Chapter 41
The image of the boy she knew appeared over Leopold’s smiling face. Eliza could not tear her gaze away, overwhelmed by a strange sense of longing.
‘……I’m glad you still know how to smile like that.’
And then, like a bolt of lightning, she realized. She could not stay by his side any longer.
Whether or not her true identity was discovered, the fact that her heart was growing weak was dangerous.
The relief of feeling as though she had grown even slightly closer to him again was threatening to bring her to her knees.
‘No. I can’t. I mustn’t. Eliza. Pull yourself together.’
She did not want to shamelessly act as though she were innocent when she was the perpetrator.
Thinking that she had to leave this place quickly, Eliza counted the remaining days of her service. There were only a few days left to begin with, but if she could leave first before then…….
Suddenly, a small weight dropped onto the top of Eliza’s head. Eliza stopped moving abruptly.
“I’m not hurt anywhere, but I am a little tired.”
“……Holy water, perhaps.”
“Holy water? Something like that is useless. There’s only one thing that works on me.”
Leopold was resting his chin on top of her head. She could clearly feel the playful movement as he tilted his head.
Leopold flexed and relaxed his hand as though pondering lightly, then decided to let it go this time and gave her shoulder a light push, making her step away.
“You can go now. I’m not hurt anywhere.”
Leopold walked past her with long strides and began taking off his clothes one by one.
Eliza lowered her head with a slight bow and tried to leave immediately.
However, when he loosened the ties of his shirt, her gaze was momentarily drawn to the tightly wrapped bandages beneath.
‘He said he wasn’t hurt anywhere, but is his previous injury still there?’
When she hesitated and did not leave, Leopold took off his shirt halfway, draped it over his arm, and tilted his head back.
“Was this always your kind of thing? How long are you planning to keep watching?”
“That bandage…….”
“Ah, this? Are you curious?”
Leopold completely shrugged off his shirt. Then, grabbing the end of the tied bandage, he slowly began to unwind it.
“Come to think of it, it really is strange. It wasn’t an injury that should have healed so completely.”
Eliza’s shoulders flinched. She could not hide her agitation, partly because of Leopold’s words, but also because of his skin being slowly revealed.
“……Ah.”
“What? Is it disgusting? Should I stop?”
At his casual question, she felt all the color drain from her face. Eliza clenched her fists, afraid that her hands might tremble.
“Si… since I have confirmed that you have healed. I will be leaving now.”
Eliza hurriedly left the barracks. Only after getting sufficiently far away did she stop, burying her face in both palms.
Her ability could only heal wounds; it could not erase the marks that had already formed.
Even though she had only caught a glimpse, his chest was covered in various scars.
‘I’m the one who drove you onto this battlefield. I’m the one who made the scars of war become etched into your body…….’
Ah, how dare she stay by his side, even for a moment?
She was so overwhelmed by the devastation that she could barely breathe. Eliza forced herself to hold back her tears.
At last, she felt as though she had awakened from a brief illusion and returned to the cold reality. Eliza willingly accepted the painful guilt in her heart and straightened her posture.
***
“She left?”
“Yes. I heard that she returned ahead of everyone else.”
“Has running away become a habit of hers?”
“Pardon?”
“Never mind. You may leave.”
Leopold, who had called for his personal priest once again today, clicked his tongue when he heard the news that she had left this place.
Her obvious escape was rather cute. But he had wanted her to stay a little longer. It seemed the time was not yet right.
‘After I went to such lengths to pretend not to notice. What was it that she didn’t like?’
Leopold slouched back in his chair and rested an arm over his eyes. The moment she left, an unpleasant pain began to rise again from deep within his head, from the very depths of his mind.
So how could he possibly not know? This sensation that only she could tame had been gradually fading away at some point.
“She’d be horrified if she saw this.”
Leopold spread out his palm and scratched away the dark fuzz that had sprouted there with his fingernail.
Then, as he stared intently into the palm of his hand, a pitch-black energy seemed to writhe and rise from it.
Leopold clenched his fist again, extinguishing that power. Even after his parents died, the power they had left behind had not disappeared.
How horrified would she be if she knew? So he had to hide it.
Leopold reaffirmed his resolve and opened the lid of his flask.
“Then shall I put an end to it now, too?”
Downing the hard liquor like water, Leopold felt his heart race for the first time in a while.
This leash was meant to last exactly five years. With the five-year promise already becoming boring, and with her having come to find him herself, no one could fault him for bringing it to an early end.
Leopold soothed his throbbing head with the warm intoxication and dealt with the minimum amount of paperwork.
Just then, there was also an irritated message from Urhel lying on his desk. When he opened the envelope, he burst into loud laughter.
“You can’t mistreat an animal while claiming to serve a god.”
A short note giving the coordinates of where the bluebird had been spotted and the direction in which it had flown had a single blue feather enclosed with it.
Declaring that there would be no second favor even if the bird was spotted again, Urhel had kindly caught the bird, plucked out a feather, and sent it along.
There was no way Leopold could fail to recognize what this feather was.
‘You let your guard down. Eli.’
He had not been hallucinating over the past few years. She had been much closer than he had thought.
What had Eliza been thinking when she cared for the bird? Leopold shook his flask in a cheerful mood, but it was empty.
Smacking his lips regretfully, he cast his gaze in the general direction in which she had left.
“Then, shall I go fetch my young lady now?”
***
“I heard something urgent had come up. Are you all right?”
“Yes. I’m sorry for leaving ahead of everyone after you went to such trouble to take care of me.”
Eliza, who had already returned to Ruben, encountered Gesle and bowed her head in apology. Gesle waved both hands.
“Not at all. Since you had already accomplished your purpose, I am simply glad that I was able to be of help.”
Gesle’s pure goodwill weighed heavily on Eliza’s heart today, making her uncomfortable.
Eliza knew that his help was because of her ability. Even though she knew that he thought she was a saint because of her meager healing power, she had allowed him to misunderstand for some time. It was easier to receive his help that way.
But now it was time to clear up the misunderstanding.
“Priest Gesle, there are so many things I am truly grateful to you for.”
“Hehe, why are you saying that all of a sudden?”
“It’s just. I realized that we’ve already been together for several years. It feels strange. We were people who might never have met each other in our entire lives.”
“That is precisely why fate is so mysterious. From the bonds that transcend and encompass human will, I sometimes try to discern the arrangements of our great Mother.”
The priest’s voice was as calm as ever, giving Eliza a gentle sense of peace.
And so, as much as she had received his help, Eliza wanted to give him at least a small share of the credit.
Something like this.
“Priest Gesle. I should apologize to you first.”
“For what?”
“I know that you have been mistaken about me being a saint. But I am not a saint.”
“Hmm, that is because you have not yet…….”
“I know who the real saint is.”
Gesle’s eyes, usually filled with a gentle expression, widened unusually. Seeing the expression on his face as he believed her words without the slightest doubt, Eliza answered with a smile, though he could not see it.
“Yes? Wh-what does that mean? Sister, I find it difficult to follow what you mean.”
“Perhaps my ability isn’t healing power, but this.”
There had been times when she thought the truth of this world, which she had unwillingly learned and which had changed her fate, was a curse.
But if this really was a world where a protagonist existed, perhaps omniscience could be a blessing rather than a curse.
‘I’ve already changed the story once. Isn’t it all right to change it a little more?’
Having directly witnessed Leopold’s condition, Eliza decided to move the story forward a little so that he would no longer have to suffer.
She let Gesle know the clues she knew about the saint and asked him to help her find her.
Overwhelmed by the strange certainty carried in Eliza’s clear voice, Gesle was left speechless.
If he truly helped find the saint, he would bear an honor beyond compare as a clergyman.
Picturing that future, Eliza quietly recited the truth.
