In Elza’s secondhand account of the events, Lord Cecil had rescued Lean before he mowed down a swarm of enemies, the last of which was a giant, whom he defeated in a heart-stopping duel. And this was no ordinary giant, mind you—he was so powerful he could pierce the heavens, shatter mountains, and split the sea in half—which made Cecil’s victory all the more incredible.

So this is how legends get started…

The story had grown as it spread. It got bigger and bigger, taking on a life of its own. It didn’t have much in common with the actual facts at this point. The embellishments had obscured the truth, like a pearl being formed around a grain of sand.

Elza cleared her throat and apologized upon completing the story, realizing that she’d been in a world of her own to the consternation of her companions. Her cheeks were still flushed as she went back to the original topic.

“So, um, it all boils down to the fact that the news of Lord Cecil’s heroic deeds convinced us that he’s Ian reborn. Needless to say, our religion does not prohibit us from venerating Ian. On the contrary, admiring him is a laudable act of faith. This is why I said earlier that being infatuated with Lord Cecil is permitted here.”

“Good for you, Cecil. Next thing you know, you’ll be a god,” Lean whispered into Cecilia’s ear.

“I don’t like this at all!”

And she meant it. All this recognition negated the painstaking efforts she’d taken to disguise herself as a boy. Her goal was to avoid the spotlight, stay out of trouble, and be nothing more than a forgettable background character in the game’s story—at least that had been her plan to begin with.

Not that I can avoid drawing attention at this point. Or not get involved…

But she didn’t want to be treated as a god. Or a transmigration of one, or whatever.

“Now that you know how things are, be warned, Lord Cecil. You must be on your guard!”

“Against what…?”

“I cannot vouch that there won’t be any nuns who might pursue you with fierce tenacity, believing you to be Ian!”

“P-pursue me…?”

“Also, in the event something happened between you and my flock, I’m not even certain if I would be in a position to punish them. Whether you are a transmigration of Ian or not is pure speculation at the moment, but the upper clergy is nonetheless divided over if getting involved with you would constitute a breach of the vow of chastity or could be seen as serving our god with both body and soul.”

Cecilia found this warning very disturbing and struggled to keep a straight face. She might have made a huge mistake coming to the shrine. But how could she have guessed that this holy place was filled with devilishly horny nuns?

“You would do well not to eat or drink anything offered to you by anyone other than myself, lest you discover that it’s been laced with sleeping agents…or worse.”

“Or worse?”

“It’s best not to ask for peace of mind,” Elza replied with her sweetest smile yet.

Cecilia shivered as a chill ran down her spine.

“I don’t mean it in an insulting way, of course, but it might be helpful to you to think of the nuns as a pack of hungry wolves and their squeals of excitement as hunting howls when they sight their prey. Oh, and here we are!”

Elza stopped in front of a door and turned toward them with a smile, putting her hand on the door handle.

“Please wait outside. I’ll call you when the Holy Maiden is ready to see you.”

The audience hall they were let into was simply gorgeous, framed by white walls decorated with gold leaf, large windows in the shape of multi-pointed stars, and paintings of scenes from the legend from floor to ceiling. It could easily pass for a chamber in an aristocratic mansion.

“I thought the headquarters of the Church of Caritade would have a more austere atmosphere. Elza’s convivial attitude also surprised me. It goes to show you should never make assumptions,” Jade remarked offhandedly, plopping down on a sofa and craning his neck this way and that, taking it all in with interest.

Cecilia followed suit, sitting down next to him.

“Yeah. I also didn’t think the shrine would be this opulent!”

“The nuns take a vow of poverty, so I thought they’d be living in much simpler quarters!”

The shrine looked magnificent even from the outside, and it wasn’t only because of its sheer size. Its architecture also elicited gasps.

The round pillars out front were pleasingly symmetrical, while the building’s monumental onion-shaped dome awed visitors. Near the entrance stood a statue of the goddess, carved with such minute detail it was truly lifelike.

Cecilia and her friends had been stupefied by the splendor when they’d disembarked from the carriage. The shrine, together with the other facilities on its grounds, might even have given the royal palace a run for its money.

“This place is the symbol of the faith, meant to inspire awe in everyone who sees it. And what better way to display the power of your influence than erect a grand building with the money from donations?” Gilbert supplied an explanation.

Girls from noble houses or wealthy merchant families would also sometimes be sent to spend time at the shrine to practice virtues such as modesty. The amount of money their families would donate on these occasions, though, was far from modest—it constituted a small fortune. Enough to pay for the construction of a fine new mansion, in some cases.

“The Church has a keen business sense to make their headquarters a tourist attraction in addition to a religious destination,” Jade observed with a smile, his voice bouncy with enthusiasm.

Cecilia, who’d been anxious about the trip, found his cheeriness puzzling.

“You sure are stoked today, Jade. You’ve been on fire since we got in the carriage.”

“Um, yeah? What’s so strange about that? Aren’t you excited? The Holy Maiden’s going to thank us in person for being amazing! If that’s not a reason to be happy, I don’t know what is! And it’s also fun to be on a trip together again!” He looked deep into Cecil’s eyes and added, “It’s great to have you with us this time around!”

“Huh?”

“You weren’t there when we were visiting the Sylvies. I was so disappointed.”

“Oh, sorry…”

She felt a pang of guilt. Jade was referring to the time when her friends had shown up unannounced for a sleepover at her family residence. She WAS there, but not under the guise of Cecil, so Jade hadn’t recognized her. It made her feel sorry for him to know he had missed her company.

“I was going to find out your contact details through the traders’ guild to invite you along, but Gil wouldn’t let me.”

“Really?”

“He said I shouldn’t pressure you to join us, since you were probably busy. Oscar agreed with him, so I let it go.”

“I didn’t know…,” muttered Cecilia, her face pale.

She’d been this close to being found out, and she hadn’t even been aware. Boy, was she glad that Gilbert was on the ball and averted disaster.

Jade clasped Cecilia’s hand, completely oblivious to how he’d rattled her.

“Let’s make up for last time and pack in as much fun as we can! We’re free to go sightseeing tomorrow, right?”

“Uh-huh. That’ll be fun,” Cecilia replied, not managing to match Jade’s level of enthusiasm.

They would be staying at the shrine for three days and two nights. The trip from the capital took half a day by horse-drawn carriage. They’d departed before first light, so it was still only afternoon, but going back the next day would have been unnecessarily exhausting, both for them and the horses. That’s why they’d extended their stay, reserving the second day for resting up after the journey. They’d be free to do whatever they liked then.

“We definitely have to check out the Temple of Marine! And the nearby Laugier Chapel. I read there’s even an art gallery!”

“It sounds like there’s a lot to see.”

“Yes! We won’t be bored!”

Jade was so excited, you’d think he was going on a school trip. Cecilia slowly exhaled, staring at the ceiling.

“Hmm, you’re selling me on this excursion, Jade. Maybe it will be fun after all.”

“Sure will! And did you know they’ve got a huge bathhouse here? You can share a hot tub with me!”

“What?!” Oscar interjected out of the blue.

Jade misinterpreted his reaction.

“Want to join us for a soak in a luxuriously large hot tub? Just like on the field trip! Or is that nothing special to you? But, but, helping each other wash off soap before jumping into the tub is something I’ve, like, always wanted to do! Maybe I idealized it in my head because I don’t have any siblings and always bathe alone, but I totally want to do this!”

“Jade, listen, I don’t really—” Cecilia tried to get a word in, but Jade steamrolled over her.

“I’ll wash soap off your back, Oscar, Cecil will do mine, and you’ll do Cecil’s!”

“Absolutely not!” bellowed Oscar, his cheeks turning scarlet.

At that exact moment the door opened, and Elza announced: “The Holy Maiden is ready to receive you.”

Their audience with the Holy Maiden was over in five minutes. They didn’t actually see, nor speak with the maiden—she sat hidden behind a bamboo blind and communicated with them by writing letters on parchment, which Elza read aloud to them. They got a glimpse of the Holy Maiden’s silhouette, but that was it.

It went without saying that they were pretty disappointed, especially in the light of the fact that they’d spent half the day on the road just for this.

I wanted to at least see what the Holy Maiden looked like…, Cecilia thought to herself as she began unpacking in her allocated room.

She made sure to get a single room this time, so as not to repeat the nerve-racking experience of sharing lodgings with someone who might find out her secret. The shrine actually had plenty of guest rooms available. They must have gotten a regular stream of overnight visitors.

I didn’t think anything of the Holy Maiden not making an appearance at the Advent Festival because that’s how it is in the game, too, but now I’m wondering if there’s a reason why she won’t let anyone see her face…

Lean had taken over the Holy Maiden’s duties last Advent, but it was certainly the Holy Maiden herself who’d led the celebrations a year before that. Something was smelling fishy.

Cecilia was laying out her changes of clothes, a sense of unease nagging at her, when someone knocked on her door.

“Just a moment!”

She thought it might be Gilbert, but it wasn’t him.

“Lord Cecil, may I come in?”

“Huh? Lean?!”

Cecilia was so surprised her voice came out more high-pitched than she’d intended. She rushed to open the door. Lean smiled and entered the room before Cecilia could stop her. She closed the door behind her and turned the key in the lock.

“Is something wrong, Lean? What happened?”

“Nothing happened. I came to talk to you about our strategy.”

“Strategy? For what?”

Lean had dropped her fake persona and was back to her usual bossy self.

“You won’t get far on your own, so I’m kindly offering my help.”

“Er… Sorry, but I have no idea what you’re talking about?”

Lean frowned at her confused friend.

“Are you joking? Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten your objective!”

“Wait… Aah, so that’s what you meant!”

“Well, duh.” The corners of Lean’s lips arched upward. “You’re going to use this stay to retrieve the Dirk of Destiny from the shrine.”

Cecilia nodded with determination.

According to Grace, the Dirk of Destiny was required to put an end to the appearance of Obstructions once and for all. Cecilia had needed to befriend both Eins and Zwei in order to trigger the True Love route, which was the only branch of the game where you could access the dagger.

“So the way it works is, the Holy Maiden or a Holy Maiden candidate has to thrust the dirk into the altar at the heart of the shrine to banish Obstructions from this world?”

“That’s right.”

Grace had told Cecilia that the knife was hidden somewhere underground beneath the shrine. Its existence was only spoken of in whispers, even here at the shrine, and no one had ever seen it or knew of its precise location.

In the game, a series of coincidences leads the heroine to wander into the room where the Dirk of Destiny is concealed, which is how she manages to obtain it. Mordred, who has been researching Obstructions, reveals its significance to the player.

“And how are you going to find it?”

“Grace gave me instructions.”

Cecilia produced a folded sheet of paper with directions on it from her pocket. Lean took it from her, tracing her finger along her lower lip, as if in deep thought.

“These directions are quite vague.”

“I’m glad she could remember even this much from her past life. Especially when you consider the game’s genre.”

As was common with dating sims for girls, Holy Maiden of Vleugel Academy 3 was a visual novel. In game, locations are presented as static backgrounds, with images of the characters and a dialogue box overlaid on top of them. Grace must have paid incredible attention to detail to figure out how to get to the dagger based on those backgrounds alone.

“I see she told you what landmarks to look out for, but I still think we’ll need to gather some more information.”

“You’ll help me find the dagger?” Cecilia asked in an uncertain tone of voice.

Lean nodded firmly.

“I will. Not that I’m excited for it, but I owe you for saving my life. I don’t like to harbor any debts. So if I do happen to become indebted to someone, I make sure to repay them as soon as possible. You should know that about me.”

Cecilia wouldn’t have guessed that Lean felt indebted to her. In fact, her perspective on Advent Day was different; the way Cecilia saw things, she had endangered Lean by getting caught up in a crisis of her own making that had taken her friend away from the ceremony.

“Also, this is going to be a risky operation. There’s so much at stake that I simply can’t leave it all to you. Don’t try to stop me, ’cause I won’t listen. I’m helping you, and that’s final!”

“But…”

“What? You think I’ll just get in the way?”

Cecilia shook her head.

“No, but you said it yourself—it’s going to be dangerous. Who knows what the nuns might do to us if they find out what we’re up to…”

They’ve been talking about “retrieving” the Dirk of Destiny, but it would be more accurate to call what they were doing “stealing.” Even though the nuns didn’t know for a fact that the dagger existed, it belonged to the shrine, and its protectors would assuredly take a dim view of someone taking it away without permission.

“Well, it’s only going to be RISKIER if you don’t have anyone serving as a lookout or decoy.”

“You’re not wrong, but…” Cecilia was still balking at the idea.

Lean held up her left hand.

“If you really want me not to get involved, fine, but then I won’t be giving this to you.”

“Wait a minute!”

“I thought Jade’s Artifact might come in handy in this situation.”

On Lean’s wrist was a shiny bracelet with a sparkly green gemstone. Jade’s Artifact had the power of stealth. It could grant its wearer a cloak of invisibility, making them undetectable. It was just the item you’d want when going sacred dagger-stealing in a shrine. But why did Lean have it?

“How did you get it from Jade? You didn’t tell him about the dirk, did you?!”

“Don’t be silly.”

“Then how?”

“I asked him if I could borrow it, with the caveat that I couldn’t tell him what it was for. That was fine with him.”

“Seriously?”

Cecilia reeled, shocked at how easy it had been for Lean to get what she wanted. This bracelet would help immensely…but she wanted to yell at Jade for giving away something so valuable without a second thought.

Seeing that had Cecilia lost the will to fight her after seeing the bracelet, Lean smiled triumphantly.

“That’s settled then, isn’t it? We’ll strike tomorrow after nightfall. Oh, and I’m not letting you hit the hay tonight until we devise a plan that can cover all eventualities!”

“…Thanks, Lean.”

“It’s my pleasure.”

Lean beamed unreservedly, showing her teeth.

“All together, on three! One, two…three!”

“Prince Ceeeciiil!”

Cecilia forced a smile and raised her right hand in a greeting as the nuns shouted her alter ego’s name. It was the day after the audience with the Holy Maiden. Cecilia and her friends were standing outside of the shrine. Blushing nuns were staring at her through the windows, waving. Jade’s eyes went from the squeeing girls back to Cecilia.

“They really don’t have to hold back when it comes to you, huh.”

“Ha-ha…”

“They haven’t tried to do anything inappropriate to you, have they?” Gilbert asked with concern.

Cecilia shook her head.

“No, they haven’t bothered me in any way. But they’ve been bringing me, um…offerings, I guess.”

“Like what?”

“They’ve been leaving bunches of flowers, fruit, and foods they cooked outside my door, that sort of thing. Elza noticed and told me they were offerings for me.”

“You’re getting worshipped in the religious sense now, too, huh,” remarked Huey with pity.

“Ha-ha… Yeah…”

Cecilia looked away, embarrassed. It was nice to be admired, but the amount and intensity of attention she was getting here was a massive overdose, and she was at a loss as to how she should respond.

“So there was food among the offerings? I hope you haven’t eaten any of it?” Oscar was alarmed after the warning from Elza.

Cecilia shook her head again.

“Not one bite. At first, I thought it would be shame to just throw what they made for me away, but on closer inspection of one cake, for example, I saw all these hairs sticking out of it? That put me off trying anything.”

“Eww…”

“You get the sense that these nuns have been bottling up their desires for too long, and now the bottle has shattered…”

Oscar and Huey were seriously taken aback, but Dante just laughed.

“They’re only human. It’s not healthy to suppress your true nature!”

Jade, meanwhile, found the gross display of putting hair in food concerning.

“You’re not really safe here, Cecil. I think you should make sure that you’ve got one of us with you until we leave this city. I’m really worried something will happen to you if you go out alone. There are a lot of sites to hit, so our group might split up based on who wants to see what, but you should pick someone to accompany you.”

“Yeah, maybe…”

As she wondered who to tag along with, her eyes met Gilbert’s for a second. He used to be her go-to friend to take along on occasions like this, and everyone was probably thinking she’d invite him this time, too.

“Better to be safe than sorry, huh. I guess I’ll stick with you, Jade!”

“What? You want to go with me?”

Jade pointed at himself. Gilbert, standing behind him, seemed a bit thrown off.

“That’s an unusual pairing.”

“Have you had a falling-out with Gil?” asked Huey, looking from one to the other, trying to read their faces.

Flustered, Cecilia shook her head vigorously.

“No, no, everything’s fine between us! It’s just that Jade seems to know a lot about Torche, so I thought I might enjoy it more if he showed me around, sharing some trivia.”

“You’d like me to be your guide?” Jade blinked.

“Yes, please!”

“Okay, I’m up for that! Let’s pair up for today!”

Cecilia could see that Gilbert was looking at her with one eyebrow raised from behind Jade, but she pretended not to notice.

Jade and Cecilia went to see the Temple of Marine and Laugier Chapel first, then headed to a gallery of paintings and other artwork donated by believers. As Jade had explained the previous day, the city was open not only to pilgrims, but to tourists of any kind, so the central plaza was packed tight with stores and food stalls. It was a popular destination for merchants catering to Caritade followers, and Jade had some friends who did their business there.

The art gallery was very impressive indeed. There was no shortage of beautiful objects and paintings on display, presumably donated by wealthy aristocrats whose daughters stayed at the shrine. Tourists and pilgrims milled about, admiring the pieces.

Cecilia kept sighing “Ooh!” and “Aah!” as they walked around the round central plaza and the main streets connecting to it.

“This is a textbook tourist trap!”

“You’re right. Unlike the shrine and church grounds, which clearly serve religious purposes and are only partially accessible to visitors, this part of the city appears to have been designed with tourists in mind,” elaborated Gilbert.

“Look, there are even souvenir shops!” added Lean.

“I presume the Church doesn’t have a stake in these businesses but tolerates them since they benefit the city’s economy.”

Religion and business weren’t terms you’d usually hear together, but here in Torche, they struck the perfect balance. Together, those two forces kept the country running.

Just then, they heard Dante shout. “Gil! Oscar! Come over here for a moment!”

The four of them turned to see Dante beckoning them to come back to a souvenir store they had passed. Huey and Jade were next to him.

Not knowing what Dante might want from them, Gilbert and Oscar were in no hurry to walk over, so Jade ran over to them excitedly and tugged their hands.

“Is there trouble?”

“No, but you won’t believe it! Dante found figurines that look just like you two!”

“What…?”

“Just come and see them!” Beaming, Jade started pulling his baffled friends toward the stall.

“Let go!”

“You’re pulling my arm off!”

Despite their protests, Gilbert and Oscar followed rather meekly. They both had a soft spot for Jade. His amicable nature was certainly working to his benefit.

Cecilia and Lean stayed behind.

“Everyone’s enjoying the trip.”

“Looks like it.”

Gilbert grimaced when Dante shoved the figurine in his face. Dante laughed as he spoke to them, while Oscar glared angrily. Huey sighed at the others’ silliness, resisting as Jade pulled on his arm to get his attention.

Cecilia couldn’t help smiling at her friends’ antics.

“Oh, by the way…” Lean suddenly remembered something. “I asked the nuns if they’d heard about the Dirk of Destiny or if the shrine has an underground area.”

“And? What did they say?” Cecilia lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper and leaned in toward Lean, only to find out she’d gotten her hopes up in vain.

“They confirmed that they’d heard about it. But that’s it, I’m afraid.”

“What a letdown. I tried wringing some info out of Elza, too, but she said the same. Oh, but she at least told me where to find the Mural of Ian! And the grandfather clock that’s the other clue!”

“Hmm, that’s not much, but I suppose it gives us a chance of finding the dagger…” Lean didn’t sound hopeful.

“It’s not much to go on, is it…” Cecilia also began to lose spirit.

Lean held her gaze on Cecilia for a few moments before suddenly giving her a rather powerful pat on the back.

“Ow!”

“We’ll figure something out, so chin up!”

“Lean…”

“It can’t go wrong with me on your side!”

Lean, as confident as ever, pointed at herself elegantly with an open hand and puffed out her chest.

“What we should be doing right now is having a fun day out in town! It’s counterproductive to get anxious. We’ve drawn up a plan, and we’re going through with it.”

Jade called them over right as Lean finished her pep talk. The girls looked at each other and exchanged smiles.

“Shall we join them?”

“Yes, let’s!”

They turned toward the boys and started walking side by side.

A few hours later…

“I’m beat!”

It was evening. Back in her room, Cecilia lay supine on her bed. She couldn’t feel her feet from all the walking she’d done, and the large dinner they had after coming back to the shrine made her very sleepy. Her whole body felt leaden, and she feared that if she closed her eyes for longer than a moment, it would be morning the next time she opened them. It was too dangerous to stay in bed, so she jumped off and shook her head.

“Wake up, Cecilia! You’ve got a special mission tonight! The whole trip will be for nothing if I nod off now!”

Through her efforts, she’d managed to befriend Eins and Zwei. Advent Day had been a nightmare, but it ended with her becoming a hero. All of that had been for this mission—the retrieval of the Dirk of Destiny. She couldn’t afford to ruin it by falling asleep.

“But I still have so much time to kill…”

Lean and Cecilia had agreed to begin their stealth operation at midnight. It would be easier for them to explore the shrine when most of its residents were asleep. Plus, in the game, the heroine also finds the dagger in the dead of night. The girls hoped that if they partially matched the game events, luck might just turn out to be on their side.

“I guess I could take a shower now!”

That ought to wake her up. Cecilia went to the en-suite shower room to get the water running…but nothing came out of the shower head.

“Huh?”

She twisted the taps all the way open, but not a drop came out. Was the boiler not working? No, if the boiler had a problem, then there would at least be cold water in the tap.

Cecilia went to find Elza to notify her that there was no water.

“What? It should be running,” the abbess said, puzzled. “Let me check your shower. Please wait outside.”

Elza smiled and went inside, leaving Cecilia in the hallway. She returned a few minutes later.

“I’m terribly sorry!” She bowed low in apology.

“Um, it’s okay, it’s not your fault…”

“I’m responsible for hosting you and your friends and ensuring you have a comfortable stay, yet I have failed to do so!”

Elza kept bowing abjectly despite Cecilia’s reassurances that she didn’t need to apologize. There were tears in her eyes, and her face had drained of color, as if she was afraid Cecilia was going to angrily reprimand her.

There seemed to be a problem with the water pipes. Not only was Elza unable to fix it, she couldn’t even pinpoint what was wrong. This was clearly a job for a plumber, but the earliest they could get one to come in was the following day.

“I’m so sorry for the inconvenience, but could you use the communal bathhouse instead?”

“Uh… The bathhouse…?”

“Oh. Do you dislike communal bathing?”

“It’s not that I dislike it…”

There was no way she could go to the bathhouse. Reckless as she was, Cecilia was well aware of the risks. There was no guarantee that she’d be alone in there, or that nobody would come in while she was in the middle of cleaning herself. And if someone saw her naked…well.

Seeing Cecilia so discomfited brought fresh tears to Elza’s eyes.

“I would let you use a shower in another guest room, but we haven’t been having many overnight visitors lately, so the spare rooms aren’t currently in a presentable condition. I would have to go wake up one of the nuns and ask her to clean another room for you…”

That would make Cecilia feel really guilty. She’d rather pass. The nuns began their work at dawn every day and went to sleep as soon as the sun set. While it was still early by Cecilia’s standards, she didn’t have the heart to have Elza rouse one of the tired women for an impromptu room clean. Also, if the other guest rooms were as ridiculously large as the one Cecilia was staying in now, it would probably take hours to clean.

“Should I go and—”

“No, no! Don’t worry, I’ll manage! Please raise your head!” Cecilia put her hands on Elza’s shoulders. The cleric looked up and Cecilia smiled at her warmly. “You have nothing to apologize for!”

“But…looking after you is my duty, entrusted to me by the Holy Maiden…”

Elza still seemed dejected. Cecilia thought for a moment, then reached into her pocket. When she brought out her hand, her fingers were tightly closed around something.

“Give me your palm, Elza.”

“Oh? You mean, like this?”

She held out her hand. Cecilia opened her fist and dropped…three pieces of candy onto Elza’s palm. They were very cute, wrapped in colorful paper tied with little ribbons on both ends.

Elza opened her eyes wide.

“Why are you giving me these?”

“Jade bought loads when we were out today and handed me a bunch. I couldn’t manage to finish them all.”

As she explained, Cecilia picked up one of the candies from Elza’s hand and unwrapped it to reveal an amber-colored sweet. She held it between two fingers and brought it to Elza’s mouth.

“Try it.”

A look of confusion passed over Elza’s face, but she gave in to Cecilia and reluctantly opened her mouth. Cecilia popped the candy in. Elza covered her mouth with her hand, shocked by the taste.

“It’s so sweet!”

“It’s candy, of course it’s sweet. Oh, do you mean that it’s too sweet for you? It’s not a very refined treat, I admit…”

Worried, Cecilia peered searchingly into Elza’s eyes. The abbess smiled and shook her head.

“It’s not too sweet, but it’s a bit of a shock for me, since I haven’t had anything like this in a long time…”

“So you like hard candy?”

“Yes.”

“Then I made the right call!”

Cecilia laughed. Elza squinted as if witnessing a sight too dazzling for her eyes.

“You’re always working so hard, Elza. I think you deserve a treat!”

“Thank you, that’s very kind…”

Even though she still seemed somewhat embarrassed, the abbess accepted the candy with a happy smile.

“Now what do I do?”

Alone in her room, Cecilia held her head in her hands, despairing over not being able to use the shower. The situation was quite frustrating, since she’d been looking forward to washing off the sweat she worked up from sightseeing the whole day. It felt icky under her wig and the sash wrapped around her chest. What could be the most crucial moment of her life was about to begin, and she’d wanted to prepare for it. She didn’t need an elaborate bath, but a quick wash to leave her feeling fresh and ready would have been nice.

“I’ll have to ask Lean to let me shower in her room.”

Cecilia could count on her friend, surely. A female friend who knew her secret. No problem there. It wouldn’t even matter if Lean caught a glimpse of her naked.

Her mind made up, Cecilia picked up a towel and a change of clothes and headed over to Lean’s room. She knocked on the door twice.

“Lean, are you there?”

The door opened almost immediately. But it wasn’t Lean who opened it.

“H-Huey?!”

It was Lean’s boyfriend. Cecilia inwardly cursed her bad timing, her face turning pale. Lean appeared behind Huey.

“Oh, it’s Lord Cecil? Can I help you with something?”

“No, um…”

“Why’ve you got a change of clothes with you?”

“It—it’s not what you’re thinking!”

She pointlessly tried to hide the bundle of clothing behind her back. She was still dressed as Cecil. The way Huey saw it, she was a dude suddenly visiting his girlfriend at night, bringing a change of clothes… An unwelcome sight, to grossly understate the situation. He was bound to be see her as a threat.

He’s…he’s going to kill me!

As a former member of the assassin organization Heimat, Huey could probably end her as easily as he could a fly. And he was giving her quite the stare. She had to wriggle out of this somehow.

“S-sorry! Wrong room!”

“Wrong room? I don’t think so. You were asking for Lean when you came knocking.”

“Wh-what? N-no, you must have misheard!”

“Really?”

“I d-definitely didn’t say ‘Lean’! It was… It was… Mee-aan!”

“What’s that even supposed to be?”

“A meow?”

“Are you kidding me…?”

Huey frowned. Of course he wasn’t buying it. Even Cecilia was aware of how nonsensical her defense sounded. Beads of cold sweat started rolling down her cheeks.

W-was Huey this scary in the game too?!

Not that he was glaring at her, but he was obviously wary, suspecting she was up to no good. Lean, standing behind him, seemed quite baffled as well. Cecilia had no other choice but leave it at that and get out of there. Huey might question her about this the next day, but that was something for her future self to worry about.

You’ll think of something, tomorrow’s Cecilia!

Hoping that she would work something out later, Cecilia turned on her heel as though she was about to start running like her life depended on it. Which was a fair assumption, really…

“What are you doing here, Cecil?”

“Gil?!”

Just then, her brother happened to pass by. He stopped and sized up Cecilia, Huey and Lean, and the bundle of clothes Cecilia was clutching behind her back. He raised an eyebrow. Then he grabbed Cecilia by her wrist.

“I was looking for you everywhere, sheesh!”

“You were?!”

“In retrospect, I shouldn’t have asked you to come to my room knowing how you have absolutely no sense of direction.”

“Wait, are you saying—”

“Please excuse us.”

Gilbert nodded to Lean and Huey, then led Cecilia away by the arm. Huey was still trying to get a word in, but her brother was walking so fast that she didn’t even get to turn back to take one last look at him.

A few minutes later, when they could no longer be seen from Lean’s room, Gilbert finally let go of Cecilia’s hand. She hung her head.

“Thanks so much, Gilbert. I don’t know what I’d have done without you!”

“What was that about anyway?”

“I just wanted to ask Lean if she’d let me use her shower because mine’s broken. I didn’t think Huey would be there…”

The explanation wiped the annoyed frown off his face. Cecilia had done nothing wrong. She was still crestfallen, though.

“I can’t go to the communal bath. I guess I’ll have to make do without a shower today.”

The unplanned encounter with Huey had sent her heart rate through the roof, so she no longer needed to bathe to wake herself up. She’d have to put up with feeling clammy and worn-out that night.

Gilbert observed Cecilia for a moment, rubbing his chin. She must have made for quite the pitiful sight. After a brief moment of contemplation, he dropped a bomb on her with a well-meaning suggestion.

“You could use the shower in my room.”

“What?”

It felt as though time had frozen for a second.

One hour later…

“Thanks for letting me use the shower, Gil. Sorry to be such a bother,” Cecilia apologized sincerely, wringing her hair out and drying it with a towel.

“It was no trouble at all,” replied Gilbert from the sofa, not even lifting his eyes from the book he was reading. “This was the only viable option.”

“Ha-ha…”

“Besides, I’m sure you’d get yourself into an even bigger mess if I hadn’t invited you over.”

“What do you mean?” Cecilia tilted her head.

Gilbert finally looked up at her.

“Wouldn’t you have ended up taking your chances and going to the communal bath on the sly?”

“No, that’s too risky…”

“When you try to put up with something making you uncomfortable, your resolve melts quicker than an ice cream on a hot summer day. Your chain of thought would be: ‘As long as I’m the only person in the bath, my secret will be safe!’ And then, ‘I’ll be totally fine if I wait until after everyone’s gone to sleep!’ Tell me I’m wrong.”

“That does sound like me…”

“See?”

Cecilia was astonished at how Gilbert could predict exactly how she would have acted. Perhaps he understood her better than she did herself.

“You’re so oblivious to danger that you’d waltz right into a den of lions. Fortunately, some lions have self-restraint.”

“Wait, I’m lost. What lions are you talking about?”

“Never mind,” Gilbert said curtly and sighed. Then he muttered, “You can be ignorant to people’s feelings toward you.”

Cecilia tilted her head slightly, finding Gilbert’s remarks rather enigmatic.

“Well, anyway. You saved me today! Thanks, Gil!”

She smiled at him with gratitude and trust. Gilbert noticed that and widened his eyes for a moment, but then he focused on his book again. Were his ears a little flushed, or was it just the light playing tricks? Cecilia couldn’t see his eyes very well beneath his bangs, but she could have sworn they were a bit red around the edges.

Forgetting those details almost the same moment she noticed them, Cecilia sat down on the sofa next to Gilbert. And left a gap between them. Normally they’d be sitting so close they’d be touching, or even leisurely leaning against each other, but not this time. Gilbert looked at the space and then at Cecilia.

“I actually have another thing to thank you for, which I only just found out about. The guys’ summer vacation trip to our house.”

“Ah, that.”

“I’d like to repay you for all those favors somehow, but I don’t know what you’d like!”

“You don’t know what I’d like?”

After a few seconds’ pause, Gilbert closed his book and put it on the coffee table in front of the sofa.

“How about you let me hold you?” he said, his tone far different than usual.

“…Huh?”

Cecilia wasn’t sure how to take that. She edged a bit farther away from him.

“What’s the matter? You used to hug me all the time, even when I asked you not to. It shouldn’t be a big deal to you.”

“Um, well…”

Theoretically, it shouldn’t have been a big deal but… Her forehead started glistening with perspiration in spite of the fact she’d just taken a shower. She was suddenly feeling very hot, and she suspected that her face had gone red.

“I miss physical contact with you, Cecilia. I haven’t been getting much of that lately.”

“Y-you want me to touch you more…?”

“I was just teasing you.” Gilbert huffed out a laugh. “But it’s true that you’ve been giving me a wide berth. I noticed you were steering clear of both me and Oscar today.”

“Ha-ha…” Cecilia gave an awkward chuckle.

She couldn’t deny it. And she hadn’t done that unconsciously, either—she was intentionally keeping her distance from the two men to avoid getting their hopes up while she was still working out whether she had feelings for them. She figured that was the right thing to do.

Gilbert could read her like an open book, though. Always one step ahead of her, he made her feel as if she were the younger sibling.

“Just so you know, it stings both of us.”

“Huh?”

“Oscar’s feeling alienated, and it makes me sad that you’re giving me the cold shoulder.”

“I’m sorry it upsets you…”

“I’m not trying to pressure you into giving me special treatment. I just wish you’d act normal.” Gilbert stood up and opened his arms. “So how about it?”

“Um… Okay.”

He wasn’t asking anything unusual of her. Just a normal hug. She got up from the sofa. Gilbert immediately wrapped Cecilia in his arms and slowly pulled her toward him in a gentle embrace that she could easily escape from if she wanted. She blushed and went rigid. If things between them were how they used to be, she’d wrap her arms around him, too, but she couldn’t bring herself to do that now.

“So, Gil…”

“Yes?”

“It’s true that I’ve been avoiding you on purpose because things have gotten complicated between us. And being close to you like this feels kind of…weird to me right now, you know?”

For some reason, admitting that made her feel like a loser. She heard Gilbert loudly exhale.

“You’re anxious?”

“Um… Well… Yeah?”

She knew he had feelings for her; she couldn’t let him hold her without feeling awkward about it.

“Well, I should be glad that you don’t see me as just a friend, at least,” said Gilbert, a hint of optimism in his voice.

Cecilia hung her head apologetically.

“I’m still not sure what you are to me. Sorry…”

His embrace grew a little tighter.

“No need to apologize. Take your time. I’ve been a brother to you for a long time, so I’m not expecting you to shift your perspective in just a few months. Besides, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the love you’ve been giving me as a sister, before you knew.”

He finally released her.

“I won’t pretend that I don’t mind you choosing someone other than me, but I won’t hold a grudge if you decide you only want me as a brother.”

Cecilia understood that Gilbert didn’t want her to choose him out of fear that it would be the only way to keep him in her life.

“Lean once told me that she despises how calculating I am.”

“What?”

“Slyness and cunning are part of my nature, though. I’m unscrupulous in pursuing my desires.”

“I think you’re just very smart.”

“‘Manipulative’ is the word you should be using.” Gilbert laughed, amused by how Cecilia always tried to put a positive spin on everything. “But what I want is for you to be happy. And I’m perfectly willing to disregard other people’s feelings, and my own, and even yours, if it’s necessary to accomplish that.”

“Wait, you’d disregard MY feelings, too?!”

“If I thought I needed to, sure. So think carefully about what you want. If you choose me in the end, I’ll ensure you won’t regret it.”

“You’re very confident…”

Gilbert’s self-assured attitude kind of blew her away, and it hurt that she was so easy to read. She felt pathetic.

“You can hardly fault me for trying to impress the girl I love.”

“You’re so open about it!”

“There’s no point in acting coy, is there?” he teased.

Cecilia cocked her head and pouted. Soon, however, her expression became apologetic once again.

“Gil…”

“Hmm?”

“I’m sorry for leaving you hanging.”

“Don’t be. You’ve given me more than you realize.”

His warm and kind tone filled Cecilia with both guilt and gratitude at once. Not knowing what to say, she only nodded in response.

The shrine was haunted by the ghost of a nun.

Or at least, that was the rumor spreading lately among the nuns serving at the shrine. The specter was said to wander the hallways of the building at night without a lantern or any other source of light, so it was hard to spot. As for why it kept appearing, it was anyone’s guess. Some witnesses had seen the spirit scraping at walls with her fingernails or standing in front of a door which had been sealed shut as long as anyone remembered—presumably because someone had died in the room it led to—muttering something.

“What if the ghost appears…?” asked a chestnut-haired nun in a trembling voice.

“Don’t be daft,” replied the nun she’d been paired with for their late-night patrol of the shrine. “That’s just a made-up story.”

“I can’t stop being scared just because you tell me to! Doesn’t that shadow over there look like a spirit watching us? And that one over there, like a person crouching?”

“S-stop it! Are you trying to make me afraid of shadows now?”

The two nuns started walking closer to each other.

The Church of Caritade preached that every soul went to the goddess’ paradise after death, and that ghosts were mere superstition, but that wasn’t stopping these nuns from being afraid of the supernatural.

“I want to get some shut-eye tonight, so stop talking about ghosts.”

“But I can’t stop thinking about them…”

Tap! A soft sound broke the silence of the sleeping shrine. As it continued, the nuns thought it was the sound of the other’s footsteps on the marble floor at first. But then they noticed the rhythm didn’t line up with their walking. They stopped in their tracks.

“Er, i-is someone else doing the rounds tonight besides us?”

“N-no, there shouldn’t be…”

The two women didn’t even notice that they’d joined hands. They both turned deathly pale, so frightened that their teeth were chattering. The sound was coming from where they were heading, and it was getting nearer and nearer.

Tap. Tap, tap. Tap, tap. The footsteps were unnervingly slow, but they were certainly getting louder… And then, a dark silhouette appeared at the edge of the ring of light shining from their lantern. The silhouette was unmistakable.

“It’s… It’s her…”

It was the silhouette of a nun, with the distinctive outline of the ankle-length tunic and the large bell-shaped wimple covering the head. The exact same habit the two patrolling nuns were wearing.

As the shape drew nearer, they glimpsed long golden locks. The mysterious woman wasn’t carrying a lantern.

The two nuns clung to one another and screamed, shutting their eyes.

“Oh, good evening,” came a polite greeting.

They opened their eyes again. This was no ghost.

“Lady Lean!”

It was the Holy Maiden candidate who the Holy Maiden herself had invited to the shrine. She was accompanied by a nun whose face they couldn’t make out, as she had her head bent low. It was this nun they had mistaken for the ghost.

“Did we frighten you? I’m so sorry.”

“N-no, we apologize for that unseemly reaction! But what might you be doing walking around the shrine so late at night?”

“I had the sudden need for a breath of fresh air,” said Lean with a short laugh. She looked down at the ground. “The deep devotion of the sisters living at the shrine with the Holy Maiden, not to mention meeting the Holy Maiden herself, filled my heart with suffocating doubts as to whether I am a worthy candidate…”

“Oh…”

“I dared not go outside on my own at this hour, but this sister kindly offered to accompany me.”

Lean gestured with her hand to the nun beside her, who bowed. She was still pointing her eyes humbly at the ground, but they could see her a little better now. Neither of the patrolling nuns recognized her, but there were so many women at the shrine they couldn’t be familiar with everyone. For all they knew, she could have been a new recruit.

“Ah. Please do be careful on your walk.”

“I will. I won’t stay out long, so please don’t worry about me.”

Greatly relieved that they had encountered flesh-and-blood people instead of a specter, the two nuns smoothed out their habits and stood aside to let the pair pass.

“Thanks for the save, Lean!”

“Don’t mention it. We were lucky they didn’t alert anyone else.”

“Yeah.”

Lean and her blond companion—who was Cecilia, of course—also breathed a sigh of relief. They were, in fact, in the middle of a mission. The mission to obtain the Dirk of Destiny.

“How did you get your hands on the habit, though?”

“Oh, that was a piece of cake. I found out where the spares were stored and borrowed one for you on the way to meet up.”

“I don’t think it’s called borrowing when you do it without permission…”

It had been clever of Lean to procure a disguise for Cecilia, but what if someone caught her rummaging through the nuns’ wardrobe and making off with a habit? With her quick wits, Lean would have probably come up with a believable excuse, but it stressed Cecilia out to think of the risk.

On the other hand, Lean seemed completely nonchalant about the whole enterprise. As she was studying the instructions for getting to the underground room housing the Dirk of Destiny, she suddenly looked up at Cecilia.

“By the way, is Gil not taking part in the mission?”

“Oh, he is. He’s covering for me, making sure nobody finds out I’ve left my room. We don’t want the guys to come looking for me.”

“Right, that’s an important role, too.”

The biggest threat in that regard was Jade. He was the most enthusiastic about getting the most out of the trip and had invited everyone to play board games in his room that night. Cecilia had politely declined, claiming she was too tired from walking around town all day, but knowing Jade, he might get the bright idea to come check in on her late at night. Cecilia delegated the duty of making him stay put to Gilbert, so he was now playing games with the others at Jade’s.

“I was originally planning to have him act as a lookout in the hallway anyway.”

“Oh?”

“To make sure nobody would see me skulking around dressed in a habit. I don’t have to worry about Dante, but if Oscar and Jade saw me like this, it’d be game over.”

Lean stroked her lower lip with her index finger, thinking.

“Hmm. Does it really matter if he finds out you’re a girl now?”

“Huh?”

“You can’t seriously be thinking that he’d kill you if he found out who you are. The Oscar from the game might, but ‘our’ Oscar is nothing like him.”

“Um…”

Lean was right. Cecilia didn’t fear Oscar would kill her…but that was no longer the problem. No, the issue was that she’d been friends with him as a guy for so long. She couldn’t just go up to him and say, “By the way, I’m actually Cecilia! That doesn’t change anything, right?”

He wouldn’t kill me, but I bet he’d be so mad for having been duped…

Were he just an acquaintance, sure, she’d probably find it not too hard to tell him the truth. But they’d become rather good friends despite the fact she’d been using a fake identity the whole time. She imagined Oscar would feel betrayed if she revealed that their friendship was built on a lie.

“Well, if you want to still keep it a secret, that’s fine by me. You don’t have an obligation to tell him.”

I don’t have to tell him…

Lean’s words absolved Cecilia of responsibility, but her conscience kept nagging at her.

“Right,” she replied, eager to drop that topic.

About twenty minutes later, Lean and Cecilia made it into an inner section of the shrine. Most of the rooms in the vicinity seemed to be for storage, and there was nobody else around. Lean took the directions from Cecilia to check their location.

“Okay, so now… We’ve got to stomp three times on the third cobblestone from the wall at the end of this hallway, the one that’s next to the vase…”

She went over to the cobblestone and stomped one, two, three times. The tile sank into the floor, and the wall in front of them started rumbling. It dipped a little at first, before moving to the side. They’d found a hidden door, and behind it was…

“A staircase!”

It led underground, presumably to where the Dirk of Destiny was kept.

The girls entered the secret stairway. There was a lantern on each side of the hidden door. When Lean lit them with her flintstone, the door slid back in place, concealing the entrance again. It seemed like magic, but perhaps there was just a clever trick to it.

They each took a lantern and began their descent down the spiral staircase. The sound of their footsteps on the stone echoed back at them.

“It’s like a secret ninja house.”

“More like an RPG dungeon, I’d say.”

They didn’t know why the original owner of the dagger felt the need to hide it from the world, but they sure had been determined.

Cecilia turned back to Lean to double-check the instructions.

“So next we light the candelabrum on the pedestal at the bottom of the stairs to open the final door?”

She got no response.

“Lean?”

“Huh? Oh, the candelabrum? Yes, that’s right!”

“Is something wrong?”

Cecilia looked questioningly at her friend, who was staring at her lantern, lost in thought. Lean frowned and pointed to Cecilia’s lamp.

“Do you notice anything strange?”

“About the lanterns?”

“Look at the top of the shade.”

Cecilia examined her lamp but couldn’t see anything unusual about it. What was Lean talking about?

“It looks like a normal lantern to me?”

“There’s no dust on it.”

“Er… So what?”

“If it’s been sitting hidden behind a secret moving door for who knows how long, you’d expect it to be covered with a pile of dust, but it’s clean. Almost like someone had used it recently.”

“Holy smokes! You’re right!”

A dreadful premonition overcame Cecilia for a moment, but she quickly dismissed it.

“Nah, no way. In the game, the protagonist is the first person to discover the dirk.”

“That’s what happens in the dating sim, yeah. If we are to trust how things play out there, we should be the only people here right now.”

Cecilia felt cold sweat on her face. Could someone else have stumbled on this place, like the game’s heroine? The possibility of that seemed slim, but it wasn’t zero. That being said, the discovery of the Dirk of Destiny would have been huge, and yet nobody had heard anything about it, Lean and Cecilia included.

“Let’s hurry up and find the dagger.”

“Yeah.”

They started running down the stairs. Soon, they could see the pedestal with the candelabrum at the bottom…

“It’s already lit!”

“Cecilia, over here!” Lean, the first to get to the bottom of the stairs, called her over.

She was standing in front of a wide-open stone door.

“It’s gone…”

Cecilia followed Lean’s gaze into the room past the entrance. Inside was a statue of the goddess with a pedestal in front of it. There was a dagger-shaped indentation on the pedestal, but the dirk itself was conspicuously absent.

“Who took it…?”

Cecilia stepped toward the door, as if in a daze, and felt something under her shoe. Moving her foot back, she noticed something sparkly on the floor. She crouched down to pick it up.

“Lean, I found an earring.”

It looked familiar, but Cecilia couldn’t figure out where she’d seen it before. Her friend, on the other hand, recognized it immediately.

“I think that’s Prince Janis’!”

“What?!”

“Prince Janis stole the dirk…”

They looked at each other.

“What did they do to you?”

“It’s not what they did to me—it’s what they did to everyone. They’re responsible for infecting the world with Obstructions.”

Cecilia gasped. Watching her out of the corner of his eye, Janis continued.

“To be more precise, it’s the system that’s to blame, not any individuals. In fact, there may no longer be anyone who understands how it works. Yet it is undeniable that the Church of Caritade is behind establishing the system which conjures the Obstructions, and I want to put an end to it.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The Obstructions are part of the system designed to identify the Holy Maiden candidates.”

Cecilia tilted her head, confused. Janis raised his index finger and explained things to her, as if he were lecturing a child.

“You’ve been raised to think of Obstructions as parasitic entities or ghosts that possess people, but that’s not what they are at all. They’re more like seeds, and everyone in the Prosper Kingdom has one dormant inside them. They’ve been planted in you without your knowledge.”

“And these seeds sprout into Obstructions?”

“Not always.”

“What else can happen?”

“I told you, their role is to reveal the Holy Maiden candidates.”

Cecilia opened her eyes wide in shock as the truth dawned on her.

“The Obstructions are a side effect. The seeds bloom in Holy Maiden candidates, manifesting as flower-shaped marks on their bodies. But sometimes, they germinate in people who are not suitable candidates, and then they grow into ugly vines—Obstructions.”

So the Church of Caritade was somehow planting these seeds in people to discern who was suitable to become the next Holy Maiden, and sometimes those who didn’t qualify had Obstructions grow in them as a side effect? How would they do that, though?

If what he’s saying is true, this changes everything…

Everyone believed that the Obstructions emerged near the time of the Selection Ceremony due to the weakening of the Holy Maiden’s powers, but if Janis was right, it was actually because the time had come for the seeds to germinate.

“The Selection Ceremony should be called the Pruning, really. What you’re doing is removing the superfluous flowers until only the most beautiful remains. That way it will have all the nutrients to itself, thriving better than if it had to share the resources.” Janis laughed, finding it funny that the Church of Caritade was applying the principles of horticulture to human beings. “The seeds won’t germinate in most people, and they’ll live out their lives none the wiser. Don’t you find this practice cruel? The Church exposes innocent people to danger to ensure the survival of their faith.”

Sacrificing people just to keep their institution going—of course it sounded wicked and inhumane. But Cecilia wasn’t yet convinced whether Janis’ tale was true or just something he’d made up. It did sound plausible, and it would explain a lot, but she only had the prince’s word to go on. There was no proof.

“Why are you telling me all this?” she asked cautiously.

Janis flashed her a disarming smile.

“Because I’d like you on my side. You have a strong sense of right and wrong. I thought that if you knew the truth, you might naturally want to cooperate with me.”

“Why should I believe you?”

“You’ll have to decide for yourself whether you believe me or not.”

Janis appeared to consider something for a moment before leaning closer and telling her something in a conspiratorial whisper:

“I’ll let you in on a secret. I have the ability to make the seeds of Obstructions bloom.”

She was surprised that he’d voluntarily disclosed this information, but it wasn’t shocking to her in the slightest. Cecilia neither gasped nor expressed disbelief upon hearing the truth. This puzzled Janis.

“Hold on… This isn’t news to you, is it? You knew?”

“Um…”

“Well, I’ll be damned. You’re more observant than I took you for. I suppose you figured it out on Advent Day.”

She hadn’t really figured it out by herself, but she wasn’t going to correct him.

“And do you know why I have that ability?”

“How would I?”

“Let me tell you, then. It’s because I’m a descendant of Lumiel, the first Holy Maiden.”

Now this was a bolt from the blue for Cecilia. She gasped and froze for a second, forgetting to even breathe. Her reaction didn’t escape the prince’s notice.

“This part of history might have been erased in your country, but Nortracha was founded by Lumiel’s son, who was expelled from the Kingdom of Prosper.” Janis gestured with his hand for emphasis. “He was originally supposed to take over the Holy Maiden’s duties, but was born without any powers. His body lacked a special mark. Persecuted, he was forced to leave the country, but he wanted to remain close to his homeland. Hence, he established a nation of his own next to Prosper. Now you know why I’m rather knowledgeable about the Obstructions, and the Holy Maidens. And why I can even make Obstructions grow within people. Quite the party trick for the prince of Nortracha, don’t you think?” he chuckled.

He uncrossed his legs and crossed them the other way, then reclined in his chair so that he was no longer in Cecilia’s face.

“Now that I’ve explained everything, do you trust me at least a little bit more?”

Cecilia sat in silence, staring at him.

“Good.”

Janis gave her an easy smile and extended his hand, as if he wanted her to shake it.

“Nortracha and Prosper are sister nations. I hate to see your citizens needlessly suffering at the hands of the Church of Caritade. Help me end this, Cecil.”

She said nothing.

“You who are taking part in the Selection Ceremony have the most up-to-date information about the Church. I’m not interested in learning of your private affairs. What I’m hoping to get from you is leads which will help me destroy the Church.”

She still wasn’t talking and instead stared at the table.

“Cecil?” Janis tried to get her attention.

She didn’t seem to hear him at first, but after another prolonged moment of silence, she looked up and met his gaze.

“You’re lying.”

“Oh?”

“I don’t know if what you said about the Church is true or not. Maybe it is. But you’re lying about your objective.”

“What makes you think so?”

“The fact that you stole the Dirk of Destiny for yourself. You would have given it to us if you both knew its purpose and wanted the Church out of the picture,” Cecilia said quietly.

Janis withdrew his extended hand.

“I didn’t know you were searching for the dirk as well. I went ahead and stole it from the shrine to give it to you later. I should’ve made that clear, I suppose. I did promise to give it to you—”

“As a reward for helping you realize your goal. Which doesn’t make sense. Neither do any of your other actions until now that I’m aware of.”

“I’ll explain everything later. I had good reasons for getting in your way earlier. I’m sure you’ll find them understandable…”

“How are you going to explain away trying to get Oscar assassinated?”

Janis finally fell silent. For just a moment, all emotion drained from his face, leaving behind the calculating coldness of a self-serving politician, but he quickly covered it up with a friendly smile.

“Ah, so you knew about that,” he muttered with disappointment.

Cecilia wasn’t finished.

“It’s not the Church of Caritade you hate, is it? It’s this country.”

Her words sent him into a paroxysm of quiet, but uncontrollable giggling. When at last he spoke, he was struggling to suppress giggles.

“Score! I like smart people. You’re absolutely right! I despise the Prosper Kingdom, and I’m going to wipe it off the map. I’ll destroy its royal family, I’ll kill all its citizens, and I’ll even erase its religion.”

“…”

“Man, I thought my improvised story was pretty good. You seemed so simple-minded, so I was sure you’d buy it on the spot, but I guess I should’ve put in some effort into coming up with a better lie. You leave me no choice but to go with my original strategy.” He opened his arms with palms raised. “Will you please become my ally, Cecil? Or will I have to germinate the seeds of Obstructions in everyone around us to convince you?”

Cecilia grimaced, revolted by the nonchalance with which he threatened her.

“You were going to intimidate Eins and Zwei like this, too?”

“Not necessarily. They’re so close, aren’t they? The younger brother is codependent, while the older is fiercely protective. I would only need to take one hostage to easily manipulate the other.”

“Was Cuddy Miland among the people whose Obstructions you germinated?”

“Sorry, who?”

“The servant who killed Eins and Zwei’s mother.”

“Hmm…” Janis stroked his chin. “I can’t say I remember him. It was so long ago, you know. I make a rule of quickly forgetting names of people who are irrelevant to my life, because what’s the point in remembering?”

“I see.”

“Anyway, will you answer me now? Are we going to become friends or not? I can make those seeds sprout with a touch of my finger.” He wiggled his digits. “Or would you like to experience what it’s like to become host to an Obstruction yourself?”

Janis reached out toward Cecilia, but before he could touch her, someone slapped his hand away.

“Huh?!”

“Keep your dirty paws off my princess.”

Dante had materialized out of thin air behind Cecilia. He wrapped an arm around her protectively and stared at Janis with a mocking smile playing on his lips.

“Long time no see, Prince Janis.”

“Why, if it isn’t Dante Hampton. Good to see you, traitor.”

“I see you didn’t come looking for me without taking precautions.”

Janis appeared rather pleased as he rubbed the hand Dante had struck.

“Why is this a surprise to you?” Cecilia asked with undisguised hostility. “Are you not aware of your reputation?”

“I suppose I’ve made quite the name for myself,” Janis conceded without a hint of shame.

He didn’t appear to be afraid of Dante. On the contrary, he was perfectly at ease as he glanced around before narrowing his eyes as he took stock of the situation.

“I see I’m surrounded. That explains why we still haven’t gotten our teas.”

The staff and the other customers were all watching Cecilia and Janis. They looked alert, ready to spring into action.

“I didn’t even notice when the swap took place, I must admit,” Janis added with a smile, evidently finding it all rather amusing.

A short-haired woman wearing no-nonsense trousers and shirt appeared next to their table. She crossed her arms. This finally seemed to throw Janis a little.

“How long has it been? New haircut, I see. It suits your pretty face, even with the scars.”

“You still think women exist purely to have their looks rated by you, pig?”

It was Marlin Sweeney, the leader of the now-disbanded assassins’ syndicate, Heimat, who’d raised Dante. Her gaze fell briefly on Cecilia before she focused her full attention on Janis again.

“Oh, but I was trying to compliment you.”

“I don’t want your compliments, so save yourself the effort.”

“Some people just can’t be pleased,” Janis shrugged. Then he raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. “I’m gravely outnumbered, and I’m guessing you’d be quite skilled at evading my touch.”

“We won’t let you put your hands on anyone.”

“So what happens now? Are you going to capture me? Kill me? Or do you have something even more nasty in mind?”

Cecilia answered him.

“Nobody is getting killed. You won’t be hurt, but you’ll have to answer some questions and hand over the Dirk of Destiny. You’ll be coming with me to the royal palace, too.”

“You want me to see the king? Does this mean you’re going to get me deported?”

“…”

“That would be quite the inconvenience for me. I wasn’t planning on going home so soon,” he said without appearing bothered at all. “Cecil, you asked me earlier if I wasn’t aware of my reputation. I could throw that question right back at you.”

“Huh?”

“Did you think I wouldn’t have taken precautions before meeting you?”

Janis clapped his hands over his head and in an instant, dark miasma started wafting into the café from the surrounding area. Someone screamed.

“What the—”

“Boss! The civilians we had put to sleep have woken up, and they’re possessed!”

“The street vendors are possessed, too!”

“Even the florist has been affected!”

“You’ve got to be kidding me!”

Marlin immediately began issuing orders to her panicked underlings. Janis’ calm voice stood out against this busy backdrop of noise.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I could also time the germination of the Obstruction seeds.”

“What…?”

“There are ten Obstructions here right now. Do you think Marlin and her subordinates can subdue them without any casualties?”

They could hear fighting and more screaming. Shaking with rage, Cecilia was about to say something to Janis when someone called out to him. She turned and saw three knives flying in her direction. Dante pulled her back before she could react, kicking the table up into the air. The blades burrowed into the wooden surface.

“I’ll see you some other time, Cecil. Bye!”

Cecilia looked up to find Janis sitting on a horse behind the long-haired, mean-eyed bodyguard she’d seen at the Advent festival. He must have thrown the knives at her. She watched them ride away at full speed, feeling disoriented and powerless.

It took half an hour to get the incident under control. Eins and Zwei had heard the commotion and came running to join Marlin and her people. In the end, nobody died, and only a few people suffered minor injuries. Cecilia asked the twins to report what had happened while she stayed behind to thank Dante.

“I owe you big time for this, Dante. Are you okay? Did you get hurt?”

“Of course not, don’t be silly. I almost didn’t make it in time. I went to get Marlin and her team as an extra precaution, so it took a bit longer than expected.”

Cecilia had asked Dante for help before leaving with Eins and Zwei to meet Janis. Finding him sitting in an empty classroom, she’d hastily explained the situation without mentioning the Dirk of Destiny, and he agreed to secretly escort her. Eins and Zwei weren’t aware of his true identity, so Cecilia couldn’t tell them that they would have a bodyguard with them on that escapade.

“Don’t worry, you didn’t miss anything! I thought it’d be just you following us, but it sure helped to have the extra pairs of hands! And it was nice to see Marlin again.”

“Well, I’m happy to hear that.”

“Oh, you’re here!” Cecilia exclaimed joyously, seeing Marlin reappear beside Dante.

She looked at Cecilia as warmly as one would a sister.

“It’s lovely to see you, Marlin. Thank you so much for your help!”

“Hey, I owed you one for saving my skin last time. So now we’re even.” She paused briefly before adding, “Although your skin may be worth more than mine, heh. On a different note, I heard from Dante that you were attending the academy pretending to be a boy, but it’s wild seeing you like this. You’ve got the craziest ideas, don’t you? That goes for having a chat with Janis, too…”

“Ha-ha…”

“If I hadn’t seen it myself, I wouldn’t have believed that a human could control Obstructions. You knew about this and still went out to find him?”

Marlin gave her a serious look. She must have overheard most of Cecilia’s conversation with Janis.

“Kind of…” She gave a vague answer.

Marlin let out a loud sigh.

“Goodness, girl. Being reckless is one thing, but what you seem to have no self-preservation instinct whatsoever! You’d better do something about that before your luck runs out.”

“What are you getting so worked up about, Marlin? No one was badly hurt, so all’s well that ends well, no?”

“You’re one to talk, Dante! Didn’t I tell you not to take any jobs from that guy?!”

“Let go, you’re hurting me!”

Marlin pulled Dante by his ear. Cecilia thought Dante had made a good point and didn’t deserve to be reprimanded, but based on the fact he wasn’t resisting, he probably felt guilty over having worked for Janis against Marlin’s advice. Cecilia raised her hand to get their attention.

“By ‘taking jobs,’ do you mean when Janis hired Dante to assassinate Oscar?”

“You’re well-informed. Yes, precisely.”

Neither Marlin nor Dante had originally accepted Janis’ request. It was another member of Heimat who’d lost to Janis in a gamble and owed him a favor. The prince had been vague on the nature of the job, revealing only that the target was a noble. When it later transpired that the person Janis wanted killed was a royal, Marlin intervened to annul the contract. Janis then requested that Heimat pay him a fine for breaking the deal, a fee so exorbitantly high that it would have put the organization out of business.

“We could’ve found a loophole to get out of paying him, but trust is even more important for groups like us than for above board organizations. Bad reviews can be devastating for an assassination business. So, I was going to get that money somehow, but Dante here took it upon himself to save us from financial ruin by fulfilling the request all by himself.”

“If you ended up paying, the other members would have ganged up on poor Jan and killed him.”

“He’d have brought it upon himself by accepting that shady request. We used to have quite a few short-tempered members back in the day.”

Marlin explained this all like it was no big deal. She and Dante had dealt with death on a regular basis, so talking about one of their companions narrowly escaping with his life didn’t arouse strong emotions in them, but Cecilia found it quite uncomfortable to listen to.

“So you took that request to save your friend, Dante?”

“Yup! I didn’t end up fulfilling it, though!”

“And what happened to Jan? Is he okay?”

“He’s fine, though now he’s responsible for all our menial labor,” replied Marlin.

Cecilia followed the woman’s sharp gaze to a scrawny-looking man being ordered around. Was that Jan?

“The clique who wanted to kill him got wiped out during that mess when we kidnapped you. He’s one lucky bastard.”

“Then what about the fine you were obligated to pay?”

“Heimat got disbanded, so all its debts are invalid. I’ve had to start from scratch again, but at least that whole deal with Janis won’t be a blot on our rep.” Marlin smiled broadly, a cunning look on her face, which disappeared after a moment. “Oh, by the way.” She fished a piece of paper out of her pocket. “I’ve got something for you.”

“What’s this…? A map?”

“See the tavern marked on it? If you need anything from us in future, you can get in touch by leaving a letter with the barkeep.”

“Um…”

“Don’t worry about money. You owe us nothing for today, since it was a rather poor showing anyway. And your next request is on the house, too, so don’t be shy.”

“Really? Gosh, thanks so much!”

Cecilia clutched the map as though it were an extremely precious item. Marlin reached out and tousled her hair, just like Dante would sometimes do.

“Needless to say, I’ll pretend I hadn’t overheard anything today, but seriously, be careful. Janis is a nasty piece of work. If you’re going to contact him again, make sure to keep your distance and always have someone with you. Okay?”

“Okay, I’ll be careful!”

Marlin smiled at Cecilia’s docile reply.

Little did Oscar know that the next day would start on a horrible note that crushed his spirits.

“I must have misheard you. Say that again?”

“I saved Cecilia from Prince Janis yesterday.”

“You did WHAT?”

“How many times do I need to repeat myself? I saved Cecilia. From Janis. She asked for my help.”

He’d only just entered the classroom and sat at his desk when Dante came out with that shocker. Outside, the sky was blue and the school was bathed in sunshine, but dark clouds seemed to have gathered over Oscar.

He and Dante were the only students in the classroom, both having arrived fairly early. Oscar rubbed his forehead and closed his eyes, as if assailed by a sudden headache.

“It wasn’t related to that incident with Obstructions showing up in the city center, was it?” he asked in a faltering voice.

“Sure was!”

Dante’s cheerful reply sent Oscar plunging into the depths of depression. He’d only just arrived, but all he wanted now was to go home.

Oscar had, of course, been notified of Obstructions manifesting in the city the previous day. According to the report, the situation was brought under control thanks to the efforts of some knights and brave civilians who happened to be on the scene. He had no reason to suspect Cecilia’s involvement.

I thought she rarely ventured off campus…

If it were Jade, Dante, or Eins and Zwei, it wouldn’t surprise him. They often hung out in the city after school.

Oscar propped his elbows on the table, interlaced his fingers, and rested his forehead on the back of his hands. Then he sighed deeply.

“Something wrong?”

Oscar wondered whether his friend was clueless or just playing dumb.

“I feel like I’m about to lose my mind from an overwhelming mix of powerlessness, annoyance, jealousy, and relief.”

“Wow, your inner life is so complex!” Dante chuckled with zero sympathy.

Normally, Oscar was comfortable with Dante’s unreserved attitude toward him, but on this occasion, it only irked him.

“Jealousy and relief make sense, but what are you angry about?”

“Her always being so reckless.”

“Ah, right. Hmm. Well, that’s just Cecil for you, though.”

Dante was absolutely right. Cecil/Cecilia was impulsive by nature, and nothing could change that. The real reason Oscar was angry was that he could never stop worrying about something happening to her.

He lifted his head and looked at Dante, who was standing next to him.

“Judging from how lightly you’re treating this, I assume she didn’t get hurt?”

“Oh, rest assured there’s not a scratch on her. Or on me, thank you for asking.”

“I wasn’t worried about you, Dante.”

“Oh, so you don’t care what happens to me, is that it? How cold.”

“I’m not cold.”

“Yes, you are!”

Dante was pretending to be offended, but had Oscar asked if he was all right, he would have taken issue with that, too. He’d probably say something along the lines of, “Do you need to ask? Do you not trust in my skills?” At any rate, it was true that Oscar never worried about Dante. He knew the assassin could take care of himself and wriggle out of any perilous situation.

Cecilia, though, was nothing like him.

She hadn’t been trained as an assassin. She kept brushing against death, surviving only thanks to a combination of extreme willpower, motivation, and sheer luck. How could Oscar not feel anxious about her luck eventually running out?

But I know her too well by now to understand that patience and caution are alien concepts to her…

In the twelve years when Oscar hadn’t able to see Cecilia, he believed her to be an almost ephemeral being, fragile and living in total seclusion from the world. He wouldn’t have guessed that she actually was a headstrong, boisterous girl. Kind of a tomboy…in fact, she went so far beyond being a tomboy that she was actually passing herself off as a boy at school.

Staring at the ceiling, Dante perched on Oscar’s desk and spoke to him.

“Cecil and Prince Janis seemed to have a conflict of interest of some sort.”

“Huh?”

“I didn’t quite follow their conversation, but it was something to do with an item they referred to as the Dirk of Destiny.”

“The Dirk of Destiny…?” Oscar repeated, making a thoughtful expression.

“You know what it is?” Dante’s eyes flashed with curiosity.

“Isn’t that the dagger from the legend? It’s supposedly real, but nobody has actually seen it. From what I’ve heard, it doesn’t have any special powers. It’s merely an ornamental knife.”

“I wonder why Cecilia and that bastard were interested in it?”

“How would I know?!”

Too late, Oscar realized that he’d openly admitted to having no clue as to what his fiancée was up to. He pressed his hand against his chest as if he’d been stabbed in the heart. He didn’t know why Cecilia wanted some mythical dagger. She wouldn’t even tell him why she was pretending to be a boy—in fact, she was under the impression that he was still being duped by her disguise. She never confided in him about anything.

“Maybe Gilbert does. Why don’t you ask him? Oh… Were you trying to punch me just now?”

“Curse you!”

“Jealousy is such an ugly feeling.”

“You’re really asking for it now.”

Truth be told, though, he could forgive Dante, and even Gilbert, for teasing him. They were annoying, but their snide remarks didn’t make him angry. Most of the time.

“By the way, I have one more thing to report. It seems that Prince Janis can control Obstructions. I was standing too far away to hear much of what he and Cecilia were talking about, but they mentioned Eins and Zwei’s mother. I’m guessing Janis had something to do with her murder.”

“I see…”

“You don’t seem surprised.”

“It would explain what happened on Advent Day.”

Oscar had his suspicions even back then. When Janis had told them that the Holy Maiden seemed to be in trouble, he looked like he knew exactly what was going on. As if he was behind it all. If he could summon Obstructions at will, the pieces of the puzzle would all fall in place.

“Will you be reporting it to the king?”

“Yes, but I highly doubt he can take action against Janis.”

“I guess even the king can’t do much about another nation’s prince.”

“There’s that, yes, but the problem here is that we have no proof. Father would likely scold me for giving credence to foolish rumors.”

“Ah. I guess it is kind of hard to believe.”

“Also, in Janis’ case, trying to solve anything via the diplomatic route may be futile. We should capture him, if possible. He has entered our country illegally, so it would be perfectly justifiable.”

That was easier said than done. Janis was one slippery customer, and even if they did succeed at capturing him, he would undoubtedly stir up more trouble. Oscar explained this to Dante, ending his mini lecture with a heavy sigh.

“Janis is a real pain in the neck, hmm?”

“…I wasn’t thinking about him just now. It’s not fair, Dante. Why did she have to ask you for help? Why not me? I could have kept her safe, too. She doesn’t even need to tell me who she really is—I’d do it for Cecil.”

“Oh no! You’re jealous of me?”

You could almost HEAR a vein pop out on Oscar’s forehead.

“Why do I even put up with you?!” he yelled, pinching Dante’s cheek and twisting it painfully.

“I was only joking!” Dante chuckled. “Anyway, weren’t you busy yesterday? At the palace?”

“Yes…”

“Then how could you expect Cecilia to find you on short notice and ask you to come along? And even if you were at hand, I don’t think she’d want you to get anywhere near the guy who wants you dead so much he even hired an assassin for the job.”

“I hadn’t thought about that.”

“Well, there you have it.”

Oscar had wanted to be there for Cecilia to protect her, but she hadn’t mentioned anything to him to keep HIM safe? Feeling pathetic, Oscar slumped back in his chair with a glum look on his face.

For the rest of the morning, Oscar was too deflated to focus on anything. He did have a lot on his to-do list, which only kept growing longer, but he just couldn’t think. He managed to accomplish some things in a purely robotic way, his mind elsewhere the entire time. And even though he was aware of it, there was nothing he could do to shake off the paralyzing dejection.

It was lunchtime. Oscar was making his way down a hallway, the mess of emotions in his head crystallizing into self-loathing.

There’s no reason it should bother me, so why does it affect me so much?

He decided to confront his feelings and admit to himself that for the past few months—since he’d found out who Cecil really was—he’d been out of sorts.

If I want her to rely on me, maybe I should tell her that I know it’s her…

But then he remembered Gilbert warning him last summer holiday that his sister would flee to another country if she realized that Oscar knew her secret. The thought of her doing that terrified him. Gilbert said it wouldn’t make a difference to him, since he’d just go with her, but Oscar couldn’t leave.

“What reason would she have to flee the country anyway?” he muttered absent-mindedly.

She was fine with Dante knowing her secret. Why not him? He couldn’t puzzle this out.

She doesn’t despise me. To the best of my knowledge, I’ve never done anything that might make her afraid of me…

He was so preoccupied that he stopped walking and froze in the middle of the hallway. There wasn’t another student in sight, so everyone else must have already moved on to lunch.

I wish she’d ask me for help at least once…

“Oscar! Heeelp!”

“Huh?”

At first, he thought he’d imagined it, that his tired mind was playing tricks on him. Nevertheless, he turned toward the voice and saw his panicked fiancée running toward him so fast that it was a miracle her short, honey-blond wig stayed on her head. When she got to him, she grabbed his hands and pleaded, looking as if she might burst into tears:

“Hide me!”

“Wait, what’s going on?”

But Cecilia had no time to explain. She stepped behind Oscar and moved him slightly, so that he stood in between the wall and a pillar. Thanks to their difference in size, she was thus perfectly concealed.

A moment later, they heard footsteps. A few people were running toward them.

“Where is he?!”

“You can’t run from responsibility!”

“Reap what you sowed!”

Three angry guys ran past Oscar. Each nodded in greeting as they went by, but they didn’t notice that there was someone standing behind the prince, so they didn’t stop.

Cecilia finally poked out her face from behind Oscar a short while after they disappeared. She had been standing behind him with her arms raised in front of her face. Now she was cautiously peeking out from between them, looking like a frightened bunny. Even dressed like a guy, his fiancée was unbearably cute.

Reassured that the danger had passed, Cecilia dropped her arms and flashed a bright smile at Oscar.

“Thanks so much! You saved my skin!”

“What have you done this time?”

She laughed awkwardly at his exasperated question.

“I haven’t done anything, but this girl told me she’d fallen in love with me, and it just so happened that she was already engaged to someone…”

“Ah. So her fiancé and his friends wanted to punish you for meddling with her?”

That would make it the third time this month, as far as Oscar was aware. Girls kept falling for the academy’s “prince” left and right.

“No, this time it’s a bit different…”

“Oh?”

“The fiancé wants me to accept her proposal.”

“He what?” Oscar wasn’t sure he’d heard that right.

“Her fiancé said he knew that she had the hots for me, and he wants me to marry her because I owe it to her for stealing her heart, apparently? He got really pushy about that and said he wouldn’t forgive me if I hurt her feelings…”

“I…see…”

“The ex-fiancés of Luise and Irina overheard him pestering me, and the next thing I knew, they started trying to convince me that the girls they’re engaged to are way cuter than Agnes, and I should marry one of them instead.”

That was some twisted love. On the one hand, it was nice that the guys respected the feelings of the girls they were engaged to, but trying to pressure their rival into marrying them sounded crazy to Oscar.

Would that really be a satisfying outcome for them?

What would he do in their place? If Cecilia developed feelings for another man?

My stomach hurts…

Imagining it was enough to make him feel physically ill. He didn’t think he’d genuinely want to help Cecilia get together with another man, even if she were head over heels for him.

“Anyhow! Thanks for the help, Oscar!”

“Sure…”

“You’re so tall, so it was easy for me to hide behind you!”

The difference in their height was quite striking. Oscar was more than a head taller, and wider in the shoulders, too. Cecilia had told him she was training to get stronger, but her build was so slight that she looked delicate and precious, especially next to him.

She stepped out from the gap between the wall and the pillar and stood in front of Oscar. He glanced down at her.

“By the way, I heard about yesterday from Dante.”

“Ah, okay.”

“You’ve got to stop doing crazy things like that. It stressed me out so much to hear about your escapade. You should always come to me first if you—”

“Stop! No more lectures!”

“Ngh…”

Cecilia pressed her hands against his lips, as if to physically stop the words from coming out of his mouth. When he went quiet without putting up a fight, she gave him a tearful look again and explained:

“Gilbert was so, so mad at me when I got back yesterday! I have reflected on my actions, I promise you I have! Please don’t be mad at me! If anything, I need some TLC after that ordeal!”

TLC?

Oscar was baffled. What exactly did she want him to do? He pondered that for a moment before placing his right hand on Cecilia’s head.

“Er… It must have been hard for you. Glad you made it back in one piece.”

“Huh?” Cecilia was confused by the sudden head pats.

“Was that not right either?”

“No, but… I wasn’t expecting you to actually be kind to me!”

“I just did as you requested.”

“I guess so…mmm,” she said, still seeming somewhat thrown.

He kept stroking her hair in silence for a minute or two.

“You have really big hands, Oscar.”

“They only look that way next to yours.”

“Gil and Dante’s hands are also bigger than mine… I guess that’s just one of the differences…”

Between girls and boys? Oscar could only guess at her unfinished sentence. He kept stroking her hair.

“It was a nightmare yesterday! Eins and Zwei picked the worst possible day to spring their plan. Gil was away.”

“That’s rough…” Oscar nodded, feeling a pang of jealousy.

“And you were off somewhere, too!”

“Oh? You tried to find me?”

“Yeah! After talking to the Machiases, I ran over to your classroom, but you weren’t there! I only found Dante, and he told me you weren’t on campus.”

Oscar looked at her incredulously.

“So it wasn’t Dante you originally wanted to ask for help? I was your first choice?” he ventured.

“Yup! I knew that I wouldn’t be able to do much to help Eins and Zwei on my own. I thought I might even just get in the way more than anything. But you’re a prince, like Janis, so you should be able to take him, right?”

“Wait, so you weren’t trying to protect me?”

“Er… What?”

“You didn’t decide to keep me out of this to keep me safe from Janis?”

Cecilia gaped at him. It was obvious that it hadn’t occurred to her.

“Oh… Oooh! You shouldn’t bring along an assassination attempt target to a meeting with the dude who hired the hitman… Gosh, I’m so sorry, Oscar. I was really careless!”

“I didn’t mean to say you were…”

“Excuses, excuses, I know, but I think it didn’t cross my mind because I was so sure you’d be fine no matter what happened,” she carried on apologetically. “You wouldn’t lose to the likes of Janis! You’re a good guy, diligent and earnest, and righteous to boot!”

“…”

“I hadn’t forgotten that he tried to kill you, but it seemed kind of irrelevant to me because I don’t see you losing to him, ever!”

Cecilia followed her assertion with an embarrassed chuckle. That laugh, and her words, melted the icy self-doubt which had been tormenting Oscar. She did see him as someone to rely on. It made him happy.

“Oh, but if you’d rather steer clear of Janis, I’ll be sure to keep that in mind from now on!”

“No, I don’t mind.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. I won’t lose to him, ever,” he repeated her words playfully.

Cecilia’s face lit up with a smile.

“Of course not! He’s got nothing on you!”

She took his words at face value with childlike naïveté. Her unshakable belief in him made Oscar happy, but also a little embarrassed, so while he smiled involuntarily back at her, it was somewhat uneasy. Hoping to hide how self-conscious he was feeling, he patted Cecilia on the back and changed the subject.

“Let’s not stand around in the hallway all lunchtime long, or else we won’t get to eat.”

“Oops, I totally forgot! Gil must be getting fed up with waiting for me!”

Then she took Oscar’s hand.

“Come along!”

“Is that okay?”

“Sure it is! Lean and Huey will be there as well! And Jade said he’d come! If we see Dante on the way, let’s invite him to have lunch with us too!”

She wanted to check if Eins and Zwei were still in their classroom. Thus dragged along, Oscar smiled wryly.

…Cecilia’s conclusion. Oscar kept rubbing his forehead, trying to find the logic in what she was saying.

I just don’t get it…

Gilbert had told him that he wouldn’t understand Cecilia’s motives for cross-dressing. At the time, Oscar had thought he was being taken for a fool, but it turned out that her brother was spot-on.

“And actually, it would be so great if you could help me get the Dirk of Destiny off Prince Janis…,” Cecilia finished her long explanations with a request.

Oscar considered it carefully before giving her his reply.

“That, I can do. The Nativity ritual is coming up. I could summon Janis for the occasion—what do you think? I was going to send out invitations to Nortracha soon, anyway, so I could add his name to the list.”

“But is that really okay? Won’t it cause you or the king any trouble?”

“You can rely on me, Cecilia, I assure you.” Oscar crossed his arms. “I’ll come up with an excuse. The Dirk of Destiny rightfully belongs to Torche, but Prince Janis isn’t known for obeying the law, so I cannot make him return the dagger through official channels.”

“Yeah, figures…”

“But what are you going to do when you meet him? He’s not the type you can negotiate with.”

Cecilia puffed out her chest and patted it.

“Oh, I have a plan for that!”

“A plan you came up with all on your own? That doesn’t inspire confidence.”

“You’re being mean again!”

“No. Realistic.”

Cecilia didn’t have the best track record when it came to clever schemes. They’d reliably turned out to be unreliable.

“Let’s discuss it with Gilbert. I don’t know yet how else I could be of assistance, but I’ll do anything in my power for you.”

“Super! Thanks, Oscar!”

Cecilia wasn’t in disguise, but still had Cecil’s energy.

She is Cecil.

It was reassuring. Cecilia wasn’t like what he had imagined based on their childhood encounter, but that wasn’t a bad thing. He actually loved her even more like this.

Not having noticed his thoughtful, tender gaze, Cecilia stood up, restless with energy. She clenched her hands into fists, as if she were raring to go confront Prince Janis right then and there.

“All right! Let’s do this, Oscar!”

“It’s great that you’re psyched, but you need to take some time out to recover first.”

“Right! My tummy took a nasty whacking. It hurts pretty bad.”

In one swift move, she lifted up her shirt to show him. Oscar silently screamed.

“Cover yourself!”

“You’re one to talk! You’re not even wearing a shirt!”

She seemed perfectly okay with baring her belly in front of him. He hoped it wasn’t because she’d gotten so used to her Cecil persona that she’d forgotten she wasn’t just another guy.

Maybe Cecilia didn’t realize that even just her stomach could have an effect on people.

Poor Gilbert…

Cecilia giggled, unaware that she’d quickened Oscar’s pulse. He couldn’t help but feel sympathy for his long-suffering rival. If he were in Gilbert’s shoes, he might already have been driven to insanity.

Cecilia tucked her shirt back in and looked up at Oscar.

“By the way, where’s your shirt? I don’t see it drying on the rocks?”

“Hmm? Ah, I folded it up to use as a pillow for you. I’d forgotten about it.”

“What?!”

She quickly spun around to look at where she’d been lying on the ground. Oscar had wanted to make her at least a little more comfortable on the hard rock floor. He thought about putting his coat down for her to lie on, but it was soaked, so it would have only made her colder.

“You needn’t have bothered! We’ve got to get it dry, too!”

She snatched it off the ground. It was sopping wet. He’d wrung it out before folding it and putting it under her head, but her hair was drenched, too, and the shirt had soaked up all that moisture. It was as if they’d just fished it out of the river.

“I’m so sorry… You must be cold.”

“I’ll be fine once I put my coat back on,” he assured her, not wanting her to feel bad about his small act of kindness.

Cecilia took the blanket off her shoulders and eagerly offered it to Oscar.

“Then you should at least have the blanket. Please, take it. I’m warm enough now.”

“No, you keep it. Don’t worry about me.”

“No, but—”

“You’re wearing a wet shirt, so you need it more than I do.”

He could just take his shirt off to dry it, but he wouldn’t have dared remove hers while she was asleep, so it had never gotten the chance to dry. And of course, wet clothes didn’t keep you warm.

“Hmm, okay…,” she admitted after a brief moment of hesitation.

Cecilia put the blanket over her shoulders again, but she spread it out wide. Oscar noticed how her shirt stuck to her skin, revealing all her curves.

“How about we share it?”

He shifted farther back and bam! Banged his head against the wall.

She can’t be serious…

Oscar was beyond shocked, to the point he felt anger rise within him. He wasn’t some old man who’d long lost his drive and could calmly share a blanket with his crush, sitting next to him in a wet top that had turned almost see-through and left very little to the imagination. No, he was a hormonal young man struggling to maintain control over his body.

He scooted farther away from her.

“I’m fine as I am, thank you!”

“But—”

“I said I’m fine! Don’t come any closer!”

He never would have thought he’d utter those words to her. Cecilia was trying to sidle up to him, still offering the edge of the blanket, innocent and well-meaning.

“Come on, you must be chilly.”

“On the contrary! I’m burning up at the moment!”

“Don’t be so shy.”

“I wish you were a little more shy right now!”

Thoughtlessly, he stood up and walked away from her, until his back was pressed against the cold wall of the cave. He was half naked, but his body was burning. Cecilia found his behavior alarming and followed after him, concerned. She really had no survival instinct. Stopping in front of him, she peered with worry into his eyes.

“What’s wrong, Oscar?”

“You…”

“Yes?”

“You matter too much to me!”

Just a few minutes earlier, he’d been promising to be a good husband to her one day. Oscar wanted to be respectful and take things slowly with her, but here Cecilia was, a slab of meat next to a starving wolf. Did she not comprehend that other kind of hunger? Then how could he explain? His craving was real and urgent, and it was only through an extraordinary feat of self-restraint that he was able to keep his bestial instincts at bay.

“I don’t understand. What are you doing?”

“I should be asking you the same question! What on earth are you up to?!”

“Um… I’m just trying to share the blanket with you?”

“You can’t be serious!”

“It’s okay. Come on, let’s share it.”

Oscar felt as if the walls of the cave were closing in on him.

“You’ll catch a cold if you stay like this…” she said to him as if he were a stubborn child.

He couldn’t care less if he got sick.

“Come closer…”

“NO!”

He tried to push her arm away when she tried to cover him with the blanket…

“Whoa!”

But he miscalculated and accidentally shoved her back. Cecilia lost her balance and would’ve crashed hard onto the rock floor had Oscar not grabbed her, putting his other hand on the back of her head to pull her back up…except that his knees buckled under him after doing this, and he fell forward. His palms throbbed. His knees were pure pain. The hand he’d placed on the back of Cecilia’s head had smashed against the floor.

“S-sorry…”

“Huh?”

Oscar opened his eyes and realized he’d fallen over on top of Cecilia.

“Argh!”

This was too much. He couldn’t breathe. His lips were trembling, and his fingertips were ice cold. He couldn’t take it anymore. He swore inwardly.

“Um, Oscar?”

Her voice, so close to him. His heart was beating so rapidly, he feared it might explode. Oscar gritted his teeth.

Wasn’t it okay to let go now? Hadn’t he proven himself to her, put up with so much for her already? He’d confessed his love to her, and she was okay with becoming his wife. If something happened now between them, it wouldn’t really be a problem, would it?

Just as Oscar began giving in to the evil whispers in his head, he heard rustling outside the cave.

“You hear that?”

Cecilia tensed up in his embrace, alert.

“Shh. I’ve got this.”

Oscar’s sanity returned at once. He made sure not to make any noise as he listened keenly for any more sounds from the outside…

“Cecil? Your Highness? Are you in there?” And after a short pause, “Well, now…”

“Huh?”

“It’s Gil!” Cecilia exclaimed with happy relief.

She was still pinned down by Oscar, who’d gone pale. Gilbert wore a stony expression. Oblivious to the mood in the cave, Cecilia wriggled out from under Oscar and trotted over to her brother, overjoyed to see him.

“You found us, Gil! Yay! My disguise got ruined when I fell into the river and—”

“You don’t need to say anything.”

Gilbert put his coat over Cecilia and started leading her out, completely ignoring Oscar, who was still on all fours on the floor.

“Gilbert! It’s not what you think! I didn’t… We didn’t…,” the prince called out.

“I’m not talking to you, you piece of garbage.” He gave Oscar a look more terrifying than he’d ever seen.

It was the day after Gilbert had rescued Cecilia from Osca…from the cave, rather.

“Say, Gil… Are you angry…?”

“I’m amazed that you’d have doubts about that,” Gilbert replied with a smile so chilling, Cecilia pulled her quilt up to her nose to hide behind it.

“I—I was just checking…,” she replied in a trembling voice.

They were in Cecilia’s room. She was running a fever, likely as a consequence of having fallen into that cold river the other day. Doctor Mordred had taken care of her injuries, but he couldn’t do much about her illness and general exhaustion, so she was resting up in bed, free of her wig or any other parts of her disguise.

Gilbert was sitting on a stool next to her bed, cutting an apple for her. He was shaping the peel on each slice into rabbit ears. Apple bunnies always made Cecilia happy.

He addressed her without looking up from his work.

“You need to stop being so careless, Cecilia.”

“Yes, I know…”

She looked very contrite, as if she had learned her lesson after both the incident with Janis and the landslide, but Gilbert was certain this lesson would be forgotten in an instant once she got some other crazy idea in her head again. It was just the way she was. He stole a glance at her and sighed.

Well, this time it wasn’t so much her fault, though…

To be fair, Cecilia had tried being more cautious by taking Dante along with her for Janis’ stakeout, and Elza might not have made it without Cecilia risking her life to rescue her. But from Gilbert’s point of view, it was all very much unnecessary. Cecilia should’ve stopped Eins and Zwei from going to see Janis that day, by force if necessary. And in his eyes, Elza’s life was worth far less than Cecilia’s, so it if anyone was going to have a brush with death, he’d sacrifice the cleric.

Yet Cecilia wasn’t the type to abandon a friend in need, no matter the danger it put her in. And since her kindness was one of the traits which had made him fall in love with her, he’d have to put up with her not putting her best interests before everything else.

Gilbert changed the subject as he moved a piece of apple around in his hand, deftly carving out little rabbit ears.

“Moving on… Did Oscar really not do anything to you?”

“He didn’t! You saw!”

“I’m asking precisely because of what I saw when I walked into that cave.”

His voice practically became a growl at the memory. That night, he’d been running through the forest, desperately searching for Cecilia, fearing the worst. When he saw Oscar’s cravat tied around a branch as a sign for the search party, he felt almost weak with relief… Then he entered the cave near the marked tree and saw a sight he’d been entirely unprepared for.

Oscar lying on top of Cecilia.

A cold void manifested in Gilbert’s heart, consuming any warmth that had been within him. He normally treated his rival with gentlemanly politeness, but he hadn’t been able to address the man with anything other than pure contempt at that moment.

“I don’t think you’re as angry as you make it out to be.”

“What makes you think so?”

“I dunno… Just a gut feeling?”

Most of what Cecilia said and did in life was based on her gut. Gilbert reluctantly nodded.

“There are alleviating circumstances. Oscar did save your life, after all.”

And despite what he’d said, Gilbert didn’t actually think Oscar was trying to have his way with Cecilia back there in the cave. Knowing how clumsy and thoughtless Cecilia could be, his bet was on her having done something dumb, and Oscar falling over on top of her in an attempt to help. The prince was straight as an arrow, and a bit dense, too, so Gilbert could see how things could’ve turned out that way.

“You should tell Oscar that you’re not really mad at him.”

“Why?”

“Because he was freaking out!” she said with a laugh.

Oscar had followed after them all the way from the cave to the carriage trying to speak to Gilbert, begging him to listen and swearing that he hadn’t done anything. Gilbert had been too incensed to even acknowledge him.

In retrospect, I was being immature too…, Gilbert thought.

“He really wants to be friends with you.”

“Sorry, what?”

“That’s why he asked you to use his name and not title him ‘His Highness’, no?”

“But why are you bringing this up now?”

Oscar had asked him to drop the formality years ago, but Gilbert insisted on treating him with reserve. Gilbert frowned, wondering why Cecilia was reminding him of that.

“Because it’s time you admitted that you two are actually friends? You’re always coming up with fake reasons not to like him, but if that was how you really felt, you wouldn’t have the urge to explain why. I’m aware that you don’t bother with people at all when they don’t matter to you.”

She gave him a “know-it-all” face. Gilbert sighed.

“Maybe I’ll consider it.”

He showed Cecilia the finished apple slices.

“Yay! Bunnies!”

“You sound like a child, getting excited about your rabbit apples. Here.”

“Yum! Yum! Thanks!”

“Hmm…”

She seemed almost giddy—it must have been the fever. Gilbert pressed the back of his hand to her forehead, then traced it down to her cheek.

“Your fever’s not going down yet. You should try to sleep when you finish the apple.”

“Okay!”

Gilbert smiled with his eyes at her, glad she was following his advice for a change.

It took only ten minutes for Cecilia to fall asleep. She had a second slice of apple and a few sips of water before her eyelids suddenly closed, and she drifted off in the middle of a conversation. The ordeal from the day before had taken a toll on her body.

Gilbert stroked her cheek one more time, needing to touch her to make sure that she really was there, that he hadn’t lost her in that river.

“Thank goodness you’re safe…,” he whispered, speaking from his heart.

When someone told him that Cecilia had been carried away by the river, he’d felt as if the world had ended for a moment. She’d always been careless, but death seemed to positively stalk her since she enrolled in the academy. Gilbert wanted to kick himself for not fully believing her about the game, her past life, and her being fated to die.

Cecilia stirred in her sleep, sensing his touch. Gilbert smiled upon seeing her so peaceful, then quietly left the room.

To his surprise, someone was waiting just outside.

“And what are you doing here, Your Highness?”

“I came to check on Cecilia, but I heard your voice…”

Oscar scratched his cheek awkwardly. He’d been standing outside the room to avoid interrupting them.

Gilbert softly closed the door behind him.

“You’re out of luck. She’s sleeping now,” he said to Oscar in an unfriendly tone.

“I’ll have to come back some other time then,” said the prince, handing a small box to Gilbert.

It was from a famous Algram chocolatier. It had a faint sweet scent of cocoa.

“Why are you giving me this?”

“It’s for Cecilia. Could you give it to her?”

“Why don’t you give it to her yourself?”

“You’re saying that now, but you’d get mad at me if I went into her room with no one else around.”

“Of course I would.”

“Well, then I can’t give it to her myself, can I?!” Oscar shouted, exasperated by Gilbert’s self-contradictory advice.

Not only did Gilbert not flinch at Oscar’s exclamation, but his demeanor grew even chillier.

“Why do you even care what I say?”

“Sorry?”

“You’re her fiancé. It shouldn’t matter to you if it bothers me that you’d be in the room alone with her. You know she’s not going to run away just because you’ve discovered her secret, either. So why don’t you just do whatever you please, regardless of whether I like it or not?” Gilbert practically spat the words at him. What he was saying wasn’t rude, but his embittered attitude made it come across as such.

He’d anticipated that this would happen one day—that he’d lose his advantage over Oscar, if you could call it that, when the prince learned the truth about Cecil. That the fact he’d been close to Cecilia for over a decade might not amount to much after that.

Oscar was a prince, and Cecilia’s fiancé. If he were in Oscar’s place, Gilbert wouldn’t give a damn about her adoptive brother’s objections.

That said, Prince Oscar had been listening quietly. He sighed and looked at the ground after Gilbert said his piece.

“It wouldn’t sit right with me to use my position to get what I want. And while I have no intention to annul my engagement to Cecilia, I don’t consider myself to have any special privileges when it comes to her, unless she grants me them herself. We’ve been interacting as friends for so long. Don’t you think it might make her uncomfortable if I acted overly familiar all of a sudden?”

“Possibly.”

“Plus, I wouldn’t want to antagonize a friend.”

“What friend?” Gilbert looked at Oscar. “You mean, her as Cecil?”

“No. You.”

“What?!” Gilbert’s voice cracked.

Oscar frowned.

“Aren’t we friends? You offered me your friendship first, didn’t you?”

“Did I say something along those lines? That was just…”

Something he’d uttered out of politeness, without meaning much by it, at the start of the academic year. Back when Oscar had still been badgering Gilbert to let him see Cecilia.

Gilbert’s response visibly crushed Oscar.

“I hadn’t realized… Oh, well.”

Gilbert’s lips curved even farther down and his eyelids dropped halfway.

“Urgh. Enough of this already…”

Gilbert sighed, feeling deflated. This was becoming ridiculous. It would be in his best interest to keep Oscar at a distance. Their personalities were incompatible. Not to mention that they were romantic rivals. Yet somehow Oscar had come to like him, and they’d been through so much together that even Gilbert was getting used to having him around. What clinched it, though, was the fact that Oscar was ready to die in order to save Cecilia. That selfless act bought him Gilbert’s eternal gratitude.

Gilbert swept past Oscar and started walking down the hallway. The prince turned around, flustered.

“H-hey!”

“Let’s go, Osc. There are plans to be made, and we’re short on time,” said Gilbert, looking back at him.

Oscar was so surprised to hear Gilbert use a nickname for him that he froze on the spot. Then he smiled wryly.

“We’d better get started, then.”

He followed after Gilbert, quickening his pace until he caught up. They started walking together.

“Do you have any ideas yet?”

“A few. Little can be done unless we enlist the help of more people, which will be the first hurdle.”

“I can take care of that.”

“Excellent.”

They went over what needed doing as matter-of-factly as usual. Eventually, however, Oscar blurted out what had been on his mind.

“That aloof coldness of yours is just an act, isn’t it?”

“What are you talking about?”

Gilbert shot him a hateful look, but the loathing he tried to convey failed to come across quite as genuine as it used to.

“Oh, really?”

“I’m a very cautious man, you see.”

He slipped out of his cloak and stood up. They heard a rustling nearby.

“What’s that?!”

Just then, figures started appearing out from between the trees. Some appeared to be soldiers, while others were clad in religious vestments. They all stared into space vacantly, and had marks shaped like thorny vines on their wrists or faces. Cecilia’s crew took a step back, intimidated by the sheer number of opponents who’d come out of nowhere. There were too many for them to take on.

“My ability has this useful extra feature, you know.”

“And what’s that?”

“I can give the possessed simple orders. They can’t go against their deep-held beliefs, but as long as there’s a thought or sentiment I can pivot off, I can use that to have them do my bidding.”

Janis patted a soldier standing nearby on the shoulder. He must have come from the shrine’s own garrison. Cecilia recalled that some soldiers had been assigned to guard their carriage while they were visiting.

“All of the people here are Caritade believers…but they’re no sympathizers of the Maiden. For some, it’s hard to feel loyalty toward a leader who only ever shows herself during special ceremonies.”

Now Janis pointed at Lean.

“Look, my temporary friends. Here we have a Holy Maiden candidate and her knights. Why don’t you just kill them all?”

The empty eyes of the possessed soldiers and clerics immediately focused on Cecilia’s group, and as one, they started running toward them. Huey quickly hoisted Mordred onto his back. They all turned in the other direction from the incoming attackers.

“We got the dirk, so let’s just go to the shrine!” Cecilia shouted.

They broke into a sprint. The plan had been to use Jade’s Artifact to conceal their presence and sneak into the shrine without the nuns raising alarm, but that would have to be scrapped. They’d have to force their way in.

Rather than climb over the wall around the grounds of the shrine, they had Oscar smash a hole in it with the power of his Artifact. The noise alerted guards who were patrolling nearby, and they rushed over, shouting about a break-in. But when they saw the horde following Cecilia’s group, they fell silent in shock or terror. Huey knocked them out before they had the time to make sense of the situation. Despite the fact he was carrying Mordred, he was still as swift as wind.

The door to the shrine was locked, so they knocked it down. They entered the magnificent chapel. A large statue of the goddess seemed to be staring at them, standing against the background of a wall with the myth written on it. In between the pillars to the left and right were flags bearing religious symbols. Moonlight illuminated the chapel, colored by the stained glass windows.

The shrine complex was divided into three areas. The first area comprised the chapel where the resident high-ranking clerics and nuns gave their daily prayers. The central area was the living quarters of the Holy Maiden and her nuns. Lastly, there was the inner sanctum located in the back of the complex, which was only opened when it was time for a maiden candidate to ascend to the title Holy Maiden.

Cecilia and her friends needed to get to that sanctum. They smashed a side door and exited the chapel into a corridor leading to the nuns’ quarters. They heard many voices behind them but kept running without looking back. When they made it to the central zone, they barred the door at their backs, and the voices of their pursuers became muted. Feeling temporarily safe, Cecilia squatted to catch her breath. Everyone except Huey, who had been carrying Mordred the whole time, was out of breath.

“Do you think…we could rest here for a few minutes?”

“Not sure that’s a good idea,” Gilbert replied tensely.

No sooner had he said that than they heard a loud thud, and the door bent a bit. Their pursuers were slamming their bodies against the entrance, trying to break through it.

“Yikes!” squeaked Cecilia.

“They’re not going to give up so easily,” Lean said in a calm voice.

The door bar was made of wood. It was sturdy, but would eventually break under the frenetic onslaught of the possessed horde.

“We’ve got to get as far away from them as possible before they break in…”

The barred door was creaking now as the pursuers kept ramming into it. Cecilia stood up and they were about to start running down the hallway when a door opened, and a nun poked her head out from behind it.

“Is someone there?”

The doors on both sides of the hallway led to the nuns’ quarters, and it seemed they’d woken up one of them. She was dressed in a plain nightgown, rubbing her eyes sleepily. Another door opened up ahead.

“Who’s making that racket so late?”

And another.

“Is it morning already?”

And another…

“Keep it down!”

More and more nuns were waking up. Cecilia gasped.

This is bad… I don’t want to drag them into this!

Janis had ordered the possessed to attack the Holy Maiden candidate and her knights, but who was to say they wouldn’t harm other people who got in the way?

“What was that noise? I’m trying to sleep here…,” said another nun who’d just come out of a room next to where Cecilia was standing.

Cecilia turned to her and grabbed her by the shoulders.

“Please go back to your room and don’t come out!”

“P-Prince Cecil?! What are you doing here?!” the nun exclaimed in a shrill voice.

“Prince Cecil?”

“Did somebody say Prince Cecil was here?!”

“Where is he?”

The surprised nun’s shriek had now woken up almost everyone, and more nuns were leaving their quarters to check what was going on. It didn’t take long for Cecilia to become surrounded by them.

“Did something happen? What brings you here?”

“Prince Cecil, it’s so good to see you again!”

“Um, could everyone please go back to their rooms and lock their doors—”

“It’s been too long since your last visit, Prince Cecil!”

“You look as splendid as ever!”

“When did you arrive?”

They had lots of questions, but they weren’t listening to a word Cecilia said to them. All of the nuns living who lived here were crowding the hallway. This was bad. Really bad.

“H-hey! Please, listen!”

“Please return to your rooms!”

Oscar and Gilbert joined in, pleading with the nuns to go back to safety, but hardly anyone even noticed them. To make matters worse, Cecilia could swear the wooden door bar was creaking louder, barely holding out. She bit her lip. There was only one thing that might work. Her special skill.

She put her hand on the lower back of the nun closest to her and drew her close.

“Would you like me to start with you?”

“Wh-what are you saying…?”

The nun’s face flushed with an emotion someone who’d sworn a vow of celibacy should have steered clear of. Cecilia gave the nun her seductive prince look, running her fingers through her hair as she spoke.

“It was my yearning to talk to you ladies which brought me back to the shrine. Your virtues and beauty have left me smitten.”

“Oh, my prince…”

“Do invite me to your rooms to tell me about your goddess, educate me about the Church—you will find a willing pupil in me, voracious for knowledge. May your sweet lips guide me to the heavens.”

The innuendo made the sisters exchange glances before they all squealed with embarrassed delight.

“I’d like to spend some time alone with every one of you if possible.”

“I—I want nothing more!”

“You’re welcome to see me any time!”

Cecilia tilted her head to the side and looked at the horny nuns with a playful smile.

“Will you then go back to your rooms like good girls and wait for me patiently until I knock on your door?”

“Y-yes!”

“I’ll be waiting! No matter how late it gets, please don’t forget about me!”

“Naughty girls who get tired of waiting and come out of their rooms to look for me lose their turn.”

Cecilia flashed a dazzling smile at them, touching her finger to her lips. The nuns flushed a brighter shade of crimson, swooning. Then they walked back to their rooms in a hurry. Cecilia waved at them until only she and her discomfited companions were left in the hallway.

“Not sparing even the poor nuns, huh,” Lean said testily.

“I didn’t want to do that, honest, but there was no other way!” Cecilia replied in self-defense.

“Let’s just go, before they break through that door!”

Oscar had the presence of mind to break up their quarrel, and they all ran down the hallway.

They ran out of the corridor into another hallway, passing by a laundry room and various storerooms. Their advantage over the pursuers wasn’t that great since the nuns had held them up for so long, and they were fairly exhausted from sprinting. Huey, carrying the still-unconscious Mordred on his back, shouted something to Cecilia:

“Are you sure we’re running in the right direction?”

“I don’t know about directions, I’m just running!”

“Are you kidding me?!”

She was doing her best, given the situation. There was no time to take out Mordred’s map or check Grace’s notes to get their bearings. Cecilia remembered some of the instructions and was keeping an eye out for the features on the list, but for the most part, she was just running as fast as she could to get away from the Obstruction-possessed mob. They’d made it pretty far into the shrine, so her very rough idea of which way to go seemed correct so far.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have snapped at you. We’re so out of luck, with the guy who knows the route out cold. How much longer are you going to sleep, Doc?!”

Huey shook Mordred from side to side. Suddenly, the doctor lifted his head off of Huey’s shoulder.

“Where…where am I?”

“Inside the shrine!”

“How come…? Oh, right. I got attacked by a strange man in a cloak…”

“Yup, and that guy’s got a bunch of minions chasing after us. Which way do we go, Doc?!”

Mordred seemed somewhat put out by Huey’s demanding tone.

“Let’s see…” He craned his neck this way and that, clinging to Huey’s back. “It would appear that our current location—”

“There’s no time! Please, just tell us which way to go!” Lean was starting to lose her nerve.

“Not so fast. We don’t want to lead our pursuers to the sanctum altar. It’s too risky,” Gilbert said in a measured tone.

Oscar nodded.

“Assuming there’s only one entrance, we’ll end up trapped.”

“In the worst-case scenario, they’ll all gang up on us.”

“Goodness gracious, we can’t stand here all night! Time for plan B!”

Lean stopped. So did Huey. He set Mordred down on the floor.

“What are you talking about, Lean?”

“Huey and I will hold back the pursuers. Lord Cecil, you go on ahead with the others.”

“What? You can’t—”

“We can handle this, I assure you. I’ve prepared for the worst.”

Lean lifted her arms. Her sleeves slid down toward her elbows, revealing a stack of shiny bracelets on each of her wrists. They were the Artifacts from Oscar, Gilbert, Mordred, Eins, Zwei, and Dante. She’d talked them all into handing them over in case of emergency such as this one. Lean had the whole gamut of special abilities at her disposal.

“We can always fall back on you-know-what. It’ll be fine!”

Cecilia hesitated for a moment.

“All right, then. Good luck!”

She nodded at Lean, her eyes firm with determination.

When Cecilia and the others went out of sight, Lean exhaled deeply. She thought her last-ditch plan was solid, but she hadn’t expected she would actually have to use it. Wielding the full arsenal of Artifacts in battle would be an entirely new experience. She’d tested them out before the start of this mission, but not against real targets.

She would never admit that she was anxious, though. She was too proud for that.

Lean activated Gilbert’s Artifact and smiled fearlessly, in the hope that acting confident would help her overcome her misgivings.

“Well, Lord Huey. We’ve rehearsed for this. Let’s put theory into practice.”

“Mm-hmm. By the way, you can drop the act already, you know.”

“Excuse me?”

Huey fixed his gaze on the door separating them from the bloodthirsty horde of the possessed.

“Haven’t you been cultivating this Little Miss Perfect persona for quite a while? You don’t need to act like that in front of me. I’m ready for the real you.”

Lean didn’t know what to say to that. She looked at him in silence.

“I’ve seen through your mask, so I already know that you have a vicious streak. That you enjoy teasing people and are constantly on the lookout for the next thing to entertain you. That you’re motivated solely by your own interests, that you’re extremely proud, and that you have a short temper.”

“That’s quite a negative image of me you’re painting,” Lean said with narrowed eyes.

Huey half-turned toward her, a hint of smile playing on his lips.

“Not entirely negative. I know you care deeply about your friends.”

“…”

“You don’t have to hide your true self from me. I don’t mind if you want to carry on as before, but don’t try to play goody two-shoes to impress me…” Huey turned away from her as he finished the sentence, perhaps growing self-conscious.

Lean stood there in silence for a while, staring at his back. Then she arched her lips upward.

“I’ve also seen through the front you put up and know that you’re actually very sensitive and shy. That you’re embarrassed by your own lack of confidence, so you try to emulate Dante, your idol, despite knowing you’ll never be his match.”

“That’s harsh…,” Huey said shakily, turning around toward her again.

Lean gave him a broad smile.

“I also know that you’re extremely fond of me.”

Huey pressed his lips together into a tight line, but he didn’t deny it. There was no point in lying.

“I have indeed been treating you with reserve, showing you only the qualities I wanted you to see in me. I guess it’ll be less mental work for me not to have to do it anymore.”

Lean summoned Oscar’s sword and sent it flying toward Huey. It traced a high arc in the air before he jumped up to catch it. He took a few swings to get a feel for it. With this blade at his disposal, he would be able to banish Obstructions, despite not being a knight. Lean and company had already established that this would work through previous hostile encounters.

Lean took a knife out of her pocket and made lots of copies of it.

“Well, Huey. It’s time for a show of strength!”

“We’ll make short work of that rude prince.”

They smiled at each other. A fraction of a second later, the horde broke through the entrance.

“The altar should be behind this door!”

Mordred had led Cecilia, Oscar, and Gilbert into the depths of the shrine, and they were now standing in front of the room they’d been seeking. They went inside, leaving Mordred by the entrance to act as a lookout.

Inside the chamber was a statue of the goddess, identical to the one from the room where the Dirk of Destiny had been kept. The statue was holding a jug, from which water spilled out into a large marble bowl below, draining out of the hole in the middle. In front of the statue stood a long, marble table with a narrow slit in the middle. Its ornate design suggested this was where you were meant to plunge the Dirk of Destiny.

But Cecilia and her two friends weren’t the only people in the chamber. There was another person there, standing with her back to them. She was of short stature and wore her red hair done up in a braid. She slowly turned toward them, and they saw a familiar bespectacled face. Cecilia gasped.

“Elza…”

“I’ve been waiting for you, Lord Cecil.”

“It was you who swiped the Dirk of Destiny right before we found it, wasn’t it?” Cecilia asked sadly.

Elza simply grinned in reply.

Cecilia had figured out who the culprit was just before the landslide, when she and Lean were conversing about how Janis managed to get into the shrine to steal the dagger. At first, Lean suggested he had been entering the shrine wearing a nun’s habit for disguise, until he located the dagger and made away with it, but Cecilia dismissed that as implausible on the grounds that the shrine’s security was too tight for that.

“But Janis did get in somehow! How did he do it then? Did he disguise himself as someone from the shrine?”

Lean’s annoyed voice played back in Cecilia’s head. It would have been impossible for Janis to sneak into the shrine multiple times without anyone noticing, but it was a fact that he’d stolen the Dirk of Destiny. They’d found his earring planted in the room where the dirk had been. Then it dawned on Cecilia: he had an accomplice at the shrine.

“When you came into my room to take a look at the broken shower, you went through my things too, didn’t you? And you found the instructions on how to find the Dirk of Destiny.”

“Let me check your shower. Please wait outside.”

At the time Cecilia thought nothing of it, but Elza had sure taken her time inspecting the shower, and there wasn’t really a need to keep Cecilia waiting outside the room for that. Only later did she realize that Elza hadn’t been checking the shower but Cecilia’s belongings, which included the guide to the Dirk of Destiny. That was how the cleric managed to find the dirk before Lean and Cecilia did.

“Let me guess—the ghost haunting the shrine was you, wasn’t it? You’d been searching for the hidden Dirk of Destiny by night, on Janis’ orders.”

“Yes, that was me. I didn’t start the rumors, but they worked to my advantage. They kept more nuns in their rooms at night, so it was easier for me to get around unseen.”

“Was our invitation to stay at the shrine something to do with you too?”

“Indeed. It would have taken me an eternity to find the dirk searching at random, but it occurred to me you might have some information that would help me. It was just a faint hope, but I really did strike gold.”

Cecilia regretted having left the map in her room, but how could she have known that the friendly cleric would turn out to be working for the enemy? It bugged her to no end.

“Why would you do that, Elza? Are you being influenced by an Obstruction, too?!”

“Now that’s a silly suggestion. Holy Maidens are immune to Obstructions.”

“Wait, what?”

“Oh? You didn’t figure that out yet?”

Elza smiled, and then she covered her face with her hands. In the blink of an eye, she transformed from a cute young girl into a tall, beautiful woman with long hair.

“It’s the first time you’ve see me like this, I believe.”

She flashed Cecilia an enchanting smile, gathering her hair up to move it behind her ears. Even though she was the same person they’d been talking to just now, her appearance, demeanor, and even her way of talking were completely different.

“My real name is Margrit Aubry, and I am the head of the Church of Caritade, the symbol of the goddess herself. I am the Holy Maiden.”

On her wrists were seven golden bracelets, their designs different from the ones Cecilia was familiar with. One of them must have granted her the ability to alter her appearance.

Cecilia was in shock. Her voice quivered as she addressed the Holy Maiden.

“B-but what about that time we met you together with Elza?”

“What you saw then was a doll, not me. I was impersonating Elza. She used to be such a good assistant to me. Unfortunately, she passed away several months ago.” Margrit looked down with genuine sadness. “She was a kind person of pure heart. I can’t quite wrap my head around how she could take her own life. Yet that tragedy gave me freedom.”

“Have you been impersonating her ever since she died?”

“Yes. I met Janis shortly after that. He must have tried to awaken an Obstruction within me, and when it didn’t work, he realized who I was.”

Cecilia remembered that the nuns visiting Cigogne Orphanage told her how Elza had changed several months earlier. They attributed her newly found joy in life to the effect of Madame Neal’s fiction…but that was probably when the real Elza died and Margrit took her place.

“But why are you doing all this?”

“I don’t feel like explaining myself to someone I barely know. Suffice it to say, I was desperate for freedom, and I craved vengeance against the Church, which has imprisoned me here for decades.”

She extended her right arm to the side, and one of her bracelets shone briefly. Three distortions appeared in the air in front of her. She thrust her hands into them.

“Did you know that your Artifacts and my Artifacts have different abilities? I wonder if you can do this.”

She pulled her hands out of the shimmering distortions.

“Why, hello there.”

Out of one of the portals stepped Janis, and out of another, the man who called himself Nameless. He was no longer in the disguise he’d used at the evening party at the palace. As for the third distortion…

“Crap!”

Dozens of Obstruction-possessed poured out of it. Nameless stood in front of Janis to keep him safe. The prince smiled, as if he found all of this amusing.

“Shall we start round two?”

Janis raised his hand. At this signal, the empty-eyed possessed charged at Cecilia and her friends.

“Stand back, Cecilia! Oscar!”

“On it!”

Gilbert pulled Cecilia back and Oscar leaped forward, felling three of the oncoming attackers with a single slash of his blade.

“Oh, wow. So one of them acts as your shield while the other is the sword.” Janis clapped with a mockingly appreciative smirk on his face. He was paying little attention to Oscar and Gilbert—his eyes were fixed on Cecilia. “Tino told me that you’re actually a girl, despite appearances.”

Cecilia gathered he was referring to his Nameless. So he did have a moniker after all. Tino promptly attacked Oscar, perhaps having been previously instructed to do so by Janis. As you’d expect of the Nortracha prince’s bodyguard, he was a skilled swordsman, and Oscar was struggling to fend him off.

Janis glanced very briefly at Tino before turning his gaze back to Cecilia.

“I’m guessing you’re a Holy Maiden candidate.”

“So what if I am?”

“Nothing. You’re of little consequence anyway.”

“Oh yeah?” Cecilia’s voice became lower, tinged with anger.

“You’re a nuisance I could do without, but you have no power to influence what happens here. Sure, you can use that dagger, but darling, you have no Artifacts. You’re just a helpless girl, and no threat to me.”

She understood it was a taunt. Gilbert’s Artifact would protect her from physical attacks as long as she was within its effect range, so the prince was trying to provoke her to lure her out of the safe zone.

Janis was holding a rapier. Cecilia hadn’t even noticed when he pulled it out. He was always saying that he wasn’t strong, that he wasn’t much of a fighter, but he’d somehow knocked Mordred out with ease, so his claims could have very well been lies. She needed to be on her guard…

I know that, but…

“How ineffectual you are. You’ve got your dear friends fighting on your behalf like you’re some kind of princess, just so you can stand back and watch them die.”

“You know nothing about me!”

Cecilia crouched down and lunged at Janis. Gilbert screamed her name in panic, but she didn’t look back. She attempted to attack Janis with the Dirk of Destiny…but he easily parried her strike with his rapier.

“Ha-ha-ha! You’re a fool! That’s all there is to know!”

Cecilia smiled.

“Are you sure that I’m the fool?”

“What?”

Suddenly, Janis didn’t seem so sure of himself. Cecilia jumped over his attack and steadied herself, putting one hand on the floor. She stood up slowly and slashed at him again. Their blades locked. Cecilia smiled dauntlessly, her face inches from Janis’.

“Guess what, Janis. There are three Holy Maiden candidates, not two.”

“What? There’s another?!”

“Grace!”

That was their cue. Grace materialized out of thin air. In her hand was the Dirk of Destiny, and on her wrist—Jade’s Artifact. She was right in front of the altar.

This is what Lean meant when she said they had another plan to fall back on. Grace had been on the shrine team together with Lean, Mordred, and Huey, but she was to stay invisible with the help of Jade’s Artifact unless they called her. She was the ace up their sleeve, and Janis, Margrit, and Tino could do nothing to stop her at this point.

“Here goes!”

Grace raised the dirk above her head and brought it down on the altar, where it slotted easily into place.

Cecilia was expecting the altar to light up, or the shrine to begin shaking, or something else to happen in response to the Dirk of Destiny, but there was no flashy signal like that to show them it was working. The water merely stopped flowing out of the jug in the hands of the goddess statue, and the bowl underneath it soon emptied.

Janis was still stunned.

“Why…why is there a second Dirk of Destiny?”

“Simple. The one I’m using is a replica,” Cecilia said matter- of-factly.

While they were running down the shrine hallways, Lean had copied the dagger. She’d given the replica to Cecilia and the original to Grace, who was following them while invisible.

Something’s not right…

Still keeping her eyes on Janis, who seemed out of it, Cecilia noticed something very concerning. The water had stopped flowing after Grace stuck the dagger in the altar, which was surely a sign that they’d done everything right, but…

Why haven’t the Obstructions disappeared?

The empty-eyed possessed were still coming at them, moving like zombies. Gilbert was doing a stellar job of holding them back, and Oscar was exorcising them while he continued fighting Tino, so they hadn’t yet made it to where Cecilia and Janis were standing. But Margrit kept summoning more and more of them out of new portals, so their numbers seemed to be increasing overall. Janis was still in a daze, but this fact wasn’t lost on him. He lifted his head up.

“Ah. So that’s how it works,” he muttered to himself. Then he smiled, pleased. “That’s how it makes Obstructions disappear.”

“You figured something out?”

“Yes—that we both made an incorrect assumption. What the Dirk of Destiny does is stop the seeds of Obstructions from being released into the world.”

Cecilia stared at him blankly. Janis narrowed his eyes and explained:

“Until now, I didn’t know how the Church was planting the seeds in people. It must have been through this water.”

“What?”

“The water coming out of the statue was the source of the seeds. It probably flowed into the river where everyone gets their drinking water. That’s how everyone in the country became contaminated with this curse.”

Janis shuddered suddenly. He wasn’t looking well—his face was very pale, and his brow was covered in cold sweat. Maybe he had driven himself to exhaustion by using too much of his power. Tino moved to the prince’s side to support him in case he fell. Janis’ health must have been more of a concern to him at that moment than keeping Oscar occupied.

Despite how frail he looked as he leaned on Tino, Janis kept smiling.

“The seeds which have already been planted will continue sprouting into Obstructions until the next Holy Maiden is chosen. Meaning that every last one of your citizens will eventually become possessed if someone kills all the candidates.”

“…”

“Pity that I’m too tired to take care of that right now. Let’s call it a day.”

Janis’ breathing became labored. With effort, he took a deep breath and then turned away from Cecilia.

“Tino, Margrit, we’re leaving. I need a break.”

They both acknowledged his order and Margrit opened another portal for them.

“Bye, Cecil. Let’s meet again, if you’re still alive by then,” Janis waved at Cecilia just before the portal closed.

At the same time Janis’ party disappeared, one last portal left behind by Margrit ejected another large group of possessed into the room before it also shut.

Gilbert, Oscar, Cecilia, and Grace were on their last legs. They stood in a small circle, facing outward.

“It’s not looking good.”

“Indeed.”

“Neither Cecil nor I are adequately equipped to fight them. Prince Janis rightly noted how helpless we are without Artifacts.”

“I’m so sorry, everyone. I wouldn’t have got you involved if I knew how dangerous it would turn out to be, Grace…”

Cecilia bowed low in a sincere apology. Grace smiled, a little nonplussed.

“Why wouldn’t I help you out, considering what we have in common?”

“Sorry to interrupt, but we should talk about how we’re going to get out of this. How much longer will the dome hold out, Gilbert?”

Oscar was referring to the transparent protective field Gilbert had created around them using his Artifact. Gilbert thought for a moment.

“It wears out when I wear out… About thirty minutes, I reckon.”

“Right. So we have half an hour to think about how we’re going to deal with the possessed and make our escape from the shrine.”

“It’s probably too optimistic to hope Lean and Huey will be free to join us in time.”

Thirty minutes wasn’t long, and they couldn’t afford to spend that whole time making a plan only to have to face the enemy without Gilbert’s shield abilities.

I’ve got to come up with something fast…

But their opponents were far too numerous to bring down in half an hour. If they all could fight, maybe they would be able to pull that off, but it would be only Oscar and Gilbert versus the entire horde.

Could we sneak out of the room using Jade’s Artifact?

Except that would mean leaving behind a room full of Obstruction-possessed, which would endanger the nuns.

There’s got to be a way, though, right? Right?

Just as the fact that they were in a hopeless position began to sink in, the door to the altar room slammed open. The possessed who were nearest to it began to tumble down to the ground, and soon a familiar face came into view.

“Tsk-tsk. You’re up to your neck in trouble again, I see.”

“Marlin!”

Another face popped up from behind her.

“The true hero is always late to the party, am I right?”

“Dante!” Oscar shouted in relief.

He must have gotten in touch with Marlin and asked her and her crew to come along. Behind them were also Lean and Huey, looking fairly worn out, and Mordred, his clothes in tatters for some reason. He must have also been through quite the ordeal.

Marlin smiled wider and gave an order:

“It’s your time to shine, guys! Round up each and every one of these troublemakers!”

Lean vigorously patted Cecilia on the back.

“Ouch!”

“Don’t sulk so much. Life is to be enjoyed! We’re lucky to have gotten a second chance, but we might not get another, so don’t waste it!”

Easy for her to say, when she was free to do whatever she wanted, unlike Cecilia.

But well, sitting here moping isn’t exactly going to help with anything…

Cecilia let Lean drag her off the bench, letting out a deep sigh. Her breath briefly turned into a white puff in the chilly air.

“So far I’m still alive, which is a win already.”

She’d made it through spring, summer, and fall. That was over nine months already. Maybe she didn’t have to worry so much anymore. Janis had slipped away and was sure to appear again someday, but they’d fought him off once. They could do it again.

“Cecil! Lean! Everyone’s waiting for you!”

Jade waved to them from a distance. He must have come out to get them. Lean pulled Cecilia by her hand.

“Come on, let’s go!”

“Okay!”

New threats might await Cecilia in the near future, but she decided that whatever happened, she’d probably find a way to deal with it. Her natural optimism was a blessing, but it was also her curse.