The Monster Lady and the Holy Knight - Chapter 41

“I slept all day.”

Leon expected her to be more hesitant. However, the way she got up and approached him was not awkward at all. She came over as if she had forgotten all about the previous day’s events and handed him a parchment.

“Even after filling it thoroughly, I still had time left. I was bored and frustrated, so could you tell Sir Berg to return my sword? If I had it, time might pass more quickly.”

She said this while holding out the parchment she had filled thoroughly. Leon took the record and glanced at her complexion. Thanks to the holy power, she looked visibly better. However, the contrast with her red eyes still evoked an unsettling feeling—

the unease brought by Bahamut.

At that moment, Leon thought of a new use for her.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Do you still want to learn swordsmanship?”

“Of course.”

“Why?”

“Well…”

The woman, who had begun to speak, paused absentmindedly before suddenly asking, “What should I say to pass?”

Leon stared blankly at the woman, whose expression had disappeared. Eventually, she too was starting to change like him. She hid her emotions, gauging his response. It was a smart choice. Showing others her scars would only make them deepen, not heal.

“Whatever you say, you’ll pass.”

Leon said casually, putting the parchment he had taken aside.

“Wielding anything will make it easier to attract the Emperor’s attention.”

At the word ‘Emperor,’ the woman raised her eyes suspiciously. However, just then, the warm bathwater was brought up from the first floor, momentarily interrupting their conversation.

Kart, located within the winter river in the city, had excellent water facilities. Cold water was always available, and hot water could be provided quickly for a price.

Leon suddenly remembered that he had never paid for her share—neither for bathwater nor food. She must have been starving all day.

“Bring up dinner for one more person.”

Leon instructed the staff who had brought the bathwater. As they left, the woman asked, as if she had been waiting.

“Emperor? What do you mean by that?”

“Since you came from the Holy See, the only power capable of protecting you is the Imperial Family. And given that people don’t understand Bahamut’s threat, the stronger you are, the more effective it will be, whether with a sword or some strange wind that regular humans can’t handle.”

“So, to put it simply, you’re going to sell me off again.”

The hand that had been removing armor stopped. When Leon lowered his gaze, the woman was looking up at him with trembling eyes. Her fists were clenched, and her long eyelashes fluttered like a butterfly. Since yesterday, she had acted as if she might be hit just by making eye contact. Leon let out a small laugh.

So scared, yet…

“You don’t want to stay by my side either, do you?”

“I want to stay.”

At her immediate response, Leon’s eyes narrowed. The woman added, even softer, “I hope you’ll like me.”

“……”

“So much that you’ll lose yourself.”

It was the same thing Leon had said in front of the statue of God in the wilderness.

She then continued with incomprehensible words, “I’ll leave freely afterward. Then you might be able to see the snowy landscape I saw.”

Leave freely? Leon, who had been listening quietly, tilted his head at that part.

Such boundless optimism. She believed she would still be alive after all this.

Leon had discovered that if one Bahamut was killed, the connected lower entities also perished. In Tiran, one of the Bahamuts captured for research escaped and wreaked havoc. It was an unusually powerful specimen, and when it was slain, the others bound in the iron cage died simultaneously.

Because Leon had seen that the slain specimen had divided itself the previous day, he thought it might not be a coincidence.

From that day on, he ordered his most trusted knights to focus on capturing them alive. It was a reckless move at a time when even maintaining the front lines was difficult. During one mission, one of the knights following him assimilated with Bahamut. He was an aristocrat without holy power, not from a founding family. It was clearly Leon’s responsibility, and so he made a hasty decision.

He wanted to end the assimilation by killing Bahamut. However, the result was the opposite. As soon as he drove his sword into Bahamut’s eye, blood gushed from the knight’s mouth. His eyes opened wide, sclera visible, as he collapsed to his knees, reaching out.

The memory of the fallen corpse quickly changed into the image of the woman before him. In a way, she would certainly be ‘free to leave.’

“I’m looking forward to it, in many ways.”

“If you’re looking forward to it, don’t sell me to strange places.”

“I’m not selling you off. I just want to show you to the Emperor as a warning.”

People tend to fear unknown powers. There’s no way they would want her kept inside the palace.

“You don’t like that either?”

Leon smiled as he locked eyes with her.

“If you don’t like it, you can let the Holy See drag you away.”

The woman fell silent, as if lost in thought. However, she wasn’t a fool. She soon realized, just as when she left her hometown, now reduced to ashes, that she had no choice.

“Then retrieve my sword first. And keep your promise to teach me swordsmanship in the wilderness.”

“Are you confident you can give the Emperor an intimidating impression when you wield it?”

“I can do it. You’re talking about that strange power, right? I’ve gotten a bit used to it while you were away…”

The woman, who had spoken up to that point, fell silent. Remembering the black corridor, her expression darkened. It wasn’t exactly a pleasant place. But Leon, who remembered how comfortable her living quarters had been, wasn’t particularly concerned.

“That’s good. What you need to practice is the ability to use just the right amount of power when you want. Breaking a piece of furniture or two doesn’t matter, but you must not leave this room.”

Leon had deliberately mentioned her presence before many nobles and the Emperor, so he couldn’t act openly, but the Pope’s spies were everywhere. For now, only Heinz von Kraus, the last of the knights still allied with Leon, was covertly helping by hiring private soldiers.

Therefore, she couldn’t leave this place. Heinz had only guaranteed the safety of the inn’s vicinity.

“Dinner is ready.”

At that moment, the staff’s voice was heard again from outside the door, and their conversation came to an end. Leon placed the dishes on the table and turned to wash. He also intended to give her time to eat alone, as it had become uncomfortable facing each other.

However, when he returned from the bathroom, she was sitting blankly, staring at the cold soup and pie in front of her.

Leon frowned as he dried his wet hair with a towel, seeing that she hadn’t touched her food.

“Now you’re trying a hunger strike?”

“No, it’s not that… I was waiting to eat with you. That’s what we always did.”

Leon glanced at her, half-expecting it to be a joke, but her innocent face looked serious. He let out a hollow laugh, put down the towel, and sat down in a chair.

Only then did she begin to eat. Leon watched her, sipping his wine. Despite having gone all day without eating, her hands, which held the pie, and her chewing mouth moved incredibly slowly.

For a while, the sound of utensils clinking against plates echoed in the air. Was it always like this? Leon suddenly recalled the days before they entered Kart.

She had always been talking. Trivial stories. A ghost ship entering the port of Bayern without a soul on board, the bright blue sea at around two in the afternoon. A wandering painter who captured it in a picture. The horizon that seemed so close when one sat soaked on a black rock.

Her rambling stories led anywhere. When she wasn’t speaking, she hummed sea shanties. She claimed she had heard them by eavesdropping, yet the old lady next door disliked her singing such songs.

“She was worried because all sailors are men. What did she say again? Something like, ‘Girls with nowhere to lean will easily give their hearts to any man who treats them well.'”

“Why?”

Feeling his gaze, she looked up. Leon stared at her expressionlessly before speaking slowly.

“What’s written here seems a bit different from the visions you usually see.”

He pointed to the parchment left on the table. She nodded, as if she had been waiting for the question.

“Ah, it was different in reality. Clearer, and my heart didn’t race after seeing it. Maybe it’s because I was changing, but it was fascinating to see through another Bahamut’s eyes for the first time.”

“What’s the part about Aseldorf at the end? You said it seemed like it was searching for something?”

“That’s the impression I got. I don’t really know what it was.”

She seemed like she wanted to say more, her red lips parting slightly, but then she closed her mouth.

Leon muttered to himself, “A sense of purpose in Bahamut.”

“Do you think it’s absurd?”

“No. I don’t know enough about their behavior to say that definitively. If you felt that way, there must be a reason.”

“Come to think of it, you always believe what I say.”

Unable to understand her meaning, Leon remained silent, waiting.

She added, “Even about the death of Sir Mecklenburg, Oscar doesn’t believe it. You can tell from his eyes. Though he passed on the message because I said it, he didn’t truly believe it. But you…”

When their eyes met directly, she paused before continuing, “You believe it the moment I say it.”

“You have no reason to lie to me.”

She looked at him quietly, as if she wanted to see into something, then lowered her gaze. Silence returned to the room as they resumed eating.

They left the plates outside and spent their time separately. While she sat on the bed, gazing out the window, he polished his weapons and armor.

After adding logs to the poor excuse for a fireplace, Leon noticed that she had dozed off while sitting. The way she was nodding off reminded him of a cat basking in the sunlight. After laying her down comfortably, he extinguished all the lights. For a brief moment afterward, he fell into thought. Should he sleep here, or get a new room next door?

As he listened to her quiet, even breathing in her sleep, he thought of potential dangers. Her face, bathed in the blue moonlight, was serene. He reached out his hand but did not touch her. Eventually, he lay beside her. If relationships had form, his with this woman must have been twisted and distorted from the start.

Perhaps from the very moment it was first formed.