Once the statements concluded, Likens asked,
“Why did you ask such a question?”
Rodi countered with a question of her own.
“What meanings of ‘Nakhwa’ do you know, Lord Magzeta?”
Though puzzled, Likens answered.
“Three in total. First, the literal meaning: ‘falling blossoms.’ Second, the pyrography art technique Count Heiser mentioned. Third, though ordinary people wouldn't know it…”
He added in a measured tone,
“…the name of a rare poison.”
“Exactly.”
Rodi smiled.
“I suspect that very poison was used in the murders of Lady Nia and Young Duke Joen.”
“What makes you think that? The previous magic could not identify the specific poison used.”
“It’s a simple deduction.”
Rodi looked up at Likens.
“Poisoning two people at once and carrying both bodies onto a boat alone wouldn't have been easy.”
“True.”
“However, the poison known as Nakhwa takes two to three hours after ingestion to produce any effect.”
Understanding dawned on Likens.
“You mean the culprit secretly administered Nakhwa and then lured them aboard the boat?”
“Precisely. Then, two or three hours later, Young Duke Joen and Lady Nia died inside that boat. The culprit had likely rigged the boat to sink in advance, or sank it by their own hand.”
“A reasonable hypothesis.”
Likens questioned her again.
“Did you bring up Nakhwa because you anticipated a reaction to the word if one of them were the culprit?”
Rodi hedged her reply.
“Something like that.”
Likens frowned.
“That strikes me as a rather reckless move.”
“Why do you say that?”
“If the true culprit was among those five witnesses, you’ve drawn their direct attention onto yourself.”
“Perhaps.”
Hearing her casual answer, Likens instantly saw through her intention.
“You deliberately drew the killer’s attention.”
Rodi was caught slightly off guard.
‘He figured out my plan that quickly?’
“If I were the killer, I would be deeply unnerved. To face someone who knows the exact poison used in the crime… they might even suspect their identity has been completely uncovered.”
“…”
“You baited them.”
Likens gave her an accusatory look.
“So a panicked killer would target you next.”
“Well… my, your instincts are sharp as ever, aren't they?”
“Putting yourself in danger is foolish.”
Rodi grumbled back,
“Couldn't you call it clever instead?”
Likens was unmoved.
“If the culprit is among the five from earlier, you are at risk of being targeted. I will assign you an empty room in the knights’ quarters, so stay there for the time being.”
“I’m fine.”
His tone turned resolute.
“No.”
“If you use me as bait, you might catch the real culprit. And if nothing happens, that works out fine too—it just means the killer likely isn't among those five.”
“I dislike bait operations. There is a chronic problem with such plans.”
Likens added heavily,
“The bait gets bitten.”
Rodi refused to back down.
“You just need to come save me before that happens.”
“One cannot rule out the possibility of being too late.”
“You can try to stop me, but I have no intention of listening.”
He looked completely baffled.
“Why go this far? Were you close with Lady Violet?”
“Not at all. If anything, we were on rather bad terms.”
“Then why?”
Rodi let out bluntly,
“Because the killer gets on my nerves.”
“…What?”
The unexpected answer momentarily dazed Likens.
“Doesn't it make you furious, too?”
Rodi continued, entirely unabashed.
“For fifteen years, the true culprit has been hiding in the shadows, laughing at us and reveling in a sense of superiority over the victims they murdered. As if they were a god.”
“…”
“To be honest, I despise arrogant people—especially those who think they can control everything.”
Rodi curled one side of her mouth into a smirk.
“My temper won't settle until I teach someone like that a bitter lesson.”
“Your temperament…”
Likens hesitated, then confessed candidly,
“…I can't tell whether it's good or terrible.”
A clear laugh burst from Rodi.
“How could I possibly have a good temperament?”
Straightening her back, she declared,
“After all, I’m the ‘villainess.’”
“…”
Likens studied her with a nuanced expression before speaking.
“Do you truly have no intention of abandoning the bait role?”
“None whatsoever.”
He exhaled a long sigh.
“…I cannot force you.”
“I already know that. You're not the type to do so, Lord Magzeta.”
He was not one to disregard her will and enforce his own.
After all, Likens was noble and upright to his very marrow.
“In return, there is one condition. Follow me for a moment.”
Though looking puzzled, Rodi complied and followed him.
Likens led her to the order's armory storeroom.
Retrieving a small potion vial from a shelf, he said,
“Drink this.”
“What is it?”
Likens briefly explained the potion's effect.
Having heard the explanation, Rodi nodded.
“That's not bad at all. Very well.”
With that, Rodi drank down the potion in one gulp.
Likens watched her with curiosity.
“Didn't it taste awful?”
She hesitated before offering a vague answer.
“Well… I suppose so.”
“Its effectiveness, however, is certain.”
As if to ease the tension, Rodi flashed a teasing smile.
“Then if anything happens to me from now on, will you come rescue me right away, Lord Magzeta?”
Unlike her, Likens was dead serious.
“Without fail.”
He placed a hand over his chest.
“I swear upon the name of the ducal house of Magzeta.”
Rodi’s eyes went wide at the unexpected vow.
A knight staking his own ducal name was an oath rarely heard.
“I will stake my life and do everything in my power to protect you.”
What was more, in the game, Simone had been the sole recipient of such an oath from Likens.
“If anything happens, buy as much time as you can.”
Likens looked into her eyes with earnest intensity.
“If you do, I will come for you without fail.”
As he gazed quietly down at her with his deep grey eyes, a faint heat prickled across her cheeks.
“A-All right…”
Rodi nodded, her cheeks tinged slightly pink.
✦ ✦ ✦
That night, having returned from his duties, Likens found his thoughts drifting to Rodi.
‘A strange woman.’
At first, he had thought his gaze was occasionally drawn to her merely because of their faint childhood connection.
Even then, all he had ever witnessed were her tantrums at banquets.
‘Rodi Evant’ had always been an isolated, lonely figure in high society.
Her title as the second daughter of a ducal house was her only shield.
‘Why does she isolate herself?’
He had wondered that at times, but it was an interest so fleeting that a single breath could scatter it.
When was it, then, that he had begun observing her closely?
‘Perhaps… since she was cornered by my subordinates.’
Like everyone else, Likens had expected her to be flustered and helpless.
‘Reality was quite the opposite.’
Rodi was completely transformed.
She was no longer the person who treated everyone around her as an enemy.
Proudly calling herself a villainess, she carried herself upright and unbowed before anyone.
She had claimed it was ‘freedom’ that changed her.
“…Freedom, is it?”
He might even be a little envious.
For he was forever crushed beneath the immense weight of the name ‘Magzeta,’ at a loss for what to do.
He deceived those around him behind a flimsy mask of perfection.
All while lacking the confidence to bear the name Magzeta flawlessly, or the courage to cast it away.
‘Even that truth was laid bare to Rodi.’
All over again, she seemed rather remarkable to him.
The way she sought her own life without wavering, even after shedding her family.
‘As for me… I would be nothing stripped of Magzeta.’
It wasn't that he hated the prospect of inheriting the ducal house.
He was simply anxious.
Dozens of houses served beneath House Magzeta. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, earned their living through its sphere.
The thought that his decisions held sway over so many lives made his skin crawl.
Likens often asked himself,
‘Am I truly a person worthy of deciding the lives of thousands?’
Lacking faith in his own abilities, he had clung obsessively to the laws and regulations that provided clear standards.
Though everyone praised him as a splendid heir, he remained skeptical of himself.
And so, whenever he saw Rodi, who moved forward with certainty on her own path, he found himself instinctively wanting to help her.
‘Furthermore…’
…He was curious about what the world looked like through her eyes.
How would this realm reflect in those eyes that seemed to hold starlight?
Caught in such sentimental thoughts, Likens suddenly chuckled.
‘…It sounds as though I’ve fallen for her.’
No.
Not yet; this was not love.
What he harbored toward her was admiration.
Much like looking up from the ground at a star in the night sky.
…And the following day, Rodi failed to appear before the knights.
