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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 40
Chapter Title: The Second Snake
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Rose had predicted Del had gone mad before he died and would be unstable, but after actually talking to him, I wasn’t so sure.
His personality did seem genuinely awful, though.
And he was overly partial to me…
Kivrin smiled and handed me the pen.
“Now, please draw the exact same thing on my back.”
“What? Me?”
As I stared in shock, Kivrin explained with a nonchalant expression.
“This is how we did it back then, too. Del… hmm, no. It only works if the person I love does it. It’ll activate on its own even if you draw it roughly, so you don’t have to worry about messing up.”
It sounded like an absurd level of self-assurance, but the way he looked at me, the way he called my name—it was all filled with affection.
I couldn’t understand it at all, so I asked him directly.
“Do you really think I’m the person you love?”
“My eyes have never been wrong. Not in the past, not in the present, and not in the future.”
He said it with such conviction that I almost felt sorry for not believing him.
For now, I did as Kivrin asked.
I sat behind Kivrin and lifted his shirt.
I drew with extreme care, worried the pen might leave a mark on his skin, but new lines appeared and layered over my own.
It was so magical that I found myself murmuring aloud.
“This is amazing. In novels, they usually do this with blood, not a pen.”
“Rose the bir— uhm, you mean Rose’s blood?”
“…P-please pretend you didn’t hear that.”
*Rose, you’re really a piece of work, but I’m glad you ran away.*
I quietly shut my mouth and focused.
Soon, a plausible result was complete.
“Wow! It’s done!”
“…You look way too happy about this.”
*Oops.*
I felt a pang of guilt and gave an awkward smile.
As I straightened his shirt, Kivrin patted the spot next to him.
“Aren’t you going to come here?”
His gaze seemed to prickle my conscience, as if to say I’d be less than human to refuse him after he’d gone this far.
“I-I’m coming…”
I sat down next to Kivrin.
That part was fine, but my body suddenly felt drained of energy.
It felt like the aftereffects of the warp were finally hitting me.
I rubbed my eyes and asked, “I’m suddenly sleepy. Does this process take the sealer’s stamina as payment?”
“…It might.”
*Hmm, well, I guess this is something I have to endure.*
Accepting it, I asked something else.
“Hey, there’s something I want to ask. It’s about Rose… I feel like you would know, so please don’t be offended!”
After a moment’s hesitation, I leaned my head against Kivrin’s shoulder.
*There, how’s that! The person I care more about isn’t Rose, it’s you!*
*Rose said you might kill me on the spot, but I won’t believe him!*
Kivrin played along with my obvious ploy.
“Alright. Ask me anything you want in the time we have left.”
“Rose appears as a woman to everyone else, but to me, he looks like a man. Why is that?”
“It’s probably because the image you had when you first met was imprinted on you, so that’s how you continue to see him.”
I wracked my brain, trying to remember.
“But even then… he said he was already in his female form in the capital.”
“That might not have been the first time.”
“…”
Was he saying I must have seen the male version of Rose somewhere on the street?
Kivrin’s next explanation was even more confusing.
“It’s because the sealing spell isn’t perfect. To maintain the status quo, you should avoid visiting the Temple as much as possible, don’t get hurt, and try not to have anyone you want to kill.”
My mind was just a mess of question marks.
“What does the sealing spell have to do with me? You make it sound like the seal will only hold if I stay out of trouble.”
“I…”
“Uhm, hold on. Let me process this.”
Kivrin’s past self had supposedly loved and respected me.
It was no use telling him my name and saying he must have mistaken me for someone else.
He just insisted his eyes were never wrong and familiarly called me Lady Cheria.
He was absolutely certain he was right.
Moreover, he said he would never harm me… and that we were destined…
*Ugh, at this point, it’s hard to just deny everything.*
A superstition in this world claimed that snakes always traveled in pairs.
But if my sister and the Pope believed it, it had to be more than a simple superstition.
“Hey, you said I could ask anything, right? Am I, by any chance, the second snake?”
“…”
Perhaps I was too direct, as Kivrin’s expression turned peculiar.
I continued with my questions.
“Is that why the sealing spell affects me, too? Is that right?”
“…Hmm.”
“When I went to the Grand Temple, my sister told me I was under suspicion because snakes always travel in pairs. His Holiness the Pope said he found me suspicious at first, too. Of course, if I were really a snake, it’s strange that I don’t have scales and that neither of them noticed…”
“Alright, take a deep breath.”
Huh?
Kivrin cut me off with a bright smile.
“I’ll just erase the last ten minutes of your memory.”
*Ack!*
“N-no way!”
I covered my face with my arms.
*The great Cheria finally used her brain, so why are you doing this!*
Kivrin tilted his head, as if he couldn’t understand my refusal.
“You said Del was scary.”
“That’s because Rose scared me, saying he was the worst and completely insane…!”
Just as I was about to argue, there was an urgent knock on the door.
“Young Madam, are you in there?”
“…Huh? Mera?”
Before I could properly answer, Mera burst through the door.
“My apologies. I’m coming in.”
It was the first time Mera had opened the door without my permission.
Kivrin’s expression went blank, and he obediently lay down on the bed.
Mera looked relieved to see me perfectly fine, just a little tired.
“You weren’t with Viscount Rose, so I came to get you.”
*Ah, she’s trying to keep me from being alone with Kivrin.*
*Well, he should have chosen his words more carefully instead of threatening the poor servants. He’s the one who made himself a person of interest.*
Since Kivrin had brought this upon himself, I couldn’t blame Mera.
Instead, I shot Mera a pleading look.
“Mera, can’t I stay just a little longer? Just for a moment.”
Mera glanced at Kivrin.
He was already tucked under the covers, lying there meekly.
“…Just for a moment?”
Mera stepped back outside the door and turned her back to us.
The door was still open, but it was a clear gesture of consideration, showing she wouldn’t listen to our conversation.
*Hehe, how about that for my trustworthiness!*
With a proud smile, I approached the bed. Kivrin pouted.
“Lady Cheria, you look happy.”
“Why would I have any reason to be upset now? The Young Lord isn’t sick, I made it back here safely, and you said we don’t have to get a divorce.”
“You’d better not.”
His face was filled with a sense of grievance.
Instead of telling him not to be mistaken like before, I continued explaining why I was happy.
“And yesterday was my birthday, and for the first time, I had someone wish me a happy birthday right at the stroke of midnight.”
I leaned down toward Kivrin.
Worried my hair would tickle his cheek, I quickly whispered into his ear.
“Although nothing good happened at the Grand Temple, now that I think I might be *that*… it feels like a miracle I even made it back safely.”
I spoke vaguely of the snake, in case Mera overheard.
Kivrin fiddled with a strand of my hair.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to erase your memory?”
“Then wouldn’t that be a waste of your effort?”
I asked back, my eyes wide.
Kivrin looked up at me.
“…”
“You said you love me, right? That we’re destined? You were so sure about it that I was thinking of giving it a chance, but were you mistaken about me after all?”
“Of course not. Getting people mixed up is something that bird, no, that Rose would do.”
I grinned.
“Then that’s settled. I’ve received so much from the Young Lord that I don’t want to pretend none of it happened. I’ll try my best to come to terms with it by the next time we meet.”
“…”
It would be a lie to say I wasn’t shocked.
I still didn’t fully understand everything Kivrin was saying…
—*Even if you don’t protect me… even if you’re no help to me… you are still you, Lady Cheria. One day, a place will surely exist where you can do nothing at all… where you can be at ease.*
But what was important was that I had received so much comfort from Kivrin.
I wanted to return the favor, even if it wasn’t to the same extent, so I acted more okay than I was.
As I worked hard to rationalize it, I started to think that maybe it wasn’t so bad after all.
*Hmm, could it be that Kivrin sensed something from the very beginning, and that’s why he so readily believed me when I said I was the same kind of monster?*
