CHAPTER TWELVE.

The Fortune Teller’s Brat

Thwack! Thwack!

“Haaah! Haaaah!”

Vigorous shouts filled the training grounds. Kabillon sat carelessly on a boulder around the training grounds, watching Philip training energetically with a bright face. It was completely different from his nearly-dead expression from not long ago.

Thwack! Thwack!

“Heugh! Heuuugh!”

After the day Bellota rejected Geril’s proposal, Philip completely revived. He was flying around as if nothing had ever happened. And Kabillon, precisely since that day, had been suffering from his own secret worries.

“Hyaaah!”

That impudent and irreverent guy’s face kept overlapping with……”

“Huuuah!”

Their commander’s face, and that was the reason.

Philip wasn’t the only one whose complexion changed after that day. A certain man who had been standing blankly beneath the tower where the saintess stayed every night also returned to his usual self after the saintess rejected the duke’s proposal, as if nothing had ever happened.

Of course, except for a few who were disturbed by the imperial citizens’ anxiety, most holy knights welcomed the saintess’s decision. They even held secret celebration parties, saying it was obviously ridiculous for their Saintess to marry such a tiger-like bastard.

However, Kabillon couldn’t be certain if Seiden was truly relieved with the same feelings as them.

“Damn……”

They had been together in all those seven years. And only now did Kabillon vaguely notice the reason why Seiden’s mood had been running wild at random times during those seven years. He had been enduring. That foul-tempered man had been harboring feelings for a woman he shouldn’t dare to love. Whenever those feelings reached their limit, he rushed out of the temple to resolve them.

“Damn it, he reached that limit quite often……”

When thinking about it that way, the thought itself reached the height of irreverence. Perhaps from the beginning, the reason he became a holy knight……”

“No, no.”

Kabillon immediately shook his head. Kabillon remembered Seiden who had achieved the greatest merit in the monster war nine years ago. He remembered all the glorious offers that had poured in for the hero Seiden, who had returned after slaying the deckdragon, the source of demonic energy on the battlefield, earning the honor of youngest Swordmaster.

No matter how crazy he might be, he wouldn’t have refused all those positions just to become a mere holy knight because of a woman he could never have. Although he acknowledged that all the holy knights, including Philip who was going crazy over there, were not in their right minds, being a holy knight was a profession that was difficult to endure without faith as its foundation, as it offered neither wealth, honor, nor power. Even he wouldn’t have chosen this path if not for his meager sense of duty toward the suffering imperial citizens.

Moreover, when had he even seen Bellota? As Kabillon remembered, Seiden returned to the capital shortly after Bellota had become the saintess. And he immediately chose the path of a holy knight upon returning to the empire. So it couldn’t be. But, nevertheless, if Seiden had chosen this path merely for his love for Bellota……”

“Hah……”

A strange sense of betrayal washed over him, then when he thought of how he had more than faithfully fulfilled his role for seven years, an inexplicable sympathy flooded in, only to be replaced again by ridiculous bewilderment.

Thinking about it, there was nothing strange. Seiden was a healthy man in his 20s with all limbs intact, and Bellota, though a saintess, was a woman beautiful enough that it would be strange for any man not to fall for her at first sight. But……

“How do I do it without hurting?”

Kabillon squeezed his eyes shut while repeating Seiden’s question that had given him such a great shock.

That was what troubled Kabillon. What on earth was Seiden thinking? Why did he ask such a thing? Why!

Kabillon recalled the two’s appearance in Selento. He hadn’t sensed any kind of atmosphere flowing between them.

“Ah, Lord. Please forgive this young lamb having such irreverent thoughts and let me not wander in this endless confusion. And please watch over this mad dog beside me and prevent him from chasing futile dreams……”

Kabillon, who had been mumbling his confession with his hands clasped together and head bowed, finally couldn’t continue his prayer and let out a deep sigh.

Hah……”

“What are you really trying to do……”

Kabillon was troubled. Because his commander’s love could never be fulfilled. And because he sensed that Seiden’s life would eventually be ruined because of this love that could never be fulfilled.

Even the powerful Duke Lylester couldn’t win her heart. Moreover, since that guy had already retrieved the rockdragon’s heart, there were no more hearts to retrieve. Of course, even if there were a few more, Seiden should never head there.

“……”

Kabillon, who had been slumped in deepening worry, soon came to his senses and jumped up. The thought that he should throw away such unsolvable worries and properly pray for once dominated his mind.

Kabillon tried to put down all these troubles and fill his inner self with pure faith. However, that plan crumbled completely before he could even enter the main building, due to a conversation between noble ladies he encountered.

“My goodness. That’s impossible. No matter what, the Saintess……”

“But the Saintess hasn’t attended the full moon mass for several months now. It’s already been four times.”

“Well, she was in Selento once.”

“Yes, fine. But even excluding that time, it’s already three times. Madam Marshal, you remember too that the Saintess didn’t attend the last full moon mass? We talked about it together? Whether the Saintess might be ill.”

“That was when she was confused about Duke Lylester’s proposal. She hadn’t come out of the tower for days even when it wasn’t the full moon.”

“And the very next day she rejected the proposal.”

The noble ladies were having a heated discussion gathered in threes and fives in a corner of the temple. Kabillon, who had almost passed by, quickly hid himself and eavesdropped on their conversation. Saintess? Full moon? What were they talking about?

“No matter what, I can’t believe it. The Saintess being cursed! And such, such an impure…… Ah, Lord, please forgive the impurity and arrogance of these foolish ones.”

“I don’t want to believe it either! But the rumor has already spread beyond the capital. Leaving this rumor as is would also be blasphemy against God. The temple’s reputation has already hit rock bottom because the Saintess rejected Duke Lylester.”

Kabillon frowned. The Saintess being cursed……? What on earth were they talking about? Kabillon’s heart beat unpleasantly at the ominous feeling rising up his throat in an instant. The Saintess was already cornered as it was. What more could they……”

“Then are you saying you’ll go to His Holiness now to confirm if all this is true?”

“If necessary, we must!”

The noble ladies’ voices were getting louder. Kabillon held his breath, anxiously wondering if someone might rush over here after hearing this commotion.

“What would you ask? Your Holiness, there’s a rumor going around that the Saintess is cursed, is it true? And that it’s such an impure curse requiring her to sleep with a man every full moon. And that the Holy Knight Commander has taken on that role!”

At those explicit words, not only did the noble ladies gasp, but even Kabillon’s breath, who was hiding in a lowered position, was cut off.

* * *

After finishing their meeting with Pamela, Bellota and Seiden returned to the temple. Somehow the return journey felt much longer and more distant than the cheerful path to the nursing home.

Seiden and Bellota gained great insight thanks to Pamela. They discovered the function of Count Alkeria’s holy relic that even Yevar’s magic couldn’t reveal.

“If we assume the person who has the Demon God Book stole the holy relic, that person needed two lives.”

Seiden, who had been deep in thought throughout, nodded at Bellota’s summary.

“That person probably had to deceive someone. So perfectly that they were willing to be reborn.”

“Perhaps they were being chased after being discovered with the Demon God Book? Any dark mage would desperately want the Demon God Book.”

It was a reasonable suggestion, but Seiden recalled the information Yevar had provided.

“An elderly person whose age couldn’t be gauged, estimated to be at least 100 years old 45 years ago, and no one except the count had seen their face.”

“Yevar said that person’s age was estimated to be over 100 at the time, 45 years ago. Even if they weren’t being chased, they would have had difficulty avoiding death if just a little more time had passed. So a second life would have been crucial for them.”

If so, one thing becomes certain. The mage who appeared at Count Alkeria’s household 45 years ago is still alive today. In another form. But why? Were they not satisfied with extending their life? If they were the same person who made the full moon rise early, their purpose was clear: to put Bellota in danger.

But why?

Bellota didn’t even exist 80 years ago when that person started collecting holy relics, nor did she possess any holy relics that person might covet. Although there were rare holy relics hidden in the Grand Temple, they belonged to the Grand Temple, not to Bellota. What exactly did that person hope to gain by threatening Bellota?