It was well past dinner ti. Mrs. Lux couldn't bring herself to force the door open and had left a al in the study outside the room. Esperanza's portion of the al would already be cold by now.
Was she late because sothing had happened? Cider tilted his head. Not being able to contact her was quite frustrating.
It wasn't worry. There would be nothing dangerous for Esperanza. Cider tried to shake off his thoughts and focus on his research again. Even splitting ti wasn't enough.
Ti flew by frantically as he fixed circuits, modified magic formulas, set magic stones, and replaced parts. When the grandfather clock announced midnight, Cider tightened the last screw and put down his tools.
"She's late."
Muttering the sa words as before, he looked at the closed window. Looking down at the quiet garden, he couldn't see the lantern Esperanza would be carrying.
She said she'd co to the research lab when work was done, so she'd co if he waited.
But it was already past midnight. Cider rapidly flipped through pages and sighed. What could have happened? He thought perhaps she was late due to so minor inconvenience.
If that was the case, there was no reason to waste ti worrying. He picked up his pen. It would be better to clear his head and do what needed to be done.
However, work wouldn't co together. Unfocused thoughts stirred through his mind.
Less than an hour later, Cider put down his pen on the desk and stood up. At the end of the empty garden, the open front gate still showed no signs of anyone. Strength entered his hand gripping the curtain.
Probably nothing had happened. The only things that could harm Esperanza would be Daria or Cyrus. Even they couldn't match Esperanza one-on-one, and even if they attacked together, it would be evenly matched.
Using underhanded thods was possible, but if they had the leisure to think of such tricks, there would be no reason to choose a frontal confrontation with Esperanza. For Daria, this was a ga where holding out ant winning.
However, that was only within the limited information he knew. His speculation was highly rational, but reality was unknowable. What if she was trapped in a dungeon? What if there were other traps they didn't know about? What if Esperanza had returned through so unknown thod?
The curtain in his grip was torn to shreds.
The pitch-black window outside where nothing could be seen in the endless darkness. Ominous imaginings grinned with torn mouths above it. Cider tried to shake his head. That couldn't be. However, at this point, it wasn't a matter of whether such possibilities existed or not.
The next mont, he took his coat and hat from the coat rack, roughly threw them on, and ran down the stairs.
"Count, where are you going?"
A servant standing guard widened his eyes.
Where should he go? He knew where Esperanza had gone. But if it was there, there would be no reason for her to be this late. His lips, pressed together in thought, turned white. His fingers gripping the walking stick twitched irritably.
He should go find Cyrus. That fellow probably wouldn't have communication devices either, but if he dragged him to Alter District, he might learn sothing.
He didn't even think to wake the coachman to prepare a carriage. Cider threw open the mansion door and pushed his body toward the pitch-black garden where even outlines couldn't be seen.
It felt like an endless road. Garden trees and gargoyle statues showing desolate outlines like demons with open mouths.
Ominous imaginings overlaid on top of that. Even though he was simply walking straight on a familiar path, it felt dizzy as if he were in a maze.
When he finally passed through the massive front gate and stood on the wide road of Upper Lane, Cider exhaled cold breath. Esperanza stood on the opposite side of the road. With the sa face as always, without any injuries. At that mont, the reason that had disappeared returned.
Ah, damn it.
"Where are you going at this hour?"
Esperanza asked innocently with a clear face as if she knew nothing, like she had just returned from a night stroll.
Cider gripped Esperanza's cheek with a stern face. When warm body temperature touched her frozen cheek, Esperanza frowned.
Only then did Cider pull Esperanza's shoulders and embrace her. Body heat spread through the cool embrace. Stiff relief filled a corner of his chest. Flustered, Esperanza blinked blankly.
"Is it because I'm late? That just happened to......"
Being late was just a trigger, not the fundantal problem. The problem was his anxiety. He didn't know what to say. Cider smiled habitually.
"Let's go back and talk."
He turned his head to look at the mansion shrouded in darkness. Instead of the elegant mansion's appearance, he seed to see walls riddled with holes by anxiety.
His reason, no longer solid.
The dark frock coat covered the coat rack again. Under the bright light, Esperanza looked up at Cider with a slightly tired feeling. His cheeks were pale and his eyes were trembling. She thought he was just a little surprised, worried. But that wasn't all there was to it.
"I'm sorry for being late without saying anything. I didn't an to. But......"
"Why does it feel like only I'm being swayed?"
Cider suddenly asked. At the sa ti as the question, the color drained from his face. Esperanza frowned at the incomprehensible question. Wasn't this side being swayed just as much? She had even thought, if only briefly, about not going back.
But what aning would there be in saying that this side was also being swayed right now? Esperanza looked up at the trembling eyes filled with incomprehensible anxiety, then embraced Cider's waist. Until body temperature and heartbeats mixed and gradually ca to resemble each other.
After a long while, Cider slowly raised his hand and stroked Esperanza's hair.
"I'm okay now."
The sound of sparks flying from the fireplace. The vibration of machinery heard through one wall. The carpet under his feet and the familiar brightness of the lights. When he recognized Esperanza's presence surrounded by familiar things, his anxiety subsided.
"Being late without saying anything is fine. Leaving without saying anything isn't."
"I said I wouldn't do that."
"The world doesn't go according to your will alone. If such a thing happens......"
Esperanza hoped the sa—that such a thing wouldn't happen. Even if it ant never being able to leave at all, she didn't want to leave in that way.
No matter how much ntal preparation she made, it wouldn't be enough, but she didn't want to go back without a final goodbye.
Even while chewing over such thoughts in her mind, what ca out was laughter-mixed jokes.
"Should I just stick by your side?"
"If it's voluntary, I won't refuse."
Knowing it was all aningless talk, they presented empty promises several tis. With each lightly thrown word, the tension that had wrapped around the room loosened.
Then Esperanza brought up the story of eting Luke Havenly. The story of closing three out of four beginner dungeons, the story that Daria only visited Dr. Sullivan regularly.
Cider listened silently to the story whispered like a lullaby while wrapped in the large bed. With fingertips intertwined to erase a trace of anxiety.
"He didn't tell
where Dr. Sullivan's laboratory is, but I know that. Though I should double-check with Cyrus whether that place is still correct at this point."
"What do you plan to do when you go?"
"Well. Destroy that side's spaceti machine? Anyway, since Daria will be carrying the Golden Claw around, I won't be able to find and take it."
If she was lucky, she might et Daria. If she was even luckier, she might be able to steal the Golden Claw from that Daria.
Cider shook his head. No matter how incomplete it was, going to where the spaceti machine and Golden Claw were located to fight was dangerous. If she got caught up in sothing wrong there by any chance, she might really leave without saying goodbye.
"Just a mont ago you said you'd stick by my side."
Though they both knew it was empty words, saying that made her feel sorry for no reason. Of course, if possible, it would be good to stay by his side.
"Want to co with ?"
"No."
Cider replied in a spiteful voice and pressed his lips firmly against Esperanza's forehead. Esperanza, who had been shrinking and avoiding because it tickled, suddenly asked.
"You have that communication device. If we extend the communication range, couldn't we contact each other? Then this kind of thing wouldn't happen."
She knew it wasn't anxiety that would subside with just that. Still, at least there wouldn't be incidents like today.
Cider looked down at Esperanza's wavering pupils and laughed briefly. Even if not enough to stay by his side, her eyes showing clear affection seed to soothe his sensitively tensed nerves.
"Lady, do you know why I'm a good researcher?"
Ah. So he's starting with the premise that he's a good researcher? Such a thought occurred to her montarily, but since she didn't want to break the current peaceful atmosphere, she asked after a brief silence.
"Do I have to answer with just one thing?"
Cider looked down at Esperanza with a face that showed he was trying for a mont....... No, but really. When she glared and poked his forearm, Cider laughed and hugged Esperanza's waist tighter. Then he playfully bit her lips lightly and released them.
"Because I say what's impossible is impossible."
"Ah. That."
That face again. What's he complaining about even when she goes along with it? A brief kiss that seed to peck landed on her grumbling lips.
"For instance, sending you back is possible but
going together is impossible."
"Do you have to use that kind of example when giving examples?"
"You need to get used to it. Also, for instance, wireless communication within the sa mansion is possible but communication between people far apart is difficult."
Cider spoke as calmly as soone who had overco everything. No more impatience could be felt in his eyes. Esperanza felt relieved and kissed his cheeks and lips.
"So, is it really impossible? If you postpone that and make it......"
Her gaze turned toward where the spaceti machine was beyond the wall.
Thinking of that machine brought contradictory feelings.
She knew it was necessary and had no intention of denying that necessity. It was Esperanza who had originally asked for the machine to be made. But she didn't hope for it to be completed quickly. It would be good if she could delay it with this kind of excuse.
"If it were sothing that could be done, I would have said it could be done."
Was it such a difficult task? Esperanza was a layperson when it ca to technology, but she vaguely knew that the telephone had been invented around a similar ti. There might be about a 30-year difference, but she didn't know if it was difficult enough for Cider Claiborne to definitively refuse.
"There's no infrastructure."
Ah, right. Telephones also need communication networks. How long would it take to install such facilities throughout all of Nine Holder? It would take at least longer than a year.
Even if Cider Claiborne really made such an invention soday, Esperanza wouldn't be able to be by his side then.
'Will he be okay?'
Esperanza recalled Cider's appearance when he had rushed out of the mansion in the early morning. The heat of the hand she had placed on his cold cheek, and his unstable eyes that seed about to shatter.
That fragile emotion was no longer visible. Cider's pupils were clear. Affection, insight, and a bit of mischief. Sa as usual. What happened earlier might have been a montary impulse. It might have just been briefly precarious.
But now, Esperanza couldn't believe that he would be okay after she left.
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