The Weight of a Bracelet
Benika Arendia (7)
Benika’s mother was a fugitive. A criminal. Because of that, they could never settle in one place. Benika never made a single friend. She spent her entire childhood running and hiding alongside her mother.
When she was still very young, the endless life on the run finally wore her down. One day she confronted her mother, demanding to know what terrible crime she had committed that forced them to live like this. Her mother answered that she had committed no crime at all. It was a false accusation. All she had done was try to make the world a little more peaceful. Nothing more, nothing less.
Her mother had said, “Benika, people don’t understand what a true threat looks like. That fact alone breaks my heart.”
Benika believed her mother was the kindest person in the world. Even after being betrayed by so many, she still pitied them instead of resenting them. From then on, Benika never threw another tantrum. She endured their difficult life with quiet strength. She didn’t fully understand the “true peace” her mother spoke of, but she prayed every day that someday the world would learn the truth and clear her mother’s name.
But ten years ago, that nomadic life ended abruptly—with her mother’s death.
Benika had gone up the mountain alone to gather food because her mother’s body had grown too weak from years of running. When she returned to the cave where they were hiding, the first thing she saw was a group of men in black clothes fleeing into the distance. One of them clutched a blood-stained sword in his hand.
A terrible sense of dread washed over her. She dropped the carefully gathered food and sprinted into the cave. There, her mother lay collapsed in a pool of blood.
“Mom!”
“Be…nika…”
“I’m here! I’m right here! You can’t die, Mom… please…”
“Please… grow up to be a bright child, Benika…”
“M-Mom…? Mom!!!”
Benika lost her mother right before her eyes and cried until her voice gave out. All night long she clung to the body that grew colder and colder, sobbing until exhaustion finally pulled her into unconsciousness.
The next day, people dressed entirely in pure white came looking for her. Among them was a bald man whose face was covered in scars. He approached Benika, wrapped her in a comforting embrace, and declared,
“You’ve been through something terrible. From now on, I will protect you so that nothing like this ever happens again. Starting today, you are my daughter.”
The man introduced himself as Cardinal Dominic. He told her she no longer needed to run or hide, and that they should go to the Holy Empire of Eliac. The only condition was that, for a true fresh start, they had to burn away every trace of her past—along with her mother’s funeral.
Her mother had wished for her to grow up bright. Even though she was still a child, Benika understood who these people were. They belonged to the Church of Light, servants of Lumentis, who healed the sick with divine power and eradicated evil. If she followed them, she thought she could become the bright child her mother had wanted.
So, even though it broke her heart, she reluctantly accepted the condition that every trace of her mother must be erased.
From that day forward, Benika’s identity changed from the daughter of a criminal to the adopted daughter of a cardinal. She was even assigned a personal knight to guard only her.
“My name is Ryolk Puppeteer. Though… this isn’t exactly our first meeting, is it? Hahaha.”
He was a cheerful, mischievous man.
“Hello… um, should I call you Mr. Puppeteer? I still don’t know much about etiquette…”
“Just call me Sir Ryolk.”
“Ah. Yes, Sir Ryolk. But what did you mean by ‘not our first meeting’…?”
“The day His Eminence the Cardinal came to find you, Lady Benika. I was there too.”
“I see.”
“Um… Lady Benika. There is something I must give you in private.”
Ryolk checked that no one was around, then pulled a small box from his coat and handed it to her. Inside the box was—
“Th-This is…!”
It was the bracelet her mother had always worn.
“It should have burned without a trace that day… How…?”
“No matter how much of a fresh start it was supposed to be… isn’t it too sad to have not even a single memento of your mother?”
Ryolk winked with one eye, saying he had secretly kept it.
“This is a secret between us, alright? You mustn’t get caught.”
“Yes… Thank you so much, Sir Ryolk.”
Benika’s expectations proved correct. Life as Cardinal Dominic’s adopted daughter allowed her to grow into a truly bright child. The cardinal treated her like his own flesh and blood. The priests and holy knights around her were all good people. Not a single person bullied her.
Benika gave thanks to the Goddess of Light, Lumentis. She offered prayers of gratitude every day for this blessed life and for being able to grow up exactly as her mother had wished.
Finally, on the day she received her baptism, Lumentis acknowledged her. She gained the ability to hold vast amounts of divine power and earned the glorious title of the eleventh Saintess candidate—no longer merely the cardinal’s adopted daughter.
Benika was happy.
But the happier she became, the more she missed her mother. She longed to see her. Since her mother no longer existed in this world, the only way Benika could soothe that longing was to wear the bracelet—her mother’s final keepsake—every night and gently stroke it.
“Don’t you want to take revenge?”
Ryolk, who had watched this scene every single day, finally asked her one evening.
“Mother wanted me to grow up bright. She wouldn’t want to see her daughter consumed by vengeance…”
“Revenge doesn’t always mean returning the exact same pain. Making them pay for their sins can also be called revenge.”
It was a convincing argument. Benika didn’t want to be devoured by vengeful thoughts. But… she wanted to know why her mother had to die. If possible, she wanted to hold those responsible accountable.
“I do want to know. Why Mother was killed.”
“Then I will help you. No matter how many years it takes, I will uncover the truth and offer it to you, Lady Saintess Candidate.”
“Why would you go so far for me…?”
“Hahaha… This is incredibly disrespectful to say, but… you remind me of my late younger sister.”
That was why he had personally volunteered to be her escort knight. Ryolk scratched his cheek in embarrassment. At the sight, Benika couldn’t help but let out a small “pfft” of laughter.
“Don’t laugh. I was being completely serious.”
“Alright, I won’t laugh. Then I’ll leave it to you, Sir Ryolk.”
So they began their secret investigation, careful not to let the culprit notice—just like the bracelet that was their private secret. And today, they had finally reaped the fruit of that long effort.
But… but…
The words that came out of the information guild member’s mouth, who had come to report the completion of their request, tore Benika’s heart to shreds.
“Stop lying! That person… There’s no way that person would do something like that!!”
“It is not a lie. That person gave the order to cover up their own shame…!”
“No! No! No!!!! There’s no way… no way this is the truth…!”
According to the information guild’s investigation, the people who had directly killed Benika’s mother were no longer of this world. However, there was someone who had given them the direct order—and that person was someone Benika knew all too well.
“No…! Cardinal Dominic… Father… ordered Mother’s death…?”
The bracelet… still feels warm…
***
When something you thought would be easy completely derails from the plan, people often say the same thing: I’m getting fucked over. This was exactly that kind of situation.
The seed I was sure would be inside Benika’s body was nowhere to be found. The lodging I had infiltrated believing the item would be there only held traces of it—someone had already taken it away. To make matters worse, Benika herself had gone missing. Seriously, there was no other way to describe it except getting utterly fucked over.
The real problem here was figuring out exactly who was behind this fuckery.
“This was planned.”
“As expected, even Lady Levia thinks so.”
Cheska responded to my muttered words. Right now, only Cheska and I remained in the lodging. Cardinal Dominic had naturally gone to help with the search for Benika since he was her father. Grandpa Carlo and Jacob had gone with him to avoid raising unnecessary suspicion.
Unnecessary suspicion… well, one could see it that way. Officially we had come to foster exchange between Saintess candidates, but in reality Benika and I were competitors. And the moment we arrived in Ravendi, Benika disappeared? Of course we would be on the list of suspects.
“More precisely, there’s a spy.”
“Someone among them knows our movements and our purpose.”
“So Lady Levia already has someone in mind.”
I’d noticed it before—Cheska was surprisingly sharp. Perverted, but sharp. Yeah, I think I know who it is.
“You know it too.”
The one whose identity would be exposed the moment they were caught observing our movements and purpose. No, not a person. An entity. Or rather—that fucking bastard.
“The Clown bastard is here.”