Behind Lilia, her maid and guard whom I had seen before were accompanying her.
Unlike them, who couldn't hide their hostility toward me, Lilia was smiling brightly.
She seemed to still be playing the role of the frail and kind Lilia Roam. Seeing Lilia completely unchanged despite meeting after so long, a sneer naturally formed.
"Who's your sister?"
When I asked back coldly instead of greeting, Lilia flinched and trembled. She gathered her hands demurely at her chest and answered in a frail voice.
"Perhaps you don't remember me? Since Sister was with Lord Maxel, I thought you'd naturally remember everything..."
"As if I could forget Roam's cuckoo chick."
Lilia's smile faded slightly. She blinked in bewilderment, but soon crafted a voice filled with laughter again.
"Oh, I see! I was worried that the resurrection might have caused memory problems. Then it seems you didn't hear the news because you've been wandering the streets."
At the mention of wandering the streets, the maid standing behind Lilia quietly lowered her head. She seemed to be trying to hide her expression, as if she had let out a sneer.
"Though Sister's name was disgracefully removed from the Roam family registry, Father and Eldest Sister took care to..."
"Who said I didn't know that?"
I clicked my tongue shortly and crossed my arms in annoyance.
"You and I have different bloodlines, so I'm asking why I should be called by such a title from you. Do you still need this explained to understand?"
What reacted to my cynical question were the two people standing behind Lilia.
They seem to think this place is still the Roam mansion.
Thinking it's that mansion where they could run to Sister Phrygian or Father immediately and report my misdeeds.
As I looked at the maid and guard who had clenched their closed lips tightly with dismissive eyes, Lilia sighed with a sad expression.
"Sister really hasn't changed. I thought you might have changed a bit since you were resurrected."
"So even with that stupid head, you did know I was resurrected. Then you should address me properly."
"Huh?"
"Call me 'Resurrected One' with proper respect."
Lilia's face flushed slightly. However, she managed not to let her expression crumble as she lowered her gaze sorrowfully and made an excuse.
"I was a fool to have been happy at the thought of meeting Sister again."
"In the time we haven't seen each other, have you gone deaf too?"
As if on cue, the moment my words ended, Bark struck the iron bars with his fist, KUNG.
At the heavy impact sound, Lilia started in fright and stepped back. The guard knight quickly blocked Lilia's front and gripped his sword hilt.
"How dare you reach for your weapon before me?"
"But...!"
"And even insolently talking back."
I am a guest the Emperor is investing in. Naturally, a mere guard knight couldn't defy me.
Even so, the guard stubbornly stood blocking Lilia's front. I could see Lilia, unable to watch anymore, gently wrapping his arm and soothing him.
That alone was enough to revive the days in the Roam mansion.
'They all did that.'
They all acted as if they would give even their lives to protect Lilia.
When Sir Arin reported my transgression that didn't even exist, Lilia received loyalty oaths from all sorts of knights...
Just thinking about it makes my stomach churn.
"What's your business?"
Shaking off useless thoughts and looking at Lilia, she pulled something from her bosom. It was an invitation decorated with fancy gold leaf.
"Her Majesty the Empress has invited you to tea time."
If it were an invitation from Roam, that would be one thing, but I couldn't very well refuse an invitation from the Empress.
I twisted my lips crookedly and looked down at the front of the invitation. This was indeed an invitation sent by the Empress.
"Since when did you become Her Majesty the Empress's maid?"
"I'm not a maid. Her Majesty the Empress simply entrusted me with this message specially, saying we should share sisterly affection. But if she knew it turned into this kind of reunion, she'd surely be sad."
What sisterly affection. Lilia surely volunteered to be an errand girl herself.
Delivering the Empress's letter, when interpreted differently, means being close enough to the Empress.
Lilia often flaunted what she had taken with an innocent face, so this time would be the same intention.
"To my ears, it sounds like the only thing Her Majesty the Empress could entrust to you is something like this."
"Sister is always jealous of me."
"You're still deaf. Didn't I clearly tell you to call me 'Resurrected One'?"
I could see Lilia biting her lip hard. She seemed to greatly dislike that title.
Does she know I'm the Agent of Death? Or that she herself is the Agent of Birth?
"Sister is using being God's resurrected one as an excuse to covet wealth. Holed up in the palace, obsessed with receiving all sorts of luxurious gifts, so Her Majesty the Empress is worried too. Are you really God's resurrected one?"
"Do you think having your head cut off and reattached happens to just anyone?"
I narrowed my eyes and stared straight at Lilia.
"Why, do you think if your head gets cut off too, God will reattach it for you?"
Lilia's pupils shook greatly.
The emotion that briefly flickered across her pale complexion was fear. The same emotion other courtiers had shown me all this time.
Does this child... not know the truth about birth and death?
"Even if Sister threatens me, I won't waver."
"Threaten? I'm saying anyone in this land has the possibility of being chosen by God."
"Did God really resurrect Sister? Then what power did God give Sister? The power to command monsters?"
Lilia's expression as she asked was filled with fear yet desperate, and also persistent.
It was just like the look in her eyes I saw when we met in Maxel's palace.
"Evil is running rampant so God sent a resurrected one, what power would I have? There would be power to resist evil, I suppose."
"Sister... is Sister saying she'll defeat monsters and save this world?"
"Can't you believe it?"
Lilia's face twisted. And looking at such Lilia, I could be certain.
She doesn't know I'm the Agent of Death. Not only does she not know of the existence of the two gods of Birth and Death, she must think, like others, that there is only one God.
The difference from others would be that she received power from that god.
The question 'what power did Sister receive' assumes that god gives power. That child has already received something.
Probably that's the thread of fate, in other words, 'prophecy'.
"That can't be!"
"Why can't it be?"
"Because...!"
"Because it's a future you didn't prophesy?"
Lilia's expression stiffened rigidly. Seeing her stand with a pale white face, my unpleasant mood improved a little.
"My, Lilia. I heard rumors that your prophetic ability was gone, seems it was true."
"...There's no way the protagonist changed this late."
'Protagonist?'
Just as I was about to question the rather peculiar word choice, Lilia, who had been confused, suddenly raised her eyes.
"Sister was a wicked woman condemned by all the imperial subjects! You're saying God chose a wicked woman?"
Does she believe herself to be the protagonist of this world? And I was the wicked woman opposing such a protagonist?
"It seems God doesn't think of me as a wicked woman."
"That's absurd!"
I narrowed my eyes and sneered.
"Go tell that to the High Priest who received the oracle."
"...If Sister is really the one who will defeat monsters, she shouldn't be being this greedy here."
Lilia seemed to be at a loss for words, so she started pointing out my attitude. Ordinary clergy members have a strong image of being clean and upright.
So my attitude of occupying a separate palace and squandering all sorts of wealth would certainly seem unusual.
Seeing Lilia bring up this issue, it seems words are circulating outside in some way. Probably Lilia is encouraging that.
"When to defeat evil is up to the Resurrected One's will."
"Actually you have lingering attachment to the imperial palace, right? Wandering the streets made you miss wealth and glory? That's why you're acting so greedily?"
It seemed Lilia wanted to attach the modifier 'greedy' before the title 'Resurrected One'.
'The effort is quite admirable, but...'
This isn't even a banquet hall, why bother trying so hard.
At best, the maid and guard will form prejudice against me, but they already disliked me to begin with.
If she wanted to frame me with plausible false charges, she should have done it in a place with many people or where royals were present. Seeing her mind so rushed with only ambition ahead, it's almost pitiful.
"God didn't command me to live without."
"Even so! How many poor people outside need to be cared for!"
"If you want to scatter money on the streets, you do it. The maintenance allowance allocated to Roam's children could feed all the capital's poor."
I retorted cynically and let out a small sigh. Then tilting my head slightly, I asked.
"Why, isn't Father giving you allowance? Or did you put up the family brooch as collateral... ah, you're not direct line so you don't have a brooch?"
Seeing Lilia's eyelashes tremble, it seems she really didn't receive a brooch.
"Sister is still despicable!"
I only pointed out the facts yet I received the criticism of being despicable. The maid and guard couldn't speak but their eyes agreed with her words.
If it were the old me, I would have beaten them for disciplining the servants, but now I couldn't be bothered to question each one.
I confirmed how much Lilia knows and that she doesn't know my true identity, so I didn't feel it was worth dealing with her anymore.
Fortunately, Lilia also seemed unable to endure the humiliation anymore. She spoke to me in a firm voice like 'a kind young lady who was persecuted but overcame it steadfastly.'
"I've delivered Her Majesty the Empress's words. The courtiers also know I visited here carrying Her Majesty's letter, so you can't make excuses later."
It was as if she knew exactly how I would behave. Toward such her, I replied indifferently.
"I'll attend."
"...What?"
"Why, did you think I wouldn't go?"