After the meal, Tezette did the dishes as usual.
The other four sat facing each other in the parlor with some fruit to plan their next move.
Astaire carved an apple into a rabbit shape and handed it to Elsez.
“Thanks, Astaire.”
Elsez gave the apple she received to Reti first.
Then Astaire carved another apple-rabbit and offered it to Elsez. He carved a few more into rabbit shapes and placed them on the table in front of her.
The remaining apples were cut with their peels on and put on a plate.
Cassian, staring at that, asked with a face full of complaint,
“Why are we just being given them with the peels on?”
“They washed them clean, so just eat them.”
“…That guy should’ve said the meat was fresh and eat it raw or something.”
Grumbling, Cassian stabbed an apple with his fork and took a bite.
Just then Tezette, having finished the dishes, returned and sat down.
Rashiel plucked a green grape from the bowl beside him and popped it into his mouth. Reti, watching him quietly, walked across the table toward the grapes.
As Cassian watched Reti while eating his apple, he asked Elsez,
“What is this thing that’s been following you around all the time?”
“Oh.”
Elsez decided it was finally time to tell the truth about Reti.
After a brief silence, she opened her mouth.
“This is Rezantia.”
“Rezan… what?!”
“Is she a Demon God?”
When Cassian and Astaire both looked at Reti at once, Reti—who had been eating the grape—let out a startled squeak and darted back into Elsez’s arms.
Elsez patted Reti and nodded.
“Yes. She looks very different now from back then.”
“So you said the Demon God’s power was merged with her soul?”
At Tezette’s quiet question, Elsez’s eyes widened in surprise.
“How did you know that?”
“Dike told me. Three years ago the Demon God merged his power with your soul. That’s why Dike tried to save you.”
Elsez’s expression hardened at Tezette’s words.
Her suspicion that Dike tried to save her was no longer just a hunch — it was true.
“Why did Dike tell you all that?”
“He asked me to persuade you. To separate the Demon God’s power and give it to someone else.”
Elsez clenched her teeth when she heard that.
So they planned to make someone else the scapegoat instead of saving her.
Holding the frightened Reti close, Elsez returned to the main point.
“This child isn’t actually the Demon God.”
“Not the Demon God but is the Demon God—what does that mean?”
“She used to be a human like us. She never meant to hurt people.”
Reti’s shimmering form in the rabbit figure seemed to tremble in agreement with Elsez’s words.
“A human?”
“You three—Cassian, Astaire, Tezette—have probably already seen her. The child at the guild is her original body. I don’t know how she became a Demon God…”
“Dike did it.”
Rashiel, who had been quietly listening, suddenly spoke up, and everyone turned to him.
Rashiel added as if answering their looks.
“Dike made him into a Demon God.”
“Made a Demon God?”
Elsez repeated.
“The real Demon God was killed a thousand years ago.”
“So Reti is—”
“She’s a fake made by Dike from mana of another world. She isn’t exactly a Demon God; she’s the last princess of the Eurion Kingdom. She has holy power strong enough to hold a Demon God’s power.”
At Rashiel’s words, everyone except Tezette was visibly shocked.
Elsez in particular was hit hardest.
‘So Reti lived nearly eight hundred years as a Demon God and suffered all that time.’
Reti herself was still young and probably didn’t grasp that fact, but Elsez felt a suffocating rage thinking of what that child must have endured over such endless years.
Astaire sneered and agreed with Rashiel’s story.
“…Not that surprising. That’s the same person who put monsters in dimensional rifts and is creating rifts all over the world.”
Elsez, holding back her anger, mulled over Rashiel and Astaire’s words and raised a question.
“So Dike can open dimensional rifts without dark magic or sacrifices—why did he bother opening them artificially before?”
“To make the Demon God look more evil by offering humans as sacrifices.”
“So we were worshipping and following a saintess who believed in such humans? …Damn, this is insane.”
Cassian spat out a curse and clenched his fists.
Astaire, who had been captured by Dike, told them everything he’d learned from her and what her goals were. He also revealed that she had kept him alive so she could kill him at the right moment after Elsez returned, to amplify the anger.
Rashiel recounted what he’d read in forbidden books, and Tezette told everything Dike had said.
All the stories pointed to one conclusion.
Dike is the evil in this world.
“Anyway, so far things have gone according to Dike’s plan. The Demon God revived and opposed Dike in front of everyone.”
“But from now on it’ll be different. By blowing up the basement, suspicions about Dike have probably started to sprout within the temple itself.”
Astaire encouraged Elsez, who looked defeated.
Not just a simple encouragement — it was true.
“I’ve never hit a woman in my life, but this time I’ll make an exception.”
Cassian cracked his knuckles with a more murderous look than ever.
“Honestly, is there any point in going easy on someone stronger than me? Otherwise I’m the one who’s going to die.”
Rashiel spoke up when he saw Cassian like that.
“If we try to confront Dike now, we’ll just look like villains.”
“Then what do we do?”
“Before we strike Dike, we need to expose his crimes and turn public opinion. Changing centuries of prejudice overnight is hard, but at least we can sow seeds of doubt across the continent.”
The five of them fell into serious thought.
Each of them had seen and heard things, but they weren’t sure if others would believe them.
“Oh.”
A small exclamation escaped Elsez as if she’d suddenly remembered something.
“There might be a way to turn that public opinion around.”*****
After talking with everyone, Elsez washed up and returned to her room, where she found Reti scribbling something with a fountain pen at the table.
Peeking over, she saw the paper covered with numbers.
“Are you studying numbers?”
“I have to know how to calculate how much candy and cookies I can buy with money once I get my human body back.”
Reti crunched on some candies that had been set beside her.
There were no cookies or other desserts in the mansion, so she had gathered up all the candies she could find.
Watching her, Elsez said,
“From now on, let’s cut back on snacks.”
“Huh? Why!”
“If people only eat stuff like this every day, they won’t grow tall and their teeth will rot.”
At her words, Reti’s shadowy haze rippled violently.
Not being able to eat snacks seemed like a bolt from the blue to her.
“If I won’t be able to eat much once I’m human, then shouldn’t I eat even more now?”
Her words flowed smoothly.
But Elsez was firm.
“Nope, that’s a bad habit.”
“Th-then just let me finish these.”
When Reti clutched the candy plate and pleaded desperately, Elsez reluctantly handed them over.
Reti wrapped the remaining candies in her black haze as if they were precious treasures.
Elsez chuckled softly as she watched, then her face grew serious.
“Reti, I’m sorry.”
“…Because you won’t let me eat cookies and candy anymore?”
“This is serious.”
Reti curled her haze, as if asking what she meant.
Elsez spoke in a lowered voice.
“I’m sorry for trusting only Dike and hurting you, for treating you like an enemy.”
She couldn’t excuse herself by saying she didn’t know and had just been deceived by Dike—the pain and fear Reti must have suffered were too great.
A simple apology wouldn’t erase Reti’s scars, but Elsez wanted to at least say it once.
Reti stared at her serious face and said,
“Actually, I don’t remember much from back then.”
“When you were Rezantia?”
“Yeah. So it’s fine. No one hates me anymore now.”
Reti said she’d forgotten most of it, but hearing that didn’t ease Elsez’s heart.
‘Not remembering well means it was so painful that she wanted to forget unconsciously.’
She was glad those memories didn’t remain vividly with Reti, yet her heart ached thinking about why they were gone.
“The things you went through won’t just disappear because of my apology. So I’ve decided to do what I can.”
“Do what you can?”
“I’ll make sure no one else has to suffer like you ever again.”
Reti’s haze wriggled and gently wrapped around Elsez’s hand.
Seeing that, Elsez smiled faintly and let her hand rest in the haze.
It was a promise to Reti, and at the same time, a vow to herself.
Comments (0)