After holding me for a long time, Ilion finally loosened his arms and examined me.

“Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere…?”

Ilion’s expression darkened as he intently scrutinized my face.

“Did that person do this to you earlier?”

“No, no. That person is my friend.”

I quickly shook my head, worried that unnecessary suspicion might fall on Spinel.

“Then who did this to you?”

Without needing a detailed explanation, Spinel appeared with Bertel rolling on the ground.

“I’ve caught that bastard from earlier.”

“……”

“What do you want to do now? I’d like to burn him to death.”

Spinel calmly asked me while looking at me. It seemed the conclusion was already decided, so why was she asking for my opinion? Was this a rhetorical question…?

Seeing Spinel, Ilion looked like he wanted to ask if she was really my friend.

“Um, Miss Spinel. Usually, humans who do wrong are sent to prison.”

“You mean that place where we were locked up earlier?”

“Something similar, yes.”

“Why bother? We could just cut off his head and be done with it.”

Spinel asked back, seemingly not understanding my answer.

Yes, that’s why I said ‘usually’ that’s what’s done.

While I was pondering how to explain this to Spinel, the Leader, who had regained consciousness, spotted Ilion and hurriedly crawled over.

“Du-Duke! Please save me. That witch is planning to kill all the villagers.”

Ilion looked down indifferently at the Leader clutching his trouser leg.

Seeing Ilion’s lukewarm reaction, the Leader hastily added,

“I-I am Bertel, the lord of Selvas. Please, considering your connection with the late Duke, if you could help me just this once…”

“I think we should just burn him to death after all.”

Spinel approached us, intending to kill the Leader.

“Wait a moment.”

Ilion stood, blocking Spinel.

“Step aside, human. The only one I have business with is the one behind you.”

“If this man has committed crimes, he should be dealt with through a trial.”

“You’re asking me to show mercy to someone who tried to kill us?”

“…He tried to kill you?”

Ilion asked back at Spinel’s response.

“Well, I was fine, but this child was almost burned alive.”

Ilion’s eyes grew colder as he looked at the Leader.

“I see.”

Ilion replied, stepping aside as he spoke.

“Take him if you want. I’ll pretend I didn’t see anything.”

“W-wait, Duke. Are you really going to abandon me like this?”

Bertel clung to Ilion, almost begging.

“Y-you have a connection with the late Duke, you can’t do this…!”

“Or I could kill you with my own hands.”

Ilion drew his sword and pointed it at Bertel. Terrified, Bertel quickly backed away.

Spinel was one thing, but why was Ilion suddenly acting like this too?

“Um, Duke. Instead of doing that, why don’t we just put him in prison?”

Fearing that blood would be spilled if left like this, I hurriedly intervened between the two. It was deeply regrettable that I seemed to be the only sane person here.

“You really are soft-hearted. Well, if that’s what you really want, alright.”

Spinel, who had been acting as if she would pounce at any moment, unexpectedly backed down easily. I thought it would take a long time to persuade her.

“You’re agreeing to my request more readily than I expected.”

“Well, it wasn’t me who almost died because of that bastard, it was you. So the decision should be yours, right?”

It was truly an answer that could only come from someone who was confident they wouldn’t die from beginning to end. That’s why it was so like Spinel.

Ilion also reluctantly sheathed his sword with a displeased expression. Then he ordered the soldiers who had come with him to arrest the cult members.

“Now, let’s go back.”

“Where to?”

After seeing the situation somewhat resolved, Spinel suggested we go home, and it was Ilion who questioned this.

“I’m planning to go to my home.”

“Leave Ravenne here.”

Hearing his response, Spinel turned her body completely towards Ilion.

“I can’t do that. That child is my family.”

“Family?”

Ilion crossed his arms and looked at me.

“I didn’t know you had a family I wasn’t aware of.”

“Well, it’s a bit of a long story to explain…”

Why do I keep ending up in the middle of awkward situations?

“Let’s say we became sworn sisters? Haha. We agreed to be like sisters.”

“Sisters? So you’re the older sister?”

As I hurriedly tried to explain to Ilion, Spinel interjected with slightly flushed cheeks.

“…Y-yes. Miss Spinel is the older sister.”

“Is that so? That’s nice!”

I had no idea why she suddenly became so happy, but at least it wasn’t a bad thing.

“Right. Instead of this, why don’t we invite Miss Spinel to our house?”

“…What?”

“Huh?”

Both of them looked at me as if to say, ‘What are you talking about?’

“The place where Miss Spinel lives will soon be developed and become dangerous, right? You can’t stay there forever… I’ll help you find a new place to live. How about staying at the ducal mansion until then?”

I was very curious about who would win if Ilion and Spinel fought, but I wanted to stop living in the mountains eating unpalatable food.

Come to think of it, civilization was truly a remarkable thing built up by human wisdom. So I absolutely didn’t want to give it up. Absolutely not!

But Ilion didn’t seem pleased with the conversation progressing without his permission.

“Is that alright, Duke?”

“How could it be…”

“Is this the first guest the young lady has invited? Well, we’ll have to prepare to welcome a guest when we return to the mansion.”

A familiar voice interrupted our conversation instead of Ilion, who was about to refuse.

“Sebastian! Lily!”

The two of them were standing behind us, having arrived at some point. Their faces looked as if they might cry at any moment.

“Young lady! Are you hurt anywhere?”

“No, I’m fine.”

“How can you be fine? Your face is all bruised again. Seriously, you’re about to get married soon, what is this?”

Lily, who had grabbed my hand, finally started crying loudly.

“I really thought you had died. I’m so glad you’re alive…”

“Were you worried a lot?”

“How can you even ask that? Everyone was so worried.”

I thought everyone would have given up looking for me. It seems they had been searching for me continuously during the five days I was missing. Tears welled up in my eyes without me realizing.

“By the way, who is this person next to you?”

Lily asked, wiping away her tears.

“Ah, I met her when I fell into the cave. She’s the one who helped me whenever I was in danger.”

“Oh my. Then she’s the one who saved your life!”

“I guess so?”

As I nodded, Sebastian quickly added,

“We can’t just send away someone who saved your life! That’s absolutely unacceptable for the Celestine family. Isn’t that right, Master?”

At Sebastian’s question, Ilion finally declared his surrender.

“Alright. Do as you wish.”

***

“Huff, huff…”

I kicked off the blanket and opened my eyes. My heart was racing, and my whole body was drenched in cold sweat.

I looked around with a terrified face. Thankfully, the darkened mansion was as quiet as ever.

It was a terrible dream.

Ilion, Lily, Sebastian… Everyone I knew appeared in the dream.

They were all in a terrible state, their bodies covered in blood.

They were crying tears of blood and blaming me.

How could I betray them, how could I think of saving only myself when I knew everything…

Among them, I was struggling in fear.

My fingertips were trembling slightly, perhaps because the aftereffects of the nightmare hadn’t faded yet.

I think I knew why I was having such dreams.

Was my decision really right? Was it right to struggle to save only my own life?

I asked myself dozens of times a day.

Of course, I knew. I knew that what I was doing wasn’t right.

But the wall of reality was higher than I thought.

There wasn’t enough time, and I didn’t have the ability. I couldn’t even solve the immediate problems in front of me, let alone boldly set out to change the future.

If only I had been given the ability to break Ilion’s curse, if only…

But I wasn’t a saint, I was Ravenne.

If there was a God, I wanted to ask.

What was my role in this story? What should I do from now on? Was I simply supposed to faithfully follow in Ravenne’s footsteps as a villainess…?

My thoughts kept chasing each other in circles.

Feeling frustrated, I looked out the window and saw that the light in the office across was brightly lit.

Was Ilion still working? Even though it was late at night?

After hesitating for a while, I headed towards Ilion’s office.

After knocking and entering, Ilion looked at me with an expression that suggested he was surprised by my visit.

“Hello, Duke.”

“Couldn’t sleep?”

“You appeared in my dream, so I wanted to see you.”

I replied nonchalantly and naturally headed to the seat I always sat in.

“Do you have a lot of work?”

“There’s quite a bit piled up…”

“Is it because of me that work has piled up?”

“It’s my fault for not adjusting the schedule properly, not because of you.”

Although it looked like work had piled up while he was searching for me, Ilion shook his head.

“It seems you came because you have something to say. Shall I offer you a cup of tea?”

Ilion asked, seemingly having read my expression. I was reminded of our first meeting when he had practically ordered me to leave. Back then, he not only refused to offer tea but also hated me sitting in this seat…

Was it that he didn’t dislike it as much now, or had he gotten used to my brazenness? Either way, Ilion’s changed attitude was striking.

“Actually, I’m curious about something. How did you find me?”

“I received help from Michael.”

“Michael?”

“Yes. We kept tracking you with the tracing magic placed on you, but it took time because it wasn’t easy to pinpoint your location.”

Was it because I was inside Spinel’s barrier that they couldn’t pinpoint my location?

“I’m sorry it took so long to come rescue you. I should have gone faster…”

Ilion had no reason to apologize.

If anything, I was the one who thought Ilion would have given up looking for me.

“Didn’t you think I might be dead, Duke?”

“I did think that.”

Sitting across from me, Ilion answered my question without a moment’s hesitation. Then why did he keep looking for me?

“But even so, it wasn’t something I could easily give up on.”

“Why?”

To my question, Ilion answered in a calm voice.

“Because I wanted to see you one more time.”