/
I couldn’t take my eyes off that woman.
Was this what she meant when she said she’d come back?
I looked at Dylan reflexively. I don’t know why I looked at him.
He, like other nobles, was staring blankly at the woman.
‘No.’
I don’t know why I had that thought.
“Rose Herthas? I’ve heard….”
“Isn’t that the young girl who disappeared five years ago?”
“Yes. That’s right. But why…”
People were skeptical, but their gaze soon changed.
Rose’s face, looking at them now, and the woman’s face in the sunlight coming through the cracked wall, was the savior itself.
“Look over there! Demon worshipers flee!”
Ironically, when the woman appeared, the demon worshipers went wild. As if it was meant to be that way from the beginning.
The nobles, who had been harshly beaten up until a while ago, ridiculed them as they fled when the situation was reversed.
At the same time.
“The Savior has saved us!”
They praise Rose.
Then Dylan looked at me with trembling eyes. As if asking me for an explanation.
“Dylan….”
Instead of answering the call, he turned away from me.
Without a single glance, he walked over to the savior, no, Rose.
“Rose?”
“Long time no see, Dylan.”
I don’t know why such a situation is happening.
“… Are you really Rose?”
“Then who am I if not Rose?”
The woman hugged Dylan very naturally, as if familiar with it.
The nobles rejoiced at the reunion of their long-separated family.
Fake.
I could almost hear the sneers directed at me.
I stood far away and watched the scene.
*****
Richard was also surprised by the current situation.
It wasn’t shown on his face, At the same time, it was a little funny.
A woman with the same face as Rosie. She was already someone he had met once in the North.
“Is that woman the savior?”
“The lost Rose Herthas….”
“Maybe to save us…!”
It was funny to watch the nobles’ confusion, admiration, and praise.
<I’m going to take her place. Without leaving a single point.>
Richard remembered his last conversation with that woman.
Was that what you meant?
When everyone couldn’t take their eyes off the Savior, he turned to look at Rosie.
Even Rosie was so blinded by the savior that she didn’t even know he was looking at her.
‘Rose Herthas.’
I didn’t ask about it until now, but I doubted Rosie’s identity.
I also thought that maybe she could be ‘Rose Herthas’.
Judging by what the woman with the same face was claiming now, he’d been right.
‘Oh, she ran away.’
Now that the situation was difficult for Rosie, she turned her back on the Savior, unable to look any further.
*****
Unable to contain the suffocating sensation, I escaped as if running away.
I crouched down on the arch, out of sight, and watched what was happening.
The wounded and dead were removed and the collapsed building was closed.
From the moment I first met that woman, I had doubts.
Who the hell is that girl? Was she really Rose?
If she’s the real Rose, who am I? How could there be two Rose?
One must be fake…
“Rosie.”
“…….”
“No, am I supposed to call you Rose now?”
I pressed a hand through my greasy hair and turned around.
Even when the event had just begun, the silver hair that had been swept to the side was naturally flowing, whether it was messed up during a fight.
Even in the midst of this, his looks robbed my eyes, and his appearance was a truly unique man.
His blue eyes narrowed.
“Rose.”
“… Are you here to tease me?”
“Why would I tease you?”
A wave of emotion washed over me.
“Are you asking because you don’t know that?”
I felt like I wanted to grab him by the collar, but instead I clenched my fists and looked at him.
“You said you’d let me meet the Savior, then you knew.”
“…….”
“And was it fun to pretend you didn’t know anything?”
“Rose.”
“Stop calling names that aren’t even funny.”
I felt deceived.
If I had known that the savior had the same face as me, I would have at least given some words.
But why…
“The promise is valid.”
“Promise?”
“The promise that if you come to me, I will let you meet the savior.”
“Haa.”
I burst out laughing.
“What does that promise mean? The savior is already in front of me.”
The Savior is so close to me that I could run and grab her right now.
“What’s the point of you coming and helping me now? Do you want to help me out of your reach, and give me condescension as if you’ve done a great job?”
“……”
“It’s not even funny. You knew the Savior’s face, but you didn’t tell me. How can I trust you now?”
“I didn’t know either.”
“You didn’t know? what?”
“That a woman with a face exactly like yours would suddenly appear today, claiming to be the Savior.”
“You’re lying. You’re the one who said you’d let me meet the Savior, why don’t you know that?”
“Because the savior I knew didn’t have that kind of face.”
What? What the hell are you talking about?
I don’t understand his words at all.
“What if that woman is not the savior?”
Not a savior?
Richard sat down on one knee and made eye contact with me.
“Are you saying she’s fake? What does that mean?”
“Well. Where should I start explaining? Oh yeah. First of all, I have to explain it from the moment I first saw her.”
After pondering for a moment, Richard made an unexpected statement.
As his story continued, I couldn’t hide my surprise.
“… So you’ve seen her in the North already?”
Richard nodded obediently.
“Why are you telling me that now?”
“If I told you this when I didn’t even know who she was, would you have believed me? You would have thought I was crazy.”
“I’m sorry, but you are already crazy to me.”
Although I shot him like this, I also agreed with him.
If I hadn’t seen her in the North, I wouldn’t have believed Richard’s words.
“Then you are saying that woman is a fake pretending to be a savior, and that there is another savior?”
“That’s right.”
I gazed at the Savior, who was being praised by the nobles in the distance.
Next to such a savior was the second princess, Evangeline.
A princess who was somehow closely tied to the fake savior.
It can be dangerous if touched her incorrectly.
However.
“I need to meet her before I meet the Savior.”
It doesn’t matter whether the woman is the savior or not.
Because she’s also someone I’ll have to bump into someday.
You need to find out what the hell she’s thinking and what she knows.
“I need you to help me, I’m begging you.”
*****
The afternoon’s events continued into the night.
After wasting a lot of time in the commotion, it was getting dark and the sun was setting.
‘I can’t believe the event is still going on after all this…’
It was a mess until a while ago, but the appearance of the savior seems to have boosted their excitement.
The nobles gave a toast to the savior as if they were not tired.
I watched that woman pretend to be a guest at the banquet, mingling with the nobles and pretending to be the Savior.
Dylan followed Rose.
Oddly enough, looking at it, my mouth felt bitter.
Soon, Richard approached her.
The nobles watched Richard approaching Rose with puzzled eyes.
No matter what conversation they had, Rose smiled as if asking everyone for their understanding and walked away.
Dylan moved as if to follow, but was soon stopped by Rose.
‘It worked.’
As planned, Richard had his own seat with Rose.
A man and a woman under a colorful chandelier disappear into the dark hallway.
I hurriedly followed after them.
“I’ll pass by for a moment.”
It was time to walk past the nobles who filled the banquet hall and barely step into the dark hallway.
Suddenly, a large hand grabbed my wrist and pulled me into the hallway.
“Wait…!”
The hallway was dark and the face was not recognizable.
The man reluctantly grabbed me and dragged me somewhere.
“Let go of this!”
I tried to shake off his hand, but the more I did, the more painful it was to the wrist he was holding on to.
“What are you doing! Let go!”
I struggled to pull away, but it was no use. At that moment, the moonlight shone through the window and illuminated the man’s face.
I lost strength in my hands.
Dark brown hair dyed in moonlight, handsome features.
And…
Red eyes that made my skin crawl.
Red eyes that glowed like madness, so red that it made my head spin.
“… Dylan.”
The corners of his mouth twitched in response to my call.