6. Someone is watching

Despite all the commotion and issues, National Foundation Day eventually passed. Delilah filled the stage all by herself for over thirty minutes. The prima donna’s skill was astonishingly perfect.

Delilah’s solo performance was more impressive than any other troupe that performed that day. Even though she came uninvited, she did her best for Kirion’s sake, which unexpectedly led to murmurs that the Papal Palace should recognize Delilah’s contribution.

The uninvited prima donna exited with cheers. Afterward, the increasingly frail Pope finally appeared, supported by Kirion and Rublier, to give a commemorative speech. Lastly, the heads of the Guardian families raised their glasses of wine to toast the eternity of Caldeblanca and the Pope’s well-being.

But no one truly believed that the current Pope’s reign would last much longer. At most, it would be two or three years. His illness was that apparent.

Moreover, due to the extreme caution from Gjorn’s side, who had been sternly reprimanded by Satin, the four of them never gathered in the same space again that day.

Life returned to its usual calm afterward.

……Was it truly calm?

“Satin, come here.”

Rublier returned home later than usual, carrying a box under his arm.

Satin, caught by Rublier, sat back down and pondered. Lately, the main culprit disturbing her peace was undoubtedly Rublier.

Life at Del Mare’s main house had been quiet. Both her parents and Satin acted within predictable boundaries. However, the calmness in the newlywed home entirely depended on Rublier. Whenever he suddenly stepped in, the seemingly calm surface would ripple.

Satin lightly swirled her teacup. The surface of the tea rippled. It was just like that. Even a small stimulus would show.

“What is that?”

Maintaining a certain distance, Satin only slightly tilted her head. It was an ordinary-looking box. A rectangular, black, and long box. It felt familiar. Although the material was different, she had brought a similar box to the newlywed home.

“Is it a Ka Dillon family heirloom?”

Rather than curiosity, a sigh came first. Heirlooms from both families were gathered in one house. Rublier chuckled at Satin’s reaction.

“I know what you’re thinking, and I wish it were that meaningful too.”

You wish it were that meaningful……?

Satin hesitated. Rublier opened the box and pushed it toward Satin.

“I just brought it for a moment. I wanted to show you.”

Satin cautiously looked into the box.

Inside lay a holy relic she had seen many times in pictures. The handle attached to the broken base of a sword.

It was a piece of the legendary sword that the first Pope, Dionysius, had used to stab a demon about two hundred years ago. Despite the passage of time, the embossed patterns on the handle still shone brightly.

“Hold it.”

Rublier urged. Satin took her hand off the box and looked at Rublier.

“What’s wrong?”

“Sir Ka Dillon, would you wear a dress if you’re asked out of the blue?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’ve never held a weapon in my life. The only knives I’ve ever held were for eating or letter opening.”

It was a holy relic from another family, and what’s more, it was a real sword used to subdue a demon. No way could she easily hold it.

“Just grab it. Like a steak knife.”

A steak knife? The comparison was so absurd that Satin was momentarily confused whether to laugh or be appalled.

“……I don’t want to.”

“Why? Are you scared?”

“It’s a Ka Dillon family heirloom. Not just anyone can touch it.”

“Why are you ‘not just anyone’? You’re my wife.”

“Even so, wouldn’t it feel uneasy for someone not of Ka Dillon blood to touch the heirloom? At Del Mare, I had to get permission from my parents to even look at the holy relic.”

Suddenly, she felt the passage of time. Her parents would be shocked to know she now slept with the holy relic under her pillow.

“Del Mare’s customs are quite different from ours. We all grew up swinging this relic around as kids, pretending to be the first Pope. Among the five families, Ka Dillon probably displayed the relic the most.”

Rublier added nonchalantly.

“Even Kirion held the sword when he visited our house as a child.”

“His Eminence Kirion did?”

If siblings grew up swinging the relic and even Kirion, who visited as a guest, held it, then many hands had touched Ka Dillon’s relic. Even so, Satin felt distant from it and tried to close the box and return it to Rublier.

“What?”

But in the blink of an eye, the relic was already in her hand. Rublier had taken it out and placed the handle in her hand, covering it with his own. The handle, sized for a man’s hand, was thick enough to fill her grip.

“How does it feel?”

“……It’s hot.”

Rublier’s brows furrowed slightly at the unexpected answer.

“The handle is hot?”

“No.”

Satin corrected herself.

“Sir Ka Dillon’s hand is hot.”

“You startled me. I thought some mysterious phenomenon was happening to you.”

“I was startled too.”

Her hand felt warm enough to be flushed. This person’s intense warmth made her forget the sword’s texture for a moment. It was hot and large. And as always, it was sudden.

Come to think of it, it was just like its owner. Popping up suddenly and startling people. Life was unpredictable, but looking back, it was fascinating. Someone she thought would live separately forever suddenly appeared one day and turned her life upside down.

Rublier looked down at Satin’s hand again. He tilted his head.

“Your hand is cold. It’s small and soft, like cream. I can’t apply any force when I hold it. Your hands and feet are so small; how do you walk, run, and move with that body?”

She felt her toes curl involuntarily. On the other hand, given their stark physical contrast, it must have seemed fascinating to the robust Rublier, just as she had found the tall Rublier amazing even at a young age.

“Is this what you call a gentle touch?”

She had always felt his grip was tight. It felt like he was holding her without giving any room to escape.

“Otherwise, you’d get hurt. I don’t know how much force to use. When holding a sword, you need to grip it firmly to prevent it from shaking or dispersing force.”

So that’s why you suddenly asked if it hurt during the ceremony. I was just surprised.

“What do you think of holding the sword?”

“Well.”

Satin, who had been quietly staring at Rublier’s prominent-knuckled hand, finally started to carefully stroke the handle of the relic with her thumb.

“It tickles.”

“What?”

“When you fidget, it tickles.”

Despite saying it tickled, Rublier didn’t release his overlapping hand. When Satin tried to pull her hand away, he only tightened his grip. It broke her concentration.

“……I don’t know.”

Satin tried to calm herself. However, she couldn’t find any answer to what she was supposed to feel. Unless she was a knight who normally held swords, this was just a rough, hard, and unfamiliar object to her.

Thinking of it as a sword that had slain a demon added some eeriness, but she didn’t think Rublier had brought the relic to scare her.

“What’s the right answer?”

Rublier spoke.

“Kirion said the sword called to him.”

“What did you say?”

I couldn’t help but doubt my ears. It is indeed a rare holy relic, but originally, a sword is an inanimate object. I had never heard of an object calling out to a person. Thinking it might be a poetic metaphor, Satin scrutinized Rublier.

“The sword calls? How?”

“I don’t know either.”

“The sword calls? Are you sure it’s not a misunderstanding? Or a lie.”

“If you had seen Kirion’s expression at that time, you wouldn’t call it a lie.”

She could tell after seeing Rublier’s current expression. Satin decided not to make any unnecessary rebuttals.

“I don’t know what kind of sensation it is either. So I just thought, ‘what nonsense,’ and dismissed it. But one day, a professor teaching historical anecdotes at the academy said this. Several generations ago, when it was difficult to determine the successor through an oracle, they gathered the holy relics held by the Guardian family and let people touch them. Then, they could identify who the rightful successor was.”

“When did you learn that? I don’t remember it.”

“If it weren’t for Kirion, I would have dismissed it too. But since Kirion was called by the holy relic, and hearing the legend that the relic identified the successor, it all made sense. At the commemorative ceremony, I said Kirion received a vision. That was it.”