Chapter 28

Chapter 28 – The Incomprehensible

At Erin’s words, one of Chedre’s eyebrows lifted, then slowly fell. Apparently pleased with the reaction, the corner of Erin’s mouth curved even higher.

“And then,” Erin continued evenly, “we intend to escort Your Grace to the capital.”

“For what reason?” Chedre asked.

“For the sake of the people you love so dearly,” Erin replied without missing a beat. “Would that answer suffice?”

Chedre fell silent. Even stationed in the south, there was no way he could be ignorant of how the empire’s situation was unfolding. He knew. Of course he knew.

As if finally grasping Erin’s intent, Chedre’s expression began to darken.

“…Are you telling me to fight my elder brother?”

“I am humbled, Your Grace,” Erin replied calmly, inclining her head just slightly. “But I exist solely to protect the divine. Matters of politics are beyond my expertise.”

“You are well aware that your words contradict each other,” Chedre said flatly.

Contradiction. 

A contradiction, huh.

Erin rolled her eyes thoughtfully, and suddenly, an unfamiliar figure surfaced in her mind. She did not know who it was, yet the memory carried a voice so cold it felt as though frost dripped from every syllable.

Think of it as a transaction based on mutual necessity.

She did not know where she had heard it, but that hardly mattered.

“…I simply thought it might be something we both need,” Erin said.

“And what is it that you need?” Chedre asked.

At his question, Erin smiled softly. Yet the moment he met her eyes, Chedre’s body jerked in an involuntary shudder.

Those eyes were empty. And in the briefest instant, so fleeting it could almost be dismissed as imagination, something sharp and unhinged flashed through them. Madness.

Despite his reaction, Erin continued to look at him with that same gentle smile before slowly opening her mouth.

“Revenge.”

As she spoke the single word, her smile widened.

“I want revenge.”

***

Hearing Erin’s faint voice through the door, Gabriel stood still, absently rubbing his lips with his fingers.

Revenge. Revenge, she said.

Was she pursuing vengeance for someone other than herself? If she was, it would surely be directed at the Emperor. And yet, irritatingly, he could not deny the faint sting of disappointment that settled in his chest.

He disliked the idea of Erin directing her attention toward anyone else. If she ever realized how blatant his feelings were, she would surely dislike that too.

But what could he do? He was a man, after all.

Leaning against the wall as he listened to Erin and Chedre’s conversation, Gabriel slowly pushed himself upright.

Still, he had never expected to meet the descendant of that woman. With half-lidded eyes, Gabriel glanced toward the door on the other side of which Chedre stood.

So this was what people called a cruel twist of fate.

Lost in thought, he sensed someone approaching and turned his gaze unhurriedly.

It was a holy knight missing one arm. The only one who had survived in the south, if he remembered correctly.

Gabriel offered a light greeting and was about to leave when a sharp voice stopped him.

“…I heard your captain was offered as a sacrifice to a demon god.”

The edge in the man’s tone was unmistakable. Gabriel looked at him with a faint smile.

“It was not quite that dramatic.”

“Then what is she doing, besides melting undead with hellfire?”

“What are you trying to say?” Gabriel asked.

Resting his head against the wall, he looked down at the knight. To bare such hostility toward Erin so openly. Was the man trying to get himself killed?

“Why did you let the anomalies that only occurred in the capital spread all the way to the south?” the knight demanded.

“That is why we came to help,” Gabriel replied.

This was the kind of situation that did not even require Erin’s involvement. Anyone else could have handled it. Yet foolish humans kept pushing Erin away, again and again.

Gabriel’s brow slowly furrowed.

“What exactly are you dissatisfied with?”

“True help would have been preventing this from happening in the first place.”

“That is just misplaced anger,” Gabriel said lightly. “You do realize that, right?”

He finally took a step forward, closing the distance between them.

“If your skills were better, you might have saved at least one holy knight. Monsters had not appeared in so long that you all grew complacent. Should you not resent your own negligence instead?”

The knight fell silent.

“If you are going to blame someone,” Gabriel continued coolly, “at least direct it at the right person.”

For a moment, Gabriel had the overwhelming urge to smash the man’s rock-hard skull into the wall.

Hold it in.

Just as he was calming himself, a sudden sensation brushed past him, so swift he nearly lost control of his expression. Even from afar, it was unmistakable. The gaze of a hyena that had found its prey.

This was exactly why he had tried to stop her from coming.

Clicking his tongue inwardly, Gabriel looked back at the knight who was still glaring at him, then curved his lips into a gentle smile.

“You are still here?”

The knight said nothing.

He looked as though he had something to say, yet his thoughts were tangled beyond sorting. Arms crossed, Gabriel watched him in silence. In the end, the knight still could not bring himself to speak, and Gabriel passed by him with a slight frown.

What to do about that hyena.

It must have noticed him long ago. But if it appeared again now, it would only confirm its suspicions.

Anxiety began to creep in. This was never part of Gabriel’s plan. He had not anticipated Sistus acting this way, and that mistake lay entirely with him.

With a sigh, he ran a hand through his hair.

Stepping outside the temple, he gazed quietly beyond the barrier. Erin’s magic had yet to dissipate, and the flames showed no sign of dying down.

Those flames looked as though they might burn even him. Staring blankly, he slowly extended his hand past the barrier.

Fire coiled around his hand, swallowing it as though it meant to consume him whole. Heat flared, and the pain of flesh burning seeped in.

Yet Gabriel did not so much as frown. He merely watched his hand as it charred.

After a moment, he withdrew it back inside the barrier. The burned flesh regenerated rapidly, restoring itself as though nothing had happened.

“So not yet,” he murmured.

Watching the healing finish, Gabriel let out a hollow laugh. The queasy feeling rising in his chest, was that what it meant to want to cry?

It was an emotion he had forgotten long ago.

But now was not the time for such useless feelings. Lifting his head, he looked toward the distant presence of Sistus.

Once Sistus locked onto prey, it never gave up. It would find a way to make contact and press in even harder.

Clenching his fully restored hand, Gabriel bit down on his lower lip.

There was no time left to indulge in leisure.

***

I have no intention of becoming a hero.

Erin found herself genuinely surprised by how little desire for power that statement revealed. Or perhaps it only felt that way because everyone around her, herself included, had always been drawn to power.

She brushed her bangs back and sat down at the desk. The barrier around the temple was resolved. Now she needed to go outside and lead the purge of the remaining undead.

Even if she handled the fighting herself, if Grand Duke Chedre led his knights and private soldiers to secure the survivors, he would have no choice but to head to the capital afterward.

Or would he refuse, insisting that all the credit belonged to her alone?

Lowering her gaze, Erin opened the ancient document she had brought with her.

But as she turned one page, then another, confusion rippled across her face.

Why can I read this?

Just a day ago, she had been unable to decipher a single word beyond the title. Now, it was different.

The primordial demon god did not drink blood. However, when she desired eternal life, she divided her heart into seven pieces and implanted them into human girls. From that point on, it is said she began to drink blood.

The girls who bore fragments of the demon god’s heart likewise became demon gods. With seven hearts among them, they became the gods of their respective nations…

“Heart,” Erin murmured quietly as she read.

Gabriel had said that destroying the heart would kill the Night Demon. But according to this record, there had been seven who carried hearts.

Of course, this was a myth passed down through generations. Nothing here could be taken as absolute truth.

I will figure out later why I can read this now.

With that thought, Erin continued.

There has been a case where one heart devoured the remaining six, merging them into a single heart. Its power surpassed that of the original body.

A being whose power exceeded the original. If that was true, then destroying the heart had never been possible to begin with.

“Damn it,” Erin muttered, dragging a hand down her face before exhaling deeply. “None of this makes any sense.”

“Curious about something?”

Gabriel’s voice sounded from beside her. Without turning her head, Erin replied coolly.

“Why did you give me this book?”

“So that you would trust me,” Gabriel answered.

He stepped closer from behind and leaned down, bracing his arms around her. His breath brushed against her ear.

“That is what I said.”

“You gave me an ancient text I could not even read,” Erin replied with a short laugh, trying to pull away.

Instead, Gabriel closed the distance further, leaving her half reclined against the desk in an awkward position.

“Even so,” he said quietly, his voice low and close, “you are reading it now.”