.
Her eyes remained stubbornly shut,
her body fixed, hunched low and cramped,
and the passage of time, entirely unfathomable.
She knew not why she remained in this state.
She knew not even why she was here.
[…If your flaws and sins are all washed away,
you will surely be able to emerge again, I say.]
A voice echoed incessantly through her mind.
A voice, imprinted upon her very being, it seemed.
Within her memory, otherwise desolate, this single
remaining echo reverberated once more.
What could her sin be?
What were her flaws, then?
How could she cleanse what she could not even recall?
When the voice echoed in her ear for what had to be
precisely the 18,023,037th time,
frustration and a fragile hope took root
simultaneously in her hardened body and mind.
They’re never letting me out, that’s clear.
No, any moment now, they’ll come for me.
These two thoughts coexisted,
a chaotic chorus in her head.
Again, the voice resounded.
That voice, demanding she cleanse herself of all sin and transgression.
[..If all your transgressions and sins are washed away,
surely, you will emerge once more.]
[..If all your transgressions and sins are washed away,
surely, you will emerge once more.]
[..If all your transgressions and sins are washed away,
surely, you…]
As that voice echoed anew,
the count just surpassing 39,431,249,
a very small light began to pierce
through her closed eyelids.
‘..Huh?’
“..Huh?”
It was a first.
Her mouth obeying the dictates of her thought.
This too, was unprecedented.
Her eyes snapping open and her body moving on instinct.
Her flesh rushed towards the light, at startling speed.
Towards that tiny, infinitesimal light.
Though, upon closer inspection, it was less a stark white and more
a serene, shimmering silver, she hardly cared.
It was a color of light she’d never witnessed,
and so it mattered little.
At least it wasn’t black.
The moment she reached out to touch the light,
the darkness that had been holding her captive began to dissipate.
Like shattered glass, a window collapsing into a million pieces.
The darkness splintering, slowly, deliberately, breaking apart.
And then, the colors began to bloom before her.
Beautiful, harmonious, vibrantly fresh colors.
Around her, fragments begin to assemble themselves.
Buildings that embroider the streets,
Lively sounds echoing from somewhere,
The occasional song of the wind.
Things she could never feel, see, or hear in the darkness swarm around her.
“….”
“….”
But these were not the things that captured the gaze
of one who had lived almost her entire life in the shadows.
Before her stood a human, bound tightly in darkness,
eyes closed, exactly as she once was.
Indeed, everything was black.
*
“..Sir!”
“….”
“Sir…!”
“…?”
“Ah, you’re awake?”
Forced to lift my eyelids at the sound of someone calling,
I found only the coachman from moments before.
“I’m terribly sorry to wake you while you were resting, but…
Someone urgently requested that I deliver this.”
“…?”
“Master!!”
Barely had I registered the envelope suddenly placed in my hand,
When the carriage door burst open,
and Ella rushed in, frantic.
Her arms overflowing with the items I’d instructed her to buy.
“..Ella, what’s all the rush─”
“Master, look at this!!”
“..Ha, what did you pick up this time?”
What she hastily thrust at me
was none other than a single sheet of paper.
A paper covered in tiny writing,
even bearing a photograph.
“..What is this?”
“I…I also don’t really…”
The paper, received with such nonchalance, held phrases that made me doubt my own eyes.
The most prominent among them, if I were to read it aloud, went something like this:
“The Reality of the Reinhardt Family, One of the Four Great Houses.
Even Family Members are Used as Sacrificial Pawns…”
“Th…this, it’s about the Young Master…right? Right?!”
“….”
I don’t even know.
What is this?