Chapter 14 ….
Inside a prayer chamber steeped in silence, completely cut off from the outside world.
A woman stepped forward across the thickly laid red carpet.
“Have you still not discovered anything about Azel Biots’s whereabouts?”
At her side, as always, stood a blond holy knight.
“There have been no separate reports.”
“…They’re all unbearably lazy.”
“…Yulia….”
At the sharpness in her voice, the knight’s expression darkened. His eyes, filled with concern as he looked at her, were earnest—yet the woman was no longer looking at him.
“What about that woman’s whereabouts? Still nothing there either?”
“It’s the same. However, we believe there is a high probability that Azel Biots and that woman are together.”
“As if I wouldn’t already know that.”
At last, the woman—no, Yulia—came to a stop on the carpet.
“And her identity? Still nothing on that either?”
“As I mentioned before, nothing has surfaced at all.”
“That’s not the answer I wanted to hear.”
At her icy response, Bellod’s expression finally hardened.
“Yulia.”
“Yes. Speak.”
“Why are you so fixated on that woman? This isn’t like you.”
Bellod was right.
Lately, something about her had been strange.
The gentle, kind woman she once was seemed to have vanished. Recently, Yulia had become sharp and sensitive, like someone being relentlessly pursued by something unseen.
“Everyone is worried about you—”
“She said I lack faith.”
“…Yulia?”
“She said I lack faith.”
That’s impossible. There’s no way.
In a bleak voice, she muttered words too fast to fully comprehend.
“Bellod.”
“…….”
“Bring that woman before me. I need to show her. How unwavering my faith is. How deeply I love this world. I must show her.”
The words she chewed out were saturated with an incomprehensible fury.
“You’ll do that for me, won’t you?”
Bellod could not bring himself to refuse her request.
*
In the game, Azel was not someone who shared meals with others.
‘He even refused to dine with the protagonist, Yulia—so that says it all.’
And yet, that very man had invited me to breakfast.
‘What is this? Is he trying to poison me?’
I couldn’t help but be flustered.
I tensed up at the sudden, unprecedented situation—but that worry quickly disappeared.
“……What on earth have you been eating all this time?”
Because I discovered something utterly shocking the moment I arrived at the dining room, guided by Mary.
‘How can a person survive eating only that?’
It started with the meal placed in front of Azel.
‘Can you even call that a meal?’
All that sat before him was a single cup of coffee and one cracker. When I asked Seymour, who was standing nearby, he told me that all three meals a day were like that.
This was no small matter. It was extremely serious.
“Are you dieting?”
At that, Azel, Seymour, and Mary all turned their gazes toward me—but I was completely serious.
“……Not particularly.”
“Then why is that all you’re eating? And why are there so many dishes on my side?”
“The chef prepared a special meal for our guest.”
“…This is enough for me.”
Seymour answered first, then Azel.
Seymour looked amused by my reaction, while Azel seemed oddly awkward.
When I still couldn’t hide my confusion, Azel added,
“I won’t die even if I don’t eat for ten days.”
Sure. He wouldn’t die.
Azel’s body, trained to an extreme degree, had long since surpassed ordinary human standards.
On top of that, he was a special human born with the blessing of mana.
But even so—wasn’t this kind of diet just too dry and depressing?
“That won’t do. At least eat this.”
With a firm expression, I pushed a plate of steak—cut into bite-sized pieces—toward him.
I took a fresh plate, added some turkey meat, and diligently separated the flesh.
“The chef here is this talented, and you’re eating just a cracker? That’s an insult to the cook.”
I slipped a piece of meat into my mouth, and as expected, bliss spread across my tongue.
“…Damn.”
As I muttered the short exclamation and glared down at the plate with furrowed brows, Azel stiffened.
“What’s wrong? Is there a problem—”
“It’s insanely good. Seriously.”
“…What?”
“Try this first. Really. Honestly. I’m not kidding—it’s amazing. Wow, I almost asked them to marry me.”
“W-what did you say…?”
Azel looked flustered, and at that moment, laughter burst out beside us.
“Pfft—!”
“……?”
Seymour had turned away, his shoulders shaking as he struggled to suppress his laughter.
‘Why is he laughing?’
I tilted my head in confusion—then suddenly realized why.
‘Ah. I probably shouldn’t say things like “damn” or “insanely good” here.’
It was so delicious that I’d reacted like a modern person without thinking.
Judging by the strange look on Azel’s face, I should probably restrain myself from now on.
As I blushed slightly in embarrassment, Azel’s expression remained unsettled.
“You said you almost asked them to marry you.”
“That was a mistake. I’m sorry, Azel.”
“That’s not something you need to apologize to me for. It has nothing to do with me in the first place.”
“Still.”
“I said it doesn’t matter.”
Azel was quite firm.
Seymour’s shoulders seemed to be shaking even more violently, but that was probably just my imagination.
“Anyway, please try this. It’s really delicious.”
When I held out a piece of steak toward him on my fork, Azel hesitated once again.
“I’ll eat it myself. Put it down.”
Afraid I’d pushed too far, I quickly placed the fork back on the plate.
With an awkward motion, Azel picked it up himself and finally ate a piece of meat.
Unable to hold back, I asked,
“It’s good, right? It’s good, isn’t it, Azel?”
“……Yes.”
“See! I told you—the chef here is absolutely amazing!”
“You didn’t make it yourself, so why do you look so proud?”
Now that he mentioned it, he was right.
Though if I had made it myself, I probably wouldn’t have been proud at all.
“Unni, what’s that?”
“Lunch today!”
“No, I mean what is that?”
“What do you think? Kimchi fried rice.”
“That lump of charcoal…?”
I was an alchemist capable of turning rice into charcoal.
Back then, my younger sibling had begged me, with a completely serious face, to never enter the kitchen again.
Perhaps my expression stiffened as I recalled that memory, because Azel eyed me suspiciously.
“Are you bad at cooking?”
“No?! W-who says that?”
I panicked without realizing it at his innocent question.
“For someone who’s not, your expression hardened immediately.”
Looks like I’d already been caught.
“Everyone needs at least one or two things they’re bad at to be human.”
I nodded meekly.
Quick surrender and admission aren’t always bad things, after all.
“You’re quite shameless.”
“That’s my charm.”
When I struck a playful pose, cupping my chin with both hands, Azel rested his own chin on his hand and covered his mouth.
The corner of his lips, not quite concealed, curved at a suspicious angle.
“…Are you laughing right now?”
He didn’t answer—but it was clear.
He was smiling.
Not a loud laugh, just the faintest smile—but a smile nonetheless. It was the first time I’d seen Azel smile since coming here.
It was something I’d never even seen in the game illustrations, and I found myself staring blankly.
‘He’s handsome.’
Handsome enough that I forgot all about being teased.
At that moment, Azel’s red eyes shifted back to me. A trace of amusement—and faint hesitation—lingered in his clear gaze.
Then, in a pleasant voice, he said something I could scarcely believe my ears had heard.
“That’s enough—eat up, Elpis.”
“…What?”
Had I misheard?
“What did you just say?”
“I said, eat plenty.”
“No, not that. The part after.”
His faintly teasing tone wasn’t like Azel at all, but I didn’t have the presence of mind to dwell on it.
I doubted my own hearing.
But I was certain—he’d just said Elpis.
“You asked me to give you a name.”
“……!”
“Elpis. I think I’ll call you that from now on.”
I had heard correctly.
Elpis.
That was what he called me.
“Without a name, it was inconvenient to address you. That’s all. There’s no other meaning.”
He added a long explanation, almost like an excuse—but none of it reached my ears.
“…Elpis.”
Today marked the ninth day since I’d arrived at this castle.
And at last, I had a name.
My heart felt like it would burst, and once again, a smile bloomed on my face—this time completely genuine, without a single trace of falsehood.
Following my heart, I rushed toward him.
“Azel!”
“Wait! Don’t come any closer!”
He panicked and tried to push me away—but what did it matter?
I finally had a name!
Later, I would look it up.
Elpis meant “hope.”
To him, I was hope.
