CHGD 20

Chapter 20

‘No, that can’t be… well, actually, it could. He is a Count, after all.’

Given the wealth of this city, such a justification was certainly enough to hold a festival.

But even though I understood it intellectually, it was hard to readily accept that all these people were celebrating my marriage. The streets that had felt distant now became a place where I was a little embarrassed to show my face.

“Don’t worry. With that robe on, no one will recognize you, Deliana.”

As if sensing my concern, he smoothed the collar of my robe and smiled.

“I wanted to show you how much my people and I welcome your visit.”

“I… see.”

Hiding my face when visiting was probably the Count’s way of being considerate.

I didn’t feel bad about it either. Rather than a banquet held in a tense atmosphere among nobles, a festival like this was far better.

‘He has moments like this that make him seem human.’

That behind the horrifying imagination of creating a city to keep me from being bored, there was this side to him—that was what made him so fascinating.

I walked with him toward the main road.

There, people in various costumes rode on carriages and carts, parading along with lively music.

I could see clumsy knight costumes and noble attire.

“Your Excellency, those people are…”

“Theater troupe members. Normally, the castle’s servants would do it, but I thought this would be better.”

The masquerade parade was a bit rough around the edges, but it became an enjoyable spectacle for the people. The music was cheerful, and the troupe members all performed with bright expressions.

It wasn’t a stiff march, but a dazzling spectacle you’d expect to see at an amusement park.

‘This is more fun than I expected.’

A man dressed as a horse falling over after failing to jump through a fiery hoop, a fool of a knight holding five swords at once, a noble appearing with meat smeared on his face… I felt a fresh kind of enjoyment throughout.

Then, when I saw the knight flailing and swinging his sword, I couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

I don’t know how long it’d been since I laughed sincerely. It was the kind of laughter I’d only ever let out watching my childhood friend’s antics, and it came out thanks to a mere masquerade parade.

The Count, who unlike the people around him had been watching the parade expressionlessly, looked at me. Somehow, I could sense a solemn tension on his face.

“Deliana, are you enjoying yourself?”

“Yes, I am. Very much.”

He let out a sigh of relief. From the trembling of his eyelids and the loosening of tension in his body, he seemed to have been quite worried about my reaction.

“How about you, Your Excellency?”

“As long as Deliana is happy, I’m happy.”

Still, a perfect husband-like answer. Feeling a little awkward continuing the conversation because of it, I averted my gaze.

“Hmm? Those people… are they us?”

At the end of the parade, I could see a man and a woman walking along, escorted by knights.

The man in a black wig wore a splendid cloak, and the woman beside him in a white dress was a brown-haired beauty.

The woman aside, the man’s attire was clearly reminiscent of the Count’s.

The answer to my question came not from the Count, but from a man acting as a herald standing before them.

“Now—introducing our wise, brave, and benevolent lord, the Count of Akeim—and his wife, the peerless beauty who gazes upon us with her transparent, large blue eyes, the Countess Deliana Akeim—!”

“…….”

Perhaps they wanted to introduce them as if entering a banquet hall, but the lines were so cringeworthy they gave me goosebumps.

Unlike the Count, they seemed to have no knowledge about me, so they just threw in compliments about my appearance… but the result was absurd.

‘I can never show my face in front of the citizens from now on.’

Aside from hair and eye color, that woman and I had nothing in common. With her graceful gait and large, refined features, she actually looked more like a Countess than I did.

“Your Excellency, those lines are a bit…”

From now on, they’d be reciting that introduction every time they passed through an alley. I couldn’t bear to stop them myself, so I called out to the Count. He also seemed to have some complaints, resting his chin on his hand and glaring at the troupe members.

“You’re right, the lines are impure.”

“Right? First of all, I’m not as pretty as that woman—”

“Deliana’s charm isn’t in her large, clear eyes, but in her eyes that are opaque and dry, as if worn down by the world.”

“…….”

“They failed to capture Deliana’s charm. Hmm, I should personally oversee next year’s festival….”

This time, an un-husband-like zero-point answer.

But come to think of it, with Ickabel earlier too—was there really something wrong with my expression?

I unconsciously raised my hands to my cheeks and eyes.

Then, among the very last of the parade, I spotted an incongruous person. That person was staring fixedly at me.

‘Who is that?’

For a moment, I thought I might know them and met their gaze, but no memory came to mind.

He was a person who didn’t fit the cheerful festival parade atmosphere.

It was as if he’d stepped out of a black-and-white film. His jet-black shirt and pants, with no visible seams, and his pale complexion in stark contrast, seemed to drain the color from everything around him.

His androgynous eyes, slender neck, and neat black hair like the Count’s were striking.

‘He’s… saying something.’

He followed the parade very slowly, moving his lips. Drowned out by the noise, I couldn’t hear his voice.

“Deliana? What’s wrong?”

“Your Excellency, is that person also a troupe member?”

“Who?”

“Over there, the person in black at the very end. Have I seen someone dressed like that at the castle?”

I raised my finger to point at him, but the Count only tilted his head.

“Deliana, there’s no one there.”

“……Pardon?”

But I could clearly see him. He was slowly approaching me, following the parade. As the distance closed, his blurry face began to take form.

Only then did I belatedly notice that this person’s face resembled the Count’s.

“Deliana, wait. Black clothes, you say?”

And at the same time I felt our eyes meet, I also realized what he was saying.

“Don’t look, Deliana! Look away!”

The Count urgently grabbed me and tried to turn my gaze away, but it was already too late. My mouth had already slipped out of my control, whispering the name he had been trying to say.

“Shu.”

“Shu-”

“Bu.”

“Bu.”

[Shu□ niIJĦΨ.]

That which was difficult to pronounce with human phonetics, I uttered aloud.

It was similar to the time with Lloigor.

Things that must not be seen, things that must not be called, and things that must not be held in the mind—all came at once.

Before the thought “I made a mistake” even ended, the colors of the world began to drain into black and white.

Was it an illusion of my eyes? Or was the world changing? Or perhaps, had my eyeballs themselves fallen into another world?

Black fog filled the buildings, a white sea devoured the ground, and the inhabitants of the miniature garden were all swallowed up.

My whole body froze, unable to even exhale properly, and the man in black, who had suddenly approached, spoke.

“Hello, daughter-in-law.”

It was a horrifying voice that felt like it would rot my ears.

It felt like being submerged in a sea filled with rotten blood. The air touching my skin was sticky and fishy, and every time I moved my body, I felt a strange resistance.

The horrible sensation came crashing in with terror.

Around us, it was just him and me. As if the bustling festival had been a fleeting dream, darkness fell over the entire street.

“You are…….”

Even as I spoke, nausea rose. Forcing my breath steady, I faced the man in black standing beside me.

Seeing him up close, I could be even more certain. His face resembled the Count’s.

The differences were that he had finer features and more monotone coloring. Also, his pupils were elongated like a goat’s.

With his unkempt, long hair, bizarre pupils, and awkward, doll-like expression, he exuded an inhuman otherness.

Slowly steadying my breathing, I asked again.

“Who are you?”

I could tell the moment I saw him that he was a being like Lloigor and the Count—not human.

I should be used to facing monsters by now, but this time was a little different.

‘Just looking at him gives me chills. Not even the Count was this bad.’

It felt like the alarm bells in my head had not just rung, but shattered. If the Count was like a great beast, the being before me was like an absurd natural disaster—a tsunami or a landslide.

The intuition that I must not defy him stirred within my mind.

He gave me an artificial smile and said.

“No need to be nervous, daughter-in-law. I won’t harm you.”

“……Daughter-in-law?”

Come to think of it, he’d called me that when we first met, too. It was a title rarely heard in this world.

“Hmm? Is the title strange? That’s what humans call their child’s wife, isn’t it?”

“No, it’s not wrong, but…… Surely, you’re His Excellency’s father?”

That would explain the resemblance. But he shook his head, denying it.

“I’m the mother. Though I didn’t give birth to him myself.”

“……Pardon?”

I frowned, wondering what that meant.