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Chapter 281

“You really didn’t need to bring her.”

“We needed a safety measure before just letting her go.”

Luna silently watched Leon and Melissa exchange words.

Well, calling it an exchange might be an overstatement.

Melissa was clearly worried, while Leon was calmly explaining his reasons.

“She was originally supposed to die. But I saved her, so I can’t just send her off to the Holy Kingdom without putting some safeguards in place.”

They’d trusted the Holy Kingdom once already, and she was immediately kidnapped.

Luna actually felt pretty guilty toward Leon.

She had said she no longer cared what happened to Remiel, but in truth, wasn’t Remiel the only archangel who could’ve become a trustworthy friend?

Rationally, Luna wanted to write her off as a conniving bitch.

But emotionally, she just couldn’t. It was a strange situation.

So she asked Leon for help.

Leon claimed it would be troublesome if Remiel defected, but Luna knew full well that he was only taking action because of her.

After quite a bit of back-and-forth, Leon finally said he’d place ten layers of binding magic on Remiel before leaving the room.

“Melis—”

“Luna.”

Melissa let out a sigh and looked her straight in the eyes.

“What?”

“Start preparing for the engagement ceremony.”

“What?!”

Luna’s eyes went wide, and she sprang to her feet in shock.

“I remember my father once telling his knights: once you have a wife and kids, you start acting more cautiously.”

“Uh…”

“Leon keeps getting into trouble no matter where he is. Clearly, it’s not a location issue—it’s a mindset issue.”

Melissa slammed a document down onto the desk with a loud thunk.

“The engagement announcement is already public. Don’t even think about running away.”

“But… Leon only broke off his engagement with Isna Mielephon recently.”

“You think I don’t know that?”

Melissa pounded her chest in frustration, then yanked open a drawer with force.

She pulled out a huge pile of love letters.

“These are all addressed to Leon.”

“Whoa… Since when?”

“This is just from today.”

Luna jumped up and walked over briskly.

She picked up one of the letters and unfolded it.

— The sun is warm, and the grace of the Lord…

Riiiiip!

Without hesitation, Luna tore the letter apart, her eyes gleaming.

“Next.”

“Hey! Tearing the letters doesn’t make them go away, you know? Every single decorative fireplace in this place is choking on paper and begging for mercy.”

Luna let out a small groan.

“I’m not saying you have to get married right away. Just that the engagement’s already been announced, so you’ve got about two years before the wedding, okay?”

“…Fine.”

Luna reluctantly agreed with Melissa’s reasoning.

Though, she still had some concerns.

“Melissa.”

“Yeah?”

“Even if we do this… Leon won’t change.”

“…We’ve got to try something…”

Melissa couldn’t deny it in the end.

* * *

After placing dozens of unknown seals on the sleeping Remiel, Leon left, and Luna took a seat beside the unconscious woman’s bed, silently waiting for her to wake.

She still hadn’t decided what to do with Remiel.

In the past, she would’ve killed her without a second thought.

Luna gazed at the small orb of light floating above her hand.

It was said to be a weapon given by an archangel who had come into contact with Leon inside the old castle.

Right.

Michael’s Holy Spear.

With this, even Remiel wouldn’t stand a chance.

The archangel had wanted Remiel dead, but Leon had saved her—because of Luna.

The fact that they weren’t really enemies likely played a big role in that decision too.

Remiel may have been hostile toward Luna, but she’d always treated Leon kindly.

Infuriating.

But impossible to hate.

Luna understood Remiel’s feelings better than anyone.

Of course, understanding and accepting were two very different things.

Eventually, Luna raised her hand and flicked Remiel’s forehead with a loud smack.

Paak!

The sound rang out, but Remiel didn’t wake.

“Pfft…”

A childlike smile tugged at Luna’s lips.

Whack! Smack!

She delivered a few more flicks before Remiel finally stirred.

Startled, Luna quickly covered her mouth and stepped back.

“Ugh… My head feels like it’s splitting… What the…”

Finally, Remiel—Lispa Elde Remielia—woke up.

Holding her swollen forehead, she blinked blearily, trying to assess the situation.

Then she scowled at Luna.

“Ugh… What a shitty face to wake up to.”

“Like I’m enjoying this either?”

Luna replied flatly.

“My head is pounding… Something’s wrong, I swear.”

Hearing her mutter, Luna covered her mouth and put on a concerned expression.

She was much more expressive than she used to be.

“Really? How unfortunate.”

“…Get your damn hand down, bitch. You’re smiling.”

Remiel growled.

Luna didn’t bother denying it.

She moved her hand away.

Her eyes looked sympathetic—but the corners of her lips were curled upward.

Taken as a whole, her expression wasn’t one of pity.

It was laced with mockery.

“You muscle-brained bitch!”

“I don’t listen to anyone weaker than me.”

Of course, it was nonsense.

“Still don’t know your place, huh? You might’ve been one of the Three Great Archangels back in the day, but now you’re just—huh? Huh?! What the hell?! Where’s all my power?!”

The woman staggered in panic.

“Heaven’s been watching you get played by an Outer God.”

Ah...

Only then did Remiel realize she'd been stripped of her title as Archangel.

“Ha… haha.”

A smile crept onto her lips.

“It was all shit anyway. Good riddance…”

“You just never shut up. Dumbass.”

“Shut up.”

She stared blankly at her own hands.

“Damn it… you should’ve just let me die.”

“That wasn’t an option.”

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Then, as if the memories from when she was possessed by the Outer God started to resurface, her expression twisted in pain.

“If you want, I can send you to the Holy Kingdom. Part of the reason I saved you was to fight against threats from the Outer Realm… but even if you’re a terrible person, I didn’t want to just let you die.”

“…”

“But once is enough. I’ll bury my foolish attachment here. I know how much you hate me, but if you ever think about raising a blade against me, I hope you’ll remember what happened today.”

Luna spoke calmly as she stood up.

Then, Remiel quickly called out to stop her.

“Raphael!!”

After some hesitation, Remiel asked her,

“Are you really okay with all this?”

“With what?”

“If you’re anything like me, you must know how contradictory your actions are right now.”

Sensing the meaning behind her words, Luna lowered her gaze briefly.

Then replied.

“At first, I had no will to live. It wasn’t like I’d done anything to deserve survival. But as you know, Remiel… taking one’s own life is…”

“Yeah. A sin forbidden by God. Love thyself. For us, that has always been a deeply ingrained taboo.”

Despite her words, Remiel didn’t express herself with much emotion.

“Living simply because I couldn’t die—that was me. Then Leon pulled me out.”

“…”

“After that, I poured everything into finding the Fate Lord, the remnants of Adam and Eve.”

Revenge?

That mattered too, but the Fate Lord was more important.

“But while doing all that, I started seeing Adam’s traces in Leon.”

A small smile appeared on her face.

“His traces remain, clear as day. You think I’d just rush in blindly like you? You let yourself get pushed to the edge, and that’s why the Outer God could sneak in.”

“Ha…”

Remiel was at a loss for words.

There was no need to explain how the Outer God had corrupted her.

It must’ve amplified some dark emotion she had while she was on the edge—then seized her mind in that moment of weakness.

“Pffft… Don’t you feel bad? I kind of do.”

“You little—”

At a loss for words, Remiel simply let out a sigh and turned her head away.

“I don’t know anymore. I don’t know what’s right. I’ll decide whether to hate or forgive you after we drag that bastard god off his throne.”

“You really think that’s possible?”

“Are you dense? Dumb bitch.”

Luna let out a soft chuckle and turned to leave the room.

She understood perfectly well what Remiel’s last words meant—but didn’t show it.

This was enough.

Even if Remiel had lost her title as Archangel, she’d still retain some of her innate power, just like Luna.

She’d figure things out on her own.

…Though Luna would need to cover up the fact that she almost vaporized the entire keep just now.

Still, unlike when she’d entered, her steps now felt much lighter.

With a light heart, Luna leapt into the air to search for Leon, quickly soaring through the skies above the territory.

She soon found him in the town square, sitting on a bench and chatting with children.

Among them was Arsha, holding Grivy tightly in her arms as she looked up at Leon.

Though she was now a duke’s sister, Arsha seemed to genuinely enjoy being with the local children.

Beside her lay the golden beast Radon, lazily sprawled out in the form of a cat.

…Is that really the monster that wiped out an entire kingdom?

Seriously?

On the other side, a hatchling of the Black Dragon species was rolling around on the ground, rubbing its back with visible laziness.

Creatures who had willingly formed contracts under Arsha’s Beast Tamer abilities.

Looking at it like this, Arsha’s talent for taming magical beasts was nothing short of phenomenal.

Luna silently approached the bench from behind.

Having concealed her presence, it seemed Leon hadn’t noticed her.

“Alright. Let me introduce this one. Its name is [Sur].”

Leon held out his hand and summoned spirit mana.

A small burst of heat gathered in his palm, and soon a red chick appeared with a pop.

Cheep!

It let out a proud cry with its beak wide open, but given its tiny size, no bigger than his palm, and its squeaky voice, it came off as more adorable than imposing.

Still, despite its appearance, this little thing had grown by consuming the flames of an Outer God’s servant—so when it got serious, it could unleash power close to a natural disaster.

Luna remembered—it was the spirit Leon had contracted with during his battle with Cthugha.

Without it, he might’ve been gravely injured.

Maybe that’s why Luna felt oddly attached to this little chick.

Even though it tried to spread its wings and stare with round, intense eyes, it was still just a chick.

To the children, it was nothing but irresistibly cute.

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