Jared, holding Olivier, landed with a thud on the carriage parked outside the mansion, then pushed off with his legs and descended to the ground.
“Let’s escape like this, Olivier.”
“Huh? But…”
“It’s pointless to deal with them.”
Without listening to his fiancé’s words any further, the boy ran.
His goal was the mansion where his family gathered. He judged that it would be the safest place to protect himself from external enemies.
“…I wish I could talk to Rasmus just once.”
Jared continued to run, muttering such things.
***
“Are you going to chase them?”
Crysta Oken softly asked Cassandra Hagedorff from behind, as Cassandra watched Jared and Olivier sprint away at an unusual speed.
“Fufu, if you had stopped him, this wouldn’t have happened.”
“…I can’t betray my friend any further.”
“You’re an interesting girl. A descendant of a fallen kingdom, possessing an ancient secret art, and with combat prowess that far surpasses Jared Murphy, yet you call him a friend.”
“It’s not just Jared. It’s Laurentz, and Lars too.”
“Just a while ago, you were calling them by their family names, Murphy and Herring, yet you’ve become quite close. You were keeping your distance initially, but as they say, love changes a woman, and you are no exception.”
“Aren’t you, Cassandra, also doing this foolish thing because you’re in love?”
Despite being called foolish, Cassandra did not glare at the girl. This was in stark contrast to how she had furiously reacted when Jared had repeatedly ridiculed the Progenitor’s revival.
“If you’re referring to your Older Brother, Rasmus, that’s different. I truly admire and love him. However, the only one I have loved as a woman is one person.”
“Even if that person is gone, you still have to revive the Progenitor!?”
“You must not! Yes, you must not! Though I was born into a Ducal Family, I was never treated well. It’s not that I never cared, but I was okay with it. Because I had a loving Father and Mother. But when my Mother died, and I was nearly killed by the malice of those who insulted her, I learned what flowed in my blood.”
It was that she was a descendant of the virgin priestess who served the Progenitor.
“Rasmus raised me. With affection and love, he is like an Older Brother to me, and another Father, and precious Family. I feel the same way about you. I am truly sorry for using you as a threat right now.”
“…With which mouth?”
While meeting Crysta’s sharp gaze, Cassandra continued to smile.
“It’s true. You remember, don’t you? We slept in the same bed, and we bathed together. When I was young, you loved me as an Older Sister, didn’t you?”
When Rasmus met Cassandra, told her about the Progenitor’s virgin priestess blood that flowed within her, and began training her as a magician and a priestess, Crysta had also met with him like her Older Brother. Not only that. At times, she was like an Older Sister, and as her appearance suggested a younger age, she was like a Younger Sister, and at times like a friend. The three of them spent time together. Though they hadn’t shared time for long, they had spent time with great density.
“Yes, that happened.”
“Are you saying that’s all in the past? Are you not speaking to me in your former tone because you’re angry with me?”
“But you, you did it to Lars!”
Crysta’s mistake was confessing that she had fallen in love with the Duke, with whom she had grown up like sisters for the first time. However, it was understandable that she never dreamed that her beloved would become someone who would take hostages. If she could go back in time, it was a careless event she would have stopped, even if it meant killing her past self.
“It’s a misunderstanding. I have no intention of doing anything to the current Royal Family. However, I said that it depends on what the Progenitor thinks. If, for example, the Progenitor ordered me to destroy this country, as a virgin priestess, should I stop it, or should I gladly carry out that order? However, we will save the Prince. I made that promise.”
“That’s what you call a threat!”
“No. I made a promise. If you help me, no matter what happens, I will make an effort to save the Prince’s life. I will absolutely not break my promise.”
Cassandra said so, but the recipient felt it was a threat. Given that they didn’t know what the revived Progenitor would think or how they would act, Crysta had no choice.
“It was good to talk to you so much after a long time, but I must go to pick up the Progenitor now.”
“The Progenitor?”
“Yes. Please stay with me a little longer, Crysta. Or shall I call you Older Sister like in the old days?”
“Do as you please. So, where are you going to pick them up?”
“Of course, it’s the mansion where Olivier Alway resides.”
