22
シャルル・シーガンは審査団の一員として会場を回っていた。そしてふと己の双子の妹がふらふらと一団から離れていくのに気が付いた。妹は意外にもその慇懃な態度に反し集団行動が苦手だ。いつものことだと声をかける。
妹は突っ立って一人の女性を見つめていた。
「シャルロッテ。そんなに見つめてどうした?彼女はそんなに気になるか?」
「ええ。シャルル、彼女どう思う?」
どうとは。
シャルロッテの視線の先にいるのは黒髪の令嬢だ。椅子に座って、話しかけてくる隣の男に時折返事をしている。
透き通った白い肌に艶めく黒髪。その対比と泣きぼくろが印象的な、大変魅力的な女性だった。今は少しだけ肩の力を抜いているようで、隙のある表情と暑さに火照った頰は男性陣に目の毒だ。かなり人目をひいている。特に、目が肥えていない一般の観客からすれば見たこともないほど美しく映るだろう。今も見とれた少年が一人、前方不注意で椅子に激突した。
――あれが噂の『スルタルク公爵家の宝石令嬢』。珍しい黒髪だけでなく、一挙一動の隠しきれない気品が簡単にその名前を思い起こさせた。
シャルルは「正直に言ってかなり好みだ」と言おうとしてやめた。妹の瞳が真剣そのものだったからだ。
そこでやっと、令嬢の腿の上で眠っている幻獣に意識を向ける。なんとも幸せそうだ。その蛇、蛇は...
そこで彼はぴしりと固まった。
――――蛇?待て。あれは本当に、そんな小さな存在か?
「ああ...なるほど?あれはまだ卵なのか?」
「私もそう思う。多分何になるかを途中で変えて、未完成の状態で出て来ちゃったんだわ」
その幻獣は見つめれば見つめるほど輪郭がぼやけて見える。一生懸命目を凝らすと、少なくとも小さな体に見合わない膨大な魔力がその身に秘められていることだけは察せられた。
シャルルにわかるのはそこまでだ。双子が一緒にいるなら頭を回すのはいつも妹の役目だった。なぜならシャルロッテの幻獣は、賢の象徴ともいうべき存在だったからだ。
「ねえ、あの子、何かな?」
シャルロッテの言葉はシャルルに向けたものではない。長い髪で隠された背中に張り付いた、彼女の幻獣に向けたものだ。
両肩から顔をのぞかせたのは二匹の亀。二匹で一つのその亀は知能というただその一点に全てを振りきっている。片方が知識を、もう片方が知恵を司る。主人たるシャルロッテとのみ会話ができ、4万年の生で得た知識と知恵を惜しげも無く伝えてくれる。
3年前妹の卵から4万歳の幻獣が孵ったときは意味がわからなさすぎて困惑したものだ。
亀と話していたシャルロッテが「わあ!」と声をあげた。何が生まれるって、と聞こうとしたシャルルの声は周囲のざわめきにかき消された。
一人の女子生徒の幻獣が暴れ始めたのだ。それは子熊で、明らかに件の令嬢に向かって憎しみの唸り声を上げている。
「...止めないで見ていようか」
シャルルの提案にシャルロッテは間髪入れず頷いた。
「今度こそちゃんと生まれるかな」
シャルロッテが待ちきれないといった感じで言うので、シャルルもはやる心を落ち着かせられなくなってきた。今から見るのは歴史的瞬間かもしれない。
子熊が巨大な熊へと変貌して、令嬢に襲いかかったその瞬間。膝にいたその幻獣は目が潰れそうなほどのまばゆい光を発した。
双子は互いにそっくりな顔を見合わせ、楽しそうに笑った。
その光には見覚えがあった。クリスティーナは殻を割って生まれたときもこんな風に発光していたのだ。
しかし不思議なのは、眩しいのに眩しくないことだ。最初こそ反射的に目を瞑ったが、真っ白なのに目を覆いたいとは思わない。皆同じ状況のようで、ランスロットも周りにいた人たちもみんな、ただ口を開けてそれを見ていた。網膜を焼かれる苦痛に呻いたのは唯一熊だけだ。よたよた後ろにのいて尻餅をつく。
光が和らいだとき、そこに光源であるはずのクリスティーナはいなかった。思わず立ち上がると自分の体にぐるりと巻きつく存在に気づいた。
つやつやの白い体はそのままだ。私の体を2.3周しても余りあるほど大きく太く長くなっていること以外は。
クリスティーナは大蛇になったのか。
平然と受け止めようとした頭は音を立てて思考を停止してしまった。スルスル動く胴の途中にありえないものがついているのを見つけたからだ。
足が、ある。
鋭い鉤爪のついた足。背中をさらにぐるりともう一周して現れた頭部を見たとき、私はやっと声を出せた。風になびく髭も眉も、前より神秘的になった瞳も、全て前と同じ白色だ。
「クリスティーナ、あなた」
龍だったのね。
自分が何に姿を変えたのかをわかってもらえたことより、それを受け入れてもらえたことより。また同じ名前で呼ばれたことを何より嬉しく思っているように見えるのは、きっと気のせいじゃない。
だって私はこの子の主なのだから、それくらいわかるというものだ。
歴史を紐解いても一度も現れたことのない龍の幻獣。人々はその重要性に気づいて、もしくはその神々しさに圧倒されて、押し黙る。
空気を壊してコツコツという足音が響いた。見れば、海が割れるように自然と開いた人垣から姿を現したのは、あのシーガン兄妹だ。
「スルタルク様、御喜び申し上げます」
「良いものを見せてもらったよ。まさか龍の子だったとはね」
「あ、ありがとうございます」
シーガン兄妹は他となんら変わらぬただの審査をしているような態度だ。至って平然とした二人と私はこの場で酷く浮いている。周りの人は、隣のランスロットでさえ、まだ衝撃から立ち直ることもできていないというのに。
「君、その子は拘束するね。怪我人が出るとまずいから」
兄のシャルルがそう口にすると、大きな影がゆらりと宙を泳いだ。生きる伝説ともなっている兄妹の幻獣。知の妹、武の兄。兄の幻獣は巨大なシャチである。
空中を水中のごとく泳ぐそのシャチは、体を透明にできるだけでなく、ありとあらゆる障害物をすり抜けることができるというのは有名な話だ。昨年の『冬』・通称『合戦』で殿下を最も苦しめたのはこの幻獣だとも聞いている。
シャチは空中を悠然と進んで熊を丸飲みにしてしまった。キャランが短く悲鳴をあげる。
「御機嫌ようゴウデス侯爵令嬢。貴方様の幻獣が暴走した理由ですが」
今度口を開いたのはシャルロッテだ。知の化身を両肩に落ち着いて話しだす。
「幻獣は主人を映す鏡。貴方様の幻獣は貴方様の心の内を反映し先の行動を取ったと愚考します。御心当たりがお有りですか」
キャランは頰を張られたような顔をした。
「ええ」
その頰を水滴が音もなく流れ落ちた。ぽたぽたと止め処なく溢れるそれを見て、私はある感情で胸が軋むのを感じた。
「レベッカ様。わたくし」
これは罪悪感だ。
「貴方が憎くて仕方ないのですわ」
知っています。
心の中だけで答える。
『キャラン・ゴウデス。五高、第2学年、魔法に才能あり、赤色の巻き髪、幻獣は子熊、
備考:ルウェインのことが好き』
Ch 22
Charles Seagan was wandering around the venue as a member of the jury. And suddenly he noticed his twin sister wandering away from the group. Surprisingly, she had difficulty with group activities despite her sociable attitude. He called out to her as usual.
His sister was staring at a lone woman.
"Charlotte, what's wrong with you? Are you that interested in her?"
"Yeah. Charles, what do you think of her?"
What do I think?
Charlotte's gaze was directed at a black-haired young lady. Sitting in a chair, she occasionally responded to the man sitting next to her who was talking to her.
With her transparent white skin and shining black hair, she was a very attractive woman. She seemed to have relaxed a little bit now, and her gap-filled expression and the reddish cheeks due to the heat were attractive to men. She was quite eye-catching, especially for the general audience who had never seen such a beautiful woman before. Even now, a mesmerized young boy bumped into a chair while staring at her.
----That's the rumored [Duke of Slutarch Jeweled Daughter]. Not only did she have rare black hair, but her elegance that could not be hidden in her every move easily reminded him of her name.
Charles wanted to say "To be honest, I quite like her." but he didn't. Because his sister's eyes were very serious.
Finally, he focused his consciousness on the Phantom Beast sleeping on top of her leg. It looks so happy. That snake, snake is...
At that moment, he stiffened up.
----Snake? Wait. Is that really such a small existence?
"Oh... I see? Is that still an egg?"
"I think so too. Maybe it changed what it was going to be in the middle and came out in an unfinished state."
The more he looked at the Phantom Beast, the more its outline became blurred. If he strained his eyes, he could at least tell that it had an enormous amount of magic hidden within its small body.
That was all Charles could understand. If the twins were together, it was always his sister's role to think. Because Charlotte's Phantom Beast was a being that could be called a symbol of wisdom.
"Hey, is something wrong?"
Charlotte's words were not directed at Charles. They were directed at the Phantom Beast clinging to her back, hidden by her long hair.
Two turtles peeked out from both of her shoulders. The two turtles make up one, and that turtle's intelligence is devoted to just one point. One is in charge of knowledge, the other in charge of wisdom. He/they can only communicate with their master, Charlotte, and freely gives her the knowledge and wisdom they have gained over 40,000 years.
When a 40,000-year-old Phantom Beast hatched from his sister's egg three years ago, he was too confused and didn't understand what it meant.
Charlotte, who was talking to a turtle, exclaimed "Wow!" Charles tried to ask what was going to be born, but his voice was drowned out by the surrounding noise.
A Phantom Beast belonging to a female student began to go wild. It was a cub, and it was clearly growling with hatred towards the young lady in question.
"... Should we not stop and watch?"
Charlotte nodded without hesitation to Charles' proposal.
"I wonder if it will be born properly this time."
Charlotte said this with an impatient feeling, and Charles also couldn't calm his excitement. What they were about to see might be a historical moment.
The cub transformed into a giant bear and attacked the young lady. At that moment, the Phantom Beast that was sitting on her knees emitted a dazzling light that seemed to make its eyes burst.
The twins looked at each other's identical faces and happily laughed.
He recognized the light. Christina emitted light in the same way when she was born by breaking the shell.
But the strange thing is, it's dazzling but not dazzling. At first, I reflexively closed my eyes, but I don't want to cover my eyes even though it's pure white. Everyone seems to be in the same situation, and Lancelot and the people around him were all just opening their mouths and looking at it. The only one who groaned with the pain of burning the retina was the bear. He stumbled backward and fell on his butt.
When the light subsided, Christina, who should have been the light source, was not there. When I stood up without thinking, I noticed the existence that wraps around my body.
The glossy white body is still the same. Except for the fact that it has become much larger, thicker and longer than my body after 2-3 rounds.
Has Christina turned into a giant snake?
I tried to take it calmly, but my head made a noise and stopped thinking. It was because I found an impossible object attached to the middle of Christina's slipping torso.
There are legs.
When I saw the head that appeared again with a sharp clawed foot, I finally managed to speak. The beard and eyebrows fluttering in the wind, and the eyes that have become more mysterious than before, all of them are white like before.
"Christina, you."
It was a dragon.
She is more happy that I was able to be accepted for who she is, rather than just understanding what she had changed into. And it doesn't seem like her happiness of being called by the same name is just my imagination.
After all, I am the only one and master of this child, so I should be able to understand that much.
The Phantom Beast, a dragon that has never appeared in the history of the world. People noticed its importance, or were overwhelmed by its divinity, and remained silent.
The sound of footsteps that broke the air and resounded. When I looked, the natural opening of the human wall revealed the Seagan siblings.
"Slutarch-sama, I am pleased to meet you.
"I saw something good. I never thought it would be a dragon's child."
"Ah, thank you very much."
The Seagan siblings were just like normal and seemed to be just conducting an examination. I was very detached from the two of them who were very calm. The people around us, even the Lancelot next to us, were still not able to recover from the shock.
"You, restrain that child. It's bad if someone gets hurt."
As the older brother Charles said that, a big shadow swayed in the sky. The Phantom Beast siblings, who have become living legends. The sister is knowledge and the brother is power. The older brother's Phantom Beast is a giant shark.
It is well known that not only can this shark swimming in the sky like it's swimming in water, but it can also slip through all kinds of obstacles. I've heard that it was this Phantom Beast that troubled His Highness the most during last year's [Winter] battle.
The shark confidently swam through the sky and swallowed the bear whole. Kyaran let out a short scream.
"Greetings, Marquis Goudes' daughter. I'd like to know the reason for your Phantom Beast's rampage."
This time, the one who spoke was Charlotte. She calmly carried the embodiment of knowledge on her shoulders and began to speak.
"The Phantom Beast is a mirror of its master. I think that your Phantom Beast reflected your inner self and took the actions it did. Do you have any idea?"
Kyaran had a face that looked like she was being scolded.
"Yeah."
That cheek was silently flowing with droplets of water. As I watched the overflowing droplets, I felt a certain emotion that made my chest ache.
"Rebecca-sama, it is I."
This is a sense of guilt.
"I cannot help but hate you."
I know.
I will only answer in my heart.
[Kyaran Goudes. Fifth year, talented in magic, red curly hair, Phantom Beast is a bear cub,
Note: Likes Llewayne (His Highness)]
The Villainess Carries a Strategy Guide
その悪役令嬢は攻略本を携えている
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/the-villainess-carries-a-strategy-guide/
Fantasy Josei Romance Shoujo
Academy Adapted to Manga Aristocracy Doting Older Siblings European Ambience Female Protagonist Love Interest Falls in Love First Magic Nobles Otome Game Reincarnated in a Game World Villainess Noble Girls
https://ncode.syosetu.com/n6554fr/
岩田加奈