Chapter – 28
Because Kyle had loved reading since he was a child, he spent an enormous amount of time in the library.
As the sun was setting and after finishing his work, Kyle, weary from the heat, headed to the library. At least now that the sun was setting, there was a sign it would cool down a bit.
Earlier, in the meeting, he heard news that the pirates of Fublinta were showing signs of crossing over again. It seemed like he’d have to return to the battlefield soon.
With Jason pressuring from the south, Rona from the center, and Fublinta from the east, Kyle felt as if he wished his body could split into several pieces.
Wanting to rest even for a moment, Kyle entered the library and found Diya asleep by the window, leaning her head against the wall.
As Kyle walked closer, he saw she had been reading a chapter about the Saintess Diana Estrella from the Saintess Encyclopedia. Seeing her finger resting on the word ‘decided’, it seemed she had fallen asleep while reading up to that point.
“Still at the very beginning…….”
Kyle muttered to himself as Diya, perhaps having a nightmare, flinched and mumbled in her sleep.
“No. I need to make fox stew but Roxand isn’t here…….”
“What kind of dream is that?”
Kyle, bewildered, carefully took the book from her hand. Then he stared intently at Diya’s face, fast asleep.
A single strand of her tied-up long hair shimmered as the sunset light streaming through the window flowed over it, like sunlight spilling onto a lake.
He had always thought her clear eyes, like a drop of dew in clear water, were captivating. But even with her eyes closed, she still brought joy to those who looked at her. Seeing her asleep gave him a strangely restful feeling, and he really didn’t want to wake her.
Kyle, who had been staring blankly at her fair face and soft pink lips, stepped back. Then, leaning against the bookshelf, he started reading a book.
Just then, a priest entered the library. Since Kyle was always in the library, the unwritten rule in Ferton Castle was that people just passed by pretending not to notice each other here.
As the priest approached as usual, Kyle looked at him with his uniquely cold, sapphire-blue eyes.
Then he gestured lightly, as if telling him to leave.
“Huh? Oh, s-sorry!”
The off-guard priest was startled and hurriedly ran out. However, perhaps the frightened priest’s voice was loud, Diya opened her eyes slightly. Seeing this, Kyle clicked his tongue without realizing it and muttered.
“…You’re awake.”
Perhaps not hearing him, Diya tilted her head and asked.
“Huh?”
“Did you actually read any of this?”
Kyle changed the subject, waving the Saintess Encyclopedia at her. Diya then proudly held up two fingers.
“I read two lines.”
“That’s something to be proud of.”
“The effort is what matters. What if Jason goes back and does something terrible? Know your enemy and know yourself, and you can win a hundred battles.”
She yawned, looked out the window, and continued.
“I roughly know the enemy now, so to know myself, I was trying to finish reading the Diana Estrella part, but the sun set…….”
“If that’s really your story, shouldn’t you remember it?”
“What, since when did you believe in such things?”
“You don’t remember your previous life?”
“……Do Saintesses reincarnate?”
When Diya asked, Kyle clicked his tongue and opened the very first page of the Saintess Encyclopedia she was reading. ‘A Saintess reincarnates. However, only if she wishes to,’ was the third line.
“It’s in the content even if you just read the first page.”
“Oh, really?”
Diya, as if it was perfect timing, asked Kyle.
“If you’ve read it all, summarize it for me. So what happened to Saintess Diana? Did she go missing?”
“This book says that after Saintess Diana declared she was quitting her Saintess duties out of annoyance, she went missing.”
“What do you mean ‘in this book’? Is there another ending?”
Quick-witted, Diya asked, and Kyle realized his slip of the tongue and immediately shut his mouth. Diya then pressed him.
“Why? What’s the other ending?”
“……How Saintess Diana went missing is intertwined with the secrets of the Vitentian Imperial family, so I can’t tell you. But…… if you are Saintess Diana herself, it would be ridiculous for you not to know. So maybe it’s okay to tell you?”
Taking advantage of his confusion, Diya began to plead.
“Tell me. Please tell me. If you don’t tell me, I’ll cry? I’ll be so curious I can’t sleep, get insomnia, and pop into your room like a zombie?”
Kyle wavered for a moment but tried not to show it and said.
“That white fox, you said it’s Roxand. If it’s really Roxand, wouldn’t he tell you about that much at least.”
“Don’t be sarcastic, you jerk. That fox really is Roxand. But he doesn’t properly tell me anything.”
Diya pouted and glared, and Kyle couldn’t help but smile slightly. In the process, he thought that tying her hair in a ponytail like that suited her incredibly well.
“Who would believe that? Calling a fox Roxand.”
As Kyle suppressed his laughter and chided, Diya muttered as if to herself.
“Jason recognized it as soon as he came to the western temple, he said something about how can you put a god to sleep on top of a basket.”
“……What?”
Kyle’s expression, which had been absentmindedly watching Diya’s hair sway with every word, crumpled frighteningly upon hearing that. Diya then hugged her lunchbox and said.
“Don’t frown. You look really scary when you frown.”
“Jason saw that fox and called it Roxand? Are you sure?”
“Yeah. Stephanie heard it too.”
Kyle then muttered, denying reality.
“Jason must have heard it somewhere too.”
“It’s true! What do I have to do for you to believe me? That it was Roxand who told you to march south when you were at war with Fublinta at first?”
“Come to think of it, the suspicion that you might still be a spy for Fublinta……”
“We agreed to pretend that never happened, you did.”
“……Did I?”
“Yes.”
No such thing had happened.
But Diya insisted so firmly and was bluffing so hard that Kyle somehow felt he might have said that and nodded in a daze.
Diya tilted her head and said.
“Ah, and Roxand said it. That he had met Jason once before.”
“……Damn.”
Kyle inadvertently swore, and Diya flinched.
“No, it’s okay if you don’t believe me. If you hate it that much.”
“No. I wasn’t talking to you. Sorry.”
Kyle immediately apologized to Diya, but his expression became even more frightening than before. He asked her.
“So. Where is that fox now?”
“Haven’t seen it since it followed Jason out. Ah! Wha, what if it got taken by a big beast……”
“Aren’t you being too distrustful even if it’s a god?”
“It’s just that it seems like such a weakling it could get taken by a medium-sized beast, let alone a big one.”
Diya said worriedly. Kyle sighed and plopped down beside her.
He crossed his arms and made a troubled expression.
He had thought all his life that gods probably didn’t exist. If gods existed, he believed they wouldn’t have left a mad devotee like his own birth mother alone, nor would they have recognized someone like Jason, who tormented young Kyle to near death, or someone like Sian, a usurer, as a Crown Prince.
But he had seen Diya restrain a demonic beast with divine power before his eyes. Moreover, in this situation where Jason also called the fox that Diya insisted was Roxand by that name.
Kyle, an atheist, had to slowly acknowledge that the world he had believed in until now was being turned upside down.
‘Perhaps gods really do exist…….’
Kyle closed the window open behind her. Then he firmly locked all the massive doors of the library and confirmed no one was there.
Returning to his spot, Kyle said to Diya.
“I’ll tell you how Saintess Diana disappeared.”
“But you said you wouldn’t tell me earlier?”
“That was when I didn’t believe that fox was Roxand.”
“So you’re going to believe it now?”
“For now.”
Kyle continued with a headache-inducing expression.
“Saintess Diana lived a full life in her first life. And she reincarnated, but it was in that second life that she went missing.”
“Why, why did she go missing?”
“It’s highly likely she committed suicide.”
“Wha, whaaat?”
“God Roxand originally appears before the person who will become emperor, helping them from a young age so they can safely ascend to the throne, right.”
“Uhm? There’s such a saying?”
“……It’s written in that theology book you carried around for a while too?”
“I was going to read it but I got sleepy.”
Diya, who had slept her fill and had bright eyes, pointed at Kyle with both hands and declared proudly.
“And here’s the human summary version!”
“Don’t treat people like books.”
Kyle chided, then pulled out a book and opened it to the middle. There was a passage about God Roxand appearing before the person who would become emperor.
Diya was impressed that Kyle remembered where the passage was, but Kyle, guessing her expression was one of amazement at learning about God Roxand, continued.
“Jason was originally the guy who was the Crown Prince. If Roxand really exists, then our father probably met God Roxand around the time he became Crown Prince.”
“So? Did he say he met him?”
“He says he did, but I didn’t believe it. I’ve never seen it with my own eyes. And our father likes to boast originally.”
‘Cynical guy…….’
Diya thought to herself and asked.
“Roxand appearing before you means he considered you the next emperor, right?”
“Well……. It’s a possibility to consider.”
“Does the person Roxand chooses immediately become emperor?”
“Yes. That’s the problem.”
Kyle stared intently at Diya, lost in thought, then opened his mouth again.
“What comes from here is a story passed down only in the imperial family. Saintess Diana reincarnated once, right?”
“Yeah.”
“But the reason the imperial family thinks she likely committed suicide in that second life is because that Saintess loved a man who had received God Roxand’s selection but could not become emperor, and she disappeared after that man was killed.”
“……It, it was such a sad story?”
“They say she disappeared, leaving only the words that she would never be born as a Saintess again. So the imperial family thinks she must have committed suicide.”
Diya, who had been listening quietly, asked with a face full of doubt.
“But when is that story from?”
“That’s…… the exact period isn’t recorded.”
“What, so it’s just a legend then.”
“It’s described quite realistically to just be that.”
“Uhhuh.”
As she listened to Kyle, Diya grinned and pointed at his face with her finger.
“But were you the type to enjoy legends like this?”
“Th, that’s……. It’s an interesting story.”
“Just an interesting story? You believed it, didn’t you? Like there were Saintess cards or something, and you spent all your pocket money trying to get a Diana Saintess card?”
“……How did you know?”
‘There really were Saintess cards! No, how does this place hit the mark with everything like this?’
Diya excitedly asked in a teasing tone.
“You be honest. Did you lock the library doors now because you believe the legend of Saintess Diana is true?”
“Rather than believing…… you know how strongly the people of this region believe in God Roxand. If word got out that the Clayes family might not be the legitimate line chosen by God Roxand, public sentiment would be greatly shaken.”
Somehow feeling like he was making excuses, Kyle was explaining earnestly when he saw Diya’s sly smile and hastily added.
“B, but of course I know it’s all legend, now. I’m an adult.”
“Oh dear, yes yes, it’s the age when you want to believe in legends.”
Tormented by Diya’s teasing, Kyle covered his face with his large hands. His reaction was so fresh that Diya giggled. Thinking of a young Kyle with sparkling eyes hearing the Diana legend was somewhat cute.
Just then, a voice calling for Kyle was heard from outside. As the conversation was over, Kyle walked over and opened the doors he had locked. A bureaucrat who had been pacing anxiously outside said tearfully.
“Sian……. His Highness Crown Prince Sian has passed away…….”
