~Chapter 93~
“Insomnia?”
Of course, if you can’t sleep, a person would die.
It had already taken two years before she came to Willowhill, and even a body that made gods sigh would soon reach its limit.
“The sleeping medicine itself wasn’t anything special from the start.”
If you called ten traveling apothecaries and told them to make it, maybe three or four of them could have made something similar.
When she said that, he asked with a strange smile.
“If three or four out of ten could make it… and yours worked especially well when you made it, that wouldn’t be only this one time, right?”
That was true.
When she was in Argen, that usefulness had been part of her reputation.
Detox medicines were like that especially, but now it was more than that…
“Stop beating around the bush, and say it straight—”
“Tsk. If I could spoon-feed everything to you, I’d have built a grand temple instead of this shabby sanctuary and taken plenty of offerings for my prophecies.”
He clicked his tongue and crossed his arms.
He shook his head like he found it pathetic.
‘Is this… a god?’
Shariette’s face must have shown her disbelief, because an explanation came at once.
“If gods interfere in human affairs, the backlash is fierce.”
“Then the curse is interference, right?” she asked.
“Exactly. So Latium will probably have to bear the backlash too. When that happens, I don’t know.”
She hoped it would happen right away. Shariette bit the inside of her cheek and kept quiet.
“I’m also taking a risk with even this small intervention.”
He acted like a proud guardian deity.
Why not tell her the whole thing clearly?
“Is that all you have to say?” she asked.
He gave a hollow laugh as if to say, So be it.
“You’re so bold for someone with not a bite to eat. Don’t rush. Even if he seems perfect, he’s still a human body. He can’t last long.”
“……”
“Besides, the damp forest smell makes me dislike staying. Well, the human body can hold a god for a little while, but don’t worry — with this body it won’t be anything serious.”
She wished he would keep acting like a different person.
When he sometimes made expressions like the real Noxian, it felt strange.
She wanted him to leave soon.
“The point is, you don’t even know your own desire. Isn’t that so?” he said.
She felt like he had said that earlier.
‘Leaving aside knowing or not knowing, why talk about desire now?’
Shariette frowned a little.
‘Ugh. Why are they all the same?’
She remembered the arrogant look the other one had worn earlier, even more arrogant than hers.
“Power comes from desire. It appears in the form most able to grant your wish. That’s why anyone can awaken, regardless of bloodline.”
Some people had especially strong desire.
Because of their life, fate, or their will.
They chase the power to make that desire real. In that process, power awakens.
‘Before it was medicine. Now it’s suddenly power? I don’t have any power, so what does that have to do with me?’
The meaning was hard to follow, but Shariette listened carefully, hoping to get something useful.
After a long while, she asked, “So? Is that all? You said you’d tell me how to break the curse. What can I do?”
She didn’t care about hidden meanings—she wanted a straight answer now.
She looked ready to grab his collar.
Before she could move, he put a hand on her shoulder.
“I’ve given you enough hints. Think carefully. One thing I’ll say: I hate wasted time and useless effort.”
So his words so far weren’t wasted or useless.
“Let’s see if the time I spent on you, Latium child, was not in vain.”
He patted the small round white spot on her head at a proper height.
“……!”
For a moment she felt warm and soft. Then suddenly the spot went hollow.
“……? What was that?”
Shariette ducked and shook her head hard, freeing herself from his hand.
The solid warmth she had felt was gone.
“Don’t do pointless things with Noxian’s body. If you’re done talking, get out.”
“Huh?”
He seemed shocked by the sharp, young human answer.
Then he realized something and smirked.
“Really? Why? Is there a reason?”
He stepped closer and closed the gap.
When she stepped forward, he stepped back two. When she stepped forward again, he retreated two.
In the end, Shariette’s back hit the wall.
He laughed as if he found it amusing and leaned close.
Their breaths were almost touching.
“Does this fellow ‘not do this even when angry’? How does he do it then?”
He smiled and narrowed his eyes, and the green-blue eyes trembled a little.
Even though she was facing a god who opposed his origin, she answered back quickly without fear.
He put one hand over her soft cheek.
“One thing I understand, Latium child. This one—”
At that moment, the man posing as Noxian froze in an interesting smile.
The smile slipped off his face. His hand that touched her cheek trembled and pulled away.
“……What a crazy bastard.”
He muttered in a mix of shock and lament.
Then he staggered and pressed a hand to his mouth.
‘Should I knock him out? Or not?’
Shariette held the spray bottle head and watched him carefully.
Something was going wrong.
“I laid out my own grave… I showed mercy and yet—!”
He covered his mouth like he might vomit and hunched over. He tried to hold back the pain and slowly lifted his head.
Cold sweat dripped down his chin.
“You, descendant of Latium. Tell him clearly.”
His red eyes flared for a moment.
“Those who do not pass the trial have no right to inherit. I will take back the blessing.”
“Trial…?”
Shariette remembered what had been said before.
“There are things to test to see if one is fit.”
And she thought of the Duke of Rubellot’s words.
“We still have a long way to go before the ‘trial’…!”
“Let’s see how long a body without the blessing but with the curse can hold on. If he’s so proud, let him pass the trial properly.”
With that harsh warning, the man’s head suddenly bowed before they could answer.
“……!”
Shariette caught him as he fell and held him with both arms.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
His heart was beating, thank goodness.
But his body heat climbed oddly fast.
He felt like someone had set him on fire.
“Noxian? Noxian Rubellot!”
Just before Shariette had burst in.
Deep inside the heart of the sanctuary.
A voice spoke.
「My trial is this, lost Rubellot. Get the thing you most desperately want and prove it.」
What he most desperately wanted?
Noxian thought for a moment. It sounded ironic.
Usually, to get what you most want, you make a deal with a demon or beg a god.
But here the trial was to get it yourself.
“Too simple. Is that all?” he said with an unpleasant laugh.
「You may not be able to. You lost your power, didn’t you?」 the voice answered.
The reptile in that tree had worse manners than his own family reptile.
There was no real rebuttal.
The successor of Rubellot always became the strongest power of their generation.
That was exactly for this reason: to pass Rubenshire’s test.
「Your power was a dream. How peculiar. You are someone who searches for what you do not have.」 the voice said.
Noxian narrowed his brow.
He did not understand the point about being lost or searching for something he did not have.
As if reading his mind, the voice asked meaningfully.
“Do you remember the curse Latium put on you?”
He remembered it, of course. He remembered every word — that angry voice.
「You will never dream again. What you want is in the past, so you will wander in the present forever.」
「Think carefully about what you desire. That is the path you must find.」
