662 – 8. Last words (36)
The sunlight penetrates my eyelids. The light that spread like fog covered the outline beyond it with a blurry shadow.
Where is this place?
I was still troubled with a clouded mind. I could feel the eyes of several people surrounding me.
The first one to open his mouth was the shadow on the other side.
“Visual hallucinations, auditory hallucinations, or delusional disorders… It may be more serious than I imagined.”
When I move my tired gaze, the shadow finally lifts. Then an old man with a familiar face caught my eye.
His eyes were fixed on the papers in his hand. I wondered if it might be a document that summarized my eccentricities last night.
Yes, it was.
I let out a sigh as the memories came to mind one by one. I met Delphirem last night, the saintess returned, and a bowlful of blood poured out of my mouth, perhaps because of my excessive excitement.
The result was my miserable appearance now.
In front of a major figure from each country, sitting helplessly and listening to interrogation.
Thankfully, I didn’t feel sick to my stomach. It must have been because the saintess took measures in advance, but she wasn’t particularly happy.
From Noble mtl dot com
This meant that the saintess looked at my messy body.
After a while, a lament filled with fatigue and annoyance flowed out.
“How long do I have to stay like this? To be honest, I am not a sinner.”
“Well, I am not a sinner. I am just a patient.”
The old priest and the Patriarch of Eindel did not hold back. I was taken aback by that statement.
“Why am I a patient?”
Even after spitting it out, oops, that was what I wanted to say. No matter who sees it, I am not a ‘patient’ now.
I couldn’t help but call a person who vomited blood a ‘patient’ even if it was a little overbearing. If so, the placenta among patients admitted to the intensive care unit will have to be discharged.
But Patriarch Eindel had a newer point of view.
“Didn’t I tell you? Hallucinations, hallucinations, or delusions…. Severe. It usually necessitates isolation.”
It was a gentle tone. As if he was just telling the plain truth without any remorse.
So I had a hard time suppressing the repulsive feeling that rose up against my uvula.
“I am normal.”
“Every patient says that. Even after going wild in an empty room at night.”
“Didn’t I tell you? There was a ‘Delphirem’…… !”
“Ha ha ha.”
In spite of my heated objection, Archbishop Aindel just burst out laughing. It was a reaction that clearly showed what he thought of my argument.
Just before leaving the seat and getting up.
“Stop.”
A tone that had collapsed damply from heavy fatigue flowed out. Nevertheless, he could not hide his beautiful voice, and the owner of the voice was no less beautiful than him.
Silver hair, light pink eyes. She had a pale complexion, probably because she had suffered a lot in her heart, but on the contrary, she was a woman whose weak side enhanced her beauty.
As the people of the world call it, ‘Saint Lucia’. She used to be called a ‘saint’.
As soon as I saw the shadow on his face, I turned my head away. It was because he remembered the face of the saintess he had seen last night.
The saintess saw me pounding on an empty wall until her fists were covered in blood.
He had a ‘serious’ expression. It’s by far the worst face I’ve ever seen.
So, it was hard for me to recklessly rebel against the saintess’ words. The same was true of Patriarch Aindel, who had to serve saints as a priest.
Silence settled at once. The audience remained silent until the saintess let out a voice as dangerous as her pale complexion.
“For now, it is better to keep all possibilities open. The opponent is the Dark Church. I don’t know what they did, but there is room for contact through hallucinations or hallucinations.”
“Ha, Saint Lucia. If that happens, Ian-nim’s future treatment…….”
“And Ian.”
Patriarch Eindel’s flirtatious objection was quickly omitted.
Instead, at the solemn voice calling me by name, my eyes slipped toward the epicenter. There, a light pink pupil was staring at me.
As if sad, distressed, or angry.
All of them were high-density emotions. Finally, I groaned and closed my eyes.
“You are quarantined for a while.”
It was a treatment that was decided without any discussion.
No matter how much she was a saint, she could not exercise her right to appoint a person belonging to her family, not to the kingdom. Even I am not one of the nouns of the empire.
In hindsight, it was a remark that could be called a diplomatic rudeness.
But no one here wanted to take issue with it. This was true even though the representative of the empire was openly present.
This means that a consensus has already been formed on my disposition.
It was the ending I was expecting, but I had no choice but to find a way out.
“But, saintess… ….”
“This is not a decision just for you. As I just said, we decided to look at this situation with all possibilities open. Therefore, we cannot recklessly expose you, whom the head of the Dark Church is targeting.”
Whoa, I let out a sigh and covered my face with my hands.
It was an outlier. I was the one who testified that I had met Delphirem, and if I had decided to quarantine because of that, I would have nothing to say. Did the Dark Church know what to do and leave me alone?
Unexpectedly, there was another person who took my side.
“Hmmm, isn’t that a bit excessive? According to the old man’s medical findings, he was simply mentally ill…….”
“There is still one more issue to be discussed.”
Of course, the saintess didn’t even eat the seed.
Patriarch Eindel finally cleared his throat awkwardly and lowered his tail. Come to think of it, he didn’t even know that the reason why he dared to label me as a psychopath just now was to side with me.
He was an old man who didn’t know his true intentions.
While I sighed and gave up my protest, the saintess and other representatives of each country continued their discussion.
“The disposal of Celine Haster.”
The sensation of blood gushing out of blood vessels.
I opened my eyes as soon as I heard the subject. I even raised my body halfway, but surprisingly, the audience did not pay attention to me.
Even the saintess struggled to maintain her cold expression.
The answer to the new topic came quickly.
“I have to kill you.”
It was the first word of the swordsman, who had been silent throughout the meeting, and the consensus of everyone gathered here.
Including the saintess.
I cried out again, unable to hold back my heartache.
“Celine, in a way, is a victim…… !”
“Baby.”
It was a worn out voice. I felt a certain sincerity in the tone that didn’t even feel any emotion.
The swordsmith’s deep blue eyes were staring at me.
“I had a time like you. It felt like I could do anything with just one sword, and I felt like I could protect anyone. But it wasn’t until I lost the person I was most precious to, that I realized it. In the end, the sword is just a tool for killing.”
The attitude of the swordsman to say that was by far the most insincere among those present. With his two hands supporting the back of his head and leaning comfortably on the backrest, he looked like an adult watching a trivial childhood game.
But the presence conveyed by those eyes is genuine.
I had to bite my lip and avert my gaze.
“That is the fate of a swordsman. Sometimes, there are things you cannot protect, and only when you realize that can you become an adult.”
I wanted to ask you to wait a little longer.
But what shame am I?
I already missed an opportunity once. The stronger Celine got, the more she sinned. And it always will be.
I searched for my side with the feeling of grabbing at least a straw, but there were very few people present here. Shiene was still hospitalized, and Siene-senpai was absent for some reason.
All the castle kingdoms are on the side of the saintess and the swordsmith, and the southern ten kingdoms have been wiped out in the previous raid, so they are absent.
At least there were a few figures from the academy, but we couldn’t expect the right to initiate. It was an issue that the swordsmith of the empire, the saint of the holy kingdom, and the patriarch agreed on.
Who dares to argue?
It’s a yard where even I have nothing to say.
When I finally couldn’t find anything to refute, the saintess let out a small sigh and resumed her discussion.
“Then we should pay more attention to two aspects. First of all, Celine Hastur has stolen hundreds of souls. We need to investigate what its purpose is, and also talk about the main body of the Seven Sins artifact.”
“Did the saintly madman say nothing?”
“Yes, the saint did not say anything else.”
“Then I have no choice but to ask the Grandmother of Daesoorim… ….”
While I was sitting there without saying anything, numerous issues came up on the topic and were agreed upon again.
The only people who actually had the right to speak here were the swordsman and the saint. Progress was swift, and soon the two men were able to get themselves together after all necessary consultations.
There is only one person left with regret.
It was me. That was the reason why I held onto the arm of the saintess who was about to leave immediately after sorting out the paperwork.
For a moment, the attention of the audience was focused, but it didn’t matter. Because my mouth was spitting out business on its own.
“Let’s talk.”
And static.
Bewildered eyes moved back and forth between me and the saintess. Looking back, it was as if I had suddenly spoken unflatteringly to the heavenly deputy. No matter how much I was the continent’s hero, it was an overly rude remark.
The saintess, who had no way of knowing this, also stared at me with a bewildered look on her face. The moment when such an awkward silence was about to linger.
“…… It’s a good time.”
The words that Patriarch Eindel had uttered echoed as he clicked his tongue. Naturally, the gaze of the audience moved to him, but the old priest did not even look embarrassed.
On the contrary, it was to the point of returning a look of bewilderment.
“What are you all doing? Not going out… They say the two of them are talking, but ‘just the two of us’!”
And then time begins to flow again.
The attendees, alerted, hurriedly packed their belongings and left the room. The swordsman also gave me a strange look, but in the end he didn’t intervene between me and the saintess.
It was the saintess who was bewildered.
As if she had no particular intention of talking to me, the saintess was startled and looked around her, then sighed.
Because the atmosphere was already over.
In the end, the saintess had no choice but to ask back while sneaking away from my gaze.
“What do you want to say?”
“Are you serious about what you just said?”
It was a question that came out without filtering. Of course, there was no specific subject or object, but the clever saintess instantly realized what I wanted to say.
No, I might have realized that a long time ago.
I don’t know if that’s why he was reluctant to talk with me alone.
A painful sigh escaped from the mouth of her saintess. A pupil who turned towards me with a pale face and gloomy fatigue.
The answer was short and simple.