P. 197
“Hey, Pops.”
It was completely out of the blue for a black wavy-haired young man to appear at the university laboratory that Professor Carlton was spending the night to prepare the drafts for his seminar.
The young man jumped into the room through the window and sat down on top of his desk and Carlton was aware that this big attitude and tall figured man was a fairy acquaintance with Lydia, but this fae had never spoken to Carlton, so he was a little taken-aback.
In addition, he suddenly called Carlton ‘Pops.’ Carlton’s first thought was I am not your father because he had a vague feeling that this was the fae that was trying to take Lydia as his bride.
“Where is Lydia? Pops.”
Carlton pushed up his round spectacles and gathered up his scattered out documents.
“It’s midnight. It’s the time of day when she should be asleep at home.”
“She’s not there. Where is she wandering around at?”
“If it’s the young lady, then she is with the earl.”
P. 198
There was another voice from a different direction. Carlton watched as the young man walked over to the cupboards and spotted how the tourmaline crystal that was placed there was strangely wobbling around.
“You, what are you doing here?”
The young man plucked something up with his fingers and the tourmaline crystal also went floating up into the air.
“The young lady’s father surely does have magnificent stones in his possession. This is a place that relaxes for fairies like me from the iron mine.”
Carlton figured out that there was an invisible fairy from just listening to its voice as he rested his cheek on his palm.
“Do you think they are good stones?”
“Why, look at this finely detailed granite stone.”
“That’s right. It seems like you and I share the same interest. Students these days are so devoted in categorizing that they seem to not have the admiration towards the stone’s beauty.”
“Oh, my, that will not do at all. A stone is in other words a part of the earth’s mystery. Gemstones are not the only wonderful thing on this earth.”
Carlton made a strong nod.
“Who cares about that, more importantly, you said that Lydia is with the earl, where is that?”
The young man violently shook the fairy that he still held dangling in his fingers.
“Oh, please, no, stop, they are at the place called a harem.”
P. 199
“A ha-harem?”
Carlton finally realized that it was a matter of emergency and quickly stood up.
“What do you mean by that exactly?” he asked the fae.
“The Lord Earl had prepared a wonderful room for the young lady. If the two of them would spend some time alone together, I can guarantee that their love for each other would deepen.”
“Hold on just a second, the earl prepared a room so that he could use it to spend time with Lydia?”
And besides, it was midnight right now. Not being at home at this hour of the night and that she was with the earl was something that was unforgivable in the first place.
“Now that I think about it, I finally get what a harem is. It’s a place where a man locks up his own woman. So that no one else would take her.”
“Oh, is that so, then as long as the young miss is there, that would mean there is no one who can pull those two apart. Well, good indeed.”
“Hey, where is that harem place.”
“It’s in a shop called Madam Eve Palace. Uhh, the address is….”
“Hurry up and guide me there!”
The young man created a whirl wind that swept up all the papers in the room and vanished. It seemed like the voice-only small fairy had also disappeared.
P. 200
Carlton stood alone in completely dumb-founded.
After a little while, he darted out into the hallway and ran over to the room that his apprentice was in that stored all the reference works and files of information material.
“Langley, where is the place called Madam Eve Palace?”
“Professor, if there is something you would like to look up then please list them in priority. I haven’t completed with today’s list yet.”
“This one is top priority.”
Langley finally lifted his head up.
“Madam Eve Palace, was it?”
“Uh, it seems to be a harem kind of place, but isn’t a harem like a seraglio of a polygamous country? I’ve heard that in a polygamous country like that, as soon as the kings or feudal lords found a young girl who caught their eye, they would capture them and take them to their harems to make them their wives.”
“Oh, that. The truth of the building where the upper-class frequently visit and enjoy as a harem palace is shrouded in mystery.”
“You know of it.”
“It’s the lavish building that’s on Charing Cross, isn’t it? But it didn’t seem like any high-class prostitute women were coming-and-going out of it, and yet the place orders women’s dresses and accessories and every kind of thing that a woman would need, and so I heard that there might be a princess from somewhere or a woman is being locked inside there for a specific reason. So the customers of that Madam Eve Palace think of themselves as sultans, and have their second or third wives in their own private harem hidden from society. Although it’s just a rumor.”
P. 201
Carlton wobbled wearingly away from the desk.
“Is there something about that place?”
“……..No, nothing.”
Lydia is at that place secretly meeting with the earl? A place where women are secretly locked up in?
Even though he thought that was impossible, Carlton didn’t quite have his share of trust that the earl was a normal, decent human being.
However, to Lydia, he was an important figure for he needed her abilities as a fairy doctor, and to begin with, Carlton was well aware that because that young man wasn’t the earl, he needed Lydia’s help all the more.
Carlton also felt that the reason for his daughter to still be by his side and living in the human world was all thanks to the work of that earl.
But still, if he intended to treat his daughter as his mistress, then it was a different story. If society were to find out that she was played around with and became damaged as a marriageable woman, he couldn’t imagine how much pain Lydia would be put through.
The Carlton family wasn’t in the upper-class, but in their hometown they were a well-known family line from the old days and in the present day they don’t have the feeling of belittling themselves against nobles.
He had no plans of staying silent after having his properly grown daughter’s future was going to be ruined.
P. 202
But he wondered how Lydia felt about this. When he started to think about that, his mind suddenly drew a misty cloud over his rage towards the earl.
He may have brought up Lydia much too freely, but at the core, she was a kind, good-hearted girl.
She might appear slightly unconventional in comparison to the current female trend as the ideal woman to be naïve and submissive, but even her mother was the same kind of woman.
And because of that, he was aware that even when she reached a marriageable age, all the young men kept their distances from her, but Carlton’s opinion was that she didn’t have to socialize with a man who didn’t understand and appreciate Lydia’s value.
On the other hand, if she were to seriously fall in love, then he thought that she wouldn’t go to anyone for help or advice and would take care of things on her own.
In other words, the point which Carlton was worried about was in the case when Lydia went ahead herself and became the lover of the earl.
When he started to recall certain things, he had expressed signs of dislike at the rumors between Lydia and the Earl and had taken the attitude like he disapproved of her loving someone or getting married. Of course, that was because of his selfish feelings of loneliness as a father, but if she thought he was going to disapprove, then that could have just made her not be able to come out with what was going on.
However, thought Carlton and shook his head to the sides violently. Lydia was still a minor. She still had many childish parts about her, and even if she was able to take care of herself, she was inexperienced in the ways of the human society, and for that lady’s man earl, she was an easy target to deceive.
P. 203
No matter what Lydia’s feelings were, that earl might not be the typical kind of man, but he isn’t stupid. He should know that that sort of act wouldn’t be dismissed as just a passing fancy.
No matter how he thought of it, this wasn’t a simple matter to let by.
When he came to that decision, Carlton returned to his laboratory and pulled on his coat and ran back out the door.
*
The Nightmare is stirring.
Lydia was resting while she was drifting in a slumber, and unbeknownst to her she was pulled into the grasp of the Nightmare.
It was a nightmare where she wasn’t able to escape out of the maze made by the goblins. Lydia wandered aimlessly in the dark holes and tunnels.
When she noticed a presence, right behind was Ulysses. He pressed a knife against Lydia’s throat and ordered her to hand over the black diamond.
You can’t have the diamond, said Edgar who was standing near them out of the blue.
Then you’re fine with this girl dying.
In that moment, Lydia felt like her body was slashed through and her mind was thrown into dizziness.
She thought she was killed, but since it was just a happening in a dream, even though she was dead, her mind was still thinking.
P. 204
I’m sorry, Lydia.
What is that supposed to mean. Are you just going to say a quick sorry and sacrifice me?
But, Lydia had been worrying daily that kind of thing might happen.
The most important thing to Edgar was his revenge at Prince, and if it was for the sake of avenging for his friends that were killed, then he was sure to abandon Lydia.
If I stay by his side, this was bound to happen…..
He says he has feelings for me and he wants me to marry him, but that’s all a lie.
Ohh I hate this, I hate this dream.
Lydia whispered ‘help me’ and then felt the shine of the moonstone ring fight back against the power of the Nightmare.
The scenery changed back. Edgar was standing in front of Ulysses and was about to make a different decision. He said ‘I don’t want the diamond, so save Lydia.’
Ulysses replied ‘then in exchange I’ll have you die.’ Just as he was ordered, Edgar aimed the pistol towards his head.
I’m sorry, Lydia.
No……….
Guardian moonstone fairy, weren’t you going to scare away the Nightmare?
P. 205
Isn’t this just a nightmare?
I don’t want this.
If you don’t want either of this, then you need to get away from him.
“Lydia.”
Yes, you might be right.
There wasn’t any absolute reason for Lydia to have to be by Edgar’s side.
She was somehow mixed into this situation and was set up as his fiancée, but it wasn’t like she hated him and she wanted to help him, but there was a limit to be by his side just by feelings of sympathy.
He would periodically single her out since he was aware she wasn’t able to bring herself to agree on everything Edgar was doing.
And yet, Edgar told her that it was right of her to scold him from her sense of righteousness on things she couldn’t agree on. He needed that sense and so he wanted her to be by his side.
But that was impossible.
If she stayed by Edgar’s side without completely understanding him, that would only increase her distrust in him. Eventually she would become his victim.
Or he might end up destroying himself.
P. 206
If that nightmare was going to become reality, then it might as well as be best for them to part.
“Lydia, are you in pain?”
Lydia felt someone’s hand touch her cheek and opened her eyes. She was able to feel like she had finally escaped out of that nightmare but wasn’t able to realize that Edgar was right in front of her at first.
That’s why she subconsciously reached out her hand. She wrapped her arms around him to make sure of his presence.
“It’s all right. You were just dreaming,” he answered.
As she felt his fingers comb through her hair, she started to calm down.
And realize what she was doing.
“I-I…., I’m sorry, I was feeling a little dizzy,”
She tried to back away from him, but her body didn’t respond as she wanted.
“You can stay a little dizzy for just a while longer,” he offered.
I need to get away from him.
She remembered the words that she felt in her dream.
Lydia didn’t want to become a victim of Edgar and didn’t want to make him a victim.
But for some reason, there was a moment when she felt like she didn’t want to leave his side.
“Hey, you, don’t touch Lydia.”
It should have been just the two of them, but there came another voice. When they turned their heads, they saw a black horse come jumping out of the mirror near them.
P. 207
“K-Kelpie……?”
“This place sure is awful; it’s filled with the holes made by goblins. Anyways, Lydia, we’re getting out of here immediately.”
Kelpie transformed to his human form at once, pushed aside Edgar and pulled up Lydia’s arm.
“W-wait one second. If we’re getting out, then Edgar….”
“He can’t come. I can only take one person, and if I separate you from the earl, then he said he wouldn’t lay a finger on the fairy doctor. So I’m taking only you.”
“He? Are you referring to Ulysses?”
Edgar stood up with a look like this was all bothersome, but he didn’t try to stop Kelpie who was lifting Lydia up to carry her.
“How would I know his name? It’s the one who’s controlling the goblins. He was the one who stole the white diamond from me.”
“Stop it, Kelpie, put me down!”
“Don’t be stupid.”
“Edgar, say something!”
“Hey, Earl, I’ll warn you just for sake. The one named Ulysses said he was going to kill you and then jumped into the goblin’s hole. You should be careful so that you don’t bump into him.”
P. 208
Kelpie arrogantly slung Lydia over his shoulder and leaped into the mirror.
Without allowing Edgar any time to stop them, the vision around her turned entirely black.
Or maybe he didn’t have any intention of stopping me?
Was he thinking that I only going to be in the way when I’ve caught a cold and wobbling around?
Kelpie kept on galloping through the darkness.
Lydia felt the wind blow past her and realized that she was now riding on the back of his horse form and clinging onto his neck. She felt the soft hairs of his mane brush up against her cheek.
She was wearing Edgar’s coat and still had on the black diamond.
She was in the closed realm between the human world and the otherworld. Kelpie kept on going, galloping through the maze of the goblins.
Being and in the setting of Ulysses’ scheme, surrounded by goblins, Lydia thought there was no other place safer than riding on the back of Kelpie, but then her mind drifted to the thought that maybe Edgar had come to that idea as well.
If Ulysses said he wasn’t going to harm the fairy doctor once she got away from Edgar’s side, then that meant he was being cautious of Kelpie’s magic and was keeping distance from them.
Since he knew that a water horse is a dangerous fae, he wouldn’t be able to get his hands on her that easily.
And the black diamond on the necklace that Lydia was wearing would also be protected.
P. 209
Then, does that mean the one that Edgar wanted to really protect was the black diamond?
Or could his words from yesterday about how I was more important than the diamond really be what he meant?
If the kiss she was made to have unwillingly was actually a lie, then this was too sad.
This is unfair, Edgar.
Do you need me? Or do you not?
I don’t know the answer. But, I can’t let myself separate from him right now.
Lydia thought that strongly.
In the middle of darkness, there was a light glowing dimly from the moonstone.
The ring of Glendolyn was radiating with light.
You are the new guardian fairy of the new earl aren’t you, it asked.
No. I’m not going to marry Edgar.
But, I am his fairy doctor. If he doesn’t even need that, than I need him to tell me that, or I wouldn’t know what to do.
Lydia let her hand go from Kelpie.
“Hey, Lydia?” shouted Kelpie.
Her body fell.
In the deep pool of darkness, she kept on falling down and down, as she was protected by the faint light of the moonstone.
P. 210
*
Edgar, who was now alone, walked over to the hole in the wall dug open supposedly by the goblins.
There was no point in staying in the same place. He took a candle in one hand, and decided to enter the hole.
He imagined it would be cramped, but there was enough space for him to stand up and walk easily. It seemed like it adapted to the height of who was in it.
He found out that the cave passageway, which walls were surrounded by rocks, continue far off into the distance. And when he turned around, there wasn’t any sign of the hole into the Madam Eve Palace room that should have been behind him, only a rocky wall blocked Edgar’s view.
I see now. He was convinced that once someone leaves the previous place, they wouldn’t be able to return to that spot.
Which means he was only left with the option of going forward.
Edgar turned back to the dark passageway and walked on.
No matter how much time went by, the passage continued to be one single path. At one point, he made a mark with a knife on the wall on the right side of him. After he went on a ways, that mark appeared on the wall on his left hand side.
“Is this place the Moebius strip?”
Maybe it was a mistake to let Lydia go, he thought, but there was nothing he could do to change that now.
P. 211
Just when he was thinking what he should do next, there was a flickering light coming from up ahead.
Someone’s there. Is it Ulysses?
“Lord Edgar!”
At the familiar voice, Edgar let himself relax.
“Raven, you were all right.”
Raven came dashing up to him and then knelt down in front of Edgar.
“I am terribly sorry. Because I was away from your side unduly, I was unable to return.”
“Ahh, that’s right, it was so troublesome without you.”
“Did something happen?”
Raven quickly asked back with a serious expression on his face, and moved his gaze to search if Edgar had injured himself anywhere.
“Well, I was alone with Lydia. And on top of that, she’s wearing a thin piece of clothing, and she was weak from fever, so I had such a terrible time trying to hold myself back.”
“……Uh-huh.”
“But, I have to say, women who have a fever are three times more seductive than they usually are. Her cheeks were blushed with pink, and she looked up at me with such moist, damp eyes, I could only think she was inviting me. Thankfully, I remembered how I was clawed yesterday, so I was able to refrain myself.”
P. 212
Edgar crouched down to look into Raven’s eyes who seemed to be confused even as his face was locked in an expressionless state.
“Did you see?”
“…..And you mean by?”
“Lydia’s bellybutton.”
“……………..”
Seeing as Raven averted his eyes away from their eye contact, he must have taken a very good look at it.
“Forget that.”
Even as he made a faint smile, he made sure that there was a strong hint of the meaning in his order.
“Yes.”
Raven bowed his head.
“Oh I mean really! And I was wondering what it was you two were talking about so seriously about!”
Behind Raven, there was a cat wearing a necktie and stood up-right on its hind-legs.
“Why, this is serious. Nico, if it was Raven, then well, I’d forgive him, but if it was another man, then I would have to carve his eyes out.”
“More importantly, where’s Lydia,” asked the feline fairy.
P. 213
“Kelpie took her out of here. It seems Ulysses is also in this goblin maze. And it seems like the goblins went after Marquis Barkston, and so the reason why Ulysses is making the goblins use the Madam Eve Palace and make it into a maze was so that he could capture the marquis. Although he still might not know that we have entered as well.”
“If it was the marquis, I have cornered him in a room filled with portraits and tied him up, but it seems like that room has also become a part of this maze, and once I stepped out, I was unable to get back into it,”explained Raven.
And so Nico found Raven who was wandering around inside the maze and was leading him through the passageways.
Edgar didn’t know why Nico was here, but it seemed like since he was a fairy, he was able to figure out which way to go.
“So, Nico, which way is it to the exit?”
“It looks like there isn’t any particular exit. And I don’t have the animal strength like Kelpie to pound open a hole.”
“So it looks like our only option is to come in contact with Ulysses.”
As he said that, Edgar stood up.
“It seems that the white diamond has gotten into the hands of Ulysses. And if that’s so, then we need to think up of what to do from now. …For the mean time, I want to have a talk with the marquis.”
“Are you going to use him, my lord?”
“Well, let’s see…. Raven, will you trust me no matter what happens?”
The young man looked back up at him curiously, but didn’t hesitate to reply ‘yes.’
P. 214
“Let’s hurry to the marquis. Nico, you’ll guide us right.”
“Gahhh, but I don’t want to be anywhere near that Ulysses. There’s a chance that he might come to where the marquis is, right?”
“But even you wouldn’t be able to get out of here unless Ulysses opens up an exit, right?”
Nico placed his hands on his hips and narrowed his eyes with discontent, but he swirled around to face the other direction, and started to tread on as he swished around his tail.
*
The place where Lydia fell down into was where the goblins gathered into a circle as they were in the middle of a feast.
The small, dirty room didn’t look like it was part of that Madam Eve Palace. Which means the goblins could have dug a tunnel that connected to some other realm.
She looked around to spot one of them picking up a bottle of spirits that was as big and tall as their height and chugged it down its throat like it was a fountain but then swiftly started to make a loud ruckus which sounded like a frog.
They were completely drunk and only noticed Lydia, who had come crashing down to them, just when she quietly stood up and was trying to carefully hide herself.
She watched as they all died down and their distorted faces turn to Lydia’s direction one-by-one.
P. 215
(Who are you?)
(How did you come into here?)
“I……I am a fairy doctor. Listen everyone, it’s best you all don’t come any closer to me.”
Because her attire was different from was in her normal clothes, she didn’t have her usual, hidden stash of hawthorns which had the power to ward off fairies.
But still, the evil-spirited, small fairies must have been taken-aback by her saying she was a fairy doctor, as they all quickly backed away from Lydia.
(It’s the black jewel.)
But another one of them whispered something unexpected.
Lydia realized what it was referring to, and swopped up her hand to hide the necklace.
(Isn’t that the one that the master was looking for?)
(Is that true?)
(Oi, then what shall we do?)
Lydia stepped over to the shadow of the hearth to hide her body and quickly took off the necklace and dropped and hid it into one of the pockets of the coat she was wearing.
But, even if she hid it, she wasn’t able to deceive them. How would she be able to out-smart the goblins?
“……….Please help me……”
Just then, she heard the faint voice of someone calling for help from the corner of the room.
P. 216
She shifted her eyes towards that direction and strained to see what it was in that dark corner, and saw that there was a small boy surrounded by goblins and cowering in fear.
He was so thin and spare of flesh, but she was familiar with his chalk white face.
He was that bad-mouthed boy that she met at the earl’s mansion library.
He looked up at her with begging eyes and tried to crawl out of the spot he was in, but the strength in his body suddenly went out and his body slumped to the floor.
Lydia kicked aside the goblins and rushed over towards him.
“Hey, you, uhh, Jimmy? Pull yourself together.”
She remembered Edgar saying something about a boy being captured by Ulysses. Lydia decided she must save him and tried to carry him up into her arms, but then the goblins suddenly broke out into chaos.
(Hey, stop that.)
(You can’t do whatever you please.)
“Ouch, what are you doing?!”
One of them had poked Lydia’s leg with a small shovel.
“…….That jewel….,” murmured the boy.
“These creatures said that I was a hostage so that they could trade me with the diamond,” he explained.
P. 217
(That’s right.)
(The master said so.)
(If you hand over that jewel, we’ll give you that boy.)
Oh, no, what should I do? thought Lydia.
She was just borrowing it from Edgar. She couldn’t go and hand it over to the enemy without his consult.
But, she wanted to help Jimmy.
…..Oh, I know.
Lydia came up with a good idea, and stood up so that she could look down at the goblins around her.
“So you’ll give him to me if I give you this.”
She opened up the palm of her hand and showed the goblins the black, sparkling stone.
That’s the one, cried out all of them.
“So, it’s a trade then.”
She made sure that they all nodded, and Lydia threw the stone in the other direction.
All of the goblins panicked and rushed over towards it.
In that moment, Lydia pulled the boy up-right.
“Now, hurry. We need to run, now.”
She somehow managed to steady him up and pulled his hand and dashed through the door. There didn’t seem to be any sound of the goblins coming after them, but Lydia wanted to get as far away from them as quickly as she could.
P. 218
“The diamond….., you’re crazy to hand over the diamond when it belongs to the earl.”
Jimmy hobbled after her while he snarled at her in anger.
And you were the one who said yourself that you were a hostage for the diamond. Lydia was silently surprised at how he still was keeping the stance of mocking her.
“That was just a piece of coal. The goblins won’t realize that for a while.”
“…..Coal?”
Near the area that Jimmy was lying down, there was a bucket filled with coal. Lydia had sneaked a piece of coal which was the same size as the diamond into the palm of her hand and that was what she used with the goblins.
They had agreed to exchange Jimmy for what Lydia had showed them.
“So you tricked them.”
“Tricked them….., it was to save you.”
In a matter of time, they came into a darkly-lit passage way.
There were buildings hovering over them on both sides. It was a path that went through a poor area of a city, with old and crumbling bricks, shattered glass and windows with broken slatted shutters and window frames lined unevenly on the walls of the buildings.
But this place was also another part caught in the tunnels of the goblins, and so it wasn’t like they had managed to escape from the maze.
P. 219
Lydia started to get lost with the direction and when she stopped running, Jimmy snapped his hand away from her that she was leading.
“Where’s the earl? ……He should have come to rescue me.”
“Yes, he’s here. We all separated to search for you.”
But he only looked back at Lydia suspiciously.
“Did you steal the earl’s black diamond?”
“Huh? What are you saying?”
He suddenly held something pointing out of his closed fist and she saw that it was a piece of glass with a dangerous, sharp edge.
“You, you won the earl’s favor and stole it from him, didn’t you?”
“Wh-what are you talking about?”
“From the start, I suspected you might be a spy. You’re just like him who can see fairies. That man who caught me and locked me up.”
“Hold on just a moment, Ulysses and I have no….”
“Hand over the real diamond. It’s useless to pretend to save me and try to take advantage of me.”
“You’re wrong. Believe me. I…..”
“You pretend you’re human, but you’re really a fae, aren’t you. You work for him, don’t you?”
“You’re wr-…”
P. 220
“You can’t trick me!”
With the glass shade in his hand, he leaped towards her. Lydia didn’t know what she should do.
Just then, Jimmy’s movement suddenly stopped.
Ermine had a grip on the boy’s arm and pulled him away from Lydia.
“Stop what you’re doing. She really is an ally of Lord Edgar.”
Jimmy realized Ermine and in surprise, let go of his strength. However, he still wasn’t able to let himself trust Lydia that easily.
“You’re lying, you’re being tricked by her!”
He shook his head in disarray and suddenly dashed off in another direction.
Ermine tried to go after him, but once the sight of him disappeared around the corner of the tunnel, she stopped tracking and pulled back to come the way she came.
She must have decided that if she went after Jimmy, then she would become separated with Lydia.
“Miss Carlton, are you all right?”
“Yes. But, Ermine, how did you enter this place?”
“I’m not quite sure. I stepped into a building that Jimmy was locked up in, but then the space around me suddenly turned and twisted - sort of speak - and it seemed like the roads and buildings above had become twisted within this realm.”
“That must be because the goblins had dug these tunnels. The space you were in must have been pulled into the maze. I think Edgar and Raven are also here somewhere, as well as Marquis Barkston and Ulysses.”
P. 221
P. 222
Ermine nodded solemnly.
“A number of the Scarlett Moon members were also looking for Jimmy, so I’d wager that they were pulled into here and lost as well.”
“That boy, I hope he would be able to meet up with them.”
“For the mean time, let us both keep moving. I’m sure Lord Edgar will be needing you.”
I can bet against that.
With Jimmy being so insolent towards her, she had lost all of her confidence. Making her wonder if her golden-green eyes and the fact that she could see fairies really gave off such a creepy impression.
No, no, more importantly than that, I’ve remained here because I am a fairy doctor.
Lydia said that to herself in her head and pressed on through the tunnel with Ermine.
As they walked, the decorations on her clothing started to make the rustling sound of tinkling and that bothered her. Making her wonder what Ermine was thinking when she saw that Lydia was wearing the clothing that the doll was wearing.
I wonder if she thinks I came to investigate about Edgar having an affair.
On top of that, I’m wearing his coat.
“Uh, Ermine, about the clothes I’m wearing, it wasn’t like I’m wearing this because it was my wishing so.”
“Yes, I can imagine that there was some kind of trouble that occurred. But, you were lucky that Lord Edgar was able to lend you his coat.”
P. 223
“Huh? Why?”
“Since it would be a good opportunity, he’d think he might as well enjoy the view.”
Lydia realized Ermine was actually the type of person who didn’t have trouble saying such embarrassing things.
“……Doesn’t that mean this wasn’t such a pleasant view?”
“He must have not had the confidence with ending it with just viewing.”
Oh geesh.
Lydia thought she needed to change the subject.
As they had continued to watch through the complicated tunnel passages, there were a growing number of them ending in a dead-end.
“You know, I feel like the goblin’s maze is starting to become smaller.”
“If that is true, I wonder what that means.”
“It looks like they are trying to gather everyone near the center.”
If everyone who has entered this maze was gathered at the center, she wondered what it was Ulysses was planning on doing with them.
As Lydia was thinking, a hole suddenly opened up under her feet.
Ermine immediately noticed and grabbed Lydia’s hand, but the ground under her feet gave out as well, and the both of them went falling down.
The distance they fell was a short one. It wasn’t that hard of an impact as it normally would be in reality, as the two of them were able to bring out their hands to softly land on the ground, but when Lydia tried to stand up, she felt the cold, piercing edge of a blade against her cheek and froze.
P. 224
“Welcome, young ladies.”
A young boy of a man with faint blond hair with a grin on his face came into her view.
“Ulysses…..!”
Ermine tried to go into a stance to attack, but Ulysses wrapped his arm around Lydia and pulled her right up next to him, making Ermine stop.
“Don’t you move. You don’t want the earl’s woman to become a corpse, do you? Ohh, or is it, you would be more happy if she was dead?”
A crowd of goblins appeared and circled around them. They were all screaming and shouting as they kicked and stomped down on Lydia’s foot.
They were barking furiously at her how the diamond she gave them was a fake.
However, lucky for her, it seemed like Ulysses still didn’t know that Lydia had the real black diamond with her.
“If it’s a hostage you want, then take me. Let her go,” implored Ermine.
“Don’t try to talk like you’re a saint. I wouldn’t mind if I kill her, you know. If I kill this girl and you claimed you tried to save her but it was impossible and went wailing to him, then I’m sure the earl would forgive you.”
“Foolish nonsense,” calmly retorted Ermine, and that made the grinning Ulysses tut his tongue.
P. 225
“I see. No matter how many of his lovers die, it would be hardly possible that he would lay his fingers on Prince’s old woman.”
Even if he mocked her like that, the expression on her face didn’t change.
Lydia had heard that all of them were slaves. However, seeing how Ermine was burdened with a different kind of pain from Edgar and Raven, it made her crushed with pain and suffocation.
“Walk ahead of me. You want to see the earl, don’t you? Fairy doctor, if you’re walking around here wearing that man’s coat, then I can guess he has come in to this maze as well, hasn’t he? I’ll take you to him.”
Ulysses ordered Ermine as he still had the knife in his hand pointed at Lydia.
Ermine looked worryingly over to Lydia, seemingly not sure what to do. If she went along with Ulysses’ order, she must be worried if Lydia might go through a terrifying experience.
“Ermine, I’m fine.”
Lydia couldn’t go on depending on Ermine. She was well aware that Ulysses might be here.
Lydia wasn’t able to understand their pain, but it wasn’t like she remained here with the intention of becoming a baggage to them.
After Lydia agreed with a firm tone, Ermine nodded and started to walk in the direction Ulysses pointed to.
P. 197
“Hey, Pops.”
It was completely out of the blue for a black wavy-haired young man to appear at the university laboratory that Professor Carlton was spending the night to prepare the drafts for his seminar.
The young man jumped into the room through the window and sat down on top of his desk and Carlton was aware that this big attitude and tall figured man was a fairy acquaintance with Lydia, but this fae had never spoken to Carlton, so he was a little taken-aback.
In addition, he suddenly called Carlton ‘Pops.’ Carlton’s first thought was I am not your father because he had a vague feeling that this was the fae that was trying to take Lydia as his bride.
“Where is Lydia? Pops.”
Carlton pushed up his round spectacles and gathered up his scattered out documents.
“It’s midnight. It’s the time of day when she should be asleep at home.”
“She’s not there. Where is she wandering around at?”
“If it’s the young lady, then she is with the earl.”
P. 198
There was another voice from a different direction. Carlton watched as the young man walked over to the cupboards and spotted how the tourmaline crystal that was placed there was strangely wobbling around.
“You, what are you doing here?”
The young man plucked something up with his fingers and the tourmaline crystal also went floating up into the air.
“The young lady’s father surely does have magnificent stones in his possession. This is a place that relaxes for fairies like me from the iron mine.”
Carlton figured out that there was an invisible fairy from just listening to its voice as he rested his cheek on his palm.
“Do you think they are good stones?”
“Why, look at this finely detailed granite stone.”
“That’s right. It seems like you and I share the same interest. Students these days are so devoted in categorizing that they seem to not have the admiration towards the stone’s beauty.”
“Oh, my, that will not do at all. A stone is in other words a part of the earth’s mystery. Gemstones are not the only wonderful thing on this earth.”
Carlton made a strong nod.
“Who cares about that, more importantly, you said that Lydia is with the earl, where is that?”
The young man violently shook the fairy that he still held dangling in his fingers.
“Oh, please, no, stop, they are at the place called a harem.”
P. 199
“A ha-harem?”
Carlton finally realized that it was a matter of emergency and quickly stood up.
“What do you mean by that exactly?” he asked the fae.
“The Lord Earl had prepared a wonderful room for the young lady. If the two of them would spend some time alone together, I can guarantee that their love for each other would deepen.”
“Hold on just a second, the earl prepared a room so that he could use it to spend time with Lydia?”
And besides, it was midnight right now. Not being at home at this hour of the night and that she was with the earl was something that was unforgivable in the first place.
“Now that I think about it, I finally get what a harem is. It’s a place where a man locks up his own woman. So that no one else would take her.”
“Oh, is that so, then as long as the young miss is there, that would mean there is no one who can pull those two apart. Well, good indeed.”
“Hey, where is that harem place.”
“It’s in a shop called Madam Eve Palace. Uhh, the address is….”
“Hurry up and guide me there!”
The young man created a whirl wind that swept up all the papers in the room and vanished. It seemed like the voice-only small fairy had also disappeared.
P. 200
Carlton stood alone in completely dumb-founded.
After a little while, he darted out into the hallway and ran over to the room that his apprentice was in that stored all the reference works and files of information material.
“Langley, where is the place called Madam Eve Palace?”
“Professor, if there is something you would like to look up then please list them in priority. I haven’t completed with today’s list yet.”
“This one is top priority.”
Langley finally lifted his head up.
“Madam Eve Palace, was it?”
“Uh, it seems to be a harem kind of place, but isn’t a harem like a seraglio of a polygamous country? I’ve heard that in a polygamous country like that, as soon as the kings or feudal lords found a young girl who caught their eye, they would capture them and take them to their harems to make them their wives.”
“Oh, that. The truth of the building where the upper-class frequently visit and enjoy as a harem palace is shrouded in mystery.”
“You know of it.”
“It’s the lavish building that’s on Charing Cross, isn’t it? But it didn’t seem like any high-class prostitute women were coming-and-going out of it, and yet the place orders women’s dresses and accessories and every kind of thing that a woman would need, and so I heard that there might be a princess from somewhere or a woman is being locked inside there for a specific reason. So the customers of that Madam Eve Palace think of themselves as sultans, and have their second or third wives in their own private harem hidden from society. Although it’s just a rumor.”
P. 201
Carlton wobbled wearingly away from the desk.
“Is there something about that place?”
“……..No, nothing.”
Lydia is at that place secretly meeting with the earl? A place where women are secretly locked up in?
Even though he thought that was impossible, Carlton didn’t quite have his share of trust that the earl was a normal, decent human being.
However, to Lydia, he was an important figure for he needed her abilities as a fairy doctor, and to begin with, Carlton was well aware that because that young man wasn’t the earl, he needed Lydia’s help all the more.
Carlton also felt that the reason for his daughter to still be by his side and living in the human world was all thanks to the work of that earl.
But still, if he intended to treat his daughter as his mistress, then it was a different story. If society were to find out that she was played around with and became damaged as a marriageable woman, he couldn’t imagine how much pain Lydia would be put through.
The Carlton family wasn’t in the upper-class, but in their hometown they were a well-known family line from the old days and in the present day they don’t have the feeling of belittling themselves against nobles.
He had no plans of staying silent after having his properly grown daughter’s future was going to be ruined.
P. 202
But he wondered how Lydia felt about this. When he started to think about that, his mind suddenly drew a misty cloud over his rage towards the earl.
He may have brought up Lydia much too freely, but at the core, she was a kind, good-hearted girl.
She might appear slightly unconventional in comparison to the current female trend as the ideal woman to be naïve and submissive, but even her mother was the same kind of woman.
And because of that, he was aware that even when she reached a marriageable age, all the young men kept their distances from her, but Carlton’s opinion was that she didn’t have to socialize with a man who didn’t understand and appreciate Lydia’s value.
On the other hand, if she were to seriously fall in love, then he thought that she wouldn’t go to anyone for help or advice and would take care of things on her own.
In other words, the point which Carlton was worried about was in the case when Lydia went ahead herself and became the lover of the earl.
When he started to recall certain things, he had expressed signs of dislike at the rumors between Lydia and the Earl and had taken the attitude like he disapproved of her loving someone or getting married. Of course, that was because of his selfish feelings of loneliness as a father, but if she thought he was going to disapprove, then that could have just made her not be able to come out with what was going on.
However, thought Carlton and shook his head to the sides violently. Lydia was still a minor. She still had many childish parts about her, and even if she was able to take care of herself, she was inexperienced in the ways of the human society, and for that lady’s man earl, she was an easy target to deceive.
P. 203
No matter what Lydia’s feelings were, that earl might not be the typical kind of man, but he isn’t stupid. He should know that that sort of act wouldn’t be dismissed as just a passing fancy.
No matter how he thought of it, this wasn’t a simple matter to let by.
When he came to that decision, Carlton returned to his laboratory and pulled on his coat and ran back out the door.
*
The Nightmare is stirring.
Lydia was resting while she was drifting in a slumber, and unbeknownst to her she was pulled into the grasp of the Nightmare.
It was a nightmare where she wasn’t able to escape out of the maze made by the goblins. Lydia wandered aimlessly in the dark holes and tunnels.
When she noticed a presence, right behind was Ulysses. He pressed a knife against Lydia’s throat and ordered her to hand over the black diamond.
You can’t have the diamond, said Edgar who was standing near them out of the blue.
Then you’re fine with this girl dying.
In that moment, Lydia felt like her body was slashed through and her mind was thrown into dizziness.
She thought she was killed, but since it was just a happening in a dream, even though she was dead, her mind was still thinking.
P. 204
I’m sorry, Lydia.
What is that supposed to mean. Are you just going to say a quick sorry and sacrifice me?
But, Lydia had been worrying daily that kind of thing might happen.
The most important thing to Edgar was his revenge at Prince, and if it was for the sake of avenging for his friends that were killed, then he was sure to abandon Lydia.
If I stay by his side, this was bound to happen…..
He says he has feelings for me and he wants me to marry him, but that’s all a lie.
Ohh I hate this, I hate this dream.
Lydia whispered ‘help me’ and then felt the shine of the moonstone ring fight back against the power of the Nightmare.
The scenery changed back. Edgar was standing in front of Ulysses and was about to make a different decision. He said ‘I don’t want the diamond, so save Lydia.’
Ulysses replied ‘then in exchange I’ll have you die.’ Just as he was ordered, Edgar aimed the pistol towards his head.
I’m sorry, Lydia.
No……….
Guardian moonstone fairy, weren’t you going to scare away the Nightmare?
P. 205
Isn’t this just a nightmare?
I don’t want this.
If you don’t want either of this, then you need to get away from him.
“Lydia.”
Yes, you might be right.
There wasn’t any absolute reason for Lydia to have to be by Edgar’s side.
She was somehow mixed into this situation and was set up as his fiancée, but it wasn’t like she hated him and she wanted to help him, but there was a limit to be by his side just by feelings of sympathy.
He would periodically single her out since he was aware she wasn’t able to bring herself to agree on everything Edgar was doing.
And yet, Edgar told her that it was right of her to scold him from her sense of righteousness on things she couldn’t agree on. He needed that sense and so he wanted her to be by his side.
But that was impossible.
If she stayed by Edgar’s side without completely understanding him, that would only increase her distrust in him. Eventually she would become his victim.
Or he might end up destroying himself.
P. 206
If that nightmare was going to become reality, then it might as well as be best for them to part.
“Lydia, are you in pain?”
Lydia felt someone’s hand touch her cheek and opened her eyes. She was able to feel like she had finally escaped out of that nightmare but wasn’t able to realize that Edgar was right in front of her at first.
That’s why she subconsciously reached out her hand. She wrapped her arms around him to make sure of his presence.
“It’s all right. You were just dreaming,” he answered.
As she felt his fingers comb through her hair, she started to calm down.
And realize what she was doing.
“I-I…., I’m sorry, I was feeling a little dizzy,”
She tried to back away from him, but her body didn’t respond as she wanted.
“You can stay a little dizzy for just a while longer,” he offered.
I need to get away from him.
She remembered the words that she felt in her dream.
Lydia didn’t want to become a victim of Edgar and didn’t want to make him a victim.
But for some reason, there was a moment when she felt like she didn’t want to leave his side.
“Hey, you, don’t touch Lydia.”
It should have been just the two of them, but there came another voice. When they turned their heads, they saw a black horse come jumping out of the mirror near them.
P. 207
“K-Kelpie……?”
“This place sure is awful; it’s filled with the holes made by goblins. Anyways, Lydia, we’re getting out of here immediately.”
Kelpie transformed to his human form at once, pushed aside Edgar and pulled up Lydia’s arm.
“W-wait one second. If we’re getting out, then Edgar….”
“He can’t come. I can only take one person, and if I separate you from the earl, then he said he wouldn’t lay a finger on the fairy doctor. So I’m taking only you.”
“He? Are you referring to Ulysses?”
Edgar stood up with a look like this was all bothersome, but he didn’t try to stop Kelpie who was lifting Lydia up to carry her.
“How would I know his name? It’s the one who’s controlling the goblins. He was the one who stole the white diamond from me.”
“Stop it, Kelpie, put me down!”
“Don’t be stupid.”
“Edgar, say something!”
“Hey, Earl, I’ll warn you just for sake. The one named Ulysses said he was going to kill you and then jumped into the goblin’s hole. You should be careful so that you don’t bump into him.”
P. 208
Kelpie arrogantly slung Lydia over his shoulder and leaped into the mirror.
Without allowing Edgar any time to stop them, the vision around her turned entirely black.
Or maybe he didn’t have any intention of stopping me?
Was he thinking that I only going to be in the way when I’ve caught a cold and wobbling around?
Kelpie kept on galloping through the darkness.
Lydia felt the wind blow past her and realized that she was now riding on the back of his horse form and clinging onto his neck. She felt the soft hairs of his mane brush up against her cheek.
She was wearing Edgar’s coat and still had on the black diamond.
She was in the closed realm between the human world and the otherworld. Kelpie kept on going, galloping through the maze of the goblins.
Being and in the setting of Ulysses’ scheme, surrounded by goblins, Lydia thought there was no other place safer than riding on the back of Kelpie, but then her mind drifted to the thought that maybe Edgar had come to that idea as well.
If Ulysses said he wasn’t going to harm the fairy doctor once she got away from Edgar’s side, then that meant he was being cautious of Kelpie’s magic and was keeping distance from them.
Since he knew that a water horse is a dangerous fae, he wouldn’t be able to get his hands on her that easily.
And the black diamond on the necklace that Lydia was wearing would also be protected.
P. 209
Then, does that mean the one that Edgar wanted to really protect was the black diamond?
Or could his words from yesterday about how I was more important than the diamond really be what he meant?
If the kiss she was made to have unwillingly was actually a lie, then this was too sad.
This is unfair, Edgar.
Do you need me? Or do you not?
I don’t know the answer. But, I can’t let myself separate from him right now.
Lydia thought that strongly.
In the middle of darkness, there was a light glowing dimly from the moonstone.
The ring of Glendolyn was radiating with light.
You are the new guardian fairy of the new earl aren’t you, it asked.
No. I’m not going to marry Edgar.
But, I am his fairy doctor. If he doesn’t even need that, than I need him to tell me that, or I wouldn’t know what to do.
Lydia let her hand go from Kelpie.
“Hey, Lydia?” shouted Kelpie.
Her body fell.
In the deep pool of darkness, she kept on falling down and down, as she was protected by the faint light of the moonstone.
P. 210
*
Edgar, who was now alone, walked over to the hole in the wall dug open supposedly by the goblins.
There was no point in staying in the same place. He took a candle in one hand, and decided to enter the hole.
He imagined it would be cramped, but there was enough space for him to stand up and walk easily. It seemed like it adapted to the height of who was in it.
He found out that the cave passageway, which walls were surrounded by rocks, continue far off into the distance. And when he turned around, there wasn’t any sign of the hole into the Madam Eve Palace room that should have been behind him, only a rocky wall blocked Edgar’s view.
I see now. He was convinced that once someone leaves the previous place, they wouldn’t be able to return to that spot.
Which means he was only left with the option of going forward.
Edgar turned back to the dark passageway and walked on.
No matter how much time went by, the passage continued to be one single path. At one point, he made a mark with a knife on the wall on the right side of him. After he went on a ways, that mark appeared on the wall on his left hand side.
“Is this place the Moebius strip?”
Maybe it was a mistake to let Lydia go, he thought, but there was nothing he could do to change that now.
P. 211
Just when he was thinking what he should do next, there was a flickering light coming from up ahead.
Someone’s there. Is it Ulysses?
“Lord Edgar!”
At the familiar voice, Edgar let himself relax.
“Raven, you were all right.”
Raven came dashing up to him and then knelt down in front of Edgar.
“I am terribly sorry. Because I was away from your side unduly, I was unable to return.”
“Ahh, that’s right, it was so troublesome without you.”
“Did something happen?”
Raven quickly asked back with a serious expression on his face, and moved his gaze to search if Edgar had injured himself anywhere.
“Well, I was alone with Lydia. And on top of that, she’s wearing a thin piece of clothing, and she was weak from fever, so I had such a terrible time trying to hold myself back.”
“……Uh-huh.”
“But, I have to say, women who have a fever are three times more seductive than they usually are. Her cheeks were blushed with pink, and she looked up at me with such moist, damp eyes, I could only think she was inviting me. Thankfully, I remembered how I was clawed yesterday, so I was able to refrain myself.”
P. 212
Edgar crouched down to look into Raven’s eyes who seemed to be confused even as his face was locked in an expressionless state.
“Did you see?”
“…..And you mean by?”
“Lydia’s bellybutton.”
“……………..”
Seeing as Raven averted his eyes away from their eye contact, he must have taken a very good look at it.
“Forget that.”
Even as he made a faint smile, he made sure that there was a strong hint of the meaning in his order.
“Yes.”
Raven bowed his head.
“Oh I mean really! And I was wondering what it was you two were talking about so seriously about!”
Behind Raven, there was a cat wearing a necktie and stood up-right on its hind-legs.
“Why, this is serious. Nico, if it was Raven, then well, I’d forgive him, but if it was another man, then I would have to carve his eyes out.”
“More importantly, where’s Lydia,” asked the feline fairy.
P. 213
“Kelpie took her out of here. It seems Ulysses is also in this goblin maze. And it seems like the goblins went after Marquis Barkston, and so the reason why Ulysses is making the goblins use the Madam Eve Palace and make it into a maze was so that he could capture the marquis. Although he still might not know that we have entered as well.”
“If it was the marquis, I have cornered him in a room filled with portraits and tied him up, but it seems like that room has also become a part of this maze, and once I stepped out, I was unable to get back into it,”explained Raven.
And so Nico found Raven who was wandering around inside the maze and was leading him through the passageways.
Edgar didn’t know why Nico was here, but it seemed like since he was a fairy, he was able to figure out which way to go.
“So, Nico, which way is it to the exit?”
“It looks like there isn’t any particular exit. And I don’t have the animal strength like Kelpie to pound open a hole.”
“So it looks like our only option is to come in contact with Ulysses.”
As he said that, Edgar stood up.
“It seems that the white diamond has gotten into the hands of Ulysses. And if that’s so, then we need to think up of what to do from now. …For the mean time, I want to have a talk with the marquis.”
“Are you going to use him, my lord?”
“Well, let’s see…. Raven, will you trust me no matter what happens?”
The young man looked back up at him curiously, but didn’t hesitate to reply ‘yes.’
P. 214
“Let’s hurry to the marquis. Nico, you’ll guide us right.”
“Gahhh, but I don’t want to be anywhere near that Ulysses. There’s a chance that he might come to where the marquis is, right?”
“But even you wouldn’t be able to get out of here unless Ulysses opens up an exit, right?”
Nico placed his hands on his hips and narrowed his eyes with discontent, but he swirled around to face the other direction, and started to tread on as he swished around his tail.
*
The place where Lydia fell down into was where the goblins gathered into a circle as they were in the middle of a feast.
The small, dirty room didn’t look like it was part of that Madam Eve Palace. Which means the goblins could have dug a tunnel that connected to some other realm.
She looked around to spot one of them picking up a bottle of spirits that was as big and tall as their height and chugged it down its throat like it was a fountain but then swiftly started to make a loud ruckus which sounded like a frog.
They were completely drunk and only noticed Lydia, who had come crashing down to them, just when she quietly stood up and was trying to carefully hide herself.
She watched as they all died down and their distorted faces turn to Lydia’s direction one-by-one.
P. 215
(Who are you?)
(How did you come into here?)
“I……I am a fairy doctor. Listen everyone, it’s best you all don’t come any closer to me.”
Because her attire was different from was in her normal clothes, she didn’t have her usual, hidden stash of hawthorns which had the power to ward off fairies.
But still, the evil-spirited, small fairies must have been taken-aback by her saying she was a fairy doctor, as they all quickly backed away from Lydia.
(It’s the black jewel.)
But another one of them whispered something unexpected.
Lydia realized what it was referring to, and swopped up her hand to hide the necklace.
(Isn’t that the one that the master was looking for?)
(Is that true?)
(Oi, then what shall we do?)
Lydia stepped over to the shadow of the hearth to hide her body and quickly took off the necklace and dropped and hid it into one of the pockets of the coat she was wearing.
But, even if she hid it, she wasn’t able to deceive them. How would she be able to out-smart the goblins?
“……….Please help me……”
Just then, she heard the faint voice of someone calling for help from the corner of the room.
P. 216
She shifted her eyes towards that direction and strained to see what it was in that dark corner, and saw that there was a small boy surrounded by goblins and cowering in fear.
He was so thin and spare of flesh, but she was familiar with his chalk white face.
He was that bad-mouthed boy that she met at the earl’s mansion library.
He looked up at her with begging eyes and tried to crawl out of the spot he was in, but the strength in his body suddenly went out and his body slumped to the floor.
Lydia kicked aside the goblins and rushed over towards him.
“Hey, you, uhh, Jimmy? Pull yourself together.”
She remembered Edgar saying something about a boy being captured by Ulysses. Lydia decided she must save him and tried to carry him up into her arms, but then the goblins suddenly broke out into chaos.
(Hey, stop that.)
(You can’t do whatever you please.)
“Ouch, what are you doing?!”
One of them had poked Lydia’s leg with a small shovel.
“…….That jewel….,” murmured the boy.
“These creatures said that I was a hostage so that they could trade me with the diamond,” he explained.
P. 217
(That’s right.)
(The master said so.)
(If you hand over that jewel, we’ll give you that boy.)
Oh, no, what should I do? thought Lydia.
She was just borrowing it from Edgar. She couldn’t go and hand it over to the enemy without his consult.
But, she wanted to help Jimmy.
…..Oh, I know.
Lydia came up with a good idea, and stood up so that she could look down at the goblins around her.
“So you’ll give him to me if I give you this.”
She opened up the palm of her hand and showed the goblins the black, sparkling stone.
That’s the one, cried out all of them.
“So, it’s a trade then.”
She made sure that they all nodded, and Lydia threw the stone in the other direction.
All of the goblins panicked and rushed over towards it.
In that moment, Lydia pulled the boy up-right.
“Now, hurry. We need to run, now.”
She somehow managed to steady him up and pulled his hand and dashed through the door. There didn’t seem to be any sound of the goblins coming after them, but Lydia wanted to get as far away from them as quickly as she could.
P. 218
“The diamond….., you’re crazy to hand over the diamond when it belongs to the earl.”
Jimmy hobbled after her while he snarled at her in anger.
And you were the one who said yourself that you were a hostage for the diamond. Lydia was silently surprised at how he still was keeping the stance of mocking her.
“That was just a piece of coal. The goblins won’t realize that for a while.”
“…..Coal?”
Near the area that Jimmy was lying down, there was a bucket filled with coal. Lydia had sneaked a piece of coal which was the same size as the diamond into the palm of her hand and that was what she used with the goblins.
They had agreed to exchange Jimmy for what Lydia had showed them.
“So you tricked them.”
“Tricked them….., it was to save you.”
In a matter of time, they came into a darkly-lit passage way.
There were buildings hovering over them on both sides. It was a path that went through a poor area of a city, with old and crumbling bricks, shattered glass and windows with broken slatted shutters and window frames lined unevenly on the walls of the buildings.
But this place was also another part caught in the tunnels of the goblins, and so it wasn’t like they had managed to escape from the maze.
P. 219
Lydia started to get lost with the direction and when she stopped running, Jimmy snapped his hand away from her that she was leading.
“Where’s the earl? ……He should have come to rescue me.”
“Yes, he’s here. We all separated to search for you.”
But he only looked back at Lydia suspiciously.
“Did you steal the earl’s black diamond?”
“Huh? What are you saying?”
He suddenly held something pointing out of his closed fist and she saw that it was a piece of glass with a dangerous, sharp edge.
“You, you won the earl’s favor and stole it from him, didn’t you?”
“Wh-what are you talking about?”
“From the start, I suspected you might be a spy. You’re just like him who can see fairies. That man who caught me and locked me up.”
“Hold on just a moment, Ulysses and I have no….”
“Hand over the real diamond. It’s useless to pretend to save me and try to take advantage of me.”
“You’re wrong. Believe me. I…..”
“You pretend you’re human, but you’re really a fae, aren’t you. You work for him, don’t you?”
“You’re wr-…”
P. 220
“You can’t trick me!”
With the glass shade in his hand, he leaped towards her. Lydia didn’t know what she should do.
Just then, Jimmy’s movement suddenly stopped.
Ermine had a grip on the boy’s arm and pulled him away from Lydia.
“Stop what you’re doing. She really is an ally of Lord Edgar.”
Jimmy realized Ermine and in surprise, let go of his strength. However, he still wasn’t able to let himself trust Lydia that easily.
“You’re lying, you’re being tricked by her!”
He shook his head in disarray and suddenly dashed off in another direction.
Ermine tried to go after him, but once the sight of him disappeared around the corner of the tunnel, she stopped tracking and pulled back to come the way she came.
She must have decided that if she went after Jimmy, then she would become separated with Lydia.
“Miss Carlton, are you all right?”
“Yes. But, Ermine, how did you enter this place?”
“I’m not quite sure. I stepped into a building that Jimmy was locked up in, but then the space around me suddenly turned and twisted - sort of speak - and it seemed like the roads and buildings above had become twisted within this realm.”
“That must be because the goblins had dug these tunnels. The space you were in must have been pulled into the maze. I think Edgar and Raven are also here somewhere, as well as Marquis Barkston and Ulysses.”
P. 221
P. 222
Ermine nodded solemnly.
“A number of the Scarlett Moon members were also looking for Jimmy, so I’d wager that they were pulled into here and lost as well.”
“That boy, I hope he would be able to meet up with them.”
“For the mean time, let us both keep moving. I’m sure Lord Edgar will be needing you.”
I can bet against that.
With Jimmy being so insolent towards her, she had lost all of her confidence. Making her wonder if her golden-green eyes and the fact that she could see fairies really gave off such a creepy impression.
No, no, more importantly than that, I’ve remained here because I am a fairy doctor.
Lydia said that to herself in her head and pressed on through the tunnel with Ermine.
As they walked, the decorations on her clothing started to make the rustling sound of tinkling and that bothered her. Making her wonder what Ermine was thinking when she saw that Lydia was wearing the clothing that the doll was wearing.
I wonder if she thinks I came to investigate about Edgar having an affair.
On top of that, I’m wearing his coat.
“Uh, Ermine, about the clothes I’m wearing, it wasn’t like I’m wearing this because it was my wishing so.”
“Yes, I can imagine that there was some kind of trouble that occurred. But, you were lucky that Lord Edgar was able to lend you his coat.”
P. 223
“Huh? Why?”
“Since it would be a good opportunity, he’d think he might as well enjoy the view.”
Lydia realized Ermine was actually the type of person who didn’t have trouble saying such embarrassing things.
“……Doesn’t that mean this wasn’t such a pleasant view?”
“He must have not had the confidence with ending it with just viewing.”
Oh geesh.
Lydia thought she needed to change the subject.
As they had continued to watch through the complicated tunnel passages, there were a growing number of them ending in a dead-end.
“You know, I feel like the goblin’s maze is starting to become smaller.”
“If that is true, I wonder what that means.”
“It looks like they are trying to gather everyone near the center.”
If everyone who has entered this maze was gathered at the center, she wondered what it was Ulysses was planning on doing with them.
As Lydia was thinking, a hole suddenly opened up under her feet.
Ermine immediately noticed and grabbed Lydia’s hand, but the ground under her feet gave out as well, and the both of them went falling down.
The distance they fell was a short one. It wasn’t that hard of an impact as it normally would be in reality, as the two of them were able to bring out their hands to softly land on the ground, but when Lydia tried to stand up, she felt the cold, piercing edge of a blade against her cheek and froze.
P. 224
“Welcome, young ladies.”
A young boy of a man with faint blond hair with a grin on his face came into her view.
“Ulysses…..!”
Ermine tried to go into a stance to attack, but Ulysses wrapped his arm around Lydia and pulled her right up next to him, making Ermine stop.
“Don’t you move. You don’t want the earl’s woman to become a corpse, do you? Ohh, or is it, you would be more happy if she was dead?”
A crowd of goblins appeared and circled around them. They were all screaming and shouting as they kicked and stomped down on Lydia’s foot.
They were barking furiously at her how the diamond she gave them was a fake.
However, lucky for her, it seemed like Ulysses still didn’t know that Lydia had the real black diamond with her.
“If it’s a hostage you want, then take me. Let her go,” implored Ermine.
“Don’t try to talk like you’re a saint. I wouldn’t mind if I kill her, you know. If I kill this girl and you claimed you tried to save her but it was impossible and went wailing to him, then I’m sure the earl would forgive you.”
“Foolish nonsense,” calmly retorted Ermine, and that made the grinning Ulysses tut his tongue.
P. 225
“I see. No matter how many of his lovers die, it would be hardly possible that he would lay his fingers on Prince’s old woman.”
Even if he mocked her like that, the expression on her face didn’t change.
Lydia had heard that all of them were slaves. However, seeing how Ermine was burdened with a different kind of pain from Edgar and Raven, it made her crushed with pain and suffocation.
“Walk ahead of me. You want to see the earl, don’t you? Fairy doctor, if you’re walking around here wearing that man’s coat, then I can guess he has come in to this maze as well, hasn’t he? I’ll take you to him.”
Ulysses ordered Ermine as he still had the knife in his hand pointed at Lydia.
Ermine looked worryingly over to Lydia, seemingly not sure what to do. If she went along with Ulysses’ order, she must be worried if Lydia might go through a terrifying experience.
“Ermine, I’m fine.”
Lydia couldn’t go on depending on Ermine. She was well aware that Ulysses might be here.
Lydia wasn’t able to understand their pain, but it wasn’t like she remained here with the intention of becoming a baggage to them.
After Lydia agreed with a firm tone, Ermine nodded and started to walk in the direction Ulysses pointed to.
