Crunch!
[That was a disgustingly foul curse. How could anyone put something so vile on a person? Even curses have standards, you know!]
Ceres watched Elliet repeatedly crunching on fruit candy as though she were trying to get rid of a bitter taste.
Ceres had been genuinely caught off guard by what she encountered that day when she went to rescue Jailo. She never thought she’d find a Black Forest there.
She often wondered how these small Black Forests came to be. Although she had her suspicions, she never imagined they were actually being created artificially.
It was an unexpected find, especially since the person behind it was the Captain of the Imperial Guards.
The world really has gone mad.
Things weren’t like this three hundred years ago. Now there were knights who beat up their own family heads, and apparently even knights who kidnapped and killed children.
Ceres laughed in disbelief.
[That guy’s under a curse, meow. Once it activates, his body will melt away and he’ll die, meow.]
The moment Ceres grabbed Jeral, Elliet’s voice reached her ears. She immediately told Elliet to devour the curse. She couldn’t afford to lose such an important witness.
There are so many things I need to find out.
Why the children had been kidnapped, how the Black Forests were created, who was behind it all, and so on. There was plenty she wanted to ask, but she first contacted Crown Prince Aseraian.
This is too big for me to deal with myself.
It wasn’t just one or two children. Dozens had been taken. There was a good chance that all the children who had gone missing recently were connected to this.
Even the mysterious deaths that had occurred lately... Could the Black Forests that left behind those strange corpses be connected to this too?
Either way, this was far beyond something she could handle on her own.
More importantly, he’s the Captain of the Imperial Guard.
If it became known that the person responsible for protecting the Imperial family was the culprit, the uproar would be immense. If the rumors got out of hand, people might even start believing that the Imperial family itself was involved. After all, this wasn’t just anyone. It was the Captain of the Imperial Guards.
Ceres quietly summoned Crown Prince Aseraian and handed Jeral over to him.
He doesn’t look like he’s going to talk willingly.
He’d already tried to take his own life. He wasn’t going to open his mouth easily.
“Just trust me this once.”
“...You? Why?”
“I’m not one to betray someone’s trust. If you put your faith in me, I’ll make sure you get good results.”
“...Right, right. You sound very trustworthy.”
Those were the words Crown Prince Aseraian left behind as he took Jeral away. He told her to trust him, but Ceres wasn’t exactly reassured...
“Can you find the person who cast the curse?”
[No.]
“...Why do you sound so proud?”
[Do you think I’m some omnipotent god? How am I supposed to pinpoint the person who cast it just by looking at the curse?]
...At least she knew her own limitations.
[But I’ll know once I meet them.]
“The person who cast it?”
[Yes. If I come face-to-face with them, I’ll know right away.]
Elliet couldn’t find the person right away, but if she happened to meet them, she would recognize them instantly. It wasn’t the most efficient method, but it was better than having no way to find them at all.
[But why aren’t those two coming over, meow?]
“Those two?”
[Kainel and Cheion, meow.]
Elliet had turned into a cat at some point. She was now wondering where the two of them were.
“Why are you waiting for them?”
[Aren’t they handsome, meow? They used to come over every day. Why haven’t they been coming lately, meow?]
“......”
...She never changes.
Ceres sighed and stood up.
“They won’t be coming for a while.”
[Why?]
Ceres glanced at the teleportation scrolls sitting on the desk.
“They’re being punished.”
***
Jingle.
“Welcome.”
After opening the café door, Cheion went straight to one of the tables and slammed his hand down.
Clang!
“This is all your fault!”
“What did I do?”
Kainel was already seated there, calmly sipping the tea without looking at Cheion.
“If Ceres caught you, you should’ve taken the punishment yourself!”
Why did you have to drag me into this, too?!
It happened about a month ago. Cheion had accidentally found out that Julia was going to see Kainel after class at the Academy.
“You play with that Frozen Human every day?”
“Yes! Ah... but this is a secret from my sister...”
“.......”
“He gives me snacks and plays with me all the time!”
“Damn it... Ah, haha... W-Well, eating too many snacks will make your teeth rot.”
“But I brush my teeth really well.”
“Yeah. Our Julia does brush her teeth well.”
After learning about it during their conversation, Cheion immediately gave Julia a whole stack of teleportation scrolls linked to his office in the Magic Tower.
“I’ll always have snacks ready! And I’ll show you magic!”
“Wow!”
“Your friends can come too!”
“Wowww!”
She started coming to the Magic Tower about half the week.
That was until that guy snitched.
Julia accidentally let it slip that she had been using the teleportation scrolls to visit Kainel after class, and Ceres found out.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“Playing with your sister?”
“She’s supposed to go home after class. Why is she going to your place?”
“Because she likes playing with me?”
“And that makes it okay? You didn’t even tell me.”
“No. I was wrong.”
“You’ve had your fun with her, so now get back to work. You’re banned from coming here for a month.”
Up to that point, it had all been great. Even getting to watch the Frozen Man get scolded by Ceres.
“You heard her, right? A month.”
“—! W-Why are you telling me that?!”
Cheion had been quietly sipping his tea from the side, watching it all unfold, when Kainel suddenly dragged him into the mess. He was completely dumbfounded.
“Why? Because you’re an accomplice, too.”
“What did I do?!”
“You gave Julia teleportation scrolls too. You even told her to come visit the Magic Tower.”
“...Cheion.”
“...I’m sorry.”
“What a low move.”
So you weren’t going down alone, huh?!
In the end, Kainel had dragged him down with him, and Cheion ended up banned from the shop too. For a whole month, no less.
“Give me everything from here to here, please!”
“All of it?”
“Yes! And extra honey in the tea.”
“Ah... okay!”
Cheion didn’t sit down until he’d ordered every sweet dessert on the menu.
“...Are you really going to eat all that?”
“When you’re stressed, something sweet is the best.”
“Anyone would think you don’t normally eat sweets.”
“I must be more stressed than I thought.”
Cheion let out a long sigh and slumped over the table.
“Haah... I miss Ceres.”
It’s been over a week since I’ve seen her...
“So, what are you going to do now? Just wait out the whole month?”
“......”
“I told you to figure out how to make it up to Ceres.”
The two of them had met up to figure out how to get Ceres to forgive them. The dessert café had been Cheion’s idea.
“Haah.”
Cheion sighed again, sat up straight, and started thinking in earnest.
“Should I get her a present? What does Ceres like?”
Flowers or jewelry would probably just get him scolded. She’d ask what she was supposed to do with something like that.
Slide.
“......?”
As Cheion pondered, Kainel held out a stack of blank paper.
“Write.”
“Write what?”
“An apology.”
“...What?”
An apology? You mean like an apology letter?
Cheion stared at Kainel in disbelief.
Scratch, scratch.
Kainel pulled out a pen and calmly began writing under Cheion’s incredulous gaze.
“I’m sorry, Grace. I won’t use magic when I fight Kai anymore!”
“Me neither. I’ll only hit him five times instead of ten.”
“You two wrecked the room like this and you’re still saying that? What are you going to do about all this broken furniture?”
“Waaah! But you didn’t have to tell us we couldn’t go to your house for a whole week... Hey, Kai, what are you doing?”
Scratch, scratch.
“Writing an apology.”
“Ah...”
“You should write one too.”
“Okay!”
The two of them ended up sitting across from each other and writing apology letters to Grace. They must have written over a hundred pages between them.
That was when Grace finally lifted the ban and let us back into the house, albeit reluctantly.
Scratch, scratch.
Swish.
Kainel finished a letter of apology with ease, then immediately picked up a new sheet and started on the next one.
“......”
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