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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: TushChen
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“The freedom to come and go…”
After my father left, I sank deep into my bed.
If it had been like this from the beginning, I wouldn’t have had to sneak out at night.
Well, even if that were the case…
“Are you okay? Lady Elin.”
“Yeah… I was really nervous.”
“Me too! It was my first time meeting the Duke. He had such a commanding presence… I was surprised!”
“With you here, Elena… I was… okay.”
“Thanks to Elin, I was merely startled. Otherwise, I might have cried from pure fear!”
I shifted my gaze to the two girls holding each other’s hands and chatting away once my father had left, feeling relieved.
I wouldn’t have met them if I hadn’t gone out last night.
That part was fortunate.
“You two stay at Deinhart Castle for a few days. Send a message to the temple.”
At my words, the two twins looked into each other’s eyes.
Elin whispered something to Elena, and Elena nodded.
“We will. We want to help you since you got injured because of us…”
It seemed that their relationship had been sorted out.
As if they were people who should have been together from the beginning.
As I looked at the two of them with amazement, my eyes met Elin’s momentarily.
Elin flinched in surprise and hid behind Elena, blushing as if she was shy.
Speaking of being injured.
Indeed, my physical condition isn’t good right now.
I was receiving treatment, and thanks to Nias, my condition had improved drastically, so I would recover soon. Still, I did need help at the moment.
Moreover, being unable to use magic for a while was a big deal.
It wasn’t that I had completely lost the ability to use mana.
My mana was recovering little by little, but the speed was slow.
In this state, weak magic was probably the limit.
If I were to be attacked by the Red Snake during this time, it would be dangerous, so the power of Elin and Elena, who had awakened as saintesses, would be a great help.
Now that it had come to this, I planned to deal entirely with the Red Snake group without telling my father, all for Elin’s sake.
To prevent Elin from being chased by others, I had to eliminate all those who knew that Elin was the saintess of Yuan.
“Then we’ll start your treatment right now!”
While I was calculating, Elena spoke up energetically and stepped forward.
We had been flying around all night, but they were energetic.
Good for them. They were young.
As I was muttering to myself, Nias suddenly jumped onto the bed.
Then she clung to my side and waved her arms back and forth, blocking Elena and Elin’s approach.
“Ah, no!”
“Pardon?”
Elena asked back.
Elin was also clueless, and the twins simultaneously looked at each other and tilted their heads again.
“Achoo.”
Nias blushed and coughed slightly.
It was definitely on purpose…
“I, I have a cold… so you can’t.”
“What does Nias having a cold have to do with anything? We’ll take care of him together!”
Elena spoke with a smile of goodwill.
“You two can’t catch a cold! Taking care of the Young Master is my role. I… I’ll do it. Achoo.”
Nias’ face had turned bright red up to her ears.
Nias wasn’t the type to be so shameless.
She was highly embarrassed because she knew what she said was unreasonable.
‘You were willing to endure that level of embarrassment just to feed me that damn hypnotic drug?’
I sent a pitiful gaze to Nias, who was trying to find a way to feed my poor self her hypnotic drugs.
How nice would it be if she acted out of pure goodwill?
Perhaps I should eat it even if I knew her intentions, just once.
I had such thoughts.
“But we still want to take care of him too! We’re indebted to him!”
“Mhm, yeah.”
Elin joined forces with Elena and confronted Nias.
I pondered whether to watch this fight’s outcome or stop it.
“Then… let’s decide with a game!”
Nias suddenly suggested it to the twins.
“A game?”
“…Game?”
Surprisingly, it was Elin who showed interest.
Elin’s eyes lit up as she tugged on Elena.
“Do, do you want to?”
“Yeah.”
Elena smiled as if she had no choice.
“Alright! Then… what game?”
Nias took out a shuttlecock as if she had prepared it in advance.
“Juggling game! Achoo.”
They say that when three women gather, a plate gets broken.
That saying was most definitely true.
Seeing the three beautiful girls sitting around my bed, where I was supposed to be resting, giggling, and playing the juggling game, was heartwarming, but…
‘It’s so noisy.’
My head was ringing.
Moreover, from the middle, I felt they had forgotten about me while playing.
They were having fun as if they had made new friends.
The combination of the Demon King, a holy saintess, and the saintess of an evil god becoming friends simply flew over my head.
“…Mmm. Sleep.”
I covered my ears and tried to sleep using the slightly recovered mana.
I indeed felt a bit lonely.
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The following day, I woke up feeling a bit of a hindrance.
Opening my eyes, I confirmed the cause of the hindrance.
It was Nias.
Nias was sleeping tightly, clinging to my chest as if she was hugging me.
I looked for Elena and Elin, who were also in my room.
Fortunately, they slept a short distance away to avoid misunderstandings, holding each other’s hands.
As if 10-year-olds would have such misunderstandings anyway.
It seemed that they had kept playing and fallen asleep here.
“Hah…”
But after a night’s sleep, my fatigue had dissipated quite a bit, and my wounds had healed.
It seemed that Nias and the saintess twins had cared for me after playing.
I slowly stroked the head of Nias, who was sleeping soundly while making soft breathing sounds.
When she was sleeping peacefully with a content expression while clinging to me, she definitely looked cute.
In the original novel, Nias was mentioned several times as being unbelievably beautiful.
It would be stranger if she wasn’t pretty.
‘She’s like a doll.’
I looked at Nias’ long eyelashes.
I would protect Nias to the best of my ability.
Even if she tried to feed me those hypnotic drugs, Nias was still my precious maid.
I gently tidied Nias’ glossy, soft hair and slowly sat up.
I could feel that my mana had recovered more than yesterday.
Still, it was insufficient to use powerful magic.
‘I need to recover quickly.’
I don’t know when the Red Snake will act.
If I hadn’t been injured yesterday, I would have dealt with the Red Snake immediately.
I lightly grasped the picture book in my hand.
When night fell today, I planned to wander the village again to obtain the strongest weapon according to the setting.
I don’t know how strong the Red Snake is, but they can at least deal with Yuan’s priests.
This means there are definitely strong individuals among them.
The strongest weapon would most definitely be helpful.
I must obtain it as soon as possible since I am still determining what will happen in the near future.
“Time to wake up…”
At that moment, I heard the sound of Elena waking up first.
She must have gotten used to waking up at this exact time in the temple.
“The light of Lord Nephthys… ugh…”
Elena, who had slowly sat up, tried to greet but collapsed forward again.
I thought she was diligent, but she could be better with mornings.
“Mhm. Good mworning.”
After a while, Elena groggily looked around and noticed Nias and I clinging to each other.
Her silver eyes sparkled with curiosity for some reason.
“Young Lord, there’s something I’m curious about.”
Elena spoke in a somewhat tense tone.
“What is it?”
“Are you two perhaps in a romantic relationship?”
I widened my eyes at those words.
What?
“Wait, I don’t know what you’re thinking, but Nias and I…”
I thought for a moment.
What was the relationship between Nias and me?
We have a master-servant relationship, but it feels like we’re a bit more… how should I put it?
It felt like a close relationship that was hard to explain.
“It’s just a relationship.”
“What’s just a relationship?”
Elena asked back.
Just a relationship is… just a relationship.
It can’t be defined.
“Mmm…”
Meanwhile, I heard Nias breathing like she was about to wake up, so I slightly lowered my head.
“Young Master…?”
Nias looked up at me blankly with eyes that hadn’t fully woken up yet.
“Yeah.”
When I answered, Nias smiled brightly and clung to me.
“It’s bothersome. Get off.”
“But I still like you, Young Master. Ehehe.”
Nias spoke while rubbing against me.
Undoubtedly, half of it was an act as the Demon King.
When I see Nias directly confronting me like this, I sometimes wish she would drop that way of speaking since it doesn’t suit her personality.
But while I was getting along with Nias for a moment, Elena’s suspicion had turned into certainty.
“As I thought…”
Elena spoke while clenching her fist.
“Wait, I…”
I was about to make an excuse,
At that moment.
Bang bang!
Someone knocked on the door.
Elin, sleeping until then, woke up in a daze.
“…I was startled.”
A shuttlecock fell from Elin’s hand with a thud.
Did you hold onto it until the end?
That’s quite the obsession.
“Come in!”
When I shouted, a servant who had rushed over with an urgent expression bowed his head apologetically and spoke.
“The Duke is calling for you.”
“What?”
This early in the morning?
I frowned but quickly got up from my seat.
“Tell him I’ll be there soon after getting ready.”
At my words, the servant shook his head with a heavy expression.
“No. He said to come with the two apprentice priests.”
A brief, heavy silence passed.
I tensely turned to look at Elena and Elin.
I wasn’t the only one who felt a bad premonition.
In particular, Elena’s face began to turn pale.
We hurriedly gathered our clothes and quickly walked out of the room.
We sensed an unusual atmosphere permeating the castle before arriving at my father’s office.
“The soldiers are moving.”
Elena spoke while looking out the window.
Indeed, the soldiers were taking up a defensive posture within the castle.
When I arrived at the office, I could see my father hurriedly issuing orders.
“Father, I have come as you called.”
My father nodded to me and quickly glanced at the two twins. For a brief moment, a heavy silence flowed, making breathing difficult.
From my father’s gaze alone, we could tell that the words he would utter carried bad news.
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