Volume 1 - CH 5

P. 161

*****

The green Jack will come from Spankie's cradle.

Dance with the pixies on the moonlit night.

Go beyond the Silkies' cross.

Be careful of the Pookah's maze.

Follow the Wyvern's foot marks.

Turn right at the Fear Dearg.

Go under the Dullahan's feet.

Search for the leprechaun's treasure.

Locate the sleeping bed of Clurichaun.

Follow the banshee.

Exchange a star for the merrow's star.

P. 166

Otherwise the merrows will sing their song of lament.

The castle stood on an elevated cliff on the hill of the island.

The blue castle had a gothic architectural design with a steeple, and it looked down over the pale green island, making it seamlessly blend into the landscape.

It was a beautiful building, the perfect, ideal country manor house.

Lydia had finally recovered from her seasickness and had arrived at the castle with the others.

"So this is the merrow's island. Lydia was right on deciding this location. There's no mistake that the sword is in the castle."

Edgar looked over towards Lydia with a satisfied smile.

However, to Lydia, the real difficulty starts from here.

"Yes, this island is ‘the green jack.’ It's a green spirit covered in tree leaves. Looking at this island from the ship, I thought it looked exactly like a crouching leaf man."

"I see, so that covers the first part of the coin's riddle. And the next one, what's a Spankie?"

"It means will‐o'‐the‐wisp."

"So we just need to look for a graveyard?"

"No, I think Spankie stands for the spirits of children who died before their baptism."

P. 167

"So they wouldn't be in a graveyard, but buried somewhere else," said Ermine, and walked over to a gate left open.

The road that continued on from the gate, and even the garden that spread out on the other side of it was beautiful, it was unimaginable that the castle had been empty for three hundred years.

The people on this island must have been taking care of it for the sake of their master who they believed would return.

"But, this castle is a country manor house. Even if there was a child's grave, whose grave would it be?"

"I don't know. Although, these graves could have existed before the castle was even built."

"Or, it could be just a memorial stone."

Edgar and Ermine walked along side each other. Ermine was dressed in men‘s clothing, but even her plain clothing and hair cut to her shoulders didn't hide her radiating female beauty.

Looking at the two of them, walking so close that their shoulders could touch, Lydia remembered what she saw last night, and that made her be the only one in the group turning red in the face.

She wondered what happened between them after that. Were they together until morning?

"First thing is first, let's split up and look for the so called 'Spankie's cradle.' Lydia, you'll come with me."

"Eh?!"

P. 168

She jumped up because she was suddenly called by her name. It was like he knew what she was thinking, which made her feel embarrassed.

"Why, why do I have to go with you?"

"Because, you'd get lost."

Raven and Ermine went their separate ways, heading off to different directions of the garden.

Most likely, the reason Edgar wasn't going to let his eyes get off Lydia, could be because Nico eavesdropped on him.

At the inn, Nico said he was going somewhere else and left their group.

It was Nico's idea to bring along a band of brownies from the mainland town onto the ship and bring them to this island, and it looked like he went with them to make sure they were able to safely meet their relatives.

While he was at it, he said he was going to collect information about the merrows of this island and what kind of role they had in protecting the Earl's sword.

The brownies were fairies that lived on the same island. They may know something about the merrows that the human residents wouldn't.

If the small fairy clans were also the residents of this island, then they should have lived as the fief of the Blue Knight Earl, just like the merrows.

She was glad if her act of helping the fairies at that mainland landlord's house brought along any kind of help.

P. 169

However, Nico wasn't as keen as Lydia in doing this job. He felt an extreme animosity towards Edgar. It wasn't only because he was nearly thrown into the hearth, but of the sole reason of the fur on his tail being burnt off. Fairies were beings that really were devoted to small trivial things and did not forget their grudges.

So he must be wishing that Edgar would get into trouble and heavily suffer. Gathering information must be for that purpose.

She wondered if Edgar realized Nico wasn't just an ordinary feline. Even if he didn't believe that cat's could talk, he still took caution and even became angry when the cat eavesdropped on them, and of course, was still taking precautions with Lydia as well.

If that was the case, she decided to be by his side like he wished and find out what he was hiding.

Taking a breath to build her bravery, Lydia decided to follow him.

"Hey, aren't you frightened?"

"Of what?"

P. 180

"I understand I should have properly gone to you first for your approval about us. But I had gotten so crazy about her, and lost track of myself."

"Huh?"

"If she wasn't by my side and didn’t calm the heat of my love, I would die in a heartbeat."

Could there actually be someone, who after saying something so embarrassing, that would get away with this?

"Wait, wait just a moment..." Paused Carlton.

Lydia's father, who appeared to be in a disorderly state that even his daughter had never witnessed, kept opening and closing his mouth. 

"....Do you really want a hoyden like her?"

"Father!"

"She is the most precious woman to me. She is the only woman who can save me with her deep love."

"Hold on right there Edgar, you're making this sound completely different!"

What was going to save him, of course wasn't Lydia's love, but her ability to find the sword.

P. 181

"Well, I won't disagree that Lydia is the perfect daughter. However, young man, don't you think it’s irresponsible as a man to drag along an young, unwed woman, because you can't control yourself?"

It seemed like Carlton was nearly on the verge of collapsing from this situation turning from coming in contact with a kidnapper to meeting a bachelor who was head over heels about his daughter.

"Yes, I agree. I regret my carelessness."

"This is all wrong!" cried Lydia.

"John, let her go!" yelled Huxley.

Huxley appeared in their view again, and to Lydia, frankly, he appeared like the savior to this chaotic situation. Of course, that was only just her mere imagination, because Huxley was pointing a pistol towards her.

"Hold on, you’re aiming near Lydia."

"I understand that perfectly, Professor. However, that man also can't allow your daughter to die. Because he's a stubborn, greedy little thief and he hasn't found the jewel yet."

"Gossam, I can imagine what you must have said to convince Mr. Carlton, but you shouldn't do something that would reveal you'd do anything ruthless to get your hands on that jewel."

When Edgar glared at Huxley with a smile like that, his sharpness and gracefulness became even more prominent.

In that moment, he made it seem like he was the obvious winner if this were to be the site of a duel.

"Hurry up and release her," barked Huxley, in an irritated voice. Carlton looked up at both of them worryingly.

P. 182

Perhaps to try intimidate Edgar, Huxley put his finger on the pistol's trigger.

"Hey, you, don't!" cried Carlton.

The pistol that was aimed towards Edgar, was also pointing at Lydia who was right beside him. Trying to stop that, Carlton grabbed ahold of Huxley's arm.

"Ermine, guard Lydia," whispered Edgar.

"Yes, my lord." With a simple reply, Ermine pulled Lydia's arm. The last thing Lydia saw was Edgar pulling out the rapier from his walking stick. At the same time, she heard a gunfire.

She wanted to look back, but Ermine pulled Lydia into the bushes so she didn't know what happened beyond that.

However, as soon as they came out to a different dirt path, Ermine stopped in her tracks.

She stood in front of Lydia, guarding her, and started to take some steps backwards, but they were completely surrounded by Huxley’s brothers.

P. 183

*****

Lydia, along with her father, was locked inside a room in the castle.

Huxley's men had taken the extreme measure and broke one of the building windows and entered the castle, taking up the position in the corner of the castle. It looked like they were attempting to corner Edgar and Raven who had managed to escape, and steal the 'Merrow's Star.'

Carlton was deceived by Huxley, well, actually the Gossam brothers, and was brought here by them, and after finding that out, he breathed out a dispirited sigh.

"So that means Gossam was using me."

"Father, I'm sorry to get you involved into this."

"No, you were dragged into this as well. I should apologize. I'm sorry, I didn't know my gemology research would cause something like this."

Who knows what the cause of all this. It could have started from when Gossam tried to use Edgar as his research experiment, or when Edgar decided to use Gossam. However, that wasn't a problem at this point.

Lydia walked over to Ermine who lay slumped on a sofa.

Lydia and her father weren't hurt because the brothers must have thought the two of them weren‘t a threat, but Ermine was punched and kicked, and now her hands were tied-up and she lay unconscious. 

P. 184

She wanted to untie her ropes, but Huxley said that if she were to do something like that, then he'd beat-up Ermine even worse.

Lydia used her handkerchief and wiped the blood on Ermine’s bleeding lip.

"So, about that young man earlier..."

"No, it's not what you think, Father, he was just fooling around, I just accepted a job offer as a fairy doctor to help him."

"Oh, thank goodness. Are you sure it isn't an elope?"

"Of course it isn't! I'm not that kind of daughter."

Relieved, the professor made a faint-hearted smile and pushed his round spectacles up that were low on his nose.

"Even if he is a thief, to be called ‘Father’ by a kidnapper, is too much on my weak heart. If it was true and you were serious, I was worried if it was right for me to disapprove."

"Oh, my goodness, father. Are you saying that you wouldn't mind my courter to be a thief as long as I chose him?"

"I figured that he must have had a very good quality about him. Of course, it would be troublesome if the only good part about him was his looks."

"I would never choose my husband just by his looks."

"There's one thing that bothered me though..., isn’t he an aristocrat?"

P. 185

"Yes, that's what he claims, and looking at the way he talks and how he acts, everything about him makes him look like one. But, father, are you saying it's a problem for him to be a nobleman than a thief?"

"At times, they can be more dark and twisted than mere burglars. ...Although that can just be my prejudice. But, well, it doesn't matter if he was just joking."

"He is serious."

They didn't realize when she had woken, but Ermine had opened her eyes just a crack and interrupted them in a faint whisper.

"Lord Edgar is serious when he says he needs you, Ms Carlton. He is willing to love you if that's necessary to have you do as he wants."

If she didn't know his true background, then maybe Lydia could have happily enjoyed the sweet dream that Edgar would have showed her, and completel believed it and willingly come under his control.

"Ermine, I already know. That I'm a tool to find the sword for him."

"No, Ms Carlton, there are still things that we’re hiding from you. Perhaps, it was lucky for you to be captured by our enemies like this."

She lowered her eyes like she was stricken with a deep sadness.

"I don't want Lord Edgar to become a heartless, cold person... He really is a kind, compassionate person, but he has thrown away his heart for our sake, and I can't bear to keep on watching him deceive and hurt other people anymore."

Nico had said that Edgar was still hiding something from Lydia, maybe this is what he meant.

P. 186

"What is Edgar planning to do with me, Ermine?"

Ermine frowned like she was stricken with a headache, but she sat up, and with a pressured look, she finally opened her mouth.

"There are two versions of the information regarding the Blue Knight Earl's sword. There apparently were many copies made of that gold coin, the one that you saw with the fairy riddle on it. That probably was the reason why there were so many visitors to this island who were after the gemstone. But the other is a key, made of silver. Most likely, there are no other copies of this, only one exists. To be qualified as the Earl’s descendant one must have both the gold and the silver. We were also indicated that in order to get the sword we needed one final thing. Blood."

"Blood?"

"The sacrifice for the mermaids, or, as Lord Edgar thinks, we need to sacrifice someone or we won't be able to receive the sword."

Merrows are said to collect the souls of humans, like humans collect jewelry. It was possible to interpret that they'd request a human soul from the Blue Knight Earl descendant as reward for guarding the sword.

"Then...., are you saying, he planned to use me as that sacrifice?"

Lydia brought both of her trembling hands together and made a tight fist.