The Monster Lady and the Holy Knight - Chapter 89

“Ah, I’m sorry. If I misunderstood your concern.”

The apprentice knight awkwardly shook his head. Still, thanks to him, one question was answered. Why hadn’t Leon stopped despite knowing the dangers of the holy sword?

Because of people like him. Because people like this young man trusted and relied on him from behind. The one standing at the forefront cannot back down.

“…This might sound random, but I just realized we haven’t introduced ourselves. What’s your name?”

Veronica, who had been silently observing him, suddenly asked cheerfully. The knight, who seemed about her age, was likely a noble of Kart, but given her current position, that didn’t particularly matter.

“Not your title or family name, just the name you go by. I’m Veronica.”

When she extended her hand for a handshake, the knight hesitantly shook it, looking wary. It must have been his first time encountering a commoner who dared to ask only for his name.

“Joachim.”

“Joachim. I’ll let Leon know your name, that you helped.”

Joachim looked startled. Whether it was because of her casual way of addressing Leon or her kind words despite being dragged to trial by him, she couldn’t tell.

Veronica smiled. “Then, please take care of it. Painkillers, washing water, and an easy-to-digest breakfast.”

The well-groomed young man under his light blond hair nodded in surprise. Something about his bewildered expression seemed so human that Veronica couldn’t help but smile faintly.

“Sometimes, it’s hard to tell if someone is kind-hearted or just naive.”

The moment she entered the tent, Leon spoke in a low voice. He was already sitting up, leaning his tilted head against the headboard of the bed.

“If you overheard, then there’s no need to repeat the name to me, is there? You heard it, right? Joachim.”

“I heard the apprentice knights took you to trial in my absence.”

“He doesn’t seem like a bad person. Just the fact that he’s going to such lengths for your sake proves it.”

Leon lowered his head without a word. His red hair fell, casting a shadow over his eyes, and Veronica, without realizing it, reached out her hand. The smooth strands she had combed the day before slipped through her fingers. Leon didn’t resist.

“I learned this from Oscar and Hannah. Forgiveness and kindness. I want to become a person like that too.”

Leon’s shadowed eyes briefly glimmered at the mention of forgiveness before dimming again. Veronica lowered her hand, pretending nothing was amiss, and broke the silence.

“I saw the letter I wrote among your belongings.”

Leon’s expression hardened slightly, as if recalling the letter’s contents.

“Where did you find it?”

“…The princess’s maid brought it to me. She said she wanted to apologize to you.”

Johanna’s maid? An unexpected person. Though surprised, Veronica quickly remembered her. She was the one who had guided her to the library, the one who had left the spiked shoes behind. Veronica had assumed she was merely following the princess’s orders, but it seemed no one in this world was merely a supporting character.

“Why did you carry it around?”

“Because I wanted to remember.”

Unlike her first question, his answer came readily.

“What I’d done to you.”

A heavy silence filled the air. Veronica clenched her fists tightly as she looked directly at the man in front of her. No masks, no pretense. At last, they were facing each other without deflection, finally reaching the end of their long detour through mutual hostility.

“I sincerely hope you survive and find happiness.”

Leon’s voice, low and mature, carried a tone Veronica recognized as resignation. The boy who had lost love countless times had grown into an adult who knew how to let go.

“That’s why I no longer intend to kill the first Bahamut.”

“What are you saying…”

“If the birth of a new humanity is God’s will, then all I can do is witness it. My remaining duty is to protect Kart until the very end.”

Wait a minute, wasn’t defeating the first Bahamut your goal? Wasn’t humanity’s survival at stake? And now you’re saying you’ll give it all up and stay in Kart fighting until your death?

“I know you’re considering migration to the wilderness, but realistically, relocating the entire citizenry all at once is impossible. Someone has to stay and fight. I can’t betray the expectations placed on me. It’s just the kind of person I am.”

Just one more time. One final time. From the moment Leon miraculously opened his eyes, he had been praying for recovery. Though it wouldn’t last three years, even if this was the end, he felt it was enough. In his dreams, he had already made his choice. The scales had tipped toward one woman.

He couldn’t kill her. Even with humanity’s fate resting on the other side of the scale, even if the whole world was against her, the outcome was always the same. And so, to honor his fallen comrades, the only path left was to remain in the crumbling Kart until the end. To defend the weak and safeguard the church as a holy knight. To protect those unable to leave the holy city. Until his last breath. Until Veronica was among the refugees.

That was the narrow path he had chosen.

“So, if you’ll stay with me until you leave, I couldn’t ask for more. Of course, whether you’d want to stay with me is another question entirely.”

Leon finished speaking calmly, looking at Veronica’s pale face. She felt as though the air had been knocked out of her lungs.

“Why are you always so…”

The words wouldn’t come out. Her clenched fists trembled.

“So selfish? Why do you always make decisions on your own?”

She was angry, but she didn’t know what exactly she was angry about.

“First, you said you’d kill me, and then you decided on your own to save me. Until I leave, you say? Who are you to decide that I’ll go to the wilderness?”

As her voice quavered, the composure slowly faded from Leon’s face. Watching his cold, expressionless demeanor, Veronica couldn’t hold back her words any longer and let them spill out.

“Why do you think I wouldn’t want to stay with you? Can’t you tell just by the fact that I’m here, seeing you sick, crying until my eyes are swollen, and staying by your side? Don’t you see it?”

Regardless of the decision her mind had made, her foolish heart still liked him. That was the truth. There wasn’t a woman in the world who would cling to a man she didn’t like, asking to be held over and over. Yet despite his quick perception, he acted as though he didn’t know, and it was infuriating.

“Because you said, even in anger, that you liked Oscar.”

His low voice pierced through her anger. Veronica froze.

“This camp is full of knights with holy power. I have nothing left to offer you now. I am not your only option. You can replace me anytime. And unlike me, they have never hurt you.”

She was dumbfounded. Veronica couldn’t believe the insecurity embedded in his tone.

“I don’t care about things like need.”

A denial that seemed ready to break slipped out. Shaking her head vigorously, Veronica blurted out, “Do you think I’m going to act like you? Don’t worry. I don’t keep people around only because I need them. I’m not that cruel.”

Some words wound others, regardless of intent. Veronica realized she had misspoken when she saw Leon freeze at her final sentence. Even as she opened her mouth to add something, no words came out. Her tongue betrayed her in the most critical moments.

After a brief silence, Veronica muttered hoarsely, “I think we both need some time to think.”

As she took one, then two steps back, she bumped into Joachim as he was entering the tent and quickly changed direction. Not knowing where she was headed, she pushed past the tent flap and left. Her muddled thoughts mirrored the muddy ground beneath her feet.

***

After delivering the painkillers, Joachim went out again to search for Veronica.

Leon, watching the young knight’s retreating figure, let out a bitter laugh and buried his face in his hands. Even amidst the excruciating pain, his possessiveness burned. It was an uncompromising, intense form of desire. He wanted her. He wanted to possess her completely.

The most terrifying craving a human could harbor, one that sought to touch even her soul, surged uncontrollably. It was as if the impulses he’d suppressed for years had finally burst forth. Even the dutiful young knight’s presence irritated him.

This jealousy was new. If she hadn’t been assimilated, she would have lived an ordinary life, fallen in love with a man her age, and found happiness.

But Leon’s feelings twisted within him. A peaceful life was something he could never have. Born out of misery, his love whispered to his fractured mind. Without Bahamut’s blessing, he would never have had the chance to hold her. Beyond his faith, he was Berg, nine years older than her.

Leon felt himself slipping into madness. His thoughts flowed like water in a stream, collapsing like a sandcastle with the tide. Veronica’s voice echoed relentlessly in his mind. She had spoken someone else’s name, said she liked him.

What if it wasn’t just anger? What if, even while kissing him, her heart was elsewhere? The sensation gnawed at him, razor-sharp. The fear of losing her spiraled into doubts.

Had she truly liked him that winter? Or had it been an illusion, like the mirages seen at the brink of death? A hallucination caused by hypothermia, like the false warmth felt by dying soldiers.

Suddenly, a fit of coughing wracked Leon’s body. He bent over and spat dark red blood. It dripped in time with the rain falling on the tent roof, thick and heavy, pooling on his hands and thighs.

Unbidden, an image of a massive hourglass from Tiran came to mind. It had stood in the central square, marking a year with the sands of time. A king’s maxim was inscribed on it: “Time once passed can never return.”

The blood seemed like the grains of sand in the hourglass. Irretrievable. His time was running out.

His lifespan, and Kart’s fate.

Leon stared intently at his blood-stained hand before leaning his head back against the wall, steadying his labored breathing. He raised his hand before his eyes, slowly clenching and unclenching it. The pain of his torn, regenerating organs was vivid.

A black swamp consumed his soul, gnawing away at him. His blurred pupils stared at his trembling hand before he let it fall limply onto the bed.