The situation unfolded exactly as Rosenta expected.
As time passed, people began to gather in front of the castle like a swarm of bees.
Nobles with prestigious reputations expressed their desire to visit, and newspaper reporters stood guard at the entrance to the castle.
"My master wished to have lunch with the Duke...….”
"Hello. I'm from the Arma newspaper. Could I interview the Duke?"
"There is a rumor that he worked as a butler in the duke's castle, is that true?"
Rosenta glanced through a crack in the window at the chaotic view outside.
Among the crowd, resembling a bustling market, there was a carriage that couldn't move.
An emblem consisting of gold coins.
Anyone could see it was a Marigold Marquisate’s carriage.
Rosenta had sent a letter that morning in anticipation of this situation. It seemed it had safely made it to Vivian.
‘I see you’ve come.’
"Edmund."
He lowered the curtain and looked back.
He saw Edmund politely standing by.
"Vivian seems to have come for a visit, go out and escort her here safely."
"Yes, sir."
He sat at the table for a while, lost in thought, waiting for Vivian.
‘The basement...….’
He’d gone in briefly shortly after waking up, but he hadn’t been able to completely go inside because he’d been running around all day.
But going in wouldn’t guarantee he’d find a solution.
"It feels like I'm back to reality."
When he was talking to Enoch, it felt like he’d forgotten for a moment...….
He was once again struck by reality.
"Should I check first?"
The book aside, his head was filled with speculations about his father.
‘Yeah. I was too bound by the shackles of the original novel’s plot.’
He hadn’t thought about taking a closer look at the holes appearing, which would have resulted in the entire premise collapsing.
"If you're the father I know...….”
In fact, when he’d heard that he’d died in a carriage accident, Rosenta had thought that the novel’s prologue had simply begun.
That was the end of it.
However, if he thought about it again outside of the context of the "novel…."
"It’s hard for me to do."
‘The books my father left behind, somehow, contained just enough information for me to keep myself alive.’
There was the matter of Hiorin as well.
In addition to that, there was something else that he felt uncomfortable about.
"If the body wasn't real...….”
For a moment, he felt like all the blood had drained from his body. His fingertips were numb.
But there were still questions.
"Why?"
Even if all these speculations were true, his father didn't have to do this.
‘Why? What's the point?’
Like a student holding onto an unanswered math problem, he'd been groaning for dozens of minutes.
Bang!
The tightly closed door opened wide without him hearing a knock.
"Rosen! I missed you!"
He saw a pink-haired woman running towards him with her arms open.
It was Vivian.
***
A time when people were busy working.
A sole, old woman was running up towards a remote house, resembling a salmon going upriver.
It was Emma. She was shivering all over as if she had chills even in the warm sunlight.
She was muttering Anna’s name.
"Oh, my. Anna...….”
Then, in a hurry, she entered an old house on the edge of the village.
Unlike its outdoor impression, it was very colorful inside.
There were many rooms, but Emma walked toward the room at the very top without hesitation.
She then opened the door with a knock.
"Master!"
She crawled forward, kneeling suddenly; and clung to the feet of a man sitting on the sofa.
Emma sobbed.
"Sob, please save my granddaughter, Anna! Anna was captured by some strange people...…!”
The man did not panic.
Looking calmly at Emma, he gestured to the one who was kneeling next to her.
He called his name.
"Hiorin."
At his call, the Easterner, Hiorin, carefully raised his head.
He wasn’t shaking like Emma. He just avoided eye contact as if he were guilty.
The man asked Hiorin,
"Is this a coincidence? One messes up; one gets caught by unknown people."
“……I don't think it's a coincidence."
The man's eyes flashed sharply when he heard that. One side of his mouth even quirked into a smile.
It was a perfectly venomous expression.
"Why?"
"It’s too much of a coincidence that the same person keeps getting in my way. He’s...….”
The man's voice, emotionless and indifferent, finished Hiorin’s words.
As if he knew who he’d mention.
"The Woman in Purple."
The man closed his eyes.
There was silence. It was only after a few minutes that he opened his eyes again, as though he had finished thinking.
Hiorin, who had just been observing, felt that it was time to speak again and quickly opened his mouth.
"She called my name. She specifically called me Hiorin, not Imago, and tried to approach me."
For a moment, the man froze.
No longer did he look at him with eyes full of interest or a mouth full of venom.
It was a very cold look. Hiorin swallowed hard and tried to meet those cold eyes.
Only then did he begin to speak plainly about what he had seen and felt.
"Though the veil was enchanted, those eyes and that energy...…. Strangely, I kept being reminded of the young master."
"It reminds you of that child...….”
"And this was the newspaper I saw today as I came here."
Hiorin held out a newspaper to the man. It was a newspaper with an article on the front page about the "Magic Tower."
The man looked at the newspaper with a puzzled expression, but soon gave a short exclamation.
"Ah!"
Hiorin nodded and expressed his thoughts.
"I think the mysterious group that has been chasing us recently are the mages. Above all, the new Tower Lord in this article...…. He is a child who was a student of mine for a while in the past."
***
Vivian blushed and kept shouting 'Oh my! Oh my!'
Then, as if her imagination was running wild, she started shaking all over before jumping up from her seat.
It was clear to anyone that she was filming all kinds of romance dramas in her head.
Rosenta dumped some cold water on that drama.
"Don't imagine anything strange, Vivian."
"My, what did I imagine?! Rosen! I just...….”
The redness rose again on Vivian's face, who was denying things with a baffled expression.
Her fingers, resting on the table, wiggled as if they were scribbling something.
Soon after, she spoke carefully,
"I'm embarrassed to think that the things I've seen were like that."
"The things you've seen?"
"That strange atmosphere...…. Anyway, I don't think it's a bad thing."
Vivian smiled subtly after saying something Rosenta couldn't understand.
Then, after getting rid of all jest, she said to him in a serious tone,
"You said you accepted Enoch knowing everything. Anyone who knows you would know what that means."
‘Enoch...….’
Vivian came to see him, of course, but she also came over in a hurry because of Enoch.
And Rosenta had honestly told Vivian everything.
Everything from their tangled past to the present.
"Rosen, it’s difficult for you to grow close to new people. It’s like you’ve decided that you would be close to no one aside from me and His Majesty. But, from what I’ve seen, Rosen……. you accepted Enoch’s touch without hesitation."
"Difficult? I'm not afraid of meeting new people."
"Yes, you’re not afraid."
Her red eyes were enclosed between the slow pink lashes, then opened up again. They were not playful eyes.
"But you don't allow them to come closer than a certain distance."
Rosenta couldn't deny that.
Just like he knew her well, Vivian also knew him well.
Instead, he lifted his teacup with a light smile. Then, he pretended not to be uncomfortable and drank the tea.
He lowered the cup from his mouth.
He faced Vivian's red eyes and uttered a subtle answer.
“……That’s exactly what I do."
***
Vivian didn't return to her mansion until that evening, as if she was determined to hear the whole story.
After he saw her off, Rosenta was ready to sleep as if he were done with the day.
"Rest peacefully, Duke. I will clear up any remaining disturbance outside as much as possible."
"Yes. I’ll entrust that to you, Edmund."
He went into the bedroom and carefully locked the door.
Then, he pulled back the curtain a little, looking out. There was still a noisy crowd outside the castle.
‘I'll just have to put up with it for a day or two.’
‘By the time Theodore returns, the situation will have changed.’
By that point, everyone will be on fire about what happened in Nequitia and the Woman in Purple.
Since Rosenta wasn’t providing any answers, all the reporters would move on out of frustration.
"Then, I guess I'll go again."
He drew the curtains.
He put out all the lights, leaving only two lanterns to make it look as though he was asleep.
He picked up one of them.
"Rosa."
The secret door to the basement opened. He went down the stairs with his lamp without worry.
The first thing to do was light the torches.
Only then did he go to the table and look at the book he’d been handling earlier.
As soon as he saw the book, he hesitated.
“……Why is the chain loose?"
The chains, which had been tightly entangled until just a moment ago, were now free.
As he lifted the book, the chain rattled and limply fell to the floor.
‘What on earth made it come loose?’
Before he opened the book, he recalled everything he’d done that morning.
The only thing that was special was the light injury he’d obtained while pounding the book onto the table corner.
Because of that, he’d gotten a bit of blood on the chain...….
‘Oh...… was it the blood?’
It wasn’t intentional, but the last thing he’d done that morning was get blood on the chain.
So, he was almost certain.
"I wonder if any kind of blood will do. Hmmm, I guess that means it's a book that's been kept hidden so that no one can access it."
Well, let’s just skip the blood part for now. He felt his head would explode if he thought about it too much.
"I'll have to read this book carefully."
Now that the chain had been released, all that was left was to get reading.
He opened the book straight away.
The first chapter had the words ‘The Beginning of Antiquity’ written on it, along with an illustration of a building that appeared to be a temple.
At first, he was just going to skip that part, because it was so obvious.
He naturally thought it would be about Harmonia and Rouge...….
[t/n: I previously translated “Rouge” as “Luz” because of the association with light. I will use “Rouge” going forward.]
"Estella?"
That wasn’t what it was about.
"In the beginning, there was Harmonia.
Harmonia loved harmony and was the first to create light and darkness.
Rouge was the name given to light and Estella to darkness.
Then, she made the world.
People served Harmonia, Rouge, and Estella.
Of course, among them, the ‘first temple’ for Harmonia was built, and the priests inherited some of her holy power.
That's how the world was created and began to turn.
That was the beginning of antiquity.”
What surprised him was that there was a name that shouldn't be there.
Estella.
‘The name of my family...….’
Why was it written there? And along with other gods, in the section called ‘The Beginning of Antiquity.’
His hair stood on end for a moment.
Only then did he realize that he had forgotten to breathe while reading this book.
He took a breath.
And he exhaled.
"Wheeew."
Even in that short breath, he could feel his trembling.
This book contained information that was completely different from what everyone knew about the world’s beginning.
He managed to move his hands, which were trembling against his will and turned the pages of the book.
He read over and over again.
There was nothing as surprising as what he’d already read.
It described the height of antiquity, the nature of everyday life, and the role of each temple.
But Rosenta didn't miss a word.
As he read with intense concentration, the next chapter appeared.
“……destruction."
The new chapter was 'The Fall of Antiquity'.
"All was harmonious and peaceful under the guidance of the primordial deity, Harmonia.
And Harmonia created more gods so that the harmony could continue.
Cardia, the god of earth and wisdom.
Grey, the god of animals and love.
The god of purity and truth, Snow, and so on.
Maybe that was why.
After exerting so much effort, Harmonia fell into a deep sleep.
The aftermath was widespread.
The power of the gods who followed Harmonia began to gradually weaken.
Most of the priests left Harmonia and began to follow Rouge and Estella.
It didn't end there.
Humans did not act as the Goddess dreamed. They craved power and their greed was endless.
The whiter the paper is, the more easily it is naturally stained. However, people like such white paper.
Because light seems more sacred than the seemingly unclean darkness.”