Chapter 54
"......"
"You could have just called me anytime and given it to me."
"You..."
"Or you could have given it to me at the appointment ceremony. There were plenty of opportunities."
Cadet Ekinesia Roaz found Yuriene's flustered expression strangely ticklish and cute, so she teased him with questions. Yuriene added, as if protesting,
"You seemed to dislike me."
"Me? Dislike you, my Lord?"
Eki's voice involuntarily rose as she asked back. Who dislikes whom? She was going crazy realizing she was shamelessly liking him. As she retorted, Yuriene lowered his eyes.
"I know you don't now. Last time, you said I was pret—"
"Wait, wait, just a moment. You don't have to say what comes after that. No, please don't say it."
Ekinesia cut him off, her face flushed red. Yuriene's eyes widened, and he chuckled softly.
Her face red, she picked up the Amethyst on the table. As she tried to fasten the belt part around her waist, an eerie voice echoed in her soul.
[Master. Master. Master.]
Why are you calling me when you know I can't answer right now, you damned Demon Sword? Eki grumbled inwardly. She didn't know how to fasten the belt. She pulled at the white leather strap this way and that, then dropped it in surprise at the Demon Sword's voice, which had grown louder.
[Are you bringing in another sword besides me now? Huh? Even praising it as pretty? That's too much! You've never done that to me! And to such a shabby thing that's not even a Giosa! I'm prettier than that! I'm sturdier! Throw that thing away right now!! It's all pale and ugly!]
It was a much louder whine than usual. Like a spiteful seven-year-old stomping their feet and screaming. Eki reflexively covered her ears.
[I obediently listen to my Master when they say they'll throw me away nicely, but my Master is happily receiving another sword even though I'm still here! I hate you, Master! I'm sad! I'm going to sulk! I'm going to go astray!]
Covering her ears didn't stop the voice that reached her soul. Bardelgiosa's shrill voice made her head spin. Eki mercilessly channeled Mana into her right hand.
[Ouch! Ah! Geez, Master only hates me...]
The Demon Sword grumbled sullenly and then fell silent. It seemed she would have to have a separate conversation with it later. She sighed, and suddenly a shadow fell over her.
"Lo, Lord?"
"It seems difficult to fasten. May I touch it for a moment?"
Yuriene had already come around the table and was approaching her. He rested his arm on the back of the sofa and looked down at the white leather strap awkwardly hanging around her waist.
He didn't immediately try to fix it and asked politely, but the very fact that he had come so close made Eki half lose her mind. She nodded absentmindedly.
"Excuse me."
He took hold of the leather strap. Then he wrapped it around her waist and finished by intertwining the beads on her side. In the process, his arm embraced her waist before pulling away.
"You can fasten it like this."
"Th, thank you."
Yuriene spoke calmly and stepped back, then headed towards the door of the guest room. Eki, who hadn't yet regained her senses, unconsciously asked,
"Where are you going?"
"...I'm thirsty. What about you?"
"Ah, I'm fine."
"I'll be back."
Yuriene quickly left the guest room. Left alone, Eki groped at her waist blankly, then buried her face in her hands. Her whole face was burning.
[Why did he suddenly leave? Anyway, he's gone now, so I can say it, right?]
"If you tell me to throw away the Amethyst, I'll break you first."
[Why! Why! Wow, look at you already calling it by its name! You didn't even like swords before! Why are you discriminating against it! Just use and discard anything like you used to!]
"This is an exception."
[That's ridiculous! Why is it an exception? Because it's expensive?]
"Because Yuriene gave it to me..."
Eki was shaken by her own words and fiddled with her lips. She let the Demon Sword's endless grumbling go in one ear and out the other as she looked at the Amethyst hanging from her waist. The white sword he had made for her.
'When I look at this, now...'
Yuriene would come to mind before the nightmarish memories. A realization struck her like lightning. Probably for a while, maybe forever. She wouldn't have to relive the terrible memories when she looked at the Amethyst. Warmth spread from the depths of her soul, as if soaking in warm water.
"What should I do... I think I'm liking him more."
These dreamlike moments wouldn't last long. Reality was waiting with its mouth open. Nevertheless, the newly awakened and excited emotions wouldn't let her go easily. Eki simply closed her eyes as if to ignore it.
* * *
The train ran all day without stopping. It was midnight when they arrived at the station in Criola, a large city in the eastern part of the Empire. Outside the station, several carriages were waiting even at night to pick up passengers who had gotten off the train.
"We'll have to sleep in the carriage."
Yuriene said this and hired two carriages. They each got into different carriages and set off towards their destination. Eki, who was quite tired, fell asleep not long after getting into the carriage.
It was a mire of blood and flesh. She was sprawled out in that mire, crawling. A piercing, fishy smell filled her nostrils. A skull with empty eye sockets, half-submerged in blood, looked at her. The skull opened its mouth and spoke.
"It's the blood of your family. The blood of the people you cherished. The blood and tears of innocent people. It's all yours."
"Ugh..."
Her voice wouldn't come out properly. She tried to get up, screaming silently. But the mire entangled her and wouldn't let her go.
Stop, stop it. When she finally started to cry, light poured down on her head. It was a pure light, shining white. She looked up at the light.
Can I touch it? Is this light that has come down for me? Can that light save me?
Ekinesia reached out her hand towards the light. Crimson blood flowed down her raised arm, drawing a web-like pattern. Her red hand touched the light. The light shattered.
"Ah."
The fragments of the shattering light were all bright red. Severed heads, corpses with their entrails spilling out, distorted faces, cursing screams, and pooling, flowing blood were reflected in those fragments. The light was stained red and poured down.
"Did I break it?"
The collapsed light became red fragments and piled up on her mire. It created a corpse.
The corpse of a white man stained red. His unfathomable blue eyes were looking straight at her. As if resenting her for making him like this.
You said you would win. You said you would say thank you for watching over me. I trusted you. You. Is this the price I paid for trusting you? Is this the result of me giving you a chance?
I shouldn't have waited for you. I should have killed you there.
She imagined the accusations he didn't say, looking at his corpse. Red liquid pooled and flowed from the corpse's blue eyes. The corpse smiled and whispered.
"You, who are like that, dare to love me?"
Ekinesia screamed.
[Hey, hey, are you okay? Why are you screaming in your sleep? You scared me!]
"My lady, what's wrong?"
The Demon Sword's voice and the coachman's voice, looking back as he opened the carriage shutter, were heard at the same time. Eki gasped for breath, soaked in cold sweat.
"Hah, hah..."
It seemed like she had a dream. What kind of dream was it? Ah, a nightmare. She often had nightmares. It's nothing. It's a familiar thing. As she repeated this to herself endlessly, her breathing calmed down.
Soon, Eki was able to smile nonchalantly and say to the coachman,
"It's nothing, I just had a bit of a nightmare."
"You startled me, haha. I guess you weren't comfortable sleeping. Well, it's about time to wake up anyway."
"Where are we?"
"We're almost there. If you open the window, you'll see the village."
Eki opened the wooden window on the side of the carriage, which had been tightly closed. A thick fog rushed into the carriage. It cooled her cold sweat.
[I haven't seen you have a nightmare in a long time? Isn't this the first time since you turned back time? What kind of dream was it?]
"...I don't know, I forgot."
She answered the Demon Sword roughly and looked beyond the fog with narrowed eyes. Beyond Yuriene's carriage, which was running right in front, a small village was getting closer.
It was a small village. They got out of the carriage at the entrance of the village and sent the carriages away.
Yuriene bought some food and immediately left the village. He seemed to know the destination well and moved forward without hesitation. The place he headed to was the mountain behind the village.
"Are you alright?"
He turned to look at Eki just before reaching the uphill path. His gaze lingered on her high-heeled shoes. Eki nodded reflexively.
"I'm fine."
She didn't want to show him even a hint of her escaping from 'Countess Ekinesia Roaz'. The fear that had deepened after realizing the feelings she harbored was close to an obsession.
Yuriene didn't ask twice. He soon started climbing the mountain ahead. Eki followed him from two or three steps behind.
Climbing a mountain wearing heels and a puffed-up petticoat was more uncomfortable than she had thought. Fortunately, the mountain was not very high or steep, but it was still bound to be uncomfortable.
If she hadn't been a Master, she would have collapsed from exhaustion. Eki secretly used Mana to support her body.
Yuriene was walking in front, but it was impossible to detect Mana moving inside another person's body unless there was direct contact, so it didn't matter.
Of course, the story would be different if Mana flowed out of her body or if she showed movements that were impossible without Mana.
A representative example of the latter was sparring, so if the opponent was someone who could distinguish between movements that used Mana and those that didn't, there was a high probability of being caught as a Master if she used Mana.
The biggest reason she avoided sparring with Yuriene was that. She couldn't help but use Mana when facing Yuriene, but there was a world of difference between simply following behind him and circulating Mana to support her body, and using Mana while facing him with swords.
Perhaps Yuriene would be able to immediately distinguish if she used even a little Mana to move during sparring.
'No... wait a minute.'
While cursing the petticoat and shoes in her mind, Eki realized a fact that she hadn't considered until now.
'When sparring with Yuriene, I don't necessarily have to do it properly, do I?'
It wouldn't be strange if she swung her sword messily and lost. It was natural. She was only a first-year student at the academy and a Squire. It would be stranger if she could spar properly against Yuriene, the captain of the Azure Knights and a Giosa Owner.
'Why didn't I think of this?'
