* * *
“From the way the forest’s been wailing this morning, I figured it was a bad omen. Uninvited pests have arrived.”
The speaker was Goron, the current leader of the rabbit tribe, infamous for their belligerence.
Among the Eastern Domain’s residents, known for their deep-seated wariness of outsiders, Goron’s hostility stood out.
Jerome studied Goron closely before leaning slightly toward me, his serious expression contagious.
“A rabbit beastman, yet not cute at all.”
It was the most bewildered I’d ever heard Jerome sound.
I whispered for him to stay quiet, but before I could react further, Leah shot to her feet.
“F-Father, these are the ones I mentioned in my letter—”
“Silence!”
Goron’s thunderous voice made Leah flinch and lower her head.
My gaze shifted to the dejected rabbit siblings.
Goron, unmoved, continued with a chilling tone.
“I made it clear to the royal court that the heretical matter of Oberon is ours to resolve. We’re not like those fools in Temptera. We have the Saintess of Maya, as prophesied.”
“…”
“And what can you do? Can you summon Oberon as she did? If not, can you perform a miracle equal to hers?”
As I listened to Goron, a hypothesis formed in my mind.
Summoning a sacred beast wasn’t impossible for a High Saintess of Freya’s caliber.
In other words, the woman didn’t necessarily have to be the Saintess of Maya.
She might simply be an extraordinarily powerful divine figure who had appeared out of nowhere.
Jerome, seeming to read my thoughts, chuckled quietly and added his own observation.
“Even if that’s the case, something feels off.”
“What?”
“Look at the villagers.”
Following his gaze, I saw the masked villagers lying prostrate.
Their bodies were tightly wrapped in bandages, as if to hide some sort of scars. Jerome covered his mouth with his hand as if wiping his face and whispered calmly.
“If she truly possessed immense divine power, wouldn’t she have healed the villagers first? Yet she ignored them completely, focusing only on the ritual.”
“…Maybe she just didn’t want to. Or maybe she was conserving her divine energy for the ceremony.”
“Perhaps. But a High Saintess who can’t even heal herself is definitely suspicious.”
I whipped my head toward him. Jerome smirked meaningfully.
“Didn’t you see? There was a bite mark on her neck, like she’d been attacked by a wild animal.”
Even if she chose not to heal the villagers, it was strange for a High Saintess to leave herself untreated.
This left only two possibilities: either she truly was the Saintess of Maya, as she claimed, or…
“She’s a textbook fraud, isn’t she?”
A sigh escaped me.
The Eastern Domain was a region settled by descendants of rebels who had once defied the Empire’s tyranny.
Proud of their self-reliance, they despised outsiders meddling in their affairs.
Yet the so-called Saintess of Maya had proven her worth by summoning Oberon.
To meet Oberon, we too would need to prove our value.
But how?
I lacked the divine strength of Freya or the magical prowess of Jerome.
Sensing my hesitation, Goron sneered openly at the rabbit siblings for everyone to hear.
“So these are the amazing guests you’ve brought? They’re as useless as you are—nothing but fools!”
His scorn made the rabbit siblings cower, trembling with their heads lowered.
Grinding his teeth, Goron grabbed Leah by the collar and lifted her off the ground.
She let out a pitiful sob, dangling helplessly.
Anger flared within me, and before I could think, the words burst out.
“What if I could perform a miracle?”
No divine power, no magic—but there was one thing I could rely on: my knowledge of the original story.
Goron frowned, dropping Leah to the side as he barked.
“What nonsense is this?”
“I recently received a prophecy from Maya herself. She told me to come here and save the pitiful souls in this land by performing a miracle.”
“You? Are you claiming to be the Saintess of Maya, you insignificant brat?”
A heavy silence filled the air.
I could feel my face heating up, turning redder by the second. He had just pushed one of my few berserk buttons.
I barely managed to suppress my anger. But I knew I couldn’t afford to lose my temper here.
I needed to stay calm and composed to persuade Goron.
I knew that—yet Goron poured oil on the fire.
“Honestly, I can’t believe people are worshiping a brat like you as some kind of hero. They must be out of their minds. A snot-nosed kid, not even dry behind the ears, daring to meddle in grown-ups’ affairs. How absurd.”
A red alert flashed in my head.
My fury boiled over, and I was about to lunge at him when Jerome grabbed me by the waist, as if he was used to it, lifting me off the ground.
Dangling in mid-air, I thrashed around, barking like an enraged dog.
“Let me go! Who are you calling a kid? I’m a full-fledged adult, you hear me! And you—bullying your own kids with that massive frame of yours—what kind of parent does that, huh?”
Ignoring Jerome, who was muttering, “Let’s just let it slide, just this once,” like he was soothing a bad-tempered Maltese, I unleashed every word I’d been holding back.
The rabbit siblings turned pale as I lashed out at Goron, defying him, who might as well have been an untouchable authority figure.
Goron, who had been smirking at my outburst, suddenly stepped closer with a menacing aura and spoke.
“Fine. In that case, show me a miracle I can acknowledge by tomorrow. Then I’ll allow you to meddle in our village’s affairs. But if you fail to perform a miracle… I trust you’ll accept being sacrificed at the upcoming ritual.”
Sacrificed if I couldn’t perform a miracle.
I briefly wondered why things always had to be so extreme.
But one thought consumed my mind: I really wanted to punch that giant rabbit square in the nose.
Slipping out of Jerome’s grasp, I stood tall to meet Goron’s gaze head-on.
“Fine. And I have one more condition.”
“What is it?”
“If I perform a miracle, you’ll apologize properly to the rabbit siblings for calling them useless. Why would you say such cruel things to your own kids?”
Goron’s eyes flickered momentarily before turning cold again.
Without another word, he spun on his heel and spoke in a rigid voice.
“By tomorrow. Perform a miracle by then, unless you want to become a sacrifice.”
After our confrontation with Goron, we managed to secure a place to stay for a few days, thanks to Langcot.
As soon as I got out of the bath, I collapsed in exhaustion, prompting Jerome to chuckle.
“Why do you get so riled up whenever someone calls you a kid?”
“…”
“You don’t react that strongly to other insults. Though, I’ll admit, finding out you don’t even have a single hair down there was a bit shocking…”
“It’s already too hot and exhausting as it is, so stop pissing me off.”
Jerome laughed at my weary tone and pulled his shirt off.
As much as Jerome usually seemed impervious, even he couldn’t withstand the humid weather.
Over time, I’d grown so accustomed to his testosterone-charged, muscular physique that it didn’t faze or bother me anymore.
I gazed out the window at the lush greenery and continued.
“At first, it was fine. This body, stuck in perpetual adolescence, made it easier to hide that I’m a man and survive. But as time goes on, it’s unsettling. How am I supposed to protect anything with a body like this?”
“…”
“That’s why I want to grow up already. I want to be the kind of man who makes all the eligible young ladies in town swoon. Someone like you.”
“You’ve got some nerve saying that in front of your husband. And even if you did become that kind of man, you’d still be my wife. If you try to stray, expect to be ravished in front of those swooning young ladies.”
Jerome tugged on my cheek, and I swatted his hand away.
Oh, woe is me.
So even if I did become a real man, I’d still be stuck as this lunatic’s wife.
Jerome seemed to be pondering something when he suddenly spoke.
“Now that I think about it, I heard there’s a unique coming-of-age ritual in Sacre.”
“A coming-of-age ritual?”
“Yeah. They say there’s a mountain there that kids on the verge of adulthood have to climb alone. Only after ascending and descending it on their own are they recognized as adults.”
A coming-of-age ritual.
It sounded like nothing more than a symbolic ceremony, but I was desperate enough to clutch at straws.
Maybe I should climb that mountain, too.
Despite my racing thoughts, Jerome’s gentle hand on my head lulled me to sleep.
A cool breeze filtered through the dense foliage outside the window.
“Why don’t we live together? After everything’s over.”
Something cold touched my forehead, and I slowly opened my eyes.
Sparkling in the sunlight was a ring—no ordinary one, but a proper ring adorned with a gemstone.
It was unmistakably meant for an engagement.
Rendered speechless, I hesitated before letting out a soft laugh, pressing my cheek to Jerome’s hand.
“This is what you meant when you said you’d tell me later?”
“Yeah.”
“And if I refuse?”
“Then you’ll end up in 32 pieces and buried in the jungle.”
Maybe I’d grown too accustomed to Jerome’s crazy way of talking, because instead of feeling alarmed, my first thought was, ‘That sounds like a murder method straight out of a detective novel.’
Jerome added softly, in a kind tone that caught me off guard.
“Let’s live in Sacre.”
“…”
“We can be free there. You can live as yourself without needing magic to erase memories. Sacre’s a remote, secluded island.”
He had a point.
If I officially became part of Jerome’s family, the Efilia duchy wouldn’t bother with me anymore.
And on Sacre, far removed from prying eyes, we could live freely.
It was the most feasible solution we’d come up with so far.
I watched silently as Jerome slipped the ring onto my left ring finger and sighed.
“Are you sure you’re okay with me? Because of me, you’ll never have a proper family.”
“I’m sure.”
“You know my personality. I’m hypocritical, domineering, selfish… I’ll never be the ideal wife you want.”
“I…”
Jerome started to say something but stopped, closing his mouth.
I could guess what he’d say anyway—something cheesy, something so blatantly sincere it’d sound insincere.
Just as I reached to remove the ring with an ‘I knew it’ expression, Jerome grabbed my hand.
For a moment, my heart dropped at the unfamiliar expression on his face.
He looked like… what was it?
Like a high school baseball player confessing to his first love after years of admiration.
The sight of Jerome’s face made my cheeks flush.
Hesitating, he finally spoke in a firm, confident voice.
“I love you.”
“…”
“Marry me.”
I froze.
This was a problem.
I’d always dealt with Jerome in his usual cheeky, overbearing mode.
I’d mastered how to handle him in that persona.
But now, this guy—who usually acted like a sleazy gangster teasing a neighborhood boy—had transformed into something straight out of a summer romance drama.
Had he lost it from the heat too?
My face turned beet red as I opened and closed my mouth like a fish out of water.
Jerome, confused, closed the distance between us.
“What? Am I not good enough for you?”
“You—you’re not supposed to act like this! What’s with this sudden lovey-dovey mode?”
“What’s lovey-dovey mode?”
“Just don’t get so clingy—stay over there!”
I pushed at Jerome’s shoulders as he tried to subtly climb on top of me.
Looking hurt, he backed off, and I groaned, holding my aching forehead.
“Let’s deal with Oberon first. Once we’re done with him, we’ll only need to collect two more crystals. One’s with Bermut, so we just have to find the last one to end this journey.”
“…”
“Once we completely take care of Mephisto, who’s slowly devouring your life… I think I’ll finally be at ease. When that time comes, we can do whatever—get married, or even divorce.”
Since Jerome had decided to live, I wanted to do everything I could to help bring about Mephisto’s destruction.
To do that, I couldn’t waste time on some romantic nonsense; I needed to find Crystal, no matter what.
Faced with my unwavering determination, Jerome wiped the glum expression off his face.
It wasn’t just Jerome who felt responsible for this relationship.
I, too, loved him more than anyone, and I felt a deep sense of responsibility.
With the sudden unease rising inside me, I spoke in an unusually cheerful voice.
“To do that, we first need to solve the crisis at hand.”
After speaking, I pulled a book out of the suitcase that had fallen to the floor.
Smiling confidently, I added,
“Luke, who hates me to the core, actually gave me some surprisingly helpful advice.”
* * *
Thanks for translation
Ty
Jerome is such an interesting character.