Silent Witch

The gardener, with a cat in his arms, spoke in a sunny tone.

"You see, my ancestor was a scary person to even feared by the king in that era. And this garden was created by my ancestor as a request from the king himself."

It would be a huge matter if there was a gardener that was even feared by the king.

Assuming it was probably this gardener's exaggeration, Cyril silently listened to the rest of the story.

"Did you know? Nobles in those days did not have the custom of using toilets, so they used to do their business in flowerbeds. You know how women used to say, ‘I'm going to pick a flower' when they went to the toilet? Some say the origin of this phrase comes from that."

Why are we suddenly talking about toilets?

Cyril frowned at his lack of decency, but the gardener continued to speak without concern.

"Because of this custom, he was so angry when he found his garden full of excrement! In his fury, so he built a magnificent toilet in the castle and made an announcement to anyone who dare to soil the garden again, he would crush, mix, and bury them with fertilizer. After that, no one had ever done their business in the flowerbed but a toilet."

"………"

"Long after that day, having a nice toilet in the mansion become a status symbol for nobility, so they began to build their own toilets. This culture passed gradually, from the servants to the commoners, and now you can find it in the commoner's house as well."

Cyril, who was about to run out of patience, interrupted him, glaring at the gardener with cold eyes.

"Is that something you would talk about while giving a tour of the gardens?"

"Well, hear me out. A few decades after the toilet culture took root in the Ridill Kingdom, a worldwide epidemic broke out. But why did the epidemic not spread in the Ridill Kingdom? Because we had a proper system for managing excrement. Thus, the concept of sanitation spread around the Ridill Kingdom and spread throughout the world. That's how the incident ended."

Well, the story ended up surprisingly sound.

But how did the topic leap from the flowerbeds to the toilet?

The gardener proudly said to Cyril, whose face was inexplicable.

"So as a person who built a magnificent toilet to protect the flowerbeds, I think the name ‘Toilet Witch' suits my ancestors better. As such, you can call me the fifth ‘Toilet Witch'!

"The fifth? Witch?"

"If you ever go to the castle, check out the toilet my ancestors built. It was really amazing. Each of the toilet cubicles is about the size of a private laboratory, and it's absolutely gorgeous. I was so impressed when I used the castle's toilet for the first time."

As the gardener spoke vigorously about the toilet, the cat in his arms meowed as if it had noticed something.

The gardener man turned his eyes across the garden and gave a big wave to a figure he could see in that direction.

"Oh, it's my pal over there! Hey! Hey!"

＊ ＊ ＊

At first, Ray Albright the Abyss Shaman was in a good mood, thinking of having a walking date in a lovely garden, but the moment he stepped into the garden, his posture slumped over, leaning his weight to his cane listlessly.

Monica felt concerned when she saw him just like a wanderer whose body was about to run out of steam, but in response, Ray spoke.

"…The sunlight is melting me… I don't feel any love from it…"

"It's winter, though. So the sunlight should have not been that strong."

"Perhaps I'm just feeling sleepy… Since I've been up late doing an investigation…"

Monica stilled when he mention ‘investigation' and then asked Ray in a hushed voice.

"Do you mean by ‘investigation'… is it about that item…?"

"Yes."

As he said that, Ray pulled out a goldsmith ornament with a black stone attached from his pocket—a magic tool that Peter Sams used before his death.

From the look of it, Ray seemed to have thoroughly examined this magic tool for her.

Ray put the magic tool in her hand and checked his surrounding to make sure there were no people around before he whispered.

"This is the kind of magic tool that manipulates living things by implanting the curse within its body to deprive its mind, allowing the caster to control it at will."

"Manipulates… living things?"

Monica raised her brows when hearing such unexpected words from him, but Ray added more in a lower tone.

"Albeit, it ended up a failure. To make it able to control living things, you need a stronger curse than the target. But if you made the curse too strong, it will only result in the subject dying eaten away by the curse and making it uncontrollable, which is different from the initial intention. To put it simply, the poison in this item was too strong for it to be usable."

"That surprised me a little. To think there would be a curse that is able to control living things… I have never thought it exists."

Monica herself was not an expert in curses, but if she was given a choice, she would choose to use mind-type spells to manipulate someone.

And Ray nodded solemnly, seeming to have the same thought as her.

"Right, it's common practice, witchcraft is usable for tormenting prisoners and restricting criminals' movement. In fact, having someone coming up with the idea of controlling people with witchcraft was almost unthinkable."

Ray pulled the hood of his robe over his eyes and muttered in a low voice as his jewel-like pink eyes flickered under the hood.

"But, in the recent day, someone has asked me for opinions on controlling living creatures through witchcraft."

"…huh?"

Monica was caught in surprise as she raised her brows, and Ray continued.

"That person was the second prince, Felix Ark Ridill."

Blood drained from Monica's entire body.

"Did he do it on the order of Duke Reinberg Household?"

"Yes."

The scattered pieces within Monica's mind were slowly linked together. And perhaps it would develop in the worst possible result.

And as if confirming Monica's prediction, Ray spoke.

"I also did some digging on Peter Sams' identity and found out that he was an apprentice to a magician in our Albright branch family. When I asked him about Peter Sams, he told me that he has been studying witchcraft there for about ten years ago, but later disappeared for no reason… From what I heard, in his brief disappearance, he has been serving under Duke Crockford."

Duke Crockford is Felix's maternal grandfather and is one of the most influential people in the kingdom.

It was as Hilda said. There's a powerful person standing behind him.

Casey also told her that Felix was Duke Crockford's puppet.

Was Duke Crockford the person whom Peter sold my father to? I wonder if this person was also involved in my father's death.

Assuming Peter, Duke Crockford, and Felix were connected to each other, there could only be one possible worst conclusion.

"Don't tell me, the whole cursed dragon incident also…"

As Monica hesitated to continue with her words, Ray muttered in a low voice.

"…yes, it's highly likely the whole incident was set up by Duke Crockford."

Duke Crockford had ordered Peter Sams to turn the Green Dragon into a cursed dragon through a curse.

The plan was to manipulate the cursed dragon and have Felix exterminate it at the appropriate time.

However, Peter's curse failed and the cursed dragon went berserk.

Although Peter had achieved his goal with Felix defeating the dragon and resulting in the prince being regarded as a hero who protected the kingdom from the dragon, unfortunately, he did not anticipate the dragon would go berserk.

Of course, all of these were only Monica's assumptions.

But, if all these events were proven to be true, it would be difficult to pursue this matter against Peter Sams. After all, what stood behind him was the most influential noble in the kingdom. His words had more weight than the speech of the Seven Sages.

Was Duke Crockford the person who set up the whole cursed dragon incident? Moreover, it's highly possible he was involved in the death of my father. Also, how much does His Highness know about this matter?

What If Felix had hidden this horrifying truth behind his beautiful smile?

What if he had known all about it and was still following Duke Crockford's order?

…how scary.

The thought of it had given Monica a chill that was different from the cold of winter's gust.

When Ray looked at Monica rubbing her own arms over her robe, he spoke.

"We can't make any reckless move if Duke Crockford was involved in this matter."

"…I know."

"Just to let you know, I'll keep going with my investigation on Peter Sams."

"…okay."

They didn't have any direct evidence to prove Duke Crockford was the mastermind behind the cursed dragon incident.

In this situation where the corpse of the cursed dragon had dissolved and Peter, the perpetrator, has committed suicide, it will be difficult to pursue this matter against Duke Crockford.

As these bad feelings and her distrust in Felix keep growing, Monica trudged along with a gloomy face.

Despite the beautiful flowers blooming in the castle gardens, Monica didn't feel like making any spare time to enjoy them. Her heart just felt heavy when she thought about Felix's standing.

The two of them, Ray, who usually has a gloomy air about him, and Monica, who was now feeling downcast, just like a parade of the departed, walked in robes surrounded by the gloomy air. It was the sight that was most unlikely to happen in the gorgeous garden.

In such a situation, there was a man who shouted ‘Hey! Hey!', calling the two over.

A familiar voice that seemed to belong to the Thorn Witch. Ray, who heard such a cheerful voice that suits in a bright place under the sun, clicked his tongue in a gloomy face.

"I don't like that guy, he's so noisy and always forcing me to eat his vegetables…, I especially hate his looks… how envious, how envious, how envious…"

So cursed Ray in muttering, but his mumbling didn't reach Monica's ear.

It was because Monica's eyes were glued to the young man behind the Thorn Witch.

His platinum blonde hair and deep blue eyes which were stood out even from a distance. A slender body with a face that could be called beautiful even from a woman's perspective.

Lord Cyriiiil!?

Monica was so shaken up that she almost inadvertently dropped her scepter.