Karina felt the urge to immediately ask Jeremiah what he had seen. But.
'Let's calm down. I'm not even sure if he saw my past memories or not.'
And even if he did see it.
'There's no way he would have been that upset about that.'
At best, he thought it was just a vain delusion. She calmed down and decided to focus on the current situation.
'Come to your senses.'
Right now, resolving the situation is the priority. Karina tried to look away and asked Pavel.
"Is there any way to meet the dragon again?"
She thought she could just enter consciousness once more. She had to go and find out about the contract and the return from the dragon.
'You said the soul was in pieces.'
It was a very serious matter, her life at stake. But unfortunately, Pavel shook his head.
"There's no guarantee that you'll meet the dragon even if you enter the consciousness. From what I've heard, it seems like both of you were kicked out of consciousness as soon as you encountered the dragon."
"..."
"If you force yourself to go back in and make a mistake, you might end up trapped there and never be able to get out."
At Pavel's words, Mikhail stood next to her with a concerned voice to dissuade her.
"Karina, the risk is too great."
"I don't think it's a very good method. I wouldn't recommend it."
"Yes..."
Karina swallowed her bitterness and answered.
"Whew. Madam says she doesn't remember anything about the contract with the dragon, so we're in big trouble because we don't have much information to figure out what's going on."
A silence fell between them in a state of bewilderment. At that moment, Jeremiah, who had remained silent next to Karina, spoke for the first time.
"If you're done talking, I'd like you to take Karina and return to the Empire as quickly as possible."
"Yes. First of all, it is important to return to the empire quickly."
Pavel agreed, but Karina objected.
"I don't want to go back."
"...!"
Jeremiah's eyes shook greatly at her words. Regardless, Karina continued to speak.
"Please let me stay here until the problem is resolved."
"Unfortunately, that might be a bit difficult. Madam is currently in a stable condition, but who knows if it will continue to be like this in the future."
"That... Couldn't the Lord of the Tower help me? Please."
She begged earnestly, but it was no use.
"I think it would be better to keep the terms of the deal with the dragon. If you fall asleep and lose consciousness again, you may have to pay a greater price then than this time."
"A bigger price?"
Karina was confused. Now that she thought about it, the dragon had said that she would pay a price at the end. But she had no idea. what that price was.
'If...'
She asked with a slightly wrinkled face.
"Surely you're not taking a piece of my soul in return..."
"No. That's not it at all."
Pavel immediately denied it.
"...?"
Karina was puzzled by the denial, which was so immediate and decisive.
"Anyway, for now, it's best to return to the Empire. For now, take this guy and keep him by your side."
Pavel nodded to Mikhail.
"I will also look for related documents here, and if you remember anything else, please contact me through this guy."
He brought Mikhail along as a way to contact Karina.
"All right."
"We can finally be together"
Mikhail was overjoyed to be back with Karina again.
"Then I will use a teleportation spell so that you can go straight to the Grand Duke's residence. I will prepare and come back, so please wait here for a moment."
Pavel said that and dragged Mikhail out, who refused to go. Karina and Jeremiah were the only ones left in the room. The awkwardness quickly set in. A long, suffocating silence followed.
"Karina."
Jeremiah, who seemed to be thinking about something with a serious expression on his face, called out to her in a soft voice. Karina turned her head slightly to look at him.
"..."
But he didn't say anything for a long time even after calling her.
"If you call, just say something."
Finally, Karina, unable to bear it any longer, said something.
"That..."
"...?"
Still, Jeremiah couldn't open his mouth. In fact, he was confused. From his perspective, the most accurate and quick way to confirm the truth was to ask Karina herself. Whether the memories he had seen were really hers. Why did she have those memories? And if, by any chance, she was rejecting him because of those memories.
There were so many questions he wanted to ask. But he couldn't bring himself to say a single question out of all of them. Because he was afraid. If even one of those memories were real. If it was true that she had experienced those terrible situations.
'Then I...'
His mouth was dry. What kind of eyes and expression would she have when she said it was true? He couldn't imagine it at all right now.
Karina just hesitated for a while and gave him a dissatisfied look when he didn't answer. A heavy silence continued between them.
Knock!
The door opened with a knock and familiar faces came in.
***
"Your Highness!"
Karina was startled by the loud shout.
'Those are the Northern Knights. Are they here too?'
They were some of the Northern Knights who had come to the Cursed Forest with Jeremiah to rescue her. Jeremiah looked at them with an indifferent face.
"You've arrived."
"Yes, we arrived yesterday."
They were full of questions and concerns, expressing their worries and concerns.
"Your Highness! Are you alright?"
"I was so surprised to hear that you were unconscious."
"I'm fine, don't worry about it."
Jeremiah calmed them down and told them to be at ease.
"Is Your Highness okay?"
The knights who saw Karina also spoke to her in a friendly manner.
"I heard that the Grand Duchess also lost consciousness for several days."
"Ah. I'm okay too."
Karina answered, dumbfounded.
"I'm glad you woke up safely."
"I was really shocked when you suddenly disappeared from the Grand Duke's house."
"As soon as they learned that the Grand Duchess had disappeared, the atmosphere in the Grand Duchess's household completely froze..."
"It was so difficult for anyone to even utter a single word."
"Don't you know how scared His Highness the Grand Duke was at that time?"
Karina found their friendly demeanor strange and awkward.
In the past, she rarely had any conversation with knights.
Perhaps because they had come to the Cursed Forest to rescue her and had seen her before, they felt a sense of intimacy with her. Karina was a bit taken aback, but she didn't feel too bad about it.
"As soon as His Highness found out that the Grand Duchess was at the Magic Tower, why didn't he run away alone like last time?"
"You always leave us behind?"
"Ah..."
Karina blinked, not knowing how to react.
"Please, Grand Duchess, just say a word to His Highness the Grand Duke and ask him to take good care of us."
"Please. His Highness the Grand Duke has been paying a lot of attention to the Grand Duchess these days."
"It will definitely work."
Jeremiah stopped them from continuing to chatter.
"Stop it. Stop talking nonsense and be quiet. She needs stability."
"Oh, yes."
"Sorry."
The knights nodded awkwardly and stopped talking. Soon Mikhail and Pavel returned.
"Good. All the knights are gathered. Everyone, come and stand here. I will send you back to the Grand Duke of Colesberg in the capital."
Things were easy because Mikhail knew the coordinates of the Grand Duke's private residence in the capital. When everyone gathered, Pavel stomped his foot on the floor. Then, a large glowing magic circle appeared beneath them. As soon as the magic circle appeared, light began to flash and surround them, just like when Mikhail used a magic circle.
"Thank you for checking it out!"
Karina quickly thanked Pavel, not knowing that she would leave so soon.
"What did I do? Those two guys over there did it all. You don't have to thank me."
She heard Pavel's voice speaking indifferently. It was clear who the two guys he was talking about were.
"Don't worry about it, it's just how it is."
Mikhail, who was next to her, whispered softly in the same indifferent voice. Karina somehow found herself giggling. And so they were able to return to the Grand Duke's residence in an instant.
***
As the light that had brightly filled her vision disappeared, her surroundings began to come into view. It was in front of the main gate of the Grand Duke's residence in the capital. Perhaps because she had just moved, her vision spun slightly and she felt dizzy. Karina's body swayed slightly as she lost her balance. Jeremiah and Mikhail immediately supported her from both sides.
"..."
"..."
The two engaged in a fierce war of nerves, glaring at each other with Karina in the middle. The knights around them were taken aback by the sight. However, they were not oblivious. They quickly turned a deaf ear or cleared their throats and pretended not to see.
"It's okay now."
Karina stood up straight and pulled out her arms that had been supporting the two men.
"Go to your room."
"Are you going to your room?"
Jeremiah and Mikhail each spoke. Karina nodded. It felt right to go into the room and organize her thoughts to re-establish future plans. However, a completely unexpected person was waiting for them at the Grand Duke's residence.
"Are you here?"
Karina was surprised when she entered the private residence.
'Father?'
It was Margrave Milliner, Karina's father.
'Why is father here?"
Her eyes turned cold as she discovered him. Jeremiah was the same. When he frowned with an expression of displeasure, the butler standing next to him lowered his head deeply with an expression of apology.
'I see.'
It seemed that the Marquis of Milliner had forced his way into the Grand Duke's house while the owner was away. There was no way a powerless servant could stop him.
"Who are he?"
Mikhail asked in a small voice from the side.
"... my father."
Karina hesitated for a moment and answered with a dark expression. Mikhail noticed that her expression was not good and carefully observed the situation.
"The house is nice. The rooms are spacious and well-lit. The layout isn't bad."
He said this while sitting on a chair and leisurely crossing his legs.
"However, it is a bit inconvenient that there are not many servants compared to the size of the mansion."
Judging from the way he was talking, it was clear that he had been hanging around the Grand Duke's house like it was his own while they were away.
"So I brought over a few of the servants who worked well at our house. I'll make sure to give them a special thank you."
It was clear that he did it on purpose, knowing that Jeremiah would reject it.
"It is not proper to enter a house without an owner."
There were more than a few issues to point out, but Jeremiah started with the most crucial part. However.
"I'm not a stranger. I can come to my son-in-law's house. What's the problem?"
As expected, the expected brazen retort came back.
Support Novellate!
Comments
Post a Comment