Chapter 124

After reading that sentence, I began to doubt the very world I lived in.

A world where Kyle would choose sleep over me simply could not exist.

The problem was {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} that this excuse-like postscript had now been repeated for three months straight.

The first time, he had injured his hand.

The second time, he had eaten the wrong monster meat and suffered from a stomachache.

And the third time, he just... passed out asleep?

It felt as though my soaring mood had plummeted in an instant.

No, worse than that.

It had crashed through the ground and was drilling all the way down to the planet’s core.

“Aisha.”

“...I’m going back to my room.”

“What about the cookies? Aren’t you eating any?”

“I’m not in the mood.”

Father hurriedly tried to lure me back with dessert, but even my appetite had vanished. I brushed him off and left the office.

Flop—

When I returned to my room, I threw myself spread-eagle across the bed.

“...Don’t tell me he grew up and decided writing letters to me was too much trouble.”

Come to think of it, Kyle and I had only actually spent a little over a year together.

After that, we had been separated so suddenly that we hadn’t seen each other even once in ten years.

Maybe he really was gradually forgetting me.

I’m learning how to write.

I’m still not very good at it.

I want to see you again soon.

I had adored that tiny little kid who painstakingly filled four pages with his clumsy handwriting every month.

As his handwriting grew neater, the letters had gradually become shorter.

And now they had disappeared altogether.

“...Fine! I don’t care anymore either!”

We were childhood friends, for crying out loud.

And this was how he betrayed me?

“You think you’re my only friend? I have lots of friends too!”

I snapped irritably out of sheer sulkiness, but...

If I was being truthful, I still missed Kyle.

We had never even gotten to say goodbye properly.

I wanted to know how he had been living after leaving so suddenly.

I wanted to know how much he had grown.

“...Jerk....”

Am I the only one who’s curious? Aren’t you curious about how I’m doing too?

Feeling increasingly miserable for no good reason, I buried my face in my pillow.

“Squeak!”

A faint sound called to me from beneath the bed.

It had to be my other childhood friend(?) Squeaky.

Ten years ago, he had been the messenger mouse that carried notes back and forth between Duke Pose and me.

Apparently unaware that House Pose had been dissolved, he had shown up out of habit and presented me with a blank sheet of paper.

I had felt sorry for him, so I let him live in my room.

Sorry, but I really didn’t have the energy to deal with him right now.

I’ll pretend to be asleep.

“......”

“Squeak?”

“...Snore....”

I silently closed my eyes and relaxed every muscle in my body.

Maybe my method acting was too good, because I genuinely felt like I might fall asleep—

“Squeak! Squeak! Hiss, hiss! Raaagh!”

Without warning, Squeaky smacked me on the forehead with an enraged little pink paw.

Right.

He had technically belonged to House Pose too, so of course he wasn’t going to fall for my acting.

It didn’t hurt, but all that squeaking was loud.

“...Ugh, you’re noisy. Fine. Why’d you call me?”

I lowered my hand beside the bed, and the little mouse scampered straight onto my palm.

“Squeak, squeeeak!”

“Did something happen?”

“Squeak.”

His bean-sized head nodded vigorously.

I appreciated the concern, but would he even understand if I told him...?

“Well, I used to get a message from a friend once a month, but it’s already been three months since the last one.”

Why was I pouring my heart out to a messenger mouse after wondering whether he could understand me?

Even worse, the little guy was listening with an intensely serious expression in his beady eyes.

“I don’t think he’s the kind of person who’d stop contacting me for no reason....”

“Squeak! Squeak!”

I was speaking absentmindedly when Squeaky suddenly let out a sharp cry and jumped out of my hand.

“Squeaky, where are you going?”

“Squeeeak!”

When I called after him in surprise, he scurried up the wall.

Then he turned to look at me once, as if telling me to wait, before disappearing into the hole that led to his little room.

As though he knew something.

***

Meanwhile—

“What about the cookies? Aren’t you eating any?”

“I’m not in the mooood.”

Ever since his daughter had left, Calypse had been unable to properly concentrate on his work.

Her drooping shoulders and dejected footsteps refused to leave his mind.

And when she deliberately dragged out the end of her sentence like that, it meant she was trying to hide how upset she really was and pretend everything was fine.

“...Haa.”

As he silently replayed the scene in his mind, Calypse slowly closed his eyes.

He felt like he had done something terrible.

“Bring it now.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

At his command, Dorian, who had been waiting in an unobtrusive corner, handed him a small envelope.

Inside was a single message, folded with razor-sharp precision.

Kyle had probably practiced hundreds of times while Knox nagged him, all because he wanted everything he sent Aisha to look perfect.

That was simply the kind of person Kyle was.

Then—

“Your Grace.”

“What.”

Dorian spoke carefully.

“...I know this is not my place to say, but do you intend to continue hiding Kyle’s messages from Lady Aisha?”

He had remained silent because it was the Duke’s order, but the assistant had felt uncomfortable the entire time he watched Aisha.

How long does His Grace intend to keep this up?

Calypse had been wondering the same thing.

Aisha seemed to be nearing her limit.

Could he really keep hiding these messages from her?

Of course—

“If possible, I intend to keep hiding them.”

If they had to be hidden, then he would hide them.

Calypse nodded without any change in expression.

“May I ask why? Lady Aisha left without even taking a cookie.... It was painful even for me to watch.”

“It’s better for the children this way.”

“...Pardon?”

Dorian’s eyes widened at the cryptic answer.

At last, Calypse released the long sigh he had been holding back.

He didn’t want to forcibly interfere with the innocent children’s correspondence either.

But it had been ten years.

Writing faithfully to one another for ten entire years could hardly be called an ordinary relationship.

“They only need to endure a little longer.”

Calypse’s gaze darkened as he stared into empty space.

“If this continues for another year or so, Aisha will forget Kyle too. No matter how deep the attachment, time eventually wears it away.”

***

—If this continues for another year or so, Aisha will forget Kyle too. No matter how deep the attachment, time eventually wears it away—

“...Is that so, Father?”

The disgruntled voice cut off Calypse’s words.

At the same moment, thunder crashed suddenly outside the window.

A flash of lightning illuminated the room, casting a sinister shadow across the face of the person staring at the box from which Calypse’s voice was emerging.

Rain began falling without warning.

Just like Kyle’s messages, which had started disappearing with unnatural suddenness.

“Squeak, squeeeak.”

This was Aisha’s bedroom.

Squeaky, who had hurried back carrying the box, was still panting heavily.

It was a voice-storage device I had developed with magic.

In other words, a recorder.

***

—You make sure you keep your mouth shut too. If she finds out we deliberately hid them, can you imagine the uproar she’ll cause?

—Yes, Your Grace. Underst—

Click.

I didn’t need to hear another word.

I switched off the recorder and glared murderously into the empty air.

Father’s betrayal was one matter.

First, I had to praise Squeaky for revealing all of this to me.

“Squeaky. You did something huge.”

“Hiss, hiss. Squeak!”

I rubbed under his chin in quick little circles with my thumb, and the excited mouse let out a tiny roar.

That was right.

I had two tremendous weapons at my disposal.

Magic.

And Squeaky.

Yet I had been lying facedown on my bed wallowing in misery just because I hadn’t received Kyle’s messages.

That made no sense.

I could find them myself!

“Squeaky. Do you remember what I told you ten years ago?”

“Squeak?”

“I said I’d already washed my hands of this business.”

Nod, nod.

Squeaky nodded as though he remembered, then tilted his head.

I had said that back when he was still a complete novice and had trembled in terror after seeing Kyle in cat form.

But you know what?

“Do you know what washing your hands means? It means they’ve been dirty before.”

“SQUEEEEEAK!”

At my solemn words of wisdom, the tiny mouse’s roar echoed through the room.

You really want me to dirty these freshly washed hands again, Father?

Crack.

After finishing my warm-up with a satisfying pop of my joints, I tucked Squeaky into my puffed sleeve.

Then, keeping my expression perfectly neutral, I opened the door to Father’s office.

“Came back because you decided you wanted the cookies after all?”

A playful voice greeted my return.

Apparently relieved that his dejected daughter had come back, Father shot to his feet.

But—

“Father. Is it true that Kyle hasn’t been sending me messages?”

I hadn’t come here to eat cookies with him.

“...It’s true. Why else would I not show you his messages? You know how much you like them.”

“Really?”

At my repeated question, I saw the corners of Father’s mouth stiffen slightly.

That was right.

Calypse seemed to feel guilty about lying to me.

I’ll give you one last chance.

“There really weren’t any messages?”

But—

“...No. There weren’t.”

Father chose war with me instead of the truth.

A heavy silence settled between us.

By the time the air had turned unbearably awkward, I finally said I understood and left the office.

“......”

That settled it.

My eyes, which I had kept carefully expressionless until now, sharpened viciously.

I lifted my puffed sleeve, pulled Squeaky out, and addressed my little partner.

“Squeaky. I think you’re going to be busy for a while. You okay with that?”

“SQUEEEEEEEEEAK!”

“Good. Let’s go.”

For the first time in years, I switched back into full rebellious-daughter mode.

My red eyes gleamed with vengeance.