Chapter 65
Ellicia stood in the corridor, gazing out the window.
Tonight felt quieter than usual.
After parting ways with Lisbeth, Ellicia didn’t return to her room. Instead, she waited for Pii in the hallway.
“You should be inside.”
To her surprise, it was Pii who came out of Ellicia’s room.
“I just…”
Ellicia trailed off.
“You haven’t slept at all?”
Pii turned on a device as she asked.
Dawn was approaching.
As Pii guessed, Ellicia hadn’t slept a wink.
Her thoughts were too tangled for her to feel at ease.
“Eden…”
As Ellicia faced Pii, unable to hide her hesitation, she was just about to ask about Eden—
“Are you going to erase Ariel’s memories too?”
Pii cut her off with a question.
A question vague in its subject.
“…From Eden?”
“No. I mean should we erase Ariel’s memories too?”
“Why are you asking something so obvious?”
But erasing Eden’s memories wasn’t considered obvious?
Pii grinned slyly, striking at Ellicia’s blind spot.
“Is Eden the only thing on your mind?”
“That’s not it.”
“Of course it is. You respected Lisbeth’s wish to keep her memories, but you’re not giving Ariel the same choice?”
“……”
“So just because Eden didn’t get a choice, Ariel shouldn’t either?”
Was she picking a fight?
If so, she looked far too amused doing it.
On the other hand, Ellicia, who felt like she’d been verbally battered for a while now, gradually lost all expression.
“If you’ve got something to say, just say it directly.”
Don’t talk in circles.
Having stayed awake until morning, exhaustion finally started to creep in.
Pii gently rubbed her lower lip, then replied,
“Not really.”
Her voice was light and insincere.
She had intentionally changed the subject to avoid talking about Eden. Ellicia didn’t seem to catch on.
“I thought I’d at least say goodbye before I left.”
Pii turned her back and spoke as if nothing had happened.
Ellicia stared at Pii’s retreating figure.
Truthfully, Ellicia couldn’t understand Pii.
Even after being treated so coldly, how could she still act like this?
After blinking once, Ellicia finally spoke the words she had prepared for her.
“When you go back to the Empire… cover your face.”
Pii stopped dead in her tracks.
“You must’ve realized it while erasing Father’s memories, but the body you’re in—Delphir’s body—won’t age.”
“Right. Ironic, isn’t it? Father spent decades chasing this, clinging to life for it.”
Pii shrugged, mocking Duke Partin.
“…You might’ve been able to pass as unusually youthful until now, but not much longer.”
“Are you worried about me right now?”
Pii turned her head slightly, and Ellicia caught a glimpse of her profile.
Without hesitation, Ellicia answered,
“Yes.”
“If you’re going to be cold, then be cold all the way, Ellicia.”
Pii glared sideways at her, then turned back ahead.
Her chest rose and fell with a heavy breath.
Why did this body have to look exactly like Mother’s?
Pii shuddered.
She loathed herself—for clinging to affection from the woman using her mother’s body.
“Pii.”
Just as Pii turned to head for Ariel’s room, Ellicia called her back again.
“Thank you.”
Her voice was flat, like a final farewell—
As if they’d never meet again.
“I told you. If you’re going to be cruel, be cruel to the end.”
Don’t make me say it over and over again.
Pii bit down hard and walked forward.
Ellicia had no intention of ever facing Pii again.
Pii, too, had an inkling of that.
She even sensed that this was Ellicia’s way of showing kindness.
Ellicia didn’t want Pii—who had been granted a new life—to linger in the past.
This was her final act of consideration for someone stuck in it.
Dawn broke.
People lined up to catch the first train.
Pii stood among them, waiting for her turn.
As one by one boarded the train, Pii’s turn came.
“Two tickets, confirmed.”
The station agent verified the tickets Pii handed over, his eyes shifting to the child in a red hood standing beside her.
“Let’s go.”
Pii stepped onto the train and called to the child.
He hesitated briefly, then followed.
She sat in the seat nearest the door, and the child sat across from her.
“Don’t take it off until I say you can.”
Pii leaned back in her seat.
“You stand out too much.”
She adjusted her posture, elbow resting on the window frame.
“……”
The red-hooded child nodded.
Then, glancing at Pii, he cautiously spoke.
“You’re really going to help me get back to Ellicia, right?”
His eyes brimmed with doubt—and a faint flicker of hope.
“Of course. I promised, didn’t I?”
A promise sealed with their mana.
Beneath the red hood, pale white hair peeked out.
Eden slowly bowed his head.
Just as Ellicia told him, he had left the rotting underground and followed Pii.
She told him to leave—so he would.
But she didn’t say not to return.
It was Pii who had pointed out that contradiction.
Even after gaining the upper hand, Pii hesitated to erase Eden’s memories.
More precisely, she was uneasy—
Was it really okay to erase them like this?
Could Ellicia really kill her father?
Something even she had failed to do.
Pii had once bowed to the power of Duke Partin and met her end by the laws of the Empire.
Could a stranger like Ellicia succeed where she could not?
Pii trusted everything about Ellicia—except her resolve.
If she were willing to risk her life like I did, maybe…
Pii asked herself—
Do I want Ellicia to die?
Do I want her to die for someone else, just like I did?
No.
The moment she realized that, Pii lifted her hand from Eden’s forehead.
“Hhkk… E-Ellicia…”
Eden sobbed uncontrollably.
Pii looked down at him with a mixture of pity and disdain.
It’s not a bad idea to keep a contingency.
Pathetic as he was now, she knew better than anyone—
One day, he’d become a powerful mage.
“Hey. You’re being too loud.”
“Sniff… sob… hic…”
“…This is exactly why she said she didn’t need you.”
Pii jabbed him right where it hurt.
And like magic, his crying stopped.
“Are you stupid or something?”
“……”
Eden glared at her in response.
“If Ellicia doesn’t need you now, then become someone she does need.”
“……”
“She told you to leave, but not that you couldn’t return.”
Pii didn’t bother hiding her emotions in front of Eden.
She had nothing to lose.
“Make me one promise, and I’ll help you see Ellicia again.”
Eden was a mage.
An awakened one at that.
His blood was saturated with mana.
Which meant—
He could form a mage’s contract.
“No matter what happens, promise me you won’t kill me—directly or indirectly.”
“……”
“In return, I’ll help you meet Ellicia again. No matter how long it takes, I’ll make you someone she can’t ignore.”
Pii stepped back from him.
“A mana-bound contract can’t be undone. Breaking it means death. It’s a vow made with your life.”
Eden slowly pushed himself up.
“It’s simple. Just say you vow it with your mana.”
See? We could’ve just done this from the start.
Why didn’t I think of this sooner?
Pii tapped her cheek with a grin.
Now, no matter what happened, she would never die by Eden’s hand.
Sure, I’m breaking my promise to Ellicia…
But she would just keep it hidden until the war was over.
After that, knowing Ellicia’s nature, she wouldn’t reject Eden.
Sometimes, you just have to let things slide.
Pii was, at this moment, genuinely relieved that Ellicia wasn’t a mage.
“I’ll do it.”
Eden finally responded after silently watching Pii.
She snapped out of her thoughts and smirked—
As expected.
Then, she stepped behind him.
“Ah…”
When Pii picked up Ellicia’s tattered red coat, Eden let out a dumbfounded sound and rushed toward her.
“I’ll give it back, don’t worry.”
She waved the coat once, transforming it with magic.
“No point letting this go to waste. Might as well use it.”
She morphed the coat into a hooded cloak big enough to cover Eden.
“Wait here a bit.”
And so, Eden sat in the underground chamber until dawn,
waiting for Pii—
the one who had promised to take him back to Ellicia.
