PUBW 33

Chapter  33

I was holding hands with the child in my dream and running.

We ate wild strawberries and went exploring in the forest with wooden sticks.

“Hahaha! I won! Eluna, hurry up and do your punishment!”

I pushed myself up from where I was sitting and turned around. Then, with my butt, I wrote out “Eluna.”

The child burst into louder laughter.

“Phew……”

Just when will this dream end?

“W-what’s wrong? Embarrassed? Th-that wasn’t funny at all! I laughed ‘cause it was cute!”

Whatever sigh I had made, the child took it as something else and looked flustered.

“No, it’s fine. I had fun too.”

“……You’re acting weird today.”

The child pouted, lips sticking out.

“You didn’t even call me by my name……”

I flinched and hurriedly made excuses.

“W-well, actually, I hit my head and got amnesia. So I don’t really remember your name well.”

“You hit your head?”

The child’s eyes went wide.

“Yeah. Sorry.”

“Was it because of that man?”

Man? Who was he talking about?

When I didn’t answer, the child’s face twisted in anger.

“He ended up hitting you too?!”

The child shouted so loudly that I covered my ears.

“I’ll punish him for you!”

He leapt up and grabbed the stick he’d been playing with.

“No! Calm down. I just fell, that’s all.”

I sat him back down, though his face was still red with fury.

Could it be that Eluna was abused as a child?

“Did that man tell you to go to the Azdel Church again?”

So she wasn’t part of Azdel Church yet.

“Is that man a priest of Azdel Church?”

“That’s right. A lousy servant. You don’t remember that either?”

“No. What happened?”

“That man kept coming to your house, telling you to go to the temple.”

So Eluna hadn’t wanted to become a saintess.

“But you don’t have to worry now! I’ll punish him for you!”

“Thanks. But I’m okay.”

After all, she had to become a saintess to defeat the Demon King and save the world.

“Tch……”

“Don’t be upset. Look, look at the sky. Isn’t it pretty? It’s the same color as your hair.”

I pointed at the sunset.

“Ah! It’s getting dark already! You have to go home!”

Startled, the child grabbed my hand and walked me back to the mansion’s rear gate.

“Come play again tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

After saying goodbye, the child quickly left.

‘Ah, I forgot to ask his name.’

I told myself I’d ask tomorrow and approached the guards at the gate.

“Young Lady! Where have you been all this time?”

“Um, I was playing in the forest.”

“It’s dangerous without a knight escorting you.”

“Yes. I won’t do it again. Please open the gate.”

Judging by the size of this mansion, it must be quite a prestigious family.

“The priest is waiting for you.”

So the man the child mentioned really does come every day.

I followed the knight into the parlor.

“Elu-eluu!”

The priest, dressed in white, called me by a ridiculous nickname and scooped me up in his arms.

“Why were you so late?”

I’d imagined the priest as stern and scary, someone trying to drag me to Azdel Church, but surprisingly, he was young and gentle.

“I… was playing.”

“Hm?”

I answered awkwardly, and he looked at me strangely.

“Our mischievous little lady—why are you so calm today?”

“B-because I’m tired.”

“Then I should give you a gift.”

He set me down and pulled a small vial of green liquid from his robes.

“What’s this…?”

It looked—and smelled—like sewer water.

“It’s medicine made from Rika leaves. Even if you’re not sick, drinking it makes you healthier. Be sure to take it.”

Rika leaves—just like the ones Artif had given me!

“Priest! What’s the recipe for this?”

“The recipe?”

“Yes! I want to know!”

I grabbed his sleeve in excitement and impatience.

“Rika leaves are the main ingredient, but there are lots of other things too… I’m not sure exactly. I’ll bring you the recipe tomorrow.”

“Thank you!”

But I never got the recipe. From that day on, the priest stopped visiting the mansion.

A maid told me the temple had gotten busy, but the look on her face was the kind adults wore when they were hiding the truth from children.

“Eluna, what’s wrong?”

Kinan asked, his face full of worry.

“It’s nothing.”

The child I’d first played with on my arrival here—his name was Kinan.

I played with him almost every day.

“But your face is serious. Did another priest bother you this time?”

“Huh?”

Did I ever mention that the priest who used to visit no longer came?

“Don’t worry. I’ll—ow!”

As Kinan swung his stick through the bushes, he tripped and fell.

“Kinan! Are you okay?”

“Ugh, it hurts……”

His knee was scraped and bleeding badly.

“Wait a second.”

I pulled out the Rika leaf medicine from my pocket. Surprisingly, this stuff could be drunk or applied topically—like a cure-all.

“It’ll sting, so bear with it.”

“Ugh—!”

I smeared the thick liquid on his wound.

“How is it—w-what’s happening?”

The bleeding turned viscous, and the wound quickly festered.

“Aaagh!”

Kinan screamed in pain, clutching his leg.

“Kinan!”

I didn’t even know how I moved after that.

Remembering that his parents always came home late, I rushed him on my back to the mansion.

But instead of the infirmary, Kinan was thrown into the underground prison.

“Young Lady, you mustn’t enter here.”

The knight blocked me.

“But…”

“That thing is a demon. It’s a miracle nothing happened to you until now.”

They said demons were the opposite of humans.

What was medicine to humans, like Rika leaves, was poison to demons. Kinan must truly be a demon.

But… was Kinan really evil? Could that playful, innocent boy really…?

“Young Lady, about that priest you liked so much.”

One knight began grimly.

“Hey!”

The other knight tried to stop him.

“She has a right to know.”

The first knight’s voice was firm.

“That priest was killed by that demon.”

“What…?”

“His belongings were found in the demon’s house. And skeletal remains turned up in the livestock pen.”

“……”

I closed my eyes.

“Young Lady? Young Lady! I told you not to say it!”

My head spun. Their voices rang painfully.

“Silence.”

“Young Lady…?”

“Step aside.”

“You can’t!”

I looked at them blankly.

I was confused. But maybe I had suspected it all along. Hadn’t I already known Kinan was a demon?

“That’s an order. Step aside.”

The knights hesitated and moved away.

I entered the prison.

There, bound in chains, was Kinan.

“Kinan.”

At my voice, he slowly pushed himself up from the cold floor.

His once-chubby cheeks were hollow, his body wasted. He was dying from Rika leaf poisoning.

“Eluna……”

His voice was dry and raspy.

“Are you a demon?”

“……”

“Did you lie to me?”

“…I’m sorry.”

Apologizing, when he was on the brink of death because of me?

“That priest. Did you kill him?”

“……”

Kinan hung his head.

I turned away. I hated myself. I hated him.

“Eluna!”

I froze.

“Thanks for playing with me all this time. I’m sorry I deceived you… I really liked you.”

But still no apology for killing the priest.

He didn’t even know what he’d done wrong. Because he was a demon.

I left the dungeon.

“Young Lady!”

But my body collapsed. The sky came into view.

“Young Lady! Stay with us!”

I shut my eyes. Something hot streamed down my face.

“Your Holiness, are you truly certain she’s fine? She still hasn’t woken up—what if something’s wrong? Shouldn’t you use some holy power, just in case?”

It was Leandro’s voice.

“You don’t use holy power on someone who’s asleep. If you want her awake, go shake her by the arm.”

Pope Seth spoke irritably, sounding put out.

I opened my eyes. The tears that had lingered spilled down.

“Brother.”

Wiping my face, I called to him in a hoarse voice. Leandro rushed to me at once.