Ouroboros Record ~Circus of Oubeniel~

“What is the matter, milady?”

The maid beside her looked at her perplexedly when she stopped. She probably did not hear it. She had spent time training as a ranger by a thief. Her hearing was naturally beyond that of an average person.

“You have been deceived! We don’t even know if that girl is truly Anrietta!”

The owner of that voice was Joséphine. Which meant that the speaker earlier must have been Count Cartan. There was no other person in the house except for the Count who she would speak to about such things.

Next, a retort could be heard.

“No matter what you say, this is my decision as the head of this family, to welcome that child into the family.”

“And that head of family had been deceived by that girl! Any number of girls with black hair and green eyes can be found from Broussonne. Do you seriously think it is possible that your long-lost daughter would appear at such a time?”

“Hmph. That was the same reasoning as the slave murderer.”

“What!? What did you say!?”

Joséphine raised her voice in disbelief.

She held the same feelings. He forced her master to free her, and now, he did not even bother hiding his contempt for him. In the first place, the reason she was not dead now was because of him. If he could call his daughter cute, it would not hurt to show some gratitude towards him.

“Yikes…Is it the master and madam?”

The maid finally realised there was an argument. In the meantime, Joséphine’s voice became heated.

“Ugh...In the first place, recognising an illegitimate child now would cause a rift in the family! I have said and will say it again, there is still time to turn back! Retract the report for the trial to the court right now!”

With regards to the peace in the family, the madam was right. The heir in this family was, no matter how you looked at it, inept. Her master could somehow disguise and cover up his deficiencies in behaving as a noble. As for the heir, even his servants did not like him and did not actively make up for his shortcomings. And finally, a new child appeared. Even if this child was female, it would surely greatly affect the family. There was a fear that the husband of this girl might try to usurp the family’s fortunes.

One way to avoid that was to, as Joséphine had mentioned, not recognise the child in the first place. For every effect, there was a cause; if he understood that this would lead to a negative effect, then all that was needed to be done was to negate the cause for it.

This was the most cost-effective way to nullify the problem but the Count, who had been captivated by his daughter’s cuteness, would not accept that.

“That’s enough! If you continue being so obstinate, I have some other considerations to make too!”

“Considerations?”

“Consider who shouldn’t stay in this family between you and the child――”

“Ah, dear!? What are you saying――”

…See, as expected. If Joséphine does get kicked out of family as the Count had indirectly suggested, the heir’s already-weak authority would weaken further. Not to mention the countless people that would take advantage of their domestic squabble for their own gains.

The other option to deal with the reunited daughter would be to marry her off to a family that could not or had no need to take advantage of the Count’s family. So long as Count Cartan did not give up with trying to bring her into the family, this would be the likely resolution.

Her guess for the most promising candidate would be Tullius. He held territory at a faraway land and would thus have little effect on the capital. Also, his family status matched up and most importantly, he had a deep connection with her. The Count might dislike such an arrangement, but Marquis Lavallée had likely planned this out a long time ago. By using Count Cartan’s family, which was under the Marquis control, he could indirectly interfere with activities happening in Marlan. In the worst case, he could make use of her to get Cartan to slander Tullius and execute him. One did not need to think deeply to guess what might play out next.

She did think that this was an opportunity to become his bride. Or more like she played around with that idea. However, that would not be what Tullius wanted from her. He would rather not have the burdensome existence known as Anrietta Pola Cartan with him.

That was why she was hinted of Plan D and ordered to counter by killing herself in a way that appeared to be murder.

(Rest assured, master. I will definitely be successful.)

She herself had wanted to do it. Her desire to be tied in marriage to him were just vestiges of Anrietta and not herself. The romance, or love, rather, that she wanted was not something calm and soft. She wanted to offer her everything, as though a good tool meeting a good user. Becoming a couple and becoming equals would be outrageous rather than surprising.

Such lingering attachments were the reason she, who should have been striving to be his perfect tool, became lost, useless and separated from him.

The spirit from 11 years ago as well as Joséphine, who created it, continued to haunt her. That was why she had to cut it short before it became a hindrance to him.

“Are you okay, milady?”

The maid’s voice made her come back to her senses. The maid was looking at her worriedly.

“This is too much for milady after all…...”

“Hmm?”

“Let’s go back. We won’t know when Madam would leave the room too.”

The maid said and pulled her arm along. For a moment, she could not understand what the maid was saying. Could it be, by any chance, that she thought she was fretting over what Joséphine had said.

It was a misunderstanding, but there was no point nor reason she should correct her. By the time she finished her thought processes, they were already back in her room.

The maid seemed to be rather fixated at what Joséphine had said and snorted with satisfaction as they were walking.

“Madam is being very cruel. Isn’t she?”

“......”

“Questioning the origins of milady is too much… That isn’t something to speak to the master about. She sounded polite and all, but she was really just trying to order him! That is just so selfish――”

“Stop.”

She opened her mouth unintentionally. The maid was shocked greatly.

“Ahh!? M-Milady? D-Did I displease you?”

It was certainly foolish to step outside her boundaries as a servant. However, she did not mind that. She did not fault her for that.

“What did you just say?”

“Eh?”

“Please repeat once more.”

She stared at her waiting for the maid to repeat herself.

“T-That is just so selfish――”

“Before that.”

“U-umm… Is it, ‘She sounded polite and all but she was just trying to order him?’”

…

That was it.

As soon as she heard that, she had a flashback of yesterday’s night scenery. The scenery when her master told her.

“――How long are you going to act like that? It is very troubling. Please come back to your senses and fulfil your duty――”

Maybe it was because she was hinted at Plan D at the end; somehow she had clearly forgotten what he had said earlier. Those words were what he said to her at that time. They sounded like… they were for the daughter of a Count, but weren’t they orders to her?

If she was ordered to kill herself, wouldn’t it be sufficient to just indicate that they were using plan D? Such a long-winded way of informing her to do her duty was unnecessary. That was how Tullius Shernan Oubeniel thinks.

If so, what was the true intention?

“――Please, come back to your original duty――”

Come back to your original duty. She understands it. She was unsightly at that time. She was overly shaken by the loss of her collar, as she did not expect to be separated from her master. Under those circumstances, it would not be surprising for him to judge that she would not be able to understand a roundabout order to suicide.

Then what else did he say afterwards?

“――Once you have calmed down, take your time to reflect. Think carefully on how you wish to lead your life――

“――a life’s journey is very long, after all――”

(Ahh…)

Life was very long.

That was absolutely not something you say when ordering to die.

He still had no intention to dispose of her.

… Then she should not be planning to die. Neither should she simply carry on shamelessly living like this. Without a moment to lose, before the plan goes to fruition, shouldn’t she return to her master’s side!?

“... You are brilliant.”

“Yes? What do you mean?”

Without paying too much attention to the blinking maid, she fell back into deep thought.

She was an idiot. The answer had already been there, and yet she could not even see the question.

This was a bug, a problem that had been with her some time ago. Once they succeeded in escaping, she would definitely head straight to the lab to get some tuning.

(Returning to my master...)

The broken parts had returned to where they belonged. It was similar to what happened to her 11 years ago, but there was something different about it.

Back then, Anrietta became Uni.

However, now she is back to being Uni.

She would return to his side. Overcoming all difficulties in doing so. She would not let Cartan and Lavallée get in her way. She needed to get everything prepared and ready before the time comes.

This house had “that” and above all, this was Broussonne. It was the place she had grown used to for many years and was also the hunting grounds of the Silver Wolf.

With resolve, Uni lifted her face.

And she decided.

Tonight she would make her move. Since right now, there was barely any time left.