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Chapter 45
Thwack!
Anais felt very resentful that the body she was in right now was Lilith’s. With her original body, she was capable of catching wild beasts and monsters with just a wooden stick. But now…
“How did you break this? It’s so weak.”
“Ha ha ha. Emilia, you are really strong.”
The maid with brown hair, Emilia, slammed Anais on the neck, knocking her out. She straightened her shoulders like a hero and spoke proudly to the maids behind her.
“Let’s go.”
“Huh.”
The broken wooden stick Anais was carrying made a clear sound as it fell to the floor. They moved away with Anais, while the other remained there to clean up after her.
.
.
.
The place where Anais woke up was the maids’ quarters.
“Let’s test if the hair will recover if we cut it too.”
“Good.”
“How does she get around with this unsightly hair color?”
“Pfft…”
Anais didn’t want to respond, but twisted her body thinking that her hair shouldn’t be cut. She didn’t know where else this happened too, but her hair didn’t regenerate right away.
When she returned this body to Lilith, it was clear that Lilth would be upset if she found out that her hair was messed up. If she had been the one to resent and shout at Anais, Anais might have acted brazenly, but.
“You used to stick to short hair. Why are you growing it all of a sudden?”
“There is someone I want to look good to.”
Anais recalled a conversation she had with Lilith a long time ago. And it wasn’t hard for her to guess that the person she wanted to look good for was Kylian.
“Hey. Hold her down.”
“She squirms just like a bug.”
Anais moved her body desperately to resist. However, Lilith’s body, which was neither a knight’s nor a trained warrior’s, could not handle the strength of three people. It was useless even if she struggled.
“Hey!”
Anais glared at Emilia, who shouted like a roaring lion. She said, thrusting a small dagger into Anais’ cheek, genuinely angry.
“If you keep moving, I might cut something else. Want that?”
It was better that way, Anais thought. She could bear the pain, but she couldn’t cut her hair. As she twisted more desperately, the other maids pressed her down with their full weight.
“Pray to Goddess Julias! Then maybe she can help!”
Saying that, Emilia pulled Anais’ hair.
‘Stop!’
Anais cried out, but her voice couldn’t get out. The two maids pressing down on her neck and limbs were breathing heavily as they were a little tired. Emilia laughed at her lips that opened and cut off her hair.
Snip, snip.
The sound continued for a while. By the time they left Anais, none of Anais’ hair was hanging down her shoulders. Anais felt as if she had sinned against Lilith, so she was helpless.
The person who Lilith wants to look good for is Kylian. Would she be able to face Kylian like this now? In front of the person Lilith wanted to look so good for, with such messed up hair?
Anais stood in front of the mirror near her with a feeling of despair. Her hair, long enough to reach her hips, was now all scattered on the floor.
Unlike the last time it stayed blue after being cut for some reason, it returned to a honey-like gold color as soon as it was cut.
She felt more saddened by Lilith’s appearance through the mirror, feeling as if Lilith herself was questioning her. Not wanting to cry unseemly as her eyes burned, she took a deep breath. She then picked up the remnants of the hair that were strewn about on the floor. What was cut could be reattached.
Even if the mages were scattered, they were hiding and selling magic tools. There would be a solution. Anais was becoming afraid of meeting Kylian for the first time. She’s been trying so hard to meet him.
* * *
“You! Your hair… !”
Since it was evening, Phileal no longer had to pretend to be a Leviathan, so he had returned to his original outfit. He naturally released the restraints from Anais’ neck. Then he looked again at her short hair.
“Who did this?”
“Put the hair back on.”
“Who did this?”
“It’s more urgent to put it back on now.”
Phileal became distracted as he saw the cut hair pitifully, which now turned blond. It wasn’t just because the divine power in her hair had disappeared.
“Strange.”
“That’s right. It was cut this time, and it returned to a golden color.”
“…I didn’t mean that.”
“Then?”
“I just feel weird. I feel so dirty.”
Anais sighed, saying that she was genuinely offended.
“If you feel bad, do it later. I want to change my hair first.”
“Why? Short hair looks good on you too.”
“I… don’t like it.”
She said so without hesitation. She wished she hadn’t known that Lilith loved her long hair so much. Then she might not have felt this guilt.
Anais thought so, but she tried to get it out of her mind, thinking that it would be blatant for her to think that she had done wrong to Lilith, who had worked so hard for her.
“This is going to be a bit difficult. Changing your hair color is easy, but putting it back on is difficult.”
“Is there no way at all?”
“There is. But mages are afraid of us, so it’s a problem that they will hide here and there like cockroaches.”
“…….”
She let out a sigh of relief when Phileal said that there was a way.
“Help me, Phileal.”
“What will you do if I help you?”
Anais had nothing to promise. All she had was Lilith’s body, which she could never give. Because it couldn’t be offered as a burnt offering to the god of death.
“If I help you, will you grant my wish later?”
“No.”
“Why? You don’t even know what my wish is.”
“I can’t do it with this body. This is not mine.”
“Something other than the body.”
“Like what?”
Phileal pondered a little, then looked into her eyes and said.
“Go to my mother’s grave.”
“Why?”
“Go and deliver something for me.”
“…….”
Anais thought it was fortunate that the request was not as difficult as she thought. Even so, she knew in the back of her heart that this was not an easy request. He sacrificed his father because his mother was dead. So to him, his mother never meant little. For him to ask her to go to the grave instead of him.
Anais thought she didn’t want to get close to him, but now she couldn’t refuse it. At the same time, it was difficult because he seemed to easily break down her vigilance, perhaps because he casually talked about his weakness.
But now she couldn’t afford to reconsider.
“Okay.”
“Hehe. Then let’s go. I know where the mage might be.”
Anais stared at Phileal who loosened his stola and tied it to her hair. He also helped her carry the hair she was holding by putting it in a sack.
* * *
A maid cannot leave the palace without the permission of the master. She didn’t have any passes, she didn’t have a permit, but she went out with Phileal and nobody asked anything. But now, she was a handmaid next to Phileal who’s wearing a stola on her hair, so they didn’t seem to ask anything more.
“Who is the mage you know?”
“Lionel.”
Phileal knew Lionel well. When the priests of death first entered the imperial palace, Lionel, the Lord of the Magic Tower, was also helping Kylian. At that time, Phileal was attached to the High Priest of Death and performed various tasks, so he could not know him.
Phileal knew that finding the Lord of the Magic Tower was the fastest way even though he was asleep. It would take time to find other mages, and above all, they would never be able to enter the Imperial Palace.
It would take a week to take Anais around the capital to find a mage.
Phileal thought so and laughed.
“I heard he went into hibernation.”
“Yes. But you can wake him up.”
“…….”
It was cruel to wake someone who had been asleep because he used up all his magic. Because Lilith’s body was exhausted of her divine powerpower, and when she had no energy, her whole body ached. A mage who lacks magical power will experience the same.
“Aren you against it?”
“Because I thought if I should meet Lionel, it wasn’t just about the hair.”
Anais remembered the cheerful Lionel she had seen before she died. So she missed him a little too.
And he was the one who participated in the war of conquest along with Kylian in the original story. Then it would be good for her to wake Lionel up before she dies and put him next to Kylian.
She didn’t want to meet the people she missed one by one. She thought that it would not be easy for her to handle mentally if things kept going like this. Her life doesn’t last long, but things keep happening that she felt like she was going to have lingering feelings.
“Anais.”
“Yes.”
“It will be fine.”
“…Yes.”
Seeing Phileal talking and laughing, somehow made her feel relieved even though she thought that she shouldn’t be relieved. She seemed to be quite used to the way he smiled by now. So she was more relieved.
The Magic Tower they had rushed to was no better than just ruins. The building was bleak, as if it were on the verge of collapse, and the once majestic appearance was so chaotic that she couldn’t recall it anymore. She even felt a dangerous atmosphere, like she was being attacked.
“Do you remember this place?”
“Yes. I used to come here often.”
On the day of the rebellion, the Lord of the Magic Tower was her father’s person. To be precise, he would be following Kylian, the Imperial Family following her father.
Believing that, he mobilized the sages of the Magic Tower who were like his own life and made Kylian emperor. Lionel wouldn’t have thought that the result of his sacrifice would be like this.
“Give me your hand.”
“Why?”
You might fall.”
Anais helplessly tried to hold Phileal’s hand.
“Thank you. I can still walk alone.”
After saying that, she climbed the stairs to the top floor of the tower. They had no idea that Kylian was there.
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