[You worked hard.]

Had they read the turmoil in her heart? The priest’s ghost grinned and reached out.

It looked like they meant to pat her head.

SWOOSH.

But a hand reached into her view before the ghost could. The same hand that always covered her forehead while she was unconscious.

“Your fever’s down.”

“Arsian.”

At some point, Arsian had woken up. With his hand on Camilla’s forehead, he kept letting out short sighs of relief.

“Thank goodness.”

He stood up at once.

“Why?”

“You need to eat something.”

While she’d been down, she hadn’t been able to take in food properly.

They’d managed to feed her thin soup somehow, but it had been so little it barely counted as eating.

Looking at Camilla’s face—now noticeably drawn—Arsian clicked his tongue quietly to himself.

“Where’s Dorman?”

“I told him to rest for a bit.”

“Hmm.”

Yeah. Dorman had suffered too.

Here! I brought the medicine!

Should I prepare more cold towels?

We need to raise the room temperature a little more.

She remembered his voice too—supporting Arsian nonstop.

That guy had worked pretty hard. Next time there was something to scold him for, she’d let it slide once.

“......”

In the meantime, Arsian headed out, and his gaze flicked toward the priest’s ghost standing off to the side.

His face hardened colder than ever. Because he had seen with his own eyes that spirit entering Camilla’s body.

Convinced that that was why she’d collapsed, there was no way his eyes could be kind.

If Camilla hadn’t woken up, would he have erased that spirit first?

Arsian threw one last warning glare—like don’t try anything—then quietly left the room.

[That guy can see me too, right?]

“Kind of. Yeah.”

He wasn’t seeing a clear shape—only the phenomenon of black smoke moving—but seeing was seeing.

[That’s really something. Until now, I’ve never met kids like you. Two people in one place who can see me.]

The priest’s ghost lightly shook their head. They’d been forced to endure that murderous glare the whole time they were here.

[But that one’s got a nasty attitude.]

“It’s good to hear it was only a little.”

They must have gone easy on him. At least they didn’t say really.

Camilla gave a small snort of laughter, then asked what she’d been wondering for a while.

“By the way, why are you still here?”

At Camilla’s question, the priest’s ghost grinned again.

[Let’s properly introduce ourselves.]

“...Why?”

[Why are you asking why? I said let’s introduce ourselves.]

“I mean, why?”

We’re not going to keep seeing each other—why introduce yourself? Camilla’s guard shot up. A vague sense of dread crept in.

[Arena Aguilas.]

“No, I mean, why are we introduc—”

Wait. Arena? I’ve heard that somewhere—

“...Don’t tell me.”

[That don’t-tell-me is probably right.]

Watching their smile deepen, Camilla’s mouth slowly fell open.

*****

“The holy relic shattered? In that child’s hand?”

“Yes. I confirmed it several times.”

“How strange.”

Priest Daniel bowed his head deeply.

His face was full of confusion. He had no idea how he was supposed to accept this.

“A holy relic has never rejected a person—not even once, until now. I don’t know what caused it to shatter... I will look for another method.”

“Another method.”

The one who had been seated in the darkness walked forward slowly. At that, Daniel bowed deeply once more.

The one who fully revealed themselves before him was none other than the Emperor of Fable.

The leader of the Eva Faith—and the one who had taken over the body of the Emperor of Fable.

Within the Eva Faith, they called him Alberto, but no one knew his true name.

Not even Daniel, who served at his side, had ever heard his True Name.

“It seems you want that child.”

“She has too many abilities.”

“I’ve heard.”

The capital—no, the entire empire—was in an uproar again with talk of Camilla. And that attention was far from ordinary. Because of the holy power she had displayed this time.

“A saintess.”

It was overwhelming holy power unlike anything they had ever seen. In the last several hundred years, no one had released holy power like that.

“Perhaps that’s why the holy relic reacted to her. Could it be that it was rejected by her holy power and shattered?”

“Possibly.”

The Crimson Stone was a holy relic of the Eva Faith.

If, as people said, she had the qualities of a saintess, then it might be only natural for a holy relic of a different faith to be rejected.

“But that body... it’s too wasteful to give up.”

The Crimson Stone, made using a holy relic of the Eva Faith, injured the soul simply by being carried. It gradually weakened the relationship between soul and body.

As spirit and flesh slowly separated, the pain of diseases one already had naturally dulled as well.

It wasn’t that the illness was cured—only that the pain vanished. And people were accepting that effect as sacred healing.

“And that is why we gave her the holy relic.”

If they waited for the Crimson Stone to turn black, it became very easy to extract the soul.

He had been certain Camilla’s case would be solved the same way. It had never failed even once.

And because the aura of the holy relic was extremely discreet, there was no need to worry about Guardians.

But it seemed that method wouldn’t work to take her body.

“She is tempting.”

Foresight, and now holy power. Her value kept climbing. Simply taking that body would grant the faith tremendous power.

“When you met her, what did you think?”

At Daniel’s question, the Emperor of Fable recalled meeting her not long ago, in the imperial conservatory.

“Well.”

She had been innocent. The image of her smiling brightly again and again was still vivid.

Even when he asked her directly what she knew about him, her attitude hadn’t changed.

“She smiles ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) easily.”

“...Pardon?”

“But if that is false...”

He clicked his tongue softly. With her, too many things kept snagging at him. An unknown discomfort kept scraping at him.

“Extracting that child’s soul won’t be easy.”

Daniel nodded slowly, as if he agreed.

More than anything, the most troublesome thing was that she was under the protection of the Ducal House of Sorpel.

And had her biological father not appeared as well? That father’s status was no small thing either.

“If extracting her soul is difficult, there is also the method of bringing her to our side.”

“Is that possible?”

“I will find a way.”

*****

“Ah.”

“Um...”

“Come on. Ah.”

My hand is fine, you know?

“I’ll eat.”

“Just open. Ah.”

Camilla put on an awkward smile as she stared at the spoon Arsian held out.

This is so much pressure.

I feel like I’m going to choke. If it were only him in this room, I might’ve just accepted it, but—

That’s not the problem!

There were several pairs of eyes watching with undisguised displeasure.

Even so, no one openly drove Arsian away.

“If you want to recover quickly, you have to eat well. Go on—eat.”

When Camilla couldn’t do this or that because she was watching everyone’s faces, the Duke of Sorpel couldn’t stand it anymore. He sighed and coaxed her.

It was incredibly unpleasant to see that brat glued to Camilla’s side, but this time, he decided to let it go.

“......”

The Duke of Sorpel’s gaze went to Arsian’s hand. A short sigh slipped out at the sight of the scar still there.

While they had panicked, helpless, watching Camilla grit her teeth through the pain, Arsian had shoved his own hand in without a moment’s hesitation.

Blood had been running from his hand, yet he hadn’t even frowned once. Instead, he had only watched Camilla with concern as she suffered.

And it wasn’t only that.

After Camilla collapsed, Arsian had been a huge help.

When Camilla went down with divine fever, she radiated such intense heat you could feel it just by coming close. And then, at some point, her whole body would turn icy cold.

No one could properly care for Camilla as she repeatedly poured out heat and cold.

Even the healers could do nothing but fret in place. They said medicine didn’t work well on symptoms caused by divine fever, so there was nothing to be done.

The one who stepped in then was Arsian. When the fever rose, he cooled her body with magic—and when it swung the other way, he used magic again.

For an entire week, he hadn’t left her side even once, caring for her as her condition changed at all hours.

So what could he do? He couldn’t pretend he didn’t know that help and, now that Camilla was improving, kick Arsian out immediately.

“You heard him, right? Father said to eat. Open up. Ah.”

“Who are you calling fath—!”

“......”

“...Yes. Go on and eat.”

That rotten bastard—who is he calling Father? Who?

He wanted to shout right away, but the moment he raised his voice, Camilla would start watching faces again, so the Duke of Sorpel swallowed his anger hard.

For now, Camilla eating came first.

“Father.”

“Yes—do you need anything else?”

After taking a spoonful of soup, Camilla quietly called the Duke of Sorpel. Something was bothering her.

“Those people... are they still outside doing that?”

The temple people. From high priests to cardinals, they had been coming here in turns—trying to take her into the order.

They have no sense of timing.

Is this something you show up for without reading the room?

From what she’d heard, they’d been coming since the first day she collapsed.

And it’s not like our house is some ordinary place.

They were acting like they’d lost all fear.

Or maybe the existence of a saintess was that important. Maybe someone above was pressing them.

“You don’t need to worry about anything.”

The moment the order was mentioned, the Duke of Sorpel’s eyes turned so fierce it looked like killing intent might spill out.

A perfectly fine child had collapsed and been carried back—and they were making that kind of commotion outside.

They should have been grateful just to wait quietly, and yet—what did they think they were doing?