Chapter 201

Enchanted abyss (2)

As if he felt my gaze, the soft smile on his face was shameless.

“Keep talking. Do you feel a sense of loss when the Blue Rose disappears?”

No wonder there was a desk in my room that I had never seen before, so I thought it was moved. With this thought in mind, I continued the conversation.

“That’s right. I feel a sense of loss.”

While spying on the opportunity next to Chaser, I didn’t miss another chance. An opportunity to directly ask someone who knows all the information.

“When the Blue Rose is gone, I know instinctively, my life has no meaning anymore.”

“…… Isn’t that too much?”

“Well, once I experienced it, it wasn’t that bad.”

Chaser bowed his head and smiled. A soft laugh followed.

“People sometimes despair, but eventually live, don’t they? It feels like that.”

It was a very quiet laugh to talk about the Blue Rose before me, his sister’s death. It’s strange to laugh, though.

“I don’t know. I did, but what about the other roses? I think they would have been similar…….”

Chaser turned his head.

“The Blue Rose must exist in the same world. So, if there is no soul, bring it from another world…… Perhaps one of the powers of the Blue Rose is the power that allows it to move.”

“What about returning?”

“That would be if the Blue Rose was born into this world. Then you will have the power to return.”

Chaser clenched his chin and informed me.

“But isn’t it strange? A long time has pa.s.sed since the first rose, and the roses are no longer attached to Blue Roses as they used to.”

His head tilted slowly.

“Do you say you feel thirst?”

“Yes. Tolerable thirst.”

Chaser nodded his head lightly. With a gentle smile.

“Even if the Blue Rose dies, there will only be intolerable pain.”

Said a returner who once lost a Blue Rose. I frowned at this.

“You said we must be in the same world.”

“I didn’t say I wasn’t crazy and hurt, Iana.”

He explained softly. In the past, the pain and loss was so great that it would be better to die, and he went crazy along with it, but now that time pa.s.ses and there is a void, the pain is dull and only madness comes slowly.

Neither was good, but it was true that the former was far more terrifying.

Here, I have a fundamental question.

Then why did the Blue Rose and the roses have such a deformed relationship? Isn’t it too unfair for other roses to have their lives changed by the existence and choices of others? Where did this blindness come from?

In this way, he seemed to be giving away information.

“Why the h.e.l.l did the relationship become so tilted?”

“Is that because the beginning was like that?”

“How was it in the beginning?”

Chaser was never easy. I asked him a lot. Mostly about the Blue Rose or the roses, and about the Blue Rose’s guardian deity…… I also asked about ‘Iana’.

Chaser didn’t answer everything. In particular, when asked about the Blue Rose’s guardian deity or ‘Iana’, he only smiled and did not listen. Like in this situation now.

“Well.”

Chaser slowly got up from the chair. He walked effortlessly to where I was.

“…… It doesn’t matter if you don’t listen to it.”

“You still remember, right?”

“…….”

“I’m curious.”

His soft voice pierced my ears. As if he knew what I was thinking.

It certainly was.

I wanted to deal with my powers, I had to know to handle them, and the information is in that man.

“Are you going to make a deal?”

“You can’t say it like that. Iana.”

He laughed and even gave a lecture on villain theory himself.

“You have to use me. You have to eat me to the bone.”

“…… If I say that, will you be taken advantage of?”

“Of course.”

He put his hand on his b.u.t.ton.

“Where should I take it off?”

“What?”

“Don’t you have to look at the body to get the bones?”

“Stop being crazy.”

Chaser no longer insisted on his ascetic attire. No, even the time to change clothes seemed to be omitted. Even at changing times, he only disappeared for a brief moment and appeared back in a disheveled, unb.u.t.toned outfit.

It still was even now. I turned my gaze away.

“Because I know now that if I give in too much, you will fly away. What should I do?”

It was a series of explorative battles.

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t listen. Because there is no one to tell you anymore.”

“…..”

“I’m the only one who can give you an answer.”

The languid voice was full of certainty.

“As for the Blue Rose. Especially the information you want, Iana.”

For some reason, his eyes seemed to turn towards my legs for a moment.

“So, you want to tie me up?”

Twitch. My shoulders trembled slightly.

“It doesn’t matter though. If you want to do it anyway.”

“…… no.”

He said in a tone that it really doesn’t matter. If this happened, the trouble would be gone, but it wasn’t that there was no way.

Chaser might release more tension.

“I will tell you one by one.”

However, he answered as if no, and looked at me. At the same time, his hand reached out.

“Even if I regret what is left. I want you to stay by my side.”

His fingers gently touched my ear, and with a sound, he slipped my hair behind my ear.

“… What are you doing?”

Suddenly, his shadow was thickly cast over my face.

“I’m lying flat now, Iana.”

The low whispering voice was seductive, yet low, ecstatic, and subtle.

I raised my eyebrows.

“How?”

“Really.”

Chaser grabbed my chin at my dull expression and pretended to be troubled, then slowly folded his knees.

“I wish I could get down on my knees.”

He crossed his legs and kissed my bare knee. It felt soft and watery to the bare skin.

“Please choose me.”

He then raised his head and met my eyes.

“Please don’t leave me.”

In the eyes overflowing with madness, there was something I had never seen before.

“It’s terrible to share with the other roses.”

In an instant, his gaze changed sharply. However, this was only for a while. He was looking at me with a mixture of madness and earnestness. I removed his hand from my lap. However, the hand that I had been holding to separate from me instead grabbed my hand and entangled it.

“If only I could have a part of you.”

He whispered softly.

“Then I think I can stay in your shadow.”

I stared at my entangled hands and looked away indifferently. It was a small act, but it was enough to provoke his reaction.

His expression crumbled down on my indifferent face.

“If you want, I can bring you to the world.”

As he leaned his face in my hand, he muttered a little, subtly revealing his power. I shook my head.

“It’s okay. Because there is nothing I want in the world you speak of.”

As I said this, I felt a sense of disappointment inside.

“Iana, you…… You keep me locked up in an enchanted abyss.”

While he was muttering, I looked down at his head silently. A small voice that seemed to be cut off leaked out.

“To make you regret it in the end.”

Chaser seemed to give up, but he never gave up.

Now I was suspicious.

Will there ever be a chance to take on a challenge?

However, when a few days pa.s.sed, the opportunity came.

It was the moment I had been waiting for.

***

As I said, Chaser did all his responsibilities in my room. I often saw him sitting and looking at the parchment on the desk. He didn’t sit there from the beginning, but after a few days he just brought something and tried to see if he could just stay by my side the whole time.

He deals with his responsibilities here and also receives reports here.

“Duke, there is a problem!”

One subordinate, who came in after knocking politely, had a face full of urgency, unlike the politeness.

“A large-scale riot in Scheruten……”

“A riot?”

I was beside them listening to everything while the subordinate reported that something had happened. It was natural. Because this was my room.

‘Has it started ….?’

It was a signal from Jaire. I kept my lips shut. I clasped my hand lightly to relieve my nervousness.

“It’s Scheruten…….”

Chaser’s expression did not change. Rather, he only tilted his head at an angle with a cold face that only the subordinate could see.

He was relaxed.

“What should I do? Should we send more people?”

“Hmm.”

He pulled up one corner of his mouth. His eyes were not smiling at all.

“Let’s watch.”

It was the moment when Chaser gave such an order.

Knock, knock.

A knock at a fast tempo resounded no matter who heard it. As soon as permission was granted, the door opened. From the wide open door, someone came running in.

“Duke, there is a report that Panthes is on fire!”

The subordinate, who came in quickly, mentioned the name of another city.

“Is it arson?”

“No, no.”

The subordinate glanced at me for a brief moment. He seemed to be wary, but he continued quickly.

“During the fight, a huge explosion……. It seems that the handling of firearms is wrong. Explosives to deliver…….”

Explosives, in this empire, were equivalent to munitions. And the fact that it was in the city of crime meant that this man was also involved in the smuggling of munitions. Chaser’s expression changed for the first time. He got up from his seat. But he soon turned his head. Because I was holding onto the hem of his robe. I slowly raised my eyes.

“…… are you going?”

Our gazes crossed in the air. It’s because Chaser can’t go there.

My hand, unable to overcome my nervousness, tightened. It was a brief moment, but it must have been enough for him to notice.

An unexpected light seemed to pa.s.s through Chaser’s expression.

“Should I not go?”

The low voice asked me.