Chapter 8
“What? What do you mean by that…?”
Tristan asked back, as if doubting his own ears.
By now, he must have been confident I would back down. Even if I was young, I was still a Saintess candidate—he probably thought I’d know at least a little decorum.
“I’d like to contact him right now. I’m in a hurry too.”
But that kind of decorum or humility wasn’t important to me.
‘And I have no reason to consider the circumstances of someone like Tristan.’
If he hadn’t tormented Kain in the first place, we wouldn’t be at odds now.
‘You reap what you sow.’
I turned to Rain and spoke.
“Please. Send a message to the Duke—”
“W-wait just a moment, Lady Winiel!”
Tristan cut in, interrupting me.
“Before you do that, I will hear the contents of the message. If I deem it important, I’ll contact him then.”
Despite his hurried interruption, Tristan spoke as if he were generously offering to do me a favor.
I replied deliberately, with feigned caution.
“The message… to you, Sir Tristan?”
“Yes. I am acting as the Duke’s proxy in handling the estate’s affairs, so it’s possible this can be resolved at my level. It would be faster that way.”
“So you’re saying that the ‘important message of a Saintess candidate, meant for none other than Duke Argent himself’ should be delivered… to you, Sir Tristan?”
“…….”
When I spelled it out because he seemed not to understand, Tristan’s expression stiffened.
A message that was supposed to be delivered directly to the Duke through the temple, and he was saying he’d hear it first and judge it himself.
No matter how much authority he had as the estate’s administrator, that was practically the ducal house slighting the temple.
Of course, I didn’t care whether the temple was being slighted or not—but I covered my mouth with both hands and blinked innocently.
“Well, that is… ahem. I had no such intention. I merely meant to manage the communications sent to the Duke under the young master’s orders.”
Tristan tried to smooth things over by bringing up Kain.
“The young master does not wish to inform the Duke of this recent attack. I was concerned that while explaining the circumstances, you might mention the incident, so I suggested an alternative. However, if you insist on delivering it directly to the Duke, I ask that you refrain from disclosing matters of the ducal estate.”
In short: say only what you came to say, and nothing else.
It was similar to what Kain had told me earlier.
But the thought that crossed my mind was completely different.
“But I’m curious about something. If you’re acting as the estate’s administrator, shouldn’t you be reporting this rather than hiding it? The young master was attacked by dark magic.”
“The young master wishes it to be hidden.”
“Oh, I see. So you’re saying that when the injured young master—still a child—decided to hide it, the adult acting administrator of the ducal estate simply accepted that with a ‘yes.’”
I clapped my hands together, putting on a look of complete understanding.
Tristan flinched.
‘Kain is one thing, but you don’t get to do that.’
Judging by his reaction, the message got across.
“…Haha, that’s a misunderstanding. I came to that conclusion after conducting my own investigation into the dark magic attack.”
Tristan forced the corners of his mouth upward.
“The reason I was absent these past few days was precisely because of that. Unfortunately, I found nothing. Therefore, I concluded that informing the Duke would only cause unnecessary worry, and I agreed with the decision to keep it hidden.”
“Oh dear, you gave up after just a few days. The attacker must have hidden themselves very thoroughly—didn’t even leave a single clue for you to follow.”
“……Moreover, the young master suffered no injuries. Informing the Duke would only make matters bigger than they need to be. I thought so, and so did the young master.”
“From the looks of it, he hasn’t even undergone purification. How can you be so sure he wasn’t harmed? Even if the young master thought so, shouldn’t you have stepped in and advised him to receive purification? Of course, that’s just my opinion.”
“…….”
Tristan fell silent.
Instead, his face flushed bright red.
“…If you continue speaking like this, there’s no helping it. I’ll ask the young master directly whether you’re allowed to contact the Duke, Lady Winiel.”
In the end, Tristan pulled out his trump card. He must have decided it was impossible to stop me on his own.
Without waiting for my reply, he left the basement and said something to the knight who was standing by.
Shortly after, the knight returned with Kain in tow.
“What is this? I told you not to do this.”
Kain snapped at me the moment he entered the basement, as if he already knew the situation.
From behind Kain, Tristan looked at me with a relaxed, confident expression.
‘If Kain stops this much, Rain probably won’t help either.’
But even if I explained everything and begged Kain, he didn’t seem like he’d listen.
‘Then I have no choice.’
I’d have to use that.
“Hello, Young Master. We meet again.”
“…….”
When I greeted him brightly, Kain frowned.
“You—”
“It’s good timing. I had something to tell you.”
I cut him off before he could speak.
“You told me to state my reward and leave quickly, right? I’ll say it now.”
“…What is it?”
“Please allow me to speak with the Duke.”
I hadn’t wanted to use this like this, but right now, taking things one step at a time was what mattered.
‘Asking him to deal with the villain organization would be beneficial to Kain too, so once his trauma settles a bit, if I explain properly, he’ll accept it even if it’s not officially a reward.’
At least, I hoped so.
“The Duke?”
Kain narrowed his eyes as he repeated the words.
“I told you to hurry and say your reward since you’re my lifesaver—”
Worried he might refuse, I mumbled preemptively.
After a brief moment of thought, Kain sighed and spoke.
“Ha… I didn’t promise a reward so you could ask for something like this.”
“I won’t say anything that would worry you. I truly have something I need to tell the Duke privately.”
What counted as “worrying” was subjective, and Kain’s definition might differ from mine—but still.
“…Fine. Talk to him if you want.”
After my persistent persuasion, Kain finally allowed it with an irritated tone and turned away.
“……!”
I could feel Tristan panicking beside me. But since there was no way for him to stop it now, he didn’t say anything.
“Yes!”
Before Kain could change his mind, I answered quickly and turned to Rain.
“Please use it now.”
Rain glanced around nervously, then activated the communication device.
“Please write the message you wish to send here.”
He handed me paper and a pen that were placed beside the device.
“These are writing tools specifically for the communication device.”
‘So you write with this and send it through the device.’
It seemed you couldn’t just use any paper.
‘As expected of such an expensive magic device.’
I’d better be careful not to mess it up. What a waste of paper otherwise.
I asked them to wait a moment, placed the paper on the table, and picked up the pen.
At that moment, I felt a blatant stare from somewhere.
“Don’t look.”
“Ahem—cough.”
When I glared and shielded the paper with both arms, Tristan coughed and stepped back.
‘First, I’ll introduce myself… ah, and I should write about seeing the future too.’
I wrote carefully and neatly.
“Here.”
I added at the end, “I would like to discuss the details in person,” and handed the paper to Rain.
‘I didn’t write about being attacked by dark magic in the forest because I thought Kain might read it.’
I glanced at Kain.
He clearly wanted to leave as soon as possible and showed no interest in what I’d written.
‘If that was the case, maybe I should’ve just written everything.’
But Tristan was glaring so hard at the paper, clearly trying to read it, that I decided against it.
‘It’s fine. I can tell him everything when we meet later.’
I stopped thinking and turned my attention to the device.
When Rain inserted the paper into the communication device, it began to make a loud, mechanical noise.
“That indicates the recipient has received it.”
“He got it quickly! Then the reply should come soon too.”
We waited for a response.
But the device soon fell silent, making no further sound.
“…He must be thinking about his reply.”
“…It seems so.”
Several minutes passed like that.
The device still showed no reaction.
“…Should we send it again?”
“…That would be best.”
At my question, Rain took out a fresh sheet of paper. That was when Tristan interjected.
“The Duke has judged that there is no need to reply. Let’s stop here.”
His expression looked refreshed, as though he’d gotten past a critical hurdle.
“It could just be that the reply is delayed.”
“That’s what being busy means. Busy enough to push aside whatever happens at the ducal estate.”
‘How can he say something like that!’
Startled, I looked at Kain. Even after hearing those words, Kain stood there expressionlessly.
As if he’d expected this.
‘Was it like this before, too?’
The thought that I might have stirred up painful memories filled me with sudden guilt.
“Since everything is finished, let’s take our leave now.”
Even then, Tristan smiled kindly as he ushered me out of the basement.
I clenched my fists.
‘Finished, my foot. I’ve just been ignored once.’
If anything, letting it end like this would only reopen Kain’s wounds.
‘I won’t let it end that way!’
I broke free of Tristan’s hand and moved back toward the device.
“W-wait!”
“Ow!”
Suddenly, Tristan grabbed my arm. I staggered and fell to the floor.
“Lady Winiel!”
Rain helped me up. I wasn’t hurt, but I pretended to be and didn’t stand right away.
Flustered, Tristan apologized.
“I’m sorry, Lady Winiel! Communication devices operate on mana, and since you possess holy power, I reflexively worried that you might damage it—”
As Tristan said, mana and holy power were incompatible, and if holy power touched a magic device, it could malfunction.
But—
“I’m a person. I can control my holy power.”
I replied stiffly.
‘Do you think I just leak holy power everywhere?’
That sort of thing only happened with objects like purification stones.
‘…Huh? Objects?’
Wait. Don’t tell me—
At that moment, realization struck.
“Lady Winiel?”
I sprang to my feet and rushed toward the device.
Before anyone could stop me, I tore off the metal plate near where I’d touched earlier.
Thunk.
A stone about the size of my fist fell out from inside.
The familiar sensation I’d felt earlier hadn’t been my imagination.
“There was a purification stone inside. No wonder I felt holy power coming from the device.”
Holding the stone, I spoke.
“If something like this is inside, the device wouldn’t function properly. For example—”
I looked at Tristan, who was trying to hide his shock and remain calm, then turned my gaze to Kain.
“The text could get completely twisted and end up looking like meaningless scribbles.”
