Pudding used his clairvoyance to locate Tenebre, then rushed off alone without waiting.
"Master. He went off by himself."
I know... Jelly and I stared blankly at the spot where Pudding had disappeared.
No, shouldn't we at least go together if we found him? How can he just go alone when it might be dangerous! Pudding must be too young to realize how dangerous the world can be.
Right, children usually insist on running errands by themselves. I should have realized when he was struggling earlier, insisting on finding Tenebre with his own power...
"Let's follow him."
At least Jelly was with us. Jelly snapped her fingers and we teleported to where Pudding was. Just the two of us.
"What about Sir Ante?"
"Someone needs to guard the prison."
True enough. My dress was left in the prison, so I trust Sir Ante will cleverly wear it and pretend to be me. This kind of episode always appears in romance fantasy novels. I nodded and looked around.
"...A forest?"
Where we arrived was a dense forest. Pudding must have moved there to find Tenebre, but Tenebre herself was nowhere to be seen, having apparently escaped again.
A forest, though... Tenebre must have escaped the imperial palace in that short time.
I was about to lament that such excellent escape abilities should have been used for a runaway female lead rather than for killing her own father, when I spotted the familiar spire of a palace at the edge of my vision.
She hadn't escaped the imperial palace at all—it was just the forest in the backyard. I take back what I said about her being a runaway female lead. She only made it to the backyard? She'll be caught by the male lead in less than a day.
So Tenebre wasn't visible, and Pudding... Did Pudding chase after Tenebre? I let Jelly take the lead and followed Pudding's traces. The forest was quite large so I thought it would be difficult to find him, but fortunately we found Pudding not far in.
"Pudding."
"Don't come any closer."
As I approached, asking if he'd found Tenebre, Pudding cut me off firmly. He disappeared alone earlier, and now he's telling me not to come close? Our cat must be going through puberty! I felt tears welling up even though I didn't give birth to Pudding.
Raising a companion beast with such care is useless. I kept my mouth shut, hurt by his rejection, when I heard footsteps approaching through the brush.
I thought it might be Tenebre, but what emerged from between the bushes was a strikingly handsome man. Dressed similarly to Gabriel, he appeared to be a paladin.
"I heard a cute bell sound somewhere, and sure enough, it was you. You actually found where I was?"
The man smiled brightly at Pudding. When still, he looked like a gentle church oppa, but as soon as he smiled, sharp teeth and a forked tongue revealed themselves, completely transforming his appearance. His neatly handsome impression changed in an instant.
"It reeks of fish. Not noticing that would be foolish."
Pudding also bared his teeth and went on guard. I wondered if he'd said something unnecessary, but with the man's appearance, I could also smell the fishy odor. Blood was dripping from the man's sword, so that must be the source. Yikes, who did he cut on his way here?
"You also smell like a beast. And whatever you've been eating, you even smell rotten."
I bristled at the man's words. Rotten smell? What nonsense is this! My children are washed and groomed by the Rohanson mansion servants with care, so they only smell fragrant! Pudding and Jelly are living solid perfumes! I refuted internally since the man's sword was scary, but Pudding, still young and fearless, kept taunting him.
"Shut up. A rotten smell is still better than that fishy stench."
"Acting unlike yourself, just running your mouth instead of fighting—is that because of your master?"
Given how he talked about beast smell and mentioned bell sounds, he was clearly the same race as Pudding and Jelly who knew they were beast people, yet their relationship was extremely hostile.
Why is he here in the first place? Seeing as he's in the forest now, he's either chasing Tenebre or helping her... I was trying to gauge which side he was on when the man's gaze suddenly snapped to me. Startled, I almost jumped out of my skin. The man smiled smoothly and pretended to be polite.
"This is our first time meeting in person. I am Azazel Astaroth."
Having just heard him speak arrogantly to Pudding, his show of manners felt cloying instead. He spoke similarly to Gabriel but somehow came across completely differently. Come to think of it, Gabriel had a certain straightforward quality, perhaps thanks to the male lead buff. Azazel, however, didn't stop there and approached me with large strides. With each step, blood dripped onto the floor, leaving a trail.
"I was quite struck when we passed by each other, but seeing you up close, my lady, you're even more stimulating to creatures like us. Now I understand why Flauros tucks his tail and submits."
Fl-Flauros... what? I don't understand what nonsense he's spouting. And I don't get this sudden flirting that won't lead anywhere. Also, that's not how you use honorific speech.
Azazel reached out as if to stroke my hair.
"How dare you touch...!"
Pudding flew into a rage and charged, and Jelly also reached out to block him.
"Stop."
At my voice, not only Azazel but also Pudding and Jelly's movements halted. Their concern for me was touching, but I could handle this level of threat myself. They were both overreacting. I did know some self-defense.
I grabbed Azazel's wrist tightly as he tried to touch my hair, and he cried out in exaggerated pain.
"Ugh, what kind of strength..."
Please. All beast people either have severe dramatic tendencies or low pain thresholds. I gripped harder. I was displeased that he'd try to lay hands on someone else's body, so I decided to say something.
"Are you of the same race as Pudding?"
"...You could say that."
Being vague about it meant he wasn't the same kind of cat. With a forked tongue, was he a snake?
"Then why are you being so insolent toward me?"
I'm Pudding and Jelly's guardian. Flirting shamelessly with a friend's guardian... you brat. Should I pickle you in liquor?
We glared at each other like an eye-contact contest, and Azazel's pupils shook wildly, apparently rattled by my direct confrontation. Even you think you're in the wrong, don't you? I let go of his hand, thinking he might have finally understood, and Azazel stepped backward, covering his face with his hand and cackling. Did the shock make him crazy?
"Haha, hahahaha... You're truly remarkable."
Azazel only stopped laughing after a while, then went serious again. I felt a sense of déjà vu—it was similar to how I handled things when playing the villainess against Donau. Is this how Donau felt back then? Experiencing it myself, it's quite scary...
"Now I understand why these fellows bare their bellies and submit to you. However, I find it unfair to be treated the same as those toothless ones. When someone is above me, I always want to drag them down."
Now I understood. If Pudding was going through puberty, Azazel had chunibyo. Even if you told me he wasn't a snake beast person but an imugi about to evolve into a black flame dragon, I would believe it.
"I prefer to be the one playing with people, not being dominated. That's why right now I want to devour you... If I go all out, I wonder if that pretty vessel of yours won't crack at least?"
Azazel pointed his sword at me as he spoke. Azazel had been chilling just moments ago, but now instead of being scary, I felt a bit embarrassed. Friend, have you heard of empathy? Mine seems to have bottomed out right now. I wish someone would unfold my cramped limbs.
"You'll regret it."
I sincerely advised him. You won't know during your peak years, but once you graduate from chunibyo, you'll be kicking your blankets every night until none remain intact.
"Even giving me advice—you're truly thoughtful."
Azazel sneered, not knowing I was worrying about him. Right... during those days, no matter who tries to stop you, you won't listen. His vertically slit yellow eyes blinked boldly.
"So you'll play with me, right?"
Azazel swung his sword. I couldn't react quickly and just stared blankly when someone yanked my shoulder hard, barely avoiding the blade. Whether from shock or not, I processed everything happening to me a beat too slowly. Ah, Jelly was the one who saved me.
"Lady Evangelin!"
Pudding's shrill scream sounded muffled, as if I was underwater.
"This crazy bastard, who does he think he's swinging a sword at...?"
Jelly retreated while protecting me, and Pudding charged at Azazel.
"Flauros. Don't get in the way between us two?"
"You're disgusting, so please don't lump me together with someone like you and Lady Evangelin."
"Someone like you? Acting arrogantly when you can't even defeat me."
So he calls Pudding Flauros. Was that Pudding's real name? I felt irrationally out of touch for calmly wondering about Pudding's birth name in a situation like this.
It was the same just moments ago. Even when Azazel swung his sword at me, I strangely felt no fear. It was confusing enough to wonder if I'd left my amygdala, which processes fear, back at home when I possessed this body.
Perhaps it was because nothing felt real. This was still the inside of a novel, and Evangelin was nothing more than fiction. Even while eating, sleeping, and living daily life, I occasionally had that thought, so having a chunibyo villain point a sword at me didn't suddenly make me feel a crisis for my life or develop a sense of urgency. Right, that must be why.
Because of that, even watching Pudding and Azazel's battle unfold before my eyes, my only observation was that it looked like an action game. I was thinking peaceful thoughts like how our Pudding was a mage but holding his own in close combat with a warrior when—
"Ugh...!"
Pudding suddenly staggered. Blood dripped from his tightly closed eyes. He'd cried bloody tears earlier when overexerting himself in the prison, so his body apparently hadn't fully recovered yet.
Azazel showed no mercy and continued attacking Pudding who had lost his sight. The sword tip aimed at Pudding turned red. That's going to be a disaster? Before I could even finish that thought, my body moved on its own. I stepped between them with Pudding behind me and caught Azazel's swinging blade with my hand. It was truly impulsive, something I did without even knowing.
...It hurts.
It hurt like hell. The pain suddenly snapped me to attention. This is why people pinch their cheeks to check if they're dreaming or awake! Thinking about it, I regretted deeply why I, weak-willed as I am, stepped forward before a sword when I could have just asked Jelly for help.
Blood dripped onto the floor. Azazel's eyes shook as if hit by an earthquake; he seemed terribly flustered himself. That "why are you there" meme could be perfectly replaced with Azazel's current expression.
"Your blood is also red."
Yet impressive how he maintained his character while saying his line. Or is my blood supposed to be blue? Whether the chunibyo said a line like Azazel, or Azazel said a line like a chunibyo, I could no longer tell the difference. It was over. Azazel had simply become chunibyo itself.
When I released the blade, Azazel retreated.
"Blood..."
Pudding seemed shocked that I'd gotten hurt while saving him. With burst capillaries and bloody tears streaming, his eyes flashed as if he would tear out Azazel's throat any moment. Pudding, having lost his reason, came staggering forward.
As Pudding approached Azazel, the atmosphere changed and darkness fell around us. I thought clouds had covered the moon and looked up at the sky, only to meet eyes with a giant eyeball.
Did I see wrong? I rubbed my eyes and looked again, but the massive sphere floating in the air didn't disappear. Bloodshot pupils fixed their gaze on Azazel. Was I not fully awake? No, the cut on my hand hurt too much for that? I thought I was seeing things due to blood loss, but Jelly also exclaimed quietly, seeing the same thing.
"Wow. Pudding is really angry..."
Pudding? Aha. Pudding must have cast an illusion spell. He lost his reason and swept us up in it too when his targeting went wrong.
Giant wings spread from Pudding's back. If the wings had been made of white feathers, I would have gushed that our cat was an angel, but since what burst through his flesh were countless eyeballs wedged between strips of meat, I could barely hold back nausea. If this was meant to exploit a weakness by targeting Azazel's potential fear of eyes, it was perfectly successful.
But why wings of all things? Is our Pudding interested in things like fallen angels? Chunibyo seems to be contagious after all. A contagious chunibyo is a complete social menace.
If the eyeballs set the mood, the main event started now. An ominous fire rose from Azazel. Since it didn't spread to the surroundings or produce smoke, it was also an illusion. However, Azazel couldn't distinguish reality and seemed to believe his actual body was burning, groaning in agony.
"Hot, it hurts, it hurts."
Azazel rolled on the ground. The fire was so hot that Azazel's flesh melted and his form distorted.
"How dare you hurt someone, you must pay the price."
Pudding, still not satisfied after watching, crushed Azazel's hand.
Awakening when an ally is injured is a cliché, but Pudding took it too far. Thank goodness this is a novel; otherwise he'd be arrested for excessive retaliation.
"That nasty-tempered cat brat."
I wasn't the only one who felt that way; Jelly also disapproved. Our Pudding... has been pretending to be demure with me all this time, and actually has a nasty personality. Jelly clicked his tongue and turned my head toward him.
"Don't look too much or he'll hate it. He's already trying to show only his carefully crafted image, and right now he seems to have lost his reason. And master should only see the good things too."
He preached while smiling broadly, as if to say his face was the good thing. Well, if I kept watching, it would be bad for my mental health too. I decided to ignore Azazel's screams.
"Is your hand badly hurt?"
"No. It's fine."
For blocking a blade with my bare hand, the wound wasn't that severe. It bled, but it was just like a large paper cut. Azazel must have withdrawn his force when I intervened.
Still, a cut is a cut. This was the second time I'd been injured since possession. When I drew a summoning circle before and got pricked by a splinter from the wooden floor, it hurt enough to make me tear up, but that couldn't compare to grabbing a blade with my bare hand.
"I didn't know master would jump in between."
I didn't know either.
Jelly examined my hand. Perhaps from the illusion's influence, grass wilted where my blood dripped on the floor. I hastily wrapped a handkerchief around it to stop the bleeding. Jelly tied the handkerchief, and some time later, Azazel's screams finally stopped.
The illusion vanished; the giant eyeballs and wings were gone. Pudding's clothes were torn at the back, apparently from physical activity. That was exactly where the wings had emerged.
Azazel lay in tatters on the ground, panting.
Pudding wasn't satisfied even after shattering Azazel's mentality completely. He looked at Azazel with bloodshot eyes as if wanting to grind him to sand like grains of sand. However, Azazel's mental strength already seemed beyond that point...
"Azazel."
"I hurt you. What should I do? My heart flutters and overwhelms me, but it feels like I've committed such a terrible wrong that my heart trembles. Why? I feel so guilty and sorry I want to cut off my own head and offer it to you. What have you done to me?"
You cast an illusion spell, you idiot. Azazel clawed at his head in confusion.
"Are you reflecting on hurting me?"
I reached out and stroked his cheek to bring him to his senses. I couldn't slap a child who'd lost his mind from psychological damage.
"I'm afraid. I'm afraid because I, who harmed you, feel so ugly inside."
He'd developed trauma and couldn't escape his guilt.
Azazel acted horrified of my hand, yet instead of pushing it away, he buried his face in it. Why, why is this happening...? Startled, I pulled my hand back, and Pudding promptly kicked Azazel in the stomach. Violence against someone not resisting was perfect venting... Sorry our cat is so jealous.
I didn't feel guilty since Azazel brought this on himself. Even before attacking us, his sword was bloody from cutting someone.
Wait. He didn't kill someone, did he?
"Azazel. Whose blood was on your sword?"
Pudding stomped on Azazel's head as if telling him to answer. We couldn't tear Pudding to sand, so we were burying him in sand instead.
"Jeremiah."
"Jeremiah?"
Not Tenebre but Jeremiah? Why was Jeremiah in the forest where we followed Tenebre? When I asked again, Azazel corrected himself.
"No. It was Tenebre, I think?"
Azazel giggled as he lay buried in sand.
"Did you kill her?"
"If she's lucky, she's probably still alive."
Saying she might be alive if lucky meant he'd inflicted a serious wound.
Whether it was Tenebre or Jeremiah, that wasn't the important part. Either way, what mattered to me was that both were Gabriel's nieces. I'd followed Tenebre because I was worried Gabriel, blinded by the desire to acquit me, might commit familial slaughter.
I still hadn't told Gabriel about the secret of his birth. If I'd known this would happen, I should have told him during the last visitation. It was a catastrophe from briefly forgetting the novel's rule that important words shouldn't be postponed. Of course, I also wanted to secretly extract the princess to uncover the truth of the incident.
"I need to go see the princess."
I stood up and announced.
"I'll play a bit longer."
Pudding apparently wasn't done venting. Azazel was a fashion chunibyo who actually swung a real sword like a crazy person, so there were probably many actual victims. Since Pudding or I, his master, were among those victims, his anger was understandable. Plus, Jelly had said the two were mortal enemies. For someone like that to be a paladin, the world was doomed.
"Go ahead first. Have a good talk and come back."
"Yes. I'll definitely return to you, Lady Evangelin."
Pudding smiled brightly, then frowned sorrowfully when he saw my injured hand. Pudding took my wounded hand and rubbed his cheek against it like a cute gesture. I would have pushed him away for getting blood on me if his face wasn't bloody too. Pudding's charm was devastating even covered in blood.
"And Lady Evangelin, you don't need to get hurt saving someone like me."
Pudding licked my wound like a cat would. Disinfecting?
"But then you would have been hurt."
I couldn't just stand by and watch my house cat get cut by a sword. But Pudding argued.
"Just let me get hurt. I'd rather die than have you wounded. Even that fishy-smelling snake lost his mind over the fact that he hurt you, so how would I feel?"
Jelly nodded vigorously in agreement.
"Hurting the master—die and apologize, Pudding."
Pudding ignored Jelly's words.
Pudding's words reminded me of Gabriel. Was he like that too? Did he take that glass shard for me because he hated me getting hurt more than dying? The favor I'd found only bothersome before touched me anew. Pudding tapped my hand, noticing I was thinking of someone else.
"Remember. I exist for you."
With those words, Pudding issued his eviction notice. Usually Jelly was the one getting chased away by Pudding, but experiencing it myself left me hollow inside. It felt like the deprivation of a teenage son hanging a "No Entry - Do Not Disturb" sign on his bedroom door. If Pudding is the son, what's Jelly? Obviously the unemployed job-seeking uncle.
"Jelly, let's go first. Can you find the princess?"
The job-seeker nodded.
"With Astaroth's influence gone, I should be able to find her."
Jelly reached for my hand but stopped. He was clearly conscious of my wound. If you do that, it hurts more, you know? Wounds always hurt less when you don't focus on them.
"Does it hurt a lot?"
"It's fine. I'll just apply some holy water."
"Haha, you tell scary jokes too."
Jelly scolded me for joking in a situation like this. What? It's not a joke though?
I was puzzled, then suddenly remembered Evangelin had died from being sickly. My first awakening was in a coffin, and since people didn't bring up that story, I sometimes forgot. Right. Evangelin was also like Rider in that holy water didn't work on her.
But why did the count feed me so much holy water after I possessed him? Early in my possession, I thought he was just trying to recover Evangelin, but a trash count wouldn't care for his daughter that much.
And since he was her biological father, he'd know well enough that holy water had no effect on Evangelin. Unlike Mrs. Toten who clung desperately like a drowning person grasping at straws out of excessive love for her child... Did he treat me like an evil spirit like Bishop Marik? After possessing his daughter's body, being treated that way would be deserved, but at least the count shouldn't do that. He can get cursed by the countess all he wants, but.
"Master. I found the princess."
Jelly, who'd been taking his time, apparently found the princess.
"The smell of blood is particularly strong, so she really does seem to be on the verge of death like Astaroth said."
Jelly reported the situation. If I had holy water, I could treat her immediately, but as someone who escaped prison, I wouldn't have any. It seemed best to hurry.
Jelly snapped his fingers and the view shifted instantly. Real teleportation was a cheating ability. Where we arrived was the same forest. The surrounding scenery was identical, so I couldn't guess how far we'd traveled.
"Oh my."
Jelly groaned lifelessly. This time he'd found the princess properly. The problem was Gabriel was also there. Was I too late?
Azazel had already stabbed her once, and Gabriel hadn't finished her off too, had he...? That's your niece! And she's likely a fake culprit caught up in behind-the-scenes schemes, so forget imperial orders and absolutely don't kill her!
I approached closer to stop Gabriel and stepped on something squishy. When I lifted my foot, a person lay underneath. I was so startled I almost ended my possession right there and attained enlightenment.
Several knights were collapsed on the ground, wearing the same uniforms as the knights who arrested me. In other words, the imperial knight order. A dying princess couldn't have defeated knights, so Gabriel must have done this.
Then these knights weren't dead but just unconscious. Holy knights shouldn't just go around killing people arbitrarily. Gabriel must have subdued them to save the princess.
Gabriel never intended to kill the princess from the start. Suddenly the tension released. Come to think of it, I'd grasped the situation, so Gabriel as the male lead couldn't have failed to. He might even know his own birth secret. Then did I suffer for nothing? No. Saving a person makes this level of hardship worth it.
While I stood frozen after stepping on a squishy person, Jelly had gone to Gabriel and was saying something. I hurried over too.
"...Lady Rohanson."
"Yes, sir. Did you call?"
Gabriel called my name without even turning around. Did he sense my presence? Can he identify people by footsteps alone? That's a male lead ability.
"Evangelin."
"Yes. Sir Gabriel."
Gabriel called my name again. This time he turned his gaze toward me. Why call first and then be startled? Did he not expect to identify me by footsteps alone either?
Ah, that wasn't it.
Gabriel's eyes were glistening. I realized late that was because they were moist. I always thought they were clear sky blue, but looking today, they rippled like a lake. Someone had gone and reflected sky light, making others misunderstand.
"Please... save the princess."
Gabriel looked up at me desperately. I'd received this gaze many times. When I saved Kanna, when Daisy returned, when the orphanage children clung to me, when Mrs. Toten came to find me—Gabriel had the same eyes as back then.
And I'd never once turned any of them away. The reason might be to avoid the tragic ending given to a villainess, or it might have been mere caprice. I might have done it out of pity, wondering how helpless they must be to cling to someone like me who viewed the world as tissue paper.
"If that is your wish, sir."
Knowing that Gabriel right now would overflow if poked, I could only smile as if to comfort him.
Gabriel smiled faintly as if relieved. I told him not to cry, but what had welled up in his eyes overflowed and spilled out. Just one stream, one drop, so Gabriel probably didn't even know he was crying.
Not wanting to see him cry more, I turned away. I really was easy, getting all worked up when Gabriel cried when I'd called him a fishing line manager. Of course, only Kanna knew that in this world. Such was the power of the villainess label that even when Kanna chanted "The young lady is kind," no one believed her. Ah, Pudding used to nod along too. That's why I inevitably favored those two.
The princess's condition I glimpsed was serious. Collapsed on the ground, barely breathing, she looked critical. Her side was stabbed straight through, the fabric stained dark red there. I tore the clothes to examine the wound. It was too deep. Azazel, that trash bastard. Doing this to a child? Now I saw—he wasn't chunibyo, just a crazy person.
"Holy water?"
"It's useless. Jelly says it doesn't work..."
An ornately crafted bottle lay on the ground, the glass cracked from hitting the floor. Was the princess also cursed with a constitution that rejected holy water? Jelly, ignoring Gabriel crying or the princess dying, fiddled with the holy water bottle and then clutched his finger, rolling on the ground as if he'd gotten cut by a glass shard carelessly.
The princess was dying beside him, and he was making a fuss about being pricked by a mere glass shard. The situation was already complicated enough to give me a headache, and seeing him throw a fit made me want to smack Jelly. It wasn't a serious wound and he'd been treated with holy water so it must have healed immediately, but the dramatics...
The princess, perhaps roused by the commotion, slowly opened and closed her eyes, looking at me.
"An angel...?"
Given that in this world's setting, angels rather than reapers come to escort the dead, I'd heard this often here. But hallucinating meant it was really serious... She seemed likely to depart for the afterlife before we could even find a treatment method, so I called her name to help her focus.
"Princess Tenebre? Princess Jeremiah?"
Mrs. Toten said she distinguished the twin princesses by their necklaces, but now the necklaces were bloodstained and indistinguishable. Common sense suggested it was Tenebre with the wanted order, but Azazel's words about stabbing Jeremiah kept lingering in my head.
"...I'm Jeremiah."
Right. Jeremiah. Why Jeremiah was injured when Tenebre had a wanted order on her—first I'd treat the wound, then I'd definitely ask how the situation had developed.
Since holy water didn't work, we needed to find a doctor quickly. In this absurd world where many didn't benefit from holy water, doctors were quite numerous despite the existence of a panacea. Jelly, who'd returned clutching his finger and throwing a fit, finished his dramatics and shook his head with a grim expression.
"This body is done for. It's Azazel's wound so it won't heal, and when holy water doesn't work, no doctor can fix it. Those so-called doctors just stitch up the shell. That she's still alive is purely from willpower."
Perhaps hearing Jelly's words, Jeremiah panted.
"I don't, I don't want to die..."
I couldn't know how heavy the moisture-laden wind felt.
Jeremiah reached out and waved through the air as if searching for a lifeline, then grabbed my hand. I didn't show it was wounded. Her hand was unusually hot. It felt... it felt exactly like a real person who had torn through the novel's rules and emerged from the paper.
I had no talent for saving people. I wasn't a divine physician who could heal wounds, nor was my position a saintess who could spam heals like a game.
Then what could I do? All I had was money, but holy water didn't work, and a villainess's reputation only inspired fear... I'm no help at all. I really picked the wrong body to possess... Possession? Ah right, I'm a possessor.
I was a possessor, and possessors specialize in possession.
I needed an empty body. And someone who had experience entering empty bodies... Melek! Right, Melek existed!
"First we need to move locations."
Gabriel looked around and nodded. The forest was quite large, but with the emperor sending knights to search, we could be discovered again at any time.
"Jelly, let's go to the Rohanson mansion."
I'd wanted to return countless times while imprisoned, but I'd held back, never expecting to return this way.
Gabriel carefully picked up Jeremiah. Jeremiah had apparently exhausted her strength after making her wish and lost consciousness. Only her small panting sounds showed she still lived. Yet her earnest heart must have been genuine, for even unconscious, Jeremiah's small hand still held mine tightly.
I looked around one last time and saw a knight on the ground, only his eyes blinking as he watched us. When our eyes met, the knight's face went pale. He was so terrified he couldn't even think to pretend to be unconscious. If he reported that I'd escaped... Just as I thought that, Jelly struck the back of the knight's head.
The knight closed his eyes again. This was the trend Daisy had started.
"He won't talk now."
Jelly promised that by striking the back of the head, he'd gotten some magical help that would keep the knight silent. If Jelly said so, I had to believe him.
Jelly snapped his fingers and the forest became my room. Jelly immediately disappeared to bring Melek.
I expected the room to be empty, but Kanna was there, curled up asleep on the sofa. I'd given her the countess's room to stay comfortably, so why was she sleeping uncomfortably on the sofa? Knowing Kanna had been guarding my room worrying about me, I felt both moved and wistful.
Her position was uncomfortable, so she woke up.
"...Young miss...?"
Kanna sensed my presence, rubbed her eyes, and sat up. At first she seemed unable to distinguish dream from reality, but when I called "Kanna," her eyes went wide. Kanna ran over with tears welling up.
"Young miss, I really missed you so much..."
Kanna was shorter than me. I stroked her head as she buried herself in my arms, shoulders shaking. It really had been a long time since I'd seen Kanna. The affection I'd been given as naturally as breathing had been cut off for a while, and now that it resumed, I felt a bit more at peace.
"Are you fully out now?"
"No. Just briefly escaped. There's a patient so I need to lay her on the bed. Will you help?"
"A patient? Oh... Sir Gabriel."
Kanna only now noticed I'd brought a tagalong. She lightly greeted Gabriel and then realized Jeremiah's condition was serious, startled into preparing the bed.
"Excuse me."
Gabriel asked my permission and laid Jeremiah on the bed. The white bedsheets quickly stained red with Jeremiah's blood.
"The wound is serious. She has a high fever too... Young miss, who is this?"
"This is Princess Jeremiah."
I told the truth since there was no reason to hide it from Kanna.
"Princess...? Why is a princess hurt this badly..."
Kanna trailed off. She seemed curious why I'd brought an injured princess to the Rohanson mansion. However, instead of asking for the full story, she chose to care for Jeremiah. Mm. Our Kanna is incredibly considerate too.
When Kanna went to get a wet towel, only the unconscious Jeremiah and Gabriel remained in the room. Gabriel stared at my hand still held by Jeremiah, then frowned deeply.
"You're injured."
Gabriel noticed my wound. I was being dramatic; it wasn't that serious. With someone dying right in front of him, who was he worrying about?
"You kept holding her hand with an injured hand?"
Jeremiah was the one who held my hand. I just let her. Gabriel separated Jeremiah's hand from mine and placed it on the bed. Then he examined my hand, the one that had lost its held partner, as if investigating it.
"May I examine your hand?"
Since I'd pushed his hand away, Gabriel hadn't touched me arbitrarily. Feeling guilty, I quietly offered my hand to Gabriel. He grieved as if I'd suffered a mortal wound like Jeremiah.
But he couldn't lick my wound like Pudding did. His trembling hand carefully stroked only my fingertips and the back of my hand, avoiding the wound so as not to irritate it. Gabriel's concern for me felt ticklish against my skin.
"I didn't want to realize you were alive... in this way."
Gabriel sank into himself.
I didn't understand at first, but apparently, since I didn't accept visitation in prison, he hadn't heard whether I was dead or alive, and seeing me appear injured made him sorrowful. Happy to see me alive but sad I was hurt?
"But seeing you alive, isn't your heart a bit more at ease?"
"I..."
Gabriel hesitated, trailing off, then continued as if having made a decision.
"I've decided now. Even if you're a corpse, Evangelin, I won't let go of your hand."
Um... I think I heard something pretty incredible...? Is he planning to live holding my corpse even if I die? He seemed to have switched keywords from indifferent male lead to devastated male lead clinging to a corpse. I thought I saw signs of obsession before; I wasn't imagining it. Where did the faithful holy knight go...?
Did my treating Gabriel coldly have a negative effect? No, that couldn't be. How could I have had any influence? Of course not. The genre is at fault here.
"We should treat the wound quickly."
"...After settling Princess Jeremiah's matter."
My hand was just cut, so even without holy water, calling a doctor would suffice. Then I realized something strange. Pudding and Jelly, who worried about me so much, had never once suggested treating my wound. They seemed genuinely worried, so why didn't they say anything about treatment?
Before I could dig deeper, Kanna returned. Gabriel couldn't wait and shared that I was injured, and Kanna, who'd finally stopped crying, wailed again. Why were both of them so teary?
While I calmed Kanna, saying it wasn't a serious wound, Jelly returned with Melek. Conscious of Gabriel's presence, he'd brought Melek's original form with covered eyes rather than Rider's body.
"Lady Evangelin, you called for me... Ugh."
Before he could finish, Melek gagged.
"Forgive me... It's the smell of blood..."
"Bear it."
Jelly forced the gagging Melek to his feet. Jelly had raised Melek tough. No wonder Melek, who'd initially spoken informally to Jelly and Pudding, now knew to lower himself.
"Melek, do you remember what happened when you first entered another body?"
"When I entered this body...?"
Melek glanced at Gabriel, hesitating as if asking if it was okay to say. Gabriel already knew I was a possessor, so it didn't matter. I intended to possess Jeremiah into another body like Melek. Since Jelly said Jeremiah's body was hopeless, we just needed to find another body.
"Well... As I mentioned, it's been too long, and my memories from that time are hazy, so I can't recall anything clearly."
Melek answered reluctantly. Put nicely, it was possession; really, it was no different from asking Melek to recount his death. It must be a terrible memory for him. I felt a bit sorry for Melek... But I was someone who just woke up already possessed; I hadn't chosen a body myself. So right now, all I could rely on was Melek's experience.
The way to boost Melek's morale was obvious.
"A girl is dying. Recovery in this body is impossible, so I want to save her by other means."
"Like me?"
"Yes. So tell me everything you remember about the environment at the time, the situation you faced, how you died and woke up again."
Melek was too soft-hearted to refuse to dig into his wounds to find a way to help others. Melek spilled his past again. That a demon-like person and the orphanage director had locked children in the basement and abused them. That one day the director stopped coming to the basement, and as children starved to death, the last surviving child was Melek.
Hearing the story again, I realized why Melek, even after possessing a beast person, hated blood so much and wouldn't eat meat. In places of severe famine, people sometimes ate the dead. Melek, rather than starve, had refused to treat children as meat, so even after possessing a beast person, he couldn't help but avoid blood and flesh.
Melek's story was too wretched and horrific to hear again; I felt like garbage for making him dig up memories and spit them out. Being a villainess, even acting with good intentions, seemed to hurt others... But having gained something was a consolation. If I'd found no hints from Melek's story, I'd have felt even more sorry.
"I understand what happened."
At Jelly's words, Gabriel's eyes lit up.
"Jelly, please tell me. What must be done?"
"Why should I tell you?"
That wasn't Jelly if he just explained obediently. I was going to scold him for playing around when the situation was serious, but Gabriel beat me to it.
"Because Lady Evangelin wishes for it."
"Cunning bastard."
Jelly clicked his tongue and mocked Gabriel, but honestly, my feelings weren't much different. Where did the upright and sincere knight go... I pray Gabriel turning out this way isn't my fault.
Jelly opened his mouth as if to explain, then glared at Gabriel. Now Jeremiah was on the verge of death, and they were having a contest of wills...
"Before I speak, I need a definite answer from you. No matter what happens, you'll remain by the master's side? I can't trust children blessed by the sun god. Who knows? Next time you might try to burn our master."
Was he needling Gabriel for being a holy knight? True... I understood why Jelly was so on guard. If Gabriel abandoned defending me and changed his attitude to confess everything, he really could be branded a witch and burned at the stake.
Gabriel smiled faintly at Jelly's words. That the end of his gaze pointed at me wasn't surprising.
"Not once has sunlight ever touched me."
Blue eyes met mine. If Gabriel's blueness was deep water rather than sky, then his claim that sunlight never reached him would be true.
Before Jelly could find fault with something, I stepped in to wrap things up.
"Stop it and let's hurry. Jelly, will you explain?"
Though displeased that I'd taken Gabriel's side, Jelly pouted heavily but explained the circumstances he'd deduced.
"The orphanage basement was where Melek's sacrifice was collected."
"Me?"
"Not you, the original Melek."
At Jelly's bullying, Melek deflated immediately.
"Melek was different from this gentle one—a disgusting one, you see? Well, it's rare to find one of our kind who isn't disgusting."
Jelly shrugged.
"Melek enjoyed playing with people. Especially children—in other words, he played with the orphanage children in exchange for granting the director's requests. When the director stopped coming, he must have been so anxious."
Gabriel added, seeming to understand.
"There are records that the director of the I-noa orphanage was executed as a heretic."
He was probably referring to the heretic massacre from twenty years ago. Jelly continued with an insolent attitude.
"Right. Well, that's why he stopped coming, I suppose. When the human providing toys died, Melek went to the orphanage to assess the situation and found everyone dead except one child."
That child was the current Melek.
"The child made a wish. Coincidentally, there was a curse circle and a sacrifice there, so the conditions were perfectly met."
A wish? Curse? Sacrifice? What came to mind from Jelly's explanation was the summoning circle drawn on the director's office floor.
Jelly gazed quietly at Melek. Her default nastiness disappeared, replaced by a fierce aura that made one shrink involuntarily. Jelly was clearly looking at Melek and thinking of the real 'Melek.'
"The child made a wish to a demon and took Melek's body."
"Huh? Me? I made a wish to Melek? And took Melek's body?"
Melek murmured, greatly shocked by Jelly's reinterpretation of the situation. And I was shocked too. If I heard correctly, Jelly just called it a demon, right?
"The curse circle... you mean the one drawn in the director's office..."
"Exactly. That's it."
Jelly confirmed it.
So... the summoning circle I had wasn't for spirits but for summoning demons? The truth that approached so suddenly without any mental preparation made my head spin.
That's why Jelly had tried to get a promise from Gabriel not to report to his superiors before starting his explanation.
But not spirits... it was almost as shocking as first learning Santa Claus wasn't real as a child. No wonder no one in this world knew what spirits were.
It wasn't because spirits were unique—they just didn't exist. I hadn't realized until almost a year after possession that it wasn't a spirit summoning circle. Or should I be glad I found out now at least?
Then I almost summoned a demon by mistake, too. I cursed back then that the language patch wasn't done yet, but a demon... Not seeing the annotation was truly fortunate. Not knowing how to read helped me avoid a death flag. Then Donau had tried to summon a demon... He said he needed a sacrifice, so Kanna... Thinking that far, fury blazed. Donau, that bastard, died well.
"Melek, what did you wish for then?"
"My memory is hazy so I really don't remember anything..."
"If you don't remember, we can only guess."
When Jelly asked, Melek dug through his memories. Someone that gentle couldn't have wished for anything terrible.
"I was hungry, and I didn't want to die. That's all I remember..."
After hesitating for a while, Melek added quietly.
"And I hated. I resented. I thought it would be better if the culprit who did this to me, to the children, had just died."
It was a vicious wish I thought I'd never hear from Melek. But knowing the circumstances, I couldn't condemn Melek's wish as evil. Jelly nodded as if he'd heard a satisfactory answer.
"Then that princess just needs to make the same wish. She probably won't be hungry but... well, she is in pain."
Always with the dramatics, Jelly lacked consideration for others. But in a way, he lived up to being a villainess's underling.
I turned to see Jeremiah panting shallow breaths. In truth, there was no other way. Holy water didn't work, and doctors couldn't cure her. In a world where the reason for Evangelin's illness was found in cats and stray cats were slaughtered, I doubted medicine was very advanced. If it were, Rider would have recovered long ago.
I had a summoning circle drawn in the storage room. I'd need to recreate a similar situation to what Melek experienced, but I couldn't sacrifice another person. I was worrying about what to do when Jelly calmly said the delivery would arrive soon.
"It's here."
What appeared was Pudding. Pudding threw something on the floor. It was someone familiar.
"Azazel?"
Azazel collapsed onto the floor.
"Because this bastard made the princess die, he needs to take responsibility."
It was reasonable logic. Azazel's condition looked poor, and Jelly clicked his tongue.
"After eating him up, it's a relief it had an effect. Such a disgusting one."
Was he calling Pudding disgusting? Pudding, as always, lightly ignored Jelly's words.
Pudding asked us to wait a moment, then stuck his hand inside Azazel's mouth. His hand kept going down the throat, pushing in deep past his elbow. Azazel gagged and thrashed about with tears in his eyes. He was the culprit, but I felt somehow like I'd become the bad person.
"Ugh, uub..."
The throat opened too wide, and veins stood out on Azazel's neck. Pudding felt around inside as if stirring, then grabbed something and yanked it out.
No, crazy! They say your body freezes when you're startled, and I couldn't even blink. I was terrified of what Pudding had pulled out. The long thing held in Pudding's hand twitched. Twitched? Goosebumps rose and I wanted to cry. Gabriel, with strong nerves, watched the scene intact and muttered quietly.
"A snake?"
A snake? At those words, I could properly see what was in Pudding's hand. It really was a snake. And with a triangular head, it was definitely venomous!
"This is Astaroth's true form."
"Azazel's true form?"
He wasn't just a beast person? No wonder Pudding found him absolutely disgusting. Azazel's body, with his true form extracted, lay limp on the floor.
"That's an empty shell. So you can use the body."
Pudding pointed at the poisonous snake in his hand and the sprawled Azazel in turn, explaining.
"This is the sacrifice. That's the body to possess."
I'd be trash for saying this, but I could only admire the cost-effectiveness. It wasn't even a 1+1 event...
With preparations roughly complete, I woke Jeremiah. I didn't want to overexert someone in pain, but if I didn't, she'd rest forever, so I asked for her understanding.
"...I'll make a wish."
When I explained the situation, Jeremiah accepted without surprise. She wasn't surprised by making a wish to a demon and possessing another body? Perhaps she'd been through so much she had no capacity left to be surprised.
"...I heard from Sir Gabriel and already decided. Even if I sell my soul to a demon... no, to you... please..."
Jeremiah couldn't finish her sentence. Kanna carefully approached Jeremiah to check her pulse and shook her head. Her heart had stopped. My heart sank.
To make a wish, shouldn't a demon appear? Why wasn't one showing up? Was the method wrong? In movies, demons usually appear and ask you to state your wish... This is a novel too, so shouldn't they show up... But nothing happened. Did I just give false hope?
Just as I was about to sink into guilt, Azazel, who'd collapsed, rose up.
"...Hah."
Then he took a deep breath as if his blocked airway had cleared. Reborn, he continued his unfinished words.
"To be able to breathe again."
The demon had granted the wish.