WSHTV 10

Chapter 10

A few days after Deminic had disappeared as suddenly as he had appeared, Bellona found herself staring at the face of a young man she had encountered.

She had a feeling this life wasn’t going to be an easy one either.

“This is a dangerous place.”

The figure blocking her path as she hurried along was far too familiar.

“…Why are you here?”

A short, incredulous laugh escaped Bellona.

She had left her family’s carriage parked on the main road and entered the back alleys with her hood pulled over her head, with the clear goal of reaching the information guild.

“What? What do you mean…?”

Brown hair.

Brown eyes.

There was nothing particularly distinctive about his appearance, but if the brown was replaced with the familiar golden color Bellona knew so well, he would become someone she knew very well.

Ruils.

The promising holy knight of the temple.

“Do you know me?”

“No. I don’t. I mistook you for someone else.”

The moment their eyes met beneath her slightly raised hood, Ruils froze.

Bellona immediately pulled the hood down deeply again, but his gaze followed her persistently, as though he had been bewitched.

Seeing him like this brought back the nightmare of her previous life.

He was the one who had branded Rose, her maid, as evil and cut her down without hesitation after she had lost her sanity under the influence of black magic and become like a puppet.

“There was a chance. There was a chance to save her. Couldn’t the priests have done something with their divine power?”

“I’m sorry, Young Lady Rosentin. The temple’s rule is that evil must be eliminated immediately upon discovery.”

Rigid and stubborn by nature, he had ultimately put the temple’s orders first.

He had arrived too late to save them because he had been busy protecting the temple, which hadn’t suffered any damage.

“I know you swore your loyalty to the temple. But I wish you’d at least know what kind of place the group you swore loyalty to actually is.”

Overcome by the grief of losing someone close to her, Bellona had poured out those resentful words because she wanted to hurt him in the same way her heart had been hurt.

“I hate people like you the most.”

Even after that, he remained one of the strongest cards she could use against Deminic.

But at the same time, he was exactly the kind of person Bellona hated the most.

“Don’t just blindly follow orders. Try using your head and thinking once in a while.”

“I’m… sorry.”

When Bellona had held Rose’s cold body and cried endlessly, the brown-haired young man who had only recently outgrown his boyish appearance had stayed beside her and personally built a grave for Rose, even though Bellona had only wanted to bury her somehow.

Back then, Bellona had genuinely mocked him as a hypocrite.

So perhaps in her first life, when Bellona still believed that life had an end, she had thought she would never forgive that young man until the day she died.

But now…

Bellona slowly blinked, pushing those memories aside.

The man standing before her was no longer the dazzling golden knight who had awakened his divine power.

He was merely an ordinary young man with brown hair.

Even his clothes were so ordinary that no one would know he was a trainee knight belonging to the temple.

Even the sword at his waist looked ordinary.

“You seem like a young lady who grew up very sheltered. It could be dangerous if you go any farther.”

“I think we’d be better off just going our separate ways.”

But that didn’t mean Bellona wanted to talk to him.

She deliberately looked down at the ground without making eye contact and tried to walk past him.

Yet he stepped in front of her again.

“I’ll accompany you and protect you until we reach a safe place.”

“You?”

“My skills are more than sufficient.”

“Go find another lady who’ll be so touched by your chivalry that she’ll let you escort her.”

Her sarcasm was obvious.

But Ruils’s neck turned bright red, and he awkwardly turned his head away.

It seemed he had interpreted her words in an entirely different way.

Perhaps he had suddenly thought of one of those common love stories between noble ladies and knights that tended to become popular every spring.

“I—I had absolutely no intention of….”

“I know you didn’t mean it that way, so forget it.”

As always, what an annoyingly rigid person.

He acted first without thinking, possessed an utterly useless and shallow sort of goodwill, and never seemed to have a plan for anything.

Bellona knew that Ruils was acting out of genuine good intentions.

But remembering the Ruils of the past, who had obediently swallowed the temple’s brainwashing like a frog trapped at the bottom of a well, constantly going on about the temple and the word of God, made it impossible for her to shake off her twisted feelings toward him.

Besides, it had been a long time since she had actually spoken to him.

I didn’t expect him to return to the capital already. Did Deminic’s different actions become a variable?

Bellona had deliberately avoided him because she didn’t want to deal with him, so in her recent lives, she hadn’t even had a reason to speak with him.

“Go help someone who actually got lost instead of me.”

“I simply want to make sure that the person standing before me is safe.”

Ruils pretended to have regained his composure, but the tips of his ears were still red.

Any other noble lady might have found this innocent, frustratingly earnest handsome man cute when he blushed like that.

But Bellona certainly didn’t.

Why did he have to be here?

And why did she have to run into him at this exact time?

Then she noticed the bundle he was carrying in his hands.

Only then did she remember.

Ah, right. His mother.

He had a mother who had died young—or rather, was destined to die young.

She was his only family, already suffering from a serious illness that could no longer be treated, yet Ruils continued to care for her with everything he had.

Bellona understood why he was dressed like this.

It would be difficult to buy effective medicine for an illness at a low price from ordinary shops.

With the salary he receives from the temple, there must be a limit to how much medicine he can afford.

Knowing too much was a problem.

When you actually met someone and spoke with them, your heart naturally softened without you realizing it.

And because of that, Bellona eventually began thinking that perhaps she could make use of his abilities.

After hesitating for a moment, she finally gave a small nod.

“If you follow me, you’ll have to do me a favor. Are you still going to follow me under the excuse of protecting me?”

She had deliberately come out without even bringing her family’s guards.

They were Count Rosentin’s people—in other words, her father’s people.

They were unnecessary for what she was about to do and wouldn’t be of any help.

But Ruils was different.

He had nothing to do with what was going to happen in the future, yet he might be willing to grant Bellona a favor.

She didn’t need overwhelming force.

Still, she thought she might be able to make use of his identity if something happened.

“Is it something that involves harming someone?”

How could someone be this consistently rigid?

It was a perfectly natural question, but Bellona still found it difficult to suppress her irritation.

“No. If anything, it’s the opposite. There’s someone I need to protect.”

Today, Bellona intended to establish a new heir to the Rosentin Count’s family.

Then I need to move quickly.

Without bothering to check whether Ruils was following properly, Bellona simply walked ahead at a brisk pace.

“If you don’t mind me asking, may I ask why you’re going to the information guild?”

His voice beside her was calmer than she had expected.

Bellona tightened the hood she had pulled deeply over her head and answered indifferently.

“No. I don’t want to tell you.”

“You said there is someone you need to protect, so doesn’t that mean your intentions are good?”

Bellona eventually stopped.

As always, Ruils possessed superhuman senses and managed to stop just before he bumped into her.

“…Judging things so decisively isn’t a good habit.”

“I’m sorry.”

His kind brown eyes immediately showed that he accepted her words, and he apologized without hesitation.

Bellona thought there was no point in showing her irritation in front of someone like this when it would only put her at a disadvantage.

So she turned around again and continued toward the information guild.

“Since I said I’ll accept your help anyway, you can listen to it yourself and decide what you think.”

She didn’t want to waste time arguing like this.

To accomplish what she had come out for today, there was someone she needed to find as quickly as possible.

Then something caught the edge of Bellona’s vision.

It might have been her imagination, but she thought she had seen someone’s silhouette.

“Is something wrong?”

Ruils looked in the same direction, but there was no trace of wariness in his eyes.

“No. Let’s go.”

If Ruils wasn’t on guard, then whoever was there clearly couldn’t have had malicious intentions.

Bellona shook off the strange feeling that someone had been watching her and continued walking.

Bellona stopped in front of an old wooden door belonging to some building.

Without even bothering to knock, she pushed it open.

Except for an area that looked like a counter, the dark interior was so empty that it felt almost eerie.

Bellona stepped inside and walked forward without hesitation.

Ruils, who had been following closely behind her, followed her in as well.

“What brings you here, customer?”

A large man with a rough, intimidating appearance and several scars across his face slowly stood up from his seat.

Beside Bellona, Ruils instinctively reached for the hilt of his sword.

“Don’t draw that carelessly, Ruils.”

Worried that he might ruin everything, Bellona turned her head slightly and placed her hand over his, stopping him.

Ruils’s eyes widened, and he hesitated.

The strength in his rough, calloused hand slowly relaxed.

“How did you know my name…?”

Oh, no.

Bellona’s face filled with dismay.

Once again, knowing too much information was clearly becoming the source of unnecessary problems.