episode_0081
by fnovelpia
“Can I sit with you?”
The gentle voice of the saint brought a flash of light to Carl’s mind.
She is dressed in everyday clothes that make her look completely unlike a woman belonging to a religious order, let alone a saint.
A shirt and overalls, comfortable and active attire.
Even though I’m wearing clothes that are loose and roomy, they don’t hide the sacred line of my chest. So it’s obscene.
It was a truly obscene outfit, Carl thought.
It’s a thought I’ve had consistently since before I became a saint and during our time together on the colonial island.
Alana had an amazing talent for making anything she wore look racy.
Now that he has become a symbolic priest of the church, no one dares to take his eyes off him, but in the past when he was with the sword, he often received difficult looks.
Whenever that happened, Karl wanted to protect her so no one could see her. He had an impulse to hide her from the world’s gaze. So that no one could see her, so that only he could see her.
If I didn’t get noticed by the church, if I didn’t become a saint and go out into the world… I wanted to be together forever in a space just for the two of us.
But that wasn’t possible for the novel to progress.
Sometimes compromise is necessary. After all, she will be Karl’s at the last moment. She will come to his side as the main character according to the flow of the original story.
“……”
Beatrice didn’t answer. But Alana didn’t wait for an answer and just pulled out a chair and sat down.
“The system is really good. I missed it the whole time I was on a pilgrimage!”
“You’re pretending to be from the system… .”
“Yes?”
Alana asked back in surprise at Beatrice’s soft muttering.
He was sitting between Beatrice and Karl, looking at Karl as he spoke, but he seemed flustered because Beatrice spoke as if she knew him.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Was it a secret that you were from a colony island?”
“……”
“Beatrice, how did you… .”
Carl said as he looked at Beatrice with the menu spread out. Then he looked back to see what had happened.
It wouldn’t be too surprising to know that Alana is a saint, since I saw her face through the communication magic in the auditorium. Her beauty is something that you can never forget once you see it.
But how do you know that I’m from a colonial island?
Karl himself is the adopted son of the Duke of Mainer and is hiding the fact that he is from the colony. As a possessed person, he would not have revealed such basic information to Beatrice, so it makes no sense that she would know Alana’s hometown.
Then suddenly a possibility crossed Carl’s mind.
‘… Could it be that I unknowingly revealed it on the night I woke up in Beatrice’s room, a night I don’t remember?’
My liver and gallbladder became cold.
If so, there was no way of knowing whether he had actually been adopted and had even told the story of growing up with a saint on a colonial island during his childhood, or whether he had revealed the fatal secret that this world was a novel and that he had somehow been possessed.
That’s when my eyes met Beatrice’s.
Beatrice watched Karl’s expression as it hardened rapidly, then spoke in as calm a voice as possible.
“… I am an ardent supporter of the saint.”
“?”
She spoke softly to hide her slip of the tongue. She tried her best to keep Karl from noticing her slip of the tongue.
“I’m sorry if you felt bad. Since it’s the first time in a hundred years that a saint has appeared, I tried to find out about this and that without realizing it… .”
“Oh, I see, Miss Dahlia.”
Carl sighed.
It was because I was nervous due to unnecessary anxiety. Now that I think about it, I remember the day I first met her, Alana had told me with great anticipation that she would be coming to the Academy for the Christmas Eve celebration.
-I’m so excited! What kind of person will the saint be?
I immediately remembered the conversation I had with Beatrice at this very cafe. I was so surprised to hear that Alana would return much earlier than in the original timeline that I was left dumbfounded for a while.
It was something I should have expected based on Beatrice’s excited look as she waited for the Christmas Eve service, but I think I overreacted.
“Welcome! I was just about to buy Carl lunch, and I really want to treat you to lunch, too.”
“Then I won’t decline. Thank you.”
Alana smiled softly, but Carl’s expression didn’t soften easily.
“Then, Beatrice, how about a ham sandwich like last time?”
“Yeah!”
“… Last time?”
He had to choose his words carefully. However, as the saying goes, a knife ends with a handshake, and he ended up giving Alana useless information.
“Ah, the two of you came together. I think we sat in this seat then too… Right?”
“……”
Carl couldn’t answer.
Seeing Alana’s expression harden for a moment, I thought that perhaps keeping silent was the best course of action.
Swish-
Beatrice looked back and forth between the two of them, then reached out and elegantly took the menu that Karl was holding. Karl just blankly stared at her beautiful arms and handed the menu over to her as if it was being snatched from him.
The skin revealed by the sleeveless blouse looked very soft.
“Kal, are you going to eat a BLT sandwich? Like last time?”
She spoke with such confidence that she seemed to know all his tastes, even though they had only been together once. She seemed a little excited.
Carl nodded silently.
“Good choice.”
“……”
“What would you like to eat, Madame? By the way, both menus are delicious. I shared a little bit when I came with Karl.”
Beatrice emphasizes once again that she came here with Karl. She adds words that she doesn’t necessarily need to say. There is a seductiveness in her gestures and voice. There is also a strange sneer.
“Huh… You still like me?”
“?”
“Kal, your taste hasn’t changed at all. You always crave BLT sandwiches.”
Alana said with interest. She seemed happy.
“I’ll do the same menu as the knife.”
He smiles brightly and looks at Beatrice.
“You know, Miss Dahlia. Carl has loved sandwiches since he was little. Of all the sandwiches, the BLT I make for him is the best.”
“……”
That’s right. Carl has loved Alana’s sandwiches since they were growing up together in the orphanage. His taste has not changed since then. I’m glad you remember.
No, in the current situation it wasn’t fortunate at all.
“Want to see what they’re doing here? Carl, if you tell me it’s better than the sandwich I made for you, I’ll strangle you.”
It was like a sheet of ice. Alana was giving Beatrice a more dazzling glance and saying sweet and savage words. Carl was sweating profusely.
“Hey, hey… .”
“Oh my, I’m sorry. I had to speak politely because there was a noble lady there, but I didn’t realize it… . I’ve been spending a lot of time with Carl, so I’m not very formal.”
It was a series of slips of the tongue. Carl looked at Alana, who still didn’t know the gravity of the situation, with resentment.
“Saint, did you know Karl?”
In an instant, the hot air froze into a cold chill.
This is the moment when the true nature of the anxiety that felt like sitting on a bed of thorns is revealed, the reason why the expression on Karl’s face did not easily loosen up.
The presence of two heroines in one place is like a time bomb that could explode at any moment. It is even more so when one of them is Beatrice, whose actions are always different from the original story.
Carl felt a tingling sensation in his head and pressed his temples with his fingertips.
Looking at Beatrice with eyes full of curiosity… .
*
Alana paused.
I realized my mistake too late. I knew that the sword had been reborn with a new identity, so I had to be careful.
But Carl’s Academy friend – and they should be friends, and they will continue to be friends – Dahlia Youngae was annoyed and couldn’t stand it.
In order to live up to the expectations of the church as a saint, she set out on a pilgrimage to become a priestess fit for the mission she was given. As she wandered around the continent, she yearned for her sword.
I was glad to return to the system earlier than planned, but I didn’t like the black-haired woman who showed off her new memories as if she were taking her place.
How dare you talk as if you know the sword better than Alana herself…
“Yes, we grew up together.”
“!?”
He looked straight at Beatrice, who was flustered, and answered.
“Uh, how….”
Alana thought that the woman had a stylish black hair that suited her well. That’s why she was more concerned. Her intuition and instinct told her that she was a dangerous woman.
So I tried not to beat around the bush or deny it.
Even if it meant disrupting the grand plans of the Duke and the Director, who were like benefactors, I wanted to reveal the truth and distance myself from the sword.
“Alana, stop.”
“……”
Eventually the knife got involved.
His voice, which was always soft, was powerful. It was a voice that contained a rough, forced quality that he had never heard from Alana.
This was the first time I had seen the rough appearance of the sword.
“Beatrice, on the colony island where Alana grew up, there was an orphanage sponsored by our Mainer family.”
“There was a place like that…?”
“There was. Whenever I visited the island with my father, I used to play with him. Alana was smart and had great divine powers since she was young, so I invited her to the mansion in the island.”
“… I see.”
Carl spoke firmly, looking intently into the blue eyes of Beatrice, who was sitting gracefully.
“Knife… .”
“And by the way.”
The saintess was about to call the sword because of a story that was not true, so the sword spoke again, cutting off the words.
The next moment, Karl’s hand snatched the menu that Beatrice was holding.
“Alana, you can order the same thing as me. Drinks and desserts, everything.”
I was so shocked by the coercive attitude that was no different from a notice that I couldn’t say anything, and then he skillfully called the employee over and finished taking my order.
Bam-
After handing the menu to the waiter and finishing his order, Karl placed his hands on the table.
“Do you have any more questions?”
Strong golden eyes looked at Beatrice languidly, as if they knew she couldn’t ask.
“… None.”
As expected, Beatrice had no intention of asking any more questions. There was no need to dig up the original setting that Karl was sensitive about in order to dig up the memories that he and the saint shared.
I laughed as I watched Carl spouting lies as easily as breathing.
“Nice to meet you, Carl’s childhood friend.”
“……”
Alana didn’t hear Beatrice.
She only looked at the knife with her pink eyes.
I tried to calm my racing heart, startled by the rough appearance of the sword I was seeing for the first time.
Alana was once again startled by her uneasy heart as she saw Carl’s gaze on the beautiful black-haired woman, not herself…
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