It was deep into the night. On the open-air balcony, only the silver moon and a solitary star kept her company.
Cantarella sat alone in her chair. The black tea in the cup she held had long since lost its warmth.
She gazed up at the boundless night sky, yet her eyes never truly settled on any of those twinkling points of light.
She should rest, reason told her so.
The night was already half gone. This was precisely the hour to sink into slumber.
Yet…
She took a shallow sip of the now ice-cold tea. A shattered moon reflected back at her from the surface of the liquid.
She still hadn't risen from her seat.
It wasn't that she didn't want to sleep.
It was that she didn't dare.
Almost every night, Cantarella would fall into the same nightmare.
The scenes within the dream shifted and changed, yet they were always shrouded beneath the shadow of the deep sea.
The freezing water pressure felt as if it were truly crushing her chest. The salty, bitter seawater flooded into every attempted breath, even after waking, that suffocating sensation of drowning would continue to haunt her for a long while.
Thus, even just a brief moment of peaceful sleep was as precious to her as a divine blessing.
In the past, she had relied on secret family remedies passed down through generations to resist Leviathan's whispers.
Those formulas, refined and improved over a hundred years, had their side effects reduced to near nothingness. Yet the accumulation, day after day, was still silently eroding her body.
What's more, even after drinking the potion, she had never truly escaped.
The nightmare still came as punctually as the tide, dragging her down into an endless prison of deep blue.
Only…
When she was by his side.
Only then would the deep sea recede. Only then would the whispers fade.
Only then could she curl up in a brief moment of peace, stealing a single night of dreamless, heavy sleep.
"I wonder what that scoundrel is doing right now." Cantarella gazed up at the starry sky, her voice sounding as ethereal as sleep talk. "Perhaps he's being intimate with Carlotta. How enviable."
She pursed her lips gently, reminiscing about those brief, intimate moments with him.
Cantarella let out a soft sigh and set the porcelain cup back onto the tray on the table. She couldn't help but pout slightly, muttering quietly under her breath, "Every once in a while… he should come see me too, shouldn't he? What a bad, bad man…"
Others might never know that this ever-inscrutable matriarch actually had a little-woman side to her in private.
Of course, this special side of her only ever surfaced in front of Ray.
"Come to think of it, that scoundrel's little treasure…" She suddenly brushed a hand against one cheek, the tips of her ears warming slightly.
Her voice gradually lowered, a mix of embarrassment and vexation, yet laced with a trace of unmistakable nostalgia. "It really is quite something. With that petite frame of Carlotta's… can she really handle it?"
The night breeze stirred, lifting a strand of hair from beside her cheek.
Cantarella could almost vividly picture the scene, the ever-graceful and dignified young lady, her feet dangling in the air, utterly powerless to touch the ground.
"Pfft—"
At the thought, she couldn't help but laugh aloud.
If the opportunity ever arose, she really would love to see it with her own eyes.
It was just…
Her palm gently rested over her lower abdomen. She let that sense of imagined fulfillment, something that didn't actually exist, quietly spread within her fantasy.
"Next time we meet," she murmured under her breath, her tone soft yet carrying a hint of stubbornness, "I can't let you slip away so easily again."
Just then, a cautious knock came at the door. The servant's announcement filtered through from the other side.
"My lady, Mr. Ray is here and requests an audience."
Inside the room, Cantarella froze for a brief moment.
That scoundrel…
He actually came to find me?
She pressed down the surge of excitement in her heart. When she spoke again, her voice had already regained its usual composure and cool clarity. "Mm. Show him here to see me."
"As you command, my lady."
...
...
"You actually just waltzed right in, bold as you please?"
Zani still felt a sense of unreality as she followed Ray into the great hall of Porto-veno Castle.
As an employee of the Montelli family, she had never imagined she would one day set foot inside the core stronghold of the rival family, and in such a capacity.
Her eyes were wide as she glanced around in every direction.
"I told you long ago, my connections are beyond your imagination." Ray lifted his chin without a shred of modesty, his tone carrying a hint of bragging. "Of the three major powers in Ragunna right now, aside from the Order's Primus, who's as elusive as a dragon whose tail is never seen, the heads of the other two families both have quite a deep friendship with me. And not just here, even the Ephor and the Oracle Maiden of Septimont are old acquaintances of mine as well."
"Old acquaintances?" Zani clicked her tongue softly and shot him a sidelong glance. "You mean old flames, don't you? No wonder the Young Miss says your luck with women is bafflingly good."
"What old flames? Don't go casually slandering my good name." Ray adopted a perfectly serious, earnest expression. "I am the most devoted man in all of Solaris."
Zani tilted her head slightly, looking at him the way one might examine a rare and peculiar species. "I'm genuinely curious how do you manage to say things like that… without blushing at all?"
"Mr. Ray, please follow me."
The servant who had made the earlier announcement approached them and bowed respectfully.
"As for this young lady…" He turned toward Zani, his tone polite yet leaving no room for negotiation. "The head of the family has only granted an audience to Mr. Ray at present. I must trouble you to wait temporarily in the lounge. I hope you understand."
"Alright." Zani shrugged indifferently. She stepped forward lightly, then looked back and winked at Ray. "I'll go wait in the lounge then, don't get so lost in conversation that you forget the time. Or I'll be filing a little report with the Young Miss."
Ray: "…"
With that, Zani followed another servant and departed.
And Ray was led to Cantarella's private chambers.
This was hardly his first time setting foot here.
He rapped gently on the door, then pushed it open and stepped inside.
Cantarella was seated on the open-air balcony, savoring a pot of hot tea. She turned her head and offered him a soft, gentle smile.
"Coming to see me this late at night, is it because Carlotta wasn't able to satisfy you?"
"Is that really the only image you have of me?" Ray sighed helplessly and walked over to her, slowly seating himself in the chair opposite her.
"Is it not?" The corner of Cantarella's lips curved upward, moonlight and playful mockery dancing in her eyes. "Juggling so many girls at once, if not a greedy lecher, then what else would you call it?"
"That's called boundless love."
"Sophistry."
"Anyway, that's not why I came today." Ray's expression sobered slightly, his voice lowering a few degrees. "Cantarella, the stone tablet is gone."
At these words, the smile on Cantarella's face ebbed away like the tide. She gently set down her tea, her brow furrowing faintly.
"Gone? What happened?"
"A moment of carelessness." Ray sighed. "It was taken by someone from the Fractsidus."
"Even you can be careless?" Cantarella's eyes widened a fraction, and then a look of understanding surfaced in them. "Let me guess, the honey trap?"
"I was simply too pure-hearted." A flush crept over Ray's face. "And that's not the point! The Fractsidus took the tablet, they must be targeting Cartethyia. I came tonight to ask if you have any way to help!"
"A way?" Cantarella pursed her lips, her expression turning troubled. "There is one. Twenty years ago, in order to seal away the Black Tide, Cartethyia ascended into the high heavens together with the Avinoleum Seminary. Beneath the Fisalia estate, there lies a hidden passage leading to the ruins of the seminary. It's just…"
"Just?"
Cantarella shook her head gently and sighed. "All these years, I've wandered the periphery of those ruins countless times, yet I've never… been able to find a way in."
"Or rather…"
"The method to do so is something no one is currently capable of achieving."