You Made Me This Way
Long pink hair and deep pink eyes. On top of that, a smirking face that gave no clue what she was thinking. This woman was unmistakably the Chloe whom Saren had killed.
“Do you know me or not?”
“You’re not Chloe Criatis, are you?”
“Hmm? Criatis? What’s that vulgar surname supposed to be?”
“......”
The moment I laid eyes on her again, two thoughts struck me. The first was that it truly hadn’t mattered she had been killed by Saren. It was a genuine relief that she hadn’t vanished forever. The second was that this Chloe was not Vivian’s sister. After all, in this life too, Vivian had said her sister was dead. This was an enormous harvest. Coming here had been the right choice.
“By the way, you there.”
“......?”
Chloe leaned forward, tracing the line of my face with her fingertip before lifting my chin with a flick.
“It’s already suspicious that you know me. So why do I sense my power coming from someone I’ve never seen before? Who exactly are you?”
Her gaze and tone had turned vicious in an instant.
Her power? Was it because of the blessing title? She could actually sense something like that?
“I’m just a passing pedestrian. Number one.”
She let out a short laugh.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“What if I don’t? Going to kill me?”
“How could a saint kill anyone? That’s what heretics do.”
Saying she looked exactly like a heretic would have been rude, I supposed.
“Who are you, really? You don’t look like a holy knight either...”
“Serion Elsia.”
“Who asked for your— Wait. E-Elsia? The Elsia I know!?”
“Probably the one you’re thinking of.”
I pushed her aside, rose to my feet, and brushed the dirt from my backside.
“Anyway, thanks for taking care of the undead.”
“What does ‘thanks’ mean?”
“It means I’m grateful.”
She tilted her head, still confused.
“If you’re not going to kill me, I’ll be going. I have companions waiting.”
My business with this woman was finished. I had learned everything I needed to know.
Or so I thought.
“Why are you following me?”
At some point she had fallen into step right beside me.
“Where are you headed? Can I come along?”
“No.”
“Aww, you’re so cold!”
What was with this woman?
“Why do you want to follow me? Aren’t you supposed to be returning to the church?”
“I never said anything like that.”
Right. That had been something she said in a previous life. It had happened once before, yet here I was repeating the mistake. The more I regressed, the more my memories tangled together. It wasn’t as if I could jot anything down. Having to rely solely on memory was incredibly irritating.
“What I meant was, if you’re a saint, shouldn’t you be heading back to the church?”
“Ahhh.”
She fell silent for a moment, then flashed a bright smile.
“Just taking a little detour!”
“......”
I hadn’t encountered many saints, but her attitude was far more frivolous and light than Vivian’s or Marian’s. It made me question whether she was truly a saint at all. Still, the holy magic she had used earlier suggested she was. Not to mention the blessing title she possessed.
“Even so, no.”
“Why not!!”
If she ran into Saren, this woman would die again. And it would be horrific. Knowing that, how could I possibly bring her along?
“Do you think I’d take you if I knew who you were?”
“W-wait! Just a moment! ...Please!!”
Chloe suddenly seized my wrist, halting me. Then she clasped both my hands in hers and whispered with a gentle smile.
“My name is Chloe Elowen. Though I am now a wandering saint, I was once like a mother to the countless saints raised within the imperial palace.”
What nonsense was this? And calling herself something like a mother? She looked no older than me.
“How old are you?”
“Oh my! That’s terribly rude.”
I frowned. And why had she suddenly switched to polite speech?
“Anyway, aren’t you basically a spy for the imperial family?”
“Pardon? What is a spy?”
“A pawn. An agent.”
I shook off her hand and started walking again. I could sense her hurrying after me.
“That’s not true!! It really isn’t!! I have nothing to do with the imperial family anymore!!”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Yes!!”
Did she think shouting ‘Yes!!’ would make me trust her? I had no idea how to respond to such brazen confidence.
That was when it happened.
“Young master?”
Beneath a tree wrapped in shadow. A low, androgynous, familiar voice reached me alongside a pair of blue eyes glowing in the dark.
“V-Vivian? Why did you come all the way out here?”
“You left to gather firewood quite some time ago and never returned. But who is that beside you?”
Her tone sounded angry. Or perhaps sulky. Her words carried clear displeasure.
“I don’t know either. I ran into her suddenly and she won’t stop following me.”
“What? She’s a heretic?”
For a moment I doubted my ears at Chloe’s words. When I turned, she was narrowing her eyes, studying Vivian closely.
“......How rude, when this is our first meeting.”
“There’s no need to show courtesy to a heretic, is there?”
“......”
I saw Vivian grit her teeth.
“Why are you speaking to my maid that way?”
At my words, Chloe shot me a sharp glance.
“To side with a heretic. No matter that you are the young master of Elsia, isn’t that rather naive of you?”
Why was she calling her a heretic? When we visited the church before, even Grand Saintess Marian had welcomed Vivian warmly. She would never have done so if Vivian were truly a heretic. In other words, Chloe was deliberately trying to sow discord.
“Heretic or not, Vivian is my maid, not a religious figure. Understand?”
“......”
Chloe lowered her head slightly. Her long pink hair slid down like a curtain, hiding her face. Through the strands, I glimpsed a chilling smile with lips stretched unnaturally high.
My eyes twitched at the sight.
“Shielding a heretic is clearly a criminal offense, you know?”
Her voice had grown cold once more. But I ignored it.
“I’m already a wanted man anyway. What difference would one more crime make when it comes to my execution?”
“......”
Chloe simply watched me in silence.
“If you have nothing else to say, I’m leaving. Don’t follow me.”
“I!!”
“...?”
The moment I took a step, she cried out desperately.
“What if I report you to the imperial palace right now? That the eldest son of Elsia is hiding in this forest? That he’s even traveling with a heretic?”
“Sure. Do as you like.”
“What? I-I really can do it!!”
“Then go ahead.”
She must have thought such a threat would frighten me. Do whatever you want. If I get caught, I’ll simply die and that will be the end of it. Hell, I could pull out my dagger right now and drive it into my own carotid artery. And if I simply avoid coming to this forest in the next life, I would never have to meet this woman again.
“Let’s go, Vivian.”
“Y-Young master...”
I took her hand and began to walk. Without thinking, I interlaced our fingers. It was a hand I had wanted to hold. A hand I had held back from for so long. Just for this brief moment, it should be all right—that greedy thought. That blind desire made me forget, if only for an instant, about the colossal presence known as Saren.
“......Brother.”
“......”
The insidious whisper against my left ear sent goosebumps racing across my entire body. When I slowly turned toward the sound, I met a pair of red eyes standing crookedly not far away.
“S-Saren...”
“What are you doing here...? Leaving me all alone to be with such lowly wenches...”
This was bad. The scene was damning enough that no excuse would clear up the misunderstanding.
“Young master, why is the lady...”
Ice Impact
The instant Vivian opened her mouth, a dull thud rang out and blood sprayed across my face.
Thud— Vivian’s body collapsed on the spot.
“Insolent bitch. How dare you interrupt when your owner is speaking.”
Saren’s icy voice rang out at the same time.
What the hell had just happened...? I slowly rolled my eyes toward Vivian. At the same moment, my entire body turned cold. One of her eye sockets had been crushed inward, a dark, sunken pit. Beside her lay a large chunk of ice. Magic? There had been no preparation stance—when had she cast it?
“V-Vivian...”
I called out carefully, but her body remained limp and utterly still.
“Brother?”
Step. Step. Saren’s footsteps drew closer. But I could not turn my gaze. Meeting her eyes felt like it would make me collapse where I stood.
“Haa... Haa...”
Was it the fear from the previous life, when she had mercilessly crushed my Adam’s apple? A burning pain began rising in my throat.
“Saren is calling you, Brother.”
Her voice came clearly from directly in front of me. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. As I slowly shifted my eyes, I found blood-red pupils close enough that our lips could touch.
I swallowed hard. And I wondered how she would kill me this time. Would it hurt badly? Should I stab my own throat with the dagger first? Ah, that’s right. It had shattered while fighting the undead. How dismal. And how terrifying.
Wait. Couldn’t I simply kill Saren first?
But the thought faded almost immediately. This child knew magic. That meant she knew how to fight. I had no idea how skilled she was, but there was no chance someone like me—who couldn’t even do that—could defeat her.
“I asked you a second time what you are doing here.”
“......Gathering firewood.”
“Gathering firewood while holding hands with Vivian, just the two of you?”
“That’s a misunderstanding...”
“And who is that bitch over there?”
Saren cut me off, pointing at Chloe. When I turned my head, I saw her watching us with a meaningful look.
“Just some woman I don’t know.”
“Ah! I see.”
Saren smiled sweetly and clapped her hands together.
“Then I can just kill her, right?”
“No!!!”
I instinctively grabbed her wrist. It wasn’t to protect Chloe. I needed to understand this madness. Only then could I decide which way to move. I could no longer allow myself to be swept along by it.
She swiftly rolled her red eyes and glared at me. Those tightly contracted pupils felt as if they were squeezing my windpipe.
“Why are you doing this!! Why are you doing this to me!!”
“Why, you ask?”
“What the hell did I ever do to you that you would go this far!!”
She now turned her head completely to face me head-on. The creaking motion of her neck was grotesque, like something broken.
“......”
That wasn’t me. I... it wasn’t me.