Chapter 33
Although it was a mansion inhabited by a small number of people, the food was quite good.
Fresh gingerbread. Mashed potatoes seasoned with salt, pepper, and butter. Hot chicken stew sprinkled with chopped croutons. The tea, which was simmered with sugar, smelled sweet and warm.
"Tea."
Upon receiving the tea, Linon responded politely, "Thank you." There was no sign of discomfort.
"Linon."
"Yes?"
"I heard you suffer from mysophobia."
Linon said, blinking, "His Highness must have told you."
"Yes. By the way, are my hands okay?"
"Yes, they’re fine."
"Why?"
"That."
Linon raised the corners of his mouth and spoke softly.
"Lady Seria Stern is a high-ranking aristocrat, isn’t she? It doesn’t matter because high nobility is clean. It’s common people who are dirty. I hate contact with them. But high nobles have nothing to do with that."
"..."
"That sounds very strange."
Of course, nobility considered cleanliness a virtue, so they always cared about staying clean. Aristocrats who bathed twice a day were also common, and herbs with excellent purifying effects were a necessity for aristocrats.
And it’s theoretically correct that lower-class people who lack time and space to boil hot water are relatively dirty, that is, that’s generally the case.
Of course, if other nobles had mentioned this story and said that common people were dirty, they would have thought it was arrogant and insolent hierarchism. But it’s Linon. I didn’t feel that way at all when I heard him say it.
It sounds subtle.
It’s hard to ask because he’s smiling. Did he read my face? Linon naturally changed the subject.
"And my lady, this is a secret, but His Highness is a bit mysophobic too."
"Really?"
Linon, who was nodding vigorously, suddenly shook his shoulders. I looked directly behind him. My eyes widened quickly.
A wall that was once only black now had fungi moving across it. Only one thing came to mind.
Maggie.
A shadow of evil with which demons infect humans.
(N/T: like the black spot Linon received from the demon, and Seria later purified)
Linon was immediately startled and said,
"Lady, this is not a demon’s sign. Because it’s not…"
"I know."
"Yes?"
I saw the creeping fungi with a serious expression. It was disgusting, like thousands of cockroaches crawling.
It wasn’t even fungi. That is... hardened maggie.
Hardened maggie was a byproduct of the curse Lina later called "Mayoung."
It was an important element of the events that happened in the second half of the original story.
It occurred in the Imperial Palace of the Glick Empire, and the purifier was Lina. Lina purified that strange maggie that neither the other Sterns nor the High Priest could decipher.
Due to this, Lina had great influence over the imperial family, but as a result, Lina became ill and collapsed.
By then, Lesche, who had already confirmed his feelings for Lina, seriously confronted the emperor, and even the spirit of civil war loomed grimly between Berg Duchy and the imperial family.
"Of course, miraculously, Lina wakes up and resolves it peacefully."
Thanks to Lina’s perfect timing, Lesche and the Emperor reconciled somehow, but the main point of this episode was caused by Maggie and Mayoung.
"I don’t know if it’s really maggie."
The maggie from the demon represents a clear change in the human body when it’s nearby. Anyone could recognize the black spots blooming on the body.
"In the original story, Lina purifies this."
But I can’t. Because Seria doesn’t have strong purification power among the Sterns.
There was no comparison to Lina, the saint, so the only way to solve this is to call Lina?
"Lady Seria? What are you thinking about?"
"When will His Highness return, Linon?"
"The demon appeared suddenly, so he’ll return after checking the boundaries. He’ll be back by night."
"That’s a long time."
"Do you have something to tell him?"
"No, not really."
As I looked around, I suddenly remembered a question I had forgotten. The conversation we had with Lesche in the carriage.
"Why does His Highness? I heard knights are not allowed in Laurel Mansion."
"Didn’t Linon explain it to you?"
"He didn’t tell me anything."
"That guy…"
When he asked the reason for the oversight due to the lack of context, Linon immediately seemed embarrassed.
"Well, to be honest, His Highness is too insensitive."
"What?"
"Isn’t that so? I was the only one who thought deeply about how to tell this to the precious lady of the imperial capital to come to Laurel Mansion…"
"Oh, yes. It’s worth thinking about."
If I had been told there was black mold that moved automatically in the mansion, I would have seriously thought about whether to come here. When I said that, Linon stared at me for a second.
"What?"
"No, it’s just…"
As he coughed, Linon pointed to the shadow wandering behind the wall.
"The shamans should arrive at some point. They are shamans from the Kingdom of Nestla."
"Kingdom of Nestla? So far away?"
"I’ve examined all the options on this continent."
"Ahh."
The Kingdom of Nestla was a distant immigrant country that had to cross the continent completely. The kingdom, where gypsies prevail, is polytheistic and famous for its folk witchcraft.
I heard there are some cases where they have certain abilities unlike others. The problem is that the Temple treats all this as heresy. I tilted my head.
"But can I know this? Linon, you know I’m a Stern, right?"
"His Highness will probably pay you a lot for your silence."
Money? There’s no reason to say no to money. But there was a fundamental problem.
"No... he just doesn’t have to bring me here."
Linon looked around and said,
"His Highness wants to show you Martha. His Highness has received great help from Martha since he was very young."
Was she his nanny?
But Martha’s age was a bit young to be Lesche’s nanny. Was she his playmate? No, I know that male aristocrats usually have a servant to play with instead of a maid.
Anyway, I inferred that Lesche and Martha have a fairly strong bond, but there was still something that didn’t make sense.
"He can bring me back after the ritual. It’s not like I’m going to leave Berg’s property."
"Because this is the last time, miss."
The voice wasn’t heavy, but the meaning was. I raised my head and asked,
"What do you mean by the last time?"
Lesche looked at the sky. The snow was falling so heavily that it was exhausting. It was a unique season only for the Central Territories. While the weather in other seasons is mild, only a few weeks of winter were so cold that it reminded him of the north. This was due to the frozen lake, the grave of the demonic beast, which had accumulated cold air in the north for three seasons and then spilled out without warning at some point in the winter.
However, the people of the Grand Duchy loved this intense snow. They believed that a lot of snow was the secret to a good harvest. Many vassals said that good things are good, even intentionally coming to see the snowy landscape of the warm province.
The snowy landscape goes well with Laurel Mansion. It seemed strange at first glance that the green mansion, which reminded him of early summer, and the white snow matched well, but it was undeniable that the landscape was beautiful in reality.
The knights were already near the border.
"Your Highness!"
"The demons?"
"No more."
As they said that, the knights saw black shadows overflowing from the borderline.
There were also black shadows near the border. The knights’ hands trembled. They couldn’t deny that the strange shadow looked like maggie. But it was different from maggie. Common people die when exposed to maggie for a long time, but no one has died yet.
But no one could deny that it was something unusual. The knights are mostly people experienced with maggie. So, when they first saw that shadow, they drew their swords and wielded them like crazy. There were still dozens of cut marks on the mansion for that reason.
That was the reason Lesche banned the knights from entering the mansion. Anyway, the people caught in it were not happy to come into contact with strangers.
The red eyes looked at the ring on the second finger of his left hand. It was a ring decorated with the crest of the Grand Duchy of Berg, which was split in half. The ring of the Grand Duke of Berg was very old.
For a moment, Lesche recalled an event from a long time ago.
It’s been 15 years since this sinister shadow was transmitted in the beautiful green mansion. At first, they said it wasn’t that bad. It was the first time they scolded the maid, who was in charge of cleaning the mansion, for neglecting the cleaning.
It’s said that these unknown shadows continued to multiply. In fact, Lesche wasn’t familiar with what happened then. At that time, he was at an academy attended by distinguished men from outside the empire.
All he knows is what he heard from Elliot, a young knight who ran to his dormitory at the Academy crying.
However, Lesche remembers the end of this episode of Laurel Mansion.
