Even a Scoundrel Gets Tired

170 – Is Avoiding the Choice a Postponement? (2)

She deferred her answer.

No, she had no choice but to defer it.

The moment she heard the options the Duke presented,

Her mind went utterly blank.

For a moment, she thought time itself had frozen.

She fled the room and broke into a near-run, her steps quickening.

Tap-tap-tap─

It was a behavior that she,

A young lady of the nobility who had been rigorously trained in deportment and

elegant speech since long ago,

Would never normally engage in, but right now, she did not have the

energy to worry about such things.

“Oh? Lady Aria, where are you─”

“Ah, who… oh?”

Towards her assigned chamber,

within this grand manor,

she ran, unwavering,

though she met several servants

along her hurried passage.

On, and on she fled.

The slightly elongated

hem of her skirt snagged, threatening

to trip her clumsy feet,

and the too-tall heels

made running a torment,

yet she did not pause,

but plunged inside her room.

‘Traces of the Devil linger in House Reinhardt now.’

The trace of the Devil implied

contact of some form with darkness,

which, in turn, meant

the acceptance of infernal power.

Could they not have known?

Such fundamental truths?

Impossible.

Her own father,

Duke Reinhardt,

possessed, even judging by recorded encounters,

no small number of dealings with demons,

and Aria herself had been

instructed on the peril

such beings posed, so a Duke, head

of a noble House, could scarcely

be ignorant of these matters.

Thus, only two possibilities remained:

either these entire accusations

were nothing more than baseless slander,

or, in truth, her family

had embraced demonic strength.

The former was exceedingly unlikely.

In her estimation, Duke

Charlotte did not seem

a man capable of such falsehoods.

Of course, the whispers that clung to him,

circulating in shadows, painted a dire portrait,

almost the worst imaginable.

Yet, she, at least, couldn’t bring herself to see

the man who had saved both her

and her brother in a negative light.

If anything, she might even think him a good man.

Besides, even if he

*were* capable of such things,

if this were a fabrication,

it was none other than Duchess Charlotte

who stood to lose the most.

If his words

proved to be a lie,

then it would give Charlotte

precisely the pretext needed to strike.

The Duchy of Reinhardt’s

influence ranked high even amongst the four great houses,

and the moment all the families

loyal to that power turned on Charlotte

as an enemy,

all the risks would fall squarely

on her shoulders.

Furthermore, if traces of demons

were indeed discovered,

the Order would become embroiled in this affair too…

No matter how she considered it,

for Charlotte to lie about something like this

seemed a gamble far too dangerous.

So then.

Though she loathed to even consider it.

What if the latter were true?

What if her family *was*

genuinely connected to demons?

She wanted to deny it instantly,

but the scene she had witnessed not long ago

began to swirl in her mind.

‘Come to think of it… even Ellen, my brother…’

What is a ‘Main’?

A human touched by Magi, they say.

And what, then, *is* Magi?

It is, in essence, the aura of devils.

Not long ago, her

eldest brother, Elren…

perished, a Maimed one.

A rather formidable

Maimed one, at that.

Could this be mere coincidence?

Truly, just coincidence?

It was the first time

Aria had encountered a Maimed one,

but she understood.

To become a Maimed one so potent,

one must, at the very least,

receive the aura of a high-ranking daemon.

What’s more, the Saintess herself was present.

She who holds the most

Divinity, nemesis to all daemons.

And yet, it hadn’t deterred him;

taking this into account, at the very least,

a high-ranking daemon—among the most powerful high-ranking daemons—had to be involved for such a skill to be possible.

And now, within her

family’s manor, traces of devils have been discovered…

At this point, it was

more difficult to dismiss it as mere coincidence.

‘But once, an opportunity to choose, Lady Aria.’

Once more, Duke

Charlotte’s voice lingered in her ear.

Ever since she had returned to her

chamber,

clawing at her scalp,

lost in endless deliberation.

‘Abandon the family name

and plan for a later day.’

‘Or inherit the family name

and bear the sin of heresy.’

‘The choice is solely yours.’

I didn’t choose it.

No, I *couldn’t* choose it.

Considering the course

and circumstances of her family

until now, it might have seemed

to anyone that willingly

discarding the family name

would be the most efficient

and judicious decision,

but that was merely the most rational judgment.

No matter how

disenchanted she had become with the family,

no matter how great her disappointment in Duke Reinhardt,

even if everyone else

abandoned the family and left.

For her, who had lived her entire life

only as a Reinhardt,

to abandon Reinhardt was

a more difficult

and agonizing prospect than she had imagined.

‘Brother… what would *you* do…?’

*

“Excuse me… by any chance,

have you seen a girl pass by here?”

“Pardon…? No, I

haven’t seen anyone like that…”

“Ah… by chance, where is the room of Lady Aria…?”

“Ah, Lady Aria’s room… go straight this way, and then─”

Before even finishing

our conversation,

she had bolted.

I desperately tried to follow after her,

but as if she had used some sort of magic,

her figure, which should have been right in front of the door, was nowhere to be seen.

Even the servants

working in this vicinity

said they hadn’t seen

her.

So, with the plan to at least

find her room, I grabbed

random servants nearby and inquired,

I had to ask for directions

every step of the way to her room,

and finally, I managed to find

a maid who knew its location.

To think the manor was so

vast that one wouldn’t know where things were—

it certainly drove home the fact

that this was, indeed, the Duke’s residence.

“—If you go that

way, it’s the room right ahead.”

“Thank you, then…!”

“Ah, if you…if you run like that…!”

Again, I took off running, and

heard a voice calling after me, but

each second was precious right now.

The Duke would likely be

returning soon,

and I couldn’t just leave Aria

as she was.

The look on her face the

last time I saw her bothered me too much.

Whether she had been crying

until just moments ago, her pupils

were dyed a reddish hue,

still deeply imprinted on my mind,

and an inexplicable, uneasy

air poured forth madly

from her very being.

At least, having witnessed

such a thing with my own eyes,

I had no intention of letting it slide.

“Surely, if I go this way…is it here?”

Knock, knock—

I rapped on the door a few times, but

the door, firmly shut like an

impregnable fortress, showed no sign of opening.

To open a closed door

without permission was impolite.

Especially so in someone else’s manor.

However, that didn’t mean…

I had no intention of retreating, not in the slightest.

If anything, the thought of opening that door, no matter what, consumed me.

Knock-knock─

A flinch─

Each time I knocked on the door,

a slight, yet unmistakable,

sign of life stirred within.

Besides, her mana was emanating from inside as well.

Although its concentration was so

diluted, I almost failed to notice it,

it seemed that because of the magic

she had used just moments before,

a lingering trace of her mana was overflowing right in front of this door.

Knock-knock─

..A flinch─

After knocking a couple more times,

again, after a brief

pause, I sensed that faint stirring.

I considered this a rather encouraging sign.

It would have been truly

awkward had she refused even to speak with me.

The fact that she was reacting, however faintly,

to my knocks suggested

she herself was wavering on whether to open the door.

At the very least, it meant there was still

room for conversation.

Knock-knock─

This time, as I knocked,

I spoke first.

Even before I could sense her reaction.

“Aria.”

“…!”

The stirring inside

became even more pronounced.

Could it be she hadn’t expected me to

come after her so quickly?

The lingering trace of her mana that still

remained near the door

began to fluctuate wildly, and

I continued the story directly,

not waiting for her reply.

“I don’t truly know

what plagues your mind.”

“….”

“But I do have some advice

I wish to offer.”

“….”

“Will you hear it?”

No answer came.

Even the faintest stirring seemed gone.

So, thinking no reply would be given anyway,

I was about to resume speaking when,

*Tap*..

A sound, faint and slight,

came from inside the door,

a quiet knock.

I believed this was, perhaps,

her own small sign of acquiescence.

If not, she could have simply

dismissed my words, letting them

pass through her, unheeded.

“..As I said, I don’t really know

what it is that makes you

wrestle with such thoughts.”

“….”

“Even so… I hope these words

can assist in your choice.”

“….”

“Choose what it is you desire, Aria.”

“….”

“Don’t bind yourself to

the superficiality of family or status.”

“….”

“Disregard connections, or the

plight of those involved.”

“….”

“Make a selfish choice.

Your life belongs only to you.”

“….”

“Whatever choice you make,

I will respect and support you.”

“….”

“Even if the whole world

condemns your choice, I will cheer you on.”

“….”

“..I hope you make a choice

you won’t regret, Aria.”