TCMED 25

Chapter 25

At my words, Ion’s eyes widened slightly before he broke into a gentle smile.

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

I moved closer to the railing and stood there. Even though it was just one floor higher, it felt more open than the second floor where I was staying.

I found the Guide Star, this world’s North Star, and shifted my gaze westward. I could see four stars forming a crooked spiral with a bright star at its center.

That was the Wave’s position. The constellation that the first Saint had supposedly seen for the first time upon emerging from the path of pilgrims where the waves crashed.

“It’s been a while.”

“What has?”

“Looking at the stars like this.”

“……”

Ion didn’t ask me why I hadn’t been watching them all this time. I was comfortable with that silence.

With just one more person beside me, the guilt I’d felt every time I looked up at the stars had eased a little.

“Is there a reason you came to like them?”

At the sudden question, I turned my head toward Ion.

He was leaning back against the railing, looking down at me. With that same transparent gaze of his.

I raised my eyes back to the sky.

He was asking why I’d come to like looking at the night sky. There wasn’t any particularly grand reason.

“I once read something someone wrote.”

I rounded my thumb and forefinger into a circle and raised it to the sky. So that the moon fit perfectly inside.

“When I was young, I was taught to mock people who couldn’t pick up the silver coins that had fallen to the ground because they were too busy looking at the moon. But as I grew older, I realized that wasn’t necessarily true.”

To be exact, it wasn’t a silver coin but a sixpence. But that was an English coin, and naturally didn’t exist in this world, so I vaguely glossed over it.

“I got curious about what that meant, and as I kept looking, I just naturally came to like it.”

At that time, I had been a little depressed, and the night sky I saw after reading that gave me strength.

Out there in the distance, nothing would have any meaning—so rather, it made me feel like I could love everything.

At times like that, I felt like a slightly better person, which I liked even more.

With that and the memory of walking the Milky Way when I was reincarnated as the catalyst, I’d even dabbled in astronomy on my own, though only at an amateur level.

“Lame, right?”

I lowered my arm and laughed awkwardly. Ion, who had been quietly listening to me, shook his head.

“Not at all.”

He took a step closer to me. The blanket that had slipped down when I raised my arm was draped back over my shoulders by Ion’s touch.

“I like hearing you talk, Titi.”

His green eyes curved tenderly.

“So come often.”

“……”

“Of course, it’s fine if you come and don’t say anything at all.”

“……”

I pressed my lips tightly together and looked up at the one who wore moonlight like a halo.

Honestly, I still didn’t really understand. What had I done to deserve such kindness?

Where was I supposed to store this affection, and how was I supposed to repay it?

My hand unconsciously clutched the blanket.

“You’re really kind……”

As I mumbled so ungracefully, Ion smiled like the moon.

Suddenly, I had a feeling that I would remember this scene for a long time.

Though it had been impulsive, I was glad I’d come here.

I had just promised to visit Ion often that night, but for a while, I wasn’t able to keep that promise.

It was because the Recovery Festival, a small holiday of the Mitteb Church, was approaching.

The Recovery Festival was said to originate from Mitteb giving a saintess a fortnight of rest before she died, having foreseen the day of her death.

During this period, most priests would leave for the world for a fortnight to commemorate its meaning—but really, it was just a vacation.

And I was getting that vacation this time too.

And I was the only one in the Saint’s office to get it!

*<Titi, I don’t want to go either……>*

*<You’re the Saint……>*

Ion, who was scheduled to tour the crack-affected areas during that period, had come to me the day before and whined.

But I’m on vacation now so……

It was so hard keeping the corners of my mouth from curling up while I tried to soothe him.

Working at the temple, running around for the crack emergency support, and suffering until dawn—all that hard work was finally paying off.

For some reason, I felt a lump in my throat and wiped under my nose.

“Ahem.”

Heheh?

“It’s nothing. Let’s hurry.”

Heeeh!

And so, right now, I was on my way to the imperial palace with Maximus to take care of my last schedule.

All I had to do was submit the plan outlining how the temple would handle the crack incident response team’s work during the Recovery Festival.

With a light heart, I visited the Crown Prince’s palace and found the assistant’s office.

“Ah, Priest. You’re here.”

“May the stars guide you. I’ve come to submit the plan I mentioned earlier.”

I handed the document envelope to the assistant, who greeted me with a bright demeanor.

Once I submitted this, I would officially be on vacation.

“Yes, His Highness the Crown Prince is waiting inside.”

Submit only……

“You’re here.”

I was clearly only supposed to submit it.

Why was I in the Crown Prince’s private office?

As soon as the door opened, sunlight streamed in through the full-length windows, stabbing my eyes.

High-end furniture, bookshelves filled to the brim along both walls, and a landscape painting by the famous painter Soma hanging among them gave the room an overall antique atmosphere.

And a long desk placed in front of the windows.

The red-haired man seated there was, by anyone’s account, the master of this space.

I swallowed dryly and walked toward where he was.

“……May the stars guide you. I greet His Highness the Crown Prince.”

Honestly, I was quite flustered. It was far from common to see the Crown Prince just to submit a single document.

And perhaps because the Crown Prince was the main villain of the novel, I had an inexplicably ominous feeling.

“Yes, I heard you’ve organized the response policy for the Recovery Festival period.”

“Yes. Here it is.”

The Crown Prince pulled the paper halfway out of the document envelope I’d handed him. After casually scanning just the title, he rose from his seat.

“There’s much to discuss. Sit.”

His black eyes looking down at me were hidden behind smiling eyelids.

I clenched my facial muscles tightly to hide my reluctance.

The relevant matters had already been coordinated long ago. This was just the final draft.

And yet, much to discuss?

It was obvious. He definitely had some other ulterior motive. The problem was that I had no idea what it was.

“……Yes.”

I followed him and sat on the reception sofa.

The Crown Prince, sitting in the seat of honor with his legs crossed, slowly flipped through the documents one by one.

I watched him for a moment, then shifted my gaze toward his desk. There, a mountain of other documents was piled high.

Currently, the only person in the imperial family capable of carrying out normal duties was the Crown Prince. That mountain of work was proof of that.

It was self-evident, even upon reconsideration, that he had no reason to spend time on this matter, which had already been settled.

What on earth was it?

“Your face will crack.”

“……Ah, I apologize.”

Geez, that startled me. His field of vision rivals a goat’s.

Leaving me flinching, the Crown Prince set the documents down on the desk.

“There don’t seem to be any further revisions needed. Well done.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Now I’d appreciate it if he’d let me go.

But the Crown Prince showed no sign of intending to do so. If that weren’t the case, he wouldn’t be resting his elbow on his crossed leg and propping his chin up to look at me.

Can I return that line about my face cracking?

“……Is there something you wish to say?”

But I couldn’t do that, so I asked indirectly. Unfortunately, this was a hierarchical society, and the person before me was the country’s highest authority.

“……”

Yet even at my question, those eerily deep black eyes simply stared at me in silence. An unpleasant tension ran down my spine.

Just as I was about to bolt from my seat and flee, the Crown Prince relaxed his posture and sat up straight on the sofa.

“Have you ever thought about the cause of the cracks?”

It was an unexpected question. Both the content and the person being asked.

*’Why is he asking this to a priest who just came to deliver a single document?’*

While my mind raced busily, my mouth moved honestly.

“If you’re asking the temple’s official position, we don’t have one yet.”

The cause of the cracks was one of the things Ethan had sought to uncover in the novel.

But I didn’t know the cause. Because I’d died before finishing the novel.

All I could guess was that Ethan, as I knew him, would have succeeded in both the revolution and identifying the cause.

“Now that the Crack Incident Committee is established, I intend to devote all my efforts going forward to finding a way to eliminate the cracks.”

As the Crown Prince, this was an utterly natural statement.

Nevertheless, the reason it sent a chill down my spine was probably because of those eyes, as deep as a bottomless abyss.

I suppressed the urge to scream asking why he was telling me this.

“I see. I trust Your Highness will devise another brilliant strategy this time as well.”

The Crown Prince, who had been gauging something from my reaction, suddenly lowered his voice.

“Some voices are claiming that the cause of the cracks is the imperial family’s corruption. That Mitteb has become angered by the blood shed in the previous generation’s conquest wars.”