~CHAPTER 31~
“…Are you dressed to go out?”
I approached him trying to hide the uneasy feeling in my chest as if nothing was wrong.
Everyone had already said they would go out or spend time on their own, so he must be thinking of going somewhere too.
“Yes, I don’t even remember the last time I dressed like this.”
Looking at how much effort he put into it, he must have been ordered by His Grace again.
He couldn’t have been waiting for me here at dawn.
“His Grace must have told you to do something again.”
“No, that is not the case.”
“Then where are you going?”
“I do not know the destination myself.”
Is he wandering around because he feels restless?
No way… he didn’t dress like that to go with me, right?
“Jelena did not tell me anything, did she?”
“…”
“We can eat after I finish my business. On the way back, we should pack something for Latia as well… Jelena?”
He carefully watched my expression when I stayed silent for a while.
“Ah, were you… not planning to come with me?”
I can’t believe it.
No wonder he wasn’t bothered when I said I was going out even after being so clingy last night.
He already assumed we would be going together.
I didn’t even try to shake him off and left the house with him.
Thinking about it now, bringing him would not be a problem.
No, it would actually be helpful.
We started walking to stop a passing carriage after leaving the mansion.
I couldn’t help but look at him again and again because he dressed far more elaborately than usual.
Even normally, he dressed like someone of high standing among us, but this was the first time in a long while he dressed up this much.
To be dressed like that at this hour, he must have gotten up quite early.
How did he know exactly when I would come out?
“Sir Sian.”
“Yes.”
“When did you start waiting in the lobby? How did you know when I would come out?”
“It is fine. I do not sleep much in the morning. I finished my morning training and waited comfortably.”
So he waited since dawn.
Everyone living in that house knows he practices swordsmanship before sunrise.
I swallowed the question, wondering what he would have done had I gone out in the evening.
We simply continued walking side by side.
After riding a hired carriage for about ten minutes, we arrived at a temple.
It wasn’t luxurious.
Every city or village had at least one temple, so it looked like it only served the basic purpose.
It was almost similar to a monastery.
That child is here?
I was about to step inside, but Sian suddenly held my shoulder, blocking me.
“Jelena, why are we here?”
“I have business.”
“…Inside the temple?”
Why is he so persistent?
I knew he had the right to ask as someone accompanying me.
But he didn’t ask anything all the way here.
He assumed we were going out together, yet he didn’t even ask where or when we were leaving.
And now he blocked me like I was here to cause harm.
Ah, could it be?
“Is it because I’m a demon?”
“No!”
His voice grew louder which startled me.
“No, that is not…”
He bit his lip, unable to finish his sentence.
That expression again.
It was the same one he had when he waited in the lobby the other day while I was speaking privately with Illay.
I turned fully toward him.
“Sir Sian, if you have something to say, please speak clearly.”
“…”
“You know I won’t understand unless you speak.”
That was one thing I learned after twelve lifetimes.
Not speaking because nothing will change is foolish.
He parted his lips after a long hesitation.
“Jelena.”
“Yes.”
“Do you truly believe I would stop you only because you are a demon?”
I stayed silent because I couldn’t think of another reason.
He must have taken my silence as agreement because his expression darkened.
“This place is familiar to me. You know there is an orphanage nearby that I usually look after.”
Was that so?
It made sense since the orphanage where we met Latia couldn’t be too far from here.
“So I know the priests here quite well. I stopped you not because demons are forbidden here.”
He bit his lower lip again.
“It is because the priests inside despise demons.”
He finally concluded with a short answer and looked at me.
“So you want us to turn back?”
“Yes. It is too dangerous. There is even a priest here with an unnaturally sharp sense. If they uncover who you are…”
“They won’t. I don’t even have magic right now.”
I placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.
“You worry too much.”
“Jelena.”
“I have to go inside. There’s something I must do.”
“What exactly is it?”
I turned my gaze toward the inner temple.
“A child.”
“What?”
“There is a child in the underground area. I have to save them.”
“Did you hear it somewhere? Maybe at If’s kitchen?”
“Yes.”
I explained briefly, leaving out the World Tree details.
“Save them? Are they in danger?”
“Exactly.”
That was the condition Ifrit gave me.
“Jelena, this is a temple. No child here should need saving.”
“Are you sure about that?”
I could only rely on the one who was connected to the World Tree.
“Sir Sian, you said it once, right? Any group will rot if no one checks it often.”
He closed his mouth without arguing.
He still believes everyone is good by nature.
That’s why he trusts others so easily and lost his severance pay to a scam.
Even now, he listens and thinks instead of rejecting me.
“…Fine. But stay right beside me.”
“Of course.”
“Even if we enter, they won’t let us into the lower level. It’s always restricted to staff only.”
“That’s fine. We have someone related to this place, don’t we?”
He was a Holy Knight and even the Captain of the Main Temple’s Order.
He looked like he finally realized my intention.
“…I will try.
***
Jelena and Sian stepped inside the temple.
A passing priest recognized him and approached quickly.
“Goodness… Sir Aliston. What brings you here?”
He had visited several times while going to the orphanage, so their faces were familiar to each other.
“His Grace ordered something, so I stopped by.”
“Ah, His Grace. I understand. And this person…”
“She is…”
His words paused.
The short conversation before entering flashed through his mind when his eyes met Jelena’s.
