CH 55

“Yes, this is my first time participating.”

“Oh my, is that so? Indeed, I don’t think I have ever seen a mask with such magnificent horns.”

“I see. That person over there must be your lover, isn’t that so Mister Goat? With a veil on top of the mask, I can see why you’d want to protect them so closely.”

“What do you mean?”

A lady with a peacock feather mask and a man with a laughing face mask, dressed like a clown glanced back at me.

Mika apparently decided to start gathering information at this banquet of madness.

I leaned against a pillar and gulped down my wine.

I would like to join them, too. But it wouldn’t be a good idea for me to let out my voice too much, and my heart was also still thumping loudly.

The peacock lady smiled at Mika.

“Oh, it’s obvious from the way they’re carrying themself that they’re a beautiful person.”

“You are beautiful as well, lady.”

“Fufu, thank you. But this place must be Duke Marcotte’s land of night. Be careful. Don’t let your darling with the one-winged butterfly mask… get the other half of the wing stolen as well.”

“I wonder what kind of outfit Duke Marcotte will wear this evening.”

Mika talked with those people for a while, but after a moment, Mika came back to stand next to me. And then, after letting out a sigh, he said.

“This is just my guess, but I think they’re Viscountess Dayan and then Count Yvelle. They both said this is the third time they participated in this event.”

“The third time… Then, just as I thought, this is not the first time this banquet has been held.”

“Yeah…”

“Huh?”

Mika kept staring at me, so I tilted my head in response. I couldn’t see his expression, but I heard Mika’s troubled voice. Mika, with one arm next to my face, whispered so close that we could almost touch.

“They said it’s obvious that you’re a beautiful person even if you’re wearing a mask. They asked me if we were lovers.”

“Lov-…N-No… What are you talking about?”

“Do you want to pretend we’re lovers? One-winged butterfly mask darling.”

“Mi-… You’ve been fooling around too much lately.”

Through the veil, his fingers were pressing my lips again, and I couldn’t help but get irritated.

To be honest, I also had a thought that it would be fine because our status isn’t known here, but it was still no good. The reason is that Duke Marcotte, who sent the mask, must surely be watching from somewhere to see who is me and who is Mika.

“So far, the people I’ve talked to have only received invitations, not the masks as well. But…”

“But?”

“For this event, everyone probably requested a tailor to make their masks, right? From the information I gathered yesterday, the tailor who is in charge of the masks is cleverly concealed, but they have the backing from Duke Marcotte.”

“Then, Duke Marcotte is the only one who has at least a rough idea of the activities of all these participants.”

I looked around this theater-like room.

He said from the information he gathered yesterday… When in the world did he have time for that? He must have predicted that it would be a masquerade ball, since we were given a mask. From there, he’s really quick-witted to think of where the masks come from.

(I see… It’s like Duke Marcotte is trying to see the essence of human nature, that he’s even got his hands on a tailor to make the masks.)

For a while now, I can hear laughter coming from many places. There are a few people here and there who seem to have let loose a little too much.

When humans don’t have their identity attached to them, their desires that are usually suppressed by reason may be released. From earlier, I had also noticed a few figures here and there disappearing quietly into a small room in the corner of this room that was partitioned off by a heavy curtain.

This place would surely be perfect for a secret rendezvous.

A place where people can leave their identity behind and do what they really want to do, or fulfill their desires.

(If I can leave my identity behind, I…)

Naturally, my eyes turned to the man in the goat mask standing next to me. And then, the man in the goat mask tilted his head. Inside my head, I can imagine him tilting his head with the usual expression Mika had on his face.

Embarrassment and surprise pierced my chest.

I shouldn’t think about it.

I immediately thought so and took a step backward. However, perhaps Mika thought that I was wobbling because of this, his hands went around my waist. Supported tightly, my whole body trembled.

“No-no good. Mi-… I mean no. This is no good.”

“Huh?”

“Your hands. I’m okay, don’t worry.”

“Aren’t you wobbling? Are you drunk?”

Through the veil, I glanced at Mika’s lips, which were not covered with the mask.

Because of Mika who has been fooling around the other day, the things I shouldn’t have been thinking about kept running through my head. I’m glad I was wearing a mask. I’m glad it had a veil with it. This wicked feeling of mine is probably not conveyed to Mika.

“Oh? I wonder if there’s a sofa behind that curtain. Want to go there?”

“N-no. I’m fine here.”

For a while now, Mika had his back turned to that area when he was talking.

While Mika was talking, I could imagine what was going on behind that curtain, but he couldn’t. If we went to that place by mistake, I wouldn’t be able to keep myself safe. My body won’t be safe.

“Is that so?” Mika said with a curious look on his face. I told him what I had noticed after I observed my surroundings.

“Rather than a social gathering, this is more of an entertainment…no, it’s more like for pleasure. It’s like they’re gathering here for a deviation from their boring days. To get a scent of danger, a dream for a night, and such extraordinary things.

“Looks like it. I’ve only talked to a few people here, but it seems like every event is held differently. That’s why they seemed to be looking forward to each one. I wonder what the Duke of Marcotte’s financial resources are like to be able to host these evening parties every month.”

“Every month… That often?”

“It was said in the letter, ‘An evening party of talks for elegant ladies and gentlemen’. If the Silent Duke told you it’s about ‘talks’, wouldn’t everyone be interested?”

A closer look at the decorations and clowns prepared by Duke Marcotte reveals this.

Today there are fairies in the sky, then elephants and a fountain below. Perhaps it is inspired by “Cedluka and the Labyrinth of Night”.

The reason the peacock lady referred to this place as the “land of night” earlier must be because she noticed the setting of this evening party.

“Cedluka and the Labyrinth of Night”

It is the story of Cedluka, a farm boy who, unbeknownst to him, wanders into the land of fairies. Green elephants appeared in the story, and the elephants here are also decorated with a green color.

The others seem to have come with their own masks, but the masks provided for us had a design of a goat and butterfly.

These two characters also appeared in the story. I’m not sure how much the people participating are aware of the story behind the story. Still…

(Why did I get the butterfly one, and Mika the goat one?)

The butterfly is probably referring to the fairy queen.

Cedluka falls in love with the queen of fairyland. However, the fairy queen has a fiancé, the Night King. The Night King, furious with Cedluka for falling in love with the fairy queen, throws him into the labyrinth of night.

A goat that wandered into the fairyland with Cedluka showed him the way to return and he somehow escaped from the labyrinth, but the fairy queen refused to travel together with Cedluka to his original world. She said in tears, “The world we live in is different”.

(There are many interpretations. It is said that the queen did that because she couldn’t be apart from the Night King, it is also said that it was to protect Cedluka from the Night King….)

In any case, Cedluka decided to go home, and the fairy queen quietly watched over him as she hid in the shadows of grass.

This would be a tragic love story, but the adventure part of wandering the labyrinth is so popular that it is often performed as a play. I don’t know why I’m being given a mask that would represent a fairy “queen”, however.

“Mi-…Mister goat? If this is perhaps Cedluka and the Labyrinth of Night…”

“Yeah, I know. There’s one character we haven’t seen yet.”

A chill ran down my spine.

My heart thumped rapidly and gave me a bad feeling.

The gentleman with the laughing face mask earlier had said, “I wonder what kind of outfit Duke Marcotte will wear this evening.” If I really was handed the mask representing the fairy queen, there is one person I would never want to meet.

Mika is aware of this as well. We haven’t seen him yet.

The Duke of Marcotte himself, …and also, the “Night King”.

I don’t want that to be the case. I don’t want to think that that’s what he called me here for.

Mika asked me.

“How old is Duke Marcotte, again…?”

“I think he was around fifty years old.”

“Does he have any children?”

“I heard it from my brother, but he should have a son who has never been seen in a social gathering.”

Mika put his hand to his chin and looked down. I couldn’t see his expression through his mask, but it was clear that he had a grim face.

In my first life five years ago, no, even five years after that, the Duke of Marcotte remained silent. No matter what happens to His Majesty, no matter what happens to Brother Seth, no matter what happens to me, and perhaps— no matter what happens to the country.

I don’t know what the intention is for this evening party. It was also a question of whether it was the current Duke of Marcotte or his eldest son who was hosting this evening party.

──At that time.

The audience was in a stir. I followed everyone’s gaze and saw a large night-colored chair, similar to a throne, placed at a vantage point on the second floor. There, the jet-black king appeared, his long night-colored cloak fluttering.

Cheers erupted from the whole audience.

Then, the man sat down in that chair so roughly that you could almost hear the thud.

(Uwaa… The Night King’s costume… What’s going on…)

Since he wore a mask that covered his entire face, I couldn’t see his facial expression. Still, he put his elbow on the chair, and he seemed to sit arrogantly in a reclining position on the chair.

The person who followed the man who was probably Duke Marcotte, was the raven mask man from earlier. The raven said in a quiet but well-defined voice on behalf of the man who remained seated.

“Elegant ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for joining my master’s ‘evening party of talks’ this evening. My master sincerely hopes that everyone will all spin a delightful evening’s tale tonight.”

For some reason, I thought the raven mask man turned to me and Mika, then smiled. But soon after a beautiful salute, the night king behind him stood up. He then raised the glass handed to him by the raven high and high.

“Ohhh!” Excited shouts of excitement rose from all around, and everyone raised a toast. At that moment, confetti flew up again.

(What is it…? It’s just a toast, but this level of popularity is…)

Perhaps it was because each of the participants was dressed so eccentrically that he looked like a real “Night King” with his strange creatures in tow. Mika also looked up at the man with a tense expression on his face, his mouth tied in a single line.

“I couldn’t hear his voice, so I don’t know which one he was. But he doesn’t look old.”

“Yeah… He seems quite young. Also, I have a bad feeling about this.”

“I’ve been called all the way over here, the other party will probably make contact with me. Hopefully, we’ll find out when we talk with him.”

“Ahh, I don’t want to let you meet him, I don’t want to let you meet him, I don’t want to let you meet him.”

Seeing Mika covering his ears and chanting something like it were a spell, I couldn’t help but let out a strained laugh. Still, even Mika knows that it’s better to make contact with him.

If currently, the future is in the “second prince route” as Vivienne told me, then it is a path that leads to the future I experienced in my first life.

Is something causing the Dukes of Marcotte to behave differently this time around, or did something similar happen last time that I just didn’t notice?

I will have to ask Vivienne when the new semester starts.

However, what can I do now?

(The goal is to bring the Dukes of Marcotte, who remained silent last time, to the side of the first prince faction.)

I don’t know what their intention is.

Still, since they had invited Mika and I like this, they must have been trying to make some kind of contact with me.

“I’m royalty. If he knew it was me wearing this mask, he wouldn’t act rudely to me.”

“I know. I just don’t like the idea.”

“Would I be better off wandering around on my own?”

“I won’t let you be alone here.”

Even with the mask on, I could see Mika’s serious face. He must be worried about me. But it was something I had already discussed with Mika.

If I were to make contact with the Duke of Marcotte, perhaps Mika, as a knight, could at least be on guard, but he would not be able to be in the same seat with me. He knows this, which is why he is so grumpy.

A little while later, Mika and I decided to walk through that hall of madness and down the dark hallway.

Not the hallway that leads to the entrance from earlier, but the one with a classy large vase of flowers overlooking the courtyard. Just like real trees, tall summer flowers were arranged there.

Those beautiful flowers seemed to soothe my tense heart just a little.

How to put it…

“This hallway looks more like fairyland than the place earlier.”

“Then, the previous hall must be the labyrinth of night. That’s right. There was also a king who reclined on his throne arrogantly, after all.”

“…In that case, you seem to be the king of this land.”

“…” “…”

Mika and I both shook our shoulders at the sound of a voice calling us from right behind.

It was a low, masculine voice. It even sounds somewhat soft. Still…

(Mika didn’t even notice his presence…! What is going on?)

My eyes met Mika’s eyes peeking through the mask.

Normally, it would be impolite to suddenly talk to me, a royalty, but I wasn’t quite sure if it would apply on such an occasion as now. Mika should have been surprised too. We both turned around slowly.

Standing behind us was the one we just saw earlier… the “Night King”.

The mask that covered his entire face, when seen up close, was as ominous as an imaginary demon king. It looks more frightening because of the black outfit he’s wearing.

However, he was more soft-mannered than the figure that was sitting reclined on that throne-like chair.

As I blinked my eyes wondering what to do, his night-colored cloak fluttered and the Night King softly bowed to me. Then, with slow and graceful movements, my hand was taken and kissed with his masked face.

My heart skipped a beat.

Then… he said to me. It was like he was inviting me to the land of night.

“Could I have your time tonight? Dear butterfly.”