Let the Whales Fight, This Shrimp is Leaving! - Chapter 22

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 22
It hung from the ceiling by a long rope, creaking as it swayed back and forth.
To call it a chandelier would be a lie; it held no light, offered no sparkle, and yet there was nothing else that should have been suspended from that ceiling.
“…Uh…”
I stood frozen for the longest time, unable to grasp the true nature of the thing, which resembled a moth’s cocoon or perhaps bait dangling from a fishing line.
It took a long moment for the reality of the situation to sink in.
A pungent, sharp odor stung my nostrils.
Something was dripping steadily onto the floor, and the swaying object began to spin slowly, unable to withstand its own vibrations.
“Ah.”
I ended up coming face-to-face with ‘it.’
My entire body turned to ice.
I couldn’t comprehend what I was looking at.
The elongated tongue made it look like a grotesque monster ripped straight from a nightmare.
But the absolute worst part was this.
“Ah, ah…!”
That monster was wearing my mother’s dress.
“Ahhhhh!”
“My Lady? Why are you suddenly… gasp!”
“Aaaaah!”
Someone shrieked piercingly.
I clawed at my own head.
The tiara, which had been tangled among my braided hair, clattered against the floor with a clear, metallic ring.
“Ahhhhhhhh!”
The monster wore my mother’s dress, possessed hair the exact same color as my mother’s, and stared with eyes of the same hue…
No.
Those were not my mother’s sparkling, gem-like eyes.
Those dull, lifeless eyes, stained the color of blood, belonged to—
“No, no, no, no!”
“Take the Young Lady away! Don’t let her look!”
“Mother!”
“Sister… why are you screaming all of a su—huh?”
“Lower Her Grace’s body, hurry!”
My younger brother, who must have been asleep in the very next room, came and froze right beside me.
Servants and maids came rushing in.
It felt as though someone was tugging at my arm.
Then someone else covered my eyes with their palm.
“Nooooo!”
I screamed in a frenzy, violently brushing the hand away.
And then I saw it.
“Idel!”
My father, weeping in agony as he clung to my mother’s dangling feet.
The absolute despair of a father struggling to lift her body, desperately raising his heels.
From that day onward, the Grand Ducal Castle changed.
The castle that had once been bathed in warm sunlight through its wide windows, once echoing with laughter, was swallowed by a heavy silence.
My father’s smile vanished, and my younger brother lost his voice entirely.
The people who used to smile and congratulate me now looked upon me with pity, offering nothing but sorrowful comfort.
‘No.’
This isn’t my Grand Ducal Castle.
This isn’t my country.
This isn’t what I loved.
‘I have to fix this.’
How do I change it back?
What must I do…
‘I need to find the culprit.’
If I make them pay the proper price, wouldn’t that fix things?
Then…
“My Lady. His Grace is looking for you.”
Right on cue, my father summoned me to the grand council.
I attended the meeting dressed impeccably, and the ministers who managed state affairs alongside my father yielded the seat right next to the head of the table to me.
“There is a matter of grave importance to announce.”
Naturally, I believed my father was going to say he had found the culprit.
“Idir Hubert. Regarding the investigation to apprehend the culprit who murdered the Grand Duchess…”
However.
“I forbid it.”
My father did no such thing.
I couldn’t believe it.
I felt utterly betrayed.
“W-Why?”
I kept my head bowed, staring at the crown of my father’s head as he clenched his fists, and demanded an answer.
“What is the reason?”
“The Grand Duchess’s cause of death has been officially declared as a sudden heart attack. The State Funeral will commence tomorrow.”
“That’s a lie!”
I lost control.
“Mother was murdered! Someone killed her!”
On that fateful day.
A banquet had been underway at the Grand Ducal Castle.
Diplomats from various nations and high-ranking nobles had gathered to drink, dance, and converse at length.
“We must find the killer! Find them and punish them!”
“Idir!”
Bang!
My father slammed his hand violently against the desk, reprimanding me.
Even though I had done nothing wrong.
“Silence! Do you dare question my decision!”
“I… I am…!”
“The Grand Duchess passed away from an illness. Therefore, the Lady shall focus entirely on preparing for her mother’s final journey!”
“But I am the Lady of this house!”
My mother. My country. My beloved…
“I only want to find the person who murdered my mother, so why! Why are you scolding me, why!”
My inescapable prison.
My comfortable hell.
My father had to cover up my mother’s death, and as that guilt slowly ate away at him, he eventually fled.
“F-Father…”
“Idir.”
On that day.
He wore the exact same smile he had when he made that promise to me.
“The day this country marks a century of history, I shall pass this position to you.”
He kept repeating a promise that could have easily waited for later.
He trapped himself in the very time when my mother was still alive.
I believe he was filled with regret.
Wondering if things would have been different if he had looked for the culprit back then.
If only he had drunk a little less that night.
If only he hadn’t been up in the spire watching the stars alone with me.
If only he had stayed by her side.
He tortured himself with the thought of whether we could have still been happy if he had done so.
After regretting, obsessing over the past, and blaming himself, he finally chose to escape.
Retreating to his very last moment of happiness.
Seeing our father trapped in time, my brother also locked himself away in his room.
—That day, while Mother was being murdered, I was sleeping in the room next door.
Having lost his voice, he left behind only a few sentences scrawled on a piece of paper.
—If only I hadn’t been asleep, would Mother still be alive?
I’m sorry, Sister.
My brother confined himself to a room filled with nothing but horrific memories and began his penance.
Whether that was their way of swallowing their grief or something else, I will never truly know.
I was the one left behind, and I had to protect what remained.
“M-My Lady.”
“It’s alright, please be seated.”
I entered the Council Chamber with a smile and walked toward the head of the table.
“I believe everyone is well aware of the current situation.”
“My Lady. Are you alright?”
“Yes. I am fine.”
I reassured them with a picture-perfect smile.
“Since I am still lacking in many ways, I desperately need your assistance.”
I narrowed my eyes into a gentle smile, begging for their loyalty.
“Starting today, I shall assume the Regency of the Plene Grand Duchy.”
Idir Hubert.
The successor of the Plene Grand Duchy.
The Flower of Plene. The Jewel. The most noble woman in the Grand Duchy.
The Shrimp Lady of the Shrimp Country.
Standing before all those compliments and insults, I merely smiled.
Let them chatter all they want.
I will simply remain aloof.
And in the distant future, when I have amassed sufficient power.
I will condemn every single one of you who mocked me with my own hands.
This place is my precious hell.
My karma.
* * *
I had been staring intently at the documents the entire time.
I stared so hard that my eyes felt completely dry and stiff.
Yet, the stack of paperwork did not decrease in the slightest.
My concentration had entirely waned.
To soothe my fatigue, I gently rubbed my eyelids with both hands and walked over to the map hanging on the wall.
‘Of all times to have that dream again.’
On the days when nightmares paid an irregular visit, my mind would invariably feel fogged over, forcing me to endlessly relive that day.
‘There was a witness who saw a shadow slipping out of the castle that night.’
Following that witness’s testimony, I had inquired about the owner of that shadow.
The man, who had been living in hiding deep within the mountains, trembled violently and confessed everything before I could even interrogate him properly.
“H-He seemed like a person of very high status. He said that to eliminate an obstacle, one must strike the head first…”
The man turned out to be a vagrant who used to survive by begging in the village.
One day, while wandering the streets as usual, two men with masked faces had dragged him away.
According to his description, both wore clothes of exceptional quality, and their manner of speech resembled that of nobles.
“A-At that time, I was too terrified…”
Initially driven by fear, he was subsequently lured by the compensation.
Ultimately, the vagrant accepted the money and infiltrated the castle according to their instructions.
He took advantage of the heavy influx of outside merchants arriving for the Founding Festival banquet to secretly hide his presence.
And though he held his breath and waited for the right moment, he ultimately failed to execute the plan.
“I-It was definitely poison. But h-how… how could I, a man living with both feet planted in this land, feed poison to the master of the country!”
Unable to override his fragile conscience with the act of harming a member of the Grand Ducal family, and terrified of the repercussions, the vagrant fled.
‘The culprit must have realized it then, seeing that no commotion had occurred.’
That was why they left the banquet hall and murdered the Grand Duchess themselves.
……This was the conclusion I had reached on my own, without ever arriving at the absolute truth.
The culprit attended the banquet that day.
I believed this, at the very least, to be an absolute certainty.
‘I still preserve the guest list of the nobles invited at that time, but checking them one by one presents far too many complications.’
Furthermore, since the majority were nobles from foreign nations, I couldn’t carelessly make a move against them.
Time dragged on sluggishly, and I felt my patience gradually reaching its absolute limit.
It was around that time that I managed to obtain the Magic Circle to summon a Demon.
‘Come to think of it, the only reason I attended that auction in the first place was because of Joaquin Perez, wasn’t it?’
This bastard seems to pop up in every single problem.
Tsk.
Clicking my tongue in irritation, I slammed a pin forcefully into the map.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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