Chapter 268

The full moon rose.

Number 52 looked up at the castle, glowing as brightly as day beneath the moonlight. With the war ongoing, it seemed many people were working late into the night, and the corridors were lined with candles.

“Number 52.”

Number 39 spoke in a low voice. Neither of them had names. As far back as they could remember, they had been raised as Silver Moon Operatives under Princess Camille, and there had never been time to give them names.

Only four had departed the Imperial Capital, and two had already died. After discovering the Grand Duke’s secret passage, they had split into two groups, and the group that went through the passage had lost contact.

Only two remained.

It wasn’t bad, especially considering that this operation’s success could decide the outcome of the war.

At Number 39’s signal, Number 52 nodded. They put on the tools given to them by the fearsome wizard Ulrich: wigs, travel clothes wrinkled just enough to look convincing, and lastly, magic items that could temporarily make them look like other people.

It was the same magic that had once been used to make a death-row inmate resemble Megara Lykeandros, the Crown Prince’s former mistress, on the day she was officially executed. It felt awkward to anyone who knew her well, so it wasn’t useful under normal circumstances.

But with White Swan Castle under heavy guard, there was no better way to pass through the gates than to disguise themselves as a guest who had visited before, and as a man whose real face was hardly known because he always kept himself concealed.

Princess Camille had been right. Diane MacKinnon would definitely pass through Illopium Gorge, so they needed to watch carefully for suspicious figures. Number 52 had been certain their mission would succeed the moment they found the pair and arrived just one step ahead.

Soon, the two of them started toward the gates of White Swan Castle.

❖ ❖ ❖

In the north, the length of daylight shifted more drastically with the seasons than it did in the southern lands. Summer days were long, winter days short. Even within vast Maindulante, there were places at the far northern end where the sun didn’t rise in winter.

Nerys hoped the soldiers would return before such a winter came, while the roads were still bright enough for men from the far north to find their way home.

And Cledwyn…

She missed him.

Before she could attach any trivial reason like it would be better if he came back before the cold set in, that feeling came first.

“Your Highness.”

From outside, Ellen spoke to Nerys, who had finished a simple meal and was working in her bedroom.

“Lady Diane MacKinnon has arrived and is entering the castle gates.”

“Diane?”

Joy lit up Nerys’s tired face. Dora fussed as she supported her and helped her to her feet. Nerys didn’t bother saying she still had months before she needed such care, and she left the bedroom.

“Where is Talfrin?”

“He’s with her.”

“He really has done so much. To think the head of the Shadows went down to the Imperial Capital himself, worked there, and even brought our Diane here in person. He deserves a grand reward.”

The corridors were bright, because everyone was still working late into the night. Ellen and Dora followed in Nerys’s wake, smiling contentedly. They had seen, up close, how long their mistress had been waiting, wondering why there was no news when Diane should have already arrived.

“We’ll take good care of her downstairs, Your Highness. Please don’t walk too fast.”

“She came all this way, so I should greet her quickly… Ah.”

Nerys stopped on the stairs leading down toward the first-floor hall. Then, as if she had just remembered, she asked Ellen,

“That’s right—where is Mother? It’s late, but could you check whether she’s awake? I prepared a room for Diane in the West Palace. If possible, I’d like you to check the room with Mother. We need to light the fire.”

“Yes, Your Highness. I will.”

It was a reasonable instruction, so Ellen turned toward the West Palace without suspicion. After confirming Ellen’s retreating figure, Nerys slowed her pace and descended the stairs carefully.

When she reached the first-floor hall, she smiled brightly at the two people waiting.

“Diane.”

A woman with chestnut hair in traveler’s clothes, and a man with wheat-colored hair in traveler’s clothes. The man carried what looked like heavy luggage. The woman carried nothing in her hands.

“I’m here, Riz.”

The woman smiled back just as brightly and stepped forward as if to embrace her.

Dora’s unease flared.

Something was off. Why was there no one else around? And Lady Diane didn’t have a face like that—

“Protect yourself!”

Her instincts moved faster than thought. As Dora yanked Nerys back, the woman drew a jet-black blade from her skirt.

Clang!

A short weapon, bristling with thorns that sent chills down the spine, slammed into Dora’s wrist with a heavy metallic ring.

The moment the strangeness was recognized, the spell broke. The female Silver Moon Operative tore off the chestnut wig, revealing short hair, and stared hard at Dora’s arm.

Dora ripped off both sleeves. They had been made to tear away easily from the start, with metal guards wrapped inside.

“Welcome. I knew you’d come around this time.”

From behind Dora—who glared fiercely and drew a weapon from her own skirt—Nerys spoke with infuriating calm.

“Since access to the central area was restricted, this was probably your only chance to face me alone. Yes, it seems I was right. A curse that only works at close range.”

The two Silver Moon Operatives’ stances sharpened at how much the Grand Duchess had already guessed.

While Dora clashed with the female Silver Moon Operative, blades striking again and again, the male Silver Moon Operative—disguised as Talfrin—closed in on Nerys.

Perhaps because he didn’t need to imitate a specific face while posing as Talfrin, the male Silver Moon Operative’s appearance never changed. It seemed he had been in his true form from the beginning.

Nerys sighed and stepped back.

A Silver Moon Operative appeared and met him head-on. Someone who had been lurking nearby, following Nerys’s orders not to miss anyone who tried to enter disguised as Diane.

Clang!

The hall filled with the gruesome sound of weapons colliding. Nerys retreated slowly, stepping onto the staircase leading from the hall up to the second floor.

“Your Highness!”

“What’s going on!”

Soldiers who sensed the disturbance rushed in. The two Silver Moon Operatives ground their teeth.

Soon, the soldiers of White Swan Castle bound the two Silver Moon Operatives and searched them thoroughly for hidden weapons. Once the situation was under control, Nerys sent someone to make sure her mother and Ellen hadn’t been startled by the noise.

Then she went to a small investigation room in the East Palace to begin the interrogation.

❖ ❖ ❖

The investigation room was immaculate, with iron bars in the center so that the interrogator and the interrogated could be kept safely apart if needed. Stripped of their belongings and changed into different clothes, the two Silver Moon Operatives were gagged and forced to kneel on the cold floor.

Beyond the iron bars, Nerys sat in a comfortable chair, looking down at them.

Her mother and Ellen soon rushed in, faces pale. Diane and Talfrin were with them.

“Riz!”

“Diane.”

She was glad to see Diane after so long, but displeased that she had come into the interrogation room. Still holding Diane, Nerys shot Talfrin a sharp look.

Talfrin pretended not to notice. Seeing Nerys’s gaze, her mother defended him instead.

“Diane was so shocked to arrive and find the hall in such disarray. She insisted she had to confirm you were safe right away, so I brought her.”

Was bringing her to the interrogation room really necessary? Since when had the MacKinnon family—who would pluck stars from the sky if Diane asked—been like this?

Nerys was slightly dumbfounded, even as she hugged Diane tightly, as if she didn’t want to let go.

Diane, unaware of Nerys’s thoughts, glared at the prisoners like thunder.

“Are these the ones? The ones who tried to hurt you?”

If they had succeeded, it wouldn’t have ended with merely hurting Nerys. Nerys nodded.

Diane sprang up and began swinging her fists.

“These bastards! How dare they!”

Nerys sighed.

Well… maybe this was better.

With everyone gathered like this.

“Bring their belongings.”

It was time to carry out the plan.

Dora quickly brought the items taken from the two Silver Moon Operatives on a tray. Talfrin examined the tray with exaggerated diligence, as if to prove how faithful he was to his duty.

“Be especially careful with these.”

After finishing, he nudged a few items aside with his weapon. Pills, a dagger, small beads… some were obviously suspicious, and others looked ordinary.

Nerys slowly looked over everything, careful enough to seem as if she already knew what she was searching for. Then she lifted the dagger Talfrin had warned her about.

After staring for a long time at the sun engraved into its handle, she set it across her lap and spoke calmly.

“Mother.”

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry I always show you things like this.”

Thinking the apology was about the assassination attempt, her mother was about to say it wasn’t Nerys’s fault—when her eyes widened.

Nerys stabbed the tip of her finger with the dagger as if it were nothing.

“Riz!”

“Darling!”

“Your Highness!”

“Mistress!”

Voices poured out, frantic and overlapping.

Beyond the iron bars, the two Silver Moon Operatives’ bodies were already dissolving into black, as if their mission had finally been completed.

“Hng…!”

Nerys gasped, her eyes rolling back as fragments of the past surged in.

She knew this sensation.

The same sensation she’d felt when she collapsed in the mansion in the Imperial Capital, when the boundary between reality and the past blurred.

Her mother rushed toward her trembling body. Unease rose in Nerys as she looked at her.

Why was Mother alive? Or had she saved her?

But she had clearly heard that—

Ah. Right.

That’s right…

Nerys remembered what she had been thinking.

Why she had decided to let the Sealing Curse take her.

The Eye of Pheros had to be released. But the last time, Cledwyn had confirmed it couldn’t be freed by striking the Seal of that secret chamber from the outside.

Fortunately, all the Seals Camille used were connected. When Nerys fell asleep, the Eye of Pheros awakened, and it seemed to have affected the Dragon Lair.

‘Then I have to create a gap from the inside.’

If you want to pry open the mouth of a beast, isn’t the only way to place food right in front of it?

‘If I could avoid it forever, I would, but…’

Today proved it even more clearly. She had stopped them this time, but how perfectly could she stop them next time? She hadn’t even known they could use magic to imitate others like this.

And could she pluck out the eyes of someone with Ja’an just because they were the target of a Seal?

So Nerys chose.

From what she had seen of the dragon, the target of the Seal didn’t die. They remained asleep. Before she was attacked in a way that could harm the child, she would rather—

She would protect herself, and at the same time become the key to destroying the Imperial Family.

‘It won’t swallow me and shut its mouth right away. If distance really is a condition, like I think…’

She had already considered everything.

Camille herself had now proven that the ‘start’ of the magic didn’t require distance, by sending Silver Moon Operatives directly. Which meant that distance was an obstacle to the ‘completion’ of the magic.

So this plan would succeed.

Nerys smiled, meeting the gazes of the people around her, knowing this wasn’t the end.

“Don’t… worry, Mother. That person can solve it.”

If the Eye of Pheros was released…

What was the Eye of Pheros?

She could feel she didn’t have much time left to think.

“Mother. Don’t tell that person about this for no reason… It’ll only make him more confused during the war. Please don’t let him know until he returns victorious…”

“Riz!”

Diane cried out. Nerys smiled at her, too.

“Diane… I’m okay…”

But before she could say anything more, her vision went dark.

❖ ❖ ❖

“…My heart is pounding.”

In the barracks, gathered with the commanders for an operational meeting, Cledwyn suddenly felt a stabbing pain in his chest and tilted his head. He had never felt so unwell in his life. It was as if his very existence was crumbling.

But since he couldn’t understand why, he forced himself to focus on the meeting. He had to end the war quickly, and return.

“We’ve laid enough groundwork. We begin the attack tomorrow.”

If he were with Nerys, he would forget this pain at once.