After hearing that from Chera, I felt a bit depressed.
‘Is that so. Basileon must have been no different from a sacrificial lamb, just like Chera. Especially since they are blood siblings…’
At that moment, a thought crossed my mind.
“Wait. The fact that you exist here… means you didn’t become a sacrifice in the end, right?”
“That’s right.”
‘She was caught but didn’t become a sacrifice?’
“I don’t know the exact reason, but it didn’t kill me; it imprisoned me somewhere. What’s strange is that there were others imprisoned besides me.”
“Other people locked up? Who were they?”
“The common thread is that they were all young women.”
‘Wait. I’ve heard this somewhere before!’
“The common trait among those who returned alive is that they are ‘women’.”
“I heard it from Basileon! That there were sacrifices who returned alive at the time the Ravenwood family was cursed!”
At my words, Chera covered her mouth with her hand, looking very surprised.
‘But why. What’s the reason for only sparing young women?’
I needed to find out in more detail.
“…By any chance, that b*stard didn’t do anything bad to you while you were locked up, did he?”
Chera smiled brightly, seemingly finding my reaction amusing.
“Well. Pulling out a few strands of hair, clipping the tips of my fingernails…. If those count as awful things, then I suppose he did?”
“Ah. Fortunately, it seems he didn’t do anything too extreme!”
I thought he would have done something much worse, so I was a bit relieved. Chera opened her mouth again.
“Lady Montrose. By the way… has Basileon still not been able to escape the curse? I heard from Lilith that he’s been hunting humans.”
“Uh…”
I stole a glance at Lilith. Lilith must have talked about Basileon strictly from a survivor’s perspective.
‘It wasn’t of his own free will, but he has repeatedly killed innocent people.’
“…He doesn’t chase us much these days. But the fact that the Duke of Ravenwood has been killing us all this time hasn’t changed.”
Lilith answered instead of me, as I was vaguely hesitating to answer. When the topic of Basileon came up, Lilith’s attitude became a bit blunt.
“….”
Chera’s eyes were filled with worry and anxiety.
‘I wonder if they relied on each other while living in a family like this.’
How distressed must she be, hearing that the brother she relied on had become a murderer?
“But, what is this sound?”
A murmuring sound from outside gradually could be heard, then echoed.
“…Eve!”
‘Basileon?’
“…This is Basileon’s voice.”
When I revealed the owner of the voice, Chera looked back at Lilith.
“Lilith. I understand how you feel, but it’s time for you to leave now.”
“I don’t want to…”
“Because I absolutely cannot stand to watch you become a music box like me.”
‘What?’
I couldn’t understand Lilith’s behavior, acting like a complaining child. It was a confusing conversation.
“One of the survivors pushed me, using me as bait. I… can’t trust anyone anymore.”
“I’m sorry, Lilith.”
Chera silently shed tears, holding back her breath for a moment.
“…We’ll be able to see each other again someday. You too, Lady Montrose.”
As Chera finished speaking.
Whoosh—!
A wind blew from behind Chera, and Lilith and I were pushed back together.
“Ugh…”
* * *
“Cough, cough…”
Looking to the side, Lilith was sprawled on the floor. Next to her, I saw the music box that had swallowed us.
‘We came out of the music box.’
And.
“Eve?”
Basileon was looking down at me right in front of my eyes.
“….”
The rims of his eyes were slightly red.
“Basileon.”
“I couldn’t even send you a signal. I thought you…”
Basileon couldn’t continue his words.
‘Was he worried?’
He hugged me without a word. His hands flailed in the empty air, searching for my form. Finding nothing to touch, Basileon soon stepped back.
“Have you been looking for me all this time?”
Basileon looked as if he couldn’t regain his composure at all. His emotional hand gestures and breathing. And the tears flowing down could be seen.
“I’m fine. I’m already dead anyway…”
Were my words not reaching his ears? Basileon drew his Flamberge and gripped it so tightly his hand turned red.
“W-what are you doing?”
“Eve. Is that the thing that swallowed you?”
Unlike before, the music box wasn’t emitting blood and light. It just sat there like an ordinary object.
“Well, about that. It did, but…”
Basileon aimed his Flamberge at the music box.
Crackle—. Crackle—.
The sound of sparks crackling and rising from the tip of the sword could be heard.
At that moment, I felt as if the blood drained from my whole body, turning me pale.
“W-wait! Basileon! Don’t!”
I blocked Basileon’s path so he couldn’t attack the music box.
“Chera is trapped inside this music box!”
Hearing a completely unexpected name, Basileon raised his eyebrows.
“…What?”
“The music box did swallow Lilith and me, but nothing happened. Chera, your sister, was the music box.”
I explained, but Basileon still didn’t look pleased.
“Are you saying you met my sister inside here?”
“Yeah.”
“What did you talk about?”
I explained everything to Basileon. Chera, who was cursed and trapped in the music box. How she escaped the family because she didn’t want to be a sacrifice, but returned because of Basileon. And how she was subsequently caught by the evil god and locked up, and that the people locked up were all young women. I told him everything, but Basileon’s expression didn’t change at all.
“What’s wrong?”
“Eve. This isn’t a normal object.”
Basileon carefully examined the music box and stepped back.
“An heirloom. The meaning is ‘family treasure’, but in reality, it’s an object chosen by ‘It’.”
“…So this music box really was an heirloom.”
“Yes. I don’t know the reason, but it’s an object It chose, and it is indeed an heirloom. Because my Flamberge is reacting.”
Basileon lowered his sword, but sparks still crackled at the tip of the Flamberge.
“But no matter what curse someone received, there has never been anyone imprisoned in an heirloom before.”
“….”
Basileon kept his eyes on the music box from a distance.
“Eve. It’s highly likely that you’ve been caught in a trap.”
“Look here, Basileon Ravenwood. Who are you to talk that way?”
Lilith, who had come to her senses at some point, interrupted our conversation.
“The Chera inside there was real. You may be someone who routinely committed murder, but shouldn’t you at least not speak like that about your own flesh and blood?”
Basileon spoke calmly.
“That thing is skilled at manipulating people. Thus, it is right to doubt everything.”
“Chera was worried about you.”
“It could all be an act.”
Invisible sparks flew between the two. Lilith ignored Basileon’s words, picked up the music box, and hid it behind her back.
“If you’re going to break this music box, you might as well kill me first.”
“….”
“Why, can’t you kill me? But isn’t that what you usually do?”
Just like Evan did last time, Lilith provoked Basileon.
“What I usually do…”
Basileon looked at the Flamberge with sorrowful eyes. When he didn’t fall for the provocation, Lilith was a little flustered.
“Right. It’s what I usually do.”
“As expected. Your true nature doesn’t change. There’s no way it would.”
“But now… I will not kill you.”
Basileon said, closing his eyes. However, Lilith shook her head and denied Basileon’s words. She showed no sign of believing his words at all.
“Nonsense. Who would believe that?”
Then.
Clang—.
Basileon threw down the Flamberge as if discarding it right in front of Lilith’s eyes.
“I have no intention of harming you. So I’d like you to give me the music box.”
“I can’t do that. Especially if you’re trying to attack Chera.”
“That is not my sister. It’s just an heirloom. What you saw was probably just you being deceived by It.”
As I stared at the two of them, a question suddenly arose in me.
‘Why is he being so stubborn about this?’
I thought he would be surprised when I brought up the topic of his blood relative. Seeing Basileon doubting it without the slightest wavering made me a little puzzled.
‘Uh… Could it be?’
I suddenly interjected into their conversation and asked.
“Basileon. By any chance, you don’t have a history of being tricked like this, do you?”
“….”
Basileon hesitated for a moment. But soon, he let out a small sigh and began to speak.
“Fake realities. In other words, creating illusions is very easy for It. That’s how It deceives and manipulates people…”
He wore a pitiful look in his eyes, as if dredging up a painful memory.
“Every time until now, what brainwashed me and planted false goals in my mind was always the illusion of my sister.”
I could see Basileon’s hunched shoulders trembling minutely.
“Wait. Are you saying It used Chera to manipulate you however it wanted?”
“….”
He didn’t answer, but I could tell it meant affirmation.
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