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Introduction
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Encens Restant — Lingering Scent of the Dream is the forty-third chapter of Jun Mochizuki's The Case Study of Vanitas.
This article contains plot and/or ending details for The Case Study of Vanitas.
Read at your own risk.
Summary[]
And so, the Beast of Gévaudan vanished. It left both those who were saved and those who were not... with their own private scars—
Vanitas, Noé, and Jeanne stand before Chloé kneeling on the ground and Jean-Jacques supporting her, flower petals still falling around them. Vanitas asks if Jean-Jacques is sure, and the latter confirms. He’s always wished for the power to protect Chloé, which is what lead him to giving up his True Name, but he doesn’t want it if it’ll only end up hurting her. Jean-Jacques declares that he will protect Chloé as himself, Jean-Jacques Chastel. Noé stares at Jean-Jacques in quiet awe, and Vanitas activates The Book of Vanitas. The pages flip, a bright light shines, and the power of the Book permeates through the World Formula. Vanitas praises that Jean-Jacques’s True Name suits him while the latter braces himself. Vanitas restores Jean-Jacques’s True Name—“Aprix,” He Who Nestles Close to the Last Snows.
Elsewhere, Dante and Johann are digging through the remains of the World Formula Alteration Device and find its core, as bringing it back will allow them to read all of its basic information. Dante rejoices at being able to get paid heftily by the Marquis Machina, though Johann gets darkly angry at the Marquis for sending Dante somewhere so dangerous. Dante then gets quiet and comments his troubles: Vanitas and Noé both claim that neither Chloé nor Jean-Jacques have ever hurt any of the people of Gévaudan. But that begs the question—the five corpses found in Gévaudan, the reason Dante called for Vanitas to come there at all, were made by whom? Dante recalls the information he’d given Vanitas and notes how the corpses were killed in ways that evoked the return of the Beast of Gévaudan. Johann wonders if that means someone had purposely tried to draw them here, but Dante is hesitant to agree.
Johann suddenly falls over unconscious, and before Dante can run to him, a robed figure strikes him from behind to render him the same. The robed figure takes the core from the Dhampirs and asks a couple other similarly robed figures if they’d retrieved the research materials from the castle. They had, taking advantage of the distraction created in the form of Astolfo’s rampaging, which allowed them to move without catching the attention of “that sharp-nosed whelp.” The first robed figure dismisses his colleagues and goes on to “say hello.” When the robed figure approaches, Roland and Olivier are standing together at the Chasseurs’ transports, with Astolfo in the former’s arms. Olivier eyes the figure warily while Roland gives a wan smile and comments about an incident in Carcassonne, before addressing the figure by a name—Gano, who takes off his hood to reveal a thin face and wicked eyes.
Astérisque flower petals continue to fall through the skies of Gévaudan, like snowflakes falling in the middle of winter, a scene which reflects in the purple right eye of Murr, who stands over the land vigilant and watching.
A young boy with pale hair and blue eyes, introducing himself as Mikhail, insisting to be called “Misha,” smiling ominously as he greets Dominique—who wakes up from her dream in a cold sweat. She looks around, getting her bearings straight, and finding herself in her bedroom in . She only vaguely remembers her dream, and stands up from the bed to get fresh air to rid herself of the awful dream. A voice calls out to her, making her flinch, and she finds at the balcony her sister Veronica, dressed in only a flimsy robe, small splatters of blood on her chest, smoking a long pipe. Dominique sees the blood and panics, worried for her sister’s well-being. Veronica brushes off her concern and notes the cause as “just a fling.” The Marquis Machina, whom Veronica calls “Francis,” had been there a while ago, and she comments on how “fun” the experience was. Dominique, not understanding her meaning, asks why the Marquis had gotten Veronica bloodied. Veronica’s eyes sparkle and she asks if Dominique wants to hear about it. Dominique pales. Veronica goes on to explain in excruciating, graphic detail about the sexual relations between her and the Marquis Machina, while Dominique, red in the face, covers her ears and yells in distress.
Veronica backs off, leaving Dominique panting on the ground, and tells her: “You're as dull as ever, child.” Dominique goes still and quiet. She pulls her blanket around herself tighter. Veronica then comments that the Marquis had told her interesting news, that “Dominique’s favorites” (referring to Noé and Jeanne) had caused a large commotion in Gévaudan. Dominique whips around in shock and concern, and Veronica smiles. She goes on to tell what happened at the Senate meeting, which she calls “pandemonium.”
In Carbunculus Castle, the eight Senators, two transcriptors, and Luca sitting in a throne at the head, sat in a circle and tensely stared each other down. Senator Bellator snapped at Ruthven for failing to kill the Beast of Gévaudan, failing to retrieve the Alteration Device core, and disgracing the Senate as a result. Another Senator, nervously sweating and wringing his hands, worried about what would happen should the core and its information fall into the hands of the Church, even the possibility of another war starting. Bellator embraced this as an opportunity to wipe out all humans. Senator Paldence then asked Ruthven why he sent in the Hellfire Witch before the Senate could make a decision, and if the cause was for personal reasons. Ruthven simply laughed and explained that the Senate previously had given him full authority over the Beast of Gévaudan and never gave him a time limit, meaning he’d acted under that same given authority. Bellator snapped that that happened over a century ago, but Ruthven counters that time has no meaning to Vampires. While the two continued to argue, the Marquis Machina lamented over how disorganized the Senate was back in those days.
“The Congress does not move but dances!” Veronica quotes theatrically, as if she were a narrator announcing the roles of a play. Bellator, enraged by those he sees as upstarts. Ruthven, refused to be phased and brushed off any remarks coming his way. Marquis Machina, bored with the proceedings and so started to fold paper airplanes and cranes from his documents. At once Ruthven and Veronica speak: “Useless old fools...!” Ruthven’s profile is set parallel to that of the sculpture The Rape of Proserpina, which Veronica has perched herself on top of. Veronica listlessly admits that this is just her espousing on her own rather than directly quoting Ruthven, before she drops the bombshell: Bellator demanded that Jeanne be eliminated. Dominique is horrified. Veronica explains that it’d be difficult to bring down Ruthven over only this incident, so Bellator, as well as Paldence and the other nervous Senator, moved to weaken him instead. Dominique asks what happened to Jeanne ultimately, but Veronica doesn’t know as the Marquis Machina fell asleep, frustrating Dominique. She starts running back inside to ask her father to save Jeanne. Veronica berates Dominique for this, that her begging for a Bourreau’s life would ruin the name of de Sade.
A hand grasps Dominique's shoulder, and Dominique and Veronica are both surprised. Antoine, their older brother and a Senator, has appeared, and he greets his younger sisters with a smile. Antoine continues Veronica’s story, that Jeanne ultimately came out unscathed. Dominique is surprised and Veronica asks how. Antoine giggles as he remembers the shock of both himself and the other Senators, when it was none other than Luca who had stepped in. Luca had declared Jeanne his Chevalier and forbade her from being disposed of, using the command of his position as Grand Duke. Dominique is surprised and relieved. Veronica comments on the havoc that must have caused, with Antoine agreeing. Luca had thus far been seen as only a puppet due to his young age, so no one knew what to do when he first spoke. But then Bellator had exploded in fury, and Antoine this time takes on the theatrical affect to imitate Bellator’s ranting (and pretending to choke as well).
Dominique asks what happened after—the answer coming in the form of Antoine himself who’d clapped his hands and called for a recess. He briefly explains that he got Bellator alone, whispered in his ear, and changed his mind instantly. Dominique is baffled. Veronica blankly scolds him for abridging too much and leaving in no important details. Antoine further explains then that Jeanne is not only Ruthven’s weapon but also Luca’s weakness, so what he did was lend some advice to Bellator. Taking such a pawn so early would be a waste, and in Antoine’s words, trump cards serve to be held onto until truly needed. Dominique shudders. Ultimately Jeanne had been taken from Ruthven’s command and she now serves under Luca completely. She still holds the title of a Bourreau, but has the opportunity to become a Chevalier officially should she gain enough merit. Veronica praises Antoine for not only subduing Bellator but also putting Luca in his debt, to which Antoine laughs. The two siblings then move onto more important matters—that is, when they and all Vampirekind felt the resurgence of Queen Faustina. Antoine comments that the one who caused this to happen has to be found, and Veronica asks his opinion on the matter of the Queen being back.
Before they can continue discussing, Dominique sheepishly raises her hand and asks if it’s alright for her to hear all this. Antoine tilts his head condescendingly and asks if there’s anything she can do even if she knows of it. Dominique stares at him, wide-eyed.
In Carbunculus Castle, the Marquis Machina performs a magic trick to Ruthven, causing a bird to appear from a hat along with confetti strewn about. The Marquis tells Ruthven to cheer up, though the latter simply scolds him for making a mess before bending to clean it up. The Marquis has taken an interest in conjuring lately, specifically how it requires diverting the attention of the audience from the scheme. Ruthven stares up at him wordlessly. The Marquis goes on, about how the resurgence of the Beast of Gévaudan captivated the “audience” while something else sinister moved in the shadows. Ruthven stands up, brushing off the Marquis’s words, but then the latter admits to having sent Vanitas to Gévaudan. The Marquis twirls a playing card in his fingers, the jack of hearts. At the same time that this happened, a curse-bearer had showed up in Bretagne, meaning if the Marquis had been any later, Vanitas would've gone to deal with that incident rather than Gévaudan. The playing card disappears from the Marquis’s fingers and reappears from behind Ruthven’s ear. The Marquis comments that someone seems to have not wanted Vanitas to be involved in that affair.
Ruthven shortly praises the Marquis’s tricks then comments that if a matter concerns the latter, to take action directly. The Marquis says he would, but “there’s a sleeping lion here in Carbunculus Castle,” and he wants to be present for when it wakes. Ruthven scoffs that the Marquis can make hobbies of whatever he wishes, magic or circuses or the like, but he should be careful to not get his throat torn out when dealing with savage beasts; and he summons a wave of flames exuding from his back menacingly. The Marquis stares at Ruthven then bursts into laughter, commenting how absurd it is for Ruthven of all people to be warning him. The Marquis advises Ruthven to not break down more than he already has. Ruthven emptily replies before walking away to the sound of the Marquis’s laughter echoing around him.
Ruthven descends down a flight of stairs and enters a room, joining another figure wearing a mask similar to that of a plague doctor’s. The figure removes his mask, revealing himself to be Gano, with Monsieur Spider standing beside him. Gano tells Ruthven he brought what he’d asked for and raises the Alteration Device core in his hand. Ruthven smiles.
At Hôtel Chouchou, Noé, his arm in a sling, tries and fails to rouse Vanitas from sleep. They’d been back in Paris for ten days but Vanitas has been bedridden for the entire time, and even now he still refuses to emerge from the sheets and blankets cocooned around him. Noé pouts at the lack of response and pulls the sheets off Vanitas, demanding an answer at least. But Noé is shocked to find Vanitas, trembling and feverish and sickly, on the very verge of death.
Characters[]
- Vanitas
- Noé Archiviste
- Jeanne
- Chloé d'Apchier
- Jean-Jacques Chastel
- Beast of Gévaudan*
- Dante
- Johann
- Gano
- Olivier
- Roland Fortis
- Astolfo Granatum*
- Murr
- Mikhail*
- Dominique de Sade
- Veronica de Sade
- Luca Oriflamme*
- Lord Bellator* (First Appearance)
- Lord Paldence* (First Appearance)
- Antoine de Sade (First Appearance)
- Faustina*
- Marquis Machina
- August Ruthven
- Monsieur Spider
(*) - Denotes that the character did not appear physically, but as a part of another character's memories.
Terms[]
Trivia[]
- Encens Restant is literally translated as "remaining incense" from French.
References[]
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| v - e - t | The Case Study of Vanitas Chapters |
|---|---|
| Parisian Excursion Arc | 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 |
| Bal Masqué Arc | 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 |
| Hunters of the Dark Arc | 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 |
| The Beast of Gévaudan Arc | 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31 • 32 • 33 • 34 • 34.5 • 35 • 36 • 37 • 38 • 38.5 • 39 • 40 • 41 • 42 • 43 |
| Amusement Park Arc | 44 • 45 • 46 • 47 • 48 • 49 • 50 • 51 • 52 • 53 • 54 • 54.5 • 55 • 55.5 • 56 |
| Miel Incident Arc | 57 • 58 • 59 • 60 • 61 • 61.5 • 62 • 62.5 • 63 • 64 • 65 |
| Intermissions | 15.5 • 46.5 • 51.5 • 60.5 |
| Volumes | 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 |
| Omake | Vanitashu no Karute • Romance is a✰LOVE MISSION • Confessional Counseling Office |
| Other | Author's Notes |