TRSTD 02

Chapter 02

“H-H-How did you know?”

The assistant cleric, his face drained of color, asked as if he couldn’t believe it.

Arina’s complexion was just as pale as his.

She couldn’t possibly say, even if her mouth were ripped open, that she had been betrayed by her family, fell for a devil’s temptation while dying, and turned back time.

“I heard a voice in my dream.”

Even uttering the syllable for ‘devil’ would surely get her thrown into a bathtub filled with holy water on the spot, so she spoke as evasively as possible.

“A voice… you don’t mean?!”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I mean.”

“Goodness.”

The assistant cleric clasped his hands together and repeatedly uttered the divine name ‘Temer.’ Although it wasn’t actually that deity, she didn’t bother to correct him.

“I only want you to know about this, Father.”

“Are you saying I shouldn’t inform anyone?”

“Yes.”

Arina half-closed her eyes and lowered her gaze, putting on a pitiful expression.

“I don’t want to cause confusion around me with uncertain information.”

“But if that disease really is true…!”

“Please.”

Having managed to return to the past, she couldn’t possibly walk down the exact same path as before.

“…The healer hasn’t left the temple yet, so I’ll go relay this right away.”

“I’m sorry to ask you for such a favor.”

“Not at all. This must also be the will of the gods.”

Amidst the silence that fell after the assistant cleric left, she lay on the bed and recalled the moments right before her death.

What on earth was that light?

While pouring out curses filled with resentment, a dark red light seeped into her vision. Remembering that the direction was downward, she lowered her head and saw something protruding around her chest.

Realizing what the object was, Arina thrust her hand inside her clothes and pulled it out.

A silver bird-shaped necklace gleamed in her eyes.

This isn’t it.

What had been hanging around Arina’s neck until before was not a swan symbolizing Temer, but a teardrop-shaped blue jewel.

It was the sole gift and keepsake left to her by her fiancé, Lucius Acklin, after his death.

Arina had kept it on her body until the very moment she died. And suddenly, she gained a realization that the energy wrapping around her body had come from that necklace.

“Why did that person have an item imbued with demonic magic…?”

Demonic magic. That was a mysterious power that only beings of the demon realm, such as devils and magical beasts, could use.

How could someone who possessed neither divine power nor aura, unlike his older brother, wield such an item?

The answer to that could be found in an unexpected place.

The rumor that he was the child of the 1st Empress was true.

The imperial family of the Karant Empire, where Arina lived, had inherited demonic magic generation after generation.

This was because the founding emperor was a devil, and they had occasionally been unable to suppress their rampaging magic, slaughtering humans and animals alike wherever they encountered them.

To prevent this, the imperial family took a Saintess with opposing powers as a consort, and because of that, the demonic magic faded with each passing generation to the point where they now only had slightly sharper five senses than an ordinary person.

However, she understood that those occasionally born with vast demonic magic were locked away in the temple from childhood under the guise of ‘protection.’

Was he living under the identity of Lord Acklin to avoid that?

Regardless, if he truly was of the imperial bloodline and could use magic, and if she had traveled back in time through a necklace imbued with that power, it meant she could overturn the misfortune right in front of her.

If she could alter the timeline, she could certainly cure the incurable disease as well.

“This is it!”

At the exact moment Arina shouted in triumph and bolted upright, the assistant cleric walked back into the room.

“On my way here, I saw Young Master Bellins.”

And he delivered unexpected fury.

“That bastard… My older brother?”

“Yes. It seemed he was looking for you. He must have heard the news that you collapsed and rushed over in a single breath.”

At those words, Arina let out a small, scoffing laugh.

She, too, had once thought he came because he cared about her.

Unfortunately, however, Noel’s reason for visiting was to warn her.

“From now on, behave properly so I don’t have to be bothered by such trivial matters and come all the way here.”

As his cold back, leaving only those words behind, flickered before her eyes, Arina’s expression twisted unpleasantly.

Noticing this, the assistant cleric hurriedly added a concluding remark.

“Thinking it might be difficult for you to meet your family right now, I didn’t escort him here.”

Being exceptionally perceptive and having assisted Arina by her side for a long time, he had vaguely sensed that the two of them did not get along well.

Thus, Arina felt genuine gratitude toward him for taking care that she wouldn’t meet Noel while her state of mind was fragile.

In my previous life, I was too busy keeping my own head above water and couldn’t look after him properly, so I should give him a good position this time.

As Arina got out of bed with such thoughts, the assistant cleric did not try to stop her as actively as before.

“Where are you planning to go?”

Knowing that she would evade the older brother she wasn’t even close with and flee to a safe place, he asked a question instead of trying to dissuade her.

“Somewhere that human can’t find me.”

“Perhaps the outhouse…?”

“No way.”

Cutting him off flatly, Arina opened the door, only to close it right back upon catching sight of wheat-colored hair not far away.

“Tch.”

As she clicked her tongue harshly, the restless assistant cleric clenched both fists as if making a resolution.

“I’ll go out and pretend to go crazy and body-slam him, so slip away in that gap.”

“Even if you do that, a delicate person like you would just bounce right off a human whose only virtue is unneeded muscle.”

“Then I’ll grab his trouser legs and hold on.”

“No. There’s no need to go that far.”

Angry footsteps were gradually drawing closer across the corridor. If she stayed like this, she would surely be discovered and subjected to stomach-churning nagging.

Since he’s a clergyman, he can’t commit murder out of personal grudges, so he must be hiding somewhere.

Knock, knock.

Suddenly, a heavy, deep voice came from the door along with a knock.

Suppressing the goosebumps and murderous intent creeping up her spine, Arina walked toward the other exit.

“Aah! Gods!”

Draping divine power over her body, Arina effortlessly leaped down from the height of the second floor and bolted forward, leaving a faint scream behind.

As she rushed out of the temple at full speed, she saw a carriage engraved with the Bellins crest parked in front of the entrance.

Since it’s come to this, I might as well completely run away from that rotten bastard and go check on my fiancé’s condition while I’m at it.

Quickly organizing her thoughts, Arina unhesitatingly opened the door, and at the sound, the coachman, who had been dozing off, turned around in startled surprise.

“L-Lady?”

Recognizing that the uninvited guest was the heartless youngest daughter who had turned her back on the family and fled to the temple, the coachman’s eyes twitched.

Whether he glared at her as if she were displeased or not, Arina stated what she wanted.

“Head to the Acklin Castle immediately.”

“Pardon? But the Young Master is still inside…”

“This is also the will of the gods, so stop talking nonsense and do as you’re told.”

Intimidated by Arina’s imposing aura, the coachman hastily set the horses moving.

Thanks to subduing the coachman with her gaze, she arrived at the Duke of Acklin’s estate earlier than expected. However, Arina could not casually step across its threshold as she had in the past.

“I apologize, but the Young Master says he does not wish to see the Young Lady.”

The head butler thoroughly treated her as an uninvited guest, bursting in without any prior notice.

So he’s a man who hasn’t shown his nose for two years, is that it?

Despite his rude attitude, Arina forced down her displeasure and smiled brightly.

“Then could you please inform the Duke that I wish to see him right now?”

“His Lordship is currently away, having been invited to the Chevalier Duke’s estate along with Her Ladyship.”

His attitude was as firm as though he would not budge from the doorway even if he were to die. The gaze she fixed on such a head butler turned icy in an instant.

“Then that means neither of them is here right now, correct?”

“Yes. Therefore, although it is presumptuous, you must please return for today…!”

Before the head butler could finish speaking, she drove a spear of light forged from her divine power straight into the main gates.

With a loud crash! the massive doors were blasted off their hinges.

“I am here in the capacity of a servant of the gods. Naturally, the power I just displayed is also the sacred power bestowed by the deity for the sake of the world.”

The culprit who had blown away the front gates out of nowhere clasped her hands together with a face full of benevolent smiles.

“All of this is an action in accordance with the will of the gods, so I hope you will not be too angry.”

The head butler, covered in billowing dust, and the guards stationed at the entrance all wore expressions of sheer shock.

“What in the world is this…!”

The wrinkles on the head butler’s face deepened further. Thinking he could no longer handle this on his own, he hurriedly called for backup.

The man who came upon hearing his urgent plea for help was a man with brown hair and a fairly kind-looking impression.

Ron Chandler, the right-hand man and adjutant of the Duke of Acklin.

Along with the Duke of Acklin, he was a comrade-in-arms who had rolled around on piles of magical beast corpses for five years.

Therefore, knowing very well that she was not someone to pull off such a stunt without reason, he took the current situation very seriously.

“Surely this isn’t retaliation for the last subjugation?”

When he asked if it was because of the strategy where their lord had used the noble presence before him to lure out magical beasts, Arina shook her head from side to side.

“If not that, then why on earth are you doing this…?”

Looking at the blown-away doors with troubled eyes, Ron’s upper body tilted slightly to the side. He willingly bent his knees for Arina, who was pulling down on his arm.

“Truth be told, up until an hour ago, I had collapsed from overwork due to three days of all-night paperwork.”

“Then you should be at the temple. Why have you come here?”

“Never mind that. The dream I had back then…”

While the two of them were deep in whispers, the head butler pondered how to go about repairing the shattered main gates. Then, suddenly hearing the words “Let them in,” his eyes widened in alarm.

“You cannot do that, Lord Ron. To carelessly invite an outsider inside while our masters are away—”

“I am well aware of what Mr. Alberto is concerned about, but the matter is urgent. And we aren’t in a position to stop this person either, are we?”

“Even so…”

The head butler still glanced at Arina with disapproving eyes. Gradually growing annoyed by the blatant contempt, she suddenly thought of something and slowly moved her lips.

“There is a saying in the Holy Scripture.”

“Suddenly the Scripture?”

“Hilla First Epistle, chapter 2, verse 4. The Lord hath said, ‘In walking through the world, one cannot always receive only love.’”

Everyone present listened intently to her singing words with reverent faces, as if they had come to a mass.

“If there is love, there is also hatred; do not grieve because of those who envy you, but embrace them willingly.”

“……”

“And, if there is no reason for that hatred, forge a clear reason so that they themselves may realize their own foolishness.”

Finishing her words, Arina gently closed her mouth and looked across at the head butler.

The red eyes staring at him shone ominously.