127.

“Yes. Calypso.”

The witch opened her mouth with a gentle smile. She looked neater than the last time they’d met, but undeniable weariness showed through in various places on her face. Calypso reached out and pressed her hand against Roe’s forehead. A warm heat seeped from where the witch’s fingers touched, gradually spreading throughout her entire body. Her famished, listless condition improved astonishingly in an instant. Even the throbbing headache had completely vanished.

“What is this…?”

“This is merely a temporary boost to your energy. You’re not fully healed, so Calypso advises you to conserve your strength.”

“Then start by explaining what exactly happened. Why were you on Nick’s ship?”

“You want Calypso to explain everything? Even a god’s day wouldn’t be enough.”

The witch giggled. Despite the noise she made right beside him, Cardier didn’t so much as twitch an eyebrow as he slept. In fact, the witch didn’t even bother to lower her voice. The sense of incongruity grew stronger by the moment. Rosetta cautiously brought the back of her hand close to Cardier’s nose. She could feel his steady breath—so he really was asleep, alright…

“There’s no need to worry.”

Calypso added, as if she had just read Rosetta’s mind.

“He’s merely sleeping. When the time comes, everyone will wake up without issue.”

Rosetta finally realized that Calypso had somehow used magic to put everyone aboard the ship into deep slumber. Damn it, was this really the power of a mere ‘sea witch’? If all witches could wield magic of this magnitude, it would only be a matter of time before Esperanga became a true magical nation. Calypso met Rosetta’s deeply suspicious gaze with an ambiguous smile.

“Now then, do you still have things to discuss with Calypso?”

“The request to kill Nick.”

Rosetta briefly cleared her dry throat.

“It’s been successfully completed.”

Calypso clapped her palms together like a delighted child.

“Yes, yes. Calypso saw it clearly. You handled it quite thoroughly.”

“At the time, we made a deal. So I should still have compensation coming.”

“Calypso agrees with that assessment. So, what is it you desire? Honor? Gold?”

“Information.”

For a fleeting moment, Rosetta thought she saw a glint flash across Calypso’s pale eyes. The witch shivered her shoulders like someone who had been waiting for this very moment all along. Rosetta calmly repeated herself.

“I want all the information you said you couldn’t tell me back then.”

“Oh ho.”

The old woman’s thin lips stretched into a tight grin. Rosetta barely recognized that peculiar expression as the brightest smile Calypso could muster. The witch’s left pupil darted back and forth at a speed no ordinary human could achieve, so excited was she. For a brief moment, the sight sent chills down Rosetta’s spine, but then Calypso stepped closer to the bed. In an unusually multi-layered voice, she whispered:

“You’ve toiled for us. Because of that karma, the scales have tipped enough for three questions. Ask indirectly, but make haste. A witch’s time is shorter than a midday nap.”

Rosetta instinctively sensed this was the moment she had been waiting for—the moment to approach the hidden truth and uncover every secret behind these events.

Yet hundreds of questions swirled in her mind, and choosing which one to ask proved difficult. Nick, Calypso, the Crown Prince, Lady Audrey… It was like an intricately tangled thread. Depending on where and how she pulled, the outcome could be entirely different. As Rosetta hesitated, her gaze suddenly fell upon the peacefully sleeping Cardier. The witch’s spell—powerful enough to put an entire ship to sleep.

“Alright. First question: Why, with such power, were you captured by Nick? You could’ve escaped alone or even resisted.”

“Calypso was betrayed. A sister she trusted stole her Origin.”

“Origin?”

“The divine seal containing all that allows curses to be cast or lifted, spells woven, connected, and tilted—Calypso’s ……”

…What had she said? Rosetta was certain she had heard it clearly, the pronunciation distinct, yet upon reflection, not a single syllable remained in her memory from the very beginning. Calypso nodded, as if understanding her confusion.

“It would be life-threatening to speak it in a language you can comprehend. We are bound to obey the one who holds it.”

Rosetta felt bewildered.

“Nick had it? And what—? A god? Not a witch?”

“Is that your question?”

“…No. I’ll figure it out myself.”

She muttered under her breath. Sure enough, this ancient witch was craftier than a snake. She couldn’t afford to waste one of her questions like that. The next question was relatively clear.

“Second question. You know the pendant the Crown Prince wears? The one with nine-headed sea serpents entwined, and a turquoise gem set inside. That’s your symbol, isn’t it? Why does the Crown Prince have it?”

Calypso narrowed her eyes as if to say, “Look at this one.” Rosetta met the witch’s pale gaze without flinching. She had merged two questions—‘What is that pendant?’ and ‘What is your relationship with the Crown Prince?’—into one sentence, but technically, it was still a single question. Calypso smiled faintly, pretending to play along.

“You’ve figured it out cleverly. Of course, your body must have reacted instinctively. Every time you faced him, you must’ve trembled uncontrollably, felt chills down your spine, and been overwhelmed by a dreadful sensation.”

The witch poked Rosetta’s chest with a bony finger, the knuckles visibly protruding.

“That is no mere gem. It is the soul of this body’s original owner—Lea Lunox Valdemore.”

“…A person’s soul? The gem the Crown Prince wore?”

“It is a pendant that holds a soul. The Crown Prince seized it from me.”

Calypso glanced briefly into the air and added:

“The karma has already fully tipped. Ask your final question. But this time, make it one I can answer with a nod.”

“Damn it, what the hell is this karma nonsense… No, no. That wasn’t a question. Wait, just give me a moment.”

As Calypso’s lips twitched, as if about to respond to Rosetta’s muttering, Rosetta quickly waved her hand. She needed a moment to gather her thoughts. The flood of information had been overwhelming.

Lea Valdemore had been a saintess, and the Crown Prince held her soul. That meant the lady-in-waiting’s suicide was likely not suicide at all, but a planned event from the beginning. A conversation she’d had long ago with Anna flashed through her mind.

“Did you see any signs before she left?”

“Signs?”

“You know—something unique to those who intend to do such a thing…”

What had Anna’s expression been like then? At the very least, her face had clearly sensed something unsettling about the lady-in-waiting’s supposed suicide. The Crown Prince, the former Crown Princess, Lady Audrey, Nick, Calypso. And unlike all of them… one person who had suddenly appeared, as if rising from the earth itself.

“Then this is my final question.”

“Ask it. Calypso is listening.”

“The name of the sister you trusted. The name she currently wears… is it Audrey?”

The old woman grinned, revealing blackened teeth. Rosetta knew her question had not only been appropriate but had pierced straight to the heart of the matter. The witch excitedly nodded her head.

“Now then, Calypso believes all three questions have been answered. Do you agree?”

“I agree.”

“Then let me propose one more trade.”

“Trade?”

The witch’s pale eyes rolled once more. Rosetta instinctively realized Calypso was seeing into the future. In a dreamlike voice, the witch prophesied:

“You will go to the imperial palace. And you will enter my sister’s domain.”

“…”

“There, find what can be opened by your key.”

Calypso pointed a trembling finger at Rosetta’s nape. Rosetta reflexively clutched the key hanging beneath her clothes—the pendant she had received from Archbishop Ganymedes and had kept on her person without fail ever since. Its shabby appearance had drawn no interest even from Nick, which was precisely why it had remained unnoticed. Calypso nodded again.

“It might be a chest, or perhaps a door to a basement or prison, or maybe just the door to the next room. Calypso says, find the ‘thing’ that opens with that key and unlock it.”

“The thing the key opens?”

“Yes. One warning: Beware the forest. And the grass too. Calypso sees them.”

“For now… I understand. Then what is the price of this trade?”

Calypso wore a mischievous smile.