Actually, there was someone who told Elsez about Astaire’s location.
‘According to a human kid, the last sighting was near the Saintess’s office.’
Reti, who had been trying to teleport to Elsez again and again, moved to her the moment Elsez escaped the rift in dimensions.
Hearing about what had gone on in the temple while she was gone, Elsez asked about Astaire’s whereabouts.
And as expected, the answer came back that Astaire’s whereabouts were unknown.
Elsez immediately sensed that Astaire had been captured by Dike.
‘Rashiel. I’ll draw attention at the temple entrance, so you find Astaire in that gap.’
Since no one knew whether Astaire was alive or dead, they had to act as quickly as possible.
Luckily, Astaire was alive, though injured.
Finding monsters and beasts there, Rashiel killed them all and blew up the underground.
Through the earring with a communicator, Elsez heard from Rashiel about the underground situation, and looked at Dike, whose face showed dismay, and smiled faintly.
“You’ll need to explain why monsters and beasts were locked under the Saintess’s office.”
As soon as she finished speaking, a teleportation magic circle appeared beneath Elsez’s feet, and she vanished in light.
Right after, Rashiel, Astaire, Tezette, and Cassian also disappeared using teleportation magic.
The five of them arrived at Rashiel’s mansion through the Mage Tower portal inside the Holy Nation.
Catching his breath, Cassian suddenly remembered something and asked Tezette.
“Hey, what was that about earlier?”
“What do you mean?”
“You called her Ruel.”
“Elsez really is Ruel.”
“What?!”
Cassian’s shocked gaze turned to Elsez.
“Is that true…?”
His eyes were filled with disbelief, yet also with hope that it was real.
Elsez looked at him with a playful, coy expression and said,
“I’m disappointed, Cassian. You only just noticed.”
Cassian’s eyes reddened as he stared at her, shaken.
“No way, damn… damn it.”
He couldn’t say more, only muttering curses as his lips trembled.
Finally, after barely calming down, he spoke.
“You… why didn’t you say anything to me…!”
“Sorry. I couldn’t say it because of a binding spell.”
Cassian stared blankly at Elsez, who had miraculously returned, then suppressed the rush of emotions and pulled her into a hug.
“…Forget it. It’s fine. You’re alive, and that’s enough. Thank you for being alive.”
His voice was filled with raw emotion.
Watching the two, Rashiel’s brow faintly furrowed, but he didn’t interfere.
Calming down, Cassian let go of Elsez and glared at Tezette.
“Why are you only telling me now? You should’ve said it when we were talking about the fake.”
“Isn’t it weird that you didn’t figure it out?”
“Come on, who would ever think someone dead came back in another body?!”
Then he noticed Astaire and Rashiel watching calmly and raised a brow.
“What? You guys knew too?”
“We didn’t tell you and Tezette because it would’ve messed with the operation.”
“What?”
“We had to trick both Dike and the fake to uncover the truth. If you two knew, you’d have charged in swinging.”
Cassian couldn’t argue against Astaire’s words.
As frustrating as it was, he knew that if he’d known the truth, he probably would have gone berserk.
“Still! I’m the only one who got played by that fake?”
Pouring out his resentment, Cassian turned to Astaire.
“So Tezette figured it out himself. What about you? Did you know early on too—that she’s the real one and the fake’s a fake?”
Cassian worried that maybe he alone had failed to recognize Ruel.
But fortunately, Astaire had been in the same position.
“No. I only found out when Rashiel told me right before leaving for the Empire.”
Cassian, deep in thought after hearing Astaire, turned his gaze to Rashiel.
“Wait a second… so Rashiel knew all along and just pretended not to?”
To Cassian’s words, Astaire nodded in agreement, “Pretty much.”
Cassian’s eyes grew cold as he glared at Rashiel. Tezette silently drew a dagger.
Smiling faintly, Astaire sided with them.
“Go ahead and stab him. I’ll save him.”
He too seemed to agree that Rashiel deserved it.
Even as the two closed in on him with a dangerous air, Rashiel responded shamelessly.
“You haven’t forgotten this is my house, have you?”
“That’s why I said we’d spare you. But you still need to pay for being cheeky.”
Cassian, radiating killing intent as he approached Rashiel, suddenly noticed Elsez watching and waved at her.
“Ruel, step outside for a bit.”
But just as he moved toward Rashiel again, Elsez strode up and suddenly hugged all four of them tight.
Cassian cried out in alarm.
“Hey, wait, wait! He’s holding a knife, it’s dangerous!”
But Elsez only beamed, as if none of that mattered.
“I missed you all.”
Looking at her, smiles spread across the faces of Rashiel, Astaire, and Cassian. Tezette’s gaze softened subtly as well.
At last, the five were together again.
****
Not long after they arrived at the mansion, it was already dinner time.
The five—no, six, including Reti—decided to eat first and then plan their next move.
While dinner was being prepared, Astaire gathered holy power and created a magic stone that looked faintly like a pearl.
He then set it back into Elsez’s necklace.
Now that Elsez had fully recovered the Demon God’s power, if left unchecked, Dike’s side would sense that power and track her down.
It was only a temporary measure to prevent that.
Elsez looked at Astaire with worried eyes.
“Astaire, you haven’t even recovered your strength yet. Aren’t you pushing yourself too hard?”
“This much is fine. It’s not even that hard.”
Astaire placed the finished necklace back around Elsez’s neck.
Seeing the distance between Elsez and Astaire grow so close, Reti was on full alert—since her doll’s body was with Noel, she had taken refuge in the platinum rabbit figurine in Rashiel’s mansion.
Astaire pulled back from Elsez, smiling faintly as he added,
“And besides, I like that you’re worried about me.”
Seeing him openly express feelings she couldn’t return made Elsez feel awkwardly sorry, and she cleared her throat.
But Astaire didn’t seem to care at all.
“Master, you must have been tense while stuck in the rift. You should rest a little. I’ll go check on the dining room.”
“No, I’ll go with you.”
Elsez followed Astaire into the kitchen. Inside, Cassian was cooking.
Strictly speaking, he was a guest, but the reason he ended up cooking in someone else’s house went like this:
When they first arrived at the mansion, everyone thought that since Rashiel was still the Tower Master, they’d naturally be served a grand feast.
But…
‘Servants are only called in when absolutely necessary. The chef is gone since I was away for so long.’
‘Doesn’t the butler cook?’
‘He’s not a cooking butler.’
Since they were fugitives, suddenly calling in servants or a chef wasn’t an option. So Cassian, who usually cooked when the five were together, ended up preparing dinner.
Rashiel was a decent cook too, but he needed to immediately work on modifying a magic tool to hide Elsez’s power.
Elsez was hopeless at anything involving her hands except punching, and Astaire had enthusiasm but, somehow, always lacked results.
As for Tezette—Cassian once shouted, “Is that guy’s tongue numb?” after tasting his food, so Tezette was permanently stuck with dishwashing duty.
‘Tezette was supposed to help Cassian today… I wonder if it’s going alright?’
Normally, Astaire acted as Cassian’s cooking assistant.
But since Astaire had been making the necklace for Elsez, Tezette was helping instead.
Just as Elsez reached the kitchen entrance, expecting a heartwarming scene of the two working together—
Cassian’s angry voice erupted from inside.
“Hey! I told you to prep the ingredients, not the cutting board! What, is the board a monster?!”
Elsez squinted and stopped at the door.
‘Tezette must’ve messed up again…’
She could picture the scene inside without even looking.
And sure enough, upon entering, she saw a cutting board split in half and Tezette standing there with a straight face.
“What the… how on earth do you cut something in a way that slices the board itself?”
Cassian stared between Tezette and the broken board in disbelief, then sighed in defeat.
“Forget it. I’ll handle the rest. You just set out the plates and cutlery.”
Astaire stepped in to take Tezette’s place.
As Tezette stepped aside, he spotted Elsez, picked something up nearby, and walked over.
What he handed her were two cherry tomatoes.
Right then, Cassian’s grumbling could be heard from the kitchen.
“Unbelievable. He wrecks the cutting board and then steals cherry tomatoes.”
Astaire chuckled quietly at that.
Elsez giggled as she accepted the tomatoes from Tezette.
“Thanks.”
She handed one to Reti and popped the other into her own mouth.
As the fresh, tangy juice spread across her tongue, Elsez took in the scene before her eyes.
It was a sight she had missed.
‘Even though we’re fugitives, hunted down, on edge every moment… is it too carefree to feel this happy?’
But the faint smile tugging at her lips couldn’t be hidden.
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