The Holy Grail of Eris (エリスの聖杯)

Am I imagining things, or have you been neglecting my revenge lately?!

W-Well...

It's been a month since the kidnapping.

Kate's testimony revealed several facts about the mysterious Daeg Gallus.

Kiriki kirikuku.

The "spell" Lady Lily left behind was one of the organization's passwords.

Their goal is to steal her key.

I decided to give it to His Lordship and ask him to investigate it himself.

The kidnapper had a sun tattoo,

so we think he was a member of Daeg Gallus,

but someone assassinated him in jail before he could be questioned.

Witnesses placed Crown Princess Cecilia in the vicinity.

Now tell me, why are we calling on Abigail?

To meet with Viscountess Aisha Huxley.

You said you had business with her at Baroness Godwin's ball, remember?

Oh, her.

She might ignore a request for a meeting from a girl like me,

so I thought I'd ask the House of O'Brian for a favor.

It's so good to see you, Constance.

It's been too long, Lady Abigail.

My, but you are pretty!

Those amethyst eyes and that scarlet dress...

Why, you could be a princess!

Huh?

I see you have taste, girl.

W-Wait... Huh? What?!

I understand the situation.

I'll see to it that you receive an invitation from the Huxleys soon.

You mean you believe me?

You've puzzled me all the while I've known you.

But if Scarlett's by your side, that explains it.

Say, Scarlett, can you hear me?

She's over there, Abby!

Thank you, Lucia.

Your execution pained me deeply, so allow me to assist you.

Really? I wish you'd confine your jokes to that squashed frog you call a face.

Um... She says, yes, she understands!

I don't doubt she's insulting me as we speak.

I had no idea that anyone but me could see Scarlett.

My niece Lucia here was born with keen intuition.

If anyone else has eyes like hers, it would be...

Viscount Hamsworth, I suppose. They say he has the goddesses' favor.

Does he really?

I've heard tell that the viscount can see unearthly beings.

Do you not think so, my lady?

It couldn't be... Could it?

Forget that nouveau riche hog.

We're leaving, Connie.

I do hope you'll speak to your fiancé about my request.

Oh, yes.

Now, if you'll excuse me!

Teresa Jennings lost her life in an attempted murder-suicide.

Her husband, Kevin Jennings, has become an invalid.

As far as Lady Abigail was able to discover,

Daeg Gallus is selling the hallucinogen "Jackal's Paradise."

Forget all that and get what happened ten years ago out of Aisha.

Speaking of which, what was Aisha Huxley like?

Well, she used to be a gloomy, plain girl.

You could say she was part of my entourage. Or a fan, I suppose.

If I wore a red dress, so would Aisha.

If I wore blue, she would too. In a similar style, no less.

She'd even do her hair like mine.

And just the once, she looked me in the eye and spoke to me.

I want to be you.

And how did you reply?

Why, that should be obvious.

The world doesn't need two Scarlett Castiels.

Duke Castiel.

Oh, Randolph.

What's this urgent business you mentioned?

Permit me to be blunt.

I want to know about the Holy Grail of Eris.

Why, whatever could that be?

I'm sorry to say the term is unfamiliar to me.

Will that be all?

Yes, for the time being.

A friendly word of warning.

Finish building your hand before you try to play it.

That is the secret to a long life.

Let's go over what we know.

We'll start with the attempt to poison Crown Princess Cecilia ten years ago,

when they found poison in one of her house's water jars.

What made people suspect you to begin with?

It went just as that schemer told you.

They found a moonbowstone earring just like mine

lying beside the Luzes' water store.

As ill luck would have it, I'd called at the house just hours earlier.

Was the earring really yours?

No, I had both of mine when I first fell under suspicion.

And did you...

Tell the investigators? Of course.

Everything I wore was one-of-a-kind from the hands of master craftsmen.

Inquiring at their workshops would have substantiated as much.

Then why weren't you cleared of suspicion?

I was told that, upon inspection, one of my earrings turned out to be fake.

They claimed I'd anticipated the investigation and prepared a replacement.

In other words,

someone swapped one of mine

for the one found at the Luze estate while it was in the Security Force's safe.

Who would do such a thing?

I don't know. But in the end,

the king authorized a search of my home.

No one would dare touch the Castiel residence without a royal order.

Then, as you know, a half-empty vial of poison turned up in my chambers,

and they marched me off to a cell.

Did you suspect Crown Princess Cecilia?

I suppose. She did benefit the most from my death.

So until just recently, I thought she'd orchestrated the whole thing.

Only until recently?

To be frank, I'm not sure anymore.

I mean, she doesn't seem the least bit satisfied.

After ten whole years, she seems to loathe Enrique as much as ever.

And she doesn't seem attached to wealth or power, either.

I wonder what she's trying to achieve.

I suppose we're still far from the truth.

True. But we have more than the events of ten years ago to go on.

Something is happening now, and we can be certain Cecilia has a hand in it.

Do you remember what that red-haired reporter woman said?

Cecilia Luze was a whore's daughter raised in an orphanage.

And Kevin Jennings, who got close to the truth, wound up an addict.

Oh, that's right.

That merchant visiting her the very day the seventh prince of Faris was abducted

lines up too perfectly to be happenstance.

The merchant's name was, um... Vado, wasn't it?

Come to think of it, didn't the kidnapper have an accomplice called Salvador?

The names bear a similarity on paper. Coincidence, do you think?

If they are the same person,

then we can assume Cecilia is involved with Daeg Gallus as well.

And that they have a hand in distributing Jackal's Paradise on Rosenkreuz Street.

That young lady who collapsed at the Earl John Doe Ball, Kiara Grafton,

used that hallucinogen, didn't she?

And so did Kevin Jennings.

Then Prince Ulysses's abduction, Kate's kidnapping,

and the spread of Jackal's Paradise are all Daeg Gallus's doing?

You're forgetting one important thing.

Daeg Gallus attacked you as well.

Kate Lorraine's kidnapper was after Lily's key, wasn't he?

Yes.

I just said that something's afoot now, but that isn't precisely correct.

Something has been afoot for the past ten years...

right here in Adelbide.

I'd be surprised if it had nothing to do with my execution.

True.

Whatever it is, Lady Lily probably lost her life because of it.

"Destroy the Holy Grail of Eris" was her final message.

We still don't know what it means.

Um, Your Lordship...

Yes?

I realize we're to share information, but why at a museum?

It holds donations from the Orlamunde family.

I thought they might offer a clue to the key.

I visited here with Lily as well.

Of course...

They were on a first-name basis.

Of course.

Learn some tact!

Here lies one of the holy books Saint Anastasia received from the goddesses.

What's wrong? Are you hungry?

Oh, no! I mean...

As for Abigail's request, it will take some time.

The crown princess owns the hospital where Kevin Jennings is a patient.