Burn Me So I Cannot Weep [02]
The hunting contest was, on paper, an event of harmony and martial prowess. But to the great noble houses, it was less an honorable competition than a passing amusement.
To put it simply—
Consider the two women standing at Cecilia's side.
Chloe, daughter of the Ducal House. And Lucia, Saintess of the Order. Neither of them had any particular reason to chase after scores or glory.
The two of them walked in silence through the thickening woods.
No trace of beasts had stirred yet. The damp scent of earth and the fragrance of grass hung at the tip of her nose, and to Cecilia—cooped up for days on end—the open air felt almost startlingly fresh.
How long had it been since she'd breathed air like this?
It felt like a breath finally drawn after drowning. Of course, with Chloe glued to her side, it wasn't true freedom by any means. But it would do.
Lucia glanced around restlessly, careful with every step, checking the ground again and again as though afraid of stepping into a trap—before breaking into a bright smile and speaking up in an excited voice.
"This is… my first time doing anything like this."
Cecilia glanced at her sidelong. Lucia's blue eyes were sparkling.
"S-sorry. I'm being childish, aren't I? I spend all day at the Order, so walking through a forest like this—even the idea of hunting itself—all of it feels so new to me."
She went on, cheeks flushed with excitement, chattering away like a small child. She'd been talking nonstop for a while now.
She's more talkative than she looks, isn't she?
"What kind of monsters will we see? Maybe I'll get to see with my own eyes the ones I've only ever heard rumors about. They say they're quite strong, even the ones around here."
Her voice brimmed with anticipation. Cecilia found the girl's innocent reaction strangely foreign to her. An abandoned losing heroine—yet Lucia stood there bright and buoyant, without a shadow of gloom about her.
If that's an act, it's a remarkable one.
And if not, then she really does have the makings of a saint.
As Cecilia weighed the thought in her mind, Chloe gave a light scoff.
"Monsters, you say—"
She spoke indifferently, her gaze fixed somewhere far away. Only the cries of ordinary animals reached their ears. Chloe yawned and went on.
"Everything they release in a place like this is pathetically weak. There's nothing here worth calling a hunt. It's nothing but children playing house. If you get your hopes up, you'll only be disappointed."
"Ah, is… is that so…"
Lucia lowered her voice, embarrassed. Then, without warning, she spread both arms wide and spun around in a circle—beautiful as a princess stepped out of a fairytale.
"It's my first time, after all. Everything is wonderful to me."
Lucia beamed. Chloe turned her gaze away without a word of reply, and Cecilia watched the whole exchange from a distance.
What a strange trio. A saintess giddy over a hunt, a princess who found everything boring—and last, a villainess who belonged nowhere. The very fact that these three had been grouped together was, on reflection, rather absurd.
In the novel, this combination would never have existed.
No matter how thoroughly she searched her memory of the original story, there was no scene where the three of them walked through a forest side by side.
And that fact was, to Cecilia, a source of terror and of hope all at once—even if it was a development that took place only after everything had already ended.
So they walked on. Perhaps the silence had grown awkward, because Lucia sidled up to Cecilia, edging closer step by careful step.
"Have you ever been hunting before?"
"…No. I spent the time studying instead."
Cecilia cut her off curtly. She didn't want to exchange words with her if she could help it. She had no idea what history might be tangled between them—idle conversation was dangerous.
"Oh, I… I see…."
Lucia retreated with an awkward smile. The forest deepened, the trees growing denser and closer together. How long had they been walking? Lucia once more glided toward Cecilia with soft, unhurried steps.
…What is it with her? What is she really after?
Cecilia watched her warily. And she noticed—Lucia's gaze was lingering on Cecilia's bare shoulders and the nape of her neck. On the marks of the previous night, glimpsed in flashes between the folds of her white dress.
"Um. There's something that's been bothering me for a while now."
Lucia spoke up, hands clasped in front of her, staring straight at Cecilia's arms and thighs.
"You have so many wounds."
Before Cecilia could answer, Lucia reached out, and a soft radiance bloomed at her fingertips. Warm, pure, sacred light—the healing power said to be wielded only by the Saintess of the Order—surged forth in an instant.
"I just wanted you to feel even a little better…"
The light touched her shoulder. And it was far, far too much.
At that moment, Cecilia's body buckled. Bile surged straight up her throat.
"Aaaaghhh—! Hack—!"
Far from healing, something inside her twisted wrong. The instant that light touched her flesh, it crashed violently against some force lurking within her. A pain like burning fire spread rapidly down from her shoulder.
It hurts. What is this?
Save me. Save me. Save me.
No—rather, just kill me.
Her breath caught in her throat. Cold sweat beaded on her forehead. Even that brief moment of contact had felt as though every ounce of strength had been drained from her body.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing!"
Chloe's expression turned vicious in an instant. She would normally have laughed it off with her usual playfulness—so why was she this angry?
"What did you just do to her!"
Chloe strode in, roughly slapped Lucia's hand away, and pulled Cecilia into her arms as if to declare that no one would take her from her.
"Don't lay a hand on her without permission. She's mine."
The ferocity of it was hard to reconcile with the woman who'd been yawning in boredom mere moments ago. Lucia flinched and withdrew her hand, her face falling.
"I'm sorry! I only thought it might help, so—"
Lucia bowed her head in flustered apology. Hunched and shrinking into herself, there was nothing left of the poise she'd shown earlier.
"Never touch her again. She's mine."
Chloe drove the point home like a nail. Her arms were still wrapped tight around Cecilia. Breathing in shallow, ragged gasps, Cecilia finally managed to steady herself.
"…I'm fine. It's nothing."
The pain still lingered, but she had no desire to escalate the commotion. More than anything, she was afraid of digging into what that pain truly was.
Why does this body reject a saintess's healing?
It wasn't that she had no suspicions. Probably—
The contract with the demon. The power she'd received in exchange.
Perhaps it was fundamentally incompatible with divine light. But Cecilia forced the thought away. This was not the time to dwell on it.
Lucia tilted her head.
"…That's strange."
She murmured it as though to herself, but the look in her eyes was nothing like the flustered girl of moments ago. Calm and composed, she stared at Cecilia as though trying to see straight through her.
"Your body is pushing back against a power meant to heal it. As though… some other force had taken up residence inside you. If it's all right, may I examine you a little more closely?"
Cecilia's heart lurched.
"There are usually only two things that clash with holy light. A cursed being… or something very much like one. What on earth could it be?"
There was none of that earlier innocence left. In its place stood the sharp insight of the woman they called the Saintess of the Order.
She's not just some naive girl, is she.
Beneath the guileless surface, this saintess had already sensed something—that whatever dwelt in Cecilia's body was no ordinary thing.
Cecilia averted her eyes, doing her best to appear unconcerned.
If she notices, I'm in trouble. I have to talk my way past this somehow. If things blow up here, it'll only get worse.
She improvised, quickly.
"I have an unusual constitution. Nothing to worry about."
"Then you should be examined thoroughly."
"I said I'm fine. It doesn't affect my daily life at all."
"……No. That's not what this is about."
Lucia's face made it clear she was not about to be persuaded, but she pressed no further. She regarded Cecilia for a moment longer, then quietly lowered her gaze.
"…Then I'll leave it be. For now."
The weight hanging on those last two words only tightened Cecilia's nerves. Whatever she meant by it, it amounted to a promise to ask again someday.
Then, as if to change the subject, Lucia's eyes traveled over Cecilia's body—the bite marks on her shoulder, the red traces on her nape, the fingerprints left along her arm. Innocent curiosity welled up in her all over again.
"However did you get hurt so badly?"
"…I-it's nothing."
Cecilia's face flushed scarlet. There was no way she could bring herself to say it aloud. She shook her head frantically, fumbling for words.
How am I supposed to explain something like this? It's mortifying.
"I just… bumped into things here and there, that's all."
"Really? That's odd—why would there be teeth marks—"
"Th-those were from an accident, when I was handling an animal—"
Just as Cecilia's words tangled, Chloe cut in from beside her, arms crossed, baring her teeth with a triumphant grin. No! Stop!
"Curious? Then shall I tell you all about it?"
Not this woman—what is she about to say!
Cecilia's face went white as a sheet. She had to stop Chloe's rampage. No matter what it took.
"S-stop it! Chloe!"
"You see, this is all because I spent the whole night—"
"I told you to stop!"
Cecilia clamped a hand over Chloe's mouth in a panic. Her face was already burning red to the tips of her ears. Even with her mouth sealed, Chloe couldn't hold back her snickers—a little demon of mischief through and through.
"My, my. Why are you so embarrassed about it? It's adorable."
Chloe lightly caught Cecilia's hand and spoke with obvious relish. Apparently, watching Cecilia fall apart was entertainment of the highest order.
Lucia tilted her head back and forth, watching them. Unable to follow the conversation, she puffed out her cheeks in visible dissatisfaction.
"What are you two talking about? What did you do?"
It was an innocent question. She truly seemed to know nothing at all—and before that untouched, unclouded face, Cecilia found herself even less able to lift her head.
"It's nothing! Really, nothing!"
"But your face is all red. Do you have a fever somewhere?"
"I don't have a fever! I told you, I'm fine!"
Cecilia waved her hands in desperate denial. When Lucia reached a worried hand toward her forehead, Cecilia recoiled in horror.
If that healing light touches me again—
She could not go through that pain a second time.
…Please. Don't do anything else.
She prayed inwardly. Fortunately, Lucia let the matter drop—instead, as though she'd spotted something, she turned her head forward.
"Ah, look—! I found it!"
Where the forest thinned at its edge, a signpost stood visible between the trees. A marker reading First Zone — Destination. It was the point the three of them had been making toward.
"Looks like we've arrived!"
Lucia's face lit up once more. As though the awkwardness of moments ago had been entirely forgotten, her steps quickened. But just beyond that destination—
…Wait, that's dangerous.
Cecilia's eyes caught the terrain. Right beside the signpost lay a dizzying precipice. Below yawned a sheer cliff of staggering depth—a precarious ledge where a single missed step meant falling straight down.
But Lucia, it seemed, hadn't noticed any of it. Smiling wide with the joy of arrival, she ran toward it.
"We're the first ones here, aren't we—"
"…Wait! It's dangerous!"
Cecilia shouted in alarm, raising her hand to wave—but.
Ah. Too late. Of all the times.
The instant Lucia's foot came down on the soft soil at the cliff's edge, the ground collapsed beneath her in a heartbeat. Her body lurched violently, and her balance gave way.
"…Huh? This isn't—?!"
Lucia tottered, her arms reaching out blindly into empty air—pure instinct, grasping to keep herself from falling. And her hand closed, of all things, around the wrist of Cecilia, who had just come running. It all happened in the blink of an eye. There was no time to react.
"…Ah!"
The ground gave way beneath her, and her body was flung into the void. The world spun wildly before her eyes. And just like that, the two of them plunged over the edge of the cliff.
"Cecilia! No—!"
It was the first time she had ever seen it—the look on Chloe's face.
It struck her as strange, even now, that all that composure had vanished. A woman who always treated everything with the same maddening detachment. So why that expression?
For the first time, Chloe threw everything aside. She hurled herself toward the cliff's edge, fingers outstretched—but in the end, she grasped nothing but air.
It was already too late.
Far, far too late.
"…Ce… cilia…."
Chloe's cry echoed faintly through the fading edge of Cecilia's consciousness. The face left alone at the top of the cliff had gone deathly pale, twisted in anguish.