CHAPTER 2
Cracks in Paradise
1
The Solar Spire.
The palace of the Hydra, one of the three Nebulis royal bloodlines. Topmost floor.
On the balcony, which boasted a sweeping aerial view of the nightscape, stood a handsome man and a beautiful woman, their bodies illuminated by a brilliant light.
“Good evening. I’m sorry for being late, Uncle.”
“You’re right on time, Mizy. Quite unusual of you to suggest dinner together.”
The balcony had been arranged for them to share a meal.
Two sets of tableware had been placed on the pure-white tablecloth.
“Perfect timing, since I had something that I wanted to consult you about as well.”
A muscular, middle-aged man greeted the girl with a smile. He was Talisman, the head of the Hydra. He had deep-set eyes and a chiseled nose, and his beautifully gelled hair was a dull silver. He was a picturesque image of a man in his forties. His iconic white suit was so perfectly tailored that he almost seemed like a movie star on-screen.
“First, please sit.”
“Well…if I may.”
She grinned. The young girl, who was rather mature, sat across from Talisman.
Mizerhyby Hydra Nebulis IX.
The girl’s hair was a shocking lapis lazuli blue. Talisman’s niece, a princess promised the position of next head of the House of Hydra, was also a queen candidate.
“So, Mizy, how about an aperitif?”
“I’m sorry, Uncle. I’m still only seventeen.”
“Oh, pardon me. I suppose you are.”
When Mizerhyby pointed that out, quite charmingly, Talisman responded with a grin.
“Then I shall have sparkling apple juice prepared for you. La Khalte, Marchen, Alsbnyu, please take three of the most fragrant and high-quality apple varieties and create a blend, will you? Try to make sure it smells as if it weren’t nonalcoholic.”
Talisman snapped his fingers. He watched as the stewards behind him left the balcony.
“Now then, dearest Uncle, I have something unfortunate to report to you. I would like to tell you before we enjoy our meal.”
“Is it about dear Sisbell?”
“Oh, did you already know?” Mizerhyby blinked in surprise at the head of house’s quick reply.
“I thought I would beat you to the punch for once,” she said.
“I didn’t receive a report, of course. It’s been twelve hours since I last received correspondence from the people I left Sisbell with. I can only take that to mean something has happened.”
The Third Princess Sisbell had been rescued. They’d never expected it to happen just days after they’d gone to the trouble of shipping her out of the Sovereignty to an Imperial research facility for safekeeping.
“The Hydra are as good as finished if Sisbell returns to the Sovereignty. I will be executed, and you and the servants will be sentenced to life imprisonment.”
“…I’m very sorry.” Mizerhyby’s shoulders trembled. Her round and charming eyes showed a hint of anger she couldn’t hold back. “If I had simply kept the Gregorian Descant from being stolen…”
“I’d like Sisbell to take her time in the Empire, if possible. I believe we can manage to prevent her return to the Sovereignty, at the very least.”
The Hydra family had tried to assassinate the queen. As long as they prevented Her Majesty from finding decisive evidence linking them to the attempt, the Hydra’s lead in the conclave would be unshakable.
“The Lou will have a difficult time winning in the conclave without the centralizing power of their queen. And the Zoa’s head of house, Growley, has been captured by the Empire as well.”
The Lou and the Zoa had fallen.
The sun—the Hydra—was set to rise in the Sovereignty.
“I’d like to keep Sisbell tied up in the Empire until the conclave has concluded. Mizy, if you are able to become queen, we can hush everything up afterward.”
“Yes, dearest Uncle. But how will we keep watch over Sisbell while she’s in the Empire?”
“We shall leave that to the Eight Great Apostles.”
“……”
Mizerhyby narrowed her eyes. The name Talisman had uttered was closely guarded as one of the greatest secrets within the Hydra family. Their coconspirators. In the Sovereignty, human experimentation on mages had been forbidden on ethical grounds, but that was not the case in the Empire. And since the Hydra covered the witch transformation research the Eight Great Apostles pursued in secret, the two factions had joined forces.
“Sisbell was able to escape thanks to Kelvina’s blunder. Kelvina’s superiors must atone for her mistakes. We need to ensure the Eight Great Apostles show up to the task.”
The aperitifs were brought in. A sparkling wine for Talisman. He watched the bubbles rise in the glass.
“They are keeping Elletear under observation. So they simply will need to add Sisbell to their roster.”
“May I have a word, sir?”
She had appeared without warning. The witch Vichyssoise, with her red hair and large earrings, stood in front of the balcony’s railing.
The girl had successfully undergone the witch transformation process the Eight Great Apostles had been researching, losing her humanity in Kelvina’s procedure.
“Ah, so it’s you, Vichyssoise. Thank you for your patrol.” The head of the household held his wineglass aloft to her. “Would you like something to drink as well?”
“…Sure. I’ll have water. My body would reject anything else,” Vichyssoise answered, quite serious. She leaned back on the railing. “Sir.”
“What is it?”
“You can take this as a joke if you will, but what you said earlier… Please consider what will happen if you lose control. This may eventually get out of hand.”
“I suppose you mean the Eight Great Apostles?”
“No.”
“Then Sisbell?”
“…I mean Princess Elletear of the Lou.”
When the witch answered, countless emotions showed on the head of house’s face. Irritation. Fear. Rage. Bewilderment.
And, in addition to those, envy.
“I haven’t been able to drink anything but water for a month. Even being in this human form has become increasingly difficult. I know I’m no longer human… So there’s something that I can pick up on because of my current state.”
“Oh?”
“She’s beyond inhuman.”
“You mean dear Elletear?”
“Kelvina administered 0.0002 percent concentration of that substance to me. That was enough to turn me into a witch. But she asked for 51 percent.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Do you understand, sir? More than half of her has been consumed with that substance. And she’s still able to retain her sense of self. She’s a monster.”
The First Princess Elletear had been ridiculed by the retainers for being the weakest purebred in history and had left the Sovereignty of her own accord. Then she’d made contact with the Eight Great Apostles and volunteered herself for banned human experimentation.
And the result had been deemed a “failure.”
However…
She was only called that because Kelvina and Eight Great Apostles had lost control of her.
“I was convinced I would be dealt with; Chief Kelvina would collect my astral body data and scratch her head day after day, after all. She claimed my compatibility ratio was too high.”
“…So, then.” Vichyssoise narrowed her eyes. “I think we should deal with her soon. She’s no longer useful to the Hydra, right?”
The Hydra and Elletear had joined forces because their goal was the same—to capture Sisbell. Elletear had told the Hydra of her sister’s location, so they had cooperated with her in kidnapping Sisbell. That plan was now over.
“She’s a Lou at heart. I’m sure she doesn’t think much of the Hydra and that she’ll eventually betray us. I think we should uproot her before she’s able to sow seeds of anything more we could do without.”
“I’m grateful for your advice, Vichyssoise.”
Talisman nodded, a calm smile gracing his lips.
“You ought to know that I’ve already told the Eight Great Apostles of my intentions of doing just that. I have told them to keep her under perpetual observation and to get rid of her if they cannot control her.”
“Oh, so you’ve already made plans, then.”
“The same goes for Sisbell. She has her uses, so I’d like to keep her if we can, but it’s a different matter if she fights back. What say you, Mizy?”
“I have no qualms whatsoever with the plan.” Mizerhyby smiled. She brought the glass of apple juice to her beguiling lips. “The three Lou sisters are nothing but an obstacle in the conclave, as far as I’m concerned. But……”
“You have more to say, it seems?”
“Alice will be trouble. We do not know how she will retaliate once she’s aware the Hydra have laid hands on her sisters. And it seems that she’s out playing as the queen’s proxy because of her mother’s injury. She is only cooperating with us in public—”
She stopped right there. Mizerhyby pursed her lips, and Talisman raised his eyebrows just slightly. Then Vichyssoise disappeared.
The ring of a diminutive bell signaling the arrival of a guest echoed throughout the quiet balcony.
“My Lord.” A young man in a black suit bowed. “You have a guest. What shall it be?”
“Please ask them to leave. I have no interest in anyone who would disrupt a meal I am enjoying without an appointment…but, just in case…please tell me the name of our boorish visitor.”
“It is Lord Mask.”
“…” A faint sigh escaped Talisman. “What could he possibly be scheming? Oh, the adviser of the Zoa.”
The underground area was even bluer than the sky.
The Nebulis Palace. Isolated block.
The wide corridor built from a natural limestone cave echoed with the sound of dripping water.
“I apologize for bringing you all the way here, Lord Talisman.”
The sonorous voice of a man in a metal mask reverberated throughout the cavern with an underground blue lake. “It is dinnertime, after all. I thought we could finish this with a simple report. I did not think you would join me all this way.”
“It was no hindrance at all.”
Clack.
Their footsteps resounded as they crossed the bridge over the water’s surface. Princess Mizerhyby followed behind as Talisman took the lead in front of the adviser of Zoa.
“It has been too long, Lord Mask.”
“Why, hello there, Mizerhyby. So even you are joining us, then?”
“Oh, there’s no need to be so formal. Please, call me Mizy.”
Mizerhyby bowed and brushed aside her blue bangs.
Ahead of where she looked…
…was an enormous glass casket.
A girl of thirteen, perhaps fourteen, slumbered peacefully beneath the glass. She had sun-bronzed skin and wavy pearlescent hair. Her sleeping face still looked young and charming.
“The Revered Founder…”
Mizerhyby’s eyes narrowed.
The coffin had cracked. Though it had been designed so it could not be unsealed unless a padlock bearing the queen’s emblem was opened, the casket was close to breaking.
“As you can see, my Hydra family members,” Lord Mask said, a delighted smile he could not hide gracing his face, “the Revered Founder is attempting to awaken.”
“Are you sure someone isn’t attempting to awaken her?”
“How outrageous, Lord Talisman. Yes, I will admit the Zoa family did in fact suggest that during the family conference, but this is the Revered Founder’s own wish.”
He was the Zoa’s representative, and Talisman was the Hydra’s head of house. They both towered at nearly six feet tall. Though the glass coffin separated them, their powerful presences were evident when they faced each other.
“What do you say, Lord Talisman? If we rouse the Revered Founder, we will have no reason to fear a full-scale war against the Empire. It will only be a matter of time before we are able to recover Growley from the Imperial forces.”
“…”
“Ah, and there is one other matter. I nearly forgot something important.”
Lord Mask theatrically clapped his hands. Anyone watching would have seen it as a cheap act. And it showed through in his tone and demeanor.
“The Empire has captured Growley, the head of house Zoa. But if you were to view it another way, he has likely seen the face of our traitor. The face of the traitor who has ties to the Imperial forces.”
“Oh?”
“The Revered Founder shall awaken. Once she has, we will be able to launch a full-on attack on the Empire. If we do that, we will be able to recapture the prisoners of war from the Imperials one after another. In all likelihood, that will allow us to capture the traitor.”
“I see. That is good news.”
Talisman looked at the princess next to him.
“The Hydra wish for the same. Though there is no guarantee things will go according to plan. Still, I am thankful for the news that the Revered Founder is close to waking.”
“I believe it is time to be on the defensive—whoever it was that made a deal with the Imperial forces should be, that is.”
“…”
“The Revered Founder will awaken any day now. And soon the traitors will have more sleepless nights shivering in fear.”
“Indeed. Well then, I shall be taking my leave.” Talisman nodded slightly at Mizerhyby and turned, his back to Lord Mask.
“Excuse us, Lord Mask. I wish you a good night.”
“Yes, and you as well, Mizy. And Lord Talisman. I wish you a good night.” The representative of the Zoa nodded and grinned. He watched as they disappeared.
“I’m sure you know. The Hydra will eventually sink. The sun cannot shine in the night.”
His stifled murmur echoed across the blue underground lake.
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