Chapter 50
Right after Shin Ari left the room.
Alend picked up the doll on the desk.
As he let divine power flow into his hand, the doll’s body twitched, and a black aura began to seep out in wisps.
As if he had expected this, a flat voice left Alend’s lips.
“Darkness.”
Previously, the Saint had once asked him to look at a box a pirate had stolen.
A wooden box secured with a solid seal.
To know what was inside, it would have to be torn open, but seeing that it had no seams or lock, it seemed better not to open it.
“The identity of the box? There must be a reason it was made so it couldn’t be opened. Leave it be.”
It was after returning from the Temple of Nisephorel that Alend began to pay attention to the box he had said that about.
The relationship Hazel mentioned between Marquis Randette and Derachi.
And the fact that the ship the pirate stole from belonged to a trading company run by Marquis Randette.
He had already been planning to check the box today, but he hadn’t expected it to be in this state.
On top of that—
If it had enough power to break its own seal and come out, that meant it was no weak creature.
“Did it… feed on the Saint’s divine power?”
Alend’s eyes turned cold.
Sensing his fierce presence, the Darkness trembled.
Darkness.
A separate kind of existence, different from the traitors cursed by the god Seikan.
Like natural disasters, they simply occurred, and everything about them—from birth to death—was a mystery.
There was only one thing known for certain.
[Darkness grows by feeding on divine power.]
At first, it was a small, insignificant thing that could burst if stepped on by a child.
But once it got a taste of divine power, Darkness would rapidly grow stronger and even attack humans to steal their divine power.
They called it “stealing,” but when a person with divine power had all the divine energy in their body taken away, the body could not withstand the sudden change and the heart stopped.
It meant death.
That was how dangerous Darkness was, even if it appeared harmless at the moment.
So while no one knew its identity, had this Darkness fed on the Saint’s divine power and grown?
“How absurd.”
Alend’s brow twitched.
The one who sealed the Darkness and loaded it onto the ship must have been Derachi.
Marquis Randette wouldn’t have any knowledge about such things.
No—among the nobles of Zendal, there wasn’t a single person who would want to be associated with Darkness.
In the Holy Empire of Zendal, being connected to Darkness meant the extermination of one’s entire house.
Marquis Randette, who cherished his family more than his own life, would never do such a thing.
‘Did they sponsor the ship so that, if it was discovered, the blame could be shifted onto the Marquis? The reason no one has mentioned the stolen box until now must be because they can’t openly look for it.’
Alend drew an invisible line in the air with his index finger.
Space split along the line, and from within it, Lu appeared.
“Lu, it’s Darkness. Want to eat it?”
“Pi, piyu!”
“Gyaong!”
Lu, who had been stepping out leisurely, suddenly puffed up all its fur and leapt at Alend’s unexpected suggestion.
Then it settled at the edge of the desk and began licking its paw.
At first, it looked offended, as if asking what Alend took it for, and the act of looking away afterward was a clear refusal.
The Darkness trembled, as if startled.
‘Seems it’s not enough for Lu.’
Though it only looked cute, Alend’s familiar was of a high rank.
Which meant it had a picky appetite.
It enjoyed high-quality divine power, and unless Darkness was plump from being filled with a considerable amount of divine power, Lu wouldn’t even glance at it.
‘That’s troublesome.’
If Lu wouldn’t devour it, there was no way to permanently eliminate the Darkness.
While thinking, Alend shifted his gaze to the Darkness in his hand.
Like a cornered rat biting a cat, the Darkness spread its black aura as if to swallow Alend whole.
But before Alend’s immense divine power, the aura quickly died down.
“Pyu, pyuu….”
The intimidated Darkness made a pitiful sound.
The doll’s brown eyes, lifted upward, seemed to water as if watching Alend’s mood.
But that sight could not stir sympathy in Alend. Maybe for Shin Ari, but not for him.
Alend looked at the Darkness with indifferent eyes.
“That method would be best.”
‘This is bad.’
Sitting on a pew in the chapel, I was lost in serious 고민.
What’s the most dangerous thing in fangirling?
That moment when “He’s cool” turns into “He’s cute.”
If someone’s cool, at least there’s still an image that can shatter. But once they start looking cute, it’s over.
From that day on, it’s an ant lion’s pit—no real life possible.
It means a river you can’t cross back over.
Now, even if His Majesty gets rice stuck to his front teeth and makes a goofy grin, I’d probably think he looks cute.
And what’s driving me even crazier is—
‘This darn heart…!’
I don’t know if something’s broken, but it keeps pounding like crazy at all hours.
Why? Didn’t I suffer a lot a few months ago because of Chobi’s medicine?
My dark history of getting flustered over Captain Henkel.
If that time was the beta test, it feels more and more like this is the official launch version.
‘I’m extremely uneasy.’
If only I didn’t know what this feeling was! I’d just think, ‘His Majesty’s handsomeness exceeded the maximum limit I can tolerate’…!
The fact that this sensation wasn’t unfamiliar made it all the more painful to deny.
The other person is— the other person is His Majesty…!
“I’m done for now….”
“What do you mean you’re done for?”
A voice cut into my muttering.
When I turned my forehead, which had been pressed against the bookstand, to the side, a sharp-looking beauty with short pink hair was sitting on a wooden box with wheels, looking at me.
“Chobi, you’re here? I was just thinking about something…. But what are you riding?”
“Wow, Saintess, you’ve got a good eye! To recognize this right away. This is a new cleaning tool I just invented!”
As if she’d been waiting for that question, Chobi’s response shot right out.
“There’s a rag attached underneath, so if you just ride around, you can clean the floor without the trouble of pushing a mop by hand. Like this.”
Chobi’s eyes sparkled as she pushed with her feet, moving the box back and forth.
Out of all the inventions Chobi had made for cleaning so far, this one looked the most practical.
But I didn’t have the mental energy to admire it for long right now. Sob.
“Ooh. That’s nice.”
Despite my soulless exclamation and clapping, Chobi didn’t care.
After proudly showing off her invention in self-satisfaction, when she ran out of things to say, she picked up what I’d said earlier as a conversation topic.
“But what were you worried about?”
“Um….”
I looked at Chobi.
Come to think of it, Chobi looks like she’d be popular.
She had a stylish, beautiful look, so back in the academy days, she probably had at least one or two people following her around.
“…Chobi. Have you ever dated?”
“I have.”
Chobi suddenly crumpled her face like she’d bitten into a bug.
“W-Why?”
“There was this one guy who was like a leech. When I said let’s break up, he ran around waving a sword saying he’d die. I should’ve just stabbed him back then.”
Judging by the grinding sound of her teeth, she meant it.
At Chobi’s brutally intense dating story that came out of nowhere, I let out an awkward laugh.
After calming down, Chobi asked me,
“Then is what you’re worrying about a dating problem?”
“Not to the point of dating….”
I trailed off.
I’d blurted it out without thinking because I felt frustrated, but even if I told Chobi, it wouldn’t solve anything.
“Well, rather than my problem, Chobi’s invention is more—”
“For romance-related stories, there’s a more suitable person.”
Cutting me off mid-sentence without listening, Chobi rode the box across the central aisle.
I wondered where she was going, but it was toward Kadian and Hufferson, who were having a serious conversation near the entrance at the end of the aisle.
After going up to them, Chobi pointed toward me and dragged the two over.
“Saintess, you said you had something to say?”
“Me?”
At Hufferson’s words, I looked at Chobi in confusion.
Grinning, Chobi smacked Hufferson on the lower back.
“This guy has a ton of dating experience!”
“Ch-Chobi! Wh-What are you saying…!”
“Isn’t it true? Even just counting the people I know, I’d run out of fingers.”
Chobi spread all ten fingers and began folding them one by one with a sly look.
Flustered, Hufferson tried to stop her.
Eventually, realizing his denial wouldn’t work, Hufferson nodded as if resigned.
“Dating… yeah. I’ve done a bit.”
“Ooh.”
Is this the aura of a hidden dating master?
When our eyes met as I admired him, Hufferson quickly turned around.
“To be saying things like this in front of the Saintess…,” he muttered softly, sniffling.
Beside him, Kadian patted Hufferson’s shoulder in comfort.
Once composed, Hufferson turned back and asked,
“So, what did you want to say…?”
“Ah… um… This is about a friend of mine….”
Ugh. To think I’d end up starting a relationship 상담 with such an obvious line.
But I don’t exactly have the quick wit to come up with something creative on the spot.
“A friend… you say?”
Seeing Hufferson’s awkward expression as he repeated my words, I realized.
Oh, right. I don’t have any friends here.
Delkan left, and Showen is a friend of my alter ego….
While I was worrying about how to explain the existence of a friend I didn’t even have, Hufferson spoke first.
“Then what is the concern your friend has?”
Hufferson… are you pretending to believe I have a friend?
So kind….
“Ah, well, she likes someone she’s not supposed to like… li-like… No, I’m not sure! Anyway, it seems like that….”
At my words, Hufferson exchanged a glance with Kadian.
I was wondering if Kadian was also a hidden dating master when Hufferson looked at me with a serious face.
Maybe because it was his field of expertise, his gaze was different from usual.
“What made your friend feel that way?”
“A reason?”
Because an ugly doll overlapped with silver-haired His Majesty in my mind….
And that silver-haired His Majesty overlapped with blond His Majesty wearing a flower crown….
And it looked cute, so that became the reason.
There was no way I could say that.
As I hesitated, Hufferson offered examples.
“Perhaps they were suddenly far away from someone they always saw, or they felt the emptiness of their absence and started missing them.”
Those examples are oddly specific.
“Uh, we were apart once….”
Come to think of it, when I was in Bonia, I really missed His Majesty.
Could that have been the trigger, not early this morning?
No, back then I still had some sense of reason….
“You.”
Ack. Ack.
Why am I suddenly remembering when His Majesty teased me while making that married-couple setting—!
Forget it, forget it! No. I can’t forget….
While I was fighting with myself over past memories, Kadian hurriedly cut in and asked,
“H-How far apart were they? Not as far as between the Bonia Kingdom delegation that came last time and Zendal, right…?”
“Ah, yes. About that much.”
“I-Is that so.”
Kadian’s hand, gripping his sword hilt, trembled.
