‘After Reti and I are separated…?’
Elsez had always focused on the fact that she needed to separate the demon king’s power from herself.
But she had never once thought about what would come after.
Caught off guard by Reti’s sudden question, she couldn’t answer immediately.
Just then, the carriage came to a halt.
“We’ve arrived, my lady.”
Upon hearing the coachman’s voice, Reti, as always, casually slipped into the inner pocket of Elsez’s cloak.
Before she could even process his words further, the carriage door opened.
As she stepped down, she found herself face-to-face with Astaire, who had just exited the temple.
Upon seeing her, he greeted her with his usual bright smile.
“Good morning, my lady.”
The warmth in his expression, combined with his gentle voice, was enough to make her smile in return.
“Good morning, Your Holiness . I’m not late, am I?”
“You’re right on time, actually.”
As if to confirm his words, a distant bell rang, signaling the exact hour.
“We have quite a long journey ahead. How are you feeling today?”
“Great. I’d feel even better if lunch is delicious.”
Elsez’s playful remark made Astaire chuckle.
“You’re in luck. Our temple chef is excellent. I heard he’s preparing something special today, so look forward to it.”
Chatting with Astaire, Elsez arrived in front of the carriage and opened the door—
And her smile instantly froze.
Inside the carriage sat Tezette, Rashiel, and Cassian, all of whom had arrived before her.
A tense, icy air had settled between the three men.
The moment they saw Elsez, however, their expressions relaxed.
“Elsez.”
“You’re here.”
Cassian, who had been lounging in his seat, casually kicked Rashiel’s leg across from him.
“Hey, mighty Tower Master, can’t you just teleport instead of squeezing into this cramped carriage?”
“You know I overexerted myself recently. If anything, why don’t you ride a horse instead?”
“You think she wants to sit here, trapped with a bunch of men?” Cassian scoffed, jerking his chin toward Elsez.
“Then you can get out,” Rashiel replied smoothly, his voice as lazy as ever.
Watching the exchange, Tezette interjected in his usual flat tone.
“If you both leave, there’ll be plenty of space.”
“How about this—you ride a horse, and he teleports. You two fight every time you’re together anyway. Isn’t it exhausting just looking at each other?”
“I don’t particularly enjoy looking at your face, either,” Tezette said, deadpan.
“What did you just say, you bastard?”
Cassian shot up from his seat in outrage.
Given his height, his sudden movement made the luxurious carriage lurch slightly.
The unsteady rocking felt like an ominous sign for the journey ahead.
Elsez, watching the brewing argument, calmly shut the carriage door.
‘Ah… déjà vu.’
Whenever these three were together, excluding Astaire—who generally stayed out of trouble—there was always chaos.
She could already feel the headache forming.
Massaging her temples, she turned to Astaire.
“…Is there another carriage?”
With a knowing smile, Astaire gestured toward the one behind them.
“We’ll take that one.”
Once Elsez and Astaire boarded their carriage, the journey began.
Somewhere in the distance, she faintly heard Cassian shouting, but that wasn’t her problem.
As they rode, Elsez took the opportunity to catch up on what she had missed while preparing for her departure.
“Oh, right—what happened to the crown prince?”
“He will be punished according to the empire’s laws,” Astaire replied.
“The Holy Kingdom isn’t handling his punishment? He committed a serious crime against the world.”
“He is still the empire’s crown prince. And since his successor, Princess Rinael, will soon take the throne, the Holy Kingdom decided to respect the empire’s sovereignty to maintain friendly relations.”
There had been some voices advocating for Rashiel to take the throne, but he had simply ignored them.
No matter how unqualified some considered the princess, Rashiel had no interest in ruling.
And since he had refused, his supporters had no choice but to drop the issue.
“Cedric will likely spend the rest of his days in the western tower of the imperial palace.”
The western tower was infamous as a prison for criminal mages and high-profile offenders.
Once someone was sent there, they never left—at least, not alive.
“Hah. Considering how many people that bastard killed, letting him rot in prison is too easy. Should’ve beaten him half to death first…”
Elsez muttered curses under her breath, her voice thick with resentment toward Cedric.
But when she met Astaire’s clear blue eyes watching her intently, she clamped her mouth shut.
“…Sorry. I want to speak politely, but the truth just keeps slipping out.”
Her sudden shift to a meek tone made Astaire chuckle.
“You don’t have to hold back in front of me. I like you best just the way you are.”
His transparent blue eyes reflected her image perfectly.
“Wow, that was actually pretty touching.”
“It wasn’t meant to be touching. It was meant to make your heart race.”
Just then, the carriage hit a large rock, jolting them slightly and scattering Astaire’s words into the air.
Elsez, having missed his last remark, continued on to another thought that had come to mind.
“Oh, right—when I spoke with Cedric, it seemed like there was another force backing him. Did anything else come up?”
Whoever was behind Cedric had orchestrated the demon king’s summoning—and, by extension, her resurrection.
That meant they might hold the key to why she was brought back to this world.
“You were right,” Astaire said. “The nobles who attended the masquerade mentioned a woman called the ‘Priestess.’ Rashiel was already aware of her existence as well.”
“The Priestess?”
“Apparently, she’s a follower of the demon king, which is why they call her that. According to a close associate of the prince, she was the one who gave him the book on dimensional rifts.”
If that was true, then she was the real mastermind behind everything.
“The Holy Kingdom is already tracking her. If we catch her, she will be judged under our authority.”
Hearing this, Elsez’s expression darkened.
The so-called Priestess had guided Cedric into summoning the demon king and taught him how to claim its power.
‘Could she be the one who cast the silencing spell on me?’
As she fell into deep thought—
A magic circle suddenly formed on the seat beside her, glowing brilliantly.
In the next instant, the light faded, and—
“…Rashiel?”
Rashiel sat there, as if he had been there all along, his expression perfectly composed.
Elsez and Astaire stared at him in shock.
‘But we’re in a moving carriage…?’
That meant their position was constantly shifting.
For someone to teleport with such precision onto a moving target, calculating the margin of error perfectly—
That was beyond the ability of most mages.
Rashiel’s relaxed gaze met Astaire’s across the carriage.
“Thanks for the seat.”
“What…?”
Before Astaire could fully process what was happening, a new magic circle formed beneath his feet.
A bright flash of light followed—
And the next thing they heard was Cassian’s loud swearing from the carriage ahead.
Elsez, still in shock, turned to Rashiel, her expression incredulous.
“Wh—what the hell was that?! What if you’d made a mistake and both of you got hurt?”
“As if I’d make a mistake,” Rashiel said smoothly.
“That’s not the point!”
“Harsh. I just wanted to be with you.”
His exceptionally handsome face showed a rare hint of disappointment.
But Elsez wasn’t focused on his face—
She was staring at something she hadn’t noticed before.
“…Rashiel, your eyes.”
They were violet.
A familiar, unnatural shade of violet.
Her brows furrowed, her heart sinking as she realized what that meant.
“…You’re still using a magic artifact?”
Rashiel simply looked at her, offering no answer.
But his silence was answer enough.
A heavy feeling settled in her chest.
She understood why Rashiel refused to show his true red eyes.
To him, they were a scar.
Every time he saw them, he was reminded of the suffering he had endured just because of their color.
And to the rest of the world, those eyes marked him as the rightful emperor.
The empire—his own family—had abandoned him, yet now they clung to him, demanding he carry a burden he had never asked for.
She could only imagine how repulsive that must have felt to him.
But…
“What if your eyes get worse? What if you end up completely blind?”
The thought alone made her chest tighten painfully, her frustration bubbling up.
Yet Rashiel, looking at her distress, merely smiled faintly.
“That wouldn’t be so bad.”
Because then, you’d never be able to leave my side.
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