Episode 14
Aidan was reporting the situation up to this point to his father, Duke Winslow.
“Yes. We haven’t found any other clues yet. Other than the fact that there are consistent sword marks… Yes, yes. Ah, and we encountered Aclo.”
At the mention of Aclo, the Duke’s voice over the receiver grew serious.
-“Was there any trouble?”
If one were to call it trouble, there certainly had been. A carriage was completely burned down, and the coachman, who had driven his carriage since childhood, as well as the horses, had died.
However, there was no need to cause concern by telling a story like that.
“Yes, but those Aclo bastards said something strange. They claimed that if all five cores are gathered, a gate can be opened.”
-“Open a gate? But when all five were gathered at the research institute to process the Hedrons’ nuclei, no such thing happened in particular.”
“Yes. I looked over the records as well, but there was nothing out of the ordinary… At any rate, Aclo seems to think we stole the cores to prevent that.”
-“We will have to keep an eye on Aclo.”
“Yes, please do. And please see if there is any other information regarding the cores. Because we need to confirm whether it really can open a gate.”
-“Very well, I shall convey this matter to His Majesty.”
With that, the phone call ended. Aidan lightly loosened his tense neck. Since his father was going to investigate Aclo, he only needed to pursue the cores.
Stealing a glance at the clock, it was already past midnight. Pressing firmly on the bridge of his nose for his dry eyes, he looked down at the report he had written earlier.
Of course, it was not a report regarding the cores or Aclo. At any rate, since he was traveling around the Empire under the name of the Special Audit Department, a report was necessary.
“I should finish this up here and get some sleep now.”
Just as he was about to wrap things up and sleep, a knock was heard.
Aidan looked at the clock once more.
A knock at this hour?
“I’m sure I said not to disturb me.”
Furrowing his brow, Aidan opened the door.
“Ah, I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
Purple eyes blinked rapidly. Perhaps because she had washed using the bath additives he used, a familiar scent stimulated his nose.
Had she failed to dry her hair properly, either? Cynthia smiled awkwardly as she tucked her hair—which still appeared wet at the tips—behind her ear.
“I came in a hurry because I thought I should tell you right away while it was on my mind, but was it too late an hour after all?”
“Ah, what’s this. Was it you?”
Dressed in indoor clothes and barefoot. It seemed she had run over in quite a hurry once again.
There had been a time like this in the past, too. For a school-wide academy assignment, a professor had posted a difficult task at the graduate level and stated that whoever solved it first would be awarded an A+, regardless of exam scores.
When everyone grew exhausted and gave up on a problem that was on a different level, he had seen Cynthia studying by herself in the library, researching this book and that book. Even if she just took the exams, she would have gotten an A+ anyway, so it was incomprehensible to Aidan why she clung so desperately to that assignment.
Rather than clinging to that, wouldn’t studying for other subjects during that time be more efficient? In the first place, it wasn’t a problem the professor posed expecting anyone to get right, anyway.
Yet Cynthia had clung to that problem for days.
And exactly one week later. Cynthia had run out of the dormitory early in the morning without even wearing her uniform properly. Without a ribbon, wearing mismatched shoes, and her ungathered hair a disheveled mess, Cynthia began writing down the solution beneath the bulletin board in high spirits.
At that time, Cynthia’s state had been a mess. Passing academy students were busy whispering among themselves at the sight of her.
Asking how she could walk around looking like that, saying she truly had no dignity because she was a commoner, that this was why being a noble in name only held no meaning, that true nobility came from dignity, blah blah blah.
Of course, Aidan had also harbored such thoughts every time he saw Cynthia. Looking at her unstraight gait, her dining etiquette, or her dancing skills shown at academy parties.
However, those sparkling eyes of hers focused on solving the problem given to her—weren’t they quite something?
He had harbored such a question once. Of course, that too was only for a very brief moment, though.
‘She looks just like she did back then.’
Her messy hair, and her attire.
“First, let’s sit and talk.”
“C-Come in? At this hour?”
“You were the one who knocked on someone else’s room door at this hour. What were you planning to do if I had been sleeping?”
“Ah, because the lights in your room were still on. My room looks down on yours.”
Cynthia spoke, pointing toward the window.
“Because I have a personality where I charge ahead without looking back once something catches my interest…”
“I know very well.”
Aidan let out a sigh and handed her an outerwear piece.
“At any rate, if you ran over like this, it must be about the cores, right? It’s not something to talk about in the hallway.”
“Th-That’s true.”
“I didn’t ask you to step into the bedroom. Follow me, let’s go to the reception room.”
“Ah, the reception room. Yep.”
Draping the offered outerwear over herself, Cynthia took a step inside.
Gulp.
Aidan swallowed dryly.
The reception room was an open space, and in the back was a trustworthy butler whose mouth was sealed shut, yet…
“I gave it some thought, you see?”
Why had his throat suddenly grown so parched like this?
“The cores. Though Aclo hasn’t been able to find where they are either, the fact that they vanished is all because of my dad, isn’t it?”
Was it because of the same scent?
Or was it because she was draped in his clothes?
Or else was it because of that silver hair shining even whiter as it reflected the moonlight?
“The fact that no one remembers my dad might actually work to our advantage!”
Or was it because her voice, excited in her enthusiasm, was quite cute?
“What do you mean by that? Because no one remembers him, the investigation can’t proceed right now.”
Deciding that his very last thought was certainly not it, Aidan answered, shaking his head.
“That’s why! We use that.”
However, Cynthia’s eyes were still sparkling.
“I am the only person in this world who remembers my dad, aren’t I!”
Somehow, her voice felt thoroughly high-spirited.
“I don’t know what Dad did after taking the cores, but everyone forgot everything related to Dad, didn’t they? So, the people who have the cores will remember it as though that gem-like thing suddenly appeared one day, right?”
“…Certainly. Having an object like that suddenly appear would feel strange.”
“Yes, exactly that! There will be a precious, treasure-like object whose origin or reason for appearing is unknown, without remembering who gave it to them! If we approach it that way, we’ll be able to find the cores easily!”
Aidan stroked his chin. It was an unthought-of method, but it was a certain method.
“Something that suddenly appeared somewhere, looking like a gem! Yet not a gem.”
The components of the cores that were at each Central Neodymium were, strictly speaking, similar to precious gems.
“Certainly. Cores are structured similarly to gems, but they aren’t gems.”
“Still, since it consists of components found nowhere else, it will hold value.”
The core in the east was blue, the south was red, the west was white, the core in the north was black, and the final one in the capital was yellow.
Aidan nodded his head. Looking at the suddenly formed cores, the people to whom those objects appeared must have taken them to a jeweler to get an appraisal.
Since it was an object not in their memory, they might have even tried to find its owner.
“You’re saying that if we find a strange mineral of unknown origin, there’s a high probability that it’ll be a core.”
“That’s right!”
Cynthia beamed broadly.
“It would be good to look focusing on jewelers.”
Aidan marveled once more at the girl before his eyes. A child who did her utmost for what was given to her. Eyes that, once she began concentrating, focused solely on that regardless of what others said around her.
Those unwavering eyes.
Yes, it was certainly because of those firm eyes that his throat had grown parched.
Whenever he looked at those firm eyes, it had always been that way, ever since their academy days. His throat grew parched for no reason, and he felt stifled.
Clearly, there were no buttons fastened up to his throat, nor a tightly pulled cravat, so he had no idea why he felt so stifled.
“I’ll investigate it, so go rest for today.”
Awkwardly fiddling with his empty throat, Aidan pushed Cynthia’s back as if fleeing.
