Chapter 48
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 48
Chapter Title: Festival (2)
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Why, why was she alive? And why was such vicious Demonic Energy emanating from her? It was just like the Seven Deadly Sins Seat from Pandemonium he'd faced directly.
...
He denied the fact to himself, yet deep down, he knew the truth. The woman before his eyes was undoubtedly Pandemonium's Seven Deadly Sins Seat, Wrath.
The red hair peeking through the robe that covered her face, the golden eyes, and the Demonic Energy.
It all matched perfectly.
There was no room for lies or jokes to deny it.
Yet Yujin could only move his lips.
"...Is that really you, Jane?"
Jane remained silent.
He approached her step by step, as if drawn in.
The closer he got, the more intense the vicious Demonic Energy felt. As expected, it was a sticky aura he'd never sensed from Jane back when she was an imperial knight.
How in the world had this happened? She was dead.
He'd seen an enemy knight's sword pierce her heart during the retreat. He'd seen her collapse to the ground and turn into a cold corpse.
...Of course, he hadn't been able to recover her body at the time. The battle had been too chaotic, and he hadn't been a Sword Master then.
...Had he simply failed to notice because he couldn't retrieve her? Was she actually alive after all?
If that was the case...
"Jane..."
A sharp pain stabbed through his heart.
He wished she would say something, anything. He wanted to hear her voice. He never thought he'd see her again. He was happy to see her. But...
Why the Demonic Energy?
At that moment, Jane smiled. Her eyes curved like crescent moons as she looked at Yujin.
"So, it seems you and I knew each other in the past."
He froze.
Finally, her voice reached him. It was exactly as he remembered.
But why did her words feel so distant? An inexplicable unease crept in.
"Was my name Jane?"
...
"...You have no memories?"
Yujin prayed it wasn't true.
But against his hopes, Jane gave the worst possible answer.
"No memories... That's right. I have no memories."
"......"
His heart throbbed painfully. In contrast, Jane's expression seemed serene. Of course, that was only on the surface—inside, her thoughts were quite complicated.
Facing Yujin directly like this made it clear.
This man was definitely someone connected to her from before she lost her memories, before she was reborn through death. And deeply so.
Otherwise... her heart wouldn't be pounding like this.
"...Of course, it's not that I have absolutely no memories. More like fragments of unknown memories are swirling around in my head."
"......"
"I always see fragmented scenes. Knights wielding swords dying in vain, a moment among them where you and I kissed, and then you reaching out to me but unable to touch."
Her murmur made his hands tremble.
"I have no idea what any of it means. One thing's for sure—losing my memories is connected to you. Or perhaps we were deeply involved."
She looked up at the sky and let out a wry chuckle.
"Of course, it doesn't matter much now. The memoryless me is living a new life."
The words "no memories" chilled Yujin's mind.
'...No memories.'
Then who was standing before him now?
The amnesiac Jane? Or someone else wearing Jane's body?
For the Jane radiating Demonic Energy to have no memories meant she was no longer on his side. And the elite knight from commoner origins, with whom he'd promised a future, was even less so.
Which meant the woman before him was... not the Jane from his memories, but Pandemonium's Seven Deadly Sins Seat, Wrath, who had brought harm to the empire.
In the end, he could only speak in a cold voice, barely suppressing his trembling emotions.
"...Tell me. What is your purpose for entering the imperial palace?"
"Purpose... I don't have one."
Jane drew out her words.
"What?"
"Exactly what I said—I don't have any particular purpose for entering the imperial palace."
Yujin slowly began to draw up his mana.
The woman before him was clearly Jane, but not Jane. Right now, she was a cultist who had infiltrated the imperial palace.
...Yet he failed to realize that if that were true, he should have killed her the moment he saw her, not engaged in this conversation.
In the coldly tense atmosphere, Jane chuckled softly.
"Ah, if I had to pick one, then you would be my purpose."
He tried to ignore her voice.
"How did you enter the imperial palace?"
"...Hmm, curious, are you?"
"Tell me. Or I'll kill you."
"Pfft... You think you can?"
Despite the overwhelming pressure of the surging black Demonic Energy, Jane approached right up to his nose without a care. After locking eyes for a moment, she smirked and grabbed his hand.
Her hand was incredibly warm.
...Far too warm to belong to someone who had died.
"See? Your hand is trembling like this."
Yet talking about killing me? What a ridiculous notion.
"It must be that in the past, you and I were very close."
Jane chattered on by herself.
Feeling a sense of disconnect at the sight, he belatedly swatted her hand away. Looking at the rejected hand, she spoke as if hurt.
"Is that any way to treat a lady's hand? Do that, and you fail as a man."
'Don't swat away a lady's hand, Yujin. Act like that, and no woman will like you.'
...
"Shut up."
"Pfft... So fierce."
Jane flashed a seductive smile. No hostility toward Yujin emanated from her. Even the surging Demonic Energy had long since vanished.
'......'
For now, she overlapped perfectly with his memories of the past.
Her speech and attire had changed.
Even her memories were gone.
But the way she spoke, the way she boldly pressed close—none of it had changed from before.
...He couldn't shake the thought that Jane was still Jane.
"I know what you're wondering. How I entered the imperial palace, what my purpose is in talking to you like this, and... whether I'm truly the same 'Jane' from your memories."
He flinched.
"Otherwise, there's no explaining why a loyal Sword Master of the empire like you hasn't killed me yet."
Only then did Yujin realize that as a noble sworn to protect the imperial family and the empire, he hadn't slain the cultist who infiltrated the palace.
"Well... rest assured. I have no intention of harming you or the empire."
"...How can I believe that?"
"What a funny thing to say. Isn't the mere fact that we're talking proof enough?"
...She had a point.
He gripped his fist tightly.
"...I could subdue you here and torture you until you spill everything."
"Pfft... You could, sure. But I don't think you will."
"......"
"Believe me or not, that's up to you."
Jane clasped her hands behind her back and stepped away.
A shadow fell over her face.
"To repeat myself, I have no plans to wreak havoc in the capital like that worm Greed. Nor to carry out mass slaughter like Lust descending upon the Northern Grand Duke."
Clouds were gradually covering the moon.
"So if you want to talk more seriously, come to the grand fountain in the central square of the capital on the final day of the festival. I'll be waiting there."
At that moment, he sensed Lucia and Irene approaching with a horde of knights.
"Oh dear, time for me to go. See you next time."
Her body began to turn to powder and scatter away.
"Wait, let's talk more—"
In a panic at the thought of her vanishing, he reached out desperately, but his hand grasped nothing.
...
No trace remained where she had been.
...Like a mirage on a summer night.
Not long after, Lucia and Irene approached Yujin and asked what had happened.
But he couldn't bring himself to speak.
He knew he should report what had occurred here, but doing so felt like losing something precious.
In the end, he could only brush it off as a momentary illusion.
"Hmm... Could it be fatigue?"
Irene looked at him with concern.
He hadn't just dashed out from the balcony in the dead of night—he'd been gone for a long time. Worried something had happened, they'd hurriedly searched the palace with knights, only to find him standing alone in the moonlit garden.
"...Seems like it."
"You can't let that happen. Shall I have some eels brought next time? Thanks to magic, they can transport them alive even to the inland these days."
He chuckled softly.
"Thanks."
They stared intently at Yujin, who wore a small smile.
To Lucia, it was obvious he was hiding something. Her intuition told her he was somehow different from usual.
But...
Lucia chose to trust him.
So she asked nothing.
Because his face looked pained. Because she could sense the lingering sticky emotions.
She didn't force the secret out. She simply believed he would tell her in time on his own.
With that, Lucia and Irene dismissed the knights.
"Come on, let's head back in, Yujin."
Irene hooked her arm through his and lifted his hand. She flashed a warm smile.
"Let's enjoy the banquet."
...
"Sure."