[CHAPTER 111]
Caliph was an incomplete human and a clumsy man, but when it came to work, he was completely different.
Meyna knew that better than anyone.
If Sir Lenox said it was fine, then it must be fine.
Even after seeing Madder’s appearance, which was impossible not to doubt, Caliph brushed it off lightly, so nothing dangerous would happen.
Just from that reaction alone, Meyna felt reassured.
“But…….”
Madder hesitated, fidgeting with her lips, then looked Meyna straight in the eyes and asked,
“The person over there with the children, his name is……?”
“Biterion Parker.”
“Due to certain circumstances, he had not revealed his existence until now.”
“He is the Second Prince, and also an X-rank Holy Knight.”
Meyna answered calmly.
“Ah…… I see……”
Madder replied vaguely, her expression unsettled, and once again began gnawing at her fingernails.
As if seeking help, she looked desperately at Amali and the elderly women on either side of her, then her lips trembled as she spoke,
“That man, I mean, His Highness the Prince, wouldn’t say anything strange to my daughter Ninniel…… right?”
Something strange?
The unfamiliar phrase caught in Meyna’s ears.
Sera and the other guild members seemed to feel the same discomfort, their expressions hardening at once.
“Something strange?”
Sera asked sharply, glaring at Madder.
She valued decorum and normally did not speak down to someone she had just met, regardless of status.
The cold, authoritative tone that cut off the end of her words showed just how offended she was.
“Are you suspecting that we came here with some unspeakable ulterior motive?”
“No, Your Highness.”
Amali, who had been watching the situation unfold, waved her hands and stepped in to smooth things over, but Madder did not stay silent.
“It’s not so much ulterior motives, but rather…… you all came from the outside world.”
Crunch, crunch.
Gnawing greedily at her nails again, Madder muttered,
“I just worry that you might say unnecessary things for a child to hear…….”
At that moment, the children gathered around Biterion burst into peals of laughter.
“Eek! What happened next?”
“Did the princess and the prince get married?”
“Did the prince really plant a million blue roses for the princess?”
Rattle, bang!
With a loud crash, everyone’s gaze snapped toward the table.
As if she could not endure it any longer, Madder sprang to her feet, lightly leaped over the fallen chair, and headed toward the couch in the reception room.
“Hah.”
Sera let out a hollow laugh, then twisted her head as her expression turned icy.
If not for the goal of destroying the dungeon, she would have already charged Madder with rudeness toward the imperial family.
Even the chess game was momentarily halted.
Meyna kept her eyes on Madder the entire time.
Striding as if kicking off the floor, Madder reached the couch in an instant, grabbed Ninniel by the wrist, and pulled her up.
“Let’s go, Ninni.”
Ninniel, who had frozen the moment she saw her mother, thankfully took Madder’s hand without resistance and headed for the entrance.
That was the end of it.
Without even saying goodbye, the mother and daughter fled the house as if running away.
An awkward atmosphere settled among the guild members.
The villagers, however, seemed utterly accustomed to such scenes and simply continued what they had been doing.
It really was strange.
And that’s not all.
She had suspected monsters, ghosts, or even that Madder might be an abusive mother.
“She’s actually someone with many wounds.”
Amali spoke unexpectedly, gazing into the air with a tender expression.
“This year marks exactly three years since Madder crossed the gate.”
“She came running with two toddlers who could barely walk.”
“At first, she absolutely refused to talk about where she came from or how she ended up here.”
Three years ago meant Ninniel and her sibling must have been around three or four at the time.
“She kept the children hidden inside the house and never let us see them.”
“We thought it was a bit odd, but we all assumed she had circumstances she couldn’t talk about.”
“After all, she came alone, without a husband.”
A young mother who crossed the gate and entered a dungeon alone with two small children, without a husband.
“And then?”
This time, Sera asked.
Amali turned her gaze from Meyna and answered Sera.
“It wasn’t until more than a year after she arrived that she finally opened up.”
“Her husband had been falsely accused and brutally executed.”
“Their home and property were completely confiscated.”
“When even the remaining family was about to be arrested, she fled in the dead of night with the two children.”
Amali then spoke of where Madder had lived, her husband’s family, and the work the two of them had done.
“I know.”
A mage from the Jaguar Guild nodded.
“The Wispun Little Theater.”
“It was fairly well known even in the Northern Continent.”
“Small, but famous for putting on solid performances.”
Amali nodded.
“That’s what I heard as well.”
After speaking at length about Madder and her husband, Amali finished with an expression mixed with sorrow and concern.
Meyna silently nodded.
Only now could she understand why Madder had looked so anxious.
The compulsive nail-biting, the scratching, the way she seemed ready to lose all reason when it came to her daughter.
Knowing better than anyone the pain of losing family to false accusations……
Meyna felt ashamed of herself for having suspected her so hastily by her own standards.
“There are especially many stars out tonight.”
“It looks like they might spill down.”
As Amali said, the night sky outside the manor looked as though the Milky Way itself had been transplanted there.
The deep blue of the night settled over the faces of people laughing and drinking.
“I really like our young lady.”
Amali gently stroked the back of Meyna’s hand as she clasped it.
……Cold.
She had already been startled once, but she still could not get used to Amali’s skin, which was cold like ice.
“Thank you for your hospitality.”
A not-so-simple smile appeared on Meyna’s lips.
“I wish you wouldn’t go around breaking dungeons and would just live here with us.”
Amali joked, her eyes curving.
“Oh my, ma’am.”
“How could outsiders live here?”
“We can only do so because we belong here.”
As the elderly women laughed and chimed in, the smiles vanished from their faces all at once.
As if on cue.
……What?
It was a chilling sight, but unfortunately, among the guild members present, Meyna seemed to be the only one who noticed it.
“Have some more.”
Amali handed Meyna a vividly crimson cherry.
“Thank you.”
Meyna forced the corners of her mouth upward.
Amali, her smile gone, silently faced Meyna.
For an instant, her pupils dilated like a beast lurking in the dark.
The corners of her mouth slowly, unnaturally spread sideways.
……It was clearly a smiling face.
* * *
“I’m telling you, it’s strange!”
Second floor of the manor, the guest room.
Caliph, slouched sideways in a chair at the tea table, frowned lightly as he watched Meyna pace the room, unable to calm down.
“Strange?”
“Why are you reacting so sensitively?”
“Do I really have to explain again?”
“The old ladies we were drinking tea with suddenly all went stiff at the same time.”
“Amali, Professor Holter’s younger sister, has hands cold as ice, and her smile stretched sideways.”
“And Madder’s neck turns three hundred and sixty degrees.”
“This is impossible.”
“What if this is a ghost village?”
“I’m not joking!”
Meyna raised her voice, her face flushing in a way unlike her usual self.
Caliph only let out a low chuckle.
Meyna, who had been pacing in circles, suddenly stopped.
She stared intently at Caliph’s face as he lounged with one leg stretched out on the chair.
“It’s strange.”
She muttered, as if to herself.
“It’s like everyone’s bewitched by something.”
“Meyna.”
Caliph called her name with a languid sigh and gently grasped her wrist.
“Calm down and sit for a moment.”
Meyna did not resist and sank weakly into the chair opposite him.
“What exactly is the problem?”
“……I told you already.”
Caliph did not reply further and simply gazed at Meyna’s face.
Silence lingered, and then, slowly, his upper body leaned closer.
