Chapter 67
"The young lady is currently spending time with me."
Leo, who had been lounging in the chair, straightened his back and assumed a proper posture. His speech shifted rapidly, and the intimidating expression that formed so naturally on his face made it clear that, even if he acted relaxed around me, he was unmistakably a king.
"You......" Julian's expression twisted strangely upon spotting Leo. He quickly straightened his own posture. Watching his reaction, I furrowed my brow.
Does Julian know that Leo is Alessandro?
The higher-ups probably all knew that Alessandro had slipped into the delegation. A king—and a Sword Expert at that—showing up unannounced would be taken as something akin to a declaration of war. The reason Alessandro hadn't come officially was likely because, even as an ally, a king traveling with a diplomatic delegation would diminish the nation's prestige.
The imperial family and the Pope probably know, and Kaiser likely does too...... but does even High Priest Julian know?
As someone with the authority of a marquis, it was ambiguous whether Julian would be in the loop. But he was close friends with El, and seeing how tense he got at the sight of Leo, it seemed highly likely he'd already been tipped off that Leo was Alessandro.
"......I suppose I've interrupted. But this is a summons from His Holiness the Pope."
Julian lowered his posture deferentially. Leo, having completely erased his prior demeanor, gazed down at him with cold eyes. Julian averted his gaze and looked to me.
"Lady Kashmir. Will you come with me?"
Even as he bowed, Julian stubbornly directed the question at me.
"How dare you."
Leo's eyes flashed ferociously as he exuded killing intent. It didn't faze me, but Julian momentarily couldn't breathe.
"A mere high priest like you......"
"Leo." I stopped him as he started to rise. I grinned at him. "What rudeness toward the High Priest. You're a guest here, so you should respect His Holiness's summons."
Leo's mouth snapped shut in an instant. Unable to retort, he grimaced and ground his teeth. He looked thoroughly pissed off.
Considering their statuses as king and Pope, Alessandro—Leo—and El were equals. So if Leo, who had been spending time with me first, refused to let me go, El would have to back off, even if his summons came late.
But right now, Leo hadn't officially revealed his position as king. He had no authority to override El's summons by force.
Of course, as the one summoned, I could refuse.
I was the daughter of House Crisis. Even a summons from the Pope could be declined citing my health, and since it was so sudden, it wouldn't even be seen as rude.
But I'm going, you bastard.
I stood, leaving the trembling Leo behind. I could feel his scorching glare boring into my back—a clear demand that I stay—but I just smirked.
It felt good seeing him this riled up. My ready compliance with El's abrupt summons wasn't just curiosity about why he'd sent even Julian to fetch me. There was also this petty desire to piss Leo off a bit.
This bastard's been hiding his identity from me.
I didn't know the exact reason. He probably had his circumstances. But still, it stung that a friend was keeping secrets from me.
Does he think I'll try to mooch off him just because he's the king of Atara?
The thought that he saw me as that petty made my blood boil.
"Shall we go, High Priest?"
"Uh, yes......" Julian, glancing back and forth between me and Leo, dazedly led the way.
Once we were a good distance from the room, I heard what sounded like a glass shattering behind us, but I brushed it off lightly.
If Leo had been upfront with me about being the king of Atara, I might have pretended to reconsider El's summons out of respect for his pride. But I had no intention of coddling the ego of a friend who hid his identity.
"Do you know why His Holiness summoned me?"
I asked as I followed Julian. He rolled his eyes and let out a sigh-like groan.
"Who knows. But he was especially bitchy today. Of course, that mutt's always a rabid dog when you're not around, Lady. Today was just extra. Fucker. No cure for his bitch-fits......"
From my many encounters with Julian, one thing was clear: the man had no liver. Casually calling the Pope of the Empire a dog? At first, I'd worried for his neck when he said it to El's face, but now even I was used to it.
Still, how does El even function on a normal day?
From Julian's comments and the occasional reactions of the holy knights who'd crossed paths with him, El didn't seem like an easy personality. Yet with me, he was soft as cinnamon roll.
He wasn't that easygoing even as a kid. Though he did end up compliant in the end......
Hmm. I hummed thoughtfully to myself. Everyone around me seemed so complicated and hard to read.
Is El just special with me?
It was an easy conclusion to draw. The problem was why.
I pondered seriously as Julian rambled ahead of me, his curses about El going in one ear and out the other. Then I chuckled softly.
Probably because we've been close since we were kids. Am I his best friend or something?
Kashmir Crisis was quick on the uptake. Or more precisely, quick only on the surface—she never connected dots to romance.
The place Julian led me to was a balcony already curtained off. After he stepped back with a brief bow and I cleared my throat to announce myself, I parted the curtains.
The balcony, bathed in moonlight, carried a strange atmosphere. As I stepped inside, inhaling the familiar lily scent mingling with the night's fragrance on the gentle breeze,
"Your Holiness. I heard you summoned me."
El, leaning against the terrace railing, had his eyes closed in thought. His sky-blue hair sparkled mysteriously under the moonlight.
His head turned slowly toward me. His white lashes lifted slightly, revealing silver eyes that gleamed brighter than the moon.
Ah.
The moment I met his gaze, I sighed inwardly. They were shining, so brilliantly it was like fairy dust had been sprinkled on them. So beautiful. His face still angelic.
But too dark.
His eyes were chillingly sunken. It felt like staring at the dark side of the moon, unlit.
His firmly shut lips curved softly. With his naturally drooping, gentle eyes crinkling in a kind smile, he looked utterly harmless, like something no one in the world could harm.
But.
As a Sword Master, I couldn't miss the aura radiating from him. The knuckles protruding sharply on his rough hands gripping the railing—it was cracked in several places—the faintly trembling corners of his mouth, his red lips on the verge of spitting blood from being gnashed by pearly whites, and those silver eyes dripping with dark emotions, refusing to meet mine.
El was suppressing his rage. And probably because of me.
"Are you angry with me?"
I hesitated on whether to broach it, then spoke. He looked dangerous to prod, but turning back wasn't my style.
"......Does that matter?"
After a brief silence, eyes closed again, El finally replied. When his delicate lashes lifted once more, all the overflowing turmoil in his eyes had been reined in.
"I could never be angry with you anyway."
He smiled as he always did with me—inhumanly sculpted, pure and innocent.
A Pope of an empire didn't lightly undermine his own authority like that. He approached me slowly, head bowed, and gently tucked a loose strand of my hair behind my ear. As he did, his face passed over my shoulder, our gazes crossing without meeting.
"What right do I have to be angry with you?"
The smooth, sweet voice tickling right by my ear—with gritted teeth, no doubt—was no hallucination.
"That sounds like you're angry, even if you won't admit it."
I pointed it out calmly, and he fell silent. The quiet was as good as agreement.
I tried to step back to read his expression, but El lightly gripped my shoulder, stopping me. He still wouldn't face me.
"I was taught that conversations are held face-to-face out of courtesy."
"Just this once, allow my rudeness."
"Elrior."
"......Ah."
I called his name softly, and he let out a groan-like sigh.
"Show me your face. It's been ages since we've seen each other alone."
After our last talk, I'd visited the temple sporadically, but lately, busyness had kept me away. It had been weeks since we'd faced each other like this.
I grasped both his shoulders and pushed gently. He yielded easily. Our eyes met, and for a moment, I lost my words.
Tricky.
I'd spent my life fighting magic beasts to the death. People were less familiar to me than beasts; I was better with a sword than words. In a narrow world where only Aria counted as a close person, I was fresh out of "graduation."
Human emotions were still hard for me. I couldn't read the darkness encroaching on those transparent silver eyes.
Even so, I couldn't tear my gaze from those eyes plummeting into some distant abyss. I stared at El wordlessly for a long time.
His eyes slowly scanned me, then finally dropped to the floor.
"Why are you angry?"
Of the tangled emotions in those eyes, the only one I could read was a thread of fury, so I asked. Gently, as I tucked his slightly disheveled side hair behind his ear, mimicking what he'd done to me. My callused fingertips brushed his pale earlobe. He bit his lip. After staring at the ground for ages, he finally spoke.
"......I'm angry at myself—for lusting after your kindness, time and again."
An incomprehensible answer. Emotions I still couldn't read. To me, who only ever dealt with mindless beasts slain by the sword, humans were a complex puzzle.
"So you're not angry at me."
"I told you, I could never be."
"Then why won't you look at me?"
El clamped his mouth shut. I fixed my gaze stubbornly on the crease between his brows as he glared at the floor.
Unfamiliar with humans, I wasn't good at discerning truth from words or unraveling complex emotions. Beasts didn't speak, and even the clever ones didn't harbor intricate feelings.
But I was perceptive. Intuition—the animal instinct to read situations. Even if I couldn't fully grasp the emotions before me, I could predict what they'd lead to.
'Milady, how are you so perceptive? It's like you read my mind! You're so delicate.'
Compliments like that weren't entirely true. I didn't peer into hearts; I skimmed surface emotions and braced for the outcomes.
When faced with unknown feelings, I misinterpreted them.
"Look at me. Otherwise, I don't know how to treat you."
Eyes were the soul. No matter how skilled at hiding, no one could fake their soul. So in conversations, I always met eyes, read what lay within, and acted accordingly.
'Grrr...... Graaang!'
This habit came from facing beasts. Their gaze direction, the depth of demonic corruption, the emotions flickering there—I had to read it all to survive.
"......I'm not as kind as you think."
El parted his lips slowly. I already knew he treated me specially.
Because we're close friends. ......Probably.
I just lacked certainty it was the reason I suspected. Unable to interpret unknown emotions, I substituted them with familiar ones.
"I'm the type of person you hate. Cruel, violent, disregardful of life, pathetically childish."
El lifted his head slowly. Silver eyes filled my vision.
"And I wanted you not to know that side of me."
Once more, I faced the unknown.