Lily opened her mouth with a confused expression, as if she couldnât believe what she had just seen.
âWeâll start with⊠the treatment. Your armâŠâ
âAh.â
Looking down at the place where everyoneâs eyes were focused, my arm had a bigger wound than expected. A span of wounds, as if they had been caused by rolling off the carriage earlier. Aside from that wound, there were quite a few aftertakes.
As soon as I recognized that there was a wound, I felt the pain come belatedly.
âItâs okay.â
As Lily opened her mouth with a worried face, a familiar feeling came over my wound. At the same time, the skin around the wound felt warm.
And, as always, my wounds faded away.
The surprised eyes of the three people touched my clean skin as if it had been washed before they knew it.
âI was saying itâs okay because Iâll get better soon anyway, well.â
I flipped my hand over to show that all the wounds were gone.
âI feel better before I even talk.â
ââŠYou.â
Kade, standing next to the frozen, speechless Lily and Ivan, had his face contorted as he asked in an exasperated voice.
âWhat the hell are you?â
I knew that one day I would be asked that question.
***
âSo.â
I donât know how many times Iâve heard that, âSoâ word.
âYou and the Master of the Magic Tower⊠are a married couple, and he thinks youâre dead right now?â
âYes.â
âThatâs why heâs crazy?â
âYes, thatâs right.â
âDoes that make sense?â
What else is there that doesnât make sense? I tried to explain more, yet finally closed my mouth and swallowed a sigh inside.
A few hours after the carriage with a hole was fixed and we got out of thereă ĄLily said that there is a recovery magic among the magic classes she can useă ĄI was being interrogated non-stop until nightfall.
Of course, it was mostly Kade who asked me questions, Ivan stood between me and Kade, and Lily only listened to us and seemed lost in her own thoughts.
Anyways, I think itâs about time he ran out of questions.
As I leaned my head against the wall of the carriage as if I was tired, Kade made an expression saying, âHow can you be carefree in this situation?
But I really only told the truth. I thought he wouldnât believe me, yet it really makes me feel a bit unfair.
âPlease just believe it for now. I donât know which one you see that makes you think itâs a lie.â
âRather, I donât know which one I see that makes me think itâs not a lie⊠Do you know how many years Iâve known the Master of the Magic Tower? During all the time Iâve been to and from the battlefield, I havenât heard a single word about you from the Master of the Magic tower.â
The same goes for stories about him either having a wife, a lover, or a loved one. Kade added, and I shrugged.
âThen Dante just didnât talk about that.â
âEven if he hadnât talked about it, I would even have noticed thatâŠâ
âAh, for real. I told you to stop. Be honest.â
I suddenly sharply raised my head and saw Kade flinch.
However, I didnât care about that reaction and stared into Kadeâs silver eyes, saying it as clearly as I could.
âDoes it look like Iâm saying this because I need your approval?â
ââŠâ
âYouâre free to believe my story or not. I explained it to you because youâre still curious. But if you donât believe even that explanation, what more can I do here?â
At my words, Kade closed his mouth as if he had nothing to say.
âIâll say this again, everything I said is the truth. Even if I die, I come back to life, I was caught in an explosion 10 years ago and died, then Dante went crazy thinking I was dead forever, and I came back to find Dante. Understand?â
ââŠâ
See how you donât answer. As I leaned back against the carriage, Ivan, who had been staring at me between Kade and me, slowly approached.
He didnât have a terribly bright face, but he had the best expression of all the people in the carriage.
As I looked at him, asking, âwhat else?â Ivan whispered in a low voice.
âSister, is it true?â
âI told you it is.â
âWell, if you say so⊠I want to believe you.â
As if imitating me, Ivan leaned against the carriage wall and widened his eyes.
âActually, itâs the first time Iâve seen the Master of the Magic Tower make such an expression.â
âReally?â
âYes. I thought that person had no expression until now. He even cried in front of Sister.â
Even now, turning your eyes as if you were surprised is a bonus.
âBesides, he mistook Sister for Illinan.â
ââŠâ
Yes, he did. He thought I was a monster showing illusions, thatâs why he attacked meâŠ
Ah, for real. When I get reminded of that moment, I feel like Iâm getting furious again. I donât know who pissed me off, but anyway.
I forcibly interrupted my thoughts and asked Ivan.
âDid Dante usually kill Illinan in the first place? He told me earlier, he thought he already killed them all.â
âOriginally, umâŠâ
Ivan was silent for a moment. He seemed to be organizing his thoughts, so I was going to wait for a while, yet the answer came from an unexpected place.
âNo, Miss Ei.â
Since when did Lily look at me?
âOriginally, the Master of the Magic Tower didnât kill Illinan. Even when he was standing in the middle of the battlefield, and when he absolutely had to deal with all the monsters.â
ââŠâ
âEven if he had dealt with all the other monsters, he couldnât kill Illinan.â
Perhaps he was seeing visions from Illinan. To the words added in a low voice, I made no reply.
If I think about what Dante saw as an illusion⊠That must be really stupid. But maybe it was because my mind wasnât working properly, so now I felt like I was infinitely stupid.
Earlier, I was angry because I wanted to know why he believed me to be Illinan without a single doubt. I couldnât be angry, I even felt sad, and thatâs why I hated Dante.
âDid Illinan come out often during the war?â
At my question, Lilyâs worried eyes met mine.
ââŠEver since the rumor circulated that the Master of the Magic Tower couldnât kill Illinan, the kingdomâs army deliberately released Illinan into the battlefield.â
ââŠâ
âAs if that was his weaknessâŠâ
Weakness.
As I mumbled those words weakly, I felt Lily take her eyes off me.
I couldnât even greet her shortly to thank her for letting me know, and I had no choice but to sit still on the spot. Should we consider it fortunate that I didnât stop breathing while all my actions have stopped?
It felt like a puzzle that hadnât been put together before had been put together at once. Why he attacked me, why he didnât recognize me, why he denied my presence in front of him so much, the actions which I didnât know the reason why passed through my mind again.
He must have always seen me in that monster. Thatâs why when he saw me standing there, he thought I was an Illinan in disguise.
As always for the past 10 years.
While he couldnât kill Illinan, Dante would have had to get used to them pretending to be me. That familiarity has been piled up over 10 years, and finally today, when he met the real me.
He wouldnât recognize me.
âItâs understandable.â
I sat down, put my legs together, hugged it with my arms and muttered. Since there was a monster like that, it was only natural that you didnât recognize me right away.
I was a person who died 10 years ago to Dante, and there were even monsters mimicking me and showing illusions.
However, nonetheless.
âWhy is it soâŠâ
I feel bad. Even though I understood how Dante had been, something kept stirring in my heart. As if the anger I felt when I faced him earlier came back again.
Also, I get angry over and over at myself, and I think I hate you a little bit. Still, Dante.
Itâs not that Iâm only mad at you.
Yeah, that canât be true. Maybe all of this is my fault. Itâs my fault for not letting you know that I donât die.
And above all.
âHating you forever is impossible for me, Dante.â
I murmured very quietly, lowered my head, and closed my eyes. The blackened vision was like a starless night sky.
At that moment when I remembered the starry night sky I saw onceâŠ
It seems that I thought for a while that I might want to cry a little bit.