Chapter 32: Check your sincerity.

“Lady Yukomis, you mustn’t do this!”

Karat spurred his horse, forcibly catching up to Yukomis, who was racing ahead.

She hadn’t even finished hearing the Count’s explanation before she’d frantically ridden all the way to the middle of this forest.

‘I didn’t know my son would do something like this.’

Those were the Count’s words as soon as he confirmed Signa had disappeared with Gallar.

‘I don’t know why, either.’

Yukomis had no reason or time to explain it any further.

“You’re being too hasty! You don’t know what might happen!”

Karat called out again, and she stopped her horse.

“It’s too reckless for just the two of us to move! We don’t even know where the cult’s base is, or how many people are there!”

“With all due respect, I still think we should get some support from the Count…”

“The Count? From that bumbling lord who couldn’t even keep an eye on his own son?”

Yukomis whirled around.

“Lady Yukomis!”

Karat looked at her with a pleading expression, but she didn’t budge.

“Just because Gallar was an informant doesn’t mean everyone else is…”

“How can I trust anyone else he provided when even the Count’s son is like that?”

“But this is even more reckless!”

“I can’t help it if it’s reckless!”

“You must return!”

He didn’t back down either.

“Lady Yukomis, you know it too. You’re not the same as you used to be.”

“…Kugh!”

‘Great Magician Yukomis has lost most of her power.’

He spoke the secret that only those closest to her knew.

Ironically, that was also why she always traveled with only Karat.

The more people who knew the secret, the more likely it was to leak.

Because she was weakened, she paradoxically couldn’t form a strong group.

“We can’t let what happened in Kiffole happen again. There’s no guarantee it won’t happen again. No, it’ll be much worse.”

“So, what are you suggesting?”

“If things have come to this, we should return to the capital or the duchy and find someone to help…”

“Return? You want me to return?”

Yukomis was stunned.

“The only way to return from here is by wyvern. Do you think the cult members, with the Count’s son as an accomplice, wouldn’t know if we were returning by wyvern?”

“It’s not like Lady Signa’s life is in immediate danger!”

Karat rode ahead, blocking Yukomis’ path.

“…!”

“If they took her to worship, they wouldn’t harm her. Even if it takes some time to find her…!”

“The biggest problem is how they found out who she is!”

She shouted, frustrated.

“The only people here who know anything about her identity, besides us, are Silissa. And even Silissa only heard her voice.”

“…That’s…”

“Besides, even if they saw her face, the only person who could connect it to my sister is the Count. He had many opportunities to see my sister up close during the Great War!”

Karat was speechless.

“Yet Gallar specifically targeted Signa. And that was during the few minutes you and I went to meet the Count! Signa is a girl under my protection as a princess. For him to do this, he must have had perfect certainty, right?”

“What do you think this means? The only people who know all these secrets are you and me. Where could this information have leaked from? Karat, did you blurt it out?”

“Absolutely not!”

“Then, as far as I know, there’s only one conclusion. The only person who knows about my relationship with her, about her face, about who she resembles…”

Yukomis gritted her teeth.

It was very easy for her to identify the suspect.

“It’s only Manya.”

“…!”

“What if she doesn’t care about the religion Silissa created? What if she was just using it as a tool? What if, as soon as she gets her hands on Signa, she plans to disappear forever beyond this snowfield? What will we do then?”

And that was very likely.

Manya’s obsession, written in that diary, was real.

She would never share Signa’s existence with cult members she didn’t even know.

“Even so…!”

“Signa was the only way to find Manya. If we moved with Signa, Manya would have to show herself somehow to get her back. That’s why Silissa was needed to protect Signa. But… but!”

Yukomis spread her arms wide.

“That stupid Silissa is gone now, Signa has been taken, and Manya is about to disappear forever?”

All the plans she had made while heading here had gone awry.

All these problems were caused by Silissa’s stupidity.

It was because she had taken over the family business in a strange, wildly eccentric direction.

“That’s why time is of the essence! Now!”

As she said, Gallar’s horse hoofprints on the snowfield were the last clue they could find now.

They would soon disappear without a trace in the wind and newly fallen snow.

There was a reason why Yukomis was so impatient.

“I don’t even have time to explain this now. Get out of my way!”

“I can’t! If Manya is behind this, that’s even more of a problem. Isn’t she clearly hostile to you?”

“Karat!”

“Lady Yukomis, I am your escort knight.”

“Then listen to me!”

“My duty isn’t to blindly follow your orders!”

Yukomis tried to go around Karat, but he blocked her again.

Ironically, even as he was trying to persuade her to give up, Karat was thinking of Signa.

The girl who had pressed him about his duties at the ‘Three Lanterns Inn.’

“My more important duty is to protect your well-being.”

“…You…!”

“I’m sorry, but if I have to weigh Signa’s safety against yours, Lady Yukomis is much heavier to me.”

Yukomis glared at Karat, but he didn’t budge.

Karat was anxious.

His master kept trying to use the same methods as before.

Taking the lead as bait, or bluffing to intimidate.

That might have been necessary when she was fighting for the fate of the world.

Or perhaps it worked then because she was very strong.

But now, neither was true.

Kiffole, of all places, had proven that.

He had painfully realized, as a result, that Yukomis was much more helpless than she herself thought.

“To put it extremely, Lady Signa is nothing compared to your importance.”

“Karat!”

“She was originally just the sister of a minor noble. That’s all. But you are the Great Magician, the heir to the Solenas Family.”

“She saved my life!”

“Even so, it’s the same!”

Karat had never dared to talk back to his master like this before.

“She’s a kind and good girl. She’s talented. She saved you. Of course, I’m worried too.”

He was the kind of person who would obediently follow any reckless order.

“But still, compared to your importance, she’s nothing, to put it coldly.”

Compared to Yukomis’ lofty status, he was just a humble male aristocrat.

“You are much wiser and more sensible than a mere knight like me. You know it, don’t you? That this is reckless. That it’s not a good plan. That you wouldn’t normally make this kind of judgment…”

Karat said with difficulty to Yukomis, who was trembling.

“Lady Yukomis, that child is not Thermis.”

“I know that!”

“No, you don’t!”

“…!”

“Aren’t you constantly looking for her traces in that child?”

“That’s not it!”

She forced herself to raise her voice, but it was a denial without any persuasion.

Just today alone, she had even imagined confining Signa in the annex forever.

“Didn’t you flinch every time that child said something serious? Even though you knew her condition was fine, didn’t you visit the annex five times a day? Didn’t you indulge her every whim? Have you ever done that for anyone else?”

“…Kugh…!”

“Me too. While you were unconscious in Kiffole, I had those thoughts while looking at her. I saw her as that person’s illusion several times. Parthnen, the head maid, said the same thing. Aisha too. But don’t you know?”

Karat spoke the one undeniable and most certain piece of evidence.

All the other ambiguous circumstances paled in comparison to that heavy fact.

“That child was just brought from the Irendel Family…”

“Stop it!!!”

Yukomis shouted, cutting him off.

“I know all that! What are you daring to lecture me about now?”

“If you know, please return with me.”

“Give up on her?”

“Yes.”

Karat’s expression was serious.

“What do I tell the Irendel viscount?”

“We’ll have to say it was an unfortunate accident.”

“What about the cultists?”

“There was an informant in the Viscount Family. It’s unavoidable.”

“L…..”

“We can come back and find them later. Everything will be fine. There’s no guarantee we’ll never find them, is there?”

All the excuses for having to find Signa were immediately blocked.

It was all true.

Karat’s advice was logically correct. Yukomis was not someone who wouldn’t know that.

Her reason knew better than anyone that her actions were nothing more than senseless and reckless obstinacy.

Even if she sometimes acted like her sister, even if she spoke like her sister…

Compared to the clear, heavy, and immovable evidence that she was ‘just brought from the Irendel Family,’ it was really nothing.

She should have known that too.

But……

But……

If she lost her mind for a moment, if she was careless for a moment, she found herself thinking, ‘What do those pieces of evidence matter?’

‘No.’

The truth might have been, ‘I don’t care if she’s not the real sister.’

If she was this similar, if someone could mistake her this much.

Whether the contents were a boy or a girl, how old they were, it didn’t matter.

Yukomis was horrified that she had been bewitched by Manya’s magic.

Furthermore, she hated that she was having the same kind of thoughts as a human trash like her.

But that was… too terrible, too attractive, too evil, and too beautiful of an option to ignore.

Enough to drive Yukomis into such anxiety.

‘Karat will never know.’

He couldn’t empathize.

He didn’t know her sister as well as she did.

He hadn’t spent as much time with her sister as she had.

He wasn’t as indebted to her sister as she was.

Ilesha and Silissa too. If they were in the same situation as me, they would have made the same choice.

Karat didn’t know her feelings, that he could never choose the right answer.

But, on the other hand…

She
If I find her? If I find both Manya and Signa, shouldn’t I return her to her original body, the body of a boy?

Isn’t that right?

‘Let’s persuade her. To stay like this.’

‘I have to turn her back. That was the promise, wasn’t it?’

How are you going to persuade her?

How are you going to keep the promise?

‘I don’t know. I don’t know anything about that. I don’t know anything anymore…’

Do you think she’ll listen to that proposal?

Can I really keep that promise?

‘I’ll make her listen, even if I have to force her. There’s no other way for her anyway.’

‘If only there was no way for Manya to turn her back either. That might be the best…’

It was truly ridiculous.

To only realize her true feelings in this situation.

To realize that she could never give up on Signa’s current appearance.

…Until you lose it, you can’t know what it feels like to lose it.

Just like then.

“Karat, you’re right.”

Yukomis slowly steered her horse towards Karat.

“Lady…!”

As Yukomis approached Karat, she was silent with a somber expression.

And finally, when she turned and lined up her horse with his, Karat’s face slowly brightened.

“…Then…!”

“You’re right, but… I still can’t give up.”

“Master… Ugh?”

Yukomis, who had come right next to him, put her hand on the head of Karat’s horse.

Then, without any warning, Karat’s horse collapsed on the spot.

Karat immediately realized what Yukomis had done.

Rapid Exhaustion.

Then and now, one of the spells she enjoyed using the most.

Even now that she had lost most of her power, it was a spell she could cast faster and more perfectly than anyone else in this world.

As soon as Karat fell with his horse, Yukomis turned back in the opposite direction and ran wildly.

“Surely you’re not thinking of going alone…!” Master…!

“Find Silissa!”

Yukomis shouted, already disappearing into the forest a few seconds later.

“…Leave a trail. When the horse gets back up, don’t chase me, find Silissa! Understand? No matter what happens, find Silissa…!”

Master! Even…! You can’t!

“No matter what happens to me… Silissa will hel
The voice beyond that was not heard.