Suddenly, I’m facing a ceiling I remember.
I get up and look around.
“Is this… My room…?”
I’m not supposed to be here. I abandoned Roland, and followed the lady to Minerva.
I wonder if this is a dream, and pinch my cheek.
“Ouch…”
Apparently this is real.
I get off the bed, and leave the room with my bare feet.
I see a long hallway decorated at regular intervals with exotic foreign paintings.
Each one of these paintings costs what a commoner would make in a lifetime, so they are good measures of the difference in status.
I keep walking, and find an open door.
If my memory serves me right, this was his bedroom when he was little.
I peek inside, and see a man standing at the balcony.
When I go in, the door closes, prompting the man to notice me and turn around.
This is the crown prince of this country, and my brother from another mother, Ghise. He has a condescending smile on his face.
“Hello my dear sister Sephilia. I was starting to worry that you were dead. How does it feel to return home after all this time?”
Says the crown prince with an amiable tone.
“Being taken to a place I did not wish to return to feels awful.”
“Don’t make that displeased expression. You will ruin that beautiful face.”
“Please stop trying to act like an older brother at this point. Let me go back to Minerva right away.”
“So cold… You really can only see that girl.”
He is most likely referring to Iris.
This man has some sort of obsession with her.
“Enough, let us not stand and talk. We can have our happy reunion after one year, as we have tea. Sit down.”
Says Ghise as he orders me to sit on a chair.
To be frank, I am not good at dealing with him, but I still have many questions, so I do as he says.
Then, someone stands behind me without making a sound.
When I feel this strange presence and turn around, I see that girl.
Her hair is pure white, almost transparent, and her clothes are an oriental type of clothing called a kimono.
Unlike last time, she is not wearing an oni mask, or any mask for that matter.
There is a vague demon’ness to her.
“Ghise, who is this?”
“A wonderful reinforcement from the east. She is helping me kill that guy Loyd.”
“Are you insane? Why are you so fixated on an adventurer?”
“You don’t know the humiliation I faced.”
“And I don’t want to know. Stop thinking about these stupid things and act like a ruler.”
“Watch your language, Sephilia. I could level the whole country of Merzelia if I were so inclined. Be thankful that I am stopping at killing Loyd.”
“Stop screwing…!?”
I was going to punch him in the face for saying such nonsense, but I freeze when the girl points a dagger at me from behind.
“It would do you good to not move.”
“…Why are you helping this lowlife?”
“Fufufu, let’s just say I am avenging my cute junior.”
“Junior? Avenging?”
“Someone you know quite well. The one with that affected way of talking.”
Says Ghise.
“Black Raven?”
“Correct. She is very important to me. If you hurt her, I won’t be satisfied even if I pay you back a hundred times.”
Says the girl.
“You really stirred a hornet’s nest. You might have been happy to see Black Raven defeated, but thanks to that, her ally came to me!”
Says Ghise with a proud laugh.
“Fufufu. Sooner or later, he will come to save you. Just relax until then, damsel in distress.”
She says as pulls the dagger away from my neck.
“Hmph, do you understand, Sephilia? You are never leaving this place. If you want to be treated well, be quiet and do as I say.”
Says Ghise before letting out a scornful laugh.
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