Two days after the three of us went on a picnic, Almark and Morgen decided to quit the winter mansion.
Originally, they didn't have a lot of baggage. I didn't have a lot of trouble with the journey plan either.
Wendy and the others said that two more days after Almark and the others left for Galentre.
On the morning of the day of departure, the Almarks turned to greet the servants they had taken care of.
Everyone seemed to hold something like federation and intimacy to the two boys who crept through it together because of that incident, sparing me a goodbye.
In particular, Morgen has gained mascot popularity among his servants, so much so that he was proposed to extend his stay with one or two more days as he went.
The way Morgen and Mr. Millett were holding each other in tears, etc., only seemed to be a goodbye between the real flesh parents, coupled with their appearance.
The two last visited Ward.
This honest old butler welcomed the two of us peacefully, as usual.
"Also, come anytime. This has happened, but it is only then that we will show you our genuine hospitality."
That's what Ward said and laughed at the two of them telling them his thanks.
But before breaking up, Almark had one thing he wanted to make sure of Ward.
I wasn't sure if I should ask, but it was something I couldn't get away from behind Almark's brain.
If that's your way of thinking, then I'm glad.
"Mr. Ward, there's one thing I need you to tell me."
"Yes, what can I do for you"
Ward responds calmly.
"It's about that day."
As Almark said, Ward's face also showed a little darkness.
"Do you mean the day of the raid"
"Yes."
Almark nods.
"Go ahead, talk to me"
Ward prompts him, and Almark opens his mouth.
"The three of us were in the reception that day."
"I'm sure you did."
Ward nods.
"There was a raid coming from the outside, and when I explained the situation, Wendy said,
Almark remembers her words vividly.
"'I won't let anyone kill me anymore.'"
When I heard that, Morgen nodded, oh, you said it.
"There was so much else I had to do then that I couldn't afford to think deeply... but I thought later"
Ward listens to Almark in silence.
"Still then, no one had been killed by mercenaries. But Wendy said," No one else. "
Almark looked up at Ward's face.
Almark had a painful look as he looked straight into Ward's eyes and hit his own doubts.
"... Wendy used to be killed by someone important"
For a moment.
Then Ward looked back at Almark and shook his head, saying no.
"No one was killed, etc."
But Ward distracted himself from Almark in the middle of the word.
Shake your head again with a deep sigh.
"I can't hide it from you two. Nevertheless, during that emergency, we often get there..."
Ward looked straight at Almark.
"... let's talk about it because it's the two of you who place your full confidence. As I said, the young lady has lost a servant who was once as close as her sisters."
"She was a daughter brought in as a lady's playmate, named Tilia. I was five years older than your daughter."
Ward took them, and they were in an unpopular room, used as a mansion storage.
Ward lay low, but began to talk pale.
"Of course there is a difference in identity, and Tilia herself understood that, but Lady Wendy admired Tilia as if she were her real sister. If you look at someone you don't know, they look like real sisters."
"How could that be?"
"Poison, sir"
Ward seemed to try and speak pale.
"It was when the lady turned six. The detail is that I won't pry, so let me skip it, but Tilia accidentally drank the drink that the lady was supposed to drink. There, it was poisoned. … Tilia was 11 years old when she died"
"Poisoning..."
Morgen shrugged and Almark glanced at him as if he had bitten something bitter.
"As for the lady's grief, it is no longer...... I had an unexplained high fever and fell asleep for days. At the Mansion, in the meantime, strange things kept happening, as they did every day."
"Strange Things"
"Yes, a large number of people's voices can be heard from a deserted room, or the furniture arrangement has changed at some point. Now that I think about it, it might have been like the magic of a lady, too."
To Ward's words, Almark was remembering Wendy's outburst of magic the night of the raid.
Has the death of my sister and the girl I admire left me in the same condition that night?
"... did you find out who did this?"
"We found out right away. I didn't actually see it either, but as a gardener, he was the man who was entering the mansion... and who was the mercenary from the north."
Mercenaries of the North.
The kind of pain that determines Almark's heart with a blade again strikes me.
Is that a northern mercenary, too?
Has Wendy continued to be deprived of her loved ones by mercenaries in the north?
"The man couldn't escape, he was cornered and he lost his life himself. After all, I didn't know why I was after your daughter's life."
I don't see why Wendy's life is targeted.
... Same as this one.
An ominous hunch comes to Almark's chest for an odd match.
"Even after the fever went down and she woke up, the lady was badly blocked. Are you crying or blurry every day without stepping out of the room...... And I've closed my heart to everyone in the mansion, including Elmond and his wife."
"... to Wendy, that's what happened"
Almark shrugged.
Should I have heard this story?
I want to block my ears as I ask myself.
Ward continues pale, showing no emotion for such Almark's reaction either.
"For days, months… that continued. No one could handle it. The lady was revitalized only after she visited."
"That one..."
Morgen repeats.
Ward nodded.
"Yes, I am the Dean of the Norc School of Magic, Dear Yologue"