CHAPTER 38

“You’re worried about Marina.”

The silver-haired princess muttered. Her gray eyes have been sprinkled with sadness. She inhaled deeply and then sighed.

“Look, I know that you’re worried since she’s your friend and all. But that’s not the case right now. Marina Jogudra is a murderer. She commanded her mafia to reign terror in the Third District. You saw how she demolished more than ten skyscrapers without a second thought.”

“She did that?” I asked.

“Yes. That’s what she confessed.” The princess nodded.

My eyes widened in shock. Princess Amaryllis might be sounding logical right now, but she’s all wrong. The mess in the Third District was primarily made by me and Yehanna. The fact that the princess does not know the truth gave a ray of hope in my eyes.

And Marina... She is putting all the blame all to herself.

“Is she in good hands? Are they torturing her? Are they digging her memories with magic?” I asked.

“No.” The silver-haired princess shook her head. “Marina seemed to be obedient and cooperating with the ongoing investigation. We don’t want to resort to Mind Reading magic right now. But if the time comes, I might ask the Dragon Sage Library to post an interrogation quest.”

“I’ll do it,” I said with a determined stare. “I want to interrogate Marina Jogudra myself.”

“Yes, that seemed to be a logical choice.” Princess Amaryllis held her chin. “Since you know each other, Marina will trust you more than any other Dragon Sage who tries to extract information. And I know how you operate by now. You seem to be the most humane Dragon Sage I know.”

“I don’t deserve the flattery, your highness.” I smiled while scratching my head.

“No, it’s true that you’re the kindest Dragon Sage I know. Odette told me that you prioritized the lives of the civilians over the foul-mouthed General Clair Magnus. I know it’s bad of me to say this, but I’m glad that you chose to rescue the helpless civilians’ lives first. B-But I’m not undermining General Magnus’ death either! It’s not your fault! You just did what you think was right!” The princess said.

“You hear that, Uly?” Yehanna cheered. “You did well, so you deserve some rest! Don’t worry about Marina! She’ll be alright!”

Man, Yehanna’s acting is top-notch. I can’t figure out if she’s telling the truth or a lie, or if her sentences give double meaning or nothing but sugar-coated words.

The more the princess praises me, the more I feel guilt inside my heart. All those deaths and destruction are authored by me. It was all part of the plan, and up to this very minute, I don’t want to look for the collateral damages and deaths. I’m afraid I will feel guilt.

But I know that the terrorism we did in the Third District is the only way we can satisfy Yehanna’s and Marina’s revenge. As I said before, old-school assassination will have a success rate of zero percent. Everything we did was calculated and necessary.

I was about to lay back on my bed when the door to my room opened. It was the pink-haired priestess, all drenched in sweat. She’s carrying a bag of fresh green apples.

“L-Lord Corasell! Thank goodness you’re okay!” Odette dropped her bag of apples and proceeded to jump at me and hugged me tightly. She started to cry. “I’m so worried about you! I thought you were not going to wake up!”

“It’s just some wounds and mana deficiency, nothing serious.” I chuckled. I started to pet the priestess’ silky smooth pink hair.

“I promise, I will never leave your side again! I already pledged to protect you! I will take care of you from now on, wherever you go!” Odette hollered.

“Even in the toilet?” Yehanna’s face became the very definition of smug. “How about in the shower?”

“Ah! T-That’s-!” Odette’s face turned red, and she tried to cover her cheeks with her delicate hands.

“Hey, don’t taint her innocent mind. Leave her out of your dirty world, you vixen!” I scolded Yehanna.

Yehanna just winked and bit her tongue.

The princess modestly chuckled. When things settled down a bit, she looked at her best friend priestess.

“I believe you left this hospital this morning to buy some fruits for Lord Corasell. It’s past two in the afternoon already. Odette, did you got lost again?”

“W-What!? I’ve been out that long!?” Odette cried. “I thought I took the shortcut! I know I remember the room number well, so I used the escalator to go up, then the elevator to go three floors above, and took the emergency exit stairs downward. I also took some left and right turns. I never thought it would take almost three hours to get here!”

“That’s something Odette would say.” Princess Amaryllis sighed while holding her aching forehead. “You know that we are on the ground floor, correct? You need not have to go upwards or downwards.”

“Ack!” Odette acted as if an arrow just struck her heart.

“So, Odette is like this. No sense of direction.” I commented.

“Yes. Ever since we’re kids, she always gets lost in any place we’re in.” The princess muttered. “So please take care of my best friend, Lord Corasell. Make sure she doesn’t get lost in the library. Give her some ankle monitors or equip her with a leash if necessary.”

“Noted.” I nodded.

“Hey! I’m not a criminal! And don’t leash me like a dog!” Odette cried.

We had some more light-hearted talks and divine priestess bullying until the sun was down. Princess Amaryllis and Odette gave their goodbyes and be well greetings before they went home.

The only one who’s left here in my room at night is Yehanna, who is serving me apples. She carefully removed the skin and cut the apples into bite-sized pieces. Then she would act like she’s my mother.

“Say aaaaah!” Yehanna said as she pointed an apple slice at my mouth.

“Aaaaah.” I closed my lips as soon as I got a bite of the apple slice. I chewed for a moment then talked to her. “Hey, aren’t you going home? Your younger brother might be worried sick if you didn’t go home on time.”

“I already called Yifus earlier, and he said that you need more of my attention. Sebastian is there to take care of him anyway.” Yehanna carefreely answered. Then she pointed another apple slice to my mouth. “Here comes another plane~ Say Aaaah!”

I took a bite of the fruit, chewed it, and swallowed it. Yehanna was pleased when she saw me obediently eating the food. She’s like a young girl who’s happily feeding a pet.

“You seem to be overly concerned about me,” I muttered out of nowhere.

Yehanna’s cheeks became red in an instant, but she erased it with her serious glare. “Yeah, so what? It’s just normal for me to be worried about you since you said you’re going to die within months. I made a promise to keep you alive, and I will never abandon that promise.”

“Oh, yes.” I put my palm on my face. “I forgot about my impending death. I was too focused on the operation.”

Yehanna continued to feed me until the plate was empty. She set the plate aside and then rested her chin on her hand, looking at me. It took about five seconds before I reacted.

“What? You love staring at my handsome face?” I joked.

“No. I just think that you’re a more than capable Dragon Sage now. With that prototype spell, you used to save me from the princess, I’m pretty sure you can beat me if we redo that Dragonoid Contract Ritual again.”

“I was only able to invent that prototype spell when I became a Dragon Sage though. There was no way I could have ever used it back during our first battle.” I sighed.

“Hey, teach me how to do that next time. It could be useful especially if I’m Deva. What was that prototype spell’s name again?”

“Atomic Leap.”