She says I’m quiet when I’m with her. I thought about what that could an, but nothing ca to mind.
Of course I talk when I need to — what else?
“Why, were you bored?”
“No.”
“What, you want to request so music or sothing? They’ve got it in the room service nu.”
“No. I an, no.”
“Then what?”
“Don’t mind . Go. That girl seems like sothing’s wrong with her.”
Her head, turned slightly toward the window, stayed fixed on the scenery.
Rebecca’s words could be blunt, but she didn’t say aningless things. I thought it over again — still didn’t get it.
And just then—
From the narrow gap by the picture fra behind Rebecca’s back, soone poked their head out.
That guy.
Been a while since I saw the familiar peeking spirit of the Constellation of Espionage.
This ti, he wasn’t alone.
Below him was sothing else.
What’s that one supposed to be?
Another Constellation of Espionage?
But I’d never seen one shaped like that before — the eyes were odd, the head not round but kind of angular.
“Let’s go.”
Okay.
Either way, I took Eve with to Glory’s compartnt.
***
“Eve is your younger sister — a female Hero who hasn’t killed anyone.”
It landed about the sa as saying: I’m the armored giant, and she’s the super-giant.
“...What?”
Glory froze, mouth opening and closing. Understandable.
He’d just been hit with a secret-of-birth reveal out of nowhere.
“What is that...?”
“You really didn’t know?”
“Sister? I think there’s so mistake... I’m an orphan. From Wonderland Village...”
“You and she were found together by the village chief.”
Then I explained to Eve as well — this is your older brother, a Hero who can’t wield the Holy Sword because he killed soone.
“...!?”
She was just as oblivious. Looking at Glory in wonder like she’d just learned sothing new.
Eve signed sothing to , asking a question for Glory.
“What’s that signal?”
“It’s sign language. A way to talk with your hands. Eve’s hearing is impaired. She can’t hear a word you say no matter how you say it. You didn’t know?”
“Had no idea. Or... maybe I heard sothing like that...”
“......”
I’d always thought Eve’s slightly ditzy monts were because she was a demon — maybe it was hereditary.
Two elephants that only know how to fight.
“Anyway, Eve’s asking why you killed.”
“...I didn’t want to.”
“She’s asking why you did sothing you didn’t want to.”
“...I don’t know. I don’t want to talk about it.”
“She says you dodge questions when you’re at a disadvantage.”
“......”
It clicked for then — that ‘Waaaugh!!’ Eve had described earlier — Glory must’ve reflexively lit up his eyes and glared at her.
Smack!
I cuffed him on the head.
“Eyes.”
“...Sorry.”
“We’re supposed to be saving the world together. No need to be that aggressive.”
“...I’m sorry. I behaved poorly.”
“Why’d you do it earlier? She says you blew up at her.”
“...It’s nothing serious. I just... have so ntal issues...”
A standard case of cracked ntal health, apparently.
“I’ll refrain from now on. Could you pass my apology to Miss Eve?”
I taught Glory the sign for sorry.
Better to say sothing like that directly, not through a ssenger.
'Sorry.'
Glory signed it.
...凸
The elephant flipped him off.
“That’s sign language too, right? What does it an?”
“She’s telling you to screw off.”
“......”
Glory wilted.
Eve seed well and truly spooked.
“But—”
I was curious.
When the sword was drawn, Glory had failed and Eve had succeeded.
Would he be unable to use it even now?
With that in mind, I told Eve to take out the Holy Sword.
By now the train had entered an underground mine. 「Peacebringer†」 shone with a gentle light all its own, casting a soft glow in the darkness.
A beauty worthy of the na Holy Sword.
“......”
Glory stared at it, slack-jawed.
Like Kim Jong-un looking at a nuke.
Like Qin Shi Huang gazing at the elixir of life.
Like Kim Gu watching the K-pop phenonon...
'Let him try it?'
'Sure.'
First, I tried touching it myself.
The mont my hand touched the hilt, a soft yet powerful resistance t .
< Sorry. >
< You can’t hold . >
That’s what it felt like the weapon was saying.
Tried again — sa thing. A force pushing my hand away in midair; I couldn’t even get a grip.
Eve’s expression was twisting in real ti, so I quickly passed it to the next candidate.
“...You want to try?”
“You holding it is the point here. Co on, hurry up. Eve’s a demon — holding the Holy Sword too long will injure her internally.”
“...Ah.”
Glory blinked, then reached for it cautiously, fingertips trembling like aspen leaves.
Crack!!
A rough arc of lightning snapped — [Mana Scar]. Glory jerked his hand back, fingertips scorched black.
“...It rejects .”
“...Seems so.”
Different from the refusal it gave .
Rougher. More direct.
< Get lost! >
That’s probably what it ant.
Eve was clutching her stomach, face screwed up, like her guts were twisting — told to put it away, quick.
anwhile, Glory was like Kim Jong-un without his nuke — his face crumpling, on the verge of tears.
What kind of man has mood swings like this? Even with his mouth turning square as he cried, he still managed to look handso — strange, that.
“Hey. Cut it out.”
“......”
“No need to take it so... you know, to heart.”
“......”
“Besides, you’ve got your magic sword.”
...Wrong thing to say?
Glory burst out sobbing even harder.
The guy wept like it was the end of the world, mouth open wide enough to fit a rice ball.
“Leave alone...”
“What about her?”
“Handle it yourself...”
So we got kicked out into the corridor.
Slled sothing nice.
'Food?'
'Yep!'
Might as well feed Eve.
***
We had dinner together. Eve eats like an elephant, so it took a good two hours. By then, Glory had stopped crying.
After sending her back to her room, I returned to mine — Rebecca was sitting there alone, posture as upright as ever, staring out the window.
“You were gone a while.”
“Yes.”
“Not bored? Without Sir Lay around.”
“I’m fine.”
“All right.”
I sat down, figuring it was nothing — but sothing about her mood seed faintly off.
Normally, with that serial killer temperant, she’s probably in a bad mood 23 hours and 50 minutes a day, so I ignored it.
But this ti, she spoke first.
“It’s evening.”
“It is.”
“Turns out it’s quite a long trip.”
“The airships aren’t flying, so it can’t be helped. Even if it’s inconvenient, we’re almost there — maybe an hour left.”
“I wasn’t complaining.”
“If you’re bored, I can put on so music.”
“...I’m not bored.”
“Then what do you need?”
“No... Would you like to eat? It’s alti.”
“Hungry? Want to order sothing?”
“What about you?”
“I already ate with Eve while I was out.”
“...I see.”
Just then, the two little creeps behind Rebecca changed expressions.
│ㅅㅇ)
│ㅅ♥]
Why.
What.
A mont ago they were all smiles — now blank-faced.
And why the hell are they even here?
“Oh, right. Speaking of — Eve’s Glory’s sister, and the two of them are siblings.”
“Siblings?”
“That’s how it is. And ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) Eve’s not purely human. She’s also hearing-impaired.”
“That much is obvious.”
“So people didn’t know.”
“......”
Rebecca glanced at .
“Did you already know sign language?”
“No.”
“It looked natural. Or do you know soone else who’s hearing-impaired?”
“Never did before. Learned it after eting Eve.”
“Why?”
“What do you think? So I could talk to her.”
“That’s unusual.”
“What is?”
“You seem awfully considerate. I didn’t think that was your nature.”
I was idly answering while looking at my scuffed shoe — then looked up.
“What?”
“What what?”
“What’s your problem, Princess?”
“No problem.”
Really?
Maybe I was imagining things.
It was a very subtle feeling.
When I was a kid, if my uncle so much as coughed at the dinner table, I could tell what mood he was in.
This felt the sa — peaceful words with sothing oddly tangled underneath.
“Did I do sothing wrong?”
“No.”
“Is it uncomfortable sharing a space? Glory also asked to be left alone earlier.”
“Why would it be uncomfortable? We’re married.”
“Married?”
I couldn’t help but laugh — Rebecca smiled faintly too.
Not once since our contract marriage had I thought of it that way.
“Cut the awful jokes.”
“Awful, is it?”
“Co on, you think I’m awful too, don’t you? We only signed that contract because we both wanted to hunt demons.”
“True. Even if it were real, I’d be the one losing out.”
“I’d be the one losing.”
“I doubt it.”
“No, I would.”
“What nonsense. I’m eight years younger, and a princess. If it were real, you’d have to treat like royalty.”
"..."
Whatever the case, even talking hypotheticals about that wasn’t pleasant.
“Right.”
I waved it off.
Knock knock!
Soone rapped at the door — when I opened it, a train staffer startled and bowed deeply.
“It’s an honor to serve a royal guest. My apologies for not realizing sooner.”
“Oh, it’s fine. I liked being able to travel quietly.”
“Shall I prepare a al for you?”
“No, thank you.”
Rebecca smiled politely, all princess-like.
“You said you were hungry.”
When I asked, she shook her head.
On the [Mini-map], I could see train staff lined up against the corridor wall. 【Script】 chat read, Oh my, it’s the princess. That’s Dante... and so on.
I’d gotten plenty of looks like that in Redmilk too — plenty of people curious about what was between Rebecca and .
Then blood dripped from Rebecca’s nose.
A lot of it.
It ran down her chin and stained her white clothes.
“Ah.”
The aftereffects of her internal injuries hadn’t fully healed.
Rebecca wiped at it with the back of her hand — I pulled a tissue from the box and handed it over. She took it and dabbed at her nose. Then she said—
“When it’s soone else bleeding, you wipe it for them — but with , you just hand a tissue?”
Soone else?
Thinking about it, that could only an Eve.
“So what do you want to do?”
“Sothing. You need to get in the habit now so it looks natural when others are watching. Don’t you know there are eyes on our compartnt?”
Get in the habit...
Absurd — but maybe worth considering. I was keeping too much distance from her. The most I’d ever done was link arms before the king.
“...Fine.”
Not thrilled about it, but I decided to act friendly in advance.
Tissue in hand, I approached Rebecca to wipe near her upper lip where the red had spread.
She was looking away, which made it less awkward — my hand was just about to touch her mouth when—
Bang!
The door burst open — Eve again. I pulled my hand back and turned to her.
“What now? Glory kick you out again?”
Eve grinned and signed — Glory had cried himself to sleep, and she was bored.
'Then stay here.'
'Okay!'
I relayed that to Rebecca.
“Let her do as she wants.”
Eve gave Rebecca a half-bow and sat beside .
The compartnt had a stack of picture books on the side shelf — Eve pulled one out and held it to .
'What’s it about?'
Since she still wasn’t great with written words, I had to translate the contents to her in sign language.
I could feel glances now and then — Rebecca, who’d stared out the window when we were alone, was now watching over here.
“What? Want to read you a picture book too?”
“...I can read.”
“I know.”
So I only read to Eve.
Rebecca didn’t say another word after that.
“......”
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