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Chapter 95
Let’s Go, Darling
I asked back in as calm a voice as I could muster.
“What if you’re a fairy?”
“…A fairy?”
The black vine let out a hollow laugh, its tone filled with disbelief.
“So this is how it ends for me after all? I suppose that’s my fate.”
Its words came back heavy with meaning, like someone recalling an old, tragic story.
“This could be crucial information about fairies.”
Information on fairies was notoriously hard to find. Despite all my efforts, all I’d managed to uncover was a tapestry from the Kingdom of Royum.
“I need to make the most of this chance.”
The black vines were still attacking Carlos and the knights, yet the voice that reached me carried no hostility.
“How about you stop speaking in riddles no one can understand?”
“Incomprehensible words… that’s true. I suppose you wouldn’t understand. You might be the only fairy left.”
“Are you… a fairy?”
The black vine wrenched Carlos’s sword from his grasp and swung it. A nearby knight rushed in to shield me, steel clashing violently.
“…”
After a long silence, the voice returned, tinged with deep sorrow.
“Once, yes. I was a fairy. But to call myself that now… would be laughable.”
So he had been one, once.
“Then you really are a fairy.”
“That was long ago. Look at me now—can you not tell?”
I studied the black vines closely. The ones the knights were battling grew thicker, more aggressive, overpowering them bit by bit.
“A hideous monster, aren’t I? My body lost, my will stripped away, forced to move only as commanded.”
But these were just vines—plants.
“Then why…?”
The more I spoke with the vines, the clearer his figure seemed on the other side. A man’s face, twisted with despair and resignation, eyes so dry they could no longer weep.
Maybe it was because he’d once been a fairy. But I couldn’t help feeling pity.
“What… happened to you?”
“Ah, so you know nothing of the fairies, do you? Perhaps I’ve clung to my sanity this long just to meet the last of us—you.”
The black vine’s tone grew heavy.
“There are no fairies left in this world. We’ve all gone extinct. You are the only hope that remains.”
He hesitated before speaking again, as though the words themselves were painful.
“It all began with the one who sought our complete extinction.”
“Who was it?”
“We never knew. Only that it began when a fairy who carried the blood of the gods became a problem.”
At that instant, one of the vines sharpened like steel and shot toward me.
Clang!
“Lady, watch out!”
The knight beside me blocked the strike, but his sword shattered against the impact. Grim-faced, he drew his dagger.
“Forgive me. This isn’t something I can control.”
That sobered me. No matter how precious the information was, it wasn’t worth dying for.
“Then is there any way to stop you right now?”
“As I am, I’m no different from a monster under the control of darkness. Only greater power can destroy me completely.”
“Then how do we—”
Before I could finish, the vine lunging at me burst into blue flames. The fire swallowed the magic circle and spread rapidly.
Kieeeek!
The vines screamed. Blue embers scattered through the air like glowing pollen, catching onto the other vines and igniting them one by one.
Only one person came to mind.
The man whose name I’d been desperately calling only moments ago—
The one who would never let me die.
As if to prove it, I heard a knight shout over the chaos:
“The Duke of Blanchet is here! Hold on, everyone! His Grace will handle the rest with his magic!”
“Destroy the vile creature!”
Through the shouts, his silhouette appeared—
A striking figure walking straight toward me.
Our eyes met—his crimson gaze locked on mine.
“Took me long enough, didn’t it?”
That lazy drawl brushed against my ear.
The once-rampaging vines were helpless before his fire, crumbling into ash. Between the falling sparks, Yohan emerged—sharp black suit, perfectly composed, just as I remembered him.
“Yohan. You’re late.”
He strode toward me.
No other knight in sight, but his presence alone was enough to make me feel safe.
My eyes burned, and my knees almost gave out. I hadn’t realized how tense I’d been.
“Why did you take so long?”
“Had more to deal with than I thought. The moment I got your message I came, but that monster’s magic interfered—your location kept flickering.”
So that was it. The vines had been jamming his artifact.
“Not only did it disrupt my magic tools, it even dared summon creatures like that at will. Things are getting… interesting.”
Yohan’s crimson eyes flashed dangerously.
“You don’t know who’s behind this either, do you?”
“Exactly. There aren’t many people who’d dare pull this off the moment I step away.”
His words made my mind swirl.
“It’s connected to the one who wiped out the fairies.”
Maybe this whole attack had happened because someone discovered what I truly was.
“Who could it be? Who knows I’m a fairy?”
I looked back toward the dying vines.
“Yohan attacked you—are you all right? You’re… fading.”
Around the carriage, the black vines were almost gone, burning to cinders.
“Yes. Since I was the vines, I will die with them.”
“Ah…”
“Do not grieve, little fairy. You are fortunate—someone protects you. Otherwise, I would have destroyed the last hope of our kind with my own hands.”
The voice now sounded peaceful.
“This death is a blessing. At last, I’ll suffer no more.”
“Wasn’t there any way to save you?”
I asked without thinking.
“No. How could there be salvation for one who has lost his soul? This moment… is mercy enough.”
Now only a few leaves remained—scattered on the ground, burning into ash.
Before the last trace vanished, I asked softly,
“What is your name?”
There was a brief stillness. Then, carried on the faintest breeze, came a whisper:
“…Isidore.”
And then he was gone. The fairy who’d been speaking to me moments ago—completely gone.
“Such a strange feeling.”
A gentle energy pulsed through my clenched hand, a strange freshness like standing in the heart of a lush forest.
“Isidore… Isidore.”
I murmured the name over and over, so I wouldn’t forget.
Carlos stared blankly at the battlefield—blackened and silent, the fight completely over.
He was one of the Empire’s finest swordsmen, yet he’d been powerless.
He muttered under his breath,
“What… kind of power is that?”
“Your Highness, that’s the Duke of Blanchet’s magic,”
a royal knight replied.
Carlos bit his lip.
“I know that. I’m asking whether such power is even possible.”
The Duke of Blanchet’s prowess as a mage was legendary, impossible to hide.
“That’s… far beyond anything I’ve heard of. Can that really be called human power?”
Carlos had heard the rumors—
“A mage so strong even the royal magicians cannot challenge him.”
A man beyond reason.
“At this rate, we’re completely outmatched.”
Then he saw Yohan—holding Estelle’s hand—walking toward him.
Yohan greeted him politely.
“Your Highness the Crown Prince.”
“Good to see you.”
“I heard you protected my wife. I owe you my thanks.”
“No, the one who defeated the monster was you, Duke.”
“Even so, without Your Highness’s help, she might not have survived. I’m deeply grateful.”
Yohan’s arm slipped around Estelle’s waist, his gaze soft and full of warmth. Estelle’s cheeks turned pink under his affection.
“He’s right,” she added with a shy smile.
The bond between them looked unshakable.
“So… there’s no place for me.”
Carlos felt a hollow sense of loss unlike anything he’d known before. Even though he knew it was too late, a strange thirst gnawed at him.
“Then let me ask you one thing.”
“What is it?”
“Something I wish to say to the Duchess alone.”
Yohan’s brows furrowed. But since Carlos had helped save Estelle, it was hard to refuse outright.
“Yohan, it’s fine. I’ll handle this.”
Estelle gently pushed him back.
“…All right. But if anything happens, call me immediately.”
Yohan, who seemed the type never to back down, retreated at her word and went to check on the injured knights.
Once some distance opened between them, Estelle turned to Carlos.
“So, Your Highness—what is it you wanted to ask me alone?”
“Answer me honestly,” Carlos said, voice low.
“Have you truly never once… had feelings for me?”
His throat felt parched. He searched her face desperately, hoping for even the faintest trace of emotion.
“Never.”
“Not even once? Don’t deny your past feelings just because you’re married now. Tell me honestly.”
“No matter what Your Highness wants to hear, my answer won’t change. I’m married—and I love my husband, Yohan.”
Love.
“You really… love him?”
“Yes. I love him.”
Estelle smiled as she said Yohan’s name, her expression soft and tender—a smile Carlos had never seen before.
“Still, since Your Highness helped me, I’ll forget all the unpleasant things between us.”
“How can you just… let it go?”
“Because it’s better for both of us. Maybe Your Highness feels this way because things were never properly resolved between us.”
Her tone was gentle, but final.
“I’m sure you’ll find someone truly meant for you, Your Highness.”
With that, Estelle turned and ran to Yohan, slipping her arm through his and laughing brightly.
Even from a distance, her voice reached Carlos clearly—
“Let’s go, darling.”
Fortunately, the Crown Prince seemed to have taken my words to heart. After we returned to the palace, I didn’t see him again.
But soon, unexpected news reached me.
“Did you hear? His Highness the Crown Prince has fallen for Lady Stella, the Saint!”
“Apparently, the two share a deep connection from long ago!”
