“Do you remember? I mentioned before—the bandits that suddenly appeared on the road were all adults, but none of them had proper equipment or any intent to kill. From the start, they were only trying to scare us; the moment they sensed danger, they ran away. They didn’t act like bandits at all, more like refugees fleeing disaster.”
“The assessment, huh… The assessment should end before the New Year, right? By then, you’ll be able to call yourself a Holy Knight openly. I won’t say anything like ‘good luck,’ Rita. You can do it, and you must do it.
“As for the unrest outside, it really is odd. We still don’t know how their so-called ‘control’ works, or what this ‘happiness’ really means, but what’s happening in this village shouldn’t be an isolated incident. Doing something like this in a remote village is anything but normal.
“Normally, we wouldn’t have needed to stay here. We didn’t take this route on the way here—actually, under normal circumstances, we’d almost never pass by this place. It’s just that we got up too late today and lost time.”
“Maybe they’re investigating the oddities nearby, or perhaps they’re deeply connected to whatever’s happening here. With the Royal Selection approaching, they probably want to stand out even more. The fact that Lilia and her knight appeared here in the middle of the night is the best proof of that.”
Cecilia rested her head on Rita’s stomach, speaking in fits and starts—about Solus City, about the assessment, about recent events. Her words were slow, but her mouth hardly paused for a moment.
Rita just listened, listening as Cecilia’s tone gradually grew calmer, though an undercurrent of strangeness remained. Cecilia spoke only of others, and when it came to herself, she mentioned nothing beyond the name Lilia.
It was the first time Rita had met another imperial princess. The person at her side must have been her exclusive Holy Knight.
Arrogant, capricious, even indulging—no, encouraging—her own Holy Knight to slaughter the innocent… For a moment, Rita didn’t know what words to use.
Nauseating might fit better, right?
Apart from the difference in hair color—blond instead of Cecilia’s—and their similar facial contours, Rita couldn’t find any real resemblance between Cecilia and her.
Why did those bandits appear? Why was the village so obsessed with happiness? What was the organization or purpose of that mysterious Pied Piper? Why had Lilia and her exclusive knight shown up here? All important, but none of them were the most pressing concern right now.
Like Cecilia said, everyone has their own duties. If someone tried to care about everything out of simple kindness, the result would probably be the opposite of what they wanted.
Trying to hold everything in both hands… It’s just too hard.
“Rita.”
Cecilia gazed out at the still pitch-black window, and called softly.
“Tell me a story.”
Rita wasn’t good at telling stories. None came to mind.
Yet even so, she began without a moment’s hesitation.
“Once upon a time, in a distant kingdom, a Queen gave birth to a beautiful girl. Her skin was as white as snow, so everyone called her Snow White…”
Right now, what Rita worried about most was Cecilia. When she decided to follow Cecilia, she knew she should put Cecilia first.
Was it out of responsibility? Maybe, but that wasn’t all that drove Rita.
Perhaps, at heart, it was a far more childish reason.
Rita needed someone to share her burdens, someone to carry the secret she bore—even if that someone was her superior. When she was with Cecilia, she really could feel at ease, if only a little.
Cecilia was willing to trust her, to accept her identity as a succubus, and to show her a side of herself that was different from everyone else.
Rita needed to give that back, at least equally, maybe even twice as much.
That’s why she didn’t want Cecilia to show the face she had before, the one she showed today.
Even if it was only an ordinary story, if it could lift Cecilia’s mood even a little, then it was worthwhile.
The story ended with Snow White and The Prince living happily ever after. The sky outside the window seemed to brighten just a bit.
“I’ve never heard that story before. Is it from your homeland?” Cecilia asked.
“Yes,” Rita replied, “it’s a fairy tale from my hometown.”
“It’s an interesting story. In it, Snow White is happy—she gains everyone’s love with her beauty alone.” Cecilia paused for a moment, leaving one unsure of what she was thinking. “Such a lovely fairy tale, no one could dislike it.”
Rita sensed that Cecilia hadn’t said all she wanted to.
Reality isn’t a fairy tale; beauty, love, and justice can’t solve every problem.
She ought to say something—as a knight, as Cecilia’s only trusted companion.
“I’ll do my best to make you happy too, Lady Cecilia.”
“Did you catch whatever’s affecting those people outside?” Cecilia teased in the calmest voice, the gloom swirling around her like a mist seeming to dissipate just a little with a breath of wind.
“I…” Rita was at a loss for words; every polished phrase she’d prepared vanished from her mind, leaving only a plain, almost clumsy explanation: “I just think… everyone has the right to be happy. And, Lady Cecilia, you’re beautiful and lovable. There’s no reason you shouldn’t have happiness, is there?”
A
“Heh.” Cecilia laughed aloud. “Rita, you’ve changed.”
“How have I changed…?”
“You’re just… a little more sincere with me, maybe.” Cecilia closed her eyes. “You said you came from another world. Tell me, what was your world like?”
Rita hesitated, then began to speak freely, describing everything about her original world in terms Cecilia could understand.
Rita had always gone with the flow, never expecting to return to her old world. As long as she could enjoy her life as it was, that was enough.
She never imagined she would find a goal, or say all these strange things. That was something the old Rita couldn’t have imagined.
Oh well, she wasn’t the heroine of some comic. Real life wasn’t a secret that had to be hidden.
As long as she could put Cecilia at ease, this experience—maybe not all that interesting, but deeply fulfilling to her—was now given a whole new meaning.
“So that’s how it is—a world with no other races, no magic, but where beauty and conflict both exist all the same.”
Cecilia sighed, glancing at the window, still shrouded in darkness. In the endless black, a glimmer of dawn seemed to break through.
Rita stared at the unchanging ceiling, and suddenly asked a clumsy question: “Lady Cecilia, do you… mind?”
“Mind what?”
“Mind that I don’t know anything about this world. Mind that, as a succubus, I might be lying to you. Mind that I once…” Rita trailed off, her words growing uncertain.
“That you used to be completely different from who you are now?” Cecilia lifted her head from Rita’s stomach, then curled up on top of Rita like a kitten seeking warmth.
Cecilia’s fingertips lightly brushed Rita’s throat, her fingers tracing the curve of her neck. That faint tickle trailed down to Rita’s collarbone.
Rita’s eyes snapped open. There was a playful look on Cecilia’s shadowed face, and Rita’s own cheeks burned hot.
Cecilia raised her golden eyes, then lowered her lashes. Her lips pressed to Rita’s throat, just where Rita was swallowing nervously, and her hot breath seared Rita’s skin.
“Even so, you still make that kind of face?”
Gulp.
Rita’s swallowing sounded even louder.
At the same time, a slight sting touched her throat, like kittens play-fighting, like a clear sign of affection.
Rita let out a soft whimper, barely able to call Cecilia’s name: “Cecilia, I…”
“Fighting a Holy Knight must have worn you out, right?” Cecilia said, her warm breath quickening the last traces of dampness on Rita’s neck. “But it’s all right. Feeding your exclusive knight is a duty every master should fulfill.”
“But just yesterday… I haven’t yet…”
“You need it.”
W
Cecilia’s quiet words left Rita no room to argue. She just nodded gently, her silvery hair rustling softly against the bedding.
Her restless arms encircled the girl’s slender waist.
Cecilia’s eyes curved in a smile. Her hand at Rita’s front curled slightly, undoing the button that bound Rita.
Outside, the gloomy sky gradually brightened as the girl’s breath grew faster.