Vestige (8)

Serepina and I sat side by side on the edge of the bed.

The room was so quiet now that it felt like the earlier uproar had never happened.

Quiet enough to be almost awkward.

"Th-that woman who was just here... may I ask who she is?"

Serepina spoke first.

Her voice was small.

I hesitated.

What name should I use? How should I put it?

At first I thought about lying, spinning something convenient the way I always did. But in the end I told the truth, half afraid the lies would pile up and collapse with no way out.

"Estelle."

"I'm not asking for her name."

A faint edge of irritation crept into Serepina's voice.

I let out a short breath, like I was blowing out cigarette smoke.

"She's the Saintess."

"......Ah, um, w-well. You're joking, right?"

I didn't answer.

"Y-you're serious? The Saintess? N-now that I think about it, sh-she did look similar, but... seriously?"

Serepina's eyes shook like an earthquake had hit them.

"Th-then why is the Saintess dressed in plain clothes and alone with you?"

"She said I caught her eye."

"What part of you?!"

"That's a little hurtful."

"No, I mean, st-still, you're not exactly the kind of person the Church would take a liking to, Ravin."

"......Must've been ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my face."

"Ah. Yeah. I-I suppose there really isn't another answer."

"......"

"Anyway, sh-should I go right now and tell her what I said earlier was a joke?"

"No. That... how do I put this. It's because it was you and me. Of course you'd throw out whatever you could."

"......Ah. Yeah. Right. Th-that was all it was."

Serepina stared blankly at the ceiling, turning it over, and then her expression brightened.

"Of course. That was all I could say."

She said it with a soft smile and wrapped her arms tight around me.

I faced her and held her back.

For some reason, my body was trembling faintly.

The thought crossed my mind that maybe I was doing something stupid again. I let it go.

Right now, Serepina was here. I decided to focus on her.

"B-but you two still aren't that close, right?"

Serepina murmured into my shoulder.

"Yeah. We haven't known each other long. Right now."

At that, a smile spread across her face as she whispered,

"M-maybe you really can become the Saintess just by having good looks."

I smiled back without answering.

"R-Ravin. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Anyway, I-I was a little out of it earlier so I couldn't say it properly."

Serepina gripped my hand.

Her hand was cold and trembled ever so slightly.

"Th-thank you for getting me a room. It's far better than I expected."

"That much I can do anytime. In exchange, could you help me out?"

"Oh. Wh-what... what kind of help?"

Serepina's face flushed a little. The fingers holding my hand twitched.

Soft fingertips grazed the back of my hand, and then her index finger traced across my palm as if to tickle it.

Feeling ticklish, I gently pulled her hand back a little and conjured a tiny spell above it. A small orb of faint light.

"Help me with things like this. I keep hitting walls."

"Ah, s-something ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠like that—you don't even have to ask!"

Serepina's voice pitched up.

"I-I'm someone you need, right?"

"You don't want to break the engagement either, right, Ravin?"

"Ah. Yeah. I've been saying I love you all this time, so."

"......The one line you always use f-for moments like this, and it still sounds like a lie."

Her face seemed to cloud over for a second.

"I'm sorry."

Serepina said it quietly.

Then our eyes met. She looked at me with a strange expression, and her gaze drifted down to my lips. She exhaled a soft breath and drew close.

I pressed my lips lightly against hers, just briefly, and then pulled back to look at her.

Her lips had been soft, and cold.

Serepina stared blankly and touched her own lips with her fingers for a long moment.

Then her face went bright red, as if it had caught fire.

"Th-then I'm leaving!"

She sprang up and bolted out of the room.

Long after Serepina's retreating figure had vanished, I kept gazing at the door.

Eventually I picked up a random book from the table and began reading it slowly—even though I felt like no magic was going to stick in my head right now.

* * *

Morning.

I opened my eyes to find Levina already in the room, sitting on the sofa and reading the book I'd been going through. No idea when she'd arrived.

This time she'd worn an even shorter skirt and no stockings, so the bruise on her shin was fully visible.

"Ah. You're awake."

She spoke the moment I stirred.

"The carriage is ready. All you have to do is show up."

I rubbed my eyes and asked,

"Why won't you go see a priest? Why are you just leaving it like that?"

"I told you last time."

She answered and got up.

I sighed, threw on my outer robe, and followed her out of the room.

Nothing to talk about in the hallway, so we passed through in silence.

Then I climbed into a carriage that felt oddly familiar. It was the same one from back when I'd taken Levina on that picnic to the woods to deal with her.

"Anyway, why are we going to the annex?"

Levina asked.

"There's something I want to check. Near the annex."

"There's nothing tucked away around there. It's a little funny, going out of your way for nothing."

This from the person who'd spent a lifetime trying to bury me in a place just like that.

"Then you should have stayed behind."

"And let you go off alone when I have no idea what you'll do?"

Sometimes I wondered if I'd really needed to go that far. Then I'd look at this Levina in front of me and think maybe it'd been for the best.

Before long, the carriage arrived at the annex.

I didn't enter the building. I walked toward the back garden instead.

I wandered through the unkempt yard where Serepina and I had talked after the broken engagement, then shifted my steps toward the forest.

Levina followed and said,

"There's nothing that way."

"I heard there's a little village."

"Yeah. That's what I mean. Nothing."

I gave no reply and walked slowly into the trees.

Passing through the woods, I found the bare-earth path I'd walked barefoot, the little stream where Rineta and I used to soak our feet and splash each other—memories surfaced one after another, crisp and vivid. I used to gather piles of small branches, insisting I was helping with the chores.

"Since when did you develop such refined taste, visiting quiet little places like this?"

Levina's voice dripped with mockery.

"What, you don't like it?"

"I don't know. For some reason, forests feel unsettling to me."

I was about to answer, but instead I just scratched the back of my head and let it pass.

We walked for a while longer before the village came into view.

It looked just as quiet and peaceful as Jenna's village. There were no notable shops. The villagers pooled their money, sent a few representatives to the big city to buy goods, and traded among themselves when they needed things. What could a nothing village like this have that would attract some great protagonist?

I thought back to before a demon had cut my throat—Rineta had treated me like... like someone on her side.

At least back when Rineta and I visited the village every morning, there'd been no sign of demons or anything close.

Later, Estelle burned ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the whole village down, so I never learned what happened.

Walking around here dressed like an outsider who was clearly some kind of noble—was that really going to produce anything? Still, I stepped into the village.

As Levina and I looked around, a village chief whose face I recognized but whose name I couldn't recall approached us.

"What brings honored guests such as yourselves here?"

"We heard there was a small village within the territory and came to see it. Have there been any outsiders or unusual incidents lately?"

The chief answered that recently a few foreign priests had been visiting, giving out free food.

I asked Levina if she knew anything.

"I'm not so idle that I keep track of every act of charity."

"Do you have to answer in the most irritating way every single time?"

I said it with a sigh. Levina flinched.

I shot her a sidelong look, told the chief I understood, and left the village to head back through the forest.

"You came all the way here just for one tiny village?" Levina asked.

"Yeah."

"If you'd told me, I wouldn't have brought you to a dump like this. There are far better places—cleaner air, nicer scenery. We could've relaxed together somewhere comfortable. You should have said something."

I cut off whatever she meant to say next.

"I didn't come for that. I came to find this place."

"So, what? Planning to cause trouble? I can cover it up if needed."

I didn't answer her.

We bickered back and forth all the way to the annex. When I pushed open the door and stepped inside the familiar way, the sight of the mansion hit me with a strange, unnerving sense of nostalgia.

The servants, having been warned ahead by Levina, told us they'd prepared refreshments.

Before eating with her, I walked down the hall and locked eyes with Rineta, who was cleaning a window.

She started to bow in greeting, then met my stare and dropped the cloth she was holding.

She stood frozen, looking only at me—until a servant came rushing from somewhere and hurriedly led her away.