Just as Meredia boarded the carriage under the bewildered gazes of the First Order knights.
"Uwaaah. T-they're really taking him…!"
Sasha, who had been shoved into the room where Hestia was, stood on tiptoe by the window, peering out. Watching Whitney being escorted by the knights, she mumbled in a terrified voice.
"He's not getting taken away, right? He wouldn't be. He shouldn't be…"
"Don't worry about that. I was by his side ever since we kidnapped her, but there was no sign of anyone noticing."
"W-What exactly have you two been doing?!"
Runiel, who had been standing beside Sasha with a blank expression, tried to reassure her in a calm tone. However, Sasha, now even more flustered, raised her voice in protest.
"To summarize, we ruined the prince's engagement ceremony and took his fiancée away."
"Why, though…?"
"Why question what the master does?"
Runiel tilted her head in confusion as she answered. Sasha, momentarily dumbfounded, soon clutched her head in despair.
"W-What do we do now…?"
Then, as if something had dawned on her, she lifted her head slightly, glancing nervously at Hestia, who sat on the bed with a pale face.
"U-Um… Excuse me?"
"..."
"Uh… Can you hear me?"
But Hestia, who had been in a daze ever since encountering Whitney's soul, did not respond.
"H-Hello…?"
"Eek!"
"Huh?!"
As Sasha cautiously leaned in closer, her face filled with anxiety, Hestia suddenly flinched. Startled, Sasha also yelped and fell backward.
The two of them looked like perfect mirror images.
"W-Who are you?"
"I-I'm Sasha."
"What?"
"Ah. I-I mean, I'm the maid assigned to you. Originally, I was the young master's personal maid, but… well…"
As the two fumbled through their awkward exchange after their comedic display, a voice suddenly interrupted them.
"Why are you all gathered here?"
It was Parsha's voice, coming from behind them.
"P-Parsha?! How did you…?"
"I'm feeling a bit better, so I came to see the young master."
"H-How did you open the door?"
Sasha, turning mechanically to look behind her, asked in a dazed voice. Parsha tilted her head as she responded.
"It was just open."
"Oh."
Parsha subtly hid the key she was holding behind her back, but Sasha, too preoccupied with her own panic, failed to notice.
"By the way, who is that person behind you?"
"T-This person is… um… that is…"
"Ah, I see."
Watching the awkward exchange, Parsha suddenly clapped her hands as if she had just realized something.
"She's the new maid, right?"
"M-Maid?"
"The young master mentioned he was hiring new maids recently. Am I wrong?"
"Ah, y-yeah! A maid!"
It was the first Sasha had heard of such a thing, but she could only force a stiff smile and nod along.
"But I don't like the outfit."
"Huh?"
"A maid should dress like a maid. Why is she wearing that?"
"T-That's…"
Parsha once again looked puzzled as she asked, and Sasha's face stiffened once more.
"Sh-She's going through an initiation!"
"Initiation?"
"I-It's a tradition in our household! We dress new maids in gowns! R-Right, Runiel?"
Sasha frantically darted her eyes around before coming up with the lie, then looked at Runiel for support. However, Runiel simply tilted her head.
"A-Anyway, I'll go get her maid uniform now. Consider yourself lucky."
"..."
"A-And by the way, the initiation isn't over yet. You still have to cut your hair short and dye it, so… be prepared!"
Determined, Sasha quickly got up, shot a desperate wink at the still-dazed Hestia, and bolted out of the room.
"We have to disguise her before anyone finds out…!"
"Haha, my friend is as adorable as ever."
As Sasha's panicked muttering echoed through the hallway, Parsha smirked quietly. She then turned to Runiel and whispered in a low voice.
"It's time for you to leave too, Runiel."
"Why should I follow your orders?"
Runiel looked down at her with clear disinterest.
"Because I'm the young master's right hand?"
"That's odd. I thought that was me."
"Haven't you always called yourself just a tool?"
"A tool has a higher chance of being held in the right hand than a child with unreadable thoughts."
For a moment, sparks seemed to fly between their eyes.
"Well, we'll settle that later."
Parsha suddenly shifted her gaze to Hestia, putting an end to the unexpected loyalty contest.
"Excuse me."
"Y-Yes?"
"I have something to ask you…"
Parsha approached Hestia, who had been too lost in thought to hear any of the previous conversation. Lowering her voice, she asked carefully.
"…You read Sir Whitney's soul, didn't you?"
"I-I don't know what you're talking abou—"
"What did you see? What was in Sir Whitney's soul?"
Hestia had initially intended to feign ignorance, but Parsha's eyes were too bright, too desperate.
"…Why do you ask?"
"Because my fate depends on your answer."
Hestia, who had always been weak against children, found herself unable to ignore Parsha, who now openly wore a sorrowful expression while clinging to her sleeve.
"…Are children like you being forced to stay here too?"
"Please, Saintess…"
"Haa."
In her mind, Sasha and Parsha were already pitiable children, forced to work in a den of evil.
"Listen carefully and don't be alarmed."
After much internal struggle, Hestia finally steeled herself and began to speak slowly.
"…For a kidnapper, his soul was too pure, so I tried to find any trace of evil within him."
"And what I saw, hidden deep within his soul…"
A cold sweat slowly trickled down Hestia's forehead.
"…was an empire—or rather, a world—engulfed in terrifying flames."
"Gasp."
At her words, Parsha took a sharp breath. Seeing this, Hestia gently patted her back and continued.
"We were merely puppets moving at his will. Every gesture he made forcibly determined our fates…"
"And when everything was over, the world was swallowed by darkness, and…"
She paused briefly, took a deep breath, and then spoke in a trembling voice.
"All that remained was silence and emptiness."
A heavy silence followed.
"So, please help me. If I escape from here now, I can still stop it."
"..."
"Um… Are you listening to me?"
Hestia, glancing at Parsha for a reaction, finally voiced her real request. However, seeing no response, she asked with a worried expression.
"Was I… visible?"
"Huh? Now that you mention it…"
Parsha blinked blankly, seemingly lost in thought.
And then—
"…You were clapping right in front of him."
Hestia, halfway through her answer, suddenly widened her eyes and stopped speaking.
"…I knew it."
"N-No way."
"I knew my eyes weren't deceiving me…!"
She had just realized that the one who had helped Whitney burn the world was standing before her, grinning in pure delight.
"To think you trusted me so much…"
"Oh, dear lord."
"Ihihihi… Ahahaha…!"
Parsha erupted into joyous laughter. Hestia, now truly alarmed, quickly backed away and shut her eyes tightly in prayer.
'At least I didn't reveal the most important part.'
Indeed, Hestia had not told Parsha everything she had seen.
'After the world went dark, the mysterious symbols that floated in the void… That final scene must be Whitney's true objective.'
In her vision, after everything was consumed by darkness, strange letters—resembling a name—had begun scrolling across the sky.
'Oh, divine one, if I truly am your saint…'
It was the first time Hestia, as a saint, had sincerely prayed for divine guidance.
'Grant me the knowledge to understand the truth.'
Yet, no revelation came.
'…God?'
After all, even a god would struggle to explain that what she had seen was simply the ending credits of a game Whitney had played in his past life.
More than Hestia's misunderstanding, the real fault lay with Whitney—whose most "evil" deed in life had been playing a game with a villainous route just once out of curiosity.
"L-Lady Saint… No, new maid! I brought the maid uniform, so please change into this!"
"…Alright."
Probably.
°°°°°°°°°
"…Why are my ears itching so much?"
As I rode on horseback for the first time in my life, escorted by the knights on my way to the imperial palace, I couldn't even scratch my ear due to fear of falling off. Instead, I grimaced and looked up.
"Is something troubling you?"
"…No, haha."
"We'll be arriving soon, so just endure it a little longer."
As the Second Order's captain said, the towering spires of the imperial palace were already visible in the distance.
'Just yesterday, I thought I wouldn't have to visit here for a while.'
Although Count Lingard's territory was adjacent to the capital, under normal circumstances, I wouldn't have been able to arrive this quickly.
Not just because of the distance, but also because every time I passed a checkpoint, I was treated like a suspicious person and subjected to thorough inspections.
If it weren't for the imperial seal the Second Order captain held up at each gate, I might not have arrived for several more days.
"Urgh…"
Of course, the royal steed, which had galloped at terrifying speeds fast enough to induce a fear of horseback riding in me, also played a significant role in our swift arrival.
"Halt! Stop there!"
"Wait, stop right now!"
Suppressing the nausea rising from deep within me, we finally arrived at the heavily guarded gates of the imperial palace.
'Why do misunderstandings never seem to end?'
"…Ahaha."
Perhaps due to yesterday's events, the imperial guards, tense and on edge, suddenly ran toward us, waving their hands.
"Do not be mistaken. This man is not a dark mage or a criminal. He is Sir Whitney, acting under His Majesty's orders—"
"W-We know that!"
The Second Order captain, looking bored, had been about to raise the imperial seal once again, assuming I was being mistaken for a criminal or dark mage.
"Then why are you stopping us?"
"T-That's because…!"
Something was clearly off about the guards' behavior. Just as the captain and I exchanged puzzled looks—
"Let go of me, you bastards!"
From a distance, someone roughly shook off the guards restraining him and turned toward me.
"Sir Whitney!"
In that moment, I understood why they were so unsettled.
"I've been waiting for you!!"
The prince—who should have been the star of yesterday's engagement ceremony—was now running toward me with a desperate expression, as if he had reunited with a long-lost best friend.
"Please help me!!!"
'…What the hell is this now?'
Having just kidnapped his fiancée mere hours ago, I found the situation extremely awkward, to say the least.