Chapter 84

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 84
Chapter Title: Overhearing the Secret of the Golden Rule
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Ariadne sat in the carriage heading for Campo de Spezia, her lips sealed and a thick robe pulled over her head. They had almost reached their destination. Sancha was beside her, while Giada sat opposite, fidgeting anxiously under her gaze.

“My lady, must I really go in with you? I don’t think you need me…”

“And how is my lady supposed to recognize the wicked black magician without you, Giada?”

Sancha snapped, her voice laced with irritation. The master and servant shared the same triggers for anger.

“Not a black magician, an astrologer…”

Giada shrank back, now even wary of Sancha, whom she had once treated as a mere subordinate.

*Neigh!*

“We’ve arrived. Would you like to get out here?”

asked Giuseppe, the coachman, his hat pulled down low. Ariadne glanced around before nodding.

“Giada, lead the way. Sancha, stay in the carriage with Giuseppe.”

After stepping out of the carriage, Ariadne followed Giada into a dilapidated, detached house.

*Creek.*

The old floorboards let out a blood-curdling scream. Giada flinched, her body tensing. Unsure of where to go, Ariadne looked at her. Feeling Ariadne’s gaze, Giada reluctantly answered.

“It’s the room at the very end…”

*Thud, thud.*

Ariadne walked swiftly down the corridor, unfazed by the creaking floorboards.

*Screech.*

Amid the noise, a sound not made by Ariadne echoed through the old house. It was the sound of rusty hinges as a door opened. Ariadne clutched the dagger hidden in her clothes and shot a sharp glance toward the source of the sound.

A Gypsy woman stood at the door of the innermost room. A bundle was strapped to her back, and she held a crystal ball in her arms. She looked as though she was just about to leave.

Giada shouted from beside her.

“That’s her, my lady!”

Ariadne strode forward, cornering the Gypsy woman in the narrow hallway. The woman stumbled backward in surprise.

“What is the meaning of this…!”

Ariadne blocked the Gypsy woman’s path with her body and asked sternly.

“Are you the Moorish woman, Countess Rubina’s astrologer?”

Trapped at the end of the corridor, the Gypsy woman tried to push past Ariadne and bolt. But without hesitation, Ariadne tripped her.

*Thud!*

“Agh!”

Weighed down by the bundle on her back and the crystal ball in her arms, the Gypsy woman lost her balance and fell hard. Seeing her cradle the crystal ball so preciously even as she fell, Ariadne realized it was her leverage.

“Giada. Take that from her.”

“...!”

“Now!”

Though Giada hesitated out of fear of the black magician, Ariadne’s roar spurred her into action. As terrifying as the black magician was, the little lady who held her leash was even more frightening in that moment.

The Gypsy woman struggled, resisting. When Giada seemed to be losing the struggle, Ariadne joined in from behind, pinning the woman’s arms down. The Gypsy woman could no longer hold on and finally lost the crystal ball to Giada. With the woman pinned to the floor, Ariadne questioned her in a cold voice.

“You were the one who introduced wicked black magic to a lady of the Cardinal de Mare’s household, weren’t you?”

Hearing this, the Gypsy woman finally understood the source of the disaster that had befallen her in the form of a robed girl and an older maid. She struggled and denied it.

“I… I am no black magician! You’re from the de Mare household, aren’t you?”

The Gypsy woman, belatedly recognizing Giada’s face, tried to play dumb.

“I’m just a fraud who reads a few tarot cards.”

A moment of shame for being an incompetent fraud was a hundred times better than being branded a witch who practiced wicked black magic and hunted for the rest of her life. The Gypsy woman tried to placate Ariadne.

“I know why you’re here. You’re with that noble lady from before. The pentagram, the frog’s blood, it was all a scam. I just did it to squeeze some money out of her. I’m just an astrologer who can read a love tarot or two.”

She shifted her body, trying to ease the pressure on her pinned limbs.

“I’ll give you some of the money back. I’ve spent a part of it, but I’ll give you what’s left. Just give me back my crystal ball. It’s the tool of my trade.”

“A scam?”

Ariadne glared down at the astrologer.

*She’s been with Countess Rubina for twenty years. There’s no way it’s a scam! I need to hear about my regression!*

Seething with rage, Ariadne lifted her head, causing the hood of her robe to slip back and reveal her face. From beneath the shadows of the robe, a distinct red mole under her left eye was visible.

“Hiek!”

Upon seeing the mole under Ariadne’s eye, the astrologer shrieked and began to tremble like a leaf, as if she had seen a ghost.

“It’s you! So that’s… that’s why the crystal ball shattered!”

The astrologer blurted out the words frantically, looking utterly bewildered herself.

“But why is the mole only half there? What are you, to be wandering the lands of Etruscan bearing Amharan magic? Who put you on the ‘Judgment Seat’?”

At the mention of the ‘Judgment Seat,’ the astrologer writhed as if in pain. At the same time, the head maid, Giada, also cried out, covering her ears.

*Clang!*

Giada dropped the Gypsy woman’s crystal ball. It rolled across the floor until it hit a wall and stopped. Ariadne, though bewildered by the fact that she was the only one unaffected, pressed down on the Gypsy woman with even more force.

“What is this ‘Judgment Seat’? You know something, don’t you?! Why do I have this mole under my eye?”

The astrologer seemed baffled in turn.

“You don’t know? You should be the one who knows best! The one on the ‘Judgment Seat’ doesn’t know why they ascended it? You must have ascended by your own hand!”

Each time the words ‘Judgment Seat’ were spoken, Giada thrashed in the corner. Alarmed by Giada’s state, Ariadne asked the Gypsy woman.

“What’s wrong with Giada?”

Just then, the Gypsy woman, whose eyes had been darting around looking for an opportunity, suddenly lunged forward. She rolled across the floor and snatched the crystal ball. Ignoring the bundle she had dropped, she clutched the crystal ball to her chest and sprinted down the corridor, trying to escape the house.

“Stop!”

Ariadne dashed after her. Closing the distance in a few strides, she threw herself at the Gypsy woman’s back without a moment’s hesitation.

*Crash!*

The Gypsy woman, the crystal ball in her arms, and Ariadne tumbled to the floor in a heap. The two of them rolled together and crashed into a decorative cabinet midway down the hall. Ornamental plates and the like cascaded down, striking them.

Once again, the Gypsy woman found herself pinned beneath Ariadne, unable to move. Realizing the woman would try to flee at any chance, Ariadne showed no mercy. She drew the dagger from her clothes and pressed it to the Gypsy’s neck.

“Tell me everything you know. What in the world is the ‘Judgment Seat’?”

“I can’t say…! I’ll pay a price if I reveal it!”

Ariadne scoffed and pressed the blade of the dagger firmly against the woman’s neck. A single line of bright red blood trickled out.

“I don’t know what price you’ll pay, but is it greater than your life?”

She applied more pressure. The blade, which had only grazed the skin, now cut deeper.

“I can kill you.”

The robed girl’s eyes glinted with resolve. The Gypsy woman thought that this girl might actually be capable of murder.

“I’ll talk, I’ll talk…! Gack! Gack!”

The Gypsy woman, terrified by the feel of the dagger against her muscles, had no desire to die. Now was the time to comply with her captor’s demands.

“The Judgment Seat…”

Her lips parted. Her voice, which had been servile and crass when speaking of human affairs, now resonated with gravity and a lower tone as she began to speak of heavenly matters.

“…refers to the ‘Judgment Seat of the Golden Rule.’ ‘Those who ascend the Judgment Seat’ gain a supernatural ability from ‘the Awakened Ones’!”

“Alright, then what is this ability they gain?”

Ariadne felt she already knew the answer to this part. It had to be ‘regression.’ She had been given a new life, a chance to return to the past and set everything right.

“Foresight!”

“What?”

The Gypsy woman answered the stunned Ariadne.

“You of all people should know! According to the records, one who ascends the ‘Judgment Seat’ sees the future!”

Ariadne’s eyes widened as she nodded. Indeed, it could be seen that way. To those who continued to live in the present world, a regressor would seem like someone who could see the future. The records the Gypsy woman possessed must have been written by someone observing a person on the Judgment Seat, not by the person themselves.

“But in exchange, if you use that power to alter the ‘predestined future’ and commit sins with your own hands, you must pay a price for that karma to the ‘Cosmic Providence’!”

“‘Cosmic Providence,’ you mean God?”

“Yes, that’s the ridiculous name you people use. As if Cosmic Providence has a personality! Fools. Utterly foolish little mortals…”

“Wait a minute. Don’t all of God’s children have to pay the price for the karma they accrue in life? Why must only ‘those who ascend the Judgment Seat’ be especially careful about their karma?”

“Those who have not ascended the ‘Judgment Seat’ are small fry. Even if common folk commit a few sins, the ‘Scales of Causality’ might overlook them. They are not so idle as to scrutinize every Tom, Dick, and Harry.”

The Gypsy woman’s eyes gleamed strangely.

“But once you ascend the ‘Judgment Seat,’ the ‘Scales of Causality’ will watch you closely! Success brings the most sublime reward a human can obtain, but one misstep means immediate failure!”

The whites of the Gypsy woman’s eyes glistened, as if she coveted the reward of success. She cried out as if possessed.

“That is why only a superhuman who has drawn near to ‘the Awakened Ones’ ascends the ‘Judgment Seat’! Only a hero who can withstand causality!”

*Fzzt—*

“Aaaaargh!”

Whatever the ‘price’ was, it seemed to follow swiftly. Smoke began to rise from the fingertips of the Gypsy woman’s left hand. The smoke greedily consumed her arm, traveling up her left side.

“Uwaaaargh! Oh, Awakened Ones! Is this one not one who already knows!? Can I not even speak this much to one who knows?”

All the life was sucked from the Gypsy woman’s smoke-wreathed arm, and it began to shrivel like a mummy’s.

“No!”

The Gypsy woman curled up and began to chant desperately.

*“Om shubapalga, ahi a tumwin. Om shubapalga, ahi a tumwin.”*

As the Gypsy woman repeated the chant, Ariadne questioned her again.

“Who in the world are ‘the Awakened Ones’?”

“I can’t say any more!”

The Gypsy woman looked at her shriveled left arm with tear-filled eyes. The chanting had stopped the withering, but her spell did not seem potent enough to restore her arm to its original state.

“Kill me, but I won’t say another word! Look at this! Look at the one you brought with you!”

At the Gypsy woman’s words, Ariadne finally turned her head to look in Giada’s direction.

“...!”

Giada lay sprawled on the floor, dead, her tongue lolling out. Wisps of smoke rose from her ears. Then, in an instant, all of Giada’s flesh and blood disintegrated into dust, scattering like ash. All that remained was a skeleton. In front of her bleached bones lay the crystal ball, shattered in two.

“What is that?!”

“You blind mortal, let me go and I will tell you.”

The Gypsy woman, her face a mess of tears, half-threatened and half-pleaded.

“I should have known when I saw you only had one mole… You’re a half-measure.”

The Gypsy woman panted, out of breath.

“You seem to know nothing, so I will tell you the one thing you must know. If you do not hear this, you will continue to hurt the ones you love.”

Ariadne had no intention of letting her go, no matter what she rambled on about. This strange, mystical event had claimed Giada’s life, but if the Gypsy woman let her tongue slip in the wrong place, it would be the heads of the de Mare family that would roll in the real world.

“If I let you go here, you’ll just go back to Countess Rubina’s side and use your wicked sorcery.”

The Gypsy woman laughed loudly.

“You spiritually impoverished soul! Look at my crystal ball. I am returning to the land of Amhara. I need to find a new ball, and it will take ten years to heal my arm.”

The Gypsy woman stroked her left arm as she spoke.

“If you don’t believe me, you can accompany me to the ship. I am leaving this cursed land of western barbarians at once. Let me go. If you kill me here and don’t hear my story, the loss will be entirely yours.”

If the Gypsy woman was truly leaving Etruscan immediately, there was room for negotiation. When Ariadne nodded, the Gypsy woman sat up straight. She took some gold powder from her pocket, scattered it in all directions to form a barrier, and only then spoke in a somber voice.

“If one speaks carelessly of the spiritual world, the listener ends up like that. ‘The Awakened Ones’ punish both the one who reveals and the one who learns without being qualified!”

The Gypsy woman pointed a healthy finger at Giada’s remains.

“The moment you speak of your secret to someone who is not qualified to know… that person will suffer or die in proportion to the magnitude of the secret they learned!”

Ariadne let out a short breath. It was a true blessing that she had not said a single word about her regression to Sancha, Arabella, or Alfonso.

The Gypsy woman was about to close her mouth, but she shook her head and added one more thing.

“Live a good life.”

“What?”

The Gypsy woman clicked her tongue at the confused Ariadne.

“Even if it’s unfair, even if you’re filled with rage, live a life five times kinder than others. Forgive everyone.”

This was unacceptable to Ariadne. She glared fiercely at the Gypsy woman.

“I have a blood debt that must be paid.”

“It is the wish of the Sublime Providence.”

“Does your great ‘Providence’ not know an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth?! A victim’s revenge is a natural part of retribution!”

Ariadne ground her teeth. Cesare who abandoned me, Isabella who stole my place, the countless people who used me! I’m supposed to just let them go?

“Do you know what I went through?! The tears of blood I shed! You want me to not seek revenge and just live satisfied with my new lot, like a well-fed dog?”

The Gypsy woman gazed steadily at the enraged Ariadne.

“Forgiveness is something you do for yourself. Not for others.”

In that moment, the Gypsy woman seemed like a sage.

“I’m telling you this out of pity, since you seem to know nothing. Have you heard the tale of the Merchant of Porto? The story of a pound of flesh.”

A merchant of Porto borrowed gold coins, signing a contract that stipulated he would pay with a pound of human flesh if he could not repay the money. When the merchant failed to repay on time, the moneylender demanded fulfillment of the contract. However, the judge of Porto permitted the taking of the flesh but on the condition that not a single drop of blood be shed. Furthermore, he declared that taking even one libra more than a pound would be a separate crime. The moneylender was ultimately unable to take the promised human flesh.

“You mean that cheap story? It’s an unfair contract that discriminated against a foreigner. If you make a contract, you should keep your promise.”

“Yes, you shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep in the first place. I think so, too. But the Cosmic Providence thinks like that judge of Porto.”

The Gypsy woman staggered to her feet.

“Do you think that in your revenge, you can precisely target only your enemies and take back only as much as the debt you are owed? The measurements are all different anyway. You may think you suffered a hundredfold, but the other party might think they only wronged you fiftyfold. And if you subtract what you did wrong to them, the difference might only be twenty-five.”

She raised her arm, pointing to the sky.

“Cosmic Providence is mechanical. It will not overlook your miscalculations. If you accidentally cause even one iota of harm to someone innocent, if you retaliate fiftyfold against an enemy you should have only repaid twenty-fivefold, Cosmic Providence will count it all as your karma.”

The barrier of gold powder flickered and then died out. In a situation being watched by causality, no further explanation could be given. It was time to leave.