A minor problem arose just before dinner.
This was because there was suddenly another mouth added and Aphra contacted Rosenta saying that he would arrive late.
But this was also a relief to Rosenta.
"Saint, you must be tired and probably want to rest early, so I ask for your understanding and will have your dinner served in advance."
"Then your lordship’s dinner...….”
"There is also something I must discuss with the young lord, so I'll have my meal later."
Using this reason as an excuse, he postponed his meal with Yura.
Of course, this wasn’t his only reason.
It was also because he’d received a mental message, a form of telepathy, from the skeleton he’d sent on an errand.
"Then excuse me."
After entrusting work to Edmund, he left the castle on the pretext of an evening walk.
He had one, sole destination.
It was the the open hole under the wall of the castle, where he’d last seen the skeleton.
“……You brought it back safely."
As soon as he arrived, he saw a huge coffin before him.
It wasn't even late at night.
Surely many people had witnessed this, but probably hadn’t thought it was strange.
It was rare, but it wasn’t strange to see undertakers dragging caskets around in this manner.
"Open it."
At his command, the skeleton promptly opened the lid of the coffin.
Black dust, which looked like dirt, scattered. Rosenta covered his mouth with his hand, coughing.
And when the dust cleared, he took a close look in the coffin.
“……empty."
His hands gripping the coffin frame, as well as his jaw, were tense.
He began seeing red.
The frustration of this situation and the desire to deny reality were mixed, and he started to swear.
"What the fuck!"
It was empty.
There was no skeleton or even white bone powder in the coffin. Like there had been nothing inside from the beginning.
"Magic space."
He summoned the magic space again.
Now that the inspection was completed, it was time to get rid of the conspicuous skeletons and coffin.
He recited the command,
"Go back."
Immediately, the skeleton began to drag the coffin that appeared to weigh at least a ton.
He reached the hole without difficulty and grabbed it with his armored hand.
It and the coffin were immediately sucked in, as though being sucked into a dizzying black hole.
Silence fell in an instant.
All that remained was an indentation in the ground below the wall where the coffin had been until now.
“……Let's go back."
Now it was time to go to the basement.
Because he had something to do with the book he’d left there.
He trudged along.
Suddenly, he was surprised by the sensation of water droplets landing on his face and stopped walking.
“……Rain?"
He looked up at the sky.
But as he looked up, the small raindrops began to fall heavily.
Sigh.
***
"Cough."
He’d submerged himself in warm water right after he was rained on, but he couldn't help but cough.
But this was okay.
If he drank warm tea and slept under a thick blanket, he’d get better soon.
"Are you all right, Duke?"
"I think I've caused you some concern. I'm fine, however, so keep it a secret from Vivian."
He shrugged lightly.
Aphra blinked at this comment and soon blushed.
"Well, we're not that close...….”
He said they weren’t close, but it didn’t feel that way to Rosenta.
Because Aphra had been talking about Vivian the whole time they were eating.
Where they’d gone, what they’d been talking about, etc.
"For that matter, it seems like you’re hearing information about the duke’s castle from Vivian, not me."
"Since we have similar tastes, we go shopping together...…. Uh, the Duke's work, and in many ways...….”
Even the fact that the saint had come today was something Aphra had heard from Vivian, not Rosenta.
They were shopping friends at first, but now it seemed they’d developed into comfortable conversation partners.
It was particularly clear that Vivian treated Aphra almost like a friend of the same sex.
‘Well, gender doesn't matter.’
‘I'm so glad she has another friend to open up to.’
"It's nice to see."
"What?"
Aphra was startled.
It wasn’t a comment that was meant for response. Rosenta just looked at him with a light smile on his face.
So, they chatted while eating sweet desserts.
And that was it.
He enjoyed a lovely time, smiling as he had fun.
"It's dark."
When he came into his bedroom, Rosenta’s smile was gone. Just like before dinner.
He looked around slowly.
The bedroom was never dark when Enoch was around. No, it never looked so lonely.
Because whenever he would open the door and come in, Enoch would be standing under a bright light.
“……Rosa."
For some reason, he went to the basement, trying to ignore his empty heart.
He looked at the table first.
To be exact, he looked at the chained book that he’d read on top of it.
‘I haven't looked through it in detail yet, but from what I’ve seen, there seemed to be more information hidden than he’d thought.’
The stories of Gods and religion, the abilities of the ancient Estella priests, etc.
That was why it was so tightly chained that it couldn’t easily be read.
“……Ugh.”
It was a sting he couldn’t get used to.
No matter how much he prepared himself, when he stabbed himself with a sharp needle, he couldn’t help but groan.
He roughly put the needle aside.
He squeezed his thumb like he was wringing out wet laundry, forcing a drop of blood out of it, and dropped it on the book.
A familiar sight unfolded.
The chain began to loosen with a raucous sound.
"I'm sure I saw it here...….”
The pages flew by.
Then, the paper that had been fluttering endlessly stopped.
"I found it."
"False Death.
We the priests of Estella prayed for those who were about to die and performed false funerals.
This was because of the superstitious belief that, if they did so, the god of death would make a mistake and take the soul later.
As a result, they created the ability to ‘simulate death’ for the sick.
The method was simple.
Take a corpse and sprinkle it with the blood of the one who is simulating death.
Then you must recite a poem to the corpse.
The poem goes as follows...…”
At the back was a very long poem spanning three pages.
But Rosenta had no use for this ability, so he skipped that part and moved on.
Because the last page was what was important.
“After the funeral, seal the coffin.
If the coffin is reopened, the body will become black powder and disappear.
Therefore, it was common for people to bury them very deep in the ground so that the coffin would not be reopened after the false funeral.”
Thack.
Rosenta closed the book.
This made everything clear and there was no need to check further.
Rumble, bang.
Even though he was in the basement, he heard lightning strike.
He wasn't surprised.
But, as if it had been a signal, he felt the hole in his empty chest growing larger.
He wanted to cry, but he couldn't shed tears. It wasn’t a luxury afforded to him.
Funnily enough, the more he fought to hold back his tears, the more painful his heart became.
"Oh...….”
A face came to his mind in a flash.
An indifferent, robotic face whose eyes would melt upon seeing him.
Like stars in the night sky...….
"Enoch."
Rosenta thought of him.
End of Volume 4; 1 more Volume left.