<CHAPTER 64>
If Love Could Make You Unhappy
“What?”
“Caw? Peck! Peck!”
“It would be faster if I carry you and run. Besides, with those feet, you won’t be able to run for long.”
Ehilie finally looked down at her own feet.
Her feet were a mess from running on unpaved dirt roads in heels. The skin on her heels, pressed by the sharp back of the shoes, was completely scraped off and bloody.
“Alright.”
Ehilie had no choice but to let him carry her. Herond cawed repeatedly from the side.
“Herond, shh, be quiet!”
“Caw…………….”
“Excuse me.”
Gabriel lifted her with his firm arm supporting her thigh. Meanwhile, his hand was clenched in a fist as if trying not to touch her.
“Please hold on tight.”
The moment he finished speaking, Gabriel began to run.
Truly, befitting the name of a hero who would save the empire, his movements were astounding.
He ran up the steep slope like a horse, yet not a single shock was transmitted to Ehilie’s body. His speed was so fast that the sound of wind whistling past her ears could be heard.
Ehilie was inwardly impressed.
‘A hero is indeed a hero.’
***
Meanwhile, Herond, flapping his wings as if they would break following the hero, fell into serious conflict.
‘What should I do? Should I go and report now?’
That damned hero was putting moves on Ehilie, and she was in danger.
‘But His Highness absolutely ordered me never to leave Ehilie’s side and protect her.’
Herond, chewing over the command received from Redemberg, flinched.
‘Wait. Come to think of it, didn’t he give another command before that?’
It felt like something important was missing.
p>Indeed, there had been one more command received before that.
“If something dangerous happens to Ehilie, come and tell me immediately.”
Herond, belatedly recalling the memory, turned pale.
That’s right. Herond had received two commands.
To report to him if something dangerous happened to Ehilie.
And to protect her by her side.
‘No, that doesn’t make sense from the start. Telling me never to leave Ehilie’s side, but to come report if something dangerous happens!’
Herond felt wronged.
He didn’t have two bodies.
How could he follow both contradictory commands?
The bird-brained Herond had naturally only remembered the last command he heard.
‘Wh, what should I do?’
His violet eyes rolled frantically. Herond didn’t possess the wisdom to judge which of the two commands to prioritize.
‘Your Highness, why do you give me such trials!’
***
Before long, the sun had set.
“There’s a cave over there. Let’s hide there until morning.”
Gabriel headed into the cave.
They could avoid the biting wind, but it was just as cold inside the cave.
Ehilie curled up to maintain her body temperature as much as possible. Gabriel sent her a worried gaze.
“Are you cold?”
“………………A little cold, but I’m fine.”
She was not fine at all.
At this rate, she might freeze to death.
She missed Rek’s warm embrace so much.
Gabriel, looking at Ehilie who was trembling, suddenly stripped off his outer garment.
‘What?’
His upper body was revealed. Though not as much as Rek, it was still sturdy and well-defined. A perfectly knightly body, appropriately tanned by the sun and scarred here and there.
“Caaaw!”
Herond cried out fussily.
“I didn’t bring a separate outer garment. For now, please cover yourself with this. It’s a bit thin, but better than nothing.”
“No, but then you’ll be bare-chested, Gabriel.”
“I’m accustomed to the cold. I’ve trained bare-chested in places even colder than this.”
“Even so…………………”
“I’ll go out and gather some firewood, so please rest.”
Gabriel went out without giving her time to stop him.
Ehilie had no choice but to pick up Gabriel’s upper garment and cover herself. It wasn’t very warm, but better than nothing.
“Caw! Peck!”
Herond kept pecking and cawing.
“Herond, are you cold too?”
“Caw, flap!”
“Then, come here.”
When Ehilie opened her arms, Herond froze.
“Peck, caw, peck peck”
Herond cawed with somehow serious determination, then soon slipped into Ehilie’s embrace. Then he spread his wings to cover Ehilie as if embracing her, and subtly pushed away Gabriel’s garment.
“You’re trying to keep me warm?”
“Peck!”
“Thank you, Herond.”
“Caw!”
Ehilie made sure to cover Herond well with Gabriel’s garment so he wouldn’t be cold.
Before long, Gabriel returned carrying a bundle of branches.
Soon he skillfully lit a fire.
Crackle, crackle.
As warmth spread through the cave, Ehilie finally let out a sigh of relief.
“Gabriel.”
“Yes.”
“How did you know to come here?”
Gabriel’s hand, pushing in branches, paused for a moment.
Gazing at the bonfire, he let out a heavy voice.
“I…… dare to doubt Saintess Clarisse’s qualifications.”
“What?”
“It is said that a hero’s heart beats only for the saintess, but my heart has never once beaten for her. I’ve never felt resonance, and rather felt strangely unpleasant sensations when by her side.”
It was natural that he couldn’t feel resonance.
Because Clarisse was not the real saintess.
‘But an unpleasant sensation?’
According to the original story knowledge Ehilie possessed, Clarisse was simply an impostor.
She claimed to hear the voice of God to obtain wealth and honor. And she bribed greedy priests to make them her allies.
And at the occasion to prove her divine power through the Holy Grail, she colluded with the priests to fake a miracle.
It was a simple method where Clarisse pretended to lift the Holy Grail behind the altar, while several high priests supported from below and injected divine power.
They couldn’t produce the scene of holy water overflowing, but anyway, it filled up.
It was a time when the saintess had not appeared and the empire’s people’s anxiety was growing, so she was recognized as the saintess without anyone doubting her.
‘Clarisse is simply a fake. Ah. Come to think of it, since she’s a criminal who committed fraud, is that why the just hero feels unpleasantness?’
While Ehilie organized her questions alone, Gabriel continued speaking.
“Until now, I thought the problem lay with me who couldn’t fully awaken my powers. But now I think that might not be the case. Because when you—”
His gaze turned to Ehilie.
He opened his mouth as if to say something, then soon turned his gaze away with a lonely smile.
“……Never mind. Please forget what I just said. Rather, the truth is I kept circling around the temple. Somehow I had a foreboding feeling.”
“A foreboding feeling?”
“Yes. I’ve had good instincts since I was young. This time too, my instinct was right. I was fortunate to overhear her………………. that person giving orders to High Priest Mikhail.”
Gabriel narrowed his brows. His voice lowered another degree.
“While I was hiding my whereabouts, she ordered to find and bring all those I had contacted. To find the fake—”
“Ah.”
Ehilie let out a sigh.
Who was calling whom a fake.
Truthfully, she didn’t care about being treated as a fake. Because Ehilie didn’t particularly want to prove that she was the saintess.
The problem was that the ‘fake’ Clarisse was looking for was Ehilie.
‘She’s definitely trying to find and eliminate the real one!’
When the real one appeared, she would be dethroned, so she was probably trying to eliminate any potential danger.
“I was about to go find you immediately to inform you, but I was watching the situation, worried that if I moved rashly, it might bring even greater danger. Then I learned that you had been invited to a banquet at the Luminous Grand Ducal residence, and waited nearby just in case.”
And Mikhail had discovered suspicious individuals and followed them.
That was how he came here.
“Your instinct was a great help to me. Thank you, Gabriel.”
“I should be the one thanking you for believing me.”
“But are you really alright? You must be cold.”
“Yes. I tend to run hot. Thanks to the fire, I’m now at the point where my daughter could be born!”
At Gabriel’s fuss, Ehilie giggled.
They continued to have light conversations.
How Gabriel became a hero, and what kind of life he had lived.
“You went to catch a bear monster with just a wooden stick?”
“Yes.”
“My goodness, you were brave since you were young.”
“Well, if you put it nicely, it’s bravery; if you put it badly, I was a reckless fellow who didn’t think before acting.”
“So what happened?”
“It’s a bit embarrassing to say. I confronted the beast and charged at it, but tripped and rolled straight down the slope.”
“Still, you’re alive now thanks to that, so rather, it’s fortunate.”
“What are you saying! If we had fought properly, I would have won!”
As the conversation deepened, the atmosphere between the two gradually became more amicable.
As she listened, Ehilie’s gaze toward Gabriel slowly changed.
She had only thought of him as the madman from the original story and tried to avoid him.
‘He doesn’t seem like such a bad person as I thought!’
Come to think of it, when they lived together, he was a good person if you really thought about it.
Even when Rek treated him coldly, he was always friendly and helped well with housework.
‘He just becomes a bit strange in front of love, but the person himself might be fine.’
Just as Ehilie’s evaluation of him was improving, Gabriel suddenly brought up Rek.
“You said you love that man.”
“Yes.”
“If that love could make you unhappy…… would that still be alright?”
The favorability that had finally risen instantly dropped.
