บท 137: -134- What is the Truth
Finally, Rozen lost consciousness. Not because he couldn't hold on, but because he had fully let go of his worries.
"Rest assured, it's now Yaya's turn to protect you."
As the beautiful puppet girl with tear-streaked cheeks uttered these words to the unconscious Rozen in her arms, he no longer struggled. He peacefully let his awareness slip away.
As for when he would wake up, Rozen himself didn't know. He only knew that when he did awaken, he found himself in a familiar bed.
Incense burned nearby.
The room was filled with its fragrance.
This place was...
"Karyusai's residence..."
Had he returned here again?
"And the wound...?"
No pain was felt.
However, this was not surprising at all.
To stop the bleeding, Rozen had grit his teeth and directed flames to his wound, charring it in the process.
Now, would it have become necrotic, with no sensation left?
Thinking about this, Rozen involuntarily gulped and cautiously slipped his hand under the covers.
In the next moment, a sharp pain radiated from his touched abdomen.
Oddly enough, this eased Rozen's worry.
"Good, the pain means it's still there."
Rozen slightly lifted the covers to inspect his abdomen.
A bandage was wound around his abdomen, evidence of sterilization and basic treatment.
"I guess Irori did this?"
Yaya probably wouldn't possess such skills.
Regardless of who did it, surviving was a good thing.
"Otherwise, I wouldn't have the face to meet that unnamed entity who granted me a miracle."
Fully relaxing, Rozen laid back in bed, not moving.
Staring at the ceiling in a daze, faces began to appear before his eyes.
"Old man..."
The man who saved Rozen, allowing him to survive in this world, his adoptive father.
"Nadeshiko..."
His feelings with her weren't good or bad, yet he deeply respected and cared for her as a sister.
"Are you all really dead?"
Rozen murmured.
His fist tightened.
"Without seeing your bodies, I won't believe you're gone."
No.
Even if he saw their bodies, Rozen wouldn't believe they'd simply died like that.
If even Olgamarie could survive as a demonic spirit, what couldn't happen?
"I believe in miracles."
This had been Rozen's conviction all along.
"So, I believe you're definitely still alive."
Without evidence or reason, Rozen chose to believe.
"Even someone like me could survive thanks to a miracle. Good-hearted people like you surely wouldn't be overlooked by miracles."
Rozen held this strong belief.
And...
"I will definitely uncover the cause of all this."
Rozen made a vow.
A face surfaced in his mind, that of Akabane Tenzen.
Two different faces, to be precise.
One was the composed, dignified adoptive brother from the past.
The other was the cold, ruthless killer in the flames.
Rozen had thought of this more than once.
"What happened to you, Tenzen?"
Did you really massacre the Akabane clan?
If you did, why?
"Is it really just because you needed 'Crimson Wing Blood' as a material to create something beyond the Banned Doll?"
Could you really forsake family and kin for the sake of such a thing?
"I don't want to believe it..."
How could he?
"For the sake of your research, you could do anything. If you're that kind of magus, how could I truly call you 'big brother' from my heart?"
But Akabane Tenzen did have an obsession with automatons.
In the past, he had repeatedly declined the clan's offer of puppets, engrossed in automaton craftsmanship.
As the saying goes, obsession makes people go mad.
If Akabane Tenzen had discovered a major secret that ordinary people were oblivious to in his research, if he had unearthed the mysteries hidden within automaton construction, then he could have easily become consumed by madness.
However, just as Rozen was entertaining this thought, something suddenly resurfaced in his mind.
It was a memory from the time when Akabane Kuukan instructed Rozen to seek Karyusai's automaton doll and craft automatons for the clan.
At that moment, when they were about to part ways, wasn't this what Akabane Tenzen said?
"Take care."
This simple farewell, previously unremarkable, now seemed to hold meaning for Rozen. And if this farewell did indeed hold meaning, were there any signs he had seen but failed to recognize before the Akabane clan's massacre occurred?
Rozen's mind raced at lightning speed.
In that moment, Rozen began to unearth various anomalies from his memories.
For example...
"The alliance between the Akabane clan and the Izanagi clan."
There had to be some secret behind that, otherwise, two families of such different statuses wouldn't suddenly form an alliance.
And then...
"Five years ago, Nadeshiko's unusual behavior."
Her heartrending smile at that time, as well as her reaction when discussing the engagement with the Izanagi clan, all conveyed to Rozen that something was amiss.
"What is the truth?"
Only now did Rozen realize how little he truly knew about his own family.
If hints about the family's secrets were inadvertently given five years ago during the alliance with the Izanagi family, then with Rozen's intellect and capabilities, he probably should have delved into the heart of these mysteries long ago.
Yet he knew nothing now, all because he had been disinterested in all of this before.
But who could have anticipated that all these events would eventually lead to such a tragedy of annihilation?
So, it wasn't Rozen's fault.
Even if given another chance, Rozen might be able to delve to the core of the events, but the immense effort he had poured into these matters might have hindered his current rapid progress. In the end, it might still be of no use.
Attempting to uncover secrets without sufficient power would likely only result in him being silenced.
Furthermore, the fact that Akabane Kuukan hadn't shared the secrets with him indicated that Rozen wasn't meant to be involved.
"It seems necessary to investigate."
A judgment formed within Rozen in an instant.
"Starting with the Izanagi clan."
However, this decision was immediately cut off.
"I advise you not to meddle in such matters."
A voice entered Rozen's ears.
"You might be dead before you know it?"
The words of the speaker sent shivers down Rozen's spine.
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