A Serious but Ridiculous Reason

"What is it?"

A gleam flashed in Cantarella's eyes, unsettling everyone present. She slowly rose and walked toward Kexi. Every step carried an indescribable sense of pressure, and the sound of her heels striking the floor echoed through the hall like some eerie countdown.

She stopped in front of Kexi and looked up at his face, which was full of guilt and nervousness.

"Starting today," Cantarella said softly, so softly that only Kexi could hear her clearly, "you will come to Porto-Vino Castle once every seven days."

"W-what for?" Kexi's voice trembled.

"Don't you need to return what you just took from me?"

Kexi's brain crashed on the spot.

What he took? Did she mean her Resonance Ability? Or... something else?

"Um... Sister Can, could you be more specific? Do you mean the ability, or-"

Cantarella smiled faintly. Her smile was breathtakingly beautiful, yet dangerous enough to make one want to drop to their knees on the spot.

"What do you think?"

Kexi didn't dare say another word.

[Ding! An unusual change in Cantarella's attitude toward the host has been detected.]

Thanks a fucking lot, Kexi thought, utterly numb.

Carlotta frowned, looking at Kexi and then at Cantarella. She couldn't shake the feeling that something had suddenly appeared between them... something that annoyed her greatly.

"That's enough." Carlotta grabbed Kexi by the hem of his clothes and headed out, dragging him along like an enormous kite. "Now that everything's settled, we'll take our leave. Cantarella, I hope you'll keep your promise."

"Carlotta."

Cantarella's voice came from behind them, carrying a hint of lazy amusement.

"Make sure you teach your brother properly. The next time he comes, I hope he'll... behave himself."

Carlotta paused, then dragged Kexi away even faster.

The Montelli family head's residence.

Kexi knelt on the floor with a copy of the Montelli Family Precepts balanced on his head. In front of him stood Carlotta, trembling all over with rage, and Zani, whose expression said, "I knew this day would come."

"Talk." Carlotta sat in a chair, her legs too short to reach the floor and swinging in midair, though that did nothing to diminish her authority at the moment. "From beginning to end. Don't leave out a single word."

"W-where do I start?"

"Start with why you went to Porto-Vino Castle."

Kexi's brain raced.

Tell the truth? Say a nonexistent system forced him to steal stockings? Carlotta would send him straight to a psychiatric hospital.

Keep making things up? He'd have to come up with a version that was logically consistent and acceptable to Carlotta.

The problem was, what kind of logic could explain someone sneaking into the Fisalia family head's bedroom, stealing her stockings, and then forcibly kissing her in public?

"I'm waiting." Carlotta's voice grew colder and colder.

"Actually... this is what happened..." Kexi took a deep breath and, drawing on the literary skills he had honed by writing 3,652 love letters, began making up a story on the spot. "I've been studying the mechanisms that trigger Resonance Awakening lately. After extensive reading and field research, I discovered that extreme embarrassment can stimulate the body's latent energy, thereby bringing about Resonance Awakening."

Carlotta knitted her brows. "Go on."

"So I designed an experiment. I needed a sufficiently powerful Resonator as the 'source of embarrassment,' then I had to perform a certain act in an extremely awkward situation to trigger my awakening. Cantarella was the best candidate I could find-she was strong enough and dangerous enough. If I made a fool of myself in front of her, the embarrassment would go straight to the maximum."

"So you stole her stockings..."

"To create an awkward situation where I'd be caught in the act."

"Then you kissed her..."

"That was the climax of the experiment. On top of the embarrassment of being caught with the stockings, I added the embarrassment of forcibly kissing her in public. Under that double stimulation, I finally awakened."

When Kexi finished, the room fell silent for a full five seconds.

Zani pushed up a pair of nonexistent glasses and said in a tone that suggested it sounded ridiculous but somehow made a little sense, "Second Miss, judging by when the young master awakened, it was indeed after... that act. The logic is internally consistent."

Carlotta remained silent.

She looked at Kexi's face, so full of sincerity, and at his eyes, trying so hard to convey, "I'm being scientific." Then she slowly spoke.

"Do you think I'd believe that?"

"No," Kexi answered instantly.

"Then why make up all that nonsense?"

"To buy time. I was waiting for you to calm down a little, Second Sister, so you wouldn't hit me as hard."

Carlotta took a deep breath, jumped down from her chair, and walked over to Kexi.

Then she reached out and gave his ear a vicious twist.

"Ah-ow, ow, ow-"

"So you do know what pain feels like?" Carlotta said through gritted teeth. "Do you have any idea how serious today's incident was? Who do you think Cantarella is? Relations between Fisalia and Montelli were already like walking a tightrope, and after what you did, the balance of power in all of Ragunna could be reshuffled!"

"I know, I know! But didn't you take care of it for me, Second Sister? When you stood in front of me, you were unbelievably cool! That presence, that style, that-"

"Stop flattering me!" Carlotta twisted his ear a little harder. "Now tell me, what ability did you awaken?"

Kexi grimaced, his smile looking worse than if he were crying. "You might not believe me if I told you..."

"Tell me."

"My ability is called... King's Plunder. In less tactful terms, borrowing power."

"What does it do?"

"I can forcibly borrow someone else's Resonance Ability by latching onto their Tacet Mark."

Carlotta stopped twisting his ear.

She let go, stepped back twice, and looked at Kexi as if seeing him anew.

"So... you really kissed Cantarella to awaken?"

"That's what I've been saying!"

"Then if you want to use this ability in the future, every time you'll have to..." Carlotta's expression changed. "Kiss someone else's Tacet Mark?"

"Theoretically, yes." Kexi nodded with a solemn expression.

Carlotta was silent for three seconds, then turned to Zani. "Seal the information immediately. The details of the young master's ability are to be classified as Montelli's highest-level secret. Anyone who leaks them will be killed without mercy."

Zani put away her terminal, her expression serious. "Understood."

"And another thing." Carlotta looked back at Kexi, her eyes now holding a mix of emotions he couldn't understand. "From now on, you're not to say another word about this ability. Above all, Cantarella must not find out."

"Why?"

"Idiot!" Carlotta jumped up and knocked him on the knee. "Do you think what happened today is really over? Why did Cantarella tell you to go there every seven days? She must have noticed something! If she finds out you kissed her to steal her ability, you're a dead man!"