Chapter 33
“…Alright. This should do.”
I carefully wrote the reply to Silvestain, folded it neatly, and placed it into an envelope. I asked about what he knew regarding Ruben, how much he had uncovered about my body, and also inquired about the whereabouts of the books Hyle had mentioned.
“Do I just send this letter to Wolf’s Shoemaker, Lady Cillia?”
Carl asked, rubbing his sleepy eyes.
By the time I arrived back at the Ciaster estate, it was already quite late, and Carl—who had been waiting for me—had just finished putting Axiom to bed.
“W-What? You figured out where Lord Silvestain is?”
“No. More like I figured out where to send a letter.”
I had suddenly gone to the Evanroir estate and come back having found a way to contact its lord, so Carl clearly wanted to know the details.
But it wasn’t something I could easily explain.
‘Carl doesn’t know anything about Cillia’s body… or even what Ruben is.’
I brushed it off by saying it was just a sibling’s intuition, though he didn’t look convinced. Still, what could he do? If I said so, he’d just have to believe it.
“Yes. Apparently it’s a shoe shop on the eastern coast of the Empire.”
“I see. Understood.”
Yaaawn.
Carl took the letter with a big yawn.
“I’ll send it by the fastest courier first thing tomorrow morning.”
After he trudged off sleepily, I headed to Axiom’s room, which connected directly to mine.
Axiom was sleeping peacefully, looking like a tiny angel.
“He’s sleeping well.”
I whispered softly so I wouldn’t wake him and gently leaned my arm against the cradle.
“Axiom, you and I both have so many secrets, don’t we? Maybe us becoming a family was fate.”
Carefully stroking his chubby cheek with the back of my hand so he wouldn’t wake, I returned to my room and went to bed.
And then, the next day—
“Kyaa!”
Axiom was overflowing with energy today.
With Carl gone early in the morning to send the letter, I was left to look after Axiom alone—and I was already breaking into a sweat.
“Oh my, Axiom’s full of energy today! Do you want to jump around?”
“Uaah!”
Axiom grabbed my hand excitedly and stomped his feet again and again. He clearly wanted to jump, but since he didn’t have the muscles yet, only his little bottom wiggled up and down.
Ugh. Too cute.
For a moment, I felt dizzy from how adorable he was, but I somehow restrained myself and lifted both of his hands, swinging him up.
“Kyaa!”
“Up we go!”
“Kyaa!”
“Up we gooo!”
“Kyaaa!”
…I was definitely playing with him as hard as I could.
So why wasn’t his energy decreasing?
If anything, his stomping just got faster.
“This won’t do. Axiom—should we go outside?”
It was a bit chilly out, but there was no way I could handle this much energy indoors.
Excess energy had to be burned off outside!
I headed out with Axiom in one arm and a container full of his toys in the other.
That’s when I ran into Vanilla—pure coincidence.
“Huh? Miss Vanilla?”
“…!”
She seemed to be playing by herself early in the morning, sitting in the small sandbox where I often brought Axiom to play.
I’d been coming here all this time and had never run into her before.
‘We usually come here during the day.’
If early morning was Vanilla’s usual playtime, it made sense we’d never crossed paths.
Wouldn’t it be nice if they played together?
I’d wanted to let Axiom and Vanilla interact, but Elstern’s lessons always took longer than expected, making it hard to find the right timing.
“Miss Vanilla, would you like to play together? Where’s your play tutor?”
“…Th-the tutor isn’t here.”
Fidgeting, Vanilla stood up while hiding her sand-covered hands behind her back and glanced at me cautiously.
Why was she acting like that?
No—more importantly, why was she here alone?
‘Shouldn’t her play tutor usually be with her?’
Dazar didn’t seem to employ a nanny specifically, but Vanilla had quite a few instructors.
“Did they step away for a moment?”
Hmm. Bringing a young child out this early was questionable enough—but leaving her alone outside?
This felt like something Dazar needed to know about.
As I looked around for the tutor, Vanilla shook her head urgently.
“No! I—I’m going!”
“Vanilla? Don’t do that—let’s play together.”
Vanilla hesitated, then looked back and forth between me, Axiom, and the toy box in my hand.
Her gaze wavered, her small cheeks turning red—
“U-Um… V-Vanilla is okay.”
And then she suddenly took off running.
How could someone so small move that fast?
Maybe even as a child, a Transcendent was still a Transcendent.
She vanished into the distance in no time.
I stared blankly after her, scratched the back of my head, and set Axiom down on the sand.
“Can’t be helped. Looks like Vanilla’s busy. Let’s play just the two of us, Axiom.”
Handing Axiom the small shovel I’d made just for him, I recalled the Vanilla I’d just seen.
The bold, fearless child she’d been in front of Dazar was nowhere to be found.
Instead, she’d seemed shy and hesitant.
‘That’s strange… it kind of bothers me.’
As I piled sand so Axiom could dig more easily, I sniffed quietly.
Sunlight poured in through the window, dazzling.
Bathed in the brilliant rays, someone sat sprawled lazily against the windowsill, as if determined to absorb every bit of warmth.
A man wearing a white shirt carelessly draped over his body.
Dazar.
“…Is winter coming already?”
His golden eyes traced the high, cloudless blue sky before shifting downward.
“What’s this? Where is she going so early in the morning?”
Reflected in his gaze was a woman carrying a small baby.
They were far away and looked tiny, but to a Transcendent like him, this distance meant nothing.
“Yeah… where could she be headed?”
A voice suddenly spoke from somewhere in the room.
Judging by Dazar’s lack of surprise, he clearly knew who the owner of the voice was.
Resting his chin on his hand, Dazar spoke indifferently, his eyes still fixed on the woman.
“Looks like she plans to play from early morning. Doesn’t she get tired?”
“That’s true. I heard she rushed off to the viscount’s estate yesterday. You knew about that too, of course.”
The voice spoke as if it were obvious Dazar already knew Cillia had gone to the Evanroir estate. It chuckled softly.
“She asked what Ruben was, didn’t she?”
“……”
Dazar glanced sideways at the unseen speaker, who seemed to be enjoying the situation.
He stepped down from the windowsill, poured himself water from the kettle on the table, and collapsed onto the sofa.
“What’s with you talking so much all of a sudden? Do you finally have something to say about her?”
“Ah, no. It’s just that thanks to you harvesting so many lives on the ‘Day of the Rift,’ I’m overflowing with power.”
“That’s an incredibly unpleasant thing to hear.”
At Dazar’s cold reply, the voice merely laughed, clearly used to this reaction.
“Now that the Day of the Rift is over, are you planning to visit that miserable place again?”
“I suppose I’ll have to.”
“Ugh. Just imagining it is awful. The Saintess’s holy blessing—feels like my whole body would melt.”
The voice spat the words out disdainfully before casually asking,
“Does the Saintess still suspect you?”
At the offhand question, Dazar shrugged.
Same as always.
The voice continued, unfazed by his indifferent gesture.
“Why not just get rid of her? She seems like she’ll become a nuisance.”
At the sinister tone, Dazar raised an eyebrow.
The golden eyes that had been lazily lowered now turned sharp with anger.
“We can’t leave stains in this world. You know that.”
“Relax, relax. I’m joking. Of course I know. After all, we have a contract.”
Chuckling, the voice went on.
“But if you can’t find that woman this time, you’re planning to use Ruben again, right? Isn’t that why you kept him by your side?”
The moment the voice mentioned “that woman,” Dazar’s brow shot up. Despite knowing he was angry, the voice sounded delighted.
“I’m glad I chose you back then. A Transcendent’s betrayal—how fun.”
“You finally decide to speak after all this time, and yet you say nothing unrelated to her. Why don’t you just leave? I told you before—if it’s not about her, don’t talk to me.”
As Dazar waved him off irritably, the unseen presence grinned.
“I thought it was related, that’s why I brought it up. But if you don’t see it that way, I suppose it can’t be helped.”
“Get out.”
“Alright, alright. But don’t forget, you filthy Transcendent—because of your contract with me, you’re cursed.”
The voice continued, giggling.
“I’m curious whether you’ll actually be able to find her.”
Flap!
With the sound of beating wings, the mocking voice faded away.
Left alone, Dazar remained unmoved.
With a bored expression, he turned his head back toward the window he’d been sitting by earlier.
How long had it been since that thing last spoke? Aside from when he brought Vanilla into the estate, it had stayed silent the entire time…
It really had been a long while.
To stir its interest enough to speak—she truly must be an unusual woman.
Dazar let out a quiet chuckle and muttered,
