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Chapter 30
After closing the door to his office and taking his seat, Calix shut his eyes and rubbed his brow with his right hand. For some reason, an overwhelming wave of exhaustion washed over him.
He felt relieved knowing that Riana had fully recovered, yet when Jeffrey came to mind, a vague, inexplicable irritation bubbled up alongside it.
“An internal matter of the temple, huh.”
Calix let out a quiet, derisive chuckle.
He had never held any particular feelings toward the temple to begin with. The only impressions he had were of a young priest’s sacrifice he had once witnessed in a village that later became ruins, and of the saintess—Riana—whose blessing he had seen before the regression.
All of those memories were tied to specific individuals, which was why he had never given any real thought to the temple as an organization.
But hearing Jeffrey’s words today made Calix reconsider the temple as a collective entity.
For generations, the temple had protected the Empire—and the imperial family of Reinhardt that represented it.
‘So that’s why.’
Before the regression, Riana had undoubtedly been a saintess. And yet, she had met a miserable end in the grasp of Valdier, the emperor.
If his suspicions were correct, the temple must have handed her over to Valdier. All in the name of serving the emperor, the so-called sun of the Empire.
As the image of Valdier—wearing a beastlike expression as he ordered the limbs of the Henes members to be severed—overlapped with the sight of Riana imprisoned in a dungeon, pale and bloodless, Calix felt his mind grow icy cold.
Just what kind of violence had that wretch inflicted on Riana before the regression?
‘Would they have explained even that as the will of the gods?’
Calix posed the question to the temple of the past—a temple he could no longer confront. After a fierce surge of anger passed through him, he found himself feeling, anew, that the present situation was fortunate.
He had returned, and that horrific future had not yet come to pass.
Moreover, unlike before the regression, Riana had not become a saintess, and Valdier was still nothing more than a crown prince.
He did not yet know why he had returned, but one thing was certain.
The purpose of this regression was to prevent that dreadful future from ever arriving. To do so, he would have to move carefully.
‘If I act rashly, it could backfire in ways I can’t predict.’
Calix clenched his fist, recalling the image of Riana being torn apart by bites all over her body in the village of Advena.
The moment he realized that his misjudgment had put Riana in danger, he had felt as though he were plunging into the depths of despair.
Had any other member been endangered, he would surely have despaired as well.
‘But something was different.’
At some point, he began to wish that Riana would live this life without getting hurt, and that she would be happy.
If someone were to ask him why, he wouldn’t be able to give a clear answer.
She had been the only person who embraced him when he fell into the darkest depths before the regression. But to say that he couldn’t forget that warmth didn’t quite fit either—those events had already been erased, as if they had never happened.
‘In the end, it would sound like nothing more than the excuse of someone lost in delusion.’
Even so, as long as the woman he had met before the regression and the Riana standing before him now were undeniably the same person, it was only natural that he would wish for her happiness.
‘Even if she has no memory of that day.’
He, who remembered, had the right to repay that debt. Taking everything into account, the things he absolutely had to accomplish in this life narrowed down to three.
‘First, ensure that Riana and the other members of Henes are not harmed. Second, prevent Valdier’s ascension to the throne. And third—deal with the Rift.’
Riana had definitely said this in the prison before the regression: that a rift would open above the imperial palace. And that the only way to stop it was—
‘Only the Knight of Prophecy can sever the Eye of the Abyss.’
Calix let out a long sigh.
“The Knight of Prophecy, huh…”
In the end, to prevent the catastrophe of the rift opening and the demon race invading, a Knight of Prophecy was necessary—and that knight would have to cut down the Eye of the Abyss.
But when he had asked Riana where the Knight of Prophecy was, she had answered that there was none.
Why had she said there was none? Had the knight already been dead by that point? He couldn’t know yet.
‘The only option is to find out myself.’
Separate from stopping Valdier’s ascension, he would have to locate the Knight of Prophecy and prepare for the coming calamity. Only then could everyone be safe.
Having finished his thoughts, Calix’s gaze drifted unconsciously toward the window—and then stopped at a single spot.
On the path beside the training grounds, bathed in sunlight, Riana and Jeffrey were standing face to face.
An unexplainable emotion surged up within him. But he consciously reined in his thoughts.
‘If she can be healthy and happy, then it’s right not to wish for anything more…’
Once again, Calix settled on that conclusion. He believed it was the right path.
Yet even so, he couldn’t quite bring himself to look away.
Jeffrey was waiting for us outside the dining hall. When he spotted us and approached, he asked Ayla to give us some space.
Weak to authority, Ayla abandoned me without hesitation and retreated to her room.
‘Cowardly traitor.’
When I cursed her with my eyes, Ayla clasped her hands together, made a pitiful face, and backed away.
‘Fine, I’ll let it slide because you look so miserable…’
Well, since she belonged to the temple, it made sense that a regular priest couldn’t defy the orders of a high priest.
The problem was me. I had never spoken to Jeffrey one-on-one like this before, and he’d been acting strange since earlier, which made me unbearably uncomfortable.
Standing alone with High Priest Jeffrey on the quiet path beside the sunlit training grounds…
‘Agh! This is already awkward enough that there’s nothing left to say!’
Just as my face was about to twitch from the sheer awkwardness, Jeffrey spoke first.
“I truly didn’t expect you to leave the temple. Why did you make that choice?”
‘He’s just going to throw out a heavy question like that right from the start?’
I wasn’t about to lose either.
“Because I wanted to leave.”
“If it was the shock of failing the aptitude test, you could’ve talked it over with Baron or me before deciding.”
“If that were the reason, I would have. But it wasn’t. I genuinely wanted to leave.”
“Why go that far…?”
Jeffrey trailed off for a moment, glanced around the mercenary camp, then looked back at me.
“So in the end, this is what you chose. Are you really sure this place is better than the temple?”
“Yes.”
Perhaps thrown off by my immediate answer, Jeffrey fell silent before raising his voice, agitated.
“What exactly about this place—Riana, if you had stayed at the temple, I would’ve submitted an opinion to allow you a retest. Until a decision was made, I would have kept you under my direct supervision so your life wouldn’t be any different from before.”
“And why would you do that, Jeffrey?”
“What? Of course I would—”
Caught off guard by my question, Jeffrey frowned slightly and sighed.
“Because I want to do that for you.”
“That wouldn’t be for me.”
“…Riana.”
Jeffrey looked strangely close to tears. But I wasn’t wrong.
“You say it’s for me, but if you’re doing what you want instead of what I want, then in the end, it’s just for your own satisfaction.”
“No. I’m doing this for you—”
“That’s a misunderstanding. I don’t want it. So please don’t do things ‘for me.’”
“Why? Why are you rejecting my goodwill so completely?”
“Because I don’t like it.”
“You don’t like my goodwill?”
Jeffrey’s expression clearly changed. Just moments ago, he’d looked pitiful—now he was unmistakably angry.
Goodwill that comes with coercion is no longer goodwill.
“Yes. I don’t like it.”
“Why?”
“Then let me ask you instead. Why are you so obsessed with someone who has nothing to do with you?”
At that moment, Jeffrey flared up and suddenly grabbed my shoulders with both hands.
“Nothing to do with me? Did you truly not know? From the moment you sacrificed yourself for me in those ruins long ago, there hasn’t been a single moment I didn’t think of you.”
“…What?”
“If it hadn’t been you back then, I would’ve died. But the life I regained because you sacrificed yourself for me—”
“No, wait a second.”
He was seriously mistaken. In those ruins, I hadn’t saved just Jeffrey—I’d saved all the priests there. Ayla included!
Where did this idea that he alone had been saved even come from? An overinflated ego?
I tried to pull back to free my shoulders, but his grip was firm and didn’t budge.
“Um, I think you’re misunderstanding something.”
“A misunderstanding? What exactly am I misunderstanding?”
“I didn’t save only you there. And I never thought of it as a sacrifice.”
“What are you saying? You clearly—!”
‘Wait… his eyes look unhinged.’
That was the moment I saw madness flicker in Jeffrey’s eyes.
“Was this the unfinished story you wanted to tell—making a fool of yourself?”
Calix slapped Jeffrey’s hands away from my shoulders and pulled me toward him as he spoke. Jeffrey’s eyes went even wilder.
“What is this! Stay out of it—”
As if blinded by rage, Jeffrey lashed out, but Calix twisted his wrist with his free hand and sneered.
“Can’t tell who’s the one who should step back? This is my territory.”
Then he moved me behind him and continued,
“Riana is mine.”
Calix’s grip on my hand tightened. That hand felt firmer than ever today.
