Chapter 8
“How does it look? Pretty, right? The color came out really well.”
“…Yes. It’s pretty.”
Vieta’s lips trembled as she forced a smile.
She had to go home without the stylist she always entrusted her hair to.
Unfortunately, Vieta didn’t have an ability like ‘going back two hours.’
“Thank you~ Please come again.”
She didn’t resent the stylist who had worked so hard on her hair in the slightest.
The brown and green blended in a peculiar way, and in sunlight, the color even took on a mysterious air. It was undeniably pretty.
The problem was that it didn’t suit Vieta’s image.
At this rate, she would obviously look like seaweed—in other words, kelp—floating along the street.
“…Should I just go home?”
Vieta’s perfect plan, which had been flawless when she left the office, had gone awry.
Since it had been so long, she’d dyed her hair for a change of pace and planned to visit Theodore, tease him about how he could fail to recognize his captain, and get a meal out of him while she was at it,
but if she went like this, she’d become the object of ridicule rather than getting to tease him.
Grrr.
As she sat dejectedly on a street bench, the rumbling of her stomach echoed loudly.
It was so loud that Vieta jumped and looked around, clutching her stomach with one hand.
Come to think of it, all she had eaten today was a few pieces of jerky.
“Right. I’ll just sneak over there.”
Even if she couldn’t meet Theodore, she could at least get the free meal the temple was handing out.
Vieta headed for the temple, a slave to her appetite.
***
When the dark-brown door opened silently, a soothing herbal scent welcomed visitors.
Beneath the high ceiling of stone resembling eternal snow, a mural stood out vividly, depicting a descending goddess holding a book of prophecies amid strange symbols whose meaning was unknown.
The high priest’s large desk and chair were positioned in the center of the office, with sofas for guests placed in front of them.
Vieta sat on the soft gray sofa and looked at Theodore, the master of the office.
Theodore sat at his desk, covering his face with one hand.
His luxuriant dark-brown hair fluttered with every rise and fall of his shoulders.
“…You may laugh, Priest.”
Vieta squeezed her eyes shut.
“Are you serious, believer?”
When she nodded, Theodore began clutching his stomach and wheezing like mad, as if he had been waiting for her to say it.
“Bwahahahaha.”
Bang, bang.
Theodore buried his face in the desk and pounded the tabletop with his fist.
Who knew he’d laugh this hard.
Even Vieta thought she looked strange herself, but watching Theodore laugh as though he might lose his breath made her cheeks and ears grow hotter.
‘…Let’s just eat.’
It was too late to stop him now.
Vieta herself had told Theodore, who had been trying so hard to maintain decorum, that he could laugh.
Vieta swallowed the sighs that kept escaping her along with the steaming soup.
As warm, nutty soup entered her completely empty stomach, Vieta’s tightly hunched shoulders relaxed.
‘I have to admit, eating feels good even though I got caught.’
She had only meant to take the bread.
But Theodore had caught her red-handed just as she was trying to run off with the temple’s ration bread.
Theodore had looked at Vieta with the eyes of a rabbit that had just spotted a carrot, then escorted her to his office and had a servant bring her simple soup and bread.
“I thought I was going to die.”
Theodore wiped the corners of his eyes with a finger.
“…Have you finished laughing?”
Vieta’s lips trembled.
Embarrassed, she wanted to jump up and run out right then, but she couldn’t bring herself to do that after he had even fed her.
Besides, Theodore was Vieta’s creditor.
When Vieta had become addicted to gambling, fallen into debt, and been hounded from place to place, Theodore had paid off most of it.
Theodore had ripped up the IOUs right in front of Vieta and told her not to worry about debts anymore, but as a matter of basic decency, Vieta was still paying him back a little interest and part of the principal every month.
“Ah, it’s been a while since I had such a good laugh. I almost didn’t recognize you. Captain, you really do know better than anyone how to ruin your own good looks.”
“…It’ll look fine once you’ve seen it a few times. It just hasn’t grown on you yet.”
Vieta snapped back with a deliberately stern expression, but it had no effect.
The smile never left Theodore’s face as he looked at hers.
“By the way, why were you taking bread from the temple? Did you need a snack?”
Vieta hesitated, unable to think of a suitable answer, and Theodore’s face, which had been beaming only moments before, hardened in an instant.
“Captain, how many times have I told you? You don’t have to pay back your debt, so please make sure you eat your meals properly and on time.”
"…."
Knowing Theodore’s nagging wouldn’t end anytime soon once he started, Vieta deliberately stared into empty air and scratched her cheek.
"Surely you didn’t eat only jerky again today? Last month, and the month before that, didn’t you end up being carried in after eating nothing but jerky?"
“Honestly, it wasn’t quite that bad….”
Instead of answering, Theodore stared at Vieta for a long moment, then let out a deep sigh.
Then he rummaged through a drawer, brought out a bundle of parchment, and held it out to Vieta.
A puzzled look entered Vieta’s eyes when she saw the parchment.
A golden seal bearing three overlapping diamonds—it was from Fulcare.
“…Why are you giving this to me?”
When Vieta accepted and examined the parchment, she saw that it was addressed to Theodore.
“Open it. Fulcare sent it yesterday—or the day before.”
At Theodore’s urging, Vieta carefully opened the letter.
[Friend, how have you been? I’m sending this for the captain.]
[I thought about sending it to the captain at first, but I’m sending it directly to you in case you lose it all again.]
“He said he’d even pay this month’s interest and part of the principal.”
The many zeroes written at the bottom of the letter made Vieta question her eyes.
“There’s one more sheet underneath.”
[Hello, High Priest Theodore Bonaventure de Brienne.]
[This is Iseria. I am writing to you because I received a reward from the imperial family this time.]
Iseria’s letter said much the same thing as Fulcare’s.
“They asked me to keep it secret, so I tried to hide it as best I could, but you’ve been wasting away on nothing but jerky this whole time…. You should have taken better care of yourself from the beginning, so this Theodore wouldn’t have had to disobey his friend’s request.”
Theodore continued to nag, but Vieta couldn’t stop him.
Her eyes grew hot at the unexpected turn of events, and though she desperately tried to hold back, tears eventually streamed down her cheeks.
“Why are you crying now, too?”
Theodore let out a deep sigh and sat beside her.
Vieta blinked while keeping both fists on her knees, doing her best to hold back tears.
“…This may be presumptuous of me, but please try to understand how we feel sometimes, too.”
Each time Theodore’s sleeve moved to wipe away her continuing tears, a faint fragrance tickled the tip of her nose.
“Because we all care about you, Captain.”
"Ugh, what are you saying? Go away."
Vieta waved one arm as she snatched the handkerchief from Theodore’s hand.
It was cheesy, but it made her feel good.
She had fallen into another world and endured every hardship imaginable, but meeting such good companions had truly been an incomparable stroke of luck.
“And men aren’t supposed to cry. What happened to that bold display when you shouted that you were a man when we first met? Now that I look at you, you’re unmistakably a beautiful woman.”
Theodore imitated Vieta, striking the pose she had taken when they first met, his face full of mischief.
That damnable man.
Vieta put on an offended expression.
Still, thanks to him, the awkward and embarrassing atmosphere vanished in an instant.
“So let’s start by having a proper meal.”
After touching the soup bowl, Theodore called a servant to bring fresh food.
***
Blanc sat in the temple’s waiting room, quietly waiting for his turn.
“It’s taking a little long.”
To be honest, he wasn’t feeling particularly good.
He had made an appointment in advance, but High Priest Theodore had unilaterally told him that an urgent visitor had come up and the appointment would have to be postponed.
“I suppose I should go wait outside the high priest’s office.”
Blanc couldn’t bear the wait.
That morning, the Emperor had unilaterally ordered him to go on a pilgrimage.
Tours of neighboring countries to display the Empire’s might were not unusual, but circumstances were less than favorable this time.
He didn’t know who the target had been, but monsters had attacked a banquet held in his honor,
and since Blanc had only just returned to the Empire, the prospect of setting off on another long journey made him deeply uneasy.
Blanc wanted to hear the goddess’s oracle on whether he should go on the pilgrimage.
“Y-Your Highness. You must wait here.”
“I’ll wait quietly outside the office.”
Despite the apprentice priest’s attempt to stop him, Blanc went all the way to the deepest part of the temple.
There really seemed to be a visitor; the area outside the high priest’s office was quiet.
He didn’t think rashly knocking on the door was appropriate, so he paced in circles outside it until the door quietly opened.
“Then I’ll be going.”
“I should see you out, but I have a guest.”
“!!!”
When the door suddenly opened, startled Blanc hurriedly stepped backward.
He had happened to be standing too close to it.
“Huh?”
A familiar scent slipped into Blanc’s nose.
At the unexpected meeting, the woman’s eyes grew as large as jawbreakers, and Blanc’s eyes widened too.
It was Vieta.
Her pink hair was gone, replaced by hair the color of marimo, but it was unmistakably Vieta.
“Why is His Highness here?”
Theodore, the high priest, who had followed her out, also seemed surprised, judging by the slight rise in his voice.
“…Then I’ll be going.”
But Blanc didn’t even notice the high priest.
All he could see was Vieta, who was quietly trying to slip away while everyone was distracted by the surprise.
“Wait a moment.”
The moment Blanc saw her swollen, red-rimmed eyes, he caught Vieta by the wrist in one swift motion.
“…?”
“Your Highness?”
Vieta made a strange expression.
Meanwhile, High Priest Theodore’s voice had turned dangerously cold.
“I apologize. I didn’t expect to run into an acquaintance here.”
Blanc hurriedly released the wrist he had been holding.
"The thing is,"
Just as Blanc was about to say something, the high priest interrupted.
“The temple requires silence, so rather than continue this here, why don’t we go inside and talk?”
High Priest Theodore gestured toward Blanc with his eyes.
As he said, in the quiet main temple, even the slightest disturbance could easily draw attention.
“Let’s do that.”
Blanc didn’t want to cause a commotion either.