“Are you satisfied now, Holy Maiden?”
The only black hair and black eyes in this land. Though she had cast aside the surname Escliffe, she possessed the singular name Amelia. No matter how little interest Ivan held for the temple, discerning that the woman before him was Amelia, and that she was the Holy Maiden, was hardly difficult.
“How….”
But Amelia stepped back in surprise at having her identity discovered. Was it truly such a surprise, when it was only natural? Perhaps because she had lived protected within the temple alone, there was something rather naive about her.
“The name Amelia is one permitted only to you.”
At Ivan’s answer, Amelia finally let out a short, blank exclamation of “Ah.”
“That’s right….”
Amelia trailed off.
In the meantime, Ivan scrutinized the woman’s face, which somehow looked forlorn. At the same time, he sharpened his senses to survey who might be around them, or if there were any signs of approaching people.
There was no one. The moment certainty took hold, Ivan leaped down from the wall.
“Good heavens.”
Then Amelia’s red lips parted slightly in surprise. Setting Amelia aside, the wall was taller even than Ivan. Yet, unbelievably, his landing was as light as a cat’s.
“Why do you watch me with such caution?”
Amelia flinched at Ivan’s question. It was because she had only just realized she had been unknowingly preparing to step back.
“I am a servant of God, and thus your servant as well. Do not fear me.”
It was a lie. Ivan drew closer to Amelia step by step with a smiling face. His hand toyed with the hilt of a dagger hidden within his clothes.
“It’s not that I’m cautious….”
If he plunged a blade into the heart of this woman who looked incomparably fragile, he would find out whether she truly died or not. Of course, it would be even better if she died in the process. Such were his thoughts.
“I was surprised.”
He was two or three steps from the range where he could wield the knife. Amelia spoke thus and smiled. It was a soft smile, one that made her look like a child.
“…….”
Unwittingly, Ivan halted his approach toward Amelia. Crack—the sharply honed aggression he had raised shattered in an instant.
“So, did you go outside the temple today?”
As if she had sensed it, Amelia spoke to him in a tone devoid of tension or fear.
“Yes.”
Amelia’s eyes sparkled at Ivan’s answer. And this time, she strode toward him without hesitation. It happened in an instant that Amelia stood at a close distance to Ivan. Ivan consciously restrained himself from recoiling unwittingly.
“How was it outside?”
Amelia’s pupils sparkled. They were the color of black grapes, yet her eyes glittering with anticipation looked like jewels. Even though there existed no jewel in the world so dark and coveted.
“It was the same as usual.”
Ivan could not turn away from those eyes, from that sparkling anticipation. And yet he was not even ensnared.
“What’s it like normally? Are there many people? Did you walk around places like the night market? What do they talk about?”
Having heard Ivan’s answer, Amelia rattled off questions in quick succession. Uncharacteristically, Ivan faltered and closed his mouth. The Holy Maiden was said to be the most precious woman in Escliffe. She was treated with even greater regard than the Empress. Thus, he had never imagined she would be curious about something as trivial as this.
“I went to a tavern.”
Amelia’s eyes went wide at Ivan’s confession.
“A tavern?”
“…….”
“A tavern, you say?”
And she burst into a small laugh. Ivan blinked, not knowing what was so strange about his answer.
“You’ve completely gone astray.”
Only then did a look of realization cross Ivan’s face. A member of the temple, at a tavern? It was practically proof of deviation. From the outset, the place where he had grabbed an apprentice priest and stolen his identification token was a tavern, so he hadn’t even thought it strange.
“Ah, that’s….”
It was when Ivan opened his mouth with a flustered expression.
“It’s fine. You just need to keep it a secret from everyone but me. That’s why you climbed over the wall and fled here, isn’t it?”
Amelia said with a nonchalant face. It was an attitude of truly not caring. Thanks to that, Ivan’s briefly tense emotions quickly became absurd.
“So, how was it?”
It was when Amelia was subtly prying Ivan for news of the outside.
“Holy Maiden!”
A voice searching for Amelia was heard. As Amelia’s eyes went wide, the rustling sound of grass being trampled gradually approached. Ivan hurriedly pulled his hood back over his head.
“Come this way.”
In that moment, Amelia urgently snatched Ivan’s hand. And she led him to a prayer room seldom frequented by people.
“It’s close to my private chambers, so hardly anyone comes here except when I use it. Even if I said I was going to the prayer room today, they’d use the main hall, so no one will come here.”
Opening the heavy door and pushing Ivan into the prayer room without preamble, Amelia rattled off words rapid-fire.
“Holy Maiden! Where are you!”
The voice calling for Amelia drew closer.
“The guards will return soon too. I’ll take a maid and go straight back to my room, so slip out quietly and return to your quarters. Understand?”
“…….”
“You understood what I said?”
When Ivan nodded silently, Amelia showed a reassuring smile and closed the prayer room door.
“Ah, but instead.”
But soon, the door opened slightly, and Amelia’s black eyes revealed themselves once more.
“Next time, tell me about the outside world that I couldn’t hear about today. I have so many things I’m curious about. Around midnight, the guards are distracted for a moment while changing shifts, so that would be a good time.”
Her eyes curved softly with amusement. Her face, steeped in anticipation, was innocent and lovely. Ivan looked at that sight and nodded. As if satisfied with the wordless answer, Amelia closed the door and turned away.
“Holy Maiden!”
“I’m over here.”
Amelia answered the call.
“Can’t you leave me alone for even a moment?”
“You left without a word. The High Priest told me to look for you in case something had happened.”
“I just came out for a walk alone. I was feeling stifled.”
Before long, the presence in front of the door gradually began to fade away.
And when no presence could be felt at all, Ivan quietly opened the prayer room door. As if his conversation with Amelia had been a dream, there was no one left in the empty garden.
He needed to get out before the guards arrived. Before slipping out of the prayer room, Ivan quietly looked around the interior. He saw a statue of the Holy Maiden with hands clasped and eyes closed.
“…….”
According to plan, he should have greeted her by first plunging a knife into her heart, but he had been unable to do so. Simply because the black eyes he was seeing for the first time since his birth were fascinating.
“Hah….”
A laugh, sudden and ill-suited to the situation, burst from Ivan.
“…….”
Of course, it was erased in an instant. Ivan turned his head forward and took leisurely steps. And taking advantage of the opening before the paladins returned, he scaled the wall.
“Your Majesty.”
“I believe I told you not to follow.”
“This is my duty.”
“How inflexible.”
Rodan, who had been waiting for Ivan, bowed respectfully. Ivan clicked his tongue and took off the robe he was wearing, handing it to Rodan.
“When you scaled the temple wall of all places, how could I not wait?”
Rodan draped the robe over his arm, adding an explanation that his actions did not stem from inflexibility.
He was right. The aversion Ivan harbored toward the temple was not of a light kind. Moreover, after eavesdropping on the conversation at the tavern earlier, he had wanted to slit the Holy Maiden’s throat at once. Ivan knew that Rodan had had no choice.
“I didn’t kill her.”
At Ivan’s leisurely answer, faint unease settled over Rodan’s face. Since he hadn’t killed her, perhaps it meant he had inflicted injury.
“We only conversed moderately.”
Rodan furrowed his brows slightly as if hearing something bizarre.
“But you started a fire.”
“…….”
“And you beat an apprentice priest to the brink of death and stole his identification token.”
And he meticulously pointed out Ivan’s wrongdoings. It could be called audacious, but Ivan did not reproach him. Though there was naturally a difference in status, he was rather close to Rodan, being the son of his wet nurse.
“Did I?”
Ivan turned his head brazenly and took his steps calmly.
“Still, there was a gain.”
Though he hadn’t been able to harm the Holy Maiden to confirm whether her existence was truly immortal, he didn’t seem to have suffered a loss. The night when Amelia was alone and even the guards had been lax in their defenses. Even knowing that such an absurd opportunity would be hard to come by again, he had done so.
“Next time, tell me about the outside world that I couldn’t hear today. I have so many things I’m curious about.”
Eyes with their outer corners raised sharply. Yet, the curiosity she had been unable to fully hide toward the intruder who appeared in the late night. And the interest directed outside the temple. The meaning of all that was clear.
Purity, innocence, and flawlessness.
“By gain, you mean….”
“There’s a child who takes great interest in the outside world. I made a friend.”
A young thing craving attention and affection.
“Ivan. You, you must become a strong emperor.”
Such things were, by and large, easy to exploit.