CHAPTER 123
On the road to find the Ice Lord.
Before we left, I received a message from Aranseol.
She was heading to Wolun.
Since Soun had decided to return to Wolun, Aranseol was going with him to continue her training.
In her letter, Aranseol lamented that it seemed they wouldn’t be able to see each other for longer than she thought.
I replied, telling her to come back stronger.
‘Still, the betrayal from his disciple must have hit him harder than I thought.’
All I can do is hope Aranseol takes good care of him.
At least Ririran was helping with their travel. After transporting them to Wolun, Ririran said she would be staying with the Regular Army for the foreseeable future, likely to continue helping track Black Dawn.
“Maybe I should go to Wolun too,” I muttered to myself.
Babiyen stared at me intently.
What? Why?
“You can only think about Aranseol, can’t you?”
“Babiyen, I don’t know what you’re misunderstanding, but my master is in Wolun too. My Holy Magic is reaching its limits for self-study, so I need to go learn from her.”
“Yes, I’m sure that’s it.”
Babiyen snorted.
Clatter—
Just then, the carriage jolted, and Babiyen’s body tilted.
I reached out and caught her.
Babiyen flinched at the mere touch.
“Just sit properly.”
“...Sorry.”
She started to straighten up, then let out a dry cough.
“This carriage is bumpier than I thought. Is it okay if I lean on you for a bit?”
“It seems baby Babiyen can’t even sit by herself.”
“Say that one more time and I’ll bite you.”
I felt like she’d tear off a chunk of flesh.
I quietly offered my arm, and Babiyen, after a glance around, rested her head on my shoulder. Before long, she was humming with a satisfied look on her face.
“Is this what Aranseol felt like?”
“What kind of feeling is that?”
“I’m not telling you.”
She seemed happy, so I let her be.
“...Adultery-ssum?”
Lululio, what are you talking about?
“My, it has been a while since I’ve left the capital.”
While receiving Lululio’s suspicious gaze, Aigis wore a cheerful expression.
“Didn’t you just go to the Holy Land a short while ago?”
“Ah, but it’s been a long time since I’ve traveled for personal reasons. It’s as fun as a picnic.”
Could a disciple ruin his master’s fun?
“Then, to keep you from being bored on the road, this disciple will tell you a story about a Transferee.”
I wonder if you’ve ever heard of the Tale of Hong Gildong.

A week passed on our carriage journey.
Having used an airship for part of the way, we had covered a considerable distance.
Our route took us past the Holy Land on the way to the Ice Lord. Since the Ice Lord was farther than expected, we had been traveling for quite some time.
Come to think of it, this was the first time I’d been this far from the capital. The Holy Land is located near the outer border of the Empire, which meant we had come a very long way indeed.
“To not be able to call his own father ‘father’…”
Aigis, still remembering the Tale of Hong Gildong, wore a look of pity.
A traditional Korean novel worked in this world too.
“Ugh, we’ll be at the Holy Land soon-ssumda,” Lululio groaned, exhausted from the travel.
My butt was reaching its limit too.
“This town is the last stop before the Holy Land.”
The sky was already beginning to dim.
We decided to stay in the last town for the night.
“Harua, my legs are getting numb from sitting for so long. Let’s go for a walk.”
“Sure, why not. What about you, Lululio, and you, Lady Aigis?”
“Hmm, I’ll go with you.”
“I’ll rest-ssumda. This carriage life is too hard-ssumda.”
Lululio decided to rest, so Babiyen, Aigis, and I set off. A night market happened to be open, so we started to look around as we walked.
Babiyen and I mostly walked ahead, with Aigis following a step behind. She was diligently carrying out her duty as a guard.
“The scenery has changed a lot.”
“The native plants change with the latitude. We’re heading south towards the equator, so it’ll get more lush.”
Babiyen also looked around at the market and the scenery with a curious expression. Amid the market lights, she turned back to me with a wide grin.
“You know a lot, Harua. You’re worth having around.”
Her red hair fluttered. She playfully bumped her shoulder against mine.
Babiyen has been particularly close on this trip.
“If it’s okay later, I think it would be nice to travel together like this.”

And her brightness level had gone up significantly. Anyone could see she was a girl excited to be on a trip.
“Yeah, that would be nice.”
“We should eat some delicious food along the way, too. You eat too little, Harua.”
“You could say my palate is more refined than that of this-worlders.”
“What are you bragging about in front of a noble? Do you have any idea how many cookbooks have been written by Transferee chefs?”
“You’re an ex-noble. I’m a current Saint.”
“Don’t be ridiculous!”
Even in our usual banter, there was almost no anger.
Was Babiyen always this non-irritable? What was the Babiyen I had seen until now?
I thought back, trying to remember when Babiyen had always been annoyed.
Every moment she had been annoyed…
‘Aranseol was there.’
I wonder what Aranseol is doing now. It feels empty without her here.
“Harua.”
As I was thinking that, Babiyen called out to me.
“Here, try some of this.”
She held a skewer out to my mouth.
“Babiyen, are you using me as your food taster?”
“What are you talking about? You were spacing out. I went to the trouble of getting it for you.”
“I wasn’t spacing out. I was just wondering what Aranseol was up to.”
Babiyen froze in the middle of handing me the skewer. At that moment, I heard Aigis’s quiet sigh from behind us.
“...Aranseol, you say.”

Babiyen slowly lowered the skewer. Was she giving it to me just to take it back?
She glanced away for a moment, then asked.
“Harua. What do you think your relationship with Aranseol is?”
My relationship with Aranseol?
Her question made me pause in thought. After a moment, I pressed my chin thoughtfully.
“Good question.”
What is the relationship between me and Aranseol?
I suspect that if I asked Aranseol herself, I’d get the same answer.
Our relationship was a strange one that couldn’t be defined by a single word.
“I should ask you instead. Babiyen, what do you think our relationship is?”
At my returned question, Babiyen’s lips parted. Then, with her free hand, she gripped the hem of her skirt tightly.
“...I don’t know. I don’t want to talk about it.”
I could see at a glance that Babiyen’s mood had soured.
As I thought, her mood worsens whenever Aranseol is involved. I only realized this fact after Aranseol was gone.
Why was she in a good mood when Aranseol was gone?
Because Babiyen dislikes Aranseol?
That’s an old story. They have spent time together since then. Babiyen and Aranseol care for each other. There’s no way Babiyen would be happy just because Aranseol was gone.
Then there must be another reason.
What is that reason?
‘Me.’
Babiyen has always been looking at me.
When she was with Aranseol, and now as well. Her gaze never rested on anyone else; it was always fixed solely on me.
Why was her gaze always on me?
Until now, I had been trapped by my prejudice against the people of this world. The first button was fastened wrong, making it hard to correct that prejudice.
Tinted glasses are not easily removed.
That’s why, whenever the people of this world entered my vision, they were always transformed.
Like the savage this-worlders who smiled brightly at me on the day of the Radiance Faith’s dismemberment show.
I looked at the Babiyen in front of me.
I could see her, a bitter smile on her lips amidst the market lights.
Is she the same as those this-worlders from the Radiance Faith I saw that day?
No, she’s completely different.
Babiyen was someone who could sacrifice her own life for another. Moreover, she was someone who could stand up against injustice and pursue her own sense of righteousness.
“Forget it. Just eat the skewer already.”
She handed me the sauced skewer.
As I took it, she stretched widely as if she were tired.
“Let’s go back and sleep. This carriage travel is more tiring than I thought.”
“Babiyen.”
I called out quietly to her retreating back.
Babiyen’s hair fluttered as she turned to look at me.
“You.”
She has already shown me many sides of herself.
Looking back on them, anyone could have recognized the signals she was sending.
At least, everyone except me must have noticed.
“You like me, don’t you.”
It was an incredibly arrogant thing to say.
Not something one would typically say in human relationships.
But she had already conveyed her feelings with her entire being.
She herself must have known this better than anyone.

Perhaps that was why.
Babiyen revealed a gentle smile under the cascading lights.
“Took you long enough.”
Babiyen didn't deny it.
She had already revealed so much of herself that she could admit it as a matter of course.

And I realized just how dense I had been all this time.
“It’s fine. Nothing changes just because you know. It’s just a girl nursing a crush on her own.”
“Since when…”
“I don’t know. How would I know something like that? It was like a flower seed that flew in one day, and when I looked back, it had already bloomed.”
Babiyen walked towards me, clutching her heart.
“It was already too late by the time I realized. So, you should know this for certain.”
Stopping in front of me, she poked my chest with her finger.
“Harua, this maiden loves you. No matter who appears by my side in the future, even if you gathered all of them together, I could never harbor feelings for them as great as my love for you.”
Then the hand that had poked my chest suddenly grabbed me by the collar.
“Remember this clearly. A daughter of the House of Asteria never lets go of something she wants.”
As if marking her territory, her lips met mine. It was so swift I didn’t even have time to think about dodging.
Her face, flushed bright red, was revealed along with a bold smile.
“Because I won’t lose to anyone.”
The red flower, the Bleeding Heart.
Babiyen, like the Bleeding Heart that resembles a red heart, had just declared that she would become the heart I was missing.