Chapter 129
Chapter: 129
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>Translator: penny
>Chapter: 129
>Chapter Title: Oracle (3)
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>Arenza's leader had clearly told him to meet the Saintess, but hadn't specified which one.
But who would have thought that both Saintesses would come looking for Seongjin at the same time?
[See? I knew it would be like this. I had a feeling.]
The Demon King was showing off after a long time.
[How about that? This Demon King's foresight! Anyway, what's meant to happen will happen.]
'Yeah, sure. Wow, amazing.'
Seongjin glanced at the doll-like little girl and at Seo Yi-seo, who was sticking right behind her, growling warily.
Anyway, since they wanted to talk, that suited him just fine. Seongjin nodded readily and said,
"Sure, come on in. Want some tea together?"
But no sooner had he said it than—
"Lady Ciselle, be careful! That guy's a total walking time bomb pretending to be the ultimate sugar daddy!"
"……?"
So what had that woman been doing all this time?
"You called me weird for having something strange with me, but you've got quite the piece yourself, don't you?"
"…Um, Brother. It's hard to explain, but there's a bit of a complicated situation here."
A rare shadow of anguish crossed Ciselle's usually poker-faced expression.
The three of them sat facing each other in the Pearl Palace reception room.
As usual, Seo Yi-seo clutched the hem of Ciselle's dress and stuck right by the girl's side. Then she began eyeing everything around her suspiciously.
Not just wary of Seongjin—of course—but also the sofa, the cookies on the tea tray, and even Captain Bruno, who was pouring tea beside them... Wait, Captain Bruno?
"What are you doing here?"
Seongjin looked up at the captain, who was neatly dressed and deftly filling the teacups, with a baffled expression. Bruno cleared his throat awkwardly.
"On my way by, I spotted that maid dragging Titrey into the reception room! If I'd been even a little later, it would've been a disaster, Your Highness."
He looked positively proud, as if he'd thwarted some grand conspiracy.
Sure enough, behind him was Edith, sweating bullets and avoiding eye contact.
"Thanks, Captain."
When Seongjin thanked him sincerely, Bruno tugged at his mustache and replied,
"No need to mention it. Just fulfilling my duty to serve Your Highness."
Ignoring Edith's resentful glare, Seongjin took a gulp of tea.
Oh, they said he knew his teas, and sure enough. It was on par with Louis's Melbourne blend—no comparison needed.
And so Seongjin and Ciselle quietly sipped their tea for a while.
"Actually, there's something important I need to discuss with you, Brother."
How long had it been? Ciselle finally set down her teacup on the table and spoke.
"Something important?"
"Yes."
She seemed to ponder for a moment after opening like that, then steeled herself and looked straight at Seongjin as she continued.
"It's something important involving you, me, and Miss Seo Yi-seo."
"What is it?"
"Before I explain, there's one thing you should know ahead of time, Brother. It might be hard to believe, but Miss Seo Yi-seo here isn't an ordinary person."
Seongjin nodded with a serious expression.
True enough. No normal person would have a staring contest with an innocent teacup like that.
"Miss Seo Yi-seo says she's not from this world. She's a dimensional traveler who came here from another dimension."
"Oh, really?"
That was surprisingly believable. After all, she really was a human from the regular world.
For some reason, Ciselle interpreted Seongjin's nonchalant reaction as doubt and added anxiously,
"It's true, Brother."
"Yeah, I know. But how did you find out?"
"……."
Ciselle's eyes widened at Seongjin's question. Seo Yi-seo jumped in surprise and whipped around to shout at him.
"See, Lady Ciselle? What did I tell you? That guy's suspicious! He might turn out to be the second black!"
No, black? What does she think I am?
I'm just an upstanding evil spirit who happened to possess someone in this world by chance.
[Black... Yeah, that makes sense! So there's a reason for that bitchy personality!]
No, what was this Demon King convincing himself of now?
"He's dangerous! Shouldn't we rethink involving him, Lady Ciselle?"
"Who's one to talk? Who's the one using weird mind-control tricks on people?"
"What? How do you know about [Little Word Spirit]? The author said normal people can't even sense it!"
"And who's this author guy?"
"Why are you trying to pry info out of me? You nitpicked a perfectly fine blueprint before, too—you're suspicious!"
Thanks to Seo Yi-seo picking at everything, it took Ciselle a bit longer to finish explaining to Seongjin.
And the facts she revealed were quite shocking.
That this world was actually from a book, and Seongjin and Ciselle were characters in it. And that Seo Yi-seo was a dimensional traveler summoned here by the author of that book.
"...This place is inside a book?"
Seongjin echoed her. The explanation didn't quite click for him.
[No way?]
Even the Demon King sounded puzzled.
[Dimensions made solely from the imagery in books aren't impossible, but they'd naturally be in the world of images, right? But this is a proper material world!]
The material world could serve as the basis for imagery, but it couldn't be recreated from it. Wasn't there some misunderstanding?
Seongjin tilted his head, but Ciselle seemed utterly convinced that this was a world inside a book.
"I actually read that novel Miss Seo Yi-seo mentioned when I was little. I've vaguely suspected ever since that this world might be from a book."
Ciselle continued with sunken eyes.
"But I wasn't completely sure until recently, when the book's protagonist, Miss Seo Yi-seo, actually appeared. And after sharing various pieces of information with her, I became certain it was real."
"Alright, let's say that's true for now. But..."
Seongjin glanced at Seo Yi-seo, who was perched on the sofa backrest, yawning, then double-checked with Ciselle.
"You're really saying she's the protagonist?"
"Um......"
Ciselle had no response to that either.
Well, who could've guessed? The new Saintess destined to bring her ruin would turn out to be someone so deeply afflicted with distrust of humanity.
In truth, there had been a few hiccups in Ciselle coming to the Pearl Palace with Seo Yi-seo. When she arrived at Saint Bastian Church that morning, the woman was throwing a fit over a bundle of letters delivered to her.
They were all just swift responses from the capital's notables eager to curry favor with the new Saintess, but—
-What are all these shady invitations? Throw them all out!
-But Lady Saintess, you should at least look at this one. Cardinal Digory is the head of the administration. He's probably offering to meet you personally and provide various conveniences, right?
Sister Electra, newly assigned to assist her, tried to soothe her, but Seo Yi-seo was adamant.
-You think they're inviting me out of pure goodwill? Would they make offers like this even if I had no value to exploit? They're all suspicious! I won't meet anyone who sends sudden invitations like this!
Then she went so far as to hiss at the silver tray piled high with letters.
-Shaaa!
Was that the heroine who'd been elevated to Saintess, or a stray alley cat picked up from somewhere?
-Ah! Lady Ciselle!
Spotting Ciselle, Seo Yi-seo lit up and came scurrying over, clinging to her.
-You're the only one I can trust now, Lady Ciselle! From now on, I'll protect you!
Refusing to let go, she stuck to her like glue, and in the end, they came to the Pearl Palace together.
"So, what's this important matter involving me and you?"
"Yes. Don't be surprised, Brother. According to the book, a massive crisis will soon befall this world. Powerful archdemons will descend, Delcross will lose the divine blessing and fall, and finally, a terrible catastrophe will arrive."
"Uh......"
Surprisingly, this was familiar information too.
Sure enough, at Seongjin's calm reaction, Seo Yi-seo scowled and shouted,
"See! He already knew everything, that black!"
...What exactly is wrong with this woman?
"Anyway, Miss Seo Yi-seo came to save the world from that crisis. The author of the book appeared to her and asked her to become the Saintess and save the world. He called himself a storyteller who travels dimensions, and said he'd one day become a grand law as the king of stories."
[What? A dimensional storyteller?]
The Demon King yelped in surprise.
Ah, could it be that Sigurd Sigurdson? The self-proclaimed Dream Demon King who walks a thousand dreams and speaks with a thousand voices.
Seongjin just stared blankly at Ciselle without reacting, so Seo Yi-seo eyed him suspiciously and asked,
"No way. You... you already knew about that guy too?"
"...Not exactly know, but there's someone I suspect..."
At that answer, Seo Yi-seo gasped and clung to Ciselle's back.
"Whoa! Now I'm really scared of him, Lady Ciselle!"
What the hell?
Dumbfounded, Seongjin just glared at her, and she trembled and pointed at him.
"The author said so! Don't mess with that guy or it'll be bad! If you play your cards right, he'll give you the whole world as the ultimate sugar daddy, but if you slip even a little, he'll smash this world as the worst disaster!"
...Was I such a wild card in the story?
Ciselle, swaying with Seo Yi-seo's gestures, let out a small sigh.
"Anyway, that author apparently has different bodies he shifts between across dimensions. He even has an avatar here in the Delcross capital, but unfortunately, Miss Seo Yi-seo doesn't know his identity. She said he hid himself thoroughly."
Ciselle met Seongjin's eyes and continued in a grave tone.
"But in the book I read, there were a few foreshadowings that let me guess his identity to some extent."
This was the main point.
"And my guess is that the author's avatar is probably Young Master Ricardo Scarfapino, Brother."
"......!"
"Your friend."
...So that's why Arenza's leader told him to talk to the Saintess first!
* * *
>Ciselle stayed at the Pearl Palace talking with Seongjin almost until lunchtime.
She returned to Saint Bastian Church a bit tired, where Sister Ursula, who had been waiting for her, handed over a small box.
"Lady Saintess! A gift has arrived from Prince Owen."
"A gift?"
Oh, right—Brother Owen had sent a letter a while back.
-I'll send gifts to Father and you soon.
Ciselle opened the box happily.
But what popped out was an unidentified pink scrap of fabric.
A bit longer than palm-sized, with strange embroidery, and an elastic strap on the back.
...What is this?
Sister Ursula, peering at the gift curiously, suddenly frowned and exclaimed,
"Eek, what is this? It looks just like some underwear. How indecent!
"No way......"
Would Brother Owen send something like this as a 'gift' after so long?
As Ciselle tilted her head, Seo Yi-seo poked her head in from the side and said,
"Huh? Isn't this a sleep mask? Super cute, but kinda anachronistic."
"A sleep mask?"
"Yeah, you put it over your eyes to sleep comfortably."
Wow, it's bunny-shaped! Totally adorable!
As Seo Yi-seo kept exclaiming in admiration, Ursula, who'd freaked out calling it underwear, looked embarrassed and averted her eyes.
But then, as Seo Yi-seo examined the mask closely, her eyes suddenly went wide and she shouted,
"Huh? Whoa? Item info is popping up here?"
"Info?"
"Yeah, no doubt about it. This is from my world, Lady Ciselle!"
And Seo Yi-seo stroked the mask while reading something in the air carefully.
"...Pangea Chronicle?"