Descent (3)

“I-I see. So it was like that… Alevian, and Ceres… these two were priestesses of the demon realm…”

Yona couldn’t even laugh out of disbelief as she watched the Celestial Deity muttering to herself.

No matter what, even if she was preoccupied with supporting the demon realm, she was still the Celestial Deity, wasn’t she? The Celestial Deity didn’t seem very Celestial Deity-like. It was quite strange that the Celestial Deity—a god—didn’t know facts that even Yona knew plainly.

“…Did you know that I’ve been going around subjugating the demon Grand Dukes?”

“I knew that the Saintess of the demon realm was born and that she was going around finding the demon Grand Dukes. The best thing would be for the Grand Dukes to combine their powers to support the demon realm, but that’s not easy either, and I knew… that the Saintess had been going around to fulfill that role and had some success.”

Should we say it’s fortunate that she at least knew that much?

But Yona found this woman called the Celestial Deity quite unsatisfactory.

No matter what, she’s still the Celestial Deity, but it’s even suspicious that she knows less than Yona.

“…It’s because I wasn’t originally a Celestial Deity. There’s no need to look at me like that.”

The Celestial Deity was equally flustered.

It had been quite a while ago when she realized that the demon realm was starting to collapse.

She had done well in shattering the Sky God—her elder sister—under the name of sealing, but the Celestial Deity had no way of knowing that she also needed to support the demon realm or set up a support there.

She thought there would be peace after defeating the Sky God and years later when the Hero Siwoo and his party sealed the Demon King that was born from the black bead that had sealed the Sky God’s consciousness. But by the time she realized that the boundaries between the realms were gradually collapsing, it was already too late, and the demon realm was collapsing entirely towards the human realm.

Because of this, the Celestial Deity hurriedly went to the demon realm to support the collapsing demon realm. As a result, it had been a long time since she had shown her face in the human realm where she used to descend periodically.

Now, with Yona having absorbed three demon Grand Dukes, and her existence acting as a support for the demon realm—the Celestial Deity finally had a little freedom of movement.

Since she hadn’t been able to move properly all this time, she couldn’t help but be in the dark about the human realm.

“—That’s why it’s like this. So I hope you could understand a little.”

“……”

Yona closed her mouth.

Although the Celestial Deity didn’t seem very Celestial Deity-like, she seemed to have some human charm. She was down-to-earth, and she was a deity who could apologize even to humans—mere creations—for parts where she had done wrong or was lacking. From that perspective, she might deserve a passing grade.

“So the reason you descended like this, was it to warn us to be careful because Ceres has infiltrated the Celestial Church?”

“…That’s right. I didn’t think you would already know… Saintess of the demon realm, I thought you were struggling alone like this and rushed here, but I didn’t know you were doing so well. Well, I suppose it was possible because you have such an excellent partner.”

“Partner…?”

Yona looked where the Celestial Deity’s gaze was directed.

There was Alec, with an especially shiny bald head, wearing a dumbfounded expression.

“…Partner…?”

“Yes, that’s right. I too had someone I loved when I was human. Love is indeed the power that saves the world.”

The gazes of everyone in the room turned towards Yona and Alec at once.

Meanwhile, Bigrind looked at Alec’s bald head once and then looked back at Yona with an expression of disbelief.

She had thought that affection would have grown after he was no longer bald, but now it seemed it was the opposite.

Bigrind, who now somewhat guessed that Yona’s preference was for bald men and that was the reason she had been with Alec in Evian, became even more unable to understand Yona.

“Th-th-tha-that…!”

Yona is someone who can’t lie.

She wanted to shout that it wasn’t like that, but Yona couldn’t get those words out of her mouth.

Everyone’s gaze was directed at Yona.

Yona’s face, which started to heat up as if on fire, turned as red as it could possibly get, and seeing this, the Celestial Deity smiled brightly.

“Love is a good thing, Saintess of the demon realm. You must feel the same. Aren’t you already feeling it?”

“Th-that… tha—!”

Ironically, Yona, who wanted to shout that it wasn’t like that, felt that the Celestial Deity’s words were not wrong.

Yona, who had finally realized her emotions, her heart, her feelings upon seeing Alec’s appearance, felt that all the things that had been weighing her down had become lighter.

Even things that made her wonder how only such things could happen didn’t weigh down on Yona now. The threats to come, even the matter of Ceres who might be approaching at this very moment, felt like they didn’t matter to Yona.

Just looking at Alec felt good,

Even the faint smell of sweat,

His large hands,

His towering height,

His equipment, not the best but well-worn,

The pauldron on his shoulder full of Yona’s hand marks,

And the shining bald head.

It’s good because it’s Alec.

Love is a good thing.

Certainly, it’s a good thing.

But embarrassment is another story.

Yona, who is not used to such topics and awkward with this kind of embarrassment.

“Uh, aaaaaah!”

Yona screamed, kicked open the door of Bigrind’s room, and ran out.

And behind her, Alec chased after her, his radiant bald head flashing.

“Yona—!”

Yona was so fast that it took Alec quite a while to catch up even with his sprint.

He wondered how a healer could be so fast, but by the time Alec managed to grab Yona’s arm and stop her, she was breathing so roughly that he was worried she might pass out.

“Yona, are you okay?”

Yona was sweating profusely but still struggled to break free from Alec’s hand.

It was quite a fierce struggle, but Alec already knew how to subdue Yona.

“Stay still!”

Alec said firmly as he grabbed Yona’s shoulders. Yona’s shoulders in his grasp were truly delicate, and it was heartbreaking to think of how much burden these small shoulders had been bearing.

“U-um.”

And that method worked perfectly as always. Yona stopped moving, caught in Alec’s grasp, but still couldn’t look at Alec and kept her gaze down. Yona also knew well that she couldn’t escape anyway since her shoulders were caught.

“What’s wrong, suddenly?”

“……”

“Don’t you want to talk to me?”

Yona shook her head slightly.

At this point, even Alec hoped she would look at him, but that was actually asking too much.

“Then look at me a bit. Why are you like this? Are you embarrassed?”

Yona’s gaze rolled around. Her eyes, which had been looking straight down, were now still looking down but alternating between right and left, looking quite uneasy.

“Then why? Hm? Shall we sit down and talk?”

Alec wasn’t particularly out of breath. But Yona was breathing roughly, and it didn’t feel right to talk while standing like this. He didn’t feel like going back to Bigrind’s room either—in the first place, since it was the Celestial Deity, he thought it would be right for the intruders to step away at this point, as the Saintess of the Celestial Deity and the Hero of the Celestial Deity would have a lot to talk about.

“Let’s see, where was that garden we always went to from here?”

That garden Yona particularly liked.

Alec didn’t dislike that garden either.

The scenery was nice to sit and look at, and the wind full of flower fragrance cooled the sweat and even refreshed the mood.

“I think it’s that way. Let’s go that way, Yona.”

Alec patted Yona’s shoulders and took the lead.

The way to the garden was clearly not far.

“—Huh?”

But Alec couldn’t even take a few steps.

Alec, who was about to walk ahead, stopped at the slightly cold touch that grasped his hand.

“…Yona?”

It was Yona.

Still with her head bowed deeply, Yona, whose ears were red to the tips, had reached out and was holding Alec’s hand.

“What? Don’t you like the garden? Should we go somewhere else?”

Alec thought she didn’t seem to like the idea of the garden.

But Alec, who hadn’t been anywhere else in this imperial palace, couldn’t think of another place.

Moreover, with Yona holding his hand like this, he was feeling quite strange too.

Until now, he had lightly embraced her a few times.

Mostly when Yona was crying.

He had hugged her and comforted her, but he couldn’t remember holding her hand.

But it was also the first time Yona had reached out first and held Alec’s hand like this.

“Yona…?”

Yona wasn’t saying anything.

Alec couldn’t see what expression Yona was making, with her head bowed, only her very red ears visible.

“…Let’s go.”

“Huh?”

It was a very small voice.

Yona’s voice was so small and quiet that Alec had to strain his ears to hear it.

“…Let’s go to my room.”

“Your room…?”

“…Yes.”

Alec’s heart started to beat wildly.

His heart, which hadn’t particularly pounded even during that full sprint, started to throb violently at Yona’s single word.