Upon returning to the manor, the Grand Duke went back after settling the issue with the priest they had captured.
Of course, I had to chastise him for wanting to call a doctor.
“Why won’t you listen to me?”
“Your Majesty isn’t listening to me, either. I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine at all.”
“I’m perfectly fine, I just need to get some rest.”
“Still, I’m going to send a doctor to……”
The argument ended when I pushed him out of the bedroom and slammed the door.
“Ha……. I’m tired.”
I knew helping Grand Duke Noctis wouldn’t be easy.
‘This is worse than I thought.’
Especially with the priests gathered in that dingy old palace, quite a few of them.
It seems their god is a serpent named Eden.
If that’s the case, then the queen, who was praying to the god Solar, the symbol of the empire, was playing it straight.
“And Omen must also be a follower of Eden.”
Instead of going straight to bed, I sat down at my desk.
I thought I’d try to summarize the beings I’d seen today.
[ Ting ! you’re coming with this thing attached to your body.]
“Argh! You scared me!”
A voice suddenly broke into the quiet bedroom.
“You ran away by yourself. Why did you come?”
[What do you mean ran away! Why would I run away when I saw those things, what kind of nonsense are you talking about!]
“Yes, yes. Whatever you say.”
Ignoring the old woman who had appeared out of nowhere, I picked up a quill pen and scribbled words on a white sheet of paper.
“Eden…….”
If the emblematic god of the empire is Solar, the sun god, then why does the imperial prince, Grand Duke Noctis, have a black lion attached to his body?
This raises some questions. Especially since the auras of Solar and the Black Lion are so different.
Like light and darkness.
[Beings that are different on the outside and inside exist everywhere.]
“……Old lady, don’t talk to me, I can’t concentrate.”
[Hey, I’m trying to tell you what to do because you have to do it without me!]
“……what?”
I put down my quill pen.
“By myself? Where are you going, old lady?”
This is some kind of celestial power story.
I’ve only been using my ability for a short time, yet this old lady is leaving.
I look at her in surprise, and she gives me a puzzled look.
[Don’t worry, I’ll be back].
“…When will you come back?”
[In order for you to use your power to defeat them sooner, you need to be strong, so I’ll need to fill up my energy as well.]
“Is it because I… don’t pray like my mom, if that’s the case……”
[No, that’s not it. Anyway, you have your mother’s bell, and I have given you my strength, so you won’t be defeated just because I’m gone for a while.]
“You saw her today. She’s got a lot of them, and she’s got a lot of power. How can I face them alone without you?”
Without saying another word, I just looked down at the paper with the word “Eden” on it.
[Even now, you’ve done it all by yourself, and I’ve done nothing but watch from the sidelines].
“……Lies. You’re lying on purpose so I would let you go.”
[Is this what it’s like to be lied to!]
The old woman shouted, and the crystal bell rattled with a clink-, clink-, clink.
“What do you expect me to do if you just throw me out here by myself and leave? Can’t you can just send me home again instead?!”
[……No].
“Ha! Why not? You realize how irresponsible you are, don’t you?”
She could just send me back home where I belong and everything will be fine.
There’s no reason for me to stay here and be Flotty Bevenia, because I was never her in the first place.
“What if I die in this weird novel?”
[I’m not going to let you die.]
“I’m about to die. What if that snake bite kills me?”
I remembered the creepy statue I’d seen in the abandoned palace.
Sinister red eyes, gaping jaws that looked like they could open at any moment, and a huge body.
It was only a statue, but it still suffocated me.
“Please let me go back. I want to go back right now. I hate all of this.”
I was lucky to have survived Grand Duke Noctis in the first place.
I was lucky to have become useful to him, otherwise, I would have died as soon as I entered this novel.
I threw the quill I was holding at her.
Thud!
The quill flew past the old lady, who was just a spirit, and hit the wall, and fell to the floor.
[……It’s not safe there.]
“That’s bullshit. Why is my house dangerous?”
[I know you’re not supposed to go back there, dear. You’re not going back there!]
The old woman was fading into a blur.
“Explain it to me, you’re going to have to tell me what’s dangerous!”
What the hell is more dangerous than this novel?
I’m supposed to be fighting Eden or something right now.
[Trust yourself, trust me].
“Old lady, old lady!”
[And trust your mother].
With those words, she disappeared as mysteriously as she had appeared.
I got up and opened the window to look for her, but she was nowhere to be found.
“This is crazy…….”
She had indeed left. With no indication of when she would return.
***
“You’re still up?”
The Grand Duke returned very late.
A long time had passed since he had left, and it must be near dawn.
I curled up under the covers, only my eyes peeking out.
“Did you get any information from the priest?”
“Nothing.”
He has a heavy mouth.
The Grand Duke replied in a tired voice.
The Grand Duke, already dressed in more comfortable clothes, brushed a stray strand of hair out of his face and approached the bed.
“What can we do? If they realize the priest is missing, they won’t just stand still.”
“There’s no proof it’s us.”
“We’re the only ones who gives a damn about Eden.”
That’s true, too.
He let out a small laugh in a low voice.
“What are you going to do about that priest?”
“I’ll take care of that, so don’t worry about it. You should get some sleep. You don’t look well.”
The Grand Duke pulled back the covers, and my face was fully revealed.
“I suppose I should call a doctor after all.”
“……I’m just tired, I’ll be fine when I sleep.”
“That’s because you don’t sleep.”
The Grand Duke narrowed his eyes and scolded.
He’s worried about me.
After the old lady disappeared like that, it was hard to fall asleep.
Her body was exhausted from the day’s hard work, but her mind and heart were overwhelmed.
“Good night, I’m going to close my eyes now.”
I closed my eyes like that in front of the Grand Duke.
I could hear him laughing, but I tried to ignore it.
The quilt, which had disappeared, came back up over my body. It felt cozy.
“Get a good night’s sleep. You’ve had a long day.”
I burrowed a little deeper into the quilt.
At least the Grand Duke is back. I felt more at ease than when I was alone.
The Grand Duke blew on the candle I’d left by my bed.
I was more comfortable than before, but I still couldn’t sleep.
I gently opened my eyes and gazed at the Grand Duke’s broad back.
‘He sleeps well after seeing that…….’
I don’t know whether to be impressed. Or think that he is apathetic.
He must have spent his life keeping Omen and the Queen in check.
Even as a child, even now.
If he fails this time, he will likely do so in the future as well.
Somehow, I felt a little sorry for him.
“Ha…….”
Who’s worried about who?
As if I didn’t have enough to worry about right now.
I sighed in frustration again, and the Grand Duke, who I thought had fallen asleep, turned around.
“Can’t sleep?”
Saccharine pupils glowed in the darkness.
His back was to me, and now he was looking at me.
“…… Yes, a little.”
It was the first time I’d ever been this close to him in bed.
No wonder, since we always slept far apart in a wide bed.
Besides, we weren’t really a couple.
I felt my face heat up unnecessarily at this late hour in the bedroom.
“Okay, I’ll try to get to sleep, so go to sleep too.”
I turned on my side and stared at the ceiling.
“I’ll let you sleep.”
“What?”
I turned my head to look at the Grand Duke.
The Grand Duke stretched his left arm long in my direction.
“……what?”
“I’ll hold you.”
I was so tired, I thought I was hearing bullshit.
Or that the human lying next to me wasn’t Grand Duke Noctis.
“Oh, I don’t need a hug.”
Despite the darkness of the bedroom, I turned my head shakily, afraid of revealing my heated face.
“You’ll sleep better.”
I sure as hell would not. How could I sleep in a man’s arms?
“You slept well before.”
He must have been referring to when they were on horseback.
I remembered the embarrassing way I’d slept.
“That’s… not the same as this.”
This late at night, in a bedroom, in a man’s arms.
It was something I’d never imagined, and it made me blush even more.
“What’s the difference? It’s the same thing, just cuddling.”
I don’t know why this man is so nonchalant.
“I’ll sleep alone.”
I ignored his outstretched arm and closed my eyes.
But a hot body pressed against the back of my neck forced me to open my eyes again.
“What the……!”
The muscular arm moved slightly, and then my body rolled to the side.
The next thing I know, I’m in the Grand Duke’s arms.
“Don’t worry, I won’t do anything bad.”
A soothing bass sounded overhead. The Grand Duke wrapped one hand around my back and held me tightly.
I could feel the warmth of another human body against mine.
“Oh, how can I sleep in such discomfort?”
“Stop complaining.”
He hugged me a little tighter to keep me from saying more.
Funnily enough, the sound of his rapidly beating heart drowned out my anxiety.
Thump, thump, thump.
Laughing to the beat, I drifted off to sleep unknowingly.