CHAPTER 85…………………………
About a week after the Spire Incident, Esther finally climbed into the carriage that would take her away from the insufferably dull Kingdom of Surt.
“We’re finally leaving!”
“You sound awfully excited.”
“Yes, well… I suppose I am.”
The sooner they left, the sooner she could be free.
Esther grinned slyly.
“Freya, are you sure you’ll be all right?”
“Yes. I might sleep more than usual, but I’ll try to stay awake at least three days a week.”
At that, Esther paused for a moment.
She’s talking as if she can control that curse herself.
No human should be capable of that. Esther frowned slightly, puzzled, and slumped down into her seat.
Once I get that thing back…
The past week had been filled with constant exercise under the watchful eyes of Kaelos and Freya—lifting a fork by herself, cutting meat and bringing it to her mouth, holding a fork in each hand for training, or walking a lap around the yard.
It had been grueling.
I wasn’t this weak before.
Esther sighed deeply.
Her meager strength, lost after five years of lying motionless in sleep, showed no signs of returning.
“Freya, once we leave this time, there’s a good chance I won’t be back for three months.”
“I know, you already told me.”
Freya nodded, as if she had expected that.
“Huh? Father, why?”
“I’m going to war.”
“War?”
Seated opposite him in the carriage, Esther widened her eyes at Kaelos and tilted her head.
“Yes. Things have gotten worse since you collapsed. I was summoned, joined briefly, and returned. But now, I can’t postpone deployment any longer. Once we reach the capital, I’ll be dispatched to the battlefield.”
Esther blinked.
Blood and battle were inseparable from demons.
To demons, combat was life itself—and blood and wounds were badges of honor.
“I see.”
Well, it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
For knights, battle probably felt much the same way.
If they didn’t fight from time to time, maybe the stress would build up.
Thinking lightly of it, Esther casually spoke:
“Take care, then.”
“…Yes. I’ll be careful.”
Kaelos’s expression turned unusually bitter as he patted her hair.
That was when Esther’s eyes widened.
Above his head appeared a reddish-orange exclamation mark.
…What?
Esther’s eyes grew round.
[Predetermined Fate]
All humans are bound by fate. So too is Kaelos Egbert.
His destiny is to defend the Empire, to drive out the darkness, and to vanquish the remnants of the Demon Realm that was destroyed over a thousand years ago.
However—he is destined to die.
Death is near to all, but the battlefield he marches to is one of death itself.
This battle is unlike any before.
Years ago, the Demon King’s seed awakened, stirring the creatures of the Demon Realm. One by one, they began to gather, sensing their master’s impending rebirth.
In the forest shrouded in demonic energy, ancient beings have begun to stretch and awaken.
And the first of them—the one that opened its eyes before all others—has already coiled itself upon the battlefield he is bound for.
Kaelos Egbert is one of the closest apostles of God.
Through divine revelation, he was warned many times of the danger that now approaches.
And yet, he chooses to go.
For if he does not, the two beings he must protect will not survive either.
You are one of those two beings.
Esther froze.
You are one of the two beings he must protect.
That single sentence struck her hard, like the faint trace left when you crush a pink cherry blossom between your fingers and its pale juices spill out.
One of two.
If one was Esther, then the other must be Freya.
Realizing that, Esther blinked once and turned her head.
Damn that Mikael Enoch.
Wasn’t that basically a roundabout way of saying, “Don’t you dare let him die”?
What’s the point of fatherly affection anyway…
Esther frowned. This was a real dilemma.
“I want to go too…”
“Hm?”
“I wanna go toooo! Waaah! I wanna be with you, Daddy!!”
“W–what, my dear?”
“…Esther?”
Esther flopped onto the carriage floor, thrashing her arms and legs like a child throwing a tantrum.
Both Freya and Kaelos were too startled to hide their confusion.
“Waaahhh!”
She pressed her face into the soft seat to hide the fact that, despite her loud wailing, not a single tear would come. Her emotions were as dry as dust.
“…Wait, E–Esther?”
He sounded genuinely flustered for once.
“Waaah! God said! If only you go! You’ll dieeee!!”
“…That insane god.”
Freya muttered under her breath, cursing the deity with remarkable venom.
Esther thought she heard something even worse mixed in there but chose to ignore it.
To be honest, she wanted to forget she’d heard it at all.
Isn’t her husband supposedly one of God’s apostles? Can she really say that?
In any case, Kaelos stood firm, and Freya smiled gracefully and passed the burden of answering to him.
Esther realized she wouldn’t win this battle and reluctantly gave up—for now.
Kaelos Egbert was truly, honestly, impenetrably stubborn.
So Esther decided to change her strategy.
After a long carriage ride to the Egbert estate in the capital, she barely bothered to greet anyone before heading straight for Marie Egbert’s room.
Without hesitation, she poured her magic into Marie to wake her.
The moment Marie opened her eyes, Esther dragged Kaelos in. Marie, still dazed, blinked vacantly.
Then Esther threw herself on the floor and pretended to burst into tears.
“Waaah! Father, don’t dieee!”
She wept bitterly—or rather, militantly.
“I’ll live if I go tooo! Waaah! Please save meee!”
“What on earth…”
Marie Egbert, awake for the first time in four years, pressed her hand to her forehead, her expression pained and confused.
“Esther.”
“…Esther?”
At Kaelos’s voice behind her, Marie’s eyes widened slightly.
Esther ignored them both and kept writhing on the floor.
Who cared if it looked more like a tantrum than crying?
All that mattered was getting the result she wanted.
But perhaps she’d cried too loudly.
Moments later, the door burst open.
“Who dares enter here and wail without permission!”
It was Earnhardt Egbert, Marie’s shadow, storming in with a glare sharp enough to kill.
“What’s going on?! Is there an intruder?!”
The balcony doors flew open next, and two young men leapt in, clearly in the middle of training.
Wait—this is the second floor. How did they even get up here?
Esther was too dumbfounded to speak.
“Our niece came back?!”
And then—who even was that?—Cardem came rushing in, cloak fluttering.
“…That annoying brat came back?”
Even Nigel Egbert showed up.
“…Esther.”
And finally, a boy she didn’t recognize appeared—handsome, with black hair and eyes the clear, vivid blue of a deep lake.
Who the heck is that?
He looked familiar somehow, yet also not.
Wait—he kind of looks like Sidereus…
Oh. Right. That guy.
…Sidereus?
Esther blinked and stared again. His lips were pressed in a straight line, but his eyes burned brightly.
…Oh, crap.
Only then did Esther take in her surroundings properly.
In Marie Egbert’s room stood Esther, sprawled on the floor like a mop; Kaelos, frozen awkwardly; Marie, visibly annoyed; and an audience of way too many onlookers.
“…Ah, damn it.”
This was not how things were supposed to go.
Esther hung her head in utter defeat.
