[CHAPTER 84]
“What, no. What do you mean?”
Even though it was something I had expected to hear, the moment those words left her mouth, I could not help but doubt my ears.
“Everything.
That Jerena is a demon, and that they would come for you.”
Karin neither lowered her voice nor cautiously checked her surroundings.
It was an act of remarkable boldness, but I was not particularly worried either.
The surroundings were so noisy that no one would have heard us anyway.
…In truth, even if things had not been like this, I doubt I would have had the presence of mind to worry.
I was far too busy trying to process what Karin had just said.
“How… no, since when…?”
“Since the very first moment I opened my eyes thanks to Jerena.
Didn’t my mother tell you?
That I knew.”
“Not at all.”
Karin looked genuinely surprised that I was this shocked.
“Oh, I see.
Then this must have been quite a surprise.”
Rolling her eyes while covering her mouth, Karin awkwardly brushed her hair back.
“I did inherit quite a lot of my mother’s divine power.
I lost a great deal of it while I was ill, though.”
Only then did something come back to me.
A certain fact that had crossed my mind the instant I heard Sian’s family name.
The saintess who appeared several times in my past lives, and her family.
‘Was Karin the saintess of the Alistarn family?’
And in the timelines where she never became a saintess, was it because she had been bedridden by illness?
While I was organizing my thoughts, Karin continued speaking without pause.
“When I opened my eyes again, it seems some of my divine power had returned.
That’s when I saw it.
Your mana.”
“……”
“You’re hiding it now, aren’t you?
Back then, maybe because you were saving me, traces of it were left around.
There was no way I wouldn’t notice.”
My lips parted slightly.
What was I supposed to say?
“I didn’t intend to deceive anyone…”
Could I even say that?
From anyone else’s perspective, it would have looked like nothing but deliberate deception.
As I hesitated, time slipped by far too quickly, and I found myself biting down on my lip without realizing it.
“You’re bleeding.”
If Karin’s thumb had not touched my lip just then, I would probably have kept doing it.
“Your pretty lips are all torn up.”
Karin’s gaze, filled with concern, lingered on my mouth as she continued.
“I know you didn’t mean to deceive anyone.
How could you have explained it, anyway?
And Sian explained things to me, roughly.”
“……Sir Sian?”
“Yes.
He said it happened because you stayed behind in the dungeon in place of others.”
Ah.
She must have been trying to reassure me, startled by how stiff I had become.
That much, at least, came through clearly.
Even so, my thoughts grew heavier instead of lighter.
Even the ‘circumstances’ Sian had explained were simply his own generous interpretation of me.
Just then—
Bang!
“Ahhh, oh gods!”
A loud noise followed by someone’s prayer drew both Karin’s attention and mine.
Even during our brief exchange, the party hall had descended into something close to chaos.
To an outsider, we must have looked like two lunatics standing calmly side by side in the middle of it all.
Beyond the windows, the demon’s curtain had swallowed everything in pitch-black darkness, and the guests were panicking, flooding toward the exits.
‘…And yet, I don’t feel tense at all.’
The mana curtain outside was enormous, but it did not feel particularly powerful.
Sian and Karin, both possessing divine power, must have sensed that as well.
‘Still, there’s no need to add another unnecessary rumor.’
Karin, meeting my gaze, seemed to be thinking the same thing.
Without a word, the two of us began moving toward the exit like everyone else.
“So that’s why people couldn’t get out.”
“Yes… the doors are locked.”
“I heard the Holy Knight Order set up a barrier.
Sian probably did it, right?”
I nodded silently in response to Karin’s question.
Among the Holy Knight Order, only one person could deploy a barrier large enough to cover a party hall of this size.
“Honestly, he could at least explain things before leaving.
People might think they’re trapped.”
Muttering that her younger sibling lacked consideration, Karin raised her voice toward the crowd.
“Everyone!”
Perhaps infused with divine power, her voice rang clearly through the chaos of the hall.
“I am Karin Alistarn of the Alistarn family.
I know you are all shaken, but this party hall is protected by a barrier personally cast by the Holy Knight Order, so please be at ease!”
Her confident voice filled the hall.
“The Alistarn family… isn’t that the Holy Knight Commander’s sister…?”
“If that family says so, it must be trustworthy.”
Those who had thought they were trapped slowly began to calm down.
‘If you can neither leave nor enter, isn’t that essentially confinement?’
The thought crossed my mind, but I kept it to myself.
There was no need to unsettle people who were only just beginning to relax.
“Was I cool?”
The sight of her smiling beautifully at me after calming the crowd with nothing but her voice was exactly how I had always imagined a saintess.
“Yes, you were.”
I answered with a light smile.
Karin scratched her cheek, as if she had not expected me to respond so readily.
“Huh.
You’re the first person who’s reacted like that when I say something like that.”
In this timeline, how did Seria end up as the saintess candidate instead of her?
It must have been because Karin fell gravely ill due to the demon core stone.
‘…Hm?’
As I pondered that, a sudden sense that I was missing something struck me.
‘What am I overlooking?’
I thought it over, but no answer came.
It felt as though something was obscured, making it hard to focus on the thought itself.
“It’s lifting, it’s lifting!”
“Ahh, finally…”
The exclamations of people staring out the windows pulled my attention away.
Some were moved to tears at the thought of being able to leave, while others threw their hats into the air in celebration.
There were also those who cautioned that it might not be completely safe yet and urged continued vigilance.
As I watched them, a cool breeze brushed against my cheek.
Had a window opened behind me?
It had been firmly shut just moments ago.
When I glanced back, I saw that the window was indeed wide open.
“Jerena.”
Along with Sian, who looked as though he had just come in through it.
“I’m back.”
Sian smiled gently as he spoke to me.
A demon had appeared, so he must have fought, yet his face looked just as serene and angelic as before, without a hint of disarray.
‘That expression…’
It looked exactly like the face Karin had made when she asked, ‘Was I cool?’
“Ah.”
It was an expression I had seen often, but now that I understood its meaning, it felt oddly endearing.
I let out a small laugh, a quiet chuckle that reached Sian and made him look at me in confusion.
“You were cool, Sir Sian.”
“……!”
It was the same compliment I had given Karin, yet Sian’s expression brightened noticeably.
He even looked… happy.
“Is everything taken care of with the demon?”
“Yes.
It’s safe now.”
“Ah, thank goodness…”
That last line was not mine.
It was the crowd, who had been listening without realizing it, letting out a collective sigh of relief.
Sian seemed to understand their feelings and did not scold them for interrupting.
“You may leave comfortably now.”
He simply reassured them in a gentle tone.
As the tension drained away, people began sinking into their seats one by one, apparently too exhausted to care about decorum or appearances.
“Jerena.”
Sian called out to me as I watched them leave.
“Yes?”
“When we get home, could we talk for a bit?”
“……”
Sian’s expression was grave.
It was nothing like the bright look he had worn just moments ago.
I sensed instinctively that something serious had happened.
