“Ah, um… well…”
“…You are a truly charming person.”
“Excuse me?”
“Basileon. I think I finally understand why that boy likes you.”
“Oh… well, thank you for the compliment.”
When I scratched my head feeling awkward, Chera gave an eye smile.
“Anyway, the clue I discovered is ‘sound.’ After being trapped there for so long, I began to adjust to the silence. That’s when I started to hear very faint noises.”
“What kind of… sounds?”
“Footsteps. The sound of a carriage being pulled… And, people’s voices. Things like that.”
‘Wait. If it’s such sounds.’
A path where people come and go. It meant my corpse was located there.
“And there is also the most important sound. It was the sound of a ‘door opening and closing’.”
‘…!’
“That narrows it down significantly! A place with a door where many people pass through. To find such a place in the fief, the options must be quite limited.”
Chera nodded as if agreeing with my words.
‘Maybe I’ll be able to find my body faster than I thought.’
I nodded my head. Then suddenly, I had a question and asked.
“Chera. But why don’t you reveal yourself to Basileon? It’s almost as if you are deliberately avoiding him…”
“…Well. Rather than avoiding him, it’s for Basileon’s sake.”
“Would there be a problem if Basileon meets you?”
If she left the family but returned because of Basileon, it means they have an affectionate relationship as siblings. Why on earth?
“Considering what I heard from Lilith, I vaguely felt that Basileon is gradually changing in a positive direction. In such a situation, if I appear and shake Basileon’s heart, problems will arise.”
“What kind of trouble….”
“My existence might cloud Basileon’s judgment. I am definitely trapped in this music box, but this is actually an heirloom of the Ravenwood family. And an heirloom is… an object over which It can exert influence.”
“Ah. Could it be…. You considered that by revealing your existence, it might use you to manipulate Basileon.”
Basileon, who learned of his sister’s existence. Couldn’t the evil god use the fact that Chera is trapped in the heirloom as bait to try and control Basileon again? If that really was the reason, it broke my heart. The younger brother she missed so much is right in front of her eyes, but she can’t even make her existence known…
‘No, wait.’
“I hope it’s just my groundless fear, and it would be wonderful if it truly was my sister inside… but unfortunately, the possibility of that is almost zero.”
I recalled Basileon’s warning.
‘I haven’t been objective enough.’
Although my suspicion of Chera is gradually fading, what if even this is a fabricated story?
‘If she’s a fake, the reason she can’t reveal herself would be because she’s related to the evil god, right?’
I calmly expressed my gratitude without showing it as much as possible.
“Thank you for answering my question. The story about my body too… will be very helpful.”
“Lady Montrose. It seems Basileon is nearby. He is looking for you.”
Noticing Basileon’s arrival, Chera looked quite regretful.
“Chera. How long have you been locked up here?”
“Well. Long enough… to forget who I am.”
“Ah.”
I felt the urge to say that I would come visit from time to time, and that we should talk about this and that whenever I did.
‘No. Even if I feel sorry for her, I shouldn’t go that far. Not yet…’
It was when I was agonizing over it.
“I am fine.”
“…!”
As if my thoughts had been read again, Chera spoke up first.
‘Am I such an easy person to figure out.’
“Please do not pity me. It is rude to look at me with such a gaze.”
“Ah, I’m sorry…. I’ve committed a discourtesy without meaning to.”
Chera covered her mouth with one hand and laughed elegantly.
“Hehe. It was a joke.”
“Ah…?”
As the atmosphere lightened up a bit, my tension also decreased. So I smiled along with Chera.
“Lady Montrose. You have the power to make the people around you feel good.”
“I do?”
“So please smile. There is no need to be serious.”
Just like that time when I was bounced out of the music box, the wind blew again.
“Chera? Chera!”
Whoosh—.
And I lost consciousness.
* * *
“Eh? What.”
When I came to my senses outside, my body was half-passing through the ceiling.
Creak—.
Right then, Basileon came in. I tried to move, but stayed still because I didn’t want to be caught doing something. Eventually, I made eye contact with Basileon, who was examining the ceiling.
“…Eve.”
I naturally came down to the floor.
“I played a little prank since it’s been a while. Because I wanted to play hide-and-seek with you! Hehehe.”
Basileon checked my condition and then approached the music box.
“Were you guarding it instead of the survivors?”
“Ah… Yeah. Lilith was originally guarding it, but she left to find love.”
“Love?”
Basileon twitched his eyebrows as if puzzled.
“Ah. Because Lilith likes Evan.”
“….”
Basileon blinked, seemingly completely unexpectedly.
“Of course you wouldn’t know. But it’s obvious when you look.”
“Ah. In that case, the pink-haired survivor has feelings for the platinum blond, but the platinum blond… likes you.”
“Well, you could say that.”
Basileon gauged my mood and opened his mouth again.
“I don’t care anymore. Whether the platinum blond likes you… or anyone else.”
“Huh?”
“I told you earlier. That the only person you felt butterflies for was me.”
“….”
Looking again, Basileon was embarrassed.
“Whoa.”
‘I secretly hoped he would follow me, but I didn’t think he would actually find me…’
While having such thoughts, Basileon gradually approached.
“What is it? Why, why?”
“Does there have to be a reason?”
“No, um…”
“The more you like someone, the more you want to see them up close and capture them in your eyes.”
Before I could stop him, Basileon stood tall in front of me. He examined my appearance one by one and slightly raised the corners of his mouth.
“Because it’s nice just to look at you.”
“Do you really think you can love through purely mental connection alone?”
“…The forms of love are diverse and not fixed. Such love naturally exists too. So even if you are in that form forever, no. No matter how you change, it won’t matter to me.”
Saying he could love me no matter what form I took was a very romantic statement. It’s true. It’s true, but… Why do I feel regretful?
“Yeah. That’s nice. But besides that….”
‘Like wanting to touch you again. Or wanting to feel your warmth. I was hoping for words like that.’
Oops.
I almost spoke my true feelings without realizing it.
“Besides that…?”
“N, no, I mean.”
Ugh, whatever.
“If you don’t know what it is, just stand there.”
Basileon stood blankly in his place with a look that said he didn’t know anything. I stuck close to Basileon as if burying myself in his arms. I only intended to stick my nose close, but since it came to this, I just decided to bury myself in his arms. Actually, I did it because I wanted to smell the nice scent I smelled last time again. When I went into his arms and sniffed, Basileon twitched.
“Hey. Stay still for a bit.”
At my words, Basileon’s body stiffened.
‘It’s a bit funny, but so what. If it smells nice, I might want to smell it!’
Today, too, the scent of perfume or something was covering Basileon’s soft and fresh body odor.
“Basileon. Did you spray perfume by any chance?”
“….”
Instead of answering, Basileon silently nodded his head.
“You didn’t normally spray it. Why did you spray it suddenly?”
“I thought you would like it.”
“Don’t spray it from now on. Rather than the artificial scent of perfume, I like your body odor better.”
While being intoxicated by that unique addictive scent, before I knew it, I had ridden all the way up his face.
Sniff sniff…
When I opened my eyes for a moment, Basileon had his eyes squeezed shut as if he had seen something terrible.
“If you don’t like it, I’ll stop.”
“…There’s no way I wouldn’t like it.”
“If you don’t dislike it, why do you have your eyes squeezed shut like that?”
“…Well.”
Basileon opened his eyes. For some reason, an atmosphere different from usual could be felt from his eyes. It also seemed like he was a little embarrassed. Perhaps unable to bear making eye contact with me, Basileon averted his gaze elsewhere.
‘…Does he hate me?’
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