CHAPTER 7
ONCE AGAIN, THE DUKE’S FAMILY
One summer afternoon, Leticiel was absentmindedly drinking cold lemon tea in her room when Nicole appeared with a somewhat soulless expression.
“N-Nicole? Are you all right? What’s wrong?”
“My lady, um… I have something to report.” She even sounded like a ghost. Seeing how out of sorts Nicole was, Leticiel immediately began to prepare a healing spell.
“Report? What? What’s happened?”
“Guests…,” Nicole mumbled in barely a whisper. Her face was as pale as a sheet, making Leticiel wonder if she wasn’t feeling well.
“I have a guest? Who has come to visit?”
At this, Nicole didn’t respond. She simply made a full turn, all the blood drained from her face. Unsteady on her feet, she reached out to open the door. Unable to grasp what was going on, Leticiel followed her out of the room, confused.
There were a few harrowing moments when she was worried Nicole might fall down the stairs, but Leticiel followed her maid to the parlor.
When she entered, a dazed-looking Ruvik awkwardly turned to face her. “M-My lady…,” he said in a pleading tone.
“Ruvik? What is wrong with you two?”
“My lady, these guests are—”
Before he could finish his sentence, something came flying past him. Unable to react to the sudden movement in time, Leticiel lost her balance and fell to the floor, sending up a light billow of dust from the carpet.
“Drossell, we came to play.”
“Drossell, let’s play together!”
Looking down, Leticiel saw a boy and girl with identical faces sitting on her chest and looking up at her. “Tina? Deet?” The twin spirit kings she’d met just a week ago in Lucrezia Academy’s forest climbed off of her, sitting neatly on the floor. “What are you two doing here? Do you need something?”
“We had business in the area.”
“We just came to play!”
Tina looked serious and Deet smiled. Leticiel alternated looking at them and then glanced at her servants, who were still watched them with stunned, wide eyes. It was only natural that they were flustered and suspicious when suddenly faced by spirits, who were thought to have gone extinct.
“That woman has been surprised since we got here.”
“That man’s been surprised since we got here.”
“Well, forgive them,” Leticiel said after a pause. “I think it’s hard for them to believe that there are spirits in front of them.”
Leticiel told the twins that humans believed the spirits had gone extinct. Tina remained expressionless, but Deet puffed out his cheeks.
“Us, extinct? How rude.”
“We’re still alive! That’s so rude!”
All of the blood drained from Ruvik and Nicole’s faces at the thought that Leticiel had angered the spirits. Leticiel hurriedly explained to them, “Don’t worry, it’s fine. These children are my friends.”
“Y-Your friends…?”
“Yes. They’re friendly, so there’s no need to be frightened.” Leticiel introduced Ruvik and Nicole to the young spirits, but they still seemed unable to shake off their shock. Well, they’d just have to get used to them bit by bit. “Nicole,” she said.
“Y-Yes?!”
“Could you prepare tea? And snacks. Please help her, Ruvik.”
“Huh? Oh, yes! As you wish!”
He and Nicole hurriedly left the room. Nicole was still so shaken that her movements were jerky; who knew what would happen if Leticiel had let her get everything ready by herself?
“Snacks? We can have snacks?”
“Yes, please wait a moment,” Leticiel replied.
“Snacks! I can’t wait to eat snacks!” Deet thrust both hands into the air with enough enthusiasm to make up for the expressionless Tina. Taking advantage of the fact that Leticiel was the only one in the room, he flew around freely.
“By the way, you said that you two had business in the area; what were you doing?” Leticiel asked casually once they’d sat on the sofa to wait for Nicole.
This time, even Deet’s expression fell, matching Tina’s blank one. “We came to investigate the black fog.”
“There’s black fog in this area.”
Leticiel blinked at their serious demeanors. What did they mean by black fog? “In this area?” she asked, tilting her head. “I don’t recall seeing anything.” Nor had she heard anything about a black fog appearing in the area around the manor.
“It first appeared at your school, Drossell.”
“Then at the biggest and most luxurious building in this town!”
Leticiel gasped when Tina mentioned the academy. Could they be referring to the mysterious creature that had appeared? But she hadn’t heard of any disturbances caused by monsters since then…
“Is that why you came to the academy the other day?” Leticiel asked.
“Yes. The fog moves around, so we were investigating its movements.”
“That’s right! It moved out of the town not too long ago!”
Leticiel didn’t know what the black fog’s true nature was, but it might be best for her to take precautions—just in case. To the twins, she asked, “You said that this black mist or whatever is nearby, but may I ask where?”
“It’s in a very large building.”
“A suuuper gorgeous building!”
Leticiel could think of only one very large, super gorgeous building nearby. If she remembered correctly, there was a palace owned by the royal family outside of the city.
“But now it’s stuck in one place and isn’t moving.”
“It’s weak now. There’s no danger, so you’re safe!”
“I see. Thank you for telling me.”
Unlike Tina and Deet, Leticiel didn’t know anything about the black fog, and it wasn’t like she could see it. She would’ve been cautious, but if these children, who were royal spirits, said that she was fine, then there was likely no issue.
Leticiel played a variety of games with the twins until the snacks were ready. Despite looking exactly the same, they had different personalities and seemed to enjoy different methods of playing. Tina liked being read to, while Deet liked games that used his hands, such as cat’s cradle.
Though they were only child spirits, they had already lived longer than Leticiel and her servants. Since they could use sorcery themselves to solve whatever problems may arise, she didn’t have to worry about them hurting themselves or accidentally ingesting something they shouldn’t.
While she was reading a book to Tina, who sat on her lap, Leticiel happened to glance at the entrance to the parlor. Tina tilted her head curiously, looking up at her.
“What is it, Drossell?”
“No, it’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.” But Leticiel couldn’t fully ignore the disquieting sounds she heard coming from the kitchen now and then. She focused on the book once more, but mentally she couldn’t help wondering what was going on in there.
At the same time, Deet was sitting on the carpet playing cat’s cradle by himself. A thousand years ago, when they hadn’t had proper toys, children had played games that used their bodies, such as tag, or sleights of hand like cat’s cradle. Thanks to that, Leticiel knew quite a few games that could be played with her hands.
“U-Um, m-my apologies for the wait.” After a long wait, Ruvik and Nicole finally returned from the kitchen. Nicole was holding a bowl with a mound of sweets, and Ruvik had a tea set for four. After placing the snacks on the table, they retreated to the wall, straightened their backs, and assumed a waiting position. Was it just Leticiel’s imagination, or did they look completely exhausted?
Leticiel’s appetite was whetted by the sweet aroma that rose from the treats that had been baked to a golden-brown color. She’d had lunch just an hour ago, but now she understood what people meant when they said they always had room for dessert.
“Great! Cookies!”
“Woohoo, a tart!”
Tina and Deet pounced on the colorful sweets, stuffing their faces like chipmunks. Leticiel nibbled at the sweets between sips of her tea, but her attention kept moving to Ruvik and Nicole standing vigilantly by the wall. “Ruvik, Nicole, don’t stand over there. Come here. Why don’t you eat with us?”
“Wh-Whaaat?! W-We couldn’t possibly be so presumptuous!”
The room was filled with Nicole’s hysterical screech, Ruvik’s put-upon sigh, and the sounds of children munching on delicious snacks.