Silent Witch

During his stay at Duke Reinberg's residence, Nero had gained another hobby to pass time. It was a wonderful bath time.

Speaking of baths, the first thing that crossed one mind when talking about baths in rural areas would be steaming baths, but in cities where bathtub-style bath culture had been established relatively well, one would think of public bathhouses and the like. Naturally, nobles had their own bathing facilities in their residence, and having luxurious bathhouses can be a symbol of their status.

And the bath in Duke Reinberg's residence was no exception to this rule as they have one which was extremely luxurious.

At first, Nero was unable to understand what was so great about bath culture, but after timidly submerging in the bathtub he was completely captivated by it.

Since nobles often took a bath early in the morning before getting ready, Nero always went to the bathhouse at night so he can occupy the bathtub for himself alone.

And today was no exception. Even after he's done with his dinner, he instantly rushed to the bathhouse. He might have a human figure, but his true form was a dragon that was weak to cold. As the snow had been falling continuously for a few days during this season, taking a warming bath must be a blissful time for him.

Who would have thought that the feared Black Dragon Wogan would be so excited to be taking a bath?

…And if I think about it, every time Nero took a bath, it would take longer than the last…

It takes a lot of labor to maintain the bath, including reheating and cleaning it. The servants may feel inconvenienced if he takes a bath too long.

Reminding herself that she should finish her report at the appropriate point, Monica faced the paper and was preparing herself to write. As for which, it would be delivered to the capital.

As the Seven Sages, Monica had an obligation to write a report about the appearance of the cursed dragon and its defeat.

Without mentioning that the Green Dragon became a cursed dragon through witchcraft, Monica described her accidental encounter with a cursed dragon at a hunting ground and how she fought it off with Felix's cooperation.

…and lastly, I need to figure out how to make them convinced that the cursed dragon corpse is not in the hunting ground…

Besides Monica, Nero, and Felix, nobody had known that the cursed dragon had been moving again in the middle of the night. She thought that it would be better to keep it under wraps. And Felix would not go out of his way to mention that the cursed dragon had been moving in the middle of the night since he didn't want anyone to know that he snuck out of the mansion at that time.

Since its corpse was burned away without leaving anything by Nero's black flame, no one should have noticed that the cursed dragon had moved.

As for her injury, she described it as she was not realized that there was a curse in her injury during the day and it worsened some times later.

" …' sometime later, its corpse vanished. I suspect it was disintegrated due to the curse that had eaten away its body, ‘… I guess it will do for now."

Dipping her quill into the inkwell, Monica wondered if she should add a few more details about the cursed dragon, and noticed that the inkwell was almost empty. Need to replace it with the new one.

So with an empty inkwell in her hand, Monica was about to go out into the hallway looking for a servant. Fortunately, just as Monica opened the door, Peter, a servant in his prime age, passed by.

"…Oh, Lady Silent Witch, is there something troubling you?"

Peter was a competent servant. He could tell Monica was looking for a servant just by observing Monica's restless gaze under the hood.

When she showed him an empty inkwell, he instantly understood her intention and accepted the empty bottle.

"We are very sorry for the inconvenience. We will immediately prepare a new one for you."

Peter said with a respectful bowing posture which had been polished really well for a servant.

Looking at his gesture, something tugged at Monica's heart.

………wait.

She seemed to remember to have seen him somewhere. And she was sure it was not in this mansion.

Where? Where is it? I think it was neither outside the mansion nor the hunting ground… but at some different place…

Monica has seen this man inside the deep of the forest.

───No, it was not Monica who has seen this man inside the forest.

"─!?"

When she finally realized that ‘certain truth,' Peter had turned his back on Monica and was walking down the hallway to get some new ink.

And her left hand, as if reacting to the resurfaced memories, was trembling. Holding her trembling hand with her right hand with a grim face, Monica returned to her room.

Perhaps it was just her imagination, but she felt like she heard a maddening cry in her mind.

＊ ＊ ＊

"Lady Silent Witch, I've brought you a new inkwell."

It didn't take long for Peter to return. Monica sat up on her bed and turned her gaze toward the writing desk, and Peter, as if he had known her intention, placed the inkwell on the desk.

"Is there anything else?"

Hearing Peter's words, Monica slowly got up from her bed and locked the door of her room.

"Lady…?"

Peter asked her with a bewildered expression.

"From what I know, Miss Eliane Hyatt and you were the first people who witnessed the cursed dragon."

Peter was probably surprised to hear Monica talk to him. After all, she had hardly spoken to anyone ever since she arrived in this mansion.

Peter startled before nodding nervously.

"I-It was as you said… I was saved by Lord Dudley when I encountered the cursed dragon…"

"And when the cursed dragon appeared in the rest area of the hunting ground, it just happened that you were also there."

"Y-Yes. I was taking refuge there with Lady Eliane."

"And lastly, I don't know if you're aware of this or not, but when the cursed dragon was moving again, it was running toward here as if it was attracted by the curse in this mansion."

The words she uttered didn't stammer like usual.

In fact, her fear of humans was dominated by other emotions.

And she knew it was not her.

──It was coming from the cursed dragon.

"Perhaps that Green Dragon was… no, I'm certain you were the one who put a curse on the child of that Green Dragon through witchcraft. That's why that dragon was chasing after you."

Bloods drain from Peter's face.

His lips trembled as he tried to keep up appearances as a servant.

Then with his persistent polite demeanor, he asked Monica.

"What are you suddenly talking about, Lady Silent Witch… There's no way such I could cast such witchcraft…"

"Perhaps you had known this, but a human body is made up of a boundless number."

As if being whipped, Peter's body trembled when he heard the words Monica uttered.

His eyes that looked at Monica widened to their limits as if he were seeing something unbelievable.

"I've seen the memory of that cursed dragon. In that memory, I saw the man who cursed and killed the child of that dragon."

She couldn't see the face of that man but she saw the shape of his body.

"I am confident in my ability to accurately determine the size of the human body. I can surely say that the size of the man that the dragon saw and the size of your body… match perfectly."

The size of his shoes, the size of his knees, the size of his inseam, the size of his torso, the size of his arms, the size of his fingers, the size of his neck- and lastly the size of his overall proportion.

Monica was slowly lifting her hood as she surveyed Peter's body size.

She saw the numbers of this man matched with the man in the cursed dragon's memory.

After her hood was lifted, the face behind which was surveying Peter's body was exposed.

It was a face of a young girl with a childlike appearance──the moment he saw her face, Peter's expression changed completely.

"Y-You! You! You…!"

Why did he so scared when seeing my face, thought Monica.

And looking at how he's scared, he just like he had seen a dead man who comes back alive.

"T-That phrasing… That face… N-No wonder…"

With clacking teeth, Peter voiced his words almost like he wants to scream.

"You are Benedict's daughter!"

Monica's mind was stopped for a moment.

"………….huh?"

Right, Benedict was the name of his late father.

But why did her father's name come up in the current conversation?

Also, how did he know that she was Benedict Rayne's daughter?

This situation perhaps could only make Monica confused, but for Peter, it was more than confusion. He was sweating profusely with foams that coming out from the edge of his mouth as he scratched at his face.

"So you still want to chase after me even in your death, Benedict! Is this your revenge agains me for selling you to His Excellency!?"

The almost bloodshot eyes were no longer looking at Monica. They were looking at the person that had long gone.

"Do you know… my father?"

Monica said involuntarily as she walked forward, in response, Peter flailed his hands chaotically and spouted, "Don't come any closer! Don't come any closer!"

Contrary to his screaming desperately earlier, he now suddenly showed a maddened distorting smile.

"That's right! His Excellency wouldn't let me off the hook anyway… Hahahaha, I'm not gonna be another Arthur! I… I…. hihihi, hahahahahahaha!!"

And suddenly, Peter's body began to wobble, and fell to his knees. He then shoved his right hand into his pocket, and before Monica noticed, Peter's right hand had turned jet black in color.

It was the same curse that he had used on the Green Dragon.

Monica's spell alone can't stop the erosion of the curse. Furthermore, the speed of erosion in his body was terribly fast. It might be different for Glenn and Monica since they are exceptional. But for one with the lesser mana, the curse would consume him faster.

In the span of a couple blinks, all of Peter's body had turned black.

And what the shaman whose body was engulfed in a curse uttered his last moment from his quivered mouth was…

"Aah, Benedict… if you still have an obsession to chase me up, then you could try to catch me down all the way to the bottom of the hell."

Afterward, the black shadow crumbled silently before it disappeared like ashes dissolving into the air.

With a clank, something fell to the floor. It was a jet-black jewel with a gold-plated ornament. Perhaps it was used as a medium for witchcraft. And Peter used it to cast a curse that claimed his own life.

"Why…?"

She can't understand the meaning of the devastating sight before her.

More importantly, the words Peter left behind made Monica's mind turn into disarray.

Behind the death of his father, Benedict Rayne, Peter had played some role in it. He had betrayed and sold his father to someone. And perhaps… that someone was a man that Peter referred to as ‘His Excellency.'

And that man referred to as ‘His Excellency', was probably the mastermind behind the cursed dragon incident.

Monica was hanging her head down as she covered her face with a shaking hand.

"Why does the shaman who put a curse on the dragon know about my father?"

The eyes peering through the gaps between her fingers dulled slowly.

"…that person also involved in behind the death of my father?"

Her chest felt so painful. Every breath she inhales feels like she is taking in the ashes left behind by that shaman, it almost made her have the urge to vomit.

"Why? Why did my father have to die?"

No one answered her muttered voice. After all, the man who knew the truth had been eaten away by the curse before her eyes.

But there's one thing that she knows…

…for whatever reason, someone wants my father to die.

The sight flickering in her eyes was the reddened flame that burned away her father.

And the sound echoed in her ears was the voice of the executioner condemning her father.

──Everyone, this man, Benedict Rayne has secretly studied the most forbidden art and conspired to overthrow the country. Therefore, he is hereby sentenced to be burned.

──Let the fire of the Spirit God burn away and cleanse the sin that is contained in his body!

My father is not a sinner.

Monica's breath was haggard as she stare closely at the cursed tool.

Perhaps this item will be the key for her to reach the truth.

What kind of cons[iration had my father involved in? Why did my father have to die?

"Dad… just wait for me…"

After the tool lost its effect, Monica picked it up and clutched it closely in her small palm.

She had screamed over and over at the people throwing stones at her father, at the people who burned his books, and at her uncle that cursed him. She had said to them, that my father was not at fault.

But the more she shouted, the more malicious glances and violence she got, and the weaker her voice become… it continued until she could only shut her mouth as she hang her head down.

But now is different, she was not the same child as before, she had become one of the Seven Sages, the Silent Witch.

"I will prove to everyone… that my father was not a sinner."