118 – Early Summer
Roel blinked dumbfounded at my sudden words.
“… The church is targeting you?”
“It’s not just me. Even Bella, Flavia, Ilia, and Rosalyn here. Yes, the people you value have become the goals of the Church.”
I tried to look as serious as possible. Fortunately, as if my efforts had worked, Roel touched his lips with a serious expression like mine.
“… Why is the church targeting me? There would be no reason for that.”
“Yes. That’s why it’s so important….”
I deliberately paused once to increase the tension, then continued.
“Because the warlock you killed is a member of the Church.”
My words made Roel’s eyes widen a bit.
“I see, so….”
“From the village of Destin to the academy raid. My brother confronted the cult and blocked their plans. As a result, the church recognized it as an enemy that interfered with the plan and aimed at his brother’s surroundings. I think this time, too, the church lured Claire into trapping Bella. Perhaps Dwin had a hand.”
I couldn’t tell the truth that the cult was aiming for Bella’s body.
I couldn’t explain how I knew it, and the timing was important information that Bella and Roel shouldn’t know yet.
As I gave Roel a moment of thought, I checked once again to make sure there were no gaps in the lie.
Roel asked if he had finished his thoughts.
“How did you know that Bella fell into a trap?”
Certainly befitting the main character of the novel, Roel was quick to ask the most difficult questions for me to answer.
But I’ve already prepared a plausible lie. Even Bella, whom Roel trusts, will help me with my lies.
“… Do you know that he is a modist?”
Unlike Roel, who tilted his head in bewilderment, Bella’s expression stiffened when he heard Modistra’s name.
Roel’s eyes demanded an explanation, so I shifted her gaze to Bella.
“That’s the name of the secret information guild in the capital. Because it is used secretly, it is not accessible to anyone. It’s also a place I often use.”
At Bella’s explanation, Roel made a surprised expression. Is it natural to have a strong reaction? Or is it a natural habit she developed from being attached to Rosalyn?
I shrugged her shoulders and replied lightly to Bella, who glanced at me with her strange eyes.
“Right. Modist, an information guild that operates in secret. After the academy raid, Modist approached me.”
“A modist?”
Roel asked with sharp eyes.
“I didn’t approach you with bad intentions. He must have become interested in me just by going to the village with his brother, fighting the warlock, and investigating the raid on the academy.”
Perhaps he was worried about me at the word approach, Roel scratched his cheek with a relieved expression.
“The modist asked me about what had happened and the church. I sold information on what I was researching, and they liked my information.”
I stretched out my hand and took out the purple dagger that Estelle gave me from the storage room.
“I got this as a gift from Modist. Out of pure goodwill towards me, without a price.”
Well, Estelle didn’t give the gift with bad intentions, so this was true.
Bella’s eyes widened slightly as she listened to the explanation without words. The fact that Modest, who hadn’t flinched despite her own efforts, showed favor to me first, seemed strange.
“You mean Ross is secretly popular because he looks like me~?”
I raised my eyebrows while keeping my mouth shut at Roel’s usual smirk as he glanced at me.
After putting the dagger shown as evidence back into the space storage, I continued my explanation.
“When I was having dinner with the members, Modist informed me that the Church had set Bella into a trap. Hearing that information, I hurriedly went to rescue Bella.”
“Why did Modist give you information? He could have saved Bella himself or notified the Knights.”
At Roel’s question, I said the excuse I had prepared without panicking.
“Well, maybe it’s because it’s an information guild, so it lacks power. It may be that he wanted to avoid the secretly operated Modist from outside eyes. Whatever it is, it’s true that Bella was saved thanks to Modist. It is true that Modist called the Imperial Knights.”
I glanced at Bella, her expression very confused. Obviously, what I said earlier was a lie, but what I said later was the truth, so it was natural for me to be confused.
I spoke to Roel in a serious voice.
“Hyung, the fact that I saved Bella shouldn’t be known to others. Knowing that fact, the Church will investigate Dwynn’s death and will track me and Modist. If they knew that I interfered with their plans, they would definitely try to kill me.”
Estel had written a hand beforehand, but I had to say something plausible so that Roel could understand my lies.
Chin-
Roel’s hand was suddenly placed on my shoulder.
“Don’t worry. I have no intention of letting the church or anything hurt my brother.”
I had a strange feeling that the person who said this was the main character of Munchkin. Relief? Strong? I don’t know what to say, but it wasn’t a pretty bad feeling.
Roel put his hand on my shoulder, hesitated for a moment, then came over and sat down next to me, who was sitting on the edge of the bed.
“Thank you so much for saving Bella.”
The earnest sincerity in Roel’s voice made Bella keep her mouth shut. Feeling a bit embarrassed, I scratched the back of her head.
“My older brother is someone I love. Of course you should.”
Roel, who had a strange expression on my face, tried to say something, but in the end he shut his mouth and only tapped my shoulder.
“I’m sorry. Even if it was a misunderstanding, it was true that it caused damage to Luna and Ellie. Bella and I will personally apologize to both of you.”
“Is it really necessary for the older brother to come forward? Rather, it would be a burden.”
I implied that he should drop out, but Roel shook his head as if he had already made up his mind.
“I am going to apologize separately from Bella’s work. It’s true that she didn’t know even though she was around.”
Roel looked up at the ceiling.
“I owe you a lot too. Saying thank you is not enough.”
It was a heartfelt statement, but Roel looked down from the ceiling and spoke in a cold voice in an instant.
“But next time, put your life first. Bella is also a precious person to me, but you are also a precious younger brother to me.”
I was speechless at Roel’s sudden words and observed Roel with my mouth shut for a while. Unlike usual, I felt strange seeing Roel staring at me with an expressionless state of unknown emotion.
I felt like I remembered seeing these eyes somewhere. I tried to remember, but nothing immediately came to mind.
There was definitely an itchy spot, but he frowned at the pain of not being able to clearly pinpoint where it was.
“Of course not. I am not a great person enough to die for others.”
I was not a heroic person who sacrificed one minority for the survival of ten thousand people. The scale inside me was a broken scale that couldn’t be centered even if I put tens of thousands of people on the other side, if one person was the person I had to protect.
Saving Bella was all driven by the need to protect someone dear to me. If it weren’t for that reason, I would have watched Bella’s death.
“And stop investigating the cult now. Keep your distance from Modest now.”
“Why?”
I was taken aback, Roel said in a low voice.
“Because if you get involved with the church any more, it could be dangerous as you said. I will take revenge for this incident. I want you to forget about the church and spend your daily life as peacefully as you do now at the academy.”
It was a sweet offer. Leaving all the troublesome tasks to Roel and living a normal academy life with Luna and her members.
But I couldn’t accept the offer. Luna’s family had to be prevented from being exterminated, and other tragic stories had to be prevented from happening.
However, I couldn’t reveal this fact to Roel, and there was no particular reason for rejecting the offer. It was just a matter of adding one more lie to Roel, so I nodded without thinking.
“I like it.”
“I promised. I won’t get caught up in something like this in the future. If anything happens, don’t step out and tell me to help you first. I will help you anytime.”
It’s a bit difficult for me to lie while looking into Roel’s eyes, so I answered while slightly averting my eyes.
“… Okay.”
Roel gave me a satisfied smile at my answer, then turned his gaze to Bella.
“The church shouldn’t know that it was Ross who killed Dwin. I need a different reason for Ross being knocked down. Can you help Bella?”
“You saved my life, of course I should help. I’ll make sure Ross’s name doesn’t come up anywhere on this one.”
Bella asked, turning her gaze away from Roel and looking at me.
“The reason he collapsed… I think we can just pretend it was an accident while training Principal Nelson’s notarized magic. The cause is disguised as magical exhaustion.”
I inadvertently nodded my head at Bella’s appearance of making a plausible excuse in an instant. Rumors spread around the academy that my magic had been notarized by Principal Nelson. For others, it was a good enough reason.
Roel asked.
“It sounds good to me. What do you think?”
“I think I like it too.”
I agreed and Roel nodded and rose from the bed.
“Okay then, let’s leave this task to Bella. And as for the apology, we’ll go and make it ourselves, so don’t worry about it any more.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
I smiled as Roel looked at the situation. Perhaps he was glad that the lie had worked, and suddenly felt something like a sense of accomplishment in his heart and scratched the back of his head.
Thinking I’ve lost my mind, I turned my head away from the two of them and looked out the window.
While I couldn’t feel it outside the window, time passed quietly as always, and summer was approaching before I knew it.