Chapter 10
As she approached one of the portraits, Mikhail followed behind and spoke.
“Yes. These portraits were painted by the artist Lord Kilian hastily summoned right after the Rift opened. Do you remember?”
“……”
She almost nodded. Elshunain swallowed her breath and feigned ignorance, tilting her head. She glanced briefly at the youthful face in the portrait.
‘Elshunain. You must return. To this place.’
The Kilian in the portrait was young, but his eyes were not. His fresh face bore none of the innocence of youth, only a finely honed sharpness.
A boy who took up the sword to save the continent before even becoming an adult, burdened with the title of Guardian.
That was around the time he had just grown to be about her height.
“I don’t… remember.”
“…I see.”
Mikhail responded gloomily, then muttered quietly.
“The five of you used to gather in this room often. It was around the time I had just started working as Lord Hylon’s squire… Ah, Lord Hylon was the former captain of the Houndbert family knights.”
She knew him, too.
Elshunain nodded. “I see.”
“I rarely saw the five of you together in person, but I often heard the knights talking about you.”
Mikhail continued, brushing his gaze gently over the portraits on the wall.
“Guardian Kilian, Saintess Arwen, Ashurei the Silver Mage, Peridot the Divine Archer, and Elshunain of Purification.”
His soft brown eyes finally landed on the portrait of Elshunain herself.
Back then and even now, Elshunain’s appearance hadn’t changed. Her face showed no signs of aging. But Mikhail didn’t seem surprised.
He had already witnessed her ageless appearance since his youth, so this was only natural.
‘They still debate in the Aeternum Temple whether I’m human or not.’
She remembered the day the portrait was painted with vivid clarity.
‘Hey, Peridot. What is this? A portrait for when we’re dead?’
‘Ashurei. That’s called a memorial portrait. Your basic knowledge is always surprising.’
‘You little… why are you picking a fight again?’
‘Why are you referring to yourself? Half-wit.’
‘You brat! Before we die, let’s settle things between us first!’
Ashurei and Peridot had started fighting as usual.
‘Oh my. To think I can immortalize our dear Elshunain in a painting. What a brilliant idea, Lord Kilian. What brought this on?’
Arwen would grab Elshunain’s hand, her cheeks flushed pink.
‘Quiet.’
Kilian would arrive and silence the chaos.
Though it followed a pattern they were all used to, that day had a slightly heavier atmosphere.
Even Elshunain, who rarely wavered thanks to her knowledge of the future, hadn’t felt right that day.
Why? She still didn’t know.
It was just… Kilian’s eyes looked a little sad that day.
“Please wait here for a moment. I’ll bring some tea.”
While she was reminiscing about the past, Mikhail—looking even more gloomy—headed toward the small prep room attached to the chamber.
Elshunain plopped down on the soft-looking sofa in the middle of the large pentagon-shaped room.
Sitting like this really made it feel like she had returned to the past.
‘If only not for those portraits.’
As she looked over the portraits of her former comrades, each staring straight ahead, her gaze paused on one.
Ashurei—the Silver Mage, named so for his long silver hair that fluttered with mana when he cast spells.
A thought flashed through her mind.
‘Wouldn’t Ashurei be able to fool Kilian and take my place at the New Year’s Festival?’
His power, magic, was the opposite of Kilian’s divine force.
While Mikhail was watching her, she could send that guy in her place…
Following that train of thought, Elshunain suddenly jumped up.
Her loosely tied blue hair swayed side to side.
‘Yes, that’s it!’
Without hesitation, she began striding away.
“Mikhail! Thanks for the tour! I just remembered something I need to do! I’ll head back to my room first!”
“Wha—? Lady Elshunain!”
Mikhail called after her, but she was faster and rushed straight toward her room.
✦ ✦ ✦
As soon as she arrived, Elshunain rummaged through a bag she had stuffed into a corner.
“Hmm, where is it?”
After the incident eight years ago, she wasn’t the only one who had disappeared.
Ashurei and Peridot had vanished from the continent as well. But she had managed to stay in contact with them to some degree.
‘Are you seriously going through with that foolish plan, Elshunain?!’
Among them, Peridot resented her, so she rarely saw him. But she still met Ashurei occasionally.
That was largely because Ashurei had helped a great deal in reviving Arwen.
“Ah, here it is.”
The bag she was digging through had originally belonged to Ashurei.
It wouldn’t open unless its owner willed it—but Elshunain eventually found what she was looking for.
A gray scroll.
‘Elshunain, this scroll is for summoning me. Only use it when you think it’s the final stage of your plan. Got it? Only then.’
He had handed it over while making a terribly distorted face.
‘Tearing this summons Ashurei, right?’
Hmm.
Elshunain checked her door’s lock and shut the windows.
After a deep breath, she tore the scroll without hesitation.
Riiip—!
The scroll split with a satisfying sound, and silver light began to radiate from it.
‘Did it work?’
The glowing mist began forming a shape midair.
Elshunain gulped and watched, her eyes sparkling.
‘Huh?’
The light wavered as if startled—then burst with a pop and vanished.
“Huh?”
She let out a confused sound just as the space beside her distorted.
What… what the heck?
Elshunain’s eyes went wide like saucers as a figure emerged.
A man with pomaded black hair and crimson eyes.
“Elshunain.”
It was Kilian.
‘What?!’
She was completely stunned to see Kilian appear in front of her. Was this scroll meant to summon him?
Panicking, she quickly hid the torn scroll behind her back.
“K-Kilian?”
His red eyes scanned her from head to toe, then swept around the room. His gaze was sharp.
“The barrier wavered.”
“Uh… yeah…”
So the barrier could detect magical power?
Now that she looked, something on Kilian’s arm was glowing faintly white. A bracelet—identical to the one on her own arm.
‘Ah. So Kilian can teleport to me too.’
She realized, though it wasn’t a welcome discovery.
She gave a forced laugh and tried to cover it up.
“Ah, well. I think… I tore a scroll, so maybe that’s why?”
“…The one you just hid?”
“Yeah…”
“What kind of magic was it?”
Uh, well…
“It… protects the body?”
“……”
Kilian crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.
The way he tapped his arm clearly showed he wasn’t pleased with the answer.
“I understand you’re anxious after facing a demon while… your memories are lost. Or erased.”
“Heh…”
“But as I said before, I hope you realize you’re safe now. I’ve regained all my powers.”
Elshunain glanced at him.
Luckily, he didn’t seem suspicious about the scroll.
“Good. Since we’ve met, this is perfect. We should settle that unfinished matter before I head to the New Year’s Festival.”
Huh? What unfinished matter?
Before she could make sense of it, Kilian sat across from her in her room.
She blinked.
Had they left something unresolved?
What he said next completely caught her off guard.
“The letter from your past self. What did it say?”
Elshunain was momentarily flustered but quickly scrambled for a lie.
That earlier fib was now begging for a new one to be invented fast.
She blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
“It just explained the items in the bag.”
“……”
Kilian’s eyes narrowed.
“Is that the truth?”
“Y-Yeah. Really. Trust me.”
His expression turned even colder. His voice was low as he stared at her.
“I don’t want a repeat of what happened before. Not again. Not after trusting you.”
His blunt hostility made Elshunain clench her fists. Her head dropped.
“So don’t tell me to trust you.”
Then his whispering voice drew closer, casting a shadow over her.
“If I… trusted you again… and it happened again…”
Huh?
His words trailed off, making it hard to hear.
She lifted her head.
Kilian stood right in front of her, gazing down. Twisting one corner of his mouth, he said lowly—
“…Then I don’t know what I might do.”
