CH 69

69  Monologue of a Certain Duke Daughter 8

My mood hit rock bottom as soon as I woke up that day. It felt like my head was struck with a hammer, and not only that, the joints in my body all felt sore. Due to that, even though I wanted to sleep through another night, I felt like I was going to vomit if I lay down.

“Uuh, water, please….”

“Have you woken up, Milady? Here’s your water. Drink it slowly.”

My wet nurse, Meriel, offered a cup for me. Taking the offered cup from her, I immediately emptied the content in no time.

Ha~h. The drink felt very nice, making me feel like a cool refreshing feeling is penetrating my body. Second, please.

“I’ll call the doctor immediately,” Another maid said before she went out. She then came back with a healer and a doctor who started to examine my body post haste. Alas, though I didn’t really want this, I was too powerless to resist the examination since my head and joints ached terribly.

“It might be the after effect of magical power backlash. You’ll recover with a few days of rest.”

“Yes. There’s no external wound, and the flow of your magical power is normal too. And since your magical power has recovered a little bit, you’ll feel better soon enough.”

Both the doctor and the healer said, giving their stamp of approval for my wellbeing. I see… so it was magical power backlash, huh— EH!

“—What about Muriel-sama and the other girls?! Are they safe?!”

My head finally started to work normally, and I immediately asked about the other’s condition. I remembered that everyone also fell down with me back then. So, what happened after that?

“Yes, Milady. Everyone is safe and sound. Even Muriel-sama, who was in critical condition, is now safe and sound. It is a miracle.”

Meriel told me everyone was safe and sound, but wait… A miracle? What exactly happened while I was asleep?

“Theodore-sama created a miracle,” Meriel said before she narrated the story with a rather excited expression on her face.

◇

Once done listening to Meriel’s story, I was left with only astonishment. The things I heard were beyond my understanding. The misanga had actually sapped her life force? Moreover, the mastermind behind the incident was actually the demon race? I had no idea that the demon race was making their movement this early!

“According to the maid who was taking care of Muriel back then, it really shone. Yes, like a flash. Then, the chick started moving on its own. I don’t know why there’s a chick in this story, but it is said that the chick then ate the earthworm!”

“Um, isn’t it normal for a chick to eat an earthworm?”

I mean, the chick that I raised in an animal pen during primary school in my previous life did eat worms. Well, that aside, I was really confused with the flow of the story Meriel is regaling me with.

However, even more than that, I was worried about Muriel. If my memories served me right, the magic tool that sucks one’s life force did come out in the form of a bracelet in Luke’s route. In the game, the bracelet became popular due to its effect that raises the magical power of its wearer. At the same time, the same bracelet was also the reason behind many students falling down due to anemia.

In the plot, Luke suspected that the bracelet was the reason for those incidents, so he began to investigate it along with the heroine. During the process of investigation, he also discovered that Bates’ killer turned out to come from the demon race. Thus, he avenges Bates’ death.

Alas, the demon race managed to escape due to plot armor, but the demon race’s secret plan got uncovered due to this incident.

As a side note, the event for blue (Simeon) was to investigate the weakened temple’s barrier, finish the maintenance, and strengthen it. While red’s (Vince’s) event was to encounter the demon race’s scout during one of the extracurricular activities and repel them.

In addition, blue and red events happened at the same time. During extracurricular lessons.

The extracurricular lesson was a school event akin to outdoor school. And the demon race’s force happened to be around the destination where the group was in to investigate the barrier, which resulted in a slightly heart-thumping moment.

In that situation, the player had to choose whether to follow Simeon to strengthen the barrier or to follow Vince to repel the demon race. Well, the player can finish one event and do the next one almost immediately, but the degree of difficulties would jump across the board.

The option of following Simeon had a relatively low hurdle, while Vince’s event was simply too high, and it was reflected in the result. Such cases often happen in the game.

The events wouldn’t happen, though, if the player failed to raise both people’s affection levels to a certain value before this extracurricular lesson. As a result, the barrier would be destroyed, and the demon race would rampage right in the middle of the royal capital.

Well, I still had some leeway since all these would only happen during the second year of high school. Although it would be just barely enough considering that Theodore’s and Luke’s events occurred during the first year.

In Theodore’s event, the player would receive an explanation about the Saint and Saint’s Ornaments. Meanwhile, in Luke’s event, there was a hint about the demon race sucking out human’s life force to undo the demon king’s seal.

Then, during the second year of high school, Simeon’s and Vince’s events happened. At that time, the demon race was just about to start their invasion. In the third year, Rex would gather the evidence of injustice that Duke Lilac committed and their involvement with the demon race. Last, Elliot would disclose those evidence to the court, break off the engagement, and then bring down the blade of judgment on Duke Lilac’s household.

In the meantime, outside of those events, the player’s schedule would be jam-packed with raising intimacy and affection meter with each capture target while listening to EVERY SINGLE ONE of their problem, studying to raise her grade as the saint while enduring the bullying from Katrina (me).

Well, the game events aside, I had no idea that misanga was the magic tool that was used to rob one’s life force. Moreover, the event that was supposed to happen in the future was already happening when we were still just ten years old… Seriously, just what in the world is happening here?!

Ha~h, alright, let’s confirm this matter with my note later.

“Young Lady, something impossible did happen. A chick-eating worm is definitely not a normal thing.”

“… Um, I’ve to ask you to tell me again in detail later.”

After I heard Meriel’s remark, I was brought back from what I was thinking about and told her that I was tired and need some rest to make her leave. Once all of my attendants left the room, I opened my drawer and pulled out several notes about the capture targets that I wrote in my childhood.

Taking out the green event, I took a look at it again.

As expected, it was bracelets, and definitely not misanga. Now, the question was, where in the world did that come from? Moreover, what was the meaning of this?

When I was pondering over this matter, someone knocked on the door. I hurriedly returned the notes to my drawer and closed it.

“Katrina, I hear that you’ve woken up. Sorry for coming out of nowhere like this, but there’s something I want to tell you.”

The one who knocked and opened the door was my dear father.

“Dear Father, please come in. There’s no need to stay in ceremony like that.”

… Cra*p. I forgot to return the note about green (Luke)! Realizing my error, I hastily hide it below my pillow and smiled.

“Are you okay? The matter I want to ask you about isn’t such a big deal, but you seem to be exhausted right now. So, if you think that this matter is too difficult for you, just tell me.”

“Yes, I’m okay. What is this matter that you want to ask me?”

“I want to hear your opinion.”

“I don’t think my opinion is that important, though. Are you sure about this?”

“Yes. I still want to hear your opinion.”

Thus, Father told me about the matter from the very beginning.

Hearing what happened while I was unconscious in detail, my head honestly ached so bad I wanted to scream. I even massaged my temple due to how troublesome the matter was. SERIOUSLY? WHAT WERE YOU DOING WHEN I WAS UNCONSCIOUS, THEODORE?! THAT KIND OF MIRACULOUS EVENT NEVER EXISTS IN THE GAME!

Still, Muriel’s life was really in grave danger back then. So, while I was really glad that Theodore’s action triggered a miracle that saved Muriel’s life. However… JUST HOW MUCH OF A STUPID COUPLE ARE YOU TWO?!

But, wait a minute. Now that it had come to this, plus considering the fact that Heroine-chan was a disappointing girl, this might be the compelling force of the world. One that changed Theodore into an overly doting boy and forcefully advanced the event to turn Muriel into a saint.

However, though that might be the case, that didn’t mean my problem would end with the change. After all, if Muriel became the saint, she would be the one who would condemn me instead. Then again, the kindhearted Muriel might let me off. Who knows.

“What do you think about that?”

My father’s voice was full of expectation when he asked me that. However, I could only disappoint him. After all, I had nothing to say about this matter.

“What do I think? I just feel delighted that a miracle happened and Muriel-sama is saved.”

Yup, no doubt about it. THAT Theodore would definitely offer his true love toward Muriel. That much love was more than enough to make him one of the six.

“Any other opinion?”

“Other… opinion? Um… we’re ill-prepared… I guess? I might be their real aim, but that misanga wouldn’t be able to reach me unless it was passed from the merchant to Miss Sonia’s maid. However, that alone won’t give me a reason to wear it. Furthermore, they also overlooked the possibility that it’ll be detected much earlier. So, if their goal is to snatch one’s life force to undo the demon king’s seal, then they’ll be moving behind the scene. That way, Dear Father and his colleagues won’t detect him.”

Everything happened way earlier than expected. If I was not mistaken, it was written in the behind-the-scene setting in the guidebook that the prototype for the bracelet was made in Goldberg territory. It was likely that this misanga might be that prototype according to the setting… Maybe.

“However, since Sonia-sama’s maid ended up buying it… and no one expects the black cat to be the culprit, that black cat managed to retrieve the misanga from Muriel-sama. After that… the black cat may only be able to take the available life forces after the fact that the misanga can snatch life force is discovered by accident.”

Yup. That was all I could think of with my otaku brain. Meanwhile, my dear father pondered for a while before brushing my head with his big hand.

“I see. Thank you. Sorry for asking such a difficult question. Now, take a rest and have a nice dream.”

Somehow, his gentle caress on my head lulled me, and I began to feel sleepy.

His rugged hand was warm.

“Good… night….”

Thus, I fell asleep.

When I woke up, I found out that the note about green(Luke) event that I tucked under my pillow had vanished.

DADDY~!

◇

I panicked for a while before I found the note by the table beside my bed. However, that didn’t assure me because I was sure that he had copied this note. Furthermore, the fact that my father didn’t say anything about this scared me.

A few days later, Bates-san came to visit me. He then kept pestering me about my book of prophecy written in the ancient language. And I could only feel stupefied. Since when did my capture target notes become the book of prophecy? I mean, it was almost useless since the content was only about how I was getting closer and closer toward the fall from grace ends.

“Um, that note is actually a scribble that I made during my childhood. Even I have no idea what was written inside, you know?”

“Yeah, I know that. After all, the course of the event has already been diverted from how it was supposed to be. My existence is proof of that. According to the book of prophecy, I should have already died three years ago, but look. I’m still alive and well. Your warning back then is actually a reminder about the danger I was about to face, right? I’m truly grateful for your warning at that time, Katrina-sama.”

With that, the misunderstanding about me being the saint was going strong without weakening in the slightest, and I could only lament to myself. Seriously, how did this happen to me?