***
We were exhausted, so we decided to get some rest first.
Aurora, determined to protect me this time, tied our wrists together with a rope before sleeping. However, due to her wild sleeping habits, I ended up getting repeatedly hit throughout the night…
“Once again, thank you for yesterday.”
After packing my things and stepping out of the room, I said that to Simone. He smiled brightly in response.
Wait a minute. Why does he look even more handsome than usual today?
“It was only natural for me to do that for you, Seraphina.”
“Right…”
I found myself staring at Simone’s face, almost entranced.
Honestly, this had been bothering me for a while—why am I so weak when it comes to his face?
All the men in our group were attractive. As expected of male leads, they were all good-looking. None of them fell short of Simone in terms of appearance.
Yet, for some reason, whenever I looked at the others, I didn’t feel much. But whenever I looked at Simone, my heart would start pounding wildly.
Was it because he was just so kind and gentle? Or was it simply because he was my type?
I tried to ignore my rapidly beating heart and forced myself to act normal, but I could already feel my cheeks burning up.
“Seraphina, what’s with that expression?”
“Huh?”
Startled by Raffaelo’s sudden remark, I flinched.
“No, it’s just… you look like an innocent countryside maiden.”
“Rrphl… zvble… mft…”
“But hey, at least you didn’t tell me to shut up this time. How considerate.”
Though I had no idea what Raffaelo was rambling about, one thing was clear—he wasn’t going to stop teasing me. To make matters worse, Aurora joined in, standing next to him and poking fun at me as well.
“Wow, what a perfect picture.”
Damn it. These types of people exist everywhere—those who just have to pair up any man and woman standing next to each other!
Not that I would mind being paired with Simone, but still, it was awkward!
“Hold on!”
Instead, I narrowed my eyes and shot back.
“That logic applies to both of you as well.”
“W-what?”
“Neither Raffaelo nor Aurora has a fiancé. And, in fact, both of you are constantly being nagged by your families to get married.”
“Hey, how could you even think of pairing me up with Aurora…?”
Raffaelo responded with an outraged voice, while Aurora quickly added,
“Yeah! I’m going to marry someone who loves my singing!”
“…So, in other words, she’s never getting married.”
As expected, Arkhangelo always speaks the harsh truth. Annoying when he’s against me, but very reassuring when he’s on my side.
Eventually, as their endless bickering continued, they stopped teasing me.
We still had a long journey ahead of us, so we fell silent and resumed our travels.
“Humans detected. Humans detected.”
“Inspection target.”
“Currently escaping. Engage.”
As we moved forward, automata began to swarm along our path—waiter automata, maid automata, cleaning automata, lawnmower automata, and more.
Each had a different form, yet they all moved in unison.
Strangely, however, there were no automata armed with firearms. If they appeared, things would become truly dangerous…
Feeling uneasy, I glanced around and spotted figures positioned high above, aiming their guns to cover us.
“Run! Hurry!”
These were the last remaining soldiers or civilian resistance groups, staying behind to fight until the end.
It seemed that the armed automata were focused entirely on them. Thanks to that, we didn’t have to deal with the most dangerous ones.
To escape the automata, we had no choice but to accelerate on the motorcycle. The automata chased us relentlessly, but Raffaelo occasionally fired shots, destroying the ones leading the pursuit.
Whenever my body wavered precariously, Simone gripped me tightly to keep me steady.
Suddenly, I recalled the first time we met and spoke up.
“Now that I think about it, things were really awkward between us at first.”
“Were they?”
“Honestly, I found you a little scary back then.”
Simone fell silent. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, but I continued.
“Do you remember how I fainted because of you? I was really terrified at the time.”
“I do regret that. I should have approached you more gently… Was our beginning really that bad?”
“Huh?”
“Never mind.”
“Anyway, looking at us now, riding together like this, it seems we’ve grown quite close.”
“That’s a relief.”
For some reason, my words flowed more easily than usual, so I kept talking.
“Honestly, the scariest one was Raffaelo. I really thought he was here to take my money. Arkhangelo was frightening because of his terrible personality, and Ghieuspe was scary in his own way since he never said anything.”
“Haha, knowing I wasn’t the only one you feared is somewhat comforting.”
“Well, what matters is the impression you leave now.”
“And what’s that impression?”
“Uh…”
My eyes darted slightly. Why did it feel like he was paying so much attention to me today?
“Right now, it’s a good one.”
“Can you elaborate?”
“You’re the person I trust the most in this world… To me, Simone, you’re quite special.”
“…I see.”
Hmm, was he satisfied with that answer?
“But why ask all of a sudden?”
I turned the question back to him, and from behind, I heard his quiet reply.
“I was just curious. Wondering if I was the only one who saw you as someone special.”
“Huh?”
“It would feel a little unfair if I were the only one who cherishes you.”
…Does he like me?
I couldn’t let myself jump to conclusions, though. If I ended up drinking kimchi soup* only to be wrong, that would be incredibly embarrassing. (*Korean idiom for getting ahead of oneself.)
If it ever became certain that he really did like me… I’d think about it then.
‘Besides, I never saved him!’
Do you know what’s common among romance-fantasy heroines? They save people.
In some way or another, they rescue the male lead and make him fall in love.
For example, they save a male lead who was abused as a child, or they’re the only person kind to a male lead treated like a monster by society, and so on.
But I never did anything like that. So, obviously, I wasn’t a romance-fantasy heroine, and Simone wasn’t a male lead either—or so I believed.
Just then, I made eye contact with Ghieuspe, who was riding beside us. For some reason, his pupils were shaking.
“Ghieuspe, what’s wrong? Did something happen?”
“…Unbelievable.”
“Huh?”
“……….”
But, as expected of Ghieuspe, he remained silent. I thought I had gotten better at interpreting his words, but clearly, I still had a long way to go.
At that moment, Arkhangelo spoke from behind us.
“Haha, thinking about facing that thing that’s tormented us until now makes me feel great.”
“Arkhangelo, we’re the ones who will be fighting. You’ll just be watching—”
“Look at you, talking back more and more these days! Hmph, whatever! Since I’m in a good mood, I’ll sing!”
Hearing Arkhangelo sing wasn’t a bad thing, so I kept my mouth shut.
Surprisingly, even while riding a horse, Arkhangelo sang loudly and clearly.
“Oh—Goddess of Victory—! Stand by our side—!”
Somehow, it was a powerful, revolutionary song that felt inspiring.
“I do not doubt that we shall emerge victorious—! Take our burning hearts—! We shall offer our bleeding hearts before the Goddess of Victory—!”
A smile crept onto my lips as I listened to Arkhangelo’s song.
Maybe, as he said, music really was a blessing from the heavens. His singing always lifted my spirits.
“We shall be victorious—!”
As he finished his song, though we were riding motorcycles and couldn’t applaud, we still cheered for him.
“Arkhangelo, you really are my master! That was an amazing song!”
“I never took you as my student!”
“That was wonderful, Arkhangelo!”
“Wow, your skills are getting better!”
Arkhangelo, clearly pleased, responded in a smug tone.
“Hmph, even though I can’t fight like you all, I believe that music is the blessing the gods have given me. I have no doubt in the power of music.”
“Of course! Arkhangelo’s songs are truly amazing.”
“Every piece of music holds power. Music can save people.”
“Hmm, that’s true. Music does have power!”
Aurora, who had been riding alongside Raffaelo at the front, suddenly joined the conversation. Wait—why was she standing on her ride?
Regardless, she declared,
“With that in mind, I’ll sing a song to give you all strength—”
“That is not a blessing from an angel but a curse from Satan!”
“Aurora, how many times do I have to tell you—that’s not singing, it’s noise!”
No matter how I looked at it, Aurora had definitely chosen the wrong path. If she had pursued anything else besides singing, she would’ve shown incredible talent.
“So while you all fight, how about Arkhangelo and I sing to cheer you on?”
“Oh, Aurora, your singing would definitely be helpful. We’ll wear earplugs and let Princess Eva suffer from your noise attack.”
“That’s so mean!”
As we exchanged meaningless but amusing banter, I tried to suppress the unease creeping up inside me.
I had no idea what the capital, Perez, under Princess Eva’s rule, would look like now. But I could only pray that my father was safe and that I would be able to defeat her.
***
“Princess Eva Vivaldi…”
Antonio Benini, a record mage from Eiken, was tirelessly searching for information about her.
While automata were attacking humans, there were those who fought back against them.
Their arrival almost seemed like a prelude to what was coming next—soon after, automata attacks also swept through Eiken.
The automata mercilessly destroyed everything humans had built. They damaged cultural artifacts, historical sites, and even attempted to burn down books in libraries.
Any humans who resisted were dragged to their lairs. What happened to them afterward, Antonio Benini did not know.
The automata had completely taken over the streets, forcing people to hide in their homes, unable to step outside.
‘This must be connected to Princess Eva Vivaldi.’
The reason the group had asked him to investigate her was clearly because something about her was suspicious.
‘But there’s nothing odd in the records…’
The fact that she had begun living in seclusion in the royal palace, the automaton crisis starting in Boleno Kingdom’s capital, Perez, the kingdom itself becoming completely closed off, and the record of a woman named Maria visiting the palace before disappearing—those were all unusual.
‘But that alone isn’t enough to assume she’s behind the automaton crisis.’
How could a human possibly wield such power?
And if she truly was responsible, why would a princess destroy the very kingdom she was meant to rule?
Still, Antonio couldn’t shake his doubts about Princess Eva. No matter how he thought about it, the group that had come to him wouldn’t have asked for this investigation without reason.
‘What kind of monster could possess such power?’
Unless they were a god, no one should be capable of destroying an entire continent.
Then, suddenly, something clicked in his mind.
‘A god…?’
His gaze shifted to the records about Maria.
A being who had suddenly appeared in this world—Maria.
If Maria was a god…
‘Could it be that Princess Eva…?’
Even though he couldn’t fully grasp the truth, Antonio felt an instinctive sense of danger.
‘I can’t just sit still.’
As a record mage, he knew he couldn’t directly fight Princess Eva Vivaldi.
But he knew what he could do.
As someone who gathered and preserved knowledge, he had to use his information network to seek help from the right people. After all, Seraphina and her group wouldn’t be able to handle everything on their own.
And so, he began writing multiple letters. Each letter was sealed in an envelope, ready to find its recipient.
The names written on the envelopes were.
– To Lady Elisabetta Scilla
– To the Duchess of Lithman
– To Prince Allan Ophilette
– To Princess Alice Ophilette
This was all he could do.
Antonio Benini could only hope his efforts would succeed.
