Chapter 49
When he closed the mouth that had been smiling at her serious question, there was a faint glimmer of anticipation in the eyes looking up at him from where she lay. Well… truth be told, he didn’t know exactly when it had started, but Deon had been quietly accepting the fact that this woman was not Lemony.
Lemony—the one who had shoved his face into a toilet.
Lemony—the one who had spent an entire night whipping him, curious about the limits of his divine beast.
Compared to the Lemony from the prison, this woman was an entirely different person.
“You’ve definitely changed.”
At his low, quiet voice, her expression brightened. He hadn’t even said he believed her—just remarked that she had changed—yet she smiled so broadly that her teeth showed, as if she were proud of herself for it.
“If I become an adult, maybe I’ll be able to come see you.”
In that smile, he could see the shadow of the young girl from the past—as if the girl who had hooked her pinky with his and made a promise had grown up and come to find him.
“Deon?”
The crimson eyes that had been momentarily dazed regained focus.
“Deon, are you okay?”
When he came back to himself, he found harmless eyes quietly studying him. A dry chuckle escaped him, and he pressed a hand to his forehead. He really was an idiot. Just because she smiled at him for the first time, his mind had wandered straight back to the past.
But—
“If you’re awake, get up. Let’s go for a walk.”
“Huh? Ah, yes.”
Changing his mind, Deon got to his feet and walked along the riverbank with her.
“Deon, so… you’re not mad at me anymore?”
“You said you were a different soul.”
“And if I’m not?”
“Then I’ll have to strip you bare and check.”
As expected, she simply shook her head without a word.
“You have no idea how hard it’s been, living in this body.”
Deon looked down at the top of her blond head, moving quickly to keep pace with his long strides.
“You’ve worked hard.”
“…What?”
If this woman really wasn’t Lemony, then he didn’t need to feel the crushing betrayal, hatred, or pain she had caused him.
All that would remain would be a thirst and desire for the body she wore—and certainly nothing more than that. She wasn’t the Lemony of the past. She was just another soul wearing Lemony’s shell.
“I said, you’ve worked hard.”
So there was no need to treat her poorly. When he set his hand lightly on her small, delicate head, she seemed a little startled, but she didn’t seem displeased; her mouth, which had been chattering nonstop, finally closed.
Tilting his head to check her face just in case, he saw her smiling faintly.
Her smile looked nice—it reminded him of the old days. This much would be enough for him. A smiling shell was better than a crying one.
“Shall we go, then?”
As planned, our group moved toward the riverbank and boarded the boat, wary of the monsters that might lurk beneath the water. Seeing the black current again made me realize just how long I had been in this place.
Deon and Ian had definitely changed. I wasn’t sure exactly when, but after that… indescribable incident back in Cell Block E, they had somehow become more forward with me.
“Planning to fall in again?”
I was watching the ripples spread from the boat when a strong arm suddenly wrapped around my waist and pulled me close.
It was Deon.
“If you fall in again, it’ll be a pain to deal with. Stay inside the boat and don’t cause trouble.”
The looseness in his normally low, heavy voice sent a strange, ticklish feeling through me. Then someone else grabbed my hand. The next moment, I found myself trapped in a broad embrace; I frowned, and behind me, Ian bent his head and chuckled softly.
“Ah, but that wasn’t Lemony’s fault—it was mine. So I’ll take responsibility.”
“I can stand on my own.”
The problem was, both men’s casual touches had been getting more frequent by the day. Ian had always been like that, but with Deon, the change was so noticeable that even third parties like Raylia or Cedric could see it.
“Have you thought about it?”
I slipped free of Ian’s arms and went over to Raylia. She linked arms with me and whispered quietly. Right—she’d suggested we escape, and I still hadn’t given her an answer. But I’d mostly made up my mind. With the prison break so close, I didn’t see any reason to stir up trouble now.
“Once we cross the river and reach Cell Block A, we can escape right away… so I don’t see the point.”
“That’s exactly why we should. Their real obsession will start after the escape is truly over.”
The wind whipped through my hair.
I retied it with the ribbon Raylia had given me, and immediately felt a gaze from not far away. At the bow of the boat, Deon—who had been talking with Cedric and Ian—was looking straight at me in the middle of their conversation. His hair, black as midnight, was also tousled by the river wind. He pushed it back from his forehead and tilted his head slightly, as if to ask if I had something to say.
“Do you know your face is red?”
Her cool voice snapped me out of my thoughts.
“…What?”
“You, Lemony. You blushed just now after making eye contact with Deon.”
Well. Honestly, what woman wouldn’t blush if that handsome face treated her kindly?
“Deon… doesn’t seem like such a bad person.”
I looked up at the sky instead of his direction, afraid I’d meet his eyes again, and Raylia—who had been silent—asked,
“In what way?”
“They say that in the past, he created the Khan Alliance in the neutral zone to protect people. Even when he was in a berserk state, there were people who died from collapsing buildings, but no one died directly by his hand. He’s not exactly warm, but he doesn’t harm those who aren’t hostile to him, and I think he knows how to forgive.”
Once I started talking, it all came out in a rush. I couldn’t believe I was lowering my guard just because he’d been kind to me once. I felt foolish.
“What about Ian?”
“…Ian is…”
‘I won’t hurt you. You hate pain, right? I’m sorry about back then.’
“I thought he was crazy, but he’s actually kind of childish.”
“He’s a lot bigger than you, though.”
“True.”
I laughed it off, thinking the conversation would end there, but Raylia just stared at my smiling face without expression.
“Lemony, you seem like a good person.”
“Thanks. You too, Raylia—”
“And that’s exactly what’s going to make you regret it.”
Her sharp words made my smile falter. We fell silent until Cedric’s voice rang out in the distance, announcing our arrival. Then, as if nothing had happened, Raylia smiled sweetly and took my hand again.
“Let’s go, Lemony.”
That hadn’t been a warning—it had felt like she actually wanted me to regret it.
“We’ve finally made it! As long as Lady Lemony is alive and well, there’s no way the Southern Empire would abandon us!”
We had just reached the riverbank and were gauging the number of monsters on the horizon when Cedric’s face brightened unexpectedly. Raylia had been asking me all sorts of questions about the creatures—her first time seeing them—while Cedric, who had little to do in the moment, waved toward the sky.
A carrier pigeon.
A pretty frill was tied around its slender ankle. It looked like it had been torn from Cedric’s clothes as proof when he first sent the bird. The pigeon landed naturally on his arm and began pecking at it, clearly hungry. Our scattered group began to gather.
“Alright, alright, give me a second to read the message.”
He tossed the bread crumbs left in his pocket to the ground, and the pigeon hopped down to eat them greedily. In that brief moment, Cedric unfolded the note—and covered his mouth.
“What is it?”
“…It says reinforcements are on their way. The Imperial Family of the Southern Empire and the Christina Ducal House have each dispatched knights, about 200 in total, to help subjugate the monsters. The note says they left as it was being written, so they should arrive around the same time the pigeon reaches the prison.”
“Straight to the main gate, then.”
At Cedric’s explanation, Deon strode forward without hesitation. Even Raylia, snatching the note to read it herself, looked a little dazed as she followed.
My heart felt like it was dropping into my stomach—in a good way. Two hundred armored knights with shields gave us a real chance. Even if they couldn’t wipe out the monsters inside the prison, they could at least help us get outside.
“…I’m not going to get dragged back to the Southern Empire like this, am I?”
Ian smiled as if joking, but there was a serious edge to his words. Of course, there was no reason for him to be taken back.
“I’ll explain everything. Don’t worry.”
Raylia plucked an ornament from Cedric’s clothes and hurled it in the opposite direction. Then, closing one eye, she shot it cleanly. The sound drew the monsters in a mass toward that spot. Knowing that Southern Empire forces were on their way, we moved faster than usual.
By the time we passed a building that looked like a cathedral, I found myself wondering what kind of prisoners lived in Cell Block A—but the urgency of reaching the main gate pushed the thought away.
“Cedric, sorry, but I’m going to borrow the brooch on your chest.”
“Of course, though—wouldn’t you prefer another? This brooch, for example, is made from the rare scales of a dragon I helped subdue during—”
Bang! Without waiting for him to finish, Raylia yanked off the brooch and shot it to pieces, drawing a swarm of prisoners toward Cell Block A.
The main gate, made of iron and stone, looked over five meters tall. I shouted to Raylia as I slid one key into one of the three keyholes in the center.
“Just two more!”
“Got it!”
Throwing her gun aside, Raylia hurried over, pulled a key from around her neck, and slid it into another hole. Waiting on either side, Deon and Ian began pushing the massive gate open. With a heavy, grating sound, it slowly creaked apart.
“Hurry out.”
They had opened it just wide enough for one person to pass, to prevent a prisoner rush. As I stepped outside, I felt a strange sense of liberation and the real wind from beyond. And then—
“We’ve come to escort Lord Ernest Ian.”
The moment we escaped, knights in full armor leveled their swords at us. But they weren’t from the Southern Empire—they were from the Ducal House of Ernest.
