Betrayal – Part 04

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Translator: Kell


Night came.

Even though she was looking forward to it, Albus didn’t show up to dinner. She must be really busy.

Pooch came to deliver a message from her. “The meeting might drag on, so go ahead and eat without me.” He then left immeadiately afterwards.

“She must be extremely busy,” Zero said. “She cannot even have a meal.”

“Well, she’s a bigshot, so.”

The meal was lavish and delicious, but without Albus around, who we were supposed to share stories from our travel with, making conversation was hard.

“This is all pointless if the one I’m supposed to get information from doesn’t show up,” the priest said, and left the table early.

Lily was fidgeting akwardly. Zero fed her all sorts of food, saying, “The more fat you have, the more wonderful you will feel in my arms.” She then turned to me all of a sudden. “You should put on a little more fat too. Muscles are great, but I quite like the softness of fat animals.”

I imagined myself being fat, and was so disgusted that I quickly finished up my meal.


The next morning.

Albus was still busy and didn’t even show up at the breakfast table. I wanted to talk to her about Thirteenth, but there was nothing I could do if she was busy.

“We need to find you the perfect outfit for the ball,” Pooch said as we were about to leave.

“What? Can’t we just wear our usual clothes?” I asked.

“Of course, you can’t! Powerful people from home and abroad will be attending the ball!”

“I think it’s a mistake to invite people like us to such an important event in the first place. Besides, I don’t have any clothes that I can wear to a ball.”

“That’s what you think.” Pooch grinned. “We already expected this, so the young lady had your and the Murky Darkness’s outfit tailored beforehand! It took about a hundred days to make. On the day the ball was scheduled, she immediately placed an order for the outfit in case you two come back. Fear the young lady’s genius! Shudder and weep!”

The maidservant who had been waiting outside the room came shuffling in, carrying clothes.

The black and purple fabric inlaid with gems must be for Zero. Please don’t tell me that cramped-looking lapis lazuli-colored set is mine.

“We didn’t have your exact measurements, so they’re not final yet. After some measuring, they’ll go through final stitching. I think three days will be enough. We didn’t expect the priest and Lily, but the priest can wear ready-made clothes, and Lily can have children’s clothes with some alterations here and there.”

He sounded like an aristocrat who knew a lot about clothing.

“I detest clothes that are difficult to move in,” Zero said. “I will wear what I have on now.”

“Same here,” I agreed.

Lily looked at us, her ears and tail perked up. “What? You don’t want it? It’s so beautiful. I want to see you wear it.”

“No, thank you!” I barked. “Any Beastfallen wearing shit like that only looks stupid!”

Pooch shot me a sour look. “Now that’s just unwarranted. Look at how elegantly I’m dressed. A pure white fur and a crimson coat. Don’t you think that a Beastfallen born with natural fur is the most fashionable person and should be the focus of everyone’s attention?”

“I don’t.”

“No, he has a point,” Zero said. “If I can see Mercenary in an elegant attire, then I am willing to participate.”

I grimaced. “I don’t share even the slightest sentiment with that horny wolf, and you don’t have to participate in anything.”

Zero shrugged. “What a bore.”

Lily tugged at Zero’s clothes, beckoning her to lend her ear. The witch bent down, and Lily whispered something.

I thought I could hear her, but I couldn’t make out what she was saying. She knew exactly how low her voice needed to be so other Beastfallen couldn’t hear anything. In addition, I couldn’t read her lips from where I was.

Zero seemed to understand what Lily was saying. “Yes, I see,” she said, nodding, then glanced at me before turning to Pooch. “I have changed my mind. Let us try on those clothes, shall we?”

“Now we’re talking,” Pooch said, snapping his fingers.

My jaw dropped. “Wh-Whaaat?! What’s with the sudden change of mind?!” I turned to Lily. “Hey, squirt! What did you say to her?!”

“It’s a secret,” she said, holding her mouth with her small hands.

Damn it. I don’t stand a chance against two women. Fine, then. I’ll use my last resort.

“Hey, priest. You’re against it too, right?”

“Not at all.”

“You’re in?!”

“The more people there are, the easier it is to gather information. And it’s easier to blend in at a ball.”

I thought he disliked anything gaudy, but in retrospect, he’d always been a person who would do anything to achieve his goal.

It was three against one. Five if I counted Pooch and Albus. I was terribly outnumbered. But so what?

The results of a majority vote didn’t matter to me. If I don’t want to do it, I won’t. If I’m not interested, I won’t bother.

“To hell with you all! I’ll never wear it!” I stormed out of the room.

Was I being childish? Uncooperative? Overly self-conscious?

They could say whatever they wanted. I didn’t give a damn. I was used to being embarrassed, feared of, and ridiculed, but I didn’t want to be subjected to such things in front of Zero.

It wasn’t because I had feelings for her or anything, but because I was worried about how she would react.

Several times in the past, Zero had been so enraged that she tried to blow up a whole city. In fact, she had fired spells out in the open. The point was she had a history of being rash. If someone were to mock me at the ball, I had no idea what Zero would do to them.

“Who am I kidding? I’m just being too self-conscious.” Halfway down the corridor, I stopped and let out a deep sigh.

I had grown accustomed to Zero’s affection towards me lately. At first, I felt uncomfortable whenever she said she liked me out of the blue. She didn’t even expect a reply from me. But I could tell that the sense of discomfort was slowly fading away.

And I hated that. I was terrified of it, even.

If I became too accustomed to her affection, what would happen to me the moment she lost it?

A while ago, I would’ve just said, “It’s normal,” or “Being betrayed is just the norm for me.” But lately I wasn’t sure if I would be able to say that.

“Fuck. When did I—”

I heard footsteps rushing towards me.

“Mercenary? What are you doing here all by yourself? Didn’t Holdem tell you about the fitting session?”

I looked up at the sound of the familiar child’s voice.

Albus stopped right in front of me and smiled, panting. “Work’s finally slowing down, so I thought I’d check out the fitting,” she said. “Did you see Zero’s dress? You did, right? Doesn’t it fit her lineage perfectly? Like actually all murky and dark! Wait, is it over? No, I wanna see it!” Before I could say anything else, Albus pulled on my arm. “Hey, let me see you in it again!”

“Hell no! I haven’t even worn it once, and I don’t intend to!”

“What?” Albus’s eyes widened. “Why not?! I thought it would look good on you! I also have a special outfit for myself. A deep blue, silk robe, with intricate embroidery using silver thread. It was very expensive, but His Majesty said that people of status should wear the appropriate clothes.”

Her expression turned grim. “That’s what he said before he passed away. I really liked him. When he became ill, I tried my best to heal him, but I couldn’t.”

“He was poisoned, wasn’t he? I thought he died instantly.”

“He survived for seven days. We tried to identify the type of poison, but it was no good. We didn’t even know who did it. I’m sure it was Thirteenth.” Her expression turned darker and darker, her eyes staring blankly at nothing.

Sensing the terrible vibe, I poked her forehead with the tip of my claw.

She turned to me. “What was that for?!”

“Let me tell you a funny story,” I said. “A long time ago, a hundred servants were tortured to find the one who poisoned the king. The court physician could not identify the poison and the culprit could not be found. A great doctor, summoned from afar, examined the body and said: He passed away peacefully in good health. It was simply his time to go.”

“What does that mean?”

“How old was the king when he died?”

“S-Sixty-seven years old.”

“Older than I thought. He could’ve passed away at any moment. You witches live so long that you probably don’t have a clue about the lifespan of a normal human, but there are a lot of people who die in their fifties.”

“But everyone else from the royal family was assassinated!”

“The rest were probably assassinations. Killing the ruler of a country is much more difficult than killing a bunch of other royals. And when the person is sixty-seven years old, it’s safer and more reliable to just wait for him to die naturally than to poison him. What’s more, the king had the descendant of the great Solena with him. You could’ve quickly neutralized any poison. No idiot would attempt a poisoning under such circumstances.”

“But he collapsed while eating, and the court physician said it was poison.”

“And you believed them, why?”

“I, uhh…”

“A court physician is a doctor, right? And you’re a Mage who specializes in the Chapter of Protection. Who do you think would jeopardize his position?”


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