Chapter 27
On her way home, Elses stopped by a confectionery shop.
“Strawberry flavor! Let’s buy ten of the strawberry ones!”
Lurti, poking her head out from inside Elses’s inner pocket, shouted as she pointed at the strawberry-flavored candies.
It was the most excited Elses had ever seen her.
‘At times like this, she really does seem like a child.’
Smiling faintly, Elses obediently followed her directions and added ten strawberry candies to the bag.
Next came cookies. Elses filled the bag with enough for Lenny and Mrs. Mars as well, paid, and left the shop.
Once she got into the waiting carriage, Lurti immediately jumped out of her pocket and began munching noisily on the cookies inside the paper bag—then ended up crawling entirely into the bag.
“Don’t touch Lenny and Mrs. Mars’s share,” Elses said, hearing Lurti mumble something unintelligible in response. She pulled aside the curtain covering the carriage window.
When she lifted her arm, her pale wrist peeked out from her sleeve.
At first glance, it looked bare—but when light hit it, a faint shimmer of transparency flickered.
Gazing quietly at the transparent bracelet on her wrist, Elses recalled the conversation she’d had with Tracia at Viscount Robby’s estate.
‘Take it. I’m giving it to you instead of your friend.’
Tracia had handed Elses a silver bracelet.
‘I made it for your friend, but now I can’t give it to her anymore.’
‘To me?’
‘That girl wasn’t the type to gossip. If she told you about her grandfather, then you must have been very close. So—take it.’
The bracelet Tracia gave her was an expensive magical device: it could absorb a certain amount of potion and automatically inject it into the wearer’s body if they were injured or ran out of mana.
For someone like Elses—who often faced off against beasts—it was indeed useful.
‘It’s a magical tool I developed myself a year ago.’
Tracia hadn’t forgotten to boast as she explained how to use it.
A faint smile touched Elses’s lips as she stroked the transparent bracelet.
Luell had died three years ago. The bracelet had been made a year ago—two years after Luell’s death.
That meant Tracia had been unable to let go of her for two full years after she was gone.
Perhaps even now—until she had asked Elses about Luell’s death earlier that day.
Knowing that, Elses felt both sorry and grateful that she couldn’t reveal her true identity.
‘Once this is all over, I hope I can finally tell Tracia the truth.’
As she thought that, the carriage arrived at the estate of Viscount Rohen.
“You’re back, miss?”
Elses pulled Lurti—still inside the cookie bag—out and handed the bag to Lenny.
Though confused, Lenny accepted it.
“What’s this, miss?”
“Something to share with Mrs. Mars. Cookies.”
“W–what? Those expensive ones?”
Lenny always worried about the household finances as if they were her own, and Elses felt both guilty and touched by that.
Patting Lenny’s head, she said, “Don’t worry. Things went well today, so I treated myself.”
Lenny’s eyes immediately began to glisten with tears.
Startled, Elses withdrew her hand.
“Wh–what? Why are you crying?”
“It’s just… it’s been such a long time since I’ve had cookies. Thank you so much, miss.”
Cookies were common in modern times, but in this era, they were a luxury item—a small fortune in sugar and butter.
For Lenny, it was indeed a precious gift.
“Go wash up and come downstairs! I’ll get everything ready so we can eat together!”
Elses chuckled as she watched Lenny run off cheerfully toward the kitchen, then headed upstairs.
Just as she reached the landing, Lenny turned back, as though remembering something.
“Oh, right! Miss—an invitation to a ball arrived earlier. I left it on your table just in case.”
When Elses entered her room, the invitation was indeed lying on her desk.
She picked it up.
“The Count of Lort?”
The seal on the envelope bore the Lort family’s crest.
At sunset, the coachman waiting in front of the temple looked increasingly uneasy.
“Um… miss. We’ve arrived, but…”
It had been ten minutes since the carriage had stopped in front of the temple, yet the passenger still hadn’t come out.
If it were a man, the coachman would have opened the door—but since it was a lady, he hesitated.
Finally, unable to wait any longer, he knocked again on the small window connecting to the inside.
“Mi—”
Suddenly, the carriage shook, and shouting erupted inside.
“Eek!”
The coachman flinched, staring at the carriage in fear.
He was sure there was only one woman inside—so who was she yelling at?
‘D–don’t tell me she’s possessed…?’
Unaware of the terrified coachman outside, Elses and Lurti were arguing heatedly within.
Lurti hopped around the carriage, dodging Elses’s hands.
“I don’t like that man!”
The “man” she referred to was Astaire.
The moment she heard they were going to the temple, Lurti had protested all the way, even demanding they turn back home.
Neither candy nor cookies—the usual universal solutions—worked this time.
‘Why does this feel like raising a kid…?’
Suppressing a sigh, Elses recalled her first life, when she’d raised the young heroes.
First, she needed to understand why Lurti disliked him.
“Why don’t you like him?”
“People like him have that kind of energy—ominous and unpleasant! He hates me! That building hates me too!”
“That’s just because you’re born different, that’s all…”
“And what if he tries to hurt me?”
“I told you—I’ll protect you. Have I ever lied to you?”
At that, Lurti hesitated and climbed down onto the seat.
“Well… no, you haven’t.”
It was true—Elses had never lied to her. She’d even kept her promise about the candy and cookies.
Elses opened her jacket invitingly, and Lurti, grumbling, crawled reluctantly into her inner pocket.
“If that man tries to hurt me, you must take my side, understood?”
“Yeah, yeah. We’re in the same boat anyway.”
Only then did Elses finally step out of the carriage, pass through the checkpoint, and enter the temple. She made her way toward the library.
Yesterday, she had told Astaire about the boy who possessed a fragment of the dimensional crystal, describing his appearance in detail.
She’d also asked to use the temple’s library until Astaire’s side identified the boy’s affiliation.
As she walked toward the library, Elses murmured to Lurti,
“And to be honest, I’m not exactly comfortable around Astaire either. He makes me uneasy.”
Still, as long as he was investigating the cult trying to resurrect the demon god, she had no choice but to cooperate.
She planned to use that situation to her advantage—to help track down those responsible for the resurrection and prevent them from growing in power.
“Why? Isn’t he your friend?”
“He was. But now my body’s someone else’s. And more than that…”
Elses recalled the cold, merciless Astaire who’d cut people down without hesitation.
It was still hard to believe that man was the same Astaire she once knew.
“He’s changed in the last three years. He’s… scary now. If he finds out I have the demon god’s power…”
She trailed off as she reached the library corridor.
Just then, a familiar, gentle voice sounded behind her.
“Who are you talking to?”
Elses jumped in shock and turned around.
Soft golden hair fluttered lightly in the spring breeze, and beneath it were eyes as blue and clear as the sky.
Pressing a hand to her startled chest, Elses forced a calm smile.
“Oh—hello, Your Grace.”
“Hello, Lady Elses.”
As Astaire smiled back politely, Elses swallowed nervously and asked cautiously,
“Um… did you happen to hear me just now?”
Because the last thing she’d said… was that she had the power of the demon god.
If he had heard that—
The main quest might have just failed.
