Chapter 41
"How is Iomene doing, Saint?" Princess Almene, with a haggard face and long dark circles under her eyes, asked me.
She often called me to ask about Iomene when she felt a little energetic.
"She's gradually recovering, Your Highness."
It was true.
After the torture sessions every Tuesday disappeared, Princess Iomene was noticeably improving.
Princess Almene smiled with relief at my words.
She touched the area around her left eye.
Her left eye, glowing with a magic circle, was tightly closed and unable to open.
"Sometimes terrible sensations and memories break through the magic and come to me. Just those sensations alone are so painful that I'm bedridden... I wonder what kind of things Iomene has been going through."
"You'll get better. I promise you."
Princess Almene smiled faintly at my words.
The secret princess who had never once revealed her face to the public.
If she had been revealed, she probably would have gained enormous popularity.
That was how pretty she was.
"I've been trying to create only foolishly happy memories. Pretty, beautiful, joyful, and happy things. I tried to eat only delicious things and really tried hard to create pleasant memories."
"That's a good thing, Princess."
"It seems selfish, doesn't it? While Iomene is suffering in the separate palace, I'm hogging all the good things for myself."
I shook my head.
Because I understood why she did that.
"If Iomene's pain can break through the magic, don't you think your joyful and happy memories and emotions could also break through the magic?"
Princess Almene giggled.
"That's right. I don't want Iomene to die, you know. I want her to get better and do many fun things with me. When her pain comes over to me, I was rather happy. Of course, it's very hard and painful, but it felt like I was sharing even a little bit of her burden."
"You're noble."
I thought that perhaps Princess Almene's efforts like this played a part in preventing Iomene from going completely insane. If negative influences could break through the magic and affect Almene, the opposite should have been possible too.
"Iomene will surely be able to get better. Because you're treating her directly, Saint, right?"
I don't know.
How could I give her a confident answer when I wasn’t someone great?
But I nodded.
"She certainly will."
Princess Almene smiled at my words.
I smiled back at her.
***
Today was Tuesday.
The grandfather clock chimed again, announcing 2 PM. Iomene trembled and burrowed into my arms anxiously.
I hugged her again and patted her back.
As I laid down with her on the bed, covered us with a blanket, and hugged her, I could feel Iomene's trembling diminish.
"Feeling a bit calmer?"
Although I used polite speech at first, after witnessing behaviors like a young child or pet for 3 weeks, I had completely switched to casual speech now.
I thought I had become like this with the thought that I wouldn't see her anyway after the curse transferred to me.
Iomene raised her head and looked at me at my words.
"Want to eat a snack?"
No response.
Maybe she didn't want to eat because I just fed her a lot?
"Want to sleep then?"
She didn't look tired either.
She was just staring at me silently.
Since she couldn't speak, how could I know what she was thinking?
"Book? Want me to read you a book? A fairy tale?"
Her eyes changed.
I see.
It was a fairy tale.
I brought a picture book for children, opened it in front of her, and read it to her.
Well, it was a common and obvious story.
Very classic and cliché stories.
But Iomene's eyes sparkled as if seeing all this for the first time.
After reading about 3 picture books.
Iomene snuggled into me again.
She looked up at me.
"What? What's wrong? What is it this time?"
I can't know what you want if you just stare blankly.
Her face puffed up slightly.
She raised her arms and waved them around.
It seemed like she was trying to express something.
I sat calmly and waited for her.
"Uh... ah... uh."
Iomene's mouth opened.
"Si... sing..."
My eyes widened.
She just spoke, right?
She just spoke, didn't she?
"Si... ng..."
Iomene put her hand on my mouth and fiddled with it.
"Sing… please... sing."
I gaped.
She spoke!
She spoke a sentence!
"You want me to sing a song?"
Iomene just stared at me silently without giving any answer to my words.
But looking at those sparkling eyes, it seemed I was correct.
Well, this is embarrassing.
I'm really terrible at singing.
She seemed to remember me clumsily singing anime songs or children's songs when she was anxious every Tuesday.
But what does it matter if I can't sing well?
This is the first time Iomene has clearly asked me for something!
"Alright. I'll sing for you."
I sang for her as she requested.
It was a terrible singing ability that made even me feel like my face would burn up listening to myself, but Iomene seemed happy.
When I sang an upbeat anime song, she burst into an innocent laugh like a child.
She got down from the bed and started awkwardly dancing something like a dance, and I approached her, took the princess' hand, and awkwardly danced together.
Iomene was smiling brightly.
Why.
Why does her smile feel so heartbreaking?
I wanted to make her as happy as possible before I left.
So we danced and played.
The time of 2 PM on Tuesday that Iomene feared the most was filled with laughter and playful sounds.
We danced and played until dinner time, and after eating lots of sweet things for dinner, we spent time playing simple games like tag or hide-and-seek in the separate palace.
Iomene seemed so happy with all of it.
In the end, due to Iomene's insistence, we ended up playing until midnight.
Now it's time to sleep.
"I'm glad you can smile now."
I took Iomene to the bedroom and laid her on the bed.
"Now you need to wash up and sleep. It's late. Okay?"
When I stroked her head with my hand, Iomene suddenly started rubbing her face against my hand.
"Li... like. Like."
"What do you like so much?"
"Li, like... like."
Iomene kept repeating the word "like" in a clumsy speech while grinning.
Whoever those bastards are who cursed her, they're really fucking bastards.
16 years.
She was a child who had been tortured without fail for 16 years.
It even made the perfectly fine Princess Almene bedridden and pushed the Emperor and Empress couple into endless guilt.
What sin could this young princess and her family have committed?
"Soon, you won't have to be in pain anymore. You won't be in pain ever again. Okay?"
"Pa... in?"
"No more need for treatment, no more pain, and no more fear. Because I'm going to heal you."
And as a price for that, I'll disappear from here forever.
We probably won't be able to meet again.
Well, there's no need to explain that part.
"You'll eat delicious things and do many fun things. You'll be able to be twice as happy as you've been in pain and suffering all this time. Your mom and dad are really amazing people. They'll buy you everything. Whatever you ask for. You'll be able to have anything you want."
"Ev... ery. Everything?"
"Yeah. Everything. Once you're healed, you'll be able to become someone more noble, loved, and happy than anyone else, Iomene. So don't give up. You have to live hard. You have to become happier than all the hardships you've endured. Okay?"
"Like. Like."
Iomene laughed like a child.
The huge wings grown on her back fluttered.
It's late.
I should get up now.
"I'll go back now, Iomene. I'll come again tomorrow. Take care until then..."
Iomene grabbed my arm.
She looked at me with bright eyes.
"To... together."
Together?
Iomene pointed at the bed.
She had a face like a puppy needing to pee.
"To... to, together. Together..."
Together what?
Sleep together?
In bed?
"No. I have to go back. You can sleep well by yourself, can't you? Right?"
"Together. Together," she whined.
But I shook my head.
I had to go back.
Even if it was for treatment, if I slept with the princess, I didn't know what His Majesty the Emperor might say.
"I'm sorry. I have to go back. Sleeping together is a bit..."
Iomene made a dissatisfied expression.
But it couldn't be helped.
What father in the world would like his daughter sleeping in the same bed with a strange man?
I smiled at Iomene and carefully removed her hand.
"How? How? Together? Together? How?" a clumsy voice asked me.
How can we sleep together? That's what she must mean, right?
"We could sleep together if we get married."
"Marriage. Then marriage!"
Iomene grabbed my hand and shook it.
This is troublesome.
It was fine until now, why is she suddenly like this?
"Night... lonely," while I was troubled, Iomene muttered sadly.
"Lonely. Gone."
There was no one in the room where she was staying.
No one approached her because of the curse.
The only people who approached her were the priests who poured holy magic on her on Tuesdays.
Cleaning?
I heard that was handled by magic drawn in the separate palace.
She probably never had a chance for human interaction with anyone.
"Song. Bed. Together. Together."
This was troublesome.
If His Majesty the Emperor knew about this, he wouldn't leave me alone.
...But I'm going to disappear from this world soon anyway, right?
Then isn't it okay for me to act as I want?
I won't actually sleep with her.
I'm planning to just lie down with her until she falls asleep.
"Okay. Let's lie down together. I'll stay by your side until you fall asleep."
She rejoiced like a child at my words.
We got into bed together.
Iomene clung to me like a puppy.
I stroked Iomene's head and sang to her.
Perhaps because she was tired from eating and playing with me all day today, she started nodding off not long after.
"Tomorrow... again?"
Maybe it's because I played with her all day too.
I'm sleepy.
I yawned and nodded.
"I'll come again tomorrow, Iomene."
"Promise?"
"Yeah. I... promise."
I'm too tired.
It felt like sleepiness was heavily pressing down on my eyelids.
Shaking my head drowsily, I finally succumbed to sleep not long after.
Before falling asleep.
"Like."
I heard Iomene say that in a drowsy voice similar to mine.
That was the last thing before my consciousness briefly cut off.
***
When I woke up, it was already 6 AM.
I slept like a log.
I carefully extracted myself from Iomene, who was sleeping soundly while tightly holding onto me.
I withdrew from the separate palace.
Now there really wasn’t much time left.
There wasn’t much to... settle in my personal affairs.
I had already left words for Erpha so she could live on even after I disappeared.
High Priest Yodel and the Lilia Order people would probably remember and reminisce about Saint Amael who magnificently sacrificed himself to remove the fragment of the evil god.
A saint who saved the princess and the world from the fragment of the evil god that would destroy the world, and then disappear.
Cool and nice, isn't it?
As I walked the night streets, I felt strangely moved by the thought that I would never see this place again.
Have I grown fond of it despite disliking it?
Even though I have almost no good memories of this place, I feel oddly sentimental about leaving.
Forget it.
What sentimentality.
It was dirty meeting you.
Let's never see each other again.
Thinking that, I entered the three slum districts and started heading back towards the Magic Tower temple that rose so high it seemed visible even from the outskirts of the capital.
And suddenly.
I stopped walking due to an extremely eerie feeling.
It wasn't just me.
"What? What was that just now?"
"A strange feeling...!"
People started pouring out of the Magic Tower temple, and the streets quickly filled with people.
Everyone slowly.
Turned their gaze towards the source of the eerie feeling.
The imperial palace.
It was in the direction of the imperial palace.
This bizarre sensation that seemed to scratch at the very soul seemed to declare that something extremely wicked and eerie had appeared in the world.
And the identity of that eerie thing was being revealed from the mouth of Grandpa Yodel, who had rushed out of the temple in his pajamas.
"C-curse! Why is the aura of a curse coming from the imperial palace...!?"
As soon as I heard those words, I started running.
I cast body enhancement on myself and started running at an incredible speed.
Why??
Her mental state should have stabilized?
The fragment of the evil god was about to transfer to me, wasn't it!?
Then why suddenly!?
What kind of unfairness is this again!?