[CHAPTER 62]
“You are asking why I was worried.”
It was a question that could easily sound cold, asking why someone would worry about oneself.
The person who was most curious about that question was none other than Sian himself.
Right now, the most important thing was to leave this place and find Seria.
He knew that it was more efficient for those who did not need protection to split up and search separately.
The shortage of horses was not much of a problem.
If it truly came down to it, Ifrit or Noah would have yielded, since they could move freely with the help of spirits.
Just as Jerena had said, she was a demon, so she would not be attacked by monsters.
That meant she was someone who did not require protection.
Then why…….
Why did I say I would go with Jerena.
After he said that, had the mood not naturally shifted into searching in pairs or trios.
The current situation was truly inefficient.
And yet, he could not bring himself to let Jerena go alone.
Why.
As Sian rode on the same horse as Jerena, pondering this over and over, the moment he received her question, all his thoughts came to a halt.
Was it just his imagination, or had he sensed a subtle expectation in her question.
The instant he met those ruby-like eyes, Sian could not say a word.
I was afraid you might throw yourself into danger again to save someone.
I was afraid you would neglect your own body.
You…….
The words floating through his mind were all steeped in overwhelming concern.
Sian, whose lips twitched as if he wanted to say something, lowered his gaze.
“It certainly was not like me.”
“That is true.”
“Still, I think I get it.”
“I am too weak, so it cannot be helped that you would worry.”
Jerena’s replying voice was light.
While Sian was agonizing, the strange expectation that had lingered in her eyes disappeared, as if she had reached her own conclusion.
“I asked something unnecessary.”
“It would be awkward to say to my face that you worried because I am weak, right.”
“I understand.”
“No, that is not it.”
Sian hurriedly denied her words.
Jerena smiled faintly, wearing an expression that said she understood.
She turned her head to look at him, then straightened it as if her neck, which she had kept twisted for a long time, hurt, and faced forward again.
Not seeing her face made his chest churn strangely.
He wanted to get off the horse immediately and meet her gaze again.
But he endured it.
The situation was already inefficient enough, and they could not afford even the slightest delay.
“I also……”
Even so…….
“I do not know either.”
“Pardon?”
“I do not know either.”
“When I came to my senses, I had already said I would go with you.”
“……”
“I will think it over until we return to the capital.”
“If I find an answer, I will tell you then.”
“Would that be acceptable.”
Jerena’s gaze turned toward him again.
Her face as she looked back at him was inexplicably lovely.
…Lovely.
His eyes wavered in embarrassment at the thought that had slipped into his mind without warning.
* * *
Meanwhile, Noah, Jahar Knox, and a third companion moved together.
Sian’s expectation that the Spirit Kings would yield when horses were lacking proved to be exactly right.
Since it was impossible for three people to ride a single horse, Noah placed Jahar Knox and the child on the horse and moved alongside them by summoning an earth spirit.
Jahar Knox found this situation unbearably uncomfortable.
It was because he felt he had to treat Noah, a Spirit King, with utmost respect.
He had a simple personality and very few people he found uncomfortable to be around.
That was largely because, as a born genius, there had been few people he needed to treat with care.
In the Mage Tower, everyone had been beneath him, and all of them had seemed little different from fools he had to look after.
Even the Head of Mage Tower was no exception.
Having been that way since childhood, how could he ever have had a chance to learn social graces.
Jahar Knox found it difficult to grasp what “proper respect” even meant, even though Noah himself was not thinking about it at all.
The child, riding a horse for the first time, seemed fascinated, gripping the reins inside Jahar Knox’s hand and staring fixedly at the mane.
Jahar Knox remained silent, lost in his worries about “respect” and “manners.”
Rumble, rumble.
In the silence that settled among the three, the only sound was the rumbling noise of rocks grinding together whenever the earth spirit Noah had summoned moved its body.
They say that in situations like this, the subordinate should lighten the mood.
Me, a subordinate.
Jahar Knox felt burdened by the unfamiliar and subtle situation, yet at the same time, a small thrill bubbled up inside him.
This might be a once-in-a-lifetime chance.
A situation where I am the subordinate…… so I should say something.
Right, fine, he would just do it.
Jahar Knox clenched his fists tightly.
“I should say something……”
“Say what.”
“Huh.”
Jahar Knox had accidentally blurted out the words he was muttering like a vow.
It was a mistake born from the pressure to say something, anything.
“N, no, that is not……”
“Am I making you uncomfortable.”
“No, sir……”
“Do not feel burdened.”
“I do not particularly care how humans treat me.”
“Y, yes……”
In stark contrast to Noah’s calm demeanor, Jahar Knox could only manage a reply in a voice that seemed to shrink inward.
Fortunately, Noah did not seem to mind.
Just when it seemed the silence would resume, Noah suddenly asked a question.
“Since when did you know.”
“Pardon.”
“That Jerena is the Demon King.”
“It seems she intended to keep it a secret from you.”
“Ah, that.”
Caught off guard by the blunt question, Jahar Knox scratched the back of his neck.
“I knew she was a demon from the start.”
“From the start.”
“Yes.”
“Her mana itself was unimpressive, but people with mana sources that large are rare.”
“I thought she was at least of the demon race.”
“I never imagined she was the Demon King, though.”
“Then you learned she was the Demon King recently.”
Noah looked at Jahar Knox with curiosity.
Jahar Knox nodded slightly.
“Anyone would notice when the second-in-command of the Demon Realm treats someone with that much respect.”
That was true.
What made Jahar Knox certain of Jerena’s identity was observing Illay’s attitude after he arrived.
It would indeed look suspicious.
If even the second-in-command of the Demon Realm spoke with such deference, who would not notice.
But…….
“That holy knight did not seem to know.”
There was always someone oblivious.
At Noah’s remark, Jahar Knox shrugged lightly.
“He is famously dense.”
To be called dense by Jahar Knox of all people.
If Sian had heard it, he might have fumed in indignation.
“Sian probably would not realize even if he died and came back to life, unless Jerena told him herself.”
Fortunately, Sian was not present to hear this.
“He cannot even imagine that someone might hide their own identity.”
“The thought of ‘what if’ probably never crossed his mind.”
Jahar Knox continued smoothly, his demeanor entirely different from when he had been flustered earlier.
“He has never lived a life that was not upright.”
“For Jerena, hiding the fact that she is a demon must have taken tremendous resolve.”
Noah smiled faintly in agreement and looked ahead.
“When you found out, did you feel betrayed.”
“Betrayed.”
“I am not sure.”
“Jerena and I are not the sort of people who must tell each other everything.”
“I am not even sure such a relationship exists.”
“You are human, yet you do not seem to trust humans.”
Noah’s gaze turned toward Jahar Knox.
Jahar Knox deliberately fixed his eyes on the round back of the child’s head.
“Then why do you ask.”
“Were you hoping I would feel betrayed.”
“Of course not.”
“I have no such distasteful hobbies.”
“That is a relief.”
“I simply……”
Noah drew out the end of his sentence.
Jahar Knox waited silently for his next words.
“I only hope that poor soul will no longer suffer.”
It was a meaningful statement.
Jahar Knox turned his thoughts over, trying to interpret it in his own way.
She had lost most of her demonic power despite being the Demon King, so she must be suffering.
Was he lamenting that.
Or had she endured hardship because of a temperament too kind for a Demon King.
Or perhaps…….
“Um.”
The one who cut off Jahar Knox’s chain of speculation was the child.
“Um.”
“Person.”
The child’s finger, accompanying the two clumsily pronounced words, pointed somewhere.
Noah and Jahar Knox snapped their gazes in the direction the finger indicated.
