novelraw Chapter 27
Chapter 27
Ch.27 Sparks flew in the women’s eyes.
Scarlet headed toward the Imperial Palace after a long time.
Although she had come to the capital, she had intended not to appear until the festival day to avoid the annoying nobles and the Crown Prince.
But she could not refuse Mia’s invitation.
It was impossible not to be bothered by the fact that her patron’s name was Hans.
As she went through the procedures to enter the palace…
“Huh? Isn’t that the Hero? Please… wait just a moment.”
Thus, Scarlet stood still while guards sent someone somewhere and surrounded her, showering her with compliments.
“Thanks to the Hero, our Empire is blessed.”
“Hero, my daughter is your fan. Could I trouble you for an autograph?”
Though the flood of praise might have lifted her mood slightly, Scarlet found these guards repulsive.
In the past, when she had just been chosen as the Hero and failed to defeat the Mage Tower’s golem, weren’t these very people the ones who mocked her the most?
It felt uncomfortable that they now changed their demeanor and praised her after she had defeated the Demon King.
Because… she still had not forgotten the wounds from that time.
Yet she was not so ill-natured as to refuse the guard’s request for an autograph, thinking of his daughter.
She obediently signed the paper the guard handed her and passed it back, then asked,
“Here you go. But if the procedures are finished, may I go inside now?”
Feeling vaguely that they were stalling for time, she frowned uncomfortably.
“Uh… Hero, you see…”
One of the guards, who appeared to hold a higher rank, began explaining with an embarrassed expression. At that moment,
“Scarlet!”
From far away, a golden-haired, flamboyantly dressed handsome man ran toward her.
‘This is exactly why I didn’t want to come.’
“Ohh… Scarlet, when I heard the news that you had slain the Demon King, I was overjoyed beyond words.”
His overly affectionate manner.
He was Leo, the Crown Prince of this Empire.
Ever since news of her exploits on the battlefield reached the capital, he had been one of the men persistently clinging to her.
In an instant, Leo arrived before Scarlet and clasped her hands.
“You are the treasure of this nation. Come this way. I shall personally escort you to your quarters…”
Scarlet gently withdrew her hands from Leo’s and forced a smile.
“Your Highness, excuse me, but I came here to see Mia.”
“Ohh… No wonder the Saint also came to the Imperial Palace today. Is it a gathering of the Hero party, then?”
Due to the Crown Prince’s slimy tone, Scarlet’s smile grew increasingly awkward.
‘Yes! So please just go away already.’
“Then, how about joining me for horseback riding tomorrow?”
Even when she politely declined, the Crown Prince stubbornly persisted.
Scarlet’s lips began to tremble uncontrollably.
“I’m sorry. I have plans with friends tomorrow.”
“What about the day after?”
“I’m meeting friends then too…”
“How about after the festival ends?”
Despite her repeated refusals, the Crown Prince clung on relentlessly. Scarlet’s patience finally reached its limit, and she responded with an icy smile.
“I’m sorry. I must return to my hometown by then.”
“Ugh… Fine, then.”
Scarlet passed by the Crown Prince, whose shoulders sagged in defeat.
Then she immediately grabbed a passing servant.
“Excuse me, could you tell me where Mia’s room is?”
“Eep, over there! The top floor of that building!”
The servant, glancing nervously at the Crown Prince, pointed out Mia’s location and then hastily fled the scene.
Scarlet stood before the door to Mia’s room.
—Knock knock.
She lightly knocked, and a clear, familiar voice came from inside.
—Who is it?
“It’s me.”
Before she could even state her name, the door hurriedly opened.
—Creeeak.
Cecilia, whom she hadn’t seen in a long time, greeted Scarlet with a bright smile.
“Lady Scarlet? Uh… why does your face look like that?”
Cecilia paused as she scrutinized Scarlet’s expression.
How should she describe it? Expressionless, yet appearing sorrowful?
Having spent a long time together with Scarlet, Cecilia could tell that Scarlet was now feeling sad.
Her expression was slightly stiff, unlike usual, and her eyes looked swollen as if she had cried a lot.
The red veins around Scarlet’s crimson irises were subtle enough that one might miss them unless observing closely—but Cecilia noticed immediately.
Seeing that Cecilia had recognized her pain, Scarlet felt something choke in her throat but forcibly held it back.
“Mmm… have you been well?”
Seeing tears faintly gathering in Scarlet’s eyes, Cecilia sensed something was seriously wrong.
“What happened? Did you come alone?”
She fully opened the door and cautiously peered outside.
Finding Scarlet alone, Cecilia asked carefully.
“Did that so-called patron do something bad to you, Scarlet?”
This was the first time she had seen Scarlet since defeating the Demon King.
Cecilia had firmly believed, without a shadow of doubt, that her friend Scarlet was getting along well with her patron.
From the start, Cecilia had believed the so-called patron had fallen for Scarlet at first sight and supported her wholeheartedly in every way.
But seeing Scarlet looking so haggard, her heart ached.
Cecilia was a pure and kind person—so much so that she regarded her friend’s sorrow as her own…
Yet, separate from Cecilia’s feelings, what mattered crucially to Scarlet was the fact that the names of the men loved by Leah, Cecilia, and Scarlet were all ‘Hans’.
Mia, who had been occupied with something else and appeared slightly late, noticed the subtle tension between them and hurried over.
“Cecilia? Did something happen to Scarlet?”
It had been just over a month since she last saw Mia.
Amid her complicated inner turmoil, Scarlet felt both gladness at seeing her friends and a touch of bitterness.
“No, I just… I just missed you.”
The death of her patron, who had supported her.
No—she didn’t even know whether he was dead or alive.
Scarlet, filled with sorrow.
Seeing Scarlet struggling to hold back tears, Mia’s expression hardened gravely.
“Scarlet, come in first.”
As Scarlet entered the room, Cecilia and Mia wore worried expressions.
“What exactly happened?”
“Scarlet? We’re friends. So if something’s troubling you, please feel free to confide in us.”
Scarlet, noticing Leah’s absence, looked around curiously.
“Where’s Leah?”
At Scarlet’s question, Mia shrugged.
“I sent her a letter. But she doesn’t live at the address I gave. When I asked the Mage Tower, they said she went traveling to the New Continent with her master.”
At those words, Scarlet’s shoulders trembled faintly.
Noticing Scarlet scrutinizing their expressions, Mia felt a faint, inexplicable sense of unease.
“Uh… but didn’t you say you’d bring your boyfriends?”
There wasn’t a single man in the room, no matter how hard Scarlet looked. Cecilia lowered her head in response.
“That’s… Priest Hans went to the New Continent for missionary work.”
“The Sage… couldn’t come due to circumstances.”
Unlike Cecilia, whose ears turned slightly red with embarrassment, Mia answered confidently with a composed face.
‘What’s going on?’
Three Hans.
To Scarlet, who had suspected they might all be the same person, the current situation was unexpected.
Leah and Cecilia.
If even one of them had brought her lover, her hypothesis would have been meaningless.
The situation was sinking deeper and deeper into a labyrinth.
Cecilia’s case might be understandable, but what about Leah?
Of course, Mia, who had arranged this meeting while harboring thoughts similar to Scarlet’s, also felt bewildered by this unforeseen situation.
‘Leah went to the New Continent with her master, and Cecilia’s Hans went to the New Continent for missionary work—is this really just coincidence?’
Mia felt even more uneasy than Scarlet.
‘I hope this is just my baseless worry.’
Even Mia herself realized her thoughts were mere speculation.
Naturally—because it was hard to easily believe that a single entity named Hans was intimately connected to herself, Leah, and Cecilia, three women.
Yet, it was also difficult for Mia to easily voice this suspicion.
‘If I’m wrong, I’ll become an elf known for having indecent thoughts.’
As a High Elf, bearing the stigma of having entertained bizarre ideas was something her pride could not tolerate—so she resolved to observe the situation for now.
At that moment, Scarlet spoke with a resolute, solemn gaze, as if she had made a decision.
“I recently went to my patron’s address.”
Thus began Scarlet’s story.
She had gone to her patron’s address intending to meet him, but he was nowhere to be found, and a man claiming to be his knight, Giovanni, told her the patron had died of a chronic illness.
After seeing his grave and confirming the patron’s name was Hans, Scarlet chased after Giovanni but ultimately failed to catch him.
After hearing Scarlet’s entire story, Cecilia and Mia’s faces turned pale.
Seeing their expressions, Scarlet’s suspicion solidified into certainty.
‘As I thought… there’s something going on.’
Cecilia and Mia’s pupils trembled as if they couldn’t believe Scarlet’s words.
Especially Mia’s pupils.
‘C… could it be? I thought there were three… but was it everyone? O Sage?’
‘W… what is this? My situation is too similar to hers?’
Mia had previously thought Leah’s and Cecilia’s lovers might be the same person as the Sage.
But she had never expected it might involve the entire Hero party.
Cecilia felt the events that had happened to Scarlet were strikingly similar to what had recently happened to her.
Cecilia had received a letter from a man claiming to be Knight of Priest Hans.
The subsequent events were nearly identical for both of them.
Even down to being told Hans had died and being shown his grave.
The developments that occurred to Scarlet and Cecilia were extremely similar—indeed, one could say they were identical.
And on top of that, the patron’s name is Hans.
‘H… how come Lady Scarlet’s situation is the same as mine?’
Though Cecilia was innocent, she was not devoid of a woman’s intuition.
“I… I also, not long ago…”
Thus, a story related to Priest Hans also spilled from Cecilia’s lips.
Scarlet’s and Mia’s eyes widened progressively.
“Y… you’re serious? Cecilia?”
Mia, unable to hide her bewilderment, spoke up.
“Wait, please hear my story too.”
Eventually, as Mia’s story also emerged…
The atmosphere in the room turned icy cold.
Putting together everyone’s stories…
The Priest Hans, Patron Hans, and Sage Hans they spoke of could only be either the exact same person or intimately connected.
To put it nicely, ‘intimately connected’—but realistically, they could only be presumed to be the same individual employing nearly identical methods.
“Wait—where did Leah go, and with whom?”
At Scarlet’s words, Mia, unlike her usual sharp and clear expression, muttered with a slightly dazed face.
“With her master… to the New Continent…”
—Grrr…
Sparks flew in the eyes of the three women.
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