Chapter 11 - The Devil of Regression (5)
Agnes's dreams were always in pastel tones.
Even though the landscape that made up the dream was a bright red rose garden, and the beating sun was just as vivid, it was still that way.
The reason was that the woman standing in the middle of the scenery had such incredibly pale colors.
Agnes looked at the woman at the edge of her gaze.
The woman, trimming the roses in the garden with gentle hands, was beautiful.
Curly light blonde hair, pink eyes that resembled spring flowers.
A kind impression with drooping corners of her eyes, and a faint smile blooming above them.
Her name was Lea Levadein.
She was a woman who would pout her lips, complaining that it was annoying that both her surname and first name started with 'Le'.
"Agnes. What are you thinking about so deeply?"
If a voice could have warmth, that would be the exact temperature of a person's body heat.
It would be the temperature of a longing so deep one would want to bury themselves in it and die.
Agnes bowed her head, thinking such thoughts.
As was the case whenever she had dreams like this, her body had already become that of an adult.
When she lifted her head to look again, Lea Levadein had already become a noblewoman with fine wrinkles etched onto her face.
This was a landscape that could never come true.
Agnes smiled faintly.
"This dream again."
"Dream? Ah, did you have a nightmare today?"
Lea Levadein stopped trimming the roses and began to approach Agnes.
Her arms, slightly opening, were in the shape of someone trying to hug a child having a nightmare.
"Don't come."
Agnes said that.
Her smile was relaxed, and her tone was slick.
But her eyes were dark.
"Don't come. You liar."
The moment she said that, the scenery blurred.
The pastel-toned world, and the woman in the middle of it, gradually lost their form like a watercolor painting soaked in water, and soon, it was dyed pitch black.
Agnes curled her body up in the darkness.
And she closed her eyes tightly.
She only wished for one thing.
For this dream to end quickly.
*
Agnes opened her eyes just as Deltain, having finished his business, was halfway down the rocky mountain.
Deltain looked at Agnes, who was opening her eyes with a small stir, and said.
"Are you awake?"
At his blunt voice, Agnes's cherry-blossom-colored eyes rolled and turned toward him.
Agnes, who blinked her eyes, soon checked her body, which had returned to its original state, and smiled faintly.
"...You took care of it already."
"It was nothing. The Demon of Regression has pathetic combat power in its true form."
"Want a compliment?"
"Forget it."
Agnes's body was wrapped tightly in something like a blanket.
It was because her clothes had all been torn when her body returned to its original state.
She was thinking about how she looked like a child wrapped in swaddling clothes.
Agnes, who was thinking such things, asked playfully.
"Deltain is a pervert."
"Don't even think about spouting nonsense like I peeked at a sleeping woman's naked body. That was all Kaltara."
"Young Lady! You've gained a bit of weight!"
Kaltara raised Deltain's hand and acted friendly.
Agnes had a blank face for a moment, then soon pouted her lips and said to Deltain.
"You showed my naked body to someone else?"
"I hate this, I hate that. What do you want me to do?"
Deltain's attitude was irritable.
Even considering that he had that kind of personality to begin with, it felt particularly irritable.
It wasn't for any other reason.
The Demon of Regression he met in the cave and the series of facts he found out through that demon.
That was why it was scrambling his brain.
Agnes couldn't have known.
However, she was a person who was quite quick-witted about Deltain's changes.
There was no need to further provoke Deltain's mood.
Agnes recalled her thoughts and leaned her head against his chest.
Then she kicked her legs and said.
"Still, thank you. For going through all this trouble for me."
"If you know that, behave well in the snowy mountains. And coax the Spirit well."
"Okay, I'll try hard to seduce her."
"For now, we're camping down there today. The plan got twisted, but if we don't replenish fuel here, there won't be a chance after we head out to the capital."
"Where is this?"
"A mountain on the northern border."
If they went another half-day by car from here, it would be the border.
Beyond that was the northern snowy region with no paved roads.
The vehicle's speed would drop by more than half, and the dangers they would face would expand beyond demons to include magical beasts and non-human races.
Agnes, who was listening to Deltain's explanation, widened her eyes.
"Are there non-human races in the north too?"
"The Seolto Tribe. They are rabbit beastmen. It's a fact that isn't well known. Less than 1% of those who meet them return alive. They are belligerent and highly guarded, so they try to kill everything they see."
"Are we okay?"
"Yeah, there's no need for me to step in. If they are seen nearby, the Hounds will take care of it."
Whether it should be called trust or certainty, Deltain's expression was so calm, and the Hounds didn't show any other reaction, as if it were a matter of course.
Agnes nodded, showing she understood.
"Hmm, anyway, then it's real camping today."
"You're sleeping with me. I was going to leave it to Kaltara, but her immunity to temptation is so trash, I have to keep you with me."
"Is that a confession?"
"Cut the crap. Apologize to me for the trouble you caused."
"Sorry."
As Agnes giggled, Deltain sighed.
"You're really annoying."
"But do you love me?"
"I don't."
"You know what? People who act stiff like you are the ones who end up hung up on love later."
"Those are just bastards with no integrity."
"Well, for some reason, I feel like you'd be like that."
"I'll throw you away."
Agnes pressed her lips shut.
There was no further conversation.
It was because they had already descended to where the vehicle was.
"Young Lady!"
The maids approached Agnes with surprised faces.
Perhaps they had been quite worried, as their faces had become gaunt.
Agnes giggled and said.
"Sorry, I caused you worry."
It was a tone that wasn't sorry in the slightest.
*
The camping that followed was a form that had no connection to Agnes's romanticism.
It was natural.
Deltain was an extreme civilization-ist, and as such, he prioritized convenience even in the field of camping.
Agnes, who came out after changing her clothes, went "Wow" at a small cabin that she didn't know where it had popped out from, and the unknown characters engraved on the surface of that cabin.
"Is this camping?"
"If you sleep outside your house, it's camping."
"No romance."
"Listen well. Do you know what kind of people die the fastest in the world? They're the bastards who act tough to chase romance. If you judge rationally, there's a better way, so why go the hard way?"
Deltain said that and opened the door of the cabin.
"Come in. We have to sleep quickly and leave early tomorrow morning."
"What about food?"
"Sandwich."
"Again?"
"If you don't like it, ask your maid to make it."
"It's not that bad."
Agnes stepped into the cabin.
It was a simple interior with just one large bed, a small tea table, and one small wardrobe.
Deltain sat at the tea table, picked up a sandwich, and ate it, saying.
"Eat."
Agnes followed his words.
Still, there were a lot of pickles in hers, and there were no pickles in Deltain's.
Agnes thought about that for a moment, then said.
"But you know."
"What."
"You're not completely unable to eat pickles. You."
Halt.
Deltain's movement stopped.
He made a blank face, then gradually turned his complexion red and looked at Agnes with trembling eyes.
He had realized what her words meant.
The fact that he ate pickles was this morning.
It was the moment her mind had regressed to five years old.
Agnes smiled faintly.
"You're really weak to kids, aren't you?"
Deltain's lips parted.
But no words came out.
The events of today, passing by like a panorama, were binding him.
Agnes burst into laughter at that flustered face.
"Pickle-hater Deltain!"
"Shut up."
"Tone-deaf Deltain!"
"I said shut up."
Deltain's body trembled.
His face, which had turned completely red, now had a saturation level indistinguishable from his hair color.
"...If you go around spreading rumors, I'll kill you."
"Where would I even spread rumors?"
"You would. That damn 7th Princess or someone. I can see you saying that you returned to your childhood while trying to talk about something interesting."
Agnes froze for a moment.
'Me?'
To Elina?
Agnes shook her head.
Never, never would that happen.
Agnes was a person who could tell everyone else about her experience of infantile regression, but she was someone who couldn't tell her.
The reason was that she didn't have the courage to face what kind of eyes Elina would look at her with in that moment.
"...Don't worry. Even if I die, that won't happen."
As Agnes smiled faintly, Deltain looked at her as if he were suspicious.
But he didn't add any more words.
"...Forget it. Let's just sleep."
He said that and lay down on the bed.
"If you sleep right after eating, you won't digest it."
"I will."
She wanted to talk more, but he was coming on quite strongly.
Agnes made a 'Hmm' sound and pondered, then, as if she had a good idea, approached the bed and lay down right next to him.
"You know."
"What."
"I can't sleep."
"What do you want me to do?"
"It's your fault. You made me sleep soundly during the day, so I'm wide awake now."
Deltain's gaze turned toward Agnes.
At his face, which was scrunched up as much as possible, Agnes said playfully.
"Sing me a lullaby."
"...Get lost."
"Huh? If you sing me a lullaby, I'll shut my mouth."
Agnes hugged Deltain's waist. She put her leg over Deltain's thigh and began to nuzzle him.
"I'll let it slide even if you can't sing. Okay?"
Deltain felt a sharp pull at the back of his neck.
'Damn it.'
He had been caught by a weakness.
Now, how much more teasing would he get for this?
This evil woman was like this.
She kept poking at the parts that were just petty enough to make him angry, even though his nerves were being grated, so he was on the verge of going crazy.
Deltain glared at Agnes with fierce eyes, but the more he did, the more excited Agnes became.
Deltain, who was frustrated by that, said.
"Get a grip. You're twenty. Not a five-year-old who needs her mom."
Words blurted out in a fit of anger.
It didn't take long for Deltain to realize that it was a slip of the tongue.
Putting aside all other reactions, the look on her face that wavered for a moment was imprinted on his retina so vividly.
'Ah, fuck.'
He made a mistake.
While Deltain was agonizing over what to say to smooth things over, Agnes spoke faster than that.
"You thought that was a mistake just now, didn't you?"
Agnes had already composed her expression and smiled.
"Sing me a lullaby and I'll let it slide."
It was an attitude as if she would use even that slip of the tongue as a weakness.
But the momentum wasn't like before.
The playfulness in her smile had died down a little.
Deltain felt uncomfortable inside.
Why did the thing that came to mind at that moment have to be her mother?
...No, he already knew the reason.
The reason it was the first thing to come to mind as a provocation was because he realized that, unlike five-year-old Agnes, she was a person who wouldn't even utter a word about her mother, even by mistake.
What excuse could he make?
It was a mistake.
Touching someone else's reverse scale wasn't a very pleasant thing for Deltain either.
"...I'm sorry."
"It's okay. If you sing me a lullaby."
"You're really damn persistent."
Deltain's expression crumpled.
Agnes pressed his brow with her index finger and said.
"If you don't sing it, I'll call you a liar from now on, not Deltain."
"What's with the sudden liar?"
"You lied."
Agnes giggled.
"You said Mom would come when night fell."
Deltain's body flinched.
His gaze turned toward Agnes.
"Mom didn't come."
His gaze was persistent, as if trying to figure out what emotion was in her smile and what the intention behind saying this was, but there was nothing he could find out.
She was the best poker-faced person Deltain knew.
There was only one thing Deltain could do.
To tremble as if ashamed and spit out a warning.
"...I'll only do it once."
"Yes, with Star and Moon."
"That damn Star and Moon...!"
Deltain turned his gaze to the ceiling for no reason.
For some reason, he scrunched his face with watery eyes.
His complexion had turned as red as a tomato.
Soon, his finely trembling lips parted.
His stiff voice kicked the pitch and popped out.
"Star... one...."
The singing was terrible.
Deltain Hebron was terribly tone-deaf and rhythm-deaf.
Agnes burst into laughter.