Chapter 28
Aria was exasperated to see that the maid who had followed Minette in was now placing another bottle of alcohol on the table.
Minette, smiling proudly, announced:
“It’s for penalties!”
“Minette… do you actually have a drinking problem?”
“Win the game and I’ll tell you~”
Minette drawled her words lazily.
“You’re not trying to make someone on medication drink, are you?”
“Then just win.”
“……”
After the same response three times, Aria sighed softly.
Trying to argue with a drunk noblewoman seemed futile—it’d be faster to just win quickly.
“Fine. But since it’s late, let’s make it a short game. Speed chess.”
“Sure.”
Minette nodded quickly and pulled out the chessboard.
Aria couldn’t understand where her confidence came from. Even when sober, Minette had never beaten her at chess. And speed chess, which demanded agility and focus, was nearly impossible to win while drunk.
“There’s no point trying to analyze a drunkard’s behavior.”
Aria decided to just play along and extract the information she wanted.
They each set a 10-minute hourglass, and the game began.
Barely ten minutes later, Aria spoke.
“Checkmate.”
As expected, it was an easy victory.
Minette stared blankly at the board, blinking slowly.
“I lost.”
She then turned quietly to Aria, as if waiting for her to ask a question.
Minette had promised to answer anything—and Aria had a mountain of questions.
Who had brainwashed Nocturne?
Why had Minette given her the antidote?
But even drunk, Minette wouldn’t answer something so direct.
So Aria started with something easier.
“Why are you always drunk lately? It’s not like you.”
“Because of you.”
Minette smiled gently and brushed a strand of Aria’s hair behind her ear.
“It’s hard to look at your face without alcohol.”
“…There you go again.”
Aria hadn’t expected a proper answer, but neither did she anticipate a personal jab. Her mood darkened instantly.
“You weren’t always like this. You weren’t… cruel.”
At her muttered comment, Minette let out a soft laugh. Aria frowned.
“What’s so funny?”
“I don’t know. Even when I’m annoyed… seeing your face twist in frustration cheers me up.”
…So she was using Aria as an outlet for her bitterness?
Aria stared at her, stunned. Meanwhile, Minette was already setting up the board again.
Though annoyed, Aria moved the pieces mechanically.
Then Minette murmured:
“You surprised me, actually.”
“About what?”
“I thought you’d ask whether I was drinking with the Duke.”
“……”
“Aren’t you worried? Or… have you given up on him?”
Like hell she had.
Even if they didn’t escape the palace together tonight, Aria still planned to meet Nocturne again.
But she didn’t feel the need to explain herself to Minette.
“Why chase a man who doesn’t want me? There are plenty of others who do.”
“Then… can I have him?”
“If you can, go ahead.”
“Heh, like you could stop me even if you wanted to, right?”
“……”
Aria had only said it to brush her off, knowing Nocturne would never accept Minette.
But that smug response rubbed her the wrong way.
Still, arguing with a drunk would only be pointless.
Whatever she made of Aria’s silence, Minette seemed pleased and continued:
“I didn’t drink with the Duke. I was with the Empress.”
“…You’ve gotten close to my mother?”
“Yup. She treats me like a daughter. I often keep her company for drinks.”
Aria’s eyebrows shot up. The Empress she remembered was someone who valued restraint and appearances.
She never drank except at official banquets.
“Mother drinks often now?”
“She always has a glass in hand.”
“Since when…?”
Just then, Minette’s hourglass ran out—another loss.
Aria continued her questions.
“When did she… start drinking?”
“About six months ago.”
Aria’s expression turned complicated.
The mother who had seemed cold toward her had begun drinking constantly… right after Aria’s accident.
“Was she… mourning?”
Still, Aria chose to interpret it not as grief, but as disappointment over losing a valuable pawn.
Minette reset the board again. As they played, Aria asked:
“What about Lady Sehera? Why would my mother treat you like a daughter?”
When she brought up Padva’s fiancée, Minette scoffed.
“He broke off the engagement ages ago.”
“What?”
Aria’s eyes widened.
If Padva had ended the engagement and brought Minette to the banquet instead—this changed things.
“Wait… are you trying to marry my brother?”
“Oh? You figured it out?”
“What the hell…”
One moment she’s eyeing Nocturne, the next she wants to marry Padva?
“So you want to marry a prince and have a love affair with a duke?”
“Is that a problem?”
“……”
Aria had always known Minette was ambitious… but she didn’t realize she was this bold.
“My brother’s not even your type.”
“Is that the issue here?”
“At least you genuinely liked Nocturne.”
“…This is why I hate mental empaths stronger than me.”
Minette furrowed her brow.
“You knew how I felt and still kept me around?”
“……”
If she’d cut off everyone who ever looked at Nocturne, she’d have no one left.
Minette’s hourglass ran out again—her third straight loss.
She kept blundering thanks to the alcohol. Understandably, she looked annoyed.
“When do I get a turn…”
“If you have a question, just ask. I’ll answer.”
It was obvious Minette wouldn’t win. She was steadily draining her own “penalty” alcohol and would probably collapse soon.
“Why did you return my gift?”
“…What?”
Aria was briefly at a loss for words.
“Is that why you came here?”
“Why did you reject it?”
“You do realize you gave earrings to someone with a damaged ear, right?”
“But… you used to have two.”
“……”
At this point, Aria wasn’t even angry—she was worried.
Heavy drinking damages the brain, after all. Maybe that’s why Minette was acting so erratically?
She even briefly considered hypnotizing her into checking into rehab.
Then Minette added softly:
“You could get reconstructive surgery.”
“…That’s easy for you to say.”
Despite her annoyance, a new thought struck Aria.
Maybe the gift wasn’t intended as mockery after all.
“Let me ask you instead. Why did you give me that gift?”
“……”
Minette hesitated, then muttered:
“I didn’t have anywhere else to give it…”
“What?”
“Normally I’d have someone to give it to, but… I don’t… so…”
What is she even talking about?
As Aria frowned in confusion, Minette pushed the box across the table.
“It was a 20th anniversary gift.”
“20th…?”
“I ordered it last year. It only arrived yesterday.”
Then a memory surfaced.
When Aria had turned 14, she and Minette had celebrated 10 years of friendship by exchanging rings.
“Then I’ll give you the 20th anniversary gift!”
Before they went off to war, Minette had said:
“I even prepared a gift for you. You better come back safe…”
“Wait… that gift?”
Why was she only remembering this now? Aria stared at the box with conflicted eyes.
Even so…
“If you’re going to give earrings to someone who lost an ear, shouldn’t you at least ask? Of course I misunderstood.”
At that moment, Minette collapsed, face-first onto the chessboard.
“Minette?”
Aria shook her shoulder, but she didn’t respond.
She had finally lost consciousness.
Aria called Tita back into the room. She dismissed the other maids, claiming she’d let Minette sleep here, and laid her on the bed.
Only then did she remember—she hadn’t asked why Minette had given her the antidote.
Still, Aria felt like she knew.
Minette had gone back and forth all night—harsh words, then affection, over and over again.
Looking at her sleeping face, Aria turned away and said:
“Tita, I’ve decided who I’m going to look into.”
“Who?”
“My mother.”
The Empress, an A-rank mental-type Eshafe, was normally a dangerous target for Aria’s powers.
But after hearing Minette speak, she couldn’t shake the suspicion that her mother had been the one to brainwash Nocturne.
If she was drunk and asleep, her mental defenses would be weak.
Reading the thoughts of an alcoholic might be risky, but she wasn’t diving into her deep subconscious like with Nocturne—she could pull out if things got dangerous.
More than anything, Aria was worried.
“Why did Mother fall into alcohol like this?”
“It’s already 2 a.m. Is it okay? The prince’s carriage will be here soon.”
“Don’t worry. I’m only using my empathic ability—I won’t lose consciousness. I’ll stop the moment you call me. Fifteen minutes is enough.”
“Okay.”
Tita struck a match. Aria focused on the flickering red flame and slowly let herself sink into the Empress’s mind.
