“Are you really broken now?”
Nyarl had yet to move since meeting Emilelio, instead choosing to watch as he screamed in hopeless, shattered horror.
“Hey, Marianne,” Nyarl said as he gently caressed one of the tendrils from the plant that dwelled inside of his body. “I wonder what kind of dream he’s having.”
Emilelio had breathed in the bewitching scent she gave off, so he was definitely having a dreadful nightmare at this point. One so awful that he would never be sane again.
“Ah, but maybe I went a tad too far. He’s not supposed to die here,” Nyarl said to himself. “Plus, the Eighth—Aigis Bloody—and the Second—Cruel False Saint Astesia—won’t be succumbing to the darkness at this rate either… A lot of things are going to go differently…”
On top of that, Darkness, one of the Twelve Apostles of Zeus, was still alive. Compared to the true timeline, the balance between the two groups’ power levels was all out of whack now.
“Eh, whatever. It is what it is… More importantly, my best friend is certainly talented. Not only did he save Aigis, he saved Astesia as well. I can’t wait to see what kind of story you weave together, my good friend. Right, Marianne?”
The tentacle plant lovingly wrapped itself around Nyarl, almost as if to respond to his words. He looked at her and smiled, then left the wreckage of the church behind.
At a later date, people would find a broken man screaming in the ruins of the building, but he never regained his sanity.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Was it really okay to leave Lord Nyarl behind?” Rosalia asked.
“I’m sure he’ll be fine,” I said.
After defeating Emilelio, we rode back to the Divine Spring in the Hamilton territory. The original plan was to go home with Nyarl, but apparently he had business to attend to, so he let us leave ahead of him in his carriage. We’d only just switched from his carriage to a pair of mine. Now, we were headed for the Divine Spring.
“Is Astesia okay?” Rosalia asked. “I feel bad she ended up riding in a carriage all by herself because of me.”
“Don’t worry about it. The curse is just that strong, so it’s not your fault,” I reassured her. “Since she’s with White, she should be okay.”
In fact, she was probably happy as could be, getting to cuddle with the little guy. I couldn’t help but crack a smile as I pictured her playing with him.
There were actually two reasons Astesia was riding in a different carriage: one was out of consideration for Rosalia, and the other was because Astesia requested it. According to her, she needed time to mentally and emotionally prepare herself for when the curse was lifted, so she wanted some privacy until then.
In exchange, she asked that I let her borrow White for the time being. I had a hunch that she just wanted to cuddle with him in private, but I resisted the tactless urge to bring that up. I was sure she genuinely had a lot to think about.
“Ah, do you think the letter got to Angela?” I asked.
“I’m sure it did,” replied Rosalia. “I think she is probably headed this way as we speak. You are very kind, Lord Weiss.”
“Yeah, well, I just want my fave to find true happiness.”
“Your…fave?” Rosalia looked puzzled by my words as she parroted them back to me.
Right, right. No one used slang like that in this world. As I tried to think of how to explain the concept, she smiled kindly at me.
“I do not know what that word means, but I do know that it is a good one,” she said. “In that case, would it be accurate to say that you are my fave, Lord Weiss?”
“Uh, yeah… Th-thanks. This is kind of embarrassing.”
I watched Rosalia smile devilishly, leaving me kind of bashful. But this wasn’t the old me. I was Weiss now, so I could handle this, no problem! In response, I decided to say the sort of lame line that only a hottie could get away with!
“You’re my fave too, Rosalia.”
“Hee, hee, thank you very much.” She giggled. “Even if you don’t mean it, it makes me happy to hear that… We should be arriving shortly.”
Rosalia reddened as we gazed at each other, and amid this sweet atmosphere, the view through the window turned a verdant green.
When we reached our destination, I descended from the carriage and walked toward the one Astesia was in. Anyone else ran the risk of hurting her.
“Hey, Astesia!” I called out. I could hear White making his little noises inside.
“Oh, gosh. You are just so super-duper cute! Wanna come homie-womie with me? I just wanna be together with you foreber and eber.”
I opened the door without knocking and saw Astesia holding White in her arms in pure ecstasy, speaking as though she was talking to a baby. Honestly, I wanted to tell her to knock it off and get ready to disembark, but I resisted the urge as we made eye contact.
After a moment, the happy smile faded from her face.
“So, we’re finally close to the Divine Spring…” she said in a flat voice.
“Y-yeah. We can lift the curse on you now.”
“I’m really going to be free of this curse. It has been a long journey… Thank you, Weiss. I swear I’ll repay you some day,” she said seriously. Almost too seriously.
She was seriously trying to pretend nothing had happened! Upon closer inspection, I noticed that her face was still a little red despite her attempt to look nonchalant. Jeez, there was no need for her to hide her love of animals.
“All right,” I said, “let’s get a move on. Are you mentally prepared?”
“Of course. I’m still a little nervous, but I’ll be fine.”