254. Deception 14.
254. Deception 14.
Lexi kept opening and closing the door to District Four, sticking her head out, then shutting it again and pressing her ear against the wood.
She whipped her head around to look at me.
"This is magic! Absolutely magnificent!"
Watching her examine the door like that, a small laugh escaped me. I remembered how utterly fascinated I'd been the first time I came in here. People are all the same, it seemed.
The moment I began stripping off my armor, Seths materialized behind me like a ghost and reached out a hand.
...Hadn't she been here this morning too? Or did she always sleep in District Four?
"Let me help you out of that," Seths said gently, stepping closer.
"Please," Edelin said. She was seated on the sofa, watching us.
"...At last, you've become my honored guest." Seths had an expression that looked almost moved. My honored guest? An ambiguous phrase.
"Is that such a big deal?"
"A Dragonia attendant is responsible for the dignity of an honored guest."
Seths extended a hand, and moisture spread across my body, sloughing off the filth, dried blood, and mud.
"Aren't you hungry?"
"There's nothing to eat in here."
"I can get you something."
"I'm fine."
I pulled off the gauntlets and tossed them carelessly onto the floor. The ground here was so plush there was no risk of damaging the armor.
"I've been leaking information about you to the clergy. It might get bothersome, but it's necessary, so bear with it."
...I see.
"Thank you for your help."
"In that case, give me a kiss."
As if advertising her own voyeurism, Seths looped her arms around my neck while people were watching. What was she saying, right in the middle of me taking off my armor?
Lexi, who had been observing the door to the outside, narrowed her eyes at Seths. Her pupils rounded at the provocative word, and she turned to stare at us. Amused, Seths's eyes curved into crescent moons, and a sly grin spread across her face.
"Kiss me."
"People are watching."
"Do it."
I didn't think this fell under the category of preserving dignity.
I grasped Seths's face, and she closed her eyes, puckering her lips like a duck.
Why did she have to make things so awkward?
Well, since she'd closed her eyes, I pressed my lips lightly against her forehead.
Smack!
Would she throw a fit? Better not overthink it. A kiss on the forehead was still a kind of kiss.
Chomp!
"Ah—"
Seths bit my hand hard, like a cat issuing a warning.
She was an expressive person. Watching her alone melted my heart. Had she disliked the look on my face just then? She began gnawing in earnest.
"That hurts! Ah—! Aah—! Aagh—!"
Then she began jabbing me in the side with her finger.
"I! Went to! The temple! And I! Bowed my head!"
Being hit by her was genuinely enjoyable. Secretly pleased, I put on a pained, obsequious face.
"And you can't grant me one little request like that?"
"Well..."
"Forget it!"
Seths shoved me away and snapped her head to the side.
Going forward, I would absolutely need Seths's help to finish this properly. Edelin was a person harder than diamond, so I couldn't ask her for this sort of thing. I couldn't afford to end even a minor matter on bad terms. How should I soothe her temper? Maybe giving in and kissing her the way she wanted was best.
I abruptly yanked Seths by the hand into my arms, wrapping one arm around the back of her head and the other around her waist.
"Uwack—?!"
I caught her flustered mouth with mine, and my tongue—
"Eeeek!!!"
Seths shrieked and shoved me away. She backpedaled so fast her feet were a blur. Then her heel caught on the bed, and she tumbled over to the far side in a spectacular roll. A moment later, a crimson face peeked out sheepishly. Her tail was puffed up stiff.
"You perverted bastard!"
"You asked me to do it."
Seths fled District Four as if making an escape.
"...What's her deal?"
"She's a cat-tribe," Lexi said, picking out a bed and stretching out.
"...While everyone else is sleeping on bare dirt, you've been sleeping in a place like this?"
"I'll help you finish removing the rest," Edelin offered.
"Please."
Edelin approached quietly and helped me out of my armor.
...Anyway.
"Are all cat-tribe like that?"
She'd talked to me about estrus cycles and such, so I'd assumed she was someone rather loose. But what on earth was that reaction just now?
"Like what?"
"She asks for something herself, then gets angry when you do it."
"Terup is no different from a cat. Selfish, lazy, and fond of mischief. If you play along with her pranks, she pushes the limits with no end in sight."
Come to think of it, Jul had said something similar once.
"Honestly... the way she talked about me being a candidate to call upon during her heat, I figured she genuinely liked me."
"Terup's estrus cycle is not that special," Edelin said, her words carrying a slight inaccuracy.
"What do you mean, not that special? She said she brings men back for it."
"No. The sexual urges simply intensify slightly. For lion- or tiger-tribe, the condition is severe. For cat-tribe, it is not."
"Was Seths a mixed-blood too?"
"She is a pure-blooded cat-tribe, clean to a degree one rarely encounters. She is not subject to uncontrollable sexual impulses."
So, she'd been teasing me playfully, and when I suddenly turned serious, it had shocked her. ...I should have just stayed still. Why was it that whenever situations like this arose, that unpleasant saying—"Stay still and you're halfway there"—came to mind? I pushed the discarded armor aside.
"Thank you."
"It was nothing."
Edelin accepted my thanks with her usual manner and returned to her spot. She even looked somewhat more at ease than before.
Idle thoughts swarmed into the cracks of my mind. It was about Changelings. I had been given a warning, but I'd never truly considered the idea that someone besides me had been subjected to a Changeling event. Perhaps someone like Sia di Whiteburg was a Changeling as well. People who had received Dantalian's blessing were vanishingly rare, after all.
Among the targets of a Changeling, there could be individuals who had the memories of someone from Earth copied into them. Someone from Earth. I wished I could meet one. That wasn't the only reason I wanted to meet them. Perhaps the Dowager Archduchess knew the depths of Dantalian's true intentions. I couldn't say why, but Dantalian himself hadn't shown any sign of looking favorably upon the power the Dowager Archduchess wielded.
Even if it was dangerous, it was worth meeting her.
I never expected to actually want to go and meet that woman.
"Is the Archduchy of Whiteburg far from here?"
"The Archduchy of Whiteburg borders the Kingdom of Ohren. It is quite a distance from here."
Which meant we couldn't visit during our circuit. It was a major city to begin with. And it didn't align with the purpose of Edelin's and my journey—moving through the slash-and-burn fields and forgotten little villages to provide medical aid.
"Why are you curious?"
"Just curious."
I mumbled vaguely and avoided Edelin's gaze.
...Now that I thought about it, I had already saved thousands of people. It didn't feel like I had helped them. Though I knew I hadn't done anything foolish. I'd simply passed through distributing medicine. Hundreds, thousands of doses that had left my hand had saved that many lives. But it didn't feel real.
"Amazing, isn't it?"
My memories of the people I'd killed were terribly vivid, but I couldn't conjure memories of the people I'd saved.
"Let's sleep now."
"Do you like that cat?" Lexi asked.
"Of course. She's cute, isn't she?"
I answered half-heartedly and pulled the blanket up over my neck. This diabolical bed summoned the sandman with diabolical speed.
"Mm."
The blanket was carefully lifted.
"...What are you doing?"
"I'm burning up with jealousy and I can't stand it any longer."
Lexi was peering down at me, her eyes curved like crescent moons. Then she leisurely began to wedge herself into the bed.
...This reminded me of Shireu. A person who'd lived 150 years was acting exactly like a nineteen-year-old. The irony of it made me laugh.
"You are my elder, aren't you? Please observe some dignity."
"I hardly see a need to uphold dignity with you."
Lexi twined her limbs around me. With her wings and tail added, that made seven points of contact. I couldn't budge an inch.
"Why are you acting like a child?"
"I told you. The world is childish. That childlike quality is its charm."
"What does that even..."
"It's because you say things like that that your life is so dull. Even if you die tomorrow, you mustn't lose your smile."
Lexi's hand crept subtly toward a rather deep place.
"So, won't you hold me? The way you held that cat."
"I was just letting her sleep with me."
"I could smell a sticky, potent female scent."
"Would you—! Stop talking about such vulgar things!"
So that's how it was going to be.
I turned my back and flipped over. Lexi clung to my back instantly, like a baby monkey clinging to its mother.
...It felt strange. She seemed like a child younger than me. Sometimes she truly felt like someone who'd lived over a century. Other times, not at all.
An old thought surfaced. When people live a long time, was it not the person who aged, but the body that aged, and the person simply followed along? I'd once had that question. Now I felt I could accept that it was true. Stop acting like a celestial rabbit and live as a worldly human being. Still, there were lines to uphold.
"You realize you're infatuated with me, don't you?"
"I know."
Lexi patted me.
She knew? Then why was she acting this way?
"...When a great fire goes out, what remains?"
"Only ashes."
"That is precisely what I was. I was nothing but burned-out ash, and now you are setting me alight again. For some people, if they can blaze once more, they will gladly throw their life away."
"Do you have some awareness that you're acting insane?"
"Of course! You are the only thing that drives me insane."
Lexi stroked me gently.
"My hatred and my love, my jealousy and my pity, my greed and my contentment. You are my everything. I wish you would burn me from every possible angle, in whatever way you please."
...I see.
This person had lost all interest in life. She had come to kidnap me from the very start, expecting to die. The last trace of hesitation within me vanished.
"It doesn't matter how?"
"Yes. I'm a generous person."
'Generous, my ass.'
To set Lexi ablaze, I crushed her in a suffocating embrace.