24.
There are some things in this world you can tell just by looking out the window.
For example, who today’s guest is.
When I got up and opened the window, what I saw was a line of knights arrayed in the alley.
The noble young ladies and maids who would normally have been standing in line were already all gone.
“She’s here again.”
Serena.
I still didn’t know exactly what her status was.
But one thing was certain.
Every time she came, she brought knights with her.
And whenever she appeared, the customers cleared out completely.
Whether it was because of the knights, or because Serena herself was that difficult a person to approach.
Either way, from a counselor’s perspective, she was quite a troublesome guest.
Jingle—
I went down to the first floor and opened the door.
After all, I couldn’t just turn her away at the door.
As if it were only natural, Serena was waiting out front.
“It is a pleasure to see you again, Counselor.”
The same smile as last time.
Eyes without the slightest tremor.
“Welcome.”
As I let her in, I thought to myself.
As expected, hypnosis won’t work.
It wouldn’t affect her in the first place.
Still, I had already decided how to deal with her.
First, empathy, like with Chloe.
And attentive listening.
I still had no idea exactly what sort of position a “listener” was, but last time, when I said something similar to the hardships of being a counselor, her reaction hadn’t been bad.
Then I could just do the same this time.
“Please, have a seat first.”
When I gestured to the sofa, Serena slowly sat down.
“Please feel free to speak, Lady Serena.”
When I spoke first, Serena smiled faintly.
“What you said to me last time has stayed with me for quite a while.”
“Which part do you mean?”
“That the me others see and the me I know may be different.”
Ah, that.
Her gaze had definitely wavered back then.
As expected, it seemed there was something about it that bothered her.
“You must have thought about it a great deal.”
“Yes. Thanks to you, I lost some sleep.”
It felt strange to hear her say she had lost sleep with such a solemn face.
Well, it wasn’t exactly my responsibility.
“And so today, there is something I would like to ask you. Would that be all right?”
“Of course.”
“I have become curious about your counseling.”
Not about me, but about my counseling?
The direction of her question was a little unexpected.
It felt like her gaze was too heavy for it to be simple curiosity.
“Counselor, are you aware of the rumor that the headaches of the young ladies who have visited this place have improved?”
“I’ve heard it. Though not from them directly.”
No guest had told me directly.
I’d only heard it in passing from Veronica.
Something about there being a rumor that one’s headache would get better after coming here, which was why she had visited.
Honestly, I wasn’t particularly happy about it.
All I did was put them to sleep and massage them.
I didn’t know why that cured their headaches either.
Above all else.
“Isaac, Headache Healer.”
The more I thought about it, the lamer it sounded.
Please, just don’t let a nickname like that stick.
While I was thinking such pointless thoughts, Serena changed her posture.
Her hand slipped neatly into her sleeve.
It looked as though she was gripping something hidden inside.
“However.”
Still smiling in that state, she opened her mouth.
A rather sharp question, unlike her serene smile.
“Is it not strange that headaches are cured by counseling alone? What do you think, Counselor?”
“I’m not sure myself. All I do is…”
I couldn’t tell her the truth.
If I said I put them to sleep and kneaded their bodies, I’d obviously be dragged away by the knights.
Instead, I chose something appropriate from what was written in my perk.
In any case, it was all true.
“I converse with them and help them relax. That is all.”
“Hmm…”
Serena tilted her head slightly.
Her hand was still inside her sleeve.
“How impressive. To think such counseling is possible.”
I felt a little guilty.
After all, it didn’t end with conversation alone.
When I smiled awkwardly, Serena asked again.
“Was there a reason you began counseling?”
“To make a living.”
I answered at once, without hesitation.
Because it was the truth, without the slightest embellishment.
Serena smiled.
“You are honest.”
“A counselor can hardly afford not to be.”
“Ah… I suppose that is true.”
She lowered her head.
But clearly, her expression had stiffened a little.
Seeing that reaction, my deduction from last time came back to me.
A person deeply bothered by the difference between the self others saw and the self she truly was.
Seeing her react like that to the idea that one ought to be honest, she was probably still carrying that problem.
Serena’s questions continued.
How long it had been since I started counseling.
About how many guests I saw in a day.
What kinds of conversations we usually had.
They sounded light, but strangely, each one was persistent.
To the point that I began to wonder if she had come to interrogate me.
Then, in the middle of it, Serena asked with an utterly serious face.
“Do you have any idea what causes the headaches?”
“No.”
“Then I will ask again.”
Her voice dropped a level lower.
“Do you have any idea why they improve after counseling?”
“…To be honest, I do not know either. I only help them relax.”
“You do not know?”
“Yes. When I help them relax, they get better, so I simply continue doing that.”
A brief silence.
After a moment, the hand that had been inside her sleeve slowly came out.
At that instant, I saw it.
The way her tense shoulders relaxed.
“Then in the end, what you do for the young ladies is simply to listen to them like this.”
“You could see it that way.”
“You are doing the same work as I am.”
This time, it was not a solemn smile.
It was a slightly more comfortable one.
The stiff atmosphere loosened at that moment.
It was different from the interrogation-like air from just moments ago.
Nor did it feel as though I was forcing the counseling along.
The conversation continued naturally, like when I spoke with Chloe.
The weather in the alley.
The customers standing in line.
“Oh my. But whenever I come, there is no line. I was certain Agnes told me there was one.”
Who on earth was Agnes now?
“Could it be because of me?”
So she finally noticed.
Since it was difficult to say yes, I merely smiled appropriately.
“At times like that, I am able to focus on you all the more, Lady Serena, so from my perspective, it is a good thing.”
Serena’s eyes widened for an instant.
Then she soon lowered her head.
Avoiding my gaze.
The tips of her ears turned slightly red.
Was she weak to compliments like this?
Maybe because, usually, everything she heard was nothing but formal courtesy.
Then, as if something had suddenly occurred to her, Serena spoke.
Somewhat cautiously.
And yet with bashful eyes, as though she were telling a slightly exciting story.
“Lady Levantia said something to me when she asked for my blessing.”
“What did she say?”
“She said there was someone to whom she had pledged her future.”
“…Pardon?”
“She said she had pledged her future to you, Counselor.”
A benevolent and gentle voice.
But the content was not gentle at all.
Wait.
What?
I had heard that Chloe had asked the Saintess for a blessing.
Then did that mean this person was the Saintess?
No, more importantly.
Wasn’t there something strange mixed into what she just said?
“Hold on. What did you… just say?”
Serena’s gaze lowered to my wrist.
The lapis lazuli bracelet.
The one Chloe had put on me.
“She asked me to bless that bracelet.”
Looking at it, Serena spoke calmly.
“She said she had pledged her future to you, Counselor. She pleaded with me to bless it, saying it was a gift for such a person.”
I was extremely bewildered.
Pledged her future?
When?
I had told Chloe that she was precious to me.
I had also told her that she wasn’t just anyone.
But pledging a future was an entirely different matter.
Had such a memory appeared when she was under hypnosis?
It hadn’t felt like that, though.
“That never happened…”
The words slipped out of my mouth immediately.
At my words, Serena’s smile vanished.
“…It did not?”
“No. It did not.”
I spoke firmly.
Because it was the truth.
Serena stared at me intently.
A composed gaze.
And yet something was surging within it.
Her hand moved toward her sleeve again.
“I will ask once more.”
Her voice sank low.
“Counselor, have you truly never pledged your future to Lady Chloe?”
“No.”
“…”
A brief silence.
Her gaze wavered.
This time, it was different from last time.
Bewilderment.
And an extremely faint confusion.
“…I see.”
Serena slowly withdrew her hand.
“This has been a good time, Counselor.”
Serena rose from her seat.
“I shall visit again next time.”
Her face was benevolent, as always.
Two copper coins were placed on the table.
It was an amount worse than even Mari’s, but I had no room to care about that.
Whether Serena’s true identity was the Saintess or not.
That didn’t matter much either.
Because the only important thing right now was this.
She said she had pledged her future to you, Counselor.
“What on earth has she been saying outside?”
Not only had memories of words I had never said appeared.
Now things I had never said were spreading to other people.
It was, extremely, bewildering.
***
The carriage began to move.
Serena did not look out the window.
Instead, she took the Instrument of Condemnation from within her robes.
A small cross-shaped holy relic.
A tool that reacted to lies, permitted only to judges.
The reason it was called an Instrument of Condemnation, despite being only that, was simple.
If one spoke a lie before a judge, condemnation followed afterward.
Serena had had her hand on the Instrument of Condemnation since the middle of the counseling session.
In that state, she had poured out questions.
But the Instrument of Condemnation had not reacted even once.
Not when he said he did not know the cause of the headaches.
Not when he said he had begun counseling to make a living.
“So there is no falsehood in Isaac Sinclair.”
Once she was certain, there was no reason to keep holding it.
But then something strange had arisen.
A story that had come to mind at just the right time within the comfortable atmosphere.
She had merely brought it up, and yet an odd reaction had emerged.
“She said she had pledged her future to you, Counselor.”
“That never happened…”
Isaac had clearly said that.
His eyes had been genuinely bewildered.
The Instrument of Condemnation had remained silent then as well.
In Serena’s memory, the scene from that day surfaced.
The Holy Kingdom, the main hall of the Church of Saint Justitia.
The day Lady Levantia had come to visit.
She had knelt with a radiant face.
Her hands clasped together, as if in prayer.
And she had spoken.
“Saintess, may I ask something of you?”
“There is someone to whom I have pledged my future. I earnestly hope that the Lord’s blessing will be with him on the path ahead.”
There had been no lie in her eyes then.
A sincerity without the slightest wavering.
She had believed it with all her heart.
That she was someone who had pledged her future to him.
Because Serena had seen that.
Isaac’s reaction today had been all the more unexpected.
The surprise of someone caught in a secret tryst?
No.
It was the face of someone hearing something for the very first time.
Serena placed her hand on the Instrument of Condemnation again.
The same question cast forth.
But the Instrument of Condemnation remained silent.
“That must mean both are true.”
Lady Levantia believed they had pledged their future.
Isaac Sinclair had never done so.
If neither was a lie, then what on earth was happening?
An inexplicable curse spreading among noble young ladies.
And the back-alley counselor at its center.
“Ah.”
A short sigh slipped from between Serena’s lips.
Ripples spread through her once-calm eyes.
A moment later.
What replaced them was an unwavering sense of duty.
“Agnes.”
“Yes, Saintess.”
Agnes, seated across from her, raised her head.
Serena slowly tucked the Instrument of Condemnation back into her robes and said,
“Do not put the Instrument of Condemnation away. I must go there again tomorrow.”
Agnes’s cold eyes narrowed.
“Has he been determined to be a heretic after all?”
Serena shook her head.
“No.”
If his innocence was an undeniable fact, then what had to be done was clear as well.
“I will have to observe carefully for a while.”
Only then would she be able to protect him.