Columbina usually had two things she liked to do at night.
The first: disturbing other people’s sleep.
The second: sneaking sweets from other people’s rooms.
But after several decades, the clever Columbina suddenly discovered that these two things could actually be done together—which would save a great deal of time.
She thought herself terribly clever.
…
…
On the western side of the Zapolyarny Palace, in another room not far from Sandrone’s.
“Piers, are you asleep?” In the dead of night, Columbina crouched beside Piers’s bed, poking his face with her finger.
“Are you asleep?
Why aren’t you saying anything?” [Poke poke] “I’m a little hungry.
Huh?
Is this bread?” “Ah!
Ow!
Lady Damselette, that’s not bread—you bit the wrong thing, let go already!” Finally, Piers was woken by the pain.
He shoved Columbina away with force and flicked on the bedside lamp; a clear set of teeth marks had appeared on his hand.
“Lady Damselette, it’s the middle of the night and you’re not asleep—what do you want?
No, wait—how did you even get in?” “The door wasn’t locked, so I just let myself in.
I couldn’t sleep, so I came to ask if you were asleep—and sure enough, you’re still awake too.
I’ll sing a song for you, okay?” Seeing that Columbina was about to launch straight into singing.
Piers, who had still been half-dazed, snapped wide awake in an instant.
Having one’s sleep disturbed was an agonizing thing, but the other party was, after all, the Third of the Harbingers, so after a moment’s thought he could only grit his teeth and endure.
No good—if Columbina stays here the whole time, how am I supposed to sleep?
Maybe…
“Wait, don’t sing yet.
Here’s the thing—come with me, I’ll take you somewhere nice.” A flash of inspiration struck him, and a good idea suddenly came to mind.
He immediately rolled out of bed, grabbed Columbina’s wrist, and led her out of the room.
……
Click— Holding a key, Piers pressed it into the keyhole, and the door opened.
“How do you have the key to Sandrone’s room?” The little wings atop Columbina’s head bobbed up and down once, her face full of curiosity.
“Shh!
Keep it down.
Lady Marionette told me that if she’s not up by noon tomorrow, I’m to remember to wake her.
There’s an especially important experiment at the testing grounds—something involving the remains of an Archon, by the sound of it.
Lord Regrator only just barely approved the funding.” “There are pastries and bread on Lady Marionette’s table—if you get hungry from singing, help yourself.” “Okay!” She lifted her head, the wings on it swaying, looking quite delighted.
Kitty, that’s for working me to the bone every single day—here’s a little “gift” delivered right to your doorstep.
“But if any trouble comes of it, just don’t drag my name into it.” Piers gave that reminder, pulled Columbina inside by the wrist, then turned on his heel, walked straight back out, and shut the door.
The world…
was at peace.
In an excellent mood, Piers strolled back to his room as if nothing had happened, locked the door, and flopped down to sleep.
He had been in this world for eighteen years now.
Eighteen years ago—back in Piers’s previous life—he had also been eighteen.
He’d gone to the Temple of the God of Wealth to make a wish and try his luck, and then, the moment he stepped out of the temple, his “luck” struck him down for real.
Afterward he came to this world.
At the age of eight he was abandoned by his birth parents in Snezhnaya, but fortunately he wasn’t really a child, so at the very least he managed to survive.
Later he joined the Fatui.
At first he was assigned under The Doctor; then, having luckily survived, he ended up under The Marionette, Sandrone.
After that, he used some unconventional means to become Sandrone’s closest subordinate.
Girls, after all, all love pretty things, and the Marionette—being a puppet herself—pursued beauty even more avidly than ordinary people.
As it happened, Piers possessed a magnificent face.
And it was precisely because he stayed by Sandrone’s side that Columbina came to know Piers, back when she would go to pester Sandrone.
Going by the original work, Piers genuinely pitied this “flat-chested, ravenously hungry” little dove, and would take the initiative to bring Columbina some food.
Later, after Columbina got an angry scolding from Sandrone over her singing, he offered a word of comfort, saying that it actually sounded rather nice.
And so she latched onto him—though every time, he would quietly haul her little-dove-brand music box over to Sandrone’s door.
As the saying goes, better the boss perishes than the subordinate; though really, the main reason was that if he moved it anywhere else, Columbina would just run right back to him on her own.
Before he turned eighteen, Piers was virtually no different from an ordinary person.
On the day of his eighteenth birthday, his System awakened.
But compared to those grand, impressive cheat-systems, his seemed quite plain: a hundred days after turning eighteen, he could claim an egg, which—according to the description below it—could hatch all manner of dead people.
The dead existed in the form of souls, visible only to him—and tomorrow was the hundredth day.
It sounded pretty creepy.
If he sold this thing to Hu Tao, she’d probably be thrilled.
“♫～♫～” Inside the room, Columbina began her performance—only, normally she sang outside the door; it was rare for her to get to sing inside a room.
“Col-um-bi-na!!
What’s with all the singing, won’t you let people sleep?!
No—how did you get in here?” Just as expected, Sandrone hissed with rage.
“Piers told me not to tell.” “Piers!!!” Sandrone didn’t even have time to change clothes; she charged straight out in her loose white nightgown.
Columbina was a bit bewildered, then started to feel hungry and began gnawing on the bread on the table.
BAM— With a single punch, the door to Piers’s room was smashed open by Sandrone.
“Holy crap!
Are we under attack?!” Piers was so startled he shot bolt upright in bed.
When he turned on the light, he found Sandrone standing by his bed, clad in a white, semi-translucent nightgown.
At this moment Sandrone was raising her little claws, glaring furiously at Piers.
Generally speaking, Sandrone was someone who placed great importance on ladylike etiquette; barging into a male subordinate’s room in her nightgown was something she would never normally do.
“Um…
Lady Marionette, is there something you need…?” “Why did you stick Columbina in my bedroom in the middle of the night?” Damn it, this little dove has no sense of loyalty at all—I specifically told her not to give me up.
“Ahem…
she is the Third-Seat Harbinger, after all—you couldn’t have expected me to refuse her, could you?” Piers got up from the bed and casually picked up a cloak draped over the back of a chair.
“It’s cold out—don’t go running around dressed so thinly.” He reached both arms around behind Sandrone and draped the cloak over her from behind—a posture that, from another angle, looked exactly as though he were embracing her.
Whether a puppet could even feel cold was anyone’s guess, but this whole maneuver of Piers’s genuinely left Sandrone thoroughly flustered and dazed.
She’d only just been woken and was muddle-headed to begin with; gazing at Piers’s maxed-out handsome face, she completely forgot what she’d even come here to do.
“I…
I understand…” “Get some rest.
Tonight, sleep here—I’ll sit over there and keep watch for you.
I won’t let anyone come disturb you.” “Th…
thank you.” Teasing the adorable Lady Marionette—what fun.
Although Sandrone had lived for several centuries, essentially all of her energy had gone into research; at her core she was still just an inexperienced girl who knew nothing of the world.
Having been woken partway through her sleep to begin with, after all this commotion Sandrone grew even drowsier, and almost the instant she lay down on the bed she drifted off.