Chapter 151: Metamorphosis (4)
Puup
Having heard Riley saying Princess Reutrina was not his type, Nainiae could not help herself but to laugh. Meanwhile, Riley was pouting big time as if he was not liking this. Nainiae looked at Riley.
‘Type…’
Having heard it being mentioned, Nainiae suddenly fell in to deep thoughts about the subject. However, her thoughts couldn’t continue for long.
“What happened? Explain.”
It was because Riley asked a question.
“That is…”
Sera was not sure where to start. The situation was bleak. Around the time Sera tilted her head to the side, Reutrina, who appeared to have completely lost it finally, flopped to the floor with her mouth wide open.
“We are not sure either…”
Watching the Princess falling over, Sera thought about how the Princess attacked her at the infirmary. Trying to say she was not sure, she shook her head and blurred the end of the sentence.
“Where is this place?”
“It’s a Duke’s Manor. It’s Phillisnion’s.”
“Phillisneon?”
Riley’s eyebrows got bent out of the shape.
“Are you saying we instantly teleported here from inside of the cave? Nainiae, did you do this?”
Nainiae flinched from Riley’s gaze. However, having heard ‘inside of the cave,’ she thought that Riley must not know about the sleep magic. Nainiae carefully said,
“… No.”
Nainiae shook her head and responded. To add more explanation, she started to tell Riley why they were at the Duke’s manor.
“That is… You were taking a nap at the cave, but you were not showing any signs of waking up. At the same time, the condition of your body was getting worse too, so unfortunately, we ended up being in debt to the Duke Phillisneon’s Manor which was nearby.”
Nainiae lightly swapped the truth about the fact that she used sleep magic on him. She glanced at Sera and waited for the response.
“Nap?”
“… Yes.”
“You brought me all the way here because I was taking a nap? Two of you did? You guys carried me?”
In disbelief, Riley furrowed his brows and asked. Sera glanced at Nainiae and nodded.
“Yes. You suddenly fell asleep in the cave. Since then, you just never work up, you see? It seemed you also caught cold. You were boiling in fever. You have no idea how worried Nainiae and I were…”
Sera bit her lips as she explained. Riley, who had confused look on his face, scratched his head and asked,
“How long has it been since I fell asleep in the cave?”
“Probably a little over a month.”
“A month?”
“Yes. Really… We were so worried.”
Sera was about to smile with tears in her eyes to say she was glad he finally woke up. At that moment,
“… Princess! Princess! Are you all right?”
From outside, clanking sounds of armors were getting closer.
‘Guards?’
Based on the voices asking if the Princess was all right, Nainiae thought that they must be the mansion’s guards. She quickly waved her right hand in the air and cast magic.
“First, I’ll move us to a different place.”
The Princess had tears on her eyes and nose, and she was kneeling. If the guards saw this, Riley and others would have definitely been branded as suspicious bunch. This was why.
“Ms. Sera, please take a deep breath.”
“Pardon? Nainiae, wait…”
Riley figured out what Nainiae was about to do. He lowered the hand he had to hold his chin and went to stand next to Sera. Sera panicked and didn’t know what to do.
“… Uuuuaaaa!”
Suuuuuk
With that quiet sound, Riley and Sera’s bodies disappeared from the spot without a trace. Immediately, Nainiae, who was still there, looked at Reutrina and slowly put forth her hand.
<Nainiae.>
It sounded like the guards were gradually coming closer. Heliona, who was with Nainiae, called her.
<What are you going to do?>
“I need to fix it.”
<Fix it?>
Nainiae brought her hand toward Reutrina’s forehead. Nainiae spun two of the mana rings rotating in her heart and cast two magic spells at once.
Kwang!
The door behind Nainiae closed with a loud noise and locked itself although nobody touched it.
<Nainiae, you are not trying to kill her, right?>
It seemed one of the magic spell was cast. Having seen the door closing on its own and locking itself, Heliona asked Nainiae, concerned.
“Although I did hear harsh things from her… I am not like the teacher who acts rashly.”
Nainiae smiled and shook her head. Of the two magic spells she prepared, she activated the remaining one.
“As I said earlier, I’m just going to fix it.”
Nainiae’s hand, which was placed on Reutrina’s forehead, started to shine in grey light.
<Memory magic?>
Having realized what magic Nainiae was going to use, Heliona mumbled. Nainiae nodded and said,
“Earlier, when the Princess withstood the swing of the sword from Young Master, although it was for a split second, I definitely saw the purple energy clumped up in that spot.”
Nainiae was thinking about what the woman in black said in Riley’s dream.
‘When you wake up, please find Mr. Riley’s Holy Sword. In your world, one of the purple people probably has it. Please find the purple human who will help you and Mr. Riley.’
So, because Reutrina was speculated to be a purple human, Nainiae used a spell related to memory on her. It was to gather information from Reutrina and also fix the situation.
‘Her memory is… blurry.’
With her hand on Reutrina’s forehead, Nainiae went through her memories. The guards were banging on the door behind her. Having heard the noise, Nainiae cringed.
“It’s fine. Let’s go back.”
Other than the ability that Reutrina had as a purple human and the fact that her memories were all jumbled up, Nainiae was not able to find out anything else. She judged that there was nothing else to gain from reading further, so she used the teleportation magic.
<Um? Already?>
“Yes. There is nothing else to gain. It seems that… she suffered dearly for it when she tried to pry on Young Master’s memories.”
<Young Master’s memories?>
Nainiae was about to move to where she sent Riley and Sera. Having heard Heliona’s question, Nainiae flinched inside.
‘Oh no.’
Riley’s memories… His past life to be precise… It was because she thought it would be good to not mention that to others.
“Let’s talk about that later. Let’s go back too.”
Nainiae brushed it aside and used the teleportation magic. Along with Heliona, Nainiae disappeared without a trace.
“… Princess!”
Right after Nainiae disappeared, the guards smashed the lock and got in the room. They only saw Reutrina on her knees.
* * *
Nainiae joined Riley and Sera. Sera was glaring at Nainiae’s face, which was now completely fine. Leaving Sera be, Nainiae brought just Riley to the side and started to talk to him.
“What? What is it?”
“Young Master, by any chance…”
Concerned there might be someone listening, Nainiae used magic and checked the area once again. She carefully said,
“Do you remember purple humans?”
“Are you talking about bastards like the dark mage that we met at the Rainfield?”
Riley furrowed his brows and asked. Nainiae nodded and said,
“Yes. The people who use strange powers without mana.”
“I remember. What about it?”
“I checked, and Princess Reutrina… also have that power. I think she is one of the purple people.”
“She is?”
As if he was surprised, Riley furrowed his brows and asked. Nainiae nodded and added,
“I fixed things without overdoing it, but I was wondering if it is right to leave things be at this point, so I wanted to ask.”
Nainiae explained that she only checked Reutrina’s ability and handled her memories before coming back. She was asking if Riley was okay with letting Reutrina live.
“…”
Having heard Nainiae’s question, Riley held his chin and started to think hard about the matter.
It was because, regardless of all these, Reutrina was a Princess of Solia.
“From what I saw earlier, she seemed to be all hazy. What happened exactly?”
“To explain in detail…”
To choose the answer, Nainiae thought about it for a moment and said in a quiet voice,
“She now has mental retardation.”
“Mental retardation?”
“In other words, she became a fool. I think it would be hard for her to do anything without servants from now on.”
Riley looked at Nainiae’s eyes and asked the next question.
“Did you do it?”
“No. I stayed within a reasonable bound and handled things. She was already like that before I had a hand in…”
Nainiae lowered her head. She couldn’t finish her sentence.
It was as she just said.
Considering the ability that Reutrina had, it was certain that Reutrina had gone insane while trying to pry on Riley’s memories.
‘It is that kind of memories.’
If it was not for the woman in black’s help, Nainiae might have also wondered around in Riley’s memories for eternity or become a fool like Princess Reutrina. It was highly likely.
<No… I didn’t kill them… I didn’t.>
<Shut up! You killed them! Because you sat back and watched, people died… I knew it from the start when people celebrated a murderer as a hero!>
<No!!>
Nainiae had her head lowered. For some reason, another drop of tear rolled along her cheek.
“… Ah?”
“…?”
Riley wondered why Nainiae was shedding tears out of the blue. He tilted his head to the side.
“I am sorry. I think something… must have gotten in my eyes.”
Nainiae tumbled and wiped off the tear rolling down her cheek with her hand. However, her hand stopped in the middle.
“Hey.”
Riley put his hand at Nainiae’s face. He then pouted big time like a duck and complained,
“I didn’t make you cry, got it?”
“… Pardon?”
“I said I am not the one who made you cry.”
Riley said in gruff voice. He then wiped off the tear from Nainiae’s cheek with his finger before turning away.
“So, don’t say anything odd to my mother.”
Riley wiped off the tear from Nainiae because of what Iris taught him. After Riley retrieved the hand, Nainiae, who was vacantly looking at his hand, laughed.
“Kuk.”
“It might cause troubles if you suddenly laugh while crying.”
Having heard what Riley just tossed out, Nainiae was now certain that the lie about something getting in her eye was found out. Nainiae promptly apologized.
“Young Master, I’m sorry for lying.”
“What were you thinking that made you cry like that?”
Riley wiped his hand on his waist and asked. Nainiae strained her lips and slowly shook her head as she said,
“I am sorry, Young master.”
Although Riley asked quietly, all he got in return was another apology. Riley put his face right in front of Nainiae’s and glared at her face with his piercing gaze.
“…”
Nainiae panicked from having Riley’s face so close. She started to hold her breath.
“Hm.”
Could it be because she was holding her breath? Her face could not be redder. It was about when her face was going to explode. Riley pulled his face back and said,
“Well… Everyone have things that are difficult to talk about.”
Through her eyes, it seemed he read the thoughts Nainiae had. Riley didn’t ask anymore. Looking at Nainiae gasping for air after holding breath. Riley peeked a smile and continued.
“So, Reutrina became a fool?”
“… Yes.”
To calm her chest, which was in state of panic, Nainiae tried to calm her breathing. She nodded and responded.
“What about the chance of her ability coming back or recovering because of other bastards?”
“I cannot be certain, but it is probably impossible. Just in case, I even had a seed of fire attached to Reutrina through Ms. Heliona, so… if anything changes, we will be able to know right away.”
“We need to think about the possibility of the hand we ran into at the Lower Solia last time coming to snatch up the Princess.”
Riley was carefully rolling his brain. It seemed he came to a conclusion. He said,
“I think it would be better to keep the Princess alive than have her killed. I think there will be some storm of aftermath from this situation, but keeping her alive will be easier than killing her. Also, if we are lucky, we can use her as bait to catch other purple humans.”
“Yes.”
It seemed Nainiae also left the Princess be because of the same reasons. She didn’t ask questions or objected. Instead, she just waited for the rest of his words.
“Ah, right… Now that I think about it.”
It seemed he just remembered something. Riley lightly smiled and looked at Nainiae.