“System… what did you just say?”
It didn’t sound like the familiar system prompt. That voice just now sounded more like someone speaking directly to her.
[Attention: To maintain Transmigration, the System needs to collect System Points from the Host.]
[Current remaining points: 10.]
[Converted to remaining Transmigration time: 20 days.]
[Points deduction will occur at midnight tonight.]
The System’s prompts turned into subtitles in Ai’er’s field of vision, appearing in one corner. This seemed to be a new feature added by the System after her recent awakening, allowing her to see text similar to a “history log.” But even so, the strange words from the System that had felt so foreign to Ai’er did not appear here.
It was as if it were just a bug, an insignificant interlude.
The lines of subtitles there seemed to be telling Ai’er: ‘You don’t need to care. You only need to complete your mission.’
“System, you —”
Knock, knock, knock.
“Young Lady, it’s Fina. Breakfast is ready. Would you like to eat here or at the dining table?”
Fina was waiting outside the door, but Elena, who was holding Ai’er, did not respond. She simply rubbed her cheek silently against Ai’er’s neck.
“Um… Elena?”
“…I don’t want to.”
A whisper as soft as a spoiled child’s plea, accompanied by warm breath, brushed past Ai’er’s ear.
“I don’t want to let go… Don’t leave me…”
The arms around Ai’er tightened once more. Elena’s cheek continued to rub against Ai’er’s tender neck. She was like a young girl unwilling to get out of bed, clinging tightly to her own personal pillow, refusing to part with it.
Elena always felt that the girl in her arms was like a dream she couldn’t catch.
‘If I pretend to stay asleep… would I be able to keep seeing this dream forever?’
However, Ai’er didn’t know what Elena was thinking. She only felt that Fina, who was being left out at the door, was quite pitiful.
Knock, knock, knock.
“Young Lady? Are you there? May I come in?”
“Miss Fina, please bring the meal in. Elena, she —”
Bang!
The door was pushed open abruptly.
“Miss Ai’er! You… you’re awake! You’re finally awake! This is wonderful, truly wonderful…”
The moment her eyes met Ai’er’s golden pupils, Fina covered her mouth with her clasped hands. Those Ink-blue Eyes, which were strikingly similar to Elena’s, began to shimmer with tears.
‘Not again??’
Elena was already clinging to her, and looking at Fina’s state, it seemed she was about to pounce and hug her too…
‘Speaking of which, wasn’t there one more maid?’
“Miss Ai’er?!”
Anna, who had rushed over after hearing Fina’s voice, appeared at the doorway now, her eyes wide with shock.
‘Don’t come any closer! I don’t want to become the filling in a sandwich!’
Ai’er understood: if both Fina and Anna pounced on her, she would never be able to leave this spot. Ai’er tried to struggle out of Elena’s embrace, but Elena increased her strength, locking down the last bit of space Ai’er had to move. It was a soft pressure, one that made Ai’er’s cheeks turn slightly red.
‘No, I have to think of something!’
In an instant, Ai’er remembered how she had escaped Elena’s lockdown back in the Student Council Office.
“Ugh… Elena…”
With a slightly trembling voice, a hint of a sob, and a bit of effort to squeeze some moisture from the corners of her eyes — “It hurts.”
— Eh?
In that moment, Ai’er froze.
‘My trump card… it didn’t work?!’
“Doesn’t it hurt for me too? You’re always like this… every time, you just fall asleep without saying a word… Ai’er, do you know? I hurt, too. My heart… it hurts so, so much…”
As Elena spoke, her arms tightened even further.
But that didn’t seem to be enough. She used the tip of her nose to gently nudge aside a few silver-white strands of hair covering Ai’er’s skin. Facing the girl’s fair shoulder and neck, she revealed her small canines —
‘Ack!!! Why is she biting me?!’
But in the next instant, the moment a slight stinging pain came from her shoulder —
A flash of terror, like a blood-red barrier, flickered before Ai’er’s eyes — like a sense of déjà vu.
Ai’er’s body reacted faster than her brain.
“Elena!”
Ai’er’s voice, laced with anger, startled everyone else in the room.
Taking advantage of the moment Elena lost her strength due to the shock, Ai’er immediately broke free from Elena’s arms. Her golden eyes glared at Elena as she raised one hand —
Slap!
“I hate you for this!”
*
“Oh my god…”
On the carriage, the accompanying maid gasped as she listened to Elena reach this point in the story.
Aside from everything else, someone actually dared to slap the Lady Witch before her… Even the current Emperor of the Empire or the Pope of the Holy Church wouldn’t dare do such a thing, right?
Seeing the shocked expression on the maid sitting across from her, Elena merely smiled and turned her gaze toward the morning sun gradually rising over the horizon.
“Then… what happened after that? Lady Elena… you must have been very angry at the time, right?”
“Very angry?”
Elena raised her eyebrows slightly, withdrawing her gaze from the window to look at the maid out of the corner of her eye. “Why do you say that?”
“Well… you were clearly so worried about Miss Ai’er. You held her in your arms and tried to pour out all your emotions to her with a trembling voice… but from the sound of it, Miss Ai’er didn’t seem to appreciate it?”
‘…So that’s how my words sounded to an outsider?’
Resting her left elbow by the carriage window, she curled her fingers and pressed her cheek against her knuckles. Elena’s peripheral vision remained on the maid, but she lightly crossed one leg and hooked the corner of her mouth, letting the rising light from the horizon freeze within that faint smile.
“Being hurt by someone important is not an unpleasant feeling. On the contrary, I found it quite refreshing. ‘So Ai’er can make such a face, and she has a side like this…’ I didn’t expect that my first reaction would be like that, either.”
As if remembering something, Elena gently placed her other hand on her cheek.
‘If the household servants saw you like this, they would probably find it very refreshing too,’ the maid could only say to herself, understanding only half of it.
The Witch before her — the Lady Witch who had completely ended the Monster Tide and ruled the Duchy for over 300 years — actually had such a human side to her?
But more than that, the maid wanted to hear what happened next from the Witch. For instance… what happened to Miss Ai’er after that?
A moment later, Elena spoke again.
“And after that —”
A string of golden light particles suddenly pierced through the carriage roof, condensing into a golden line of light in front of Elena. The light twisted and wove together, eventually turning into a rectangular sheet of light. An instant later, the glow faded, leaving behind only a piece of letter paper.
Elena’s eyes swept over the words on the paper, and a smile gradually blossomed in her gaze… along with a hint of — madness.
“Stop the carriage.”
When the convoy came to a halt, a Knight appeared at the window beside Elena.
“Change our destination. Before heading to the Imperial Capital, I want to visit the place written on this letter first. After all, if I visit the Holy Church without bringing a souvenir, Ai’er will surely lecture me once she finds out.”
Elena was smiling, but when the maid beside her saw that smile, she felt a chill run down her spine. She couldn’t explain why. She just felt that her master was planning something monumental.
“What kind of souvenir do you plan to prepare?”
After asking the question instinctively, the maid immediately covered her mouth and lowered her gaze. But when she looked up again, Elena, who had only been looking at her out of the corner of her eye, was now staring directly into her eyes.
Elena’s mouth curled into a slight grin. On the half of her face that the morning light failed to reach, a deep darkness flashed within her Ink-blue Eyes.
“The White God Holy Church fights the Black God Church every day, yet they don’t even know where the enemy’s largest stronghold in the Empire is. How laughable. In that case… the head of the High Priest of the Dark God Cult should be an excellent souvenir for the Holy Church.”
The moment those words left her mouth, the maid, who had heard every single syllable clearly, sucked in a breath of cold air.
The High Priest of the Dark God Cult — that was a position second only to the leader of the Black God Church. It was said that even a Great Mage could not contend with such a person alone!
Although there was more than one High Priest, the one stationed in the Empire was definitely a terrifying existence!
The sound of the carriage wheels turning once more made the maid swallow hard.
“It’s a bit of a pity, though. Let’s talk more about Ai’er later. I’ll have to trouble you to continue being my listener then.”
Elena gave a smile to the maid, whose back was still cold with fear.