Don't Be Holy! - Chapter 31
Eir closed her eyes tightly, unable to say anything, wondering if this was how she would die.
Her throat bobbed noticeably. Rubel unconsciously stared at it intently before removing the scissors he had pressed against her.
“Has living in the countryside softened me?”
Or had losing everything made him so detached that even this kind of thing no longer angered him?
Rubel unconsciously spoke these words, forgetting even his own setup of having lost his memories. The woman before him flinched as if she knew how cruel he had been in the past.
As soon as the blade moved away, she exhaled in relief and her body shook violently. She immediately raised her hands and began to make excuses.
“Well, I didn’t mean to come in, but I heard strange sounds from the room…….”
She seemed to be rambling whatever came to mind rather than trying to make a proper excuse.
Rubel stepped back and replied.
“The room’s windows are kept closed.”
He pointed to the windows of the room. In the dark night, tightly shut windows stood where his finger indicated.
Eir pushed herself up with her hands, trying to hide her pale face.
“Y-you must have been making strange noises.”
Could someone drunk and drugged make such sounds?
Though skeptical, Rubel was slightly surprised to realize he wanted to believe her words. If only this foolish woman was simply that, just foolish.
Rubel clenched his fist with a cold expression.
After all, Rubel only had one recurring dream, and what the woman had learned couldn’t be more or less than that.
What difference did it make if she knew about Rubel’s guilt regarding Chris Palmer?
The dream of Chris Palmer pushing him away saying “Get back!” and dying from a curse in his place.
That was the dream he had every day.
In the dream, Rubel defeats the witches and holds the fallen Chris, trying desperately to revive him, but the darkness already deeply embedded in Chris’s heart crawls up his veins, turning them black, until finally his face becomes grotesque.
Chris’s words about how dangerous it was to charge in without a priest, how they could wait and attack after reinforcements arrived. And Rubel, charging in while ignoring those words.
What could she do even if she recognized fragments of that dream?
If Rubel regretted that fact, she might be able to manipulate him through illusions and weaken him through some strange method, but while Rubel felt guilty, he didn’t regret it. Even if he could go back, he would have done exactly the same thing.
It was the best choice, because otherwise the Divine Empire would have been in danger.
He dared not compare Chris’s death to the safety of the Divine Empire. However…… the reason Rubel still couldn’t let go of that incident was due to a minor incomprehension. Why did God need to take Chris’s life, couldn’t it have been his own instead, such thoughts.
Of course, even trying to understand God would be an arrogant attitude.
Rubel quickly made the sign of the cross, asking forgiveness for his weakened faith. His cold eyes, as he raised his head, focused again on Eir.
“So? Why did you come? Did you come to kill me?”
At that, Eir turned pale.
“No, w-why would I kill you? I just co-confirmed that you’re a thief.”
“How am I a thief?”
“The alcohol. You stole so much of it.”
She pointed around with trembling hands. Rubel tilted his head slightly as if he couldn’t understand her words.
“Steal? Wasn’t it you who told me where to find the alcohol, saying that the grandmother brewed it every year and it was troublesome to deal with, so I should drink it?”
“That was for one drink. You’ve taken nearly half of it. You could die from this, you know?”
“I won’t die. You know that too.”
His quiet tone carried a sharply honed edge. They exchanged silent glances. Eir wondered how much he had heard of what she had muttered as comfort, and even if he had heard, what he could have figured out.
“What do I know?”
