Good Intentions Don’t Always Bring Good Results (2)

Alevian’s eyes wavered aimlessly.

The Yona before her eyes was Yona, but at the same time, she wasn’t Yona.

The feeling that something that was Yona but not Yona had opened its eyes—

‘Ceres, did you aim for this…?’

Alevian’s gaze swept the ground.

The dagger pulled out by Yona’s hand and lying there—

It was an unremarkable dagger.

But Alevian knew that dagger well.

‘Ceres…!’

Quietly grinding her teeth, Alevian picked up the dagger and put it away.

This dagger was something that shouldn’t catch Yona’s eye yet.

“Alevian.”

“…Yes, pretty one. I’m listening.”

“What did you bring that for?”

Where Yona was gesturing with her chin was Scarlet, held by Kairoc—now in full armor, so she should be called Scarlet rather than Sekti, that holy knight was there.

“L-let go of me—! Senior, Senior—!”

Alec’s chest, lying fallen, was rising and falling, clearly breathing, but he hadn’t opened his eyes yet.

Scarlet was struggling to rush towards Alec like that, but being restrained by Kairoc, she couldn’t fulfill her wish.

“…I thought something big had happened to you. That’s why I brought her.”

“I see, so that’s it. I see…”

Yona’s gaze didn’t leave Alevian.

Alevian felt chills down her spine as she faced that gaze devoid of any emotion.

It was a presence even Alevian found difficult to face.

Something had changed from the Yona until now.

The large eye-shaped tattoo revealed on her chest above her worn-out nun’s habit—

It was undoubtedly the symbol of the Sky God.

It was the symbol of the very Sky God who had supported the demon realm, and who had supported both the human and demon realms right up until the moment of annihilation by the Celestial Deity.

Alevian’s eyes widened as she finally realized this.

There was no pain.

When he opened his eyes, his vision was so blurry that he couldn’t focus properly.

But despite that, the one thing that was clearly visible was the one person he loved more than anything.

It was Yona’s face.

“…Are you conscious?”

Yona’s face remained the same.

With that face bearing a very small smile, Yona was looking down at Alec.

“Yona…?”

“Yes, it’s me. Yona.”

Since Yona was looking down at him, he must be lying down.

But this soft and fluffy sensation on the back of his head somehow felt unfamiliar.

“What… happened…?”

His body wouldn’t move properly.

But surprisingly, there was no pain.

No pain, no discomfort anywhere.

Only that his body wouldn’t move properly.

Rather, that point, that’s what Alec found strange.

He had seen Arami rushing towards Yona gripping a dagger, and Alec had thrown himself towards Arami to stop her.

But due to a slight miscalculation, he ended up blocking Arami’s front—and as a result, he ended up blocking the dagger with his body, but he didn’t regret that.

The alien feeling of a knife piercing into his chest.

It wasn’t the first time he had felt it, but it wasn’t a familiar feeling either.

When he felt a knife piercing his heart, and also felt himself dying because of it.

He had no regrets about dying in Yona’s place,

But he felt lingering attachment about dying and leaving Yona behind.

‘I didn’t… die…?’

Seeing Yona smiling subtly in front of him, Alec tried to get up, struggling with his body.

But Yona gently pressed his shoulder down and said,

“Stay lying down. It’s hard to enjoy such luxury often.”

Only then did Alec realize that Yona’s face looking down at him was looking down at him from directly above.

For this angle to be possible, Yona must be—

“Yes, it’s my thigh. Satisfied?”

Yona said, as if reading Alec’s thoughts.

A bit cold but still warm, soft and gentle feeling.

‘There’s no contact pain…?’

There used to be contact pain that would sting slightly even with just a touch.

Even without direct contact, there would be slight pain when getting close.

It should be even worse lying with his head on her thigh like this, but now Alec only felt the sensation of Yona’s thigh, without any pain.

“I’m the one who saved you. How dare you try to die and leave me behind. You absolutely can’t do that. Absolutely…”

Yona’s words felt somewhat chilling.

And the disappeared contact pain.

Alec tried to move the holy power in his lower abdomen, thinking ‘surely not, surely not—’

It was there.

There was energy that could be moved.

But it wasn’t—the white holy power he had built up over his lifetime.

A dark energy with a reddish-black glow.

In his lower abdomen that had been full of holy power, now it was full of demonic energy writhing about.

“Yo…na, what… what did you…”

“I had no choice if I wanted to save you. Alec, I had to make you my own knight. I won’t say I did wrong. Because there was no other way.”

Listening to Yona’s words, Alec forcibly moved his arm that wouldn’t move well and raised his body.

This time Yona didn’t stop Alec, and Alec barely managed to sit up and touched his chest.

His shirt covered in blood remained the same, and the trace of the dagger that had been stuck in his chest remained, but the wound was gone.

As if it had never been there, Alec felt his smooth chest without any trace, and slowly drew the hammer from his waist.

When he tried to raise his power, no white energy rose.

Instead, reddish-black demonic energy rose in wisps.

“What… what, what is this…”

Alec’s mind started to become complicated.

“F-first… Yona, for saving my life, uh, yes. Right, thank you for saving me. Yes, thank you…”

Even at this moment, Alec was calmly starting to grasp the sequence of events.

He had left the cathedral, but he hadn’t left the Celestial Deity.

He had loved Yona and stayed with her, but that was a different story from betraying the Celestial Deity.

However, to save his life, Yona had separated him from the Celestial Deity, and now this situation where he had become a knight of the demon realm’s Saintess.

If asked whether he would blame Yona, he wouldn’t. Alec also knew well that the dagger stuck in his chest would have inevitably taken his life, and thus if he had survived like this, he knew it must have required a price. However, that it was the holy power—the evidence of the faith and training he had built up over his lifetime, was another story.

It’s right to be thankful to Yona.

So he said thank you to Yona.

But this demonic energy settled in his lower abdomen, even Alec didn’t know how to accept this.

At least right now.

At least about this, it was difficult to accept easily.

Yona was just quietly looking at Alec.

Her boiling mind was calming down, and as the excitement subsided, Yona slowly stood up.

“Alec, your body will be fine. Certainly, without doubt.”

As Yona said, Alec felt no problem with his body.

Rather, he felt even stronger.

“Y-yes.”

“Yes… then.”

Yona stood up and turned around.

Alec also turned to look where she was heading, and Yona, leaving Alec behind, took one step, then another—

“It was your doing from the beginning.”

Yona approached Arami, who was bound and gagged in the corner, and looked down at her.

Unlike Yona’s lips, which had a strange smile, her eyes were not smiling.

Rather, from those gleaming orange eyes, a sticky killing intent was flowing out.

“It was your doing from the start. The Azrami tribe… it was your plot. Isn’t that right?”

Arami couldn’t answer because of the gag.

She could only make strange muffled sounds and shake her head repeatedly.

And feeling extreme fear from the bizarre energy emanating from Yona’s body, she was desperately trying to back away with all her might. Following the trajectory of her retreat, a wet sound followed.

“Good intentions don’t always bring good results… Yes, I knew that too. But that should only happen once or twice. How long do I have to keep doing this? Hm?”

Yona reached out her hand.

Grabbing Arami’s hair, Yona smiled with a grotesquely distorted face.

And holding her hair, she slowly lifted Arami up, and Arami, barely standing with the strength of her tail, trembled as she met Yona’s gaze.

“You used my good intentions this time too. Whose doing is it? Who is it? Who, who planned to use those Lizardmen? Assassination would be certain, yes… When lizards and snakes fight. And when I intervened, who would benefit the most?”

Who could it be.

There’s no way not to know.

“Right… you can’t speak. You don’t have to.”

Yona turned around again, almost throwing away the hair she was holding.

Where her gaze fell as she came to the center of the tent.

There, Alevian stood, looking extremely tense.

The eye-shaped tattoo still engraved on Yona’s chest.

Alevian could absolutely not defy Yona, who bore the tattoo of the Sky God.

“Alevian.”

At that call, Alevian flinched.

Yona looked at Alevian’s reaction and smirked, then continued speaking.

“Go and call Berbaria. We need to return to the palace. And…”

With a bright smile, Yona turned to look at Alec.

“Alec, you have to come too. Don’t leave my side.”

Alec couldn’t smile.