Chapter 54 - Volume 2 (1/2)

The next time I open my eyes, I’ve once again been thrown into an unfamiliar situation. It’s the worst awakening, ruining the comfort I got from my pleasant sleep after so long.

「…….?」

I feel cold, hard stone beneath me, completely different from the soft bed I fell asleep on earlier. My body temperature steadily drops from the stone; I shiver at the penetrating cold. There’s no light from magic around like there should be. My surroundings are faintly dim, and it takes my eyes some time to get used to them.

Where is this place? I can tell I’ve been left somewhere that clearly isn’t the White Lily Court, but I know nothing else. I try to move about, grimacing at the pain that runs through my entire body. It seems those barely working painkillers have worn off. It’s a burning kind of pain, literally. Gritting my teeth, I manage to bear it, trying to fix my posture. That’s when I suddenly realize it all too late. That both of my hands are tied behind my back. I can’t even get up like this.

「What……」

I mutter that word with my parched up mouth; it pointlessly resounds in the space that’s seemingly empty except for me. What, just what in the world has happened? There’s no way I can easily accept this situation.

I feel terribly helpless that that man isn’t beside me. Even though he said 「I’ll be right beside you.」 Was that just a lie? —No, in this situation, it might be better if it was a lie.

It’s far more terrifying if this is an unexpected situation even for him. He’s incredibly powerful in many ways, there aren’t many people who can slip past him and take me to a place like this.

My only source of light is the window in the ceiling with iron bars on it, I can’t see anything else that’s visibly lit up. That’s the only characteristic thing I can see now that my eyes have adjusted to the dimness; then there’s a door that has a small window with bars on it placed just high enough on it, placed very firmly into the wall.

I dare say this is jail. I can make that guess from the interior, dim yet still perceivable. But I have absolutely no idea why I’ve been thrown into this jail.

Still enduring the pain of my wounds, no matter how much I think about it I can’t find an answer. Then without any warning, I hear a ‘clang’ of the door being unlocked from the other side. ‘That sturdy sound really feels like some lavish hospitality for an injured person like me,’ I think, strangely calm.

Since Celves has already been caught, I can’t possibly think of who else would have especially done this to me. ‘Who in the world is it?’ Still lying on the ground, I manage to somehow lift my head and look at the door to see it slowly open. Then, my eyes widen at the person there.

「————?!」

There’s no way I could forget those lovely features, standing out from the faint light from the skylight. Those amethyst-like eyes look at me, framed by long eyelashes the same color as that strawberry-blonde hair.

Lunamerie stands there, so beautiful she doesn’t fit in a place like this at all.

「How do you do, Lady Filmina.」

She lifts the hem of her dress, lightly bowing with a smile just like that time we met in that man’s laboratory. For a moment, her smile makes me almost forget that this is a jail cell.

Why… is she here? How can she smile like that in a place like this? She doesn’t match this place at all, and I have no idea what I should say anymore.

「Lady Luna, why—」

「Won’t you relax a little?」

I gasp at her lovely voice’s way of speaking, as if completely throwing me away. Since lying on the ground is an unreasonable posture, my neck complains having to be lifted up to look at her. But the surprise I feel far surpasses the pain.

She looks down on me as if pitying me, letting out a weary sigh.

「I thought you’d have died on your own by now. It’s true that low-ranking aristocrats’ are just like weeds when it comes to staying alive, isn’t it?」

I can’t catch up with those words, said in a half-sigh. Indifferent to my dumbfounded state, Lunamerie looks really so flabbergasting, and saying even more shocking words from those light-pink lips.

「Really, Sir Celves is so useless at the most crucial times.」

Celves. I feel my eyes widen once again at that name. I only know one young man that holds the name ‘Celves’. Is the Celves I know the same as the ‘Celves’ she speaks of? That question must clearly show on my face. She giggles so sweetly like a songbird’s chirping, continuing:

「You aren’t mistaken, that’s the same Sir Celves of the Ronein family as you’ve guessed.」

She says that so simply as if she’s saying something like ‘The weather tomorrow will be clear.’ But a violent storm has started devastating me on the inside.

「Why did Sir Celves……」

That’s a rather idiotic voice, I think. But that voice reveals my current mental state as it is.

Lunamerie still smiles like usual. A lovely smile, like a sweet flower. But for some reason, the more malice there is in it, the more it feels extremely unbalanced with these surroundings.