07. Crossing the Boundary

— Strange, it’s strange.

— But the thorn bushes are really strong, so it should be fine, right?

— Were there always this many people in the forest?

Olivia, who was about to enter the mansion with an armful of herbs needed to prepare medicine, suddenly swerved with a screech. She seemed to have heard something quite concerning. A group of rabbits that had settled at the edge of the forest had gathered with serious expressions, discussing among themselves.

“Hello? Hello, hello.”

After greeting each rabbit carefully, Olivia naturally joined the group, crouching down beside them.

“What were you all talking about? What’s strange?”

— There are too many people around the thorn bushes lately.

“How do you know that? Have you gone outside?”

— When people come, the vibrations in the ground change. Recently, too many people keep examining the area around the thorn bushes and then leaving.

“Ah?”

— They’re armed people. Our thorn bushes are sturdy, but it just doesn’t feel right.

The rabbits chorused “it’s strange” again, explaining that armed individuals had different footsteps and heavier vibrations. There were guards in the village, so armed people weren’t completely absent, but the recent increase in armed forces investigating the thorn bushes was certainly a suspicious and dangerous sign. Olivia completely forgot about delivering the ingredients she was holding and immediately ran into the mansion to find Alois.

“Alois! Alois!”

These days, Alois often spent time in the old archives. It was located in the basement of the mansion, a place where numerous ancient books slumbered, he had said. For some reason, Alois had recently been holed up in the archives almost all day, seemingly searching for something among dozens of stacked books.

“I’m here.”

Following his voice, she spotted Alois sitting on a library ladder, waving his hand while reading a book. Today, as usual, he had been looking for information about the curse, and as soon as she appeared, he naturally hid the book.

Alois was already much taller than Olivia, and since he was sitting on the ladder, she had to crane her neck considerably to meet his eyes. She climbed one rung up the ladder, suddenly closing the distance between them with a serious expression.

“I heard from the rabbits that many people have been examining the area around the thorn bushes lately. Did you know about this?”

Unlike Olivia, who had rushed over in alarm, Alois remained calm, focusing only on gently dabbing the beads of sweat on her forehead with his sleeve.

“I already know.”

“Could they be investigating because the thorn bushes suddenly got thicker? If not, I think it might be dangerous……”

The incident from the day they attacked the administrator to save the wolf-dogs came to mind. Olivia had fainted from crying and hadn’t confronted the administrator, but Alois, who had even conversed with him, had been suspecting that these recent changes might be connected to the administrator.

‘He seemed to recognize who I am.’

Because time had stopped after Alois was cursed, not many people remembered his old face. Unless they were his longtime subordinates, it wasn’t easy to recognize someone’s face from decades ago. Yet the fact that the man recognized him so quickly meant he must frequently look at Alois’s old portraits.

‘Judging by the fact that he wasn’t active when I was at the imperial palace, he must have connections to Julian afterward……’

If he was sent as a representative of the ducal territory, he must be someone the emperor considered trustworthy among his close associates. There was definitely a need to investigate this further. However, having secluded himself in his territory for so long, Alois lacked both recent information and subordinates he could employ.

“For now, I’m keeping an eye on it too, so don’t worry too much.”

Alois answered firmly, gently rubbing her ears and cheeks, concerned that Olivia might have some reckless ideas again. He quickly diverted her thoughts elsewhere, and as he expected, Olivia was too weak against his seduction. Like a child, she nuzzled her cheeks against his broad palms, waiting expectantly for his affection.

But what Alois hadn’t anticipated was that there was another person who could bring news to her.

“You had such an incident with the administrator?”

On a warm afternoon, Olivia spread a blanket under a bush of lavishly blooming roses in the outdoor garden and thoroughly enjoyed the picnic atmosphere she hadn’t experienced in a long time. Lime, who joined her, also reminisced about their childhood memories while eating the sandwiches she had made. When a large wolf-dog appeared to visit, the conversation naturally turned in that direction, and finally, Lime learned about the long history of conflict between Olivia and the administrator.

“What a piece of trash!”

“It’s a bit scary when you say that with a smile.”

Olivia lightly patted his thigh as if complimenting him, and busily brushed the fur of the wolf-dog comfortably lying on its belly beside her. Though they had adapted well to the forest, they were clearly raised by humans, occasionally seeking her out for affection like this.

“That must have been quite a big fight……”

Ah, so that’s why. Though belatedly, Lime now understood that the traces of fire and battle he had seen in the forest were from the incident Olivia described. His expression darkened with worry.

“Try not to get involved in dangerous situations if possible.”

“I try, but if it’s something I’d regret not doing later, I find it easier on my conscience to do it even if it seems reckless.”

“You haven’t changed since childhood in that regard.”

Despite not being particularly good at fighting or having a fierce temperament, making conflicts with others entirely disadvantageous for her, Olivia had never backed down from injustice or irrational situations since childhood. Thanks to this, Lime, who had often received her help when children bullied him, had always been grateful to her, but now he worried about every little thing in case she might get involved in something dangerous.

“When you first disappeared, there were quite a few strange rumors about you in the village, and I wondered who was spreading such nonsense. If your relationship with the administrator was that bad, could he have been the one spreading those rumors?”

“Rumors?”

“The villagers have known us since we were children, so they all know your character. I wondered why such words were spreading. But if it was the administrator maliciously spreading rumors, the situation makes sense. Don’t worry too much about it though. The atmosphere was that no one believed them.”

“What kind of rumors?”

“Well, the kind of dirty content, you know……”

Though Lime tried to avoid directly stating the unpleasant content, Olivia insisted he tell her everything exactly as it was, so eventually Lime had to share all the rumors he had heard.

“There were stories about you meeting the wrong man, eloping, getting involved in dark magic, conducting forbidden experiments—all sorts of nonsensical things.”

While most of these stories could be dismissed with a “what a terrible person” and moved on from, the last rumor couldn’t be ignored. Forbidden experiments? Olivia’s expression instantly hardened. Who was it that created chimeras from children, leaving them to live in pain until the end? The memories of that day resurfaced—she had buried the pain to live on, but never forgotten it—and her tightly clenched fist trembled.

“So rumors spread that I conducted forbidden experiments?”

It felt unsettling that rumors specifically linked her to forbidden experiments. And the timing was suspiciously convenient. She had thought the administrator wouldn’t have recognized her due to the fire and chaos everywhere, but now she wondered if he might have seen her. However, while thinking ‘Even so, there’s no reason to suddenly investigate the thorn bushes,’ Olivia stood up with a dumbfounded expression.

“He knows I’m here too.”

She wondered if he might even know the duke’s true identity. As she urgently tried to find Alois, he appeared right on cue, calmly settling in a corner of the blanket.

“Alois!”

“Did you make these yourself?”

Unlike the serious Olivia, Alois merely showed interest in the sandwiches she had made, taking all the remaining bread. Lime, who had lost the remaining sandwiches, glared at the back of Alois’s head with a displeased expression.

“Does the administrator recognize your face too?”

“I thought he wouldn’t know, but seeing how diligently he’s investigating this place now, it would be better to act assuming he knows.”

“But he’s not old like the café owner, so how did he recognize you, Alois?”

After the duke became known as the cursed duke, the Empire collected all portraits and photographs related to Alois. Naturally, he was always described as a monster or beast, and as time passed, fewer people remembered his face. So for someone to recognize his face despite not being active in the same era as Alois, having enough access to his portraits, it could only be them.

“He might be close to Julian. That’s why he’s seen my portrait and been dispatched here as a representative, don’t you think?”

Olivia and Lime pondered for a while about who Julian was before realizing it was the emperor’s name, then unnecessarily looked around. A side effect of being taught not to casually mention the emperor’s name.