Reasons to Protect the Witch's Son

Upon hearing the voice on the other side of the door, Sophia’s face paled.

‘Dame Elaine!’

She wasn’t ready to face her yet and couldn’t believe she had come so quickly. However, even though she may not be ready, there was no way she could turn her down.

“Yes, come in.”

Then there was the sound of the door opening but Sophia was unable to look up or make eye contact. Whether Elaine knew how she was feeling or not, she still approached and spoke in a tone that was no different than usual.

“I came after I got word that you had woken up. How do you feel?”

“…I’m okay. What about Ash?”

“Luckily, the antidote worked and he regained consciousness. He briefly woke up in the early morning, but has fallen asleep again.”

Ash was safe. It was the news she had been waiting for. Under normal circumstances she would have been expressing her joy upon hearing it. However, with Elaine standing in front of her, Sophia was overcome with awkwardness that she could not ignore. Because of this, every answer that left her was extremely formal.

“Thank goodness.”

Elaine, on the other hand, did not notice her awkwardness since she had other things on her mind.

The day before, she had caused quite a commotion when she had appeared with the heart of Laikios. They had asked what happened, but she had only given vague details, stating they would explain it when Sophia woke up. She had to have a talk with Sophia before anything else.

After she had thought through the situation, Elaine spoke calmly.

“Dame Sophia.”

She then looked straight at Sophia.

“I’ll be blunt. Please keep what you witnessed yesterday a secret.”

Sophia blinked several times at the request, then slowly wet her lips.

“What exactly…”

“The skills that I revealed when I fought Laikios. Everything.”

Elaine had kept her skills a secret until now. She had only meant to appear at a level that did not exceed Ash.

The reason was simple, she did not want to attract attention. To be more specific, she did not want her face to be known.

What would happen if it became known that a knight who had surpassed Ash had appeared? The kingdom would be in turmoil. Rumors would quickly spread about the knight who was even stronger than the strongest knight on the continent. She would become famous in an instant, attracting attention wherever she went. No matter what she did, the attention of the people would be focused on her, then people would start to remember her face.

Then, what will they think when time passed and she did not age?

She could see the outcome very clearly in her mind.

‘They’ll accuse me of being a witch.’

No matter what, she had to convince Sophia to keep her mouth shut. She had not yet realized that Elaine was not fully human. There was no concrete evidence, like witnessing a severed body part regenerating. Her skills were still barely within the allowable range.

‘The abnormal amount of mana… I might just have to insist it’s something I was born with.’

Sophia was the only one who had seen Elaine fight. If Sophia kept her mouth shut, no one would know a thing. She was still flipping through excuses in her mind.

Sophia slowly nodded.

“All right. I won’t tell anyone.”

Elaine was a bit surprised by the unexpected reaction. She had thought Sophia would at least ask ‘why’. But, she agreed so easily? Elaine started to have doubts, it was all just too easy.

Elaine narrowed her eyes and questioned.

“Why aren’t you asking any questions?”

“There must be a reason you’ve been hiding your skills until now.”

“…”

“Of course, there are many things I would like to ask, but… you don’t have to tell me if you don’t wish to.”

She was taking Elaine’s feelings into full consideration. She couldn’t understand why Sophia was being so obedient. Hadn’t she hated Elaine? Why was she being so considerate?

As if sensing Elaine’s inner thoughts, Sophia awkwardly fiddled with the edge of the blanket.

“You must be surprised by my sudden change in attitude.”

“…”

“But, if you hadn’t shown up in that moment, I would have died there.”

Yes, there was no doubt, she would have been torn to pieces by the monster’s teeth and suffered a gruesome death. She clearly remembered her close brush with death. Even if it wasn’t Elaine’s intention, Sophia owed her life to Elaine. She wasn’t so thick skinned as to pretend not to acknowledge her debts.

“I owe you my life. So, unless you decide otherwise, I will keep it a secret. I will put my honor as a knight on the line.”

Sincerity shown in her eyes. The oath of a knight was not light. Moreover, with that oath, she was able to convince Elaine of her true intentions.

Even if it was her, she would never refuse a request from someone who had saved her life.

Elaine stared deeply into Sophia’s eyes.

“Great. Then I will believe you.”

Elaine then smiled.

“Thank you for your promise, Dame Sophia.”

Sophia’s face slightly heated at that moment. She stuttered and avoided meeting Elain’s gaze.

“Well, I at least knew you wouldn’t harm me. If that were the case, you wouldn’t have saved my life in the first place. Ah, wait! That’s not what I was trying to say!”

The words poured out of Sophia all at once, she quickly shook her head and continued blurting out words.

“I really am grateful, and…”

She paused for a moment, as if she had more to say. She then lifted her head displaying a bit of courage. This time she didn’t look away.

“I want to apologize for being rude to you all this time.”

Elaine’s eyes widened slightly. She felt like there was something that had changed between them ever since she had saved her that day, but she didn’t think Sophia would ever apologize to her. Sophia continued.

“I had wanted to become his guard. I received a tremendous favor from him in the past and wanted to repay him, even if it was just a bit.”

She had wanted to be the only person he could trust and have his back at all times. She wanted to be truly recognized by him.

At first, she had thought her skills were lacking. So, ever since she had joined the order, she had worked even harder. She had believed when her skills improved, His Grace would then accept her.

Then, one day, a new recruit had appeared and applied to be his escort. Aside from being slightly warry, she thought it definitely would never work out. However, the new recruit was suddenly selected to be the escort knight. Unbelievably immature, her resentment and jealousy had taken over.

“That’s why I was jealous of you, who was able to become his escort, unlike me. Anyways, I shouldn’t have done something like that. I’m so sorry.”

But now she knew. She was being greedy. There was someone else who was truly suited for the position. She remembered what it was like to be at her lowest, moments before her death.

The regret that was present, along with the feeling of not wanting to die. Even though she had said she was doing it for the sake of Ash, in the end her life was the most precious to her. Elaine, who was strong and upright, was much more suited for the position than she was.

Sophia’s face was more serious than ever. Elaine’s expression became strange as she stared at her.

“So, that’s what it was. Ash hadn’t chosen Sophia…”

She didn’t know the details, but she knew Ash had made the correct decision. She was proud of that fact, and was once again surprised Sophia had admitted her mistakes and apologized sincerely.

She had even admitted something that must have been very embarrassing to her. She spoke seriously, but Sophia slightly lowered her gaze and looked somewhat awkward and clumsy. At the same time, Sophia was also being honest and trying her best to convey her feelings.

It was always like that. She was always honest with her feelings. Even when she disapproved of Elaine, even when she was admitting her mistakes, like now.

Elaine didn’t mind that aspect of Sophia. Being honest with one’s emotions, meant they were being sincere. There was no reason to reject a sincere apology.

Elaine smiled at Sophia.

“It’s okay. It didn’t really bother me.”

Sophia’s face brightened at that. That being said, the news that Sophia had woken up would soon spread to the other knights as well. They had to get their story together before that happened.

“Now, I’d like to discuss what we are going to tell the others.”

“Oh, I see. Do you have something in mind?”

“Hmm… Well, first of all, it would be best to keep the fact that Laikios’ regenerative abilities had become stronger a secret. Instead, we should say it was weakened from the wounds it received while fighting you.”

She was unaware of any cases where Laikios’ regenerative powers had weakened, but it didn’t matter since no one else was there to see it anyways. So, luckily, they could say that the two of them were able to take him down on their own. Sophia would then say she got injured because she had let her guard down in the process.

Sophia, who had been hesitating as Elaine was speaking, paused and raised her head.

“Wait, a minute, so you want to say that you and I took it down together?”

“Yes, is there anything wrong with that?”

“Of course! You caught Laikios on your own. I wasn’t of any help. This is entirely to Dame Elaine’s credit. I have no intention of accepting it.”

“You don’t have to worry about that. I’m not interested in any rewards or anything like that.”

“That’s not the problem- “

“Dame Sophia, I heard you woke up!”

It was when she was about to retort. The door suddenly opened with a loud voice pouring in. The other knights then barged in through the open door. The knights who came in quickly noticed Elaine.

“Oh, Dame Elaine! You were here already?”

Soon, the knights approached them and said their hellos one by one. They then began to ask the two what exactly had happened that day. In fact, they were unable to hide their curiosity to the effect that it was a mystery if that was the real reason they were here now, not to make sure Sophia was okay.

Elaine began to tell the tale her and Sophia had just discussed. One of the knights listening, rubbed his chin and questioned.

“I see. I never would have thought that its regenerative power would have weakened… So, did the two of you defeat Laikios together?”

Elaine nodded her head and answered.

“Yes. Me and Dame Sophia- “

But Sophia’s voice was slightly faster.

“No, Dame Elaine took it down on her own.”