“This is... the villa's study? I’m back?”
Just moments ago, he had been speaking with a high school girl in what looked like a rural Japanese town—an unfamiliar place—and yet, in the blink of an eye, he had returned to where he started.
Rest was clutching the weathered wooden box in his hands.
The lid was open, but the interior was vacant. There was nothing inside.
“It wasn't... a dream, was it?”
A hallucination, perhaps?
At the very least, it couldn't have been something that occurred in physical reality.
“The Queen Dowager... no, Shoko...”
“Rest-san, is something the matter?”
A voice called out from the hallway. Turning around, he saw Celestine peering into the room.
“That box... it is empty, I see. I wonder what it once held?”
“Lady Celestine... how much time has passed since you left?”
“How much...? My apologies, I do not understand the question.”
“Ah... I mean, how long has it been since you stepped out of the room?”
Rest adjusted his phrasing, and though Celestine looked puzzled, she answered him.
“I was only gone for about five minutes. I went to investigate the basement, but it appeared to be a simple warehouse for storing food and supplies. It had already been cleared out; only empty wooden boxes and hemp bags remained.”
“I see...”
Subjectively, he felt as though he had been talking for half an hour, yet only five minutes had ticked by in the real world. He felt like a miniature Urashima Taro, realizing that time flowed differently in that other place.
“...If the basement is empty, then there is likely nothing else of note in this villa. Shall we head back?”
If Shoko’s story was true, the Queen Dowager hadn't spent her final years here for any grand scheme. She had simply wanted to spend her last moments in a place that reminded her of her hometown from her Previous Life.
If that were the case, nothing more precious than this wooden box would be left behind.
Rest closed the empty box and returned it to the drawer.
“We’ll leave the villa as it is. Let it sit until the day it naturally returns to the earth.”
“If that is your wish, Rest-san. This is your land now, after all. You may do as you please with it.”
“Yeah... let’s go home. I’m sorry for dragging you along and wasting your time.”
For Rest, it had been a significant harvest. He had learned the Queen Dowager’s true intentions behind Rodel’s failed upbringing and discovered the existence of a secret society hostile to the Council of Sages.
Celestine, however, had gained nothing but a tedious trip. He felt genuinely bad for her.
“Please, do not trouble yourself... After all, we will be the ones inconveniencing you from here on.”
“Hmm? What do you mean?”
“I... No, I mean the Royal Family and the Duke Crocus House. I suspect we will continue to bring many burdens to you, Rest-sama. Compared to the trouble we will cause you, this little trip is a trivial matter.”
Rest had already proven his worth in several battles. He could no longer claim to be a bystander to central politics. Moving forward, the kingdom’s national crises would undoubtedly be thrust upon his shoulders.
“If there is anything I can do, please do not hesitate to ask. It would actually make me feel better.”
“I’ll... keep that in mind.”
Rest shrugged at her words.
While he wasn't exactly eager to have the Royal Family dump their problems on him, he was the one who had chosen to climb the social ladder. If he had wanted to live a quiet, ordinary life, he never should have enrolled in the Royal Academy or associated himself with the sisters of the Marquis Rosemary House.
(I made the choice to rise to the top. It would be selfish of me to want the privileges without accepting the duties that come with them.)
Convincing himself with those thoughts, Rest left the villa where the Queen Dowager had spent the final moments of her life.