Volume 2 - CH 6.5

A golden butterfly crossed his vision. A small butterfly with translucent wings. He had seen one in the past.

Tears welled up in Kazuya’s eyes.

It’s okay if I die… I’m worthless anyway…

The golden butterfly…

Saving Victorique from harm is a commendable thing…

The faces of Victorique, Mildred, Ambrose, and Inspector Blois receded slowly.

But there was one thing that stayed. Victorique’s precious pendant. Instead of moving away, it was getting closer and closer. Away from Victorique’s chest. Kazuya realized then that the pendant’s old chain had snapped, and it was falling with him down the ravine.

Victorique’s treasured pendant. She stretched her hand out, shouting something. She was reaching for the pendant.

Don’t you fall with me, too… It’s fine if I go down alone. You have to be careful!

His body swayed.

Kazuya’s mind went blank. He had no idea what was happening. He felt as if someone had shaken him awake, pulling him back to reality.

His vision tumbled. There was a dark and solid cliff before his eyes.

“Kujou!” someone called from above.

Kazuya looked up and saw Victorique. She had a strained look to her face, as though she was exerting all her strength onto something. Her rosy cheeks were turning red in agony. What’s she doing up there? he wondered. She’s so small.

He glanced at his hand and realized that she was pulling him up.

Kazuya was suspended over the cliff, and Victorique, crouched down on the ground, was gripping his hand tight.

In front of him was the cliff, from which he caught the faint smell of dirt.

The rushing of water came from far below, the sound of the muddy stream raging past.

Victorique was clenching her teeth.

Kazuya looked at her hands. Even when she was weak, she was desperately trying to pull him up with her tiny hands. She could hardly lift a small chair by herself.

“Victorique, you dropped your precious pendant.”

She did not answer. Kazuya realized that the reason Victorique had reached out was not to catch the pendant, but to grab his hand.

He stared at her hands. The back of her small hands had become pale, turning purple. Clenching her pearly white teeth, she shouted.

“What are you doing, Kujou?! Climb up, you dolt!”

“But I’m…”

“Stop talking and start climbing. You stupid, mediocre, lousy, foul, tone-deaf reaper!”

“I don’t think I’m foul…”

“Move!”

Kazuya regarded Victorique very curiously. He wondered why she was trying so hard. Then it came to him.

“Victorique…”

“What?!”

“Your hands hurt, don’t they?”

“No.

“You’re lying.”

“It doesn’t hurt.”

“But—”

“I said: it doesn’t hurt!”

Kazuya studied her face.

Ah! There’s no way it doesn’t hurt. She’s sensitive to pain. She’s lying. It’s the first time I’ve seen her lying. What a weird face.

Her cheeks were more puffed out than usual, and her emerald green eyes were moist.

“Hurry up, Kujou! What are you smiling at?! I said move it!’

Kazuya snapped back to his senses. Victorique’s tiny feet were slowly nearing the edge. If she kept this up, she would fall with him, but she never let go of his hand.

“I told you the other day. We’re going home together.”

“…You did.”

“Hurry up, you stupid, foul, tone-deaf reaper!”

“Sorry. You’re right, Victorique.”

“Right about what?!” she snapped.

“Thanks,” Kazuya said quietly.

“You moroooon!”

Kazuya chuckled in response.

He grabbed a tree root sticking out of the ground. With a lot of effort, he managed to pull himself up a little bit.

Slowly and steadily, he moved upwards. He could hear Victorique’s small breaths. The crackling of the flames in the distance, too. Finally, he made it above ground.

He took a breath. He was so exhausted, he just wanted to fall asleep.

Kazuya took a deep breath. As he exhaled, the sorrow that had overtaken him moments ago seemed to leave his body.

He kneeled down and breathed in and out. He lifted his head and looked at Victorique, who was hunched over beside him.

She was sitting on the ground with her small hands open. She studied her palms curiously.

Kazuya also peered into her palms. Her hands were red and swollen as if burned. Never having held anything heavy, her skin was very fragile.

“Victorique.”

When she noticed Kazuya’s gaze, she quickly put her hands behind her back. She observed the bleeding wound on Kazuya’s arm inquisitively.

“Uhm… I…”

Victorique snorted, then turned her back to Kazuya. “You thought it would be fine if you fell, didn’t you?”

“Well…”

She was furious. Kazuya scratched his head. He didn’t know what to say.

“You’re not allowed to fall.”

“…Yeah.”

“Idiot,” Victorique mumbled in a barely audible voice.

By the time the curtain of night fell, the flames roaring in the village had died out. A short time later, a carriage arrived from Horovitz to pick them up. It was dark, and the old man seemed unaware of the strange events that had befallen the nameless village. He eyed everyone—Kazuya, Victorique, Inspector Blois, Derek, Mildred, and Ambrose.

“I was supposed to pick up six passengers,” he said. “I’m not sure it’s the right faces, though.”

Before he climbed into the carriage, Ambrose looked back at the basin where the village was located. Wrapped in the darkness of night, the valley seemed uninhabited. Like a stubborn old man, it was just there, unmoving.

“I was watching the bridge burn, and I found myself running across it,” he muttered to no one in particular. “I’ve always wanted to cross that bridge. Ever since Brian Roscoe told me about the outside world, when I learned that there was more to the world than just our nameless village. I was the only one who couldn’t see it as my resting place.”

Ambrose climbed into the carriage with confidence. He reached for the linen string tying his hair, unraveled it, and tossed it out the window. His elegant, golden hair billowed and fell in front of his handsome, feminine face.

“It’s nice outside,” Victorique mumbled.

Kazuya swallowed, and gently squeezed her hand.

Feigning ignorance, Inspector Blois glanced over at his half-sister. “After all this mess, you might never step outside again.”

“Still, I’m happy.”

Kazuya was taken aback. This was the first time these strangely-distant siblings had ever had anything resembling a proper conversation, albeit a rather sinister one.

“I have proved Cordelia’s innocence,” Victorique said. “A daughter must defend her mother’s honor.”

Inspector Blois snorted. “Even if Cordelia Gallo was wrongfully banished from her village, it doesn’t change the fact that that woman was responsible for a lot of things in the last Great War. It also won’t change the fact that her daughter will never be granted freedom.”

“You’re just parroting father’s words, aren’t you?”

Inspector Blois grunted and glowered at his little half-sister. Victorique returned his gaze quietly, without a hint of fear.

There was silence.

The carriage began descending the steep road, rocking as violently as it did on their way to the village.

“What’s gonna happen to that village now?” Kazuya said to no one in particular.

“Who knows?” Ambrose, sitting across him, answered. “I’m sure it will take a while to build another drawbridge. But they will probably continue living the same lifestyle.” His face was pale and haggard.

“What about you?”

“I’ve always longed to see the outside world. I don’t know what will happen from here on out, but I want to live outside.”

“What’s so good about the outside?” Derek interjected bitterly in his high-pitched voice. “You people don’t understand the value of those antiques. It’s unfortunate that a lot of them turned to ashes.”

Mildred sighed. “Right. That means money going up in flames. Ah, how my heart aches…”

Inspector Blois poked Derek in the head. “Derek, you were about to be judged by the laws of that village. A brutal punishment was clearly waiting for you, worse than what Sauville’s laws could hand down. Did you see the axe? Imagine getting beheaded by that blunt, rusty thing. Doesn’t it make you shudder? I’d bet you wouldn’t get decapitated right away. You’d suffer for a while, the executioner swinging the axe over and over, until you’re finally dead.” He fell silent, as though horrified by his own words.

Silence reigned in the carriage for a while.

The horses’ hooves clopped rhythmically down the road. The carriage rocked wildly.

Inspector Blois broke the silence. “What did he mean by the Kingdom of Saillune anyway?”

“Saillune?” Victorique asked.