CHAPTER 126
Babiyen’s family had come to the Holy Land of the Holy Church.
Their reason for coming had nothing to do with any deep faith in the Holy Church.
“Please! We’ll pay any amount of money, just please save our child!”
“Just once, please give us a chance to see the Saint! I have to save my little sister!”
It was because of Babiyen’s death.
That day, Babiyen had hung herself in the House of Baron Asteria.
After the rumors of the Saint spread, her family had dug up her grave, loaded the corpse onto a carriage, and come all this way.
Babiyen’s mother and her older sister, Vanessa, whom I'd seen before.
Forgetting their noble titles, the two of them were wailing desperately at the Holy Land.
They weren't the only nobles with titles there.
There were people who had lost loved ones everywhere.
But it was rare for a noble family member to hang themselves.
It was even rarer for the reason for that death to be the family itself.
"They really came."
“Yes-ssumda.”
Through the window, Lululio and I watched the two wailing figures.
Having been there for the situation back then, Lululio also wore a somewhat complicated expression.
As for me, I just found the two’s desperate cries absurd.
The two of them had neglected Babiyen for so long.
Her mother hadn’t objected when Babiyen was kicked out, and she had quietly watched as they called her back just to marry her off to royalty.
They had no shame in sending her away, and no shame in bringing her back.
Thinking about it now, I could see just how blinded by ambition the House of Baron Asteria was. They would have tried to erase the record of having cast Babiyen out, disguising her to make it seem like it never happened.
Of course, I didn't know how successful they would have been.
The Imperial Family was no fool.
They would have certainly tried to look into Babiyen’s background.
‘She was a candidate for the engagement, not the confirmed fiancée, after all.’
They might have been found out in the process and she would have been dropped as a candidate.
Or, conversely, they might have overlooked it and accepted her.
In the end, it was all unknowable.
One thing was certain: if the marriage to the royal family had not gone through, Babiyen would have been abandoned once again.
She would have had to endure all sorts of blame for failing to advance the Asteria family's status.
And yet, those two shamelessly appeared, asking for Babiyen’s resurrection.
‘Don't tell me they came to try and arrange the marriage with the royal family again?’
I didn’t think that was it.
If that were the case, they would have come secretly, hiding their identities.
The Imperial Family would never accept a daughter who had committed suicide.
For them to openly ask for Babiyen’s revival meant they wanted Babiyen herself back.
And now, they were doing so pathetically.
"What will you do-ssumka?"
“What is there to do? Babiyen is already alive.”
"That’s true-ssumda."
Their wish had already been granted.
I had revived Babiyen right after her suicide.
Ultimately, what to do about this was up to Babiyen.
Just then, someone was walking over from the other side.
A girl with brilliant red hair, but her expression was anything but bright.
It was Babiyen.
“Babiyen.”
When I called her name, Babiyen looked back at me.
Then, with an expression filled with various emotions, she gave a bitter smile.
“What a clingy, messy family, aren’t they?”
Babiyen must have known about the situation outside for a while.
But despite knowing, she hadn’t gone out.
There was no need to guess the reason.
“You’ve decided not to go out.”
“My mother and sister were the closest thing I had to family.”
Even if the rest of the family had turned their backs on her, it wasn't that those two didn't truly see Babiyen as family.
“So I know that right now, they are genuinely crying out for me. Their grief is surely guilt directed at me.”
Babiyen must have been conflicted at first.
It was the desperate wailing of her family.
Naturally, it would have been hard to simply ignore.
“But you know, even though I had you, Harua, in the end, I was the one who took my own life.”
To take one’s own life.
That is not as easy as it sounds.
Having done it myself, I knew this all too well.
Even knowing you would be revived, killing yourself required more courage than one might think.
In that process, Babiyen must have had countless thoughts.
The various consequences and impacts her death would cause.
The complicated feelings it would leave for her family, rather than a satisfying revenge.
Considering all of this, Babiyen still chose to take her own life.
The only means of escape from the wretched House of Baron Asteria was death.

So how would the two people wishing for her revival appear to her now?
Unfortunately, her mother and sister had failed to be Babiyen’s escape route.
Regret is something you only realize when it’s too late to turn back.
No matter how much they regret it, what happened, happened.
No matter how much you try to scoop up spilled water, you can never put it back in the bottle exactly as it was.
Babiyen and they could no longer go back to how they were.
And even if they could, Baron Asteria wouldn't stand for it.
He would undoubtedly try to use Babiyen to push for the engagement with the Imperial Family once more.
He was a man blinded by ambition, to the point of selling out his own family.
“I am no longer a person associated with the House of Baron Asteria.”
Babiyen shed her emotions and looked at her family with a flat, dry expression.
“You can listen to a stranger's wails and feel pity for their sadness, but you can’t truly empathize with them, can you?”
Their guilt was their own.
For Babiyen, it no longer mattered.
"Still, someday, if I grow up to be successful, the day might come when they hear news of me."
Waiting until that day was their guilt, and their burden to bear.
And so, Babiyen decided not to go out.
Just as her cries for help had never reached them, their cries could no longer reach her.

We decided to stay one more night at the Holy Land and depart the next morning.
We had to press on to meet the Ice Lord.
We couldn't stay in the Holy Land for long.
Although it was only for one night, we were guided to the best room in the Holy Land.
It was a sacred place imbued with the power of the Embrace of Holy Light, guarded by a line of Holy Knights whose ideologies had been verified time and time again.
It was a place where we could sleep more peacefully than ever, free from the threat of a Black Dawn intrusion.
A place where even Aigis could sleep with a peaceful mind for once.
And so, I too was lying comfortably in bed, staring up at the ceiling.
Knock, knock—
Just then, a knock came at the door.
Holy Knights were lined up outside.
The only people who could knock at this time of night were my acquaintances.
When I opened the door, a familiar face was standing there.
It was Babiyen, dressed in her sleepwear.
"Harua, can you let me sleep with you for just one night?"
What was this girl saying?
I felt like a father whose daughter couldn't sleep and came to his room in the middle of the night.
But she was an adult.
And a woman who had confessed her feelings to me.
I had no idea what kind of shameless act she might pull.
"It's just that, for some reason, I don't want to sleep alone tonight."
I was half-joking in my thoughts, but Babiyen's face was very dark.
Seeing that expression, I couldn't just leave her be.
“Come in.”
I made way for her, and Babiyen followed me inside.
It was late at night.
There was no time for a long conversation.
As soon as I lay down on the bed, Babiyen lay down next to me.
It was a large bed.
There was plenty of room for two people.
But Babiyen lay down right next to me anyway.
Then, she quietly rested her head on my chest.
Babiyen, fitting perfectly in my arms.
As a mage, she had stood in many battles and always displayed outstanding firepower, but in the end, she was still a girl who fit in one’s embrace.
Even the strongest people have moments of weakness.
Even without Babiyen saying a word, I could feel how weakened she was.
So I raised my hand and patted her back.
"Your hand is cold, Harua."
“What can I do? My blood doesn't circulate.”
Without a heart to pump it, there was no way for warmth to spread through my body.
So it was only natural that my hand was cold.
“Even though your hand is so cold, I wonder why. It feels much warmer than when I was in the House of Asteria.”
“I’m a pretty warm guy.”
“The problem is you can’t help but spout nonsense.”
Babiyen didn’t lift her head from my chest.
She wasn't crying.
There was no reason to shed tears.
The desire to cry had long since vanished.
"Harua, do you know why this girl likes you?"
“I don’t. Honestly, I can’t even guess.”
Being loved by someone wasn't something I could easily accept.
It always made me think, ‘Why me?’
People are often unaware of their own good qualities.
If anything, even if they have good points, they tend to doubt and question them.
"It's because you always see me as just me."
“Babiyen is Babiyen.”
“Yes, that’s it. To you, the House of Asteria was always separate from me.”

"Babiyen, I'm not that great of a person. When I'm with other Transferees, even I find myself unconsciously bowing and scraping if someone is from a chaebol family."
“But that’s a story from the world you came from.”
That was true.
“The only Harua this girl knows is the one right in front of my eyes. The Harua who consistently treats this girl as just a girl.”
When I lived with the Barony, when I was kicked out, and when I returned.
I had always treated Babiyen as just Babiyen.
I wonder if that had been a great source of strength for her.
For my part, I just didn’t care whether an uncivilized this-worlder was a noble or not.
My discriminatory attitude had felt sincere to someone else.
That fact was ironic, and also the reason why the relationship between Babiyen and me had lasted this long.
"When I'm with you, Harua, the House of Asteria doesn't seem to matter anymore. It seems this girl must like you a great deal."
“You’ve become an adult who can say such cheesy things without batting an eye.”
“I’m about to die of embarrassment right now, so please shut up.”
I already knew the tips of her ears were red.
As if to hide her embarrassment further, Babiyen burrowed deeper into my chest.
“...I know this girl is breaking the rules this time.”

What was she talking about?

"But just for tonight, I'm going to break them."
Babiyen closed her eyes, held in my arms.
It was an embrace that held no warmth, for I had no heart.
But Babiyen, a fire mage accustomed to warmth, wore an expression as if she felt more comfort than ever before.