[The way he looked at her was downright vicious.]

[Vicious would’ve been the best-case scenario. If that brat so much as gave off the impression she might not leave, he bristled like he was ready to kill her on the spot.]

[Poor thing.]

From the way the ghosts and Aisla kept talking without pause about what had happened while she was gone, Camilla could more or less piece together the situation.

“...”

Arsian, too, seemed to sense something off about the dark cluster gathered around Camilla. His eyes turned sharp again.

“Are those things filling your head with nonsense? Don’t believe them, Camilla. They’re all lying.”

“Hm. Well.”

[W-what do you mean, lying? And what are you going to do just because you’re glaring at us?]

[My lady, perhaps you should reconsider being with that man.]

[Honestly, the men from House Sepra have always had filthy tempers.]

For all their grumbling, every last ghost knew exactly what Arsian was capable of when it came to the dead. They all bent themselves as far as possible and hid behind Camilla.

“Arsian.”

Camilla smiled and quietly blocked his line of sight while he was still busy glaring at the ghosts.

“This time, I realized something for sure.”

“What?”

Her smile deepened.

“That this is where I belong after all.”

A place where her family was. Where her friends were. And...

Where you are.

“You turned out to have a bigger share in that than I expected.”

“A bigger share?”

The whole time she had been over there, this place had stayed on her mind. And the one who had taken the biggest share in making her feel that way was...

Camilla’s eyes curved even more softly as she looked at Arsian, who had started smiling too without even knowing why.

*****

“Lu.”

[Why are you calling me?]

“There’s something I’m curious about.”

[What?]

Sena, who had been cleaning Rio’s room as usual, suddenly set down the rag in her hand when the thought occurred to her.

“You said it before. That if I didn’t make a contract with you, you’d cease to exist.”

[Huh? When? I never said that!]

“You did.”

Of course Lu tried to deny it immediately, but Sena had definitely heard it. Hadn’t Lu blurted it out in a fretful voice, worrying about what would happen if it ceased to exist?

“Then why haven’t you ceased to exist yet?”

[Hey! Do you want me to disappear that badly?]

“No. That’s not it. I like having you around.”

[...What?]

The answer was clearly not one Lu had expected. The shock in its voice was unmistakable.

“It’s the first time, you know. Talking this freely with someone.”

She meant it. At first she had been utterly confused, and the voice ringing around inside her head had been unbearably annoying, but now she was used to it.

If anything, when Lu went silent because it was sulking, the emptiness was almost noticeable.

“Lu?”

[...]

When no answer came from Lu, Sena tilted her head.

Had something she said just now offended it again?

[...I think maybe it’s because of the name.]

Only after a long pause did Lu finally speak again.

“The name?”

[I think the name you gave me affected my existence.]

“It’s just a name.”

[Just? Just a name? It’s the first true name I’ve had since I came into being!]

“...”

[What is that look?]

“What about my expression?”

[You just looked at me like I was the most pitiful thing in the world!]

“I did not.”

[You did!]

Click.

“Sena?”

At that moment the door opened, and a maid stepped into the room. She looked around with a puzzled expression.

“Were you alone?”

“Yes.”

“Really?”

She must have caught the sound of Sena muttering as if she were talking to someone while opening the door.

Pretending she knew nothing, Sena went back to wiping the floor.

“Stop cleaning and come out. They said the Duke’s carriage just passed through the front gate.”

“Yes.”

Sena put away the cleaning tools strewn about the room and stepped out.

After roughly tidying things up and heading down to the first floor, she saw the Duke of Sepra and Arsian just as they were coming inside.

“Welcome back.”

Starting with the butler, everyone who worked under the Duke of Sepra bowed their heads.

The Duke of Sepra accepted their greetings in silence as he walked, then stopped when he spotted Sena.

“Where’s Rio?”

At some point, whenever it concerned Rio, he had started asking Sena first rather than the butler.

“He’s reading. He has books he has to finish by today.”

“By today?”

“Yes. He promised he’d finish all three before he meets Camilla today.”

At the mention of Rio and Camilla, a faint smile touched the Duke of Sepra’s lips and disappeared again.

“Then I shouldn’t disturb him.”

The Duke of Sepra turned away from the path that would have taken him to Rio and headed toward his study instead. Arsian followed quietly behind him.

[That, that...!]

That?

At that moment Lu, who had been quiet the whole time, suddenly cried out and began making a tremendous fuss.

[Hurry and follow them! Hurry!]

“...?”

The urgency in its voice was so unlike usual that Sena found herself trailing after the two men without even thinking.

No one stopped her. Since she often had tea in the Duke of Sepra’s study with Rio, no one found it strange.

“Is there anything I can help with?”

Standing just inside the study, Sena asked cautiously. It had never felt awkward when she came in with Rio, but entering the room alone made her strangely stiff.

At that, Arsian clicked his tongue and lightly tapped her on the forehead.

“Sit over there and eat snacks. What could someone that small possibly help with?”

“Yes...”

Sena took one of the cookies always set aside on a corner of the table for herself and Rio and began nibbling on it.

All the while, Lu kept shouting in her ear.

[That! The thing in his hand!]

What is it?

[A holy relic! A holy relic! Hurry and ask to see it!]

A holy relic?

Sena’s gaze turned to the small box in Arsian’s hand.

As if on cue, Arsian dropped it onto the table with an irritated look on his face.

“What is that?”

Though hesitant, Sena asked what the box was.

“Something the head of the Eva Church used.”

“What? The Eva Church?”

[Just as I thought! A holy relic filled with my power!]

Sena nearly spat out the cookie still in her mouth.

I thought so.

She had half expected it.

Every time Lu babbled about needing to find its holy relics, or about how saints who would follow her—follow it—had already spread across the continent...

Whenever it said that kind of nonsense, one thing had always come to Sena’s mind.

The Eva Church.

The Eva Church—the one that had kidnapped her. Hadn’t the whole Empire recently been thrown into chaos when its head died?

The timing fit, and somehow everything Lu said had felt connected to that.

Lu, are you the god Eva?

[That’s just the name they chose for me. I merely gave them power.]

...So that was a yes.

Sena let out a long sigh inside.

No wonder. It was always saying all it knew how to do was burn things and smash them.

Click.

When Sena couldn’t take her eyes off the box, the Duke of Sepra opened it and showed her what was inside.

Inside lay a grotesque black stone.

“Why is a holy relic of the Eva Church here?”

For the moment, setting Lu’s existence aside, Sena asked what she actually wanted to know.

She couldn’t understand why something so frightening and repellent was sitting here of all places.

“The imperial family dumped it on us because it was a nuisance.”

“What?”

Arsian clicked his tongue again, clearly displeased, and answered flatly.

“They can’t destroy it, so they want us to seal it with magic.”

To disperse the forces of the people who kept climbing over the palace walls in search of the holy relics, the imperial family had distributed them among the guardian houses.

[Good. Good! This is perfect!]

Lu burst into loud laughter, delighted that the holy relic had come to it on its own without it even needing to search for it.

What are you planning to do with that? I told you I don’t need that kind of power.

[That’s only because you don’t know what it is! Do you have any idea how incredible that thing is? With just that, I could restore my pow—! Huh?]

But Lu’s joy didn’t last long. Its voice suddenly filled with alarm.

[W-what is this?]

What is it?

[Why? Why isn’t it reacting at all?]

As if examining the holy relic, Lu’s voice grew more and more aghast.

[This can’t be... th-this makes no sense!]

Lu?

[My power isn’t working on it! Does the holy relic no longer accept my power? Why? Why on earth?]

Listening to Lu continue muttering to itself without the slightest awareness of Sena calling for it, she decided to stop paying attention.

She didn’t know the details, but apparently the holy relic was not going to move according to Lu’s will.

Good.

That actually made her feel better. She had been wondering what on earth she would do if Lu managed to use that thing.

[It’s because of you!]

...Me? What was that supposed to mean? Sena tilted her head.

[Because you reject it, I can’t use it either! Aaaagh!]

How noisy.

Just as her brow began to furrow—

Bang!

“Mister! Big brother!”

The study door flew open, and a small figure darted inside.

It was Rio.