Chapter 13
Prepare for the Predetermined Demise (5)
“Ethan, you don’t mean… Edith Crowell…?”
Despite Ian and Cain’s teasing, Ethan’s following tone became slightly more serious.
“…I mean that Edith Crowell isn’t someone who reacts unusually to physical contact.”
Ian nodded as if he finally understood.
“Oh, I see.”
“So there must have been another reason.”
“Maybe she really just disliked me in particular…”
“Ethan, since when did you get to know Edith Crowell so well?”
Ian shrugged his shoulders mockingly.
It was actually a fair point. Ethan Behemoth hadn’t known Edith Crowell for long either.
However, Ethan Behemoth remembered the hand Edith Crowell had extended first when she had fallen to the ground after their duel ended.
“Don’t do that, help me up instead.”
A small palm, soft and delicate, unlike a knight’s.
Her palm had firmly grasped his hand. There was clearly a will to live there.
That’s why, even after seeing Edith Crowell’s extreme actions twice, Ethan Behemoth was certain.
That Edith Crowell wanted to live. And she was alive. Just that she might die at any moment.
Since she had reached out first, Ethan Behemoth had simply grasped her hand in return.
The eighteen-year-old Ethan Behemoth, even if he was the war-crazed person Edith Crowell remembered, was not a knight who would ignore a hand extended by another.
“She might not be feeling well somewhere. Let’s return to the march for now. We’re falling behind.”
“Ah, yes!”
Cain Guinevere brushed off the dirt on his clothes and mounted the calmed horse.
Ethan Behemoth watched all of this before turning his horse back towards the march direction with Ian. Then, he suddenly muttered as if in passing,
“…We’ll be camping soon.”
Thinking he should meet Edith Crowell soon.
🥀
“We’ll prepare to camp here!”
Not long after I returned to the march, the subjugation team had passed through the narrow forest path.
And just before entering the ravine, orders came to prepare for camping in a wide open space they had discovered.
The sun was starting to set in the sky, so it was about time.
‘We’ve been riding for a long time since we set out early in the morning.’
I had been barely resisting the urge to throw off the stuffy formal uniform due to the hot weather and my dizziness, but it definitely felt better as the sun was setting.
As I dismounted, I looked up at the distant ravine that was now visible right in front of me.
From this ravine onwards is uncharted territory. In other words… the subjugation practice area.
‘How many times have I come here?’
Of course, I hadn’t come in such a healthy state before, but I must have been here hundreds of times by my estimate.
I had long held questions about the curse obtained here, so I visited this place every time despite the dissuasion from those around me saying, “That ravine is all broken and nothing remains.”
And no matter how many times I overturned the collapsed ravine, I truly couldn’t find anything among the piles of stones.
There were no anomalies.
‘Will this time be different?’
…Because now it’s before ‘that incident’.
As I was gazing at the vaguely remembered ravine with unfamiliar emotions, Rimos Therion, who had dismounted first, approached me with a shy demeanor, clasping his hands.
“Um, excuse me. Lady Edith…”
“Ah, yes. We need to set up our tent too, right?”
I lowered my head from surveying the ravine to look for our group’s share of the makeshift tent, but there were no tent cloths left in the place where they should have been gathered.
Moreover, the cargo wagon where the luggage should have been collected was completely empty.
‘Surely not…’
Still this kind of bullying?
Just as I was about to be appalled by the pettiness of these children, Rimos Therion gently blocked my path.
“Lady Edith.”
“Yes?”
I hadn’t noticed when we were on horseback, but now face to face, I realized that even Rimos Therion was tall enough that I had to look up at him.
‘Even with such a slender build, huh.’
As our eyes met, Rimos Therion smiled slightly and lowered his eyelids.
“You don’t need to worry about it, Lady Edith.”
“Pardon? About what…”
“The, the tent. Ru, Ruth said he would set it up for us…”
What does this mean?
He slightly nodded his head in a direction. I looked that way.
…One of the knights who had been badmouthing me from the front group was setting up a tent.
…Is that Ruth?
I looked at Rimos Therion with that question in mind, and he nodded lightly. I looked back at the knight called Ruth.
“Hmm…”
It took a moment to process the situation. …So why is he doing that?
And doesn’t that tent look a bit too big for him to set up alone?
Feeling perplexed, I turned back to Rimos Therion and asked again.
“…Sir Ruth?”
“Yes… So… um, I think we can rest now.”
“Ah, I see…”
“Then. Ah, about what you asked earlier… I’ll check your condition. Would you like to sit down in front?”
He turned the conversation with a fragile smile that seemed about to scatter. His light purple pupils were half-hidden by his curved eyes.
No matter what he asked, anyone would probably nod automatically.
At that moment, Rimos Therion smiled even more brightly.
Just like a wildflower basking in the spring sun.
“Lady Edith, please.”
…Even I, who had become insensitive to most people, found his charm captivating enough to steal my gaze with just a smile.
‘Did he ask Sir Ruth with that kind of face too?’
While forcefully restraining my gaze from constantly returning to the knight called Ruth, who was struggling to set up the tent alone, I sat down opposite Rimos Therion.
‘Honestly, it’s not really my business.’
There happened to be a tree root that was good for sitting on.
Sitting there, I quietly watched Rimos Therion, who seemed to be preparing something.
In fact, I had been observing him throughout the morning march today.
Rimos Therion.
A student who had been placed alone in the rear before becoming part of my group.
Like other ordinary people, this divine magic user who probably died in this subjugation and wasn’t in my memories… has a very big problem.
Namely, that he is ‘too extraordinary’ a figure to die in the subjugation practice.
Rimos Therion was suspiciously noticeable even after spending just a few hours together.
Judging by how coldly he treated other students, he doesn’t seem like the type to sacrifice himself trying to save others, and moreover, his position at the very rear is the best for escaping.
Plus, as a divine magic user who can heal certain wounds by himself. There’s no way he couldn’t have survived ‘that’.
Yet he’s not in my memories?
Above all, there was something I witnessed when returning to the march.
An incident that turned my suspicion into certainty.
The reason why I should be wary of Rimos Therion, who was sitting opposite me with his cheeks flushed.
🥀
At a distance where the marching silhouettes were faintly visible, I briefly stopped my horse to purge all the uneasiness left inside.
I found a place thick with bushes and vomited everything from my churning stomach.
“Ugh… haa.”
After that, I felt completely drained and caught my breath while leaning against a tree.
“What a misery this is…”
It was around then that I thought I should swallow my pride and ask Rimos Therion to check my condition.
We have a divine magic user in our group for once, what’s the point if we don’t use him for this?
But then, I sensed a presence from up ahead.
Rustle.
“…!”
It would be a big problem if someone found out I wasn’t feeling well.
‘Judging by the faint presence, is it a professor?’
I hurriedly dispersed the traces I left with magic and suppressed my presence along with the horse.
…After waiting for a while like that, unexpected figures appeared in my view.
Rimos Therion and an unknown knight.
It was surprising to see him, who should have been marching alone following the front group since I had left our group, coming together with a knight who seemed to be from the front group.
‘What’s going on?’
Moreover, they both seemed to have left their horses somewhere and were on foot.
Rimos Therion had his back turned to me so I couldn’t see his expression, but the knight’s menacing aura was vivid.
‘Did they get into an argument?’
With an uneasy feeling, I lowered my breath even more and watched the situation.
Because they were at a distance where they wouldn’t even sense my presence if it weren’t me, I could only hear snippets of their conversation.
“Why are you… … … since earlier, … … annoying…”
“……”
“Never seen… … … You, are you really a student?”
“……”
Considering Rimos Therion’s skewed reactions earlier, it would make sense if he got into trouble with the front group knights who might be on edge after Kain Guinevere fell off the cliff.
‘Should I help?’
If a student from my group gets beaten up by another knight, it would make me look bad too.
As I was hesitating, wondering whether to step in or not, my stomach churned again.
‘Why now of all times.’
“…Spit.”
I lowered my head, quietly spat out what had gathered in my mouth, and when I raised my head again, the situation had changed in an instant.
“…?”
‘Are they hugging right now?’
🥀
Thank you for reading! ♡
