My Childhood Friend Told Me to Go Marry the Most Beautiful Woman in the Kingdom, So I Seriously Started Improving Myself—and Somehow Ended Up Making Women Fall Hard - Chapter 46, 47 & 47.5

---

 

Chapter 46: Subjugating the Monsters at the Orphanage

 

---

“……Saint.”

When I turned around at the call from behind, blue hair swayed beneath a black cloak.

Long hair. A beautiful face.

Her blue eyes were moist, trembling as if she might cry at any moment.

“Oh, if it isn’t Sister Natasha.”

“Sister Natasha?”

“Yeah. She’s a sister at the orphanage in the slums.”

The woman Daut introduced kept her gaze fixed on me.

“Um… by ‘saint,’ do you mean me?”

“Yes. Saint who saved the slums. I’ve heard your name many times. Lord Hort Rubel.”

Confused, I looked to Daut. He just shrugged.

“In the slums, they call you the Saint. Means they’ve accepted you.”

“Sir Daut, please stop…”

“Hey, I didn’t start it.”

He said that, but he was clearly amused.

“Um…”

The sister spoke softly, interrupting our exchange.

“Saint… please, I beg you. Please save the orphanage!”

She dropped to her knees, tears spilling as she voiced her plea.

With just that, the laughter filling the square faded away.

Behind the steam rising from the cooking pots, I could tell someone had stopped breathing.

“The orphanage?”

“Yes. There are more than thirty children there. …Every night, they can’t sleep. They live in constant fear—afraid of when they might be taken.”

She clenched her fists so tightly her nails turned white.

I looked at Daut.

“Taken away?”

“Yeah. Recently, kids have been disappearing from the orphanage. We think it might be kidnapping. When you’re responsible for children, there’s no way you can rest easy.”

Kidnapping.

A place with no one to save them.

My chest went cold.

Even if I cleaned the slums, lined up beds, and kept the pots boiling…

I hadn’t driven away the darkness.

The weak were being targeted.

Children were being attacked.

“There’s one more thing… From beneath the cemetery—underground—monsters are crawling out and roaming around. The knights have been patrolling, but the numbers keep increasing.”

The sister’s voice dropped even lower.

“At night, cold air rises. We hear groans. Undead monsters… we hear their screams. The children are terrified and pray every night, but my prayers are reaching their limit. Please, Saint—lend us your strength!”

I let out a breath.

There was only one answer.

“I’m not some amazing saint… but I understand.”

“R–Really? You’ll help us?”

“The orphanage is in the slums. Just like here, it’s part of our community. And as a knight, helping is only natural.”

When I reached out my hand, the sister couldn’t stop her tears.

She bowed again and again.

“Thank you…!”

Daut clicked his tongue and clenched his fist.

“…Damn it. I hate people who target kids the most.”

I’d heard that Daut’s wife was expecting a child.

This case had to be solved—no matter what.

♢

That night, we immediately decided to guard the area around the orphanage.

Daut and the other knights all cooperated.

The orphanage building was old.

It was attached to a church, but the walls were so worn they couldn’t even be properly repaired.

The doors were tightly shut, yet cold air still leaked through the gaps.

So this was the place where the sister had protected the children all this time…

“Thank you.”

“Sister Natasha. I respect your strength.”

“Oh, no—!”

Her eyes no longer held tears.

But behind her, the children watched us with frightened eyes.

“I promise we’ll solve this problem and protect you all.”

“Lord Hort…”

It wasn’t only the children who were afraid.

She, too, had been praying in the church—protecting the orphanage and the church all this time.

“Please, get some rest. You look completely exhausted.”

“Thank you.”

She was fragile, tense, and had clearly been pushing herself nonstop.

Daut took command on-site and began eliminating the monsters in the cemetery.

I joined in, subjugating monsters as well.

“Sir Hort.”

I heard a voice and turned around.

Gina emerged from the shadows, her presence blending with the darkness.

Her eyes behind the mask gleamed coldly.

It was rare for her to appear outside the dormitory.

“Gina, it’s unusual for you to show yourself.”

“With all due respect, I judged that manpower was insufficient and have already placed a request with the Adventurers’ Guild. Those who accepted are—”

Before Gina could finish explaining, they appeared.

In front of the orphanage, a figure in traditional clothing stood.

Black hair. A sword. Horns. And a small puppy crackling softly on her shoulder.

It was Nagi.

Behind her, I could see Uru’s solid frame.

Ramune hugged her staff, rubbing her sleepy eyes, while Zina quietly scanned the surroundings.

Gina had brought them here.

At some point, she had vanished again without a sound.

Nagi looked straight at me.

A reliable ally.

Before smiling, she spoke plainly.

“Hort. Leave the underground monsters to us.”

“…Are you sure?”

“Nagi will protect the town Hort is protecting.”

The knights handled the monsters around the cemetery.

Inazuma barked softly—waf—sending sparks into the air.

Ramune puffed out her cheeks.

“Undead monsters are gross! Let’s finish them off quickly!”

“Ramune, you’ve gotten really good at freezing them.”

“Zina understands perfectly! Today, we’ll work extra hard!”

Uru rolled her shoulders broadly.

“Hort, leave this to us. Thanks to you giving spirits to Nagi and Ramune, we jumped straight up to B-rank. Clearing out the underground? That’s our job.”

“Thanks. That really helps.”

The four adventurers I’d worked with before had come as reinforcements.

That made me happier than I could put into words.

For someone who had been isolated within the Third Knight Order, having people I could truly rely on—it meant everything.

“Hort, are you happy that Nagi came?”

“Yeah, Nagi. I’m really happy.”

When I answered honestly, she broke into a huge smile.

“Then Nagi can become the strongest!”

That smile gently wrapped around my heart—one that had been hurting ever since I joined the Third Knight Order.

“…I smell something unpleasant.”

Zina spoke up, warning us of danger.

The Fifth Unit was already engaged in combat at the cemetery.

“It seems they’ve appeared nearby.”

Nagi tightened her grip on her sword’s hilt.

“Alright, let’s go!”

At Uru’s signal, the four of them headed underground.

Nagi looked back just once.

“Hort. Leave the monsters to us.”

“Nagi, thank you!”

Just those short words, and my gratitude overflowed.

Cold air began rising from below.

Next came the sound of metal.

The sound of Uru’s sword smashing something apart.

Ramune chanting her magic.

Zina’s arrows slicing through the air.

And then—the sound of Nagi’s blade dancing together with thunder.

The groans of the undead were cut short mid-cry.

…They had become truly reliable.

♢

“Hey, Hort! There’s gotta be something behind all this. Find it!”

The knights hadn’t been able to fully deal with the endless zombies and skeletons.

“Understood. Sir Daut, can I leave this area to you? I’ll check deeper underground.”

“Yeah. But don’t forget, Hort.”

“Huh?”

“You’re still a trainee knight. Don’t push yourself.”

“Yes! Thank you.”

As a knight, Daut was a reliable adult—and a cool one at that.

The moment I went underground, the air changed.

The stench of death filled my nose.

I pushed deeper inside.

“…Hort, this way.”

Nagi’s voice!

The hem of her traditional jacket melted into the darkness, and Inazuma on her shoulder crackled softly.

Uru followed close behind.

“Tch, this chill… undead really get under your skin.”

“It’s gross…! The air feels slimy!”

Ramune sniffed, hugging her staff.

Zina brushed her fingertips along the wall.

“There’s no wind. Sound is being swallowed. …They’re coming.”

They had already reached the depths.

From the darkness ahead came the sound of something dragging wet cloth.

Zzz… zzz…

“Everyone, slow your breathing. If you panic, your mana will go wild. Nagi—deep breath.”

“Yes!”

Nagi inhaled, then exhaled.

Inazuma’s sparks calmed down.

The next moment, bones slid out from the shadow of the wall.

Skeleton soldiers. A lot of them.

Rusty spears. Chipped swords.

“They’re here!”

“Ramune, restraining magic!”

“Freeze, it is!”

Thin ice crawled across the floor.

The skeletons’ feet slipped, their formation breaking apart.

Two arrows from Zina tore through the darkness.

They pierced straight through the centers of two skulls, and both collapsed.

“It’s not the core. Just bones. Thin them out!”

Uru stepped forward.

“I’ll smash them!”

Her sword crushed bone after bone.

But even when shattered, black mist remained, gathering again—trying to reform.

…Troublesome.

This was underground. Mana was dense here.

They were restoring themselves on their own.

“This is a pain!”

“Nagi! What do we do?!”

Nagi looked at me.

Thunder surged all at once.

In an instant, the mass of bones was blown apart into dust.

“Amazing!”

“Nagi is strong now! …Next.”

She showed me a single, dancing slash.

A skeleton’s head flew off.

Inazuma crackled and burned the mist along with it—no regeneration.

Ramune swung her staff.

“Freeze!”

The floor froze solid, locking the skeletons’ legs in place.

Uru’s sword slammed down next, shattering them completely.

But then—

The darkness deeper inside swelled, as if it were breathing.

Black fog began to swirl.

Drops fell from the ceiling.

The cold intensified all at once, stabbing at the skin.

“…So this is the real one.”

Zina’s voice dropped low.

At the center of the fog, a human-like shape surfaced.

A cloak like tattered cloth. A torn hood. No face.

And yet, a voice pierced straight into the chest.

My spine shivered.

“A wraith.”

At Zina’s words, everyone’s expressions stiffened.

But Nagi was the first to steady her breathing.

The sparks thinned, turning into a calm, focused glow.

The wraith raised an arm.

The air tore open.

A black blade flew at us—like a scythe made of fog.

“I’m going in!”

Nagi raised her sword and charged.

Purple lightning ran thin along the blade.

Not wild—only along the edge.

“Violet Flash!”

Her strike pierced straight through the shadow at the wraith’s chest.

Snap.

The black fog split apart, and the cold dripping from the ceiling stopped.

She was truly strong.

“UOOOOOOOOO!!!”

But a wraith wasn’t something that fell from just that.

Above all, physical attacks were normally ineffective against undead.

Only because Nagi’s strike was wrapped in lightning did it deal damage.

But if it was me—

“Sanctuary!”

Within this space, I could purify the area with my magic—weakening the undead.

“Nagi! I’ll support you. You finish it!”

“Hort! Understood—teamwork!”

The wraith’s body began to waver.

“Now! Ramune, Freeze!”

“Yes, it is!”

The wraith’s form locked in place.

“Nagi!”

“I’m going! Violet Flash—one strike!”

A bolt of lightning sliced straight through the wraith.

What remained was a single body lying on the floor.

Beneath the torn cloth, pieces of armor were visible.

The color of the cloak.

Gray. A Third Knight Order cloak.

On the clasp at the chest, there was an engraved mark.

The number eleven.

“…The Eleventh Unit…?”

Uru frowned.

Ramune covered her mouth.

“A knight… turned into a wraith…?”

“So a knight was abandoned down here…”

Zina’s voice turned cold.

I felt my throat dry up.

---

 

Chapter 47: The Big Bust in the Slums

 

---

The wraith dissolved into mist, and the chill underground eased noticeably.
The heavy air finally felt like it could breathe again.

Nagi sheathed her sword, her shoulders rising and falling slightly.

“…It’s over.”

“Yeah. You did great.”

I picked up a fragment of the cloak lying on the floor.

Gray. The number eleven.

The feeling of having seen something I shouldn’t have lingered at the back of my throat.

But there were things that had to be done first.

When we returned to the surface, the air around the orphanage had changed.

No zombies. No skeletons. No cold leaking out.

The night was still damp, but that sticky, unpleasant chill clinging to the skin was gone.

“Sir Daut!”

“Yeah, Hort! Looks like we cut it off at the root.”

“The adventurers took care of it underground.”

“I see. That’s a relief.”

Daut let out a relieved breath, left guards in place, and pulled the rest of the knights back.

Sister Natasha, who had been waiting at the entrance, rushed toward us.

“……Lord Hort……!”

Her steps were different from before.

The stiffness born of fear was gone—just a little lighter now.

“Sister, it’s over. The monsters have been defeated.”

“Truly… truly… thank you! To respond this quickly—just as expected of the Saint!”

Her eyes sparkled as her voice trembled.

Tears overflowed. She tried desperately to hold them back—but in the end, she couldn’t stop them.

“There will be no more groaning at night. The cold air won’t rise anymore. The children will be able to sleep tonight. And to make sure kidnappers don’t come, the knights will keep watch through the night.”

“……Thank you… thank you so much! I will repay this kindness someday!”

“No, I only did what any knight should.”

Sister Natasha bowed deeply again and again.

Through a gap in the door behind her, I could see the children peeking out.

They must have been too scared to sleep at night.

Their eyes were wide with surprise.

I gave them a thumbs-up.

♢

After finishing my report to Sister Natasha, I went to see off Nagi and the others who had fought alongside us.

Uru rested her sword on her shoulder, wiping sweat from her brow.

“Man, that was gross. I really hate undead.”

“But we did it!”

Ramune puffed out her chest. Fee splashed with a plop.

Zina quietly scanned the area, then let out a breath.

“The presence is gone. It shouldn’t increase anymore. That body was probably being used as a medium for their emergence.”

At her words, I clenched the recovered personal effects.

There was more I’d need Gina to investigate.

“Seriously, thank you—all four of you! You saved us!”

I thanked them, facing the group.

For a brief moment, Nagi’s cheeks turned red.

“Hort, please call us again. We’ll come anytime. Nagi has decided to help Hort.”

It was truly reassuring.

Warmth spread deep in my chest.

“…I’m counting on you.”

“Yes!”

Uru grinned.

“Hey, hey, the way you said that—horn-girl’s heart might stop, you charmer!”

“Uru, be quiet!”

Nagi puffed up in anger, and Zina let out a small laugh.

Having this kind of atmosphere right in front of the orphanage felt like salvation.

♢

Before dawn, after finishing up the monster cleanup, I returned to the Fifth Unit’s station.

I steadied my breathing in front of Captain Oren’s office door.

Then I knocked.

“Come in.”

Inside, Captain Oren was leaning on her desk, studying a map.

She had probably already received reports from those who returned earlier.

“Your face is filthy. Looks like you were pretty active.”

“I don’t know if you’d call it active, but we eliminated the undead spreading from the orphanage into the underground waterways.”

“…Well done.”

“However, there was a wraith underground.”

Captain Oren’s eyes narrowed.

“…A wraith? A high-ranking undead-type monster?”

“Yes. Thanks to the adventurers, we were able to defeat it. But…”

I placed what I had picked up onto the desk.

A fragment of a gray cloak. The clasp from the chest. The engraved number.

Eleven.

Captain Oren’s fingers froze, and the smile vanished from her face.

“…That’s the mark of the Eleventh Unit.”

“I can’t say for certain. But the body was there. It turned into an undead—became a wraith—and threatened the slums.”

The air grew heavy.

Still, it had to be said.

“What we dealt with was a monster. But the real issue is who dumped the body there—and who that person was before they became a wraith.”

“……”

Captain Oren let out a short breath.

It wasn’t anger—just cold, clear judgment.

“You did well. I’ll investigate this on my end.”

“Thank you.”

“Today’s result—protecting the orphanage—counts as your achievement. And that makes it the Fifth Unit’s achievement.”

“Yes!”

Her catlike eyes glared at the edge of the map.

“I’ll pass this information upward. Hort—”

“Yes.”

“The next move is mine to decide. Don’t charge in on your own. But this time… you really did well.”

Captain Oren looked at me once.

“…And don’t come back covered in filth next time. You stink.”

“Sorry.”

“I’m giving you leave. Get some proper rest.”

“Thank you very much!”

Even though she was scolding me, her voice was just a little gentler than usual.

♢

I took a bath and finally went to sleep.

A full month of cleaning the slums, running the soup kitchen, caring for the sick—and finishing with monster subjugation had all piled up on me.

I slept like sinking into thick mud.

I slept almost an entire day.

After eating and only just starting to move again—

I was summoned by Captain Oren.

“Excuse me!”

“We’ve got new intel.”

“Intel?”

“That’s right. We’ve found the kidnappers’ hideout.”

The kidnappers.

The children disappearing from the orphanage.

The abductions in the slums.

Their base.

“On the outskirts of the slums. Behind the old slaughterhouse ruins. Past a wooden fence. On the surface, it’s an old cloth warehouse.”

My chest burned.

I wouldn’t forgive anyone who dirtied the city we’d worked so hard to clean.

On Captain Oren’s desk was a stack of reports—dates, locations, eyewitness accounts, and descriptions.

Suddenly, Gina’s masked face came to mind.

She had been helping behind the scenes.

I could never forget that.

“Hort. Next, we’re crushing this place. And this time, the Second Knight Order will move as well.”

“The Second Knight Order?”

“Yeah. They’ve also found a hideout belonging to a smuggling ring spreading through the capital.”

Commander Adelheid.

When it came to fighting, there was no one more reliable.

♢

Raid on the Kidnappers’ Hideout

The air in the station shifted.

“Fifth Unit!”

The knights of the Fifth Unit lined up in front of Captain Oren.

The trainee knights looked surprised—but their faces were tight with tension.

“Everyone, gear up! Tonight’s a festival!”

The unit sprang into motion.

Armor fittings clinked. The sound of blades being drawn overlapped.

Daut laughed, his belly shaking.

“Oh yeah, a big job for the first time in a while.”

“Way better than cleaning toilets—gets the blood pumping.”

“I’m in!”

The knights were fired up.

Captain Oren tossed me a cloak bearing the unit’s mark.

“Put it on.”

“Understood!”

The slums at night were quiet.

We moved without a sound.

Blending into alley shadows, peeking past a wooden fence.

Light inside. Two guards.
Low stance at the waist—people used to fighting.

Captain Oren raised two fingers and gave silent orders.

(Hit from the front)
(Block the escape routes) 

(On the signal—go all in)

After giving instructions to each squad, I moved around to the back with Captain Oren.

A narrow passage.
The smell of rotting cloth. One door.

Then—the signal.

From the front, Captain Oren’s voice rang out.

“Charge! Fifth Unit Captain, Oren Ferna! Everyone—drop your weapons! If you resist, we’ll crush you!”

The next instant, metal clashed.

Screams. Shouts.

The sounds of battle echoed everywhere.

Inside the warehouse, it was the worst.

Crates disguised as cages. Ropes. Cloths to gag mouths. Marks where chains had been.

And on a shelf against the wall—ledgers.

Numbers. Prices. Gate names. Dates. People’s names… and a column labeled goods.

I felt sick.

But I couldn’t stop.

“Secure the evidence!”

When I shouted, Daut grinned.

“Yeah! Leave it to me!”

We pinned down the ledgers, gathered the unsigned contracts, bundled them up, bagged them, and marked everything.

In the back, Captain Oren had grabbed a slave trader by the collar.

He was a chubby man with sharp teeth and a smile he used too well.

“It’s a misunderstanding! This is protective custody!”

“Shut up.”

Captain Oren’s fist sank into his stomach.

“Guh—!”

She stomped on the man after he collapsed to the floor.

“Where are the custody documents? Where’s the official permit? Is there any kind of ‘custody’ that lists children as merchandise?!”

The merchant choked, gasping for air.

The thugs around him raised their weapons.

But the beastman knights of the Fifth Unit stepped forward like a wall.

“Don’t move.”

“Want to get bitten apart?”

Captain Oren looked at me.

“Hort!”

“Yes!”

I moved in and led the captured children outside.

“Fifth Unit! Restrain everyone! Don’t let a single one escape!”

Ropes flew.

Wrists were bound.

Knees hit the floor.

At the end, Captain Oren grabbed the merchant by the hair and forced his face up.

“You people have been getting in our way for a long time! I will never forgive you!”

Her voice was low and cold.

“This is the Fifth Unit’s job. We don’t allow evil in the slums.”

The Fifth Unit’s major bust became the talk of the entire royal capital in no time.

---

 

Chapter 47.5: The Weight of What Was Lost (7)

 

---

Side: Rina Carhoi

I had passed the Court Mage examination.

In that ritual hall, applause rained down on me, and the murmuring voices turned into words of praise—as expected.

My seat was secured… it should have been secured.

And yet, as I walked through the palace corridors, I felt like I had nowhere to belong.

Since that day, Magnum hadn’t looked at me.

It wasn’t just avoiding my gaze.

He cut off conversations as if rejecting my very existence, then walked away.

Irene and I had never really been close to begin with.

Up until now, I had lived without caring much about anyone around me, focusing only on myself.

It was only after I stopped talking with Magnum that I realized—

there was no one around me at all.

If Hort had been by my side at a time like this, I wouldn’t have had to think about anything.

Dias was busy.

As a knight’s squire, he had constant training and frequent expeditions.

He was straightforward, sincere, and—unlike Hort—honest to the point of being boring.

That was why I had put some distance between us.

…A friend.

There was no one I could truly call that.

I was the top graduate.

A prodigy.

A court mage-in-training.

Everyone around me was a rival, and Hort had once suggested I try talking with others too.

But…

“I don’t need them! Talking to idiots is just a waste of time!”

With Hort gone, Magnum gone, and my research having failed, I was left completely hollow.

I couldn’t even think of my next research topic.

On my way back to my room, a newspaper left at the edge of the hallway caught my eye.

Someone must have tossed it aside after reading it.

The corner of the paper was slightly torn.

I picked it up and casually opened it.

The headline was about an incident in the royal capital.

[Major Bust in the Slums — Kidnapping and Smuggling Rings Simultaneously Crushed]
[Fifth Unit Captain Oren’s Solo Breakthrough — Subjugated with a Single Strike of Her Claws. Illegal Slave Traders Arrested]
[At the Same Time, by Order of Second Knight Order Commander Adelheid von Graetz, an Organized Operation Successfully Cut Off Slave Smuggling Routes]
[Safety Restored to the City — Cheers and Excitement. Praise for the Knights Erupts Across the Capital]

…Second Knight Order Commander Adelheid.

The woman rumored to be close to Hort.

Just hearing her name irritated me.

And yet, my fingers turned the page on their own.

There was an illustration.

Rough, like a woodblock print—but the features were clear.

Red hair. Silver-white armor.
A stance with her sword ready.

Next—

Short hair. Cat ears. Orange-colored hair. Sharp eyes.
A dagger held at the ready, claws drawn as if they were glowing.

Oren — Female Captain of the Third Knight Order.

Seeing another woman’s success—someone of the same gender—made frustration well up inside me.

I clenched my back teeth.

Here I was, struggling this much… while somewhere else, another woman was succeeding.

“Infuriating.”

Then, in the center of the page, I noticed a small boxed article.

A familiar name was printed there.

There was no illustration.

[Two Major Incidents — Key Figure in the Eradication of Slave Smuggling Rings: Knight Trainee Hort Rubel]
[Through his own ingenuity, he improved the slums and successfully secured evidence on site. He supported unit morale. Is this the birth of a young hero?]
[“The Saint Who Changed the Slums” — Both female knight captains involved stated in unison: “We acted on information from Hort Rubel,” and “This was Hort Rubel’s achievement.”]
[Residents also voiced their support for Knight Trainee Hort Rubel: “He cleaned the slums.” “He fed us.” “He saved me when I was sick.” “He truly is a saint. He saved our orphanage.”]

…What?

My vision went white.

My breath caught.

My throat tightened.

The paper trembled in my hands.

Hort Rubel… a saint?

A hero?

What kind of joke was this?

That name—boldly printed—sat at the very center of the capital’s conversation.

I had passed the exam, yet no one paid attention to me.

I was still in the court, yet I was looked at coldly.

I had kept my seat, yet I was alone.

The world inside those pages was turning somewhere I wasn’t.

The slums.

The major bust.

The citizens’ excitement.

The cheers.

In a place of mud, blood, and sweat—he had become the “key figure.”

My chest hurt.

It hurt so much that I almost laughed.

…Isn’t it strange?

Hort used to be the one next to me.

The one who carried documents without complaint.

The one who remembered submission deadlines and quietly handed things over.

The one who brewed tea and cleaned up without a word.

That was the role he chose for himself—and he had looked satisfied with it.

And now he was being treated like a hero on the front page of the royal capital’s newspaper.

I glared at the page.

A heroic trainee knight?

The key figure who boosted morale?

The one who secured the evidence?

…Lies.

There was no way Hort could do something like that.

He was just kind.

His sword skills were worse than Dias’s.

His magic barely went beyond beginner-level spells—nothing anyone would ever praise.

“Evaluation.”

“Achievements.”

“Results.”

I wanted those so badly that I reached for forbidden books.

I wanted to be chosen—so I summoned a demon.

And yet Hort—

What did he do?

Why was he standing there?

A laugh echoed deep in my head.

(Kekeke.)

Asmo.

Not through my ears—his voice resonated from inside.

(You look stunned. It’s beautiful.)

I almost crushed the newspaper in my hand, then loosened my grip.

If I tore it apart, I’d lose.

I wasn’t going to lose.

But something deep in my chest cracked, making a faint sound.

(You protected your seat. In exchange, you lost the world’s warmth.)

Shut up.

(He abandoned his seat. In exchange, he gained the world’s warmth. Ah—how sweet. This pain of yours, right at its most beautiful point. Hort Rubel… how interesting.)

“Shut up!”

I bit my lip.

I tasted blood.

The letters on the newspaper blurred.

I passed the exam.

I remained.

So why did I feel this empty?

The final line on the page stabbed straight into my eyes.

[The children of the slums waved to the Saint.]

Hort—the Saint of the slums?

I didn’t know that scene.

I had never seen it.

All I knew was the palace courtyard.

All I knew were places where people were judged and ranked.

…That was why I tore the paper to pieces.

“Haa… haa… haa… haa…”

I hurried down the hallway and into my room.

Deep in my chest, his name burned.

Hort Rubel.

What are you, really?!