The temple library at midday was quiet.
With nothing to do, a bored librarian loitered near Elsez, pretending to organize books.
‘That woman… they said she’s a Hero.’
He’d heard Heroes received a monthly stipend.
It wasn’t a fortune, but supposedly enough to live comfortably without working for the rest of their lives.
‘If I marry her, I’d get a beautiful wife, and a lifetime of easy living too.’
Then he could finally quit this dull, tedious librarian job.
As the librarian was plotting how to approach Elsez, a shadow fell behind him.
Startled by a sudden, sharp presence at his back, he turned—and froze.
There stood Tezette, his disheveled black hair falling softly over eyes that gleamed like a predator’s.
Beautiful, but so unnervingly out of place in the sacred temple.
Tezette looked down at the librarian as if he were a worthless bug and moved his lips.
“Get lost.”
The librarian, overwhelmed by the sheer threat in those words—as if he could be squashed like an insect—fled without even breathing.
Noticing one presence disappear and another appear behind her, Elsez turned toward Tezette.
‘I was just thinking about how to deal with that librarian. No wonder he vanished so suddenly.’
Seeing Tezette approaching, Elsez understood why the librarian had bolted.
‘Still, what’s he doing here?’
He’s not the reading type.
Looking up at Tezette, who had now come right up to her, Elsez asked,
“Looking for a book?”
“No. Looking for you.”
That answer made less sense than saying he was there for books. Elsez blinked.
“For me?”
“You didn’t come to find me. I waited.”
“Oh.”
Only then did Elsez remember promising to find him on Ruel’s behalf.
“I meant I’d come find you if you didn’t show up to the meetings.”
“Then if there’s no meeting, you’re not coming?”
Was it just her imagination, or did his expressionless face look slightly downcast—like a puppy with drooping ears?
Feeling a little guilty for breaking her word, Elsez added an explanation.
“That’s not it… usually when someone goes looking for someone, there’s a reason.”
Tezette stared at her for a moment, then reached toward her cheek.
Startled, Elsez tried to pull back—but his long fingers only brushed away a speck of dust from her hair.
At the same time, his soft voice rang out.
“I want to see you, even if I have no reason.”
The moment she heard that, Elsez’s heart dropped.
Tezette gently played with her soft hair and asked,
“Can’t I just stay by your side?”
Trying hard to calm her pounding heart, Elsez thought,
‘Why does he say things in such a weird way…?’
Ever since Astaire confessed to her a few days ago, the things these guys said started to sound strange.
‘And Rashiel too, earlier today…’
She was sure it was because she had just woken from a nightmare—everything felt a little off.
‘Especially the idea of Tezette liking someone… that’s just unimaginable.’
And the idea that person might be her—even more so.
Still, with that face, even slightly misleading words sounded different.
‘…It must be my imagination. He’s probably just bored.’
Reassuring herself, Elsez replied casually,
“Hmm, then can you help me look for a book?”
She was just searching for a book about her ancestors after reading the letter from Tracia.
“If that heirloom really belonged to your ancestor, then your lineage might be… royalty from the Eurion Kingdom, which fell 800 years ago.”
Technically, Elsez had no connection to that body. She was just a soul possessing it—she wasn’t truly Elsez.
‘But it’s suspicious. Of all the people I could’ve possessed… why a descendant of a fallen kingdom?’
She started to think the truth behind “Elsez” might be tied to the reason she possessed her.
That’s why she had come to the library to research the Eurion Kingdom.
“All the books on Eurion Kingdom, please. I’ve already checked the lower shelves—focus on the top ones.”
As Elsez instructed, Tezette started scanning the top shelf.
‘He’s like an obedient puppy.’
Elsez watched him with satisfaction, then perched on the window ledge and began reading a book she found.
It was a history book covering various ancient nations.
She flipped to the section on the Eurion Kingdom.
The Holy Eurion Kingdom.
There is a myth that the founding ancestor of Eurion was a son of the gods.
While the truth of the myth is unknown, it is said that powerful children with great divine power were born into the royal family generation after generation.
These children, inheriting the ancestor’s power, were born with a symbol on their foreheads. The stronger the power, the clearer the symbol.
Below the passage was a drawing of that symbol.
It was the same symbol engraved on the heirloom ring she had left with Tracia.
‘So this is like the red eyes passed down in the imperial family of Arthes.’
Elsez continued reading the next paragraph.
The Eurion Kingdom gained renown by fighting against the Demon God alongside Saint Dike, raising its status and fame. But after the Demon God was defeated and peace returned, the kingdom invaded neighboring lands, starting a war.
The war devastated not only the other countries but Eurion itself. The scars of war greatly contributed to its eventual downfall.
Before they could even recover, the Demon God returned.
With no alliances left due to the long war, the Eurion Kingdom could not avoid ruin.
Eventually, the kingdom was broken into many pieces and absorbed by other nations. Some of those fragments became the foundation of the Holy Nation.
After that, there were detailed stories and gossip about the kingdom, but Elsez’s eyes couldn’t follow the words anymore.
She had spent the previous night at the guild and returned to the temple at dawn planning to rest—but her encounter with Rashiel had shaken her awake.
Now the sleep she missed was catching up to her.
‘I shouldn’t sleep here…’
Struggling to keep her eyes open, Elsez eventually dozed off, leaning against the window ledge.
Tezette, who had found the books just as she asked, silently watched her sleeping.
Bathed in sunlight streaming through the window, she looked so peaceful that he couldn’t look away.
He was torn between wanting to carry her somewhere more comfortable—and wanting to stay still and admire the scene.
‘This sunlight must be hot…’
Tezette took off his jacket and walked over to Elsez.
Just then, a familiar silhouette appeared behind her through the window—Rashiel was passing by.
The moment Rashiel’s gaze nearly swept past the window, Tezette instinctively covered Elsez with his jacket.
It was a reflex, like muscle memory.
In the sudden closeness under the jacket, Tezette’s face came near to Elsez’s—close enough to hear her breathing.
Staring at her sleeping face, Tezette suddenly remembered a pretty stone he had found as a child.
Afraid someone might steal it, he kept it in his pocket and only looked at it when no one else was around.
He felt that same emotion now.
Fear of losing it. A bitter, uneasy feeling.
‘I want to hide you away, where only I can see you.’
In the end, someone had stolen that stone, and that day, Tezette had beaten a kid nearly to death for the first time.
Though he won the fight, the stone the other kid had thrown away out of spite was never found again.
Remembering that, Tezette gripped the jacket covering Elsez and murmured in a chilling voice,
“How can I keep you from being taken away?”
****
At sunset, Elsez stretched and headed to the dining hall after waking from her nap.
“Ugh, I finally feel alive again.”
When she had woken up after dozing off in the library, she found herself leaning against Tezette’s shoulder.
‘Gah—why didn’t you wake me up?’
‘You looked tired.’
During that time, the stack of books had noticeably shrunk. While Elsez was sleeping, he had gone through the books and filtered out the irrelevant ones.
Tezette had told her to go sleep in her room and even carried the books there for her.
And now, after sleeping, it was already this late.
‘I’ll grab dinner, then head to the guild.’
Just as Elsez was making her way to the dining hall, Reti peeked his head out from her pocket.
“Human, I want a cookie.”
“You’ve been quiet all this time—guess you got a good nap. I’ll get you one when we go to the guild later.”
“That place from yesterday? We’re going again?”
“Yeah. Since you can’t sleep well here.”
Reti stared at Elsez, who spoke as if putting up with the discomfort was only natural.
He seemed about to say something—but suddenly ducked back into her pocket.
“Reti?”
While Elsez was puzzled by his sudden behavior, a voice came from beside her.
“Is that the friend? The monster friend Astaire mentioned?”
She turned to see Dike, approaching with his usual gentle smile.
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