* * *
Ranshel held Frey’s hand and looked at him with desperate eyes.
Frey rolled his eyes, looking very troubled about what to do.
Then, he firmly held Ranshel’s hand back.
“Since Ranshel spoke honestly, I will tell you too. Actually, I already have someone in my heart.”
“I know.”
“…It is not the Young Master.”
“……What?”
It took some time for Ranshel to understand the words that entered his ears.
“I am saying I love someone other than my fiancé.”
“……What?”
It took quite a lot of time.
Ranshel stared blankly at the engagement ring on the hand he was holding.
“I am sorry for surprising you. But this is my true heart.”
Ranshel was dumbfounded by this completely unexpected situation.
This was the Zavad route from the start.
Did another capture target intervene while he wasn’t looking?
‘Did the game company decide to add a love triangle mode while making the Saint a male character? Well, it’s not impossible to think that.’
Even so, throwing a sub-character into a fixed route out of nowhere?
It was just absurd.
Frey looked at the confused Ranshel and continued speaking calmly.
“The Young Master and I are continuing a contract relationship using engagement as a means for each other’s benefit. We were just pretending to be lovers out of necessity. We have no personal feelings at all.”
“……The Young Master wouldn’t think so….”
“Hmm, that is… not for me to explain, so please ask the Young Master directly later. Ask if he loves me.”
Ranshel blinked slowly.
Zavad had already said with his own mouth that he was lovers with Frey and told Ranshel not to give his heart to someone else’s person.
There were many times Ranshel mistakenly thought Zavad liked Frey and expressed his jealousy.
‘Then does that mean Zavad is doing a hopeless one-sided love?’
However, Frey didn’t seem to think Zavad loved him at all.
He smiled gently at Ranshel’s bewildered face and slightly shook their held hands.
“So don’t throw away Ranshel’s precious heart because of me. Try expressing it honestly once. I guarantee the result won’t be that bad.”
“…….”
Frey spoke the truth to a mere servant.
Ranshel didn’t want to answer such a person with a lie.
Ranshel barely separated his lips that didn’t want to open.
And he let out a voice like a sigh.
“…No, Saintess. I cannot do that. I am someone who shouldn’t do that.”
“Why do you think so?”
“Because… I will end up betraying the Young Master.”
Even if Frey chose someone other than Zavad, and even if the route changed because of that, Ranshel’s end was already determined.
Because he had no intention of choosing another option.
‘Not performing the quest means not returning to Cha Eunseong’s body.’
That was the same as running away and leaving the debt collectors to his sister, Eunhye, who was the light of his life.
He would never do such a thing.
So, if he didn’t discard this heart, it would only become harder.
Only a painful and agonizing future was scheduled between them.
Frey looked at Ranshel’s face and asked carefully.
“…Is it because of Nameless’s mission?”
“…….”
He had orders to wait by Zavad’s side and cut his throat when the instructions came.
In reality, just receiving that order and staying by Zavad’s side meant Ranshel had been betraying him for a long time.
“Is there no way for me to help Ranshel?”
When Ranshel didn’t open his mouth, a kind question followed.
Ranshel pulled his trembling lips into a smile.
“…Please pray for me, Saintess.”
“I am always praying for Ranshel.”
“No, not for me… for my, precious people.”
“…Who are you talking about?”
Frey asked back gently despite the sudden request.
Ranshel tried to speak vaguely.
He intended to hide the truth and make excuses as always.
But his tongue, not knowing its place, tried to move on its own.
Ranshel bit his lip hard.
He swallowed and swallowed the words that got stuck in his throat and tried to burst out.
He pressed them down deeper and deeper… but eventually, those words poured out of his mouth.
“For my poor younger sister… whom I dragged down to hell… whose life was ruined because of… m-me… please pray for her.”
The feelings he had hidden all along leaked out slowly.
The heavy lump of emotions settled like a rock and crushed his chest.
It seemed he had wanted to make this confession to someone someday.
He didn’t want to make her say she was okay when things weren’t okay.
He had trampled on his precious sister’s life miserably.
But Eunhye didn’t blame him, and Eunseong was in pain every day because he didn’t know how to atone.
He sometimes hoped someone would blame him for his sins on her behalf and give him a cruel punishment.
Sometimes he thought getting hit by a car and coming to this world might be the price.
That the game Eunhye liked was taking revenge on him instead.
Ranshel whispered stutteringly with tear-filled eyes.
“And, for the person whom I dare… dare to give many wounds to. For that person whom someone like me shamelessly… holds in my heart, please pray for him….”
His breathing became rough.
Ranshel held back the cry that was about to burst out.
He felt he had no qualification to cry.
“……I will pray. For Ranshel’s precious people.”
Frey held the hand joined with Ranshel tightly, closed his eyes tight, and opened them.
His ocean-blue eyes stared into the deep swamp within Ranshel’s eyes.
“Also, for a soul that is surprisingly lovely, endlessly pitiful… and very beautiful in my eyes.”
“…….”
“I will pray to God, Ranshel.”
“…….”
“I am by your side.”
Ranshel held it in.
He pressed it down as much as he could.
But tears eventually fell, drop by drop.
Thank you. His wet lips moved silently.
Frey nodded his head as if responding to the greeting he couldn’t hear.
Like that, a few more days passed.
Ranshel, who was still spending his days half-confined in bed by force, gradually woke up hearing whispering voices.
“……So, this silver coin replaces the entry pass?”
“That is correct. It is an item engraved with a mark that can only be recognized when illuminated by a light in a dark place.”
“Then we have secured a path to the ‘Resurrection Prayer Meeting.’ Now we must infiltrate and find evidence of heresy.”
“But I am too worried to send Daniel alone. Isn’t there a way to secretly seek help from the Imperial Family?”
“We don’t know how far the Archbishop has extended his reach. If we ask for help, we might be the ones exposed instead.”
It was content that made his eyes snap open.
Ranshel shot up from the bed he was lying on and shouted.
“I will go!”
The people who were whispering quietly around the table flinched and turned to look at Ranshel.
“…Where do you think you are going?”
The first one to spit out coldly was Zavad.
Ranshel quickly got out of bed and trotted over to the table.
“It’s better for me to accompany Daniel than to send him alone. Originally, this task was assigned to both of us.”
“Recall again. I opposed it from the start and told you only to get information.”
“But since I couldn’t get the information, I should at least do the remaining work properly.”
* * *
