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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“It seems you’re done talking. How was it?”
As I left the room, leaving Verod behind, Adriana peeked her head out as if she had been waiting.
I always thought it wasn’t the movement of a woman who couldn’t see ahead.
But Adriana was a saint.
There were things she could do with just holy power, and she could see things that ordinary people couldn’t, right?
I pondered for a moment at the question of how it was, but it was embarrassing to tell Adriana directly.
Even though I knew she had feelings close to affection for me, our relationship was far from being lovers.
There was no need to say that I had been warned that I would be seriously hurt if I messed up.
“We didn’t talk about much. He just asked a few questions about me.”
“Cardinal Verod seemed a bit suspicious of you. But it seems he didn’t yell at you like before.”
I smiled awkwardly as Adriana laughed as if she was relieved.
He didn’t yell at me, but I was pressured by his energy the whole time I was in that room.
If I told her this, would she get angry?
I was a bit curious to see Adriana get angry, but I nodded my head and agreed.
Since she considered Verod as a father, there was no need to deliberately bring up bad things about him.
However, I wanted to avoid meeting Verod often.
Like the paladins here, I thought it would take quite a lot of time to gain their support, unlike the priests.
With Verod right behind the door, I lightly grabbed Adriana’s arm and hurried my steps.
“Oh?”
“Let’s go together for now. We still have to finish the conversation we were having earlier, don’t we?”
It might be a bit rushed, but I thought Adriana would understand.
If I talked with Verod for a long time… I felt like my impression of the paladins would worsen in many ways.
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Adriana chose the rooftop as the place for our conversation, not the room.
Like when I first came to the Moon Tower before, a refreshing breeze blew past my cheek.
I liked this breeze.
A cold and dry breeze that made my chest feel refreshed for no reason, without any sign of rain.
Since it was the end of winter and the weather was cold, I naturally approached Adriana and draped an outer garment over her shoulders.
“You always seem to wear thin clothes. Is it because your holy power is warm?”
“Ah… that’s not it. It’s just a habit.”
“No one will be happy if you catche a cold. You should pay a little more attention.”
If she caught a cold while being with me, their opinion of me might worsen even more.
There was also the problem that my heart felt uncomfortable when she was wearing thin clothes.
When I covered her with my clothes for a moment, Adriana, who had been looking at me, smiled softly and answered.
“Aren’t you cold? Is it because it’s warmer here compared to the North?”
“I think that’s part of it. It’s much colder there after all.”
“What kind of place is the North? I heard it’s a place where it snows a lot, but I’ve never been there.”
If I were to describe the North… the first thing that came to mind was Adele’s face.
Of course. She was the first one I thought of whenever I thought of the North.
We had a deep connection, and recently, I had been racking my brain in many ways to find a way to prevent Adele’s death.
Other than that, nothing else came to mind, but suddenly I remembered the bell that had rung to announce the New Year.
It wasn’t something that existed in the central region, so wouldn’t it be considered a characteristic of the North?
“There was a big bell. It rang to announce the New Year.”
“Ah, if it’s in the North, you must be talking about the New Moon Bell. I’ve heard about it.”
“I think that left a deep impression on me. I was so busy during my time in the North after all.”
Adriana, who tilted her head at the word “busy,” soon stared at me blankly with a stiff expression.
The outer garment I had draped over her emitted a pure white light, and soon it spread and began to envelop my entire body.
I was puzzled by the warm energy covering me for a moment, but Adriana, who let out a small sigh, continued.
“I always think this, but whenever I see you, it seems like you return injured.”
“… This time it couldn’t be helped. Wasn’t Her Highness the Princess in danger?”
“Still. You got more scars. Come here.”
As I slowly approached at her slightly stern tone, Adriana, who had furrowed her brow, reached out her hand towards my chest.
The holy power that had been spread throughout my body gathered in one place, and along with a slight tingling sensation, an itchiness was felt in the wound.
“Stay still. I’m erasing the wounds that haven’t fully healed.”
“There’s no need for you to do this…”
“I’m not okay with it. When you come back injured like this, it makes me feel uncomfortable.”
Smiling brightly, Adriana, who had raised her head to meet my eyes, added.
“Is it a bit better now?”
“… Yes, it’s fine.”
Whenever I faced such pure goodwill without any ulterior motives, I felt strangely uncomfortable.
In fact, since I had the thought of being able to use my connection with the Saint from the beginning, it felt like my impurity was completely exposed to her purity.
Miragen was my lover in my previous life, and Adele had also reached a similar stage.
But Adriana was different.
In my previous lives, we had strangely never encountered each other, and this was the first time we had formed a friendship in this life, including the times I hadn’t prioritized meeting her.
This was the first time I had met a woman of this type, so there were many awkward aspects when dealing with Adriana.
For example, when I saw her smile like this, I couldn’t think of how to answer.
I just smiled faintly and somehow replied.
Her blonde hair flowed white in the wind as if dipped in moonlight.
When it overlapped with the dark night sky, it was like looking at the Milky Way.
Like the afterimage of the hazy moonlight, my gaze was captivated for a moment by the shattering white light.
“Miragen was very worried. She said you were unconscious for three days.”
“It was due to a lack of stamina. I wasn’t seriously injured, but.”
“For an ordinary person to faint for three days, how exhausted must they have been? That’s why I also prayed. So that Robert could wake up a little faster.”
She smiled softly as she clasped her hands, and her face slightly blushed as if she was a bit embarrassed by what she had said.
I thought Miragen would have told Adriana, but it seemed she had told her quite a lot.
It was also a bit embarrassing to hear from someone else that I had been unconscious for three days.
Fainting after fighting the tribes, if it were like before, I couldn’t even have imagined it.
“I’ll consider it as waking up early thanks to you. But didn’t you mention the south earlier?”
“Ah, right. Did you bring me here to finish that conversation?”
“I know we’re going together, but I still don’t know the details.”
Adriana, who swallowed for a moment as if pondering, then slowly continued.
Her voice was slightly excited.
“We’ll probably stay in the south for about a month or a month and a half. There’s the matter of moving near the Temple of the Moon, but this time we plan to seriously examine the issue of southern magicians.”
“It could be a bit dangerous.”
“If it were dangerous, I wouldn’t have brought you along. This time, it’s just an investigation, gathering solid evidence, and it’s closer to sightseeing than anything else.”
“Sightseeing… I don’t think it’s a bad idea.”
Considering the free time that would arise under the pretext of sightseeing, it was better to move with such a purpose.
I could also secure time to move independently, and above all, securing relics was also one of my goals.
There was a possibility that it would be a problem to collect relics while avoiding the church’s surveillance network, but I was also confident in disguise.
Adriana seemed to have quite a lot of expectations for this trip to the south.
It was probably because it was the first time she had taken such a long trip far away, but she also seemed to quite like the fact that she was going with me.
I didn’t know what she liked about me so much.
We hadn’t done much together, and it was probably just that she had read my inner thoughts.
As I stared at her blankly like that, I noticed Adriana’s hair that had fallen over her cheek.
I carefully grabbed the hair that was being sucked into her mouth at the corner of her lips, and brushed it behind her cheek like that.
It was such a natural action that Adriana didn’t say anything, but I also hurriedly removed my hand, feeling like I had made a mistake.
“Ah… I’m sorry. I saw your hair and unknowingly moved it.”
“I, I was a bit surprised. I never thought your hand would touch…”
I used to do that naturally when it happened to Miragen, so I naturally reached out to Adriana as well.
When I apologized with a smile, Adriana, who had been looking in the direction where my hand had left for a moment, moved her lips slightly.
“… Did you do that to Miragen too?”
I was puzzled for a moment at her slightly dark voice, and tilted my head at Miragen’s name suddenly coming up.
It wasn’t a context where Miragen’s name would come up.
So when I tried to ask back, Adriana, who smiled brightly, shook her head and said it was nothing.
“But you seem to have changed a lot compared to last time. When I see you now, I’m relieved that you don’t look as dark as before.”
“Is that so? I don’t think anything has changed.”
“No. A little more… how should I say it? It would be better to say you look warmer. Rather than being dark and cold like before, it seems like you’ve gained a bit of warmth.”
Adriana said that when she looked at me, it was like looking at a dead person.
As if I was someone who wished for death, she said she was strangely worried about my barren heart.
Didn’t she say that?
It was true that my heart had become much more at ease after visiting the North.
But looking warmer, well.
I couldn’t easily understand.
“Usually when your heart becomes at ease or you harbor affection, it becomes like this. Do you have someone you like?”
“…I don’t think that’s the case.”
“Hmm. I thought it wouldn’t be strange for you to already have a lover.”
“I had one.”
I said that while thinking of Miragen.
The lover I had in the previous round, but now it was a life that had been extinguished by my death.
Although my emotions had been worn down from repeating those many lives, it was thanks to relationships like Miragen and Adele that I was still able to live as a person.
But wasn’t I living this life thinking it would be my last?
Since liking someone was just a luxury, I didn’t want to harbor affection anymore.
So I tried to keep as much distance as possible.
While maintaining a certain level of friendship, so that our hearts wouldn’t be further connected.
So that even if I suddenly disappeared one day, they wouldn’t remember me.
Adriana, who had flinched at the words that I had one, then stared at me intently.
The corners of her mouth that had been smiling brightly seemed slightly distorted.
With a darkened face, I carefully continued to her who was gazing at me like that.
“But not anymore. I probably won’t have one anymore.”
“Is that so.”
Adriana’s hand, who had muttered like that, touched my chest, and in the ensuing silence, it remained in contact for a long time like that.
Around the time when my heartbeat, beating at a steady pace, could be heard.
Adriana, who looked at me again, muttered softly.
“… It’s cold.”
Suddenly, the wind blew.
Instead of the slightly refreshing wind, it felt like a cold and chilly knife-like wind was blowing, piercing through the flesh.
Nevertheless, Adriana, who still had her hand on me, just stared at me without saying a word.
Was she talking about the wind when she said it was cold?
Or was she talking about my heart?
Even as I vaguely realized the answer to that, I felt like avoiding the answer a little.
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