--Fifteenth Rebellion.
Whether it was the number at the beginning or the verb at the end... put either of them in any other country, and it would be a earth-shaking event capable of throwing countless people into panic. Instinctively, the two words simply felt like they should never be placed together.
Yet only in Iris did they sound so fitting.
Not only was there no sense of incongruity—they even sounded a little funny.
"--Not bad.
In response to Iver's words, the old man known as the Ice Heart Duke merely smiled in satisfaction and calmly admitted, "You guessed correctly, Iver."
It was not only that Iver's guess had pleased him... even the way he addressed him as "maternal grandfather" sounded so pleasing to his ears. The stern, cold old man, who usually gave off an aloof and inhumanly indifferent air, now seemed like an ordinary elderly man, with a few more traces of benevolence.
"Eh, Father...?"
Annie, standing to the side, widened her eyes in disbelief. "Why... why do we have to do, do something like that?"
Her emerald pupils were a different color from Iver's deep-blue eyes.
As a young lady who had once studied in Avalon, she was markedly different from the other Iris People—she did not even dare to say the word "rebellion" aloud. For the Iris People who dared curse the council in the streets, this could practically be considered cowardice.
"Iris is already nearing its limit."
The old man spoke bluntly. "If this continues, our country will become the laughingstock of the international community. At this point, there aren't many methods left that can still work."
"This..."
Annie and Arsene were instantly rendered speechless.
Sherlock, however, let out a laugh.
His laughter was light and subdued, but with the room utterly silent save for the