Chapter Fifteen: A Peaceful Night
The atmosphere was slightly silent for a moment.
I clung to Sarah’s slightly frail body and could clearly feel the girl struggling to adjust her breathing, trying to regulate her chaotic emotions. She lightly rested her hand on my shoulder, her fingers trembling slightly, and for quite a while, she didn’t say a word.
“Sarah…”
Gradually, I began to feel a bit uncomfortable, so I broke the silence, “So, you all know about this, right?”
Upon hearing this, the girl moved a bit and then shook her head slowly.
“I don’t know…” she said.
Her voice sounded as if something was stuck in her throat; it was a bit hoarse, tinged with a soft nasal tone. Then she cleared her throat, “Daisy is simple-minded; sometimes she’s a bit clueless… Even though she saw the news, she just casually mentioned that a person looked a lot like Peilo. She probably didn’t think much of it… She hasn’t seen you back then, so it’s hard for her to imagine… There’ve been a lot of rumors about you lately at the Academy, and people have mentioned things like that, but I feel… there’s more of a joke element to it… After all… it’s too hard to believe…”
“Oh.”
Hearing her say that, I felt a lot more relaxed inside.
“So, what about Sophia?”
I hadn’t seen Sophia tonight. She wasn’t in the dorm, probably not even at the Academy. I had been worried earlier, so I didn’t dare to ask, and even now, just bringing it up made me feel tense and uneasy.
She saw me releasing that Dead Smoke…
In the entire Royal City, there was definitely more than one person who saw me surrounded by dark flames. Among those witnesses, most were probably soldiers; some of them died, and some survived. Perhaps the scene would become a permanent nightmare for them, but… very few could have truly seen what I looked like.
Because I was almost always flying in the sky.
In the eyes of most people, that appearance looked just like a pitch-black fireball tearing through the sky.
Added with the reports from the new news outlets, the prominent headlines and deliberately confusing content basically revealed to the outside world that I was a “Pope Knight unafraid of the Abyss’s erosion.” Just like Carlos, or even better—because I seemed to remember the article saying a few ambiguous things that hinted I could “harness the power of the Abyss.”
I didn’t know if this was Angel paving the way for his ideas or if he wrote it for some “special group.” I was a bit worried at first, but until now, I hadn’t heard any rumors about “a girl wrapped in Dead Smoke appearing in the city.” Not a whisper.
Neither Victoria nor Rect ever mentioned it.
It was as if everyone regarded the black mist that had once flown over half the Royal City as that monster I had under my foot in the painting. To the common folk or surviving witnesses, that monster had been slain by me.
But in fact, in my memory, at least several people from the Sword of Kanli, including Rect, had seen me flying away with Her Majesty the Queen, wings of flame wide open. There was no way I could find an excuse to brush past this issue. Ordinary soldiers and civilians probably didn’t understand what that black flame meant; they had never seen the Abyss and couldn’t recognize Chaotic Power.
But Victoria was different… She was a Pope Knight, so smart; if she’s heard Rect’s description, she would definitely understand.
So I thought, Victoria must know this in her heart.
But oddly, since that incident, she hadn’t mentioned a word about how I saved her.
Since she didn’t bring it up, I obviously wouldn’t initiate the topic.
As for Sophia…
I was a bit uncertain if she recognized me since she had never attended Teresa’s lessons and had never shown interest in the Abyss or related matters.
But no matter what, she was a student of the Royal Academy…
Every time I thought of this, I felt unusually uneasy.
What if Sophia told Sarah about what she saw that day… Maybe she didn’t know the nature of Chaotic Power, but Sarah definitely did…
“…Peilo?”
The girl in front of me suddenly patted my shoulder, bringing me back to reality from my chaotic thoughts.
“What are you thinking? You look so serious…”
“Sorry.”
I quickly apologized and then smiled at her, “What were you saying just now?”
“I said, Sophia hasn’t come back yet. A few days after you left, she went out from the Academy, saying she was going to help her father. Later, when the city got all chaotic… I got a bit scared, so I went to ask Teacher Melville about the two of you. He said you were both fine… that you’d be back in a few days. I thought Sophia would come back first; I didn’t expect it to be you… Peilo, do you, you go to those, you know, those places with a lot of big shots often… haven’t you seen her?”
Oh, I see…
Sophia hasn’t come back, and Sarah doesn’t even know she’s injured. They haven’t met yet.
“Um…”
I tilted my head, thinking for a moment, and decided to give Sarah a heads-up.
“I did see her once before.”
“Ah! When…”
“Nearby, at St. Zayeli Cathedral, I was fighting with truth… and bad guys, and Sophia suddenly ran out…”
Saying that, Sarah covered her mouth again, her eyes wide with panic, “Then she…”
“She’s fine.” I hurriedly said before she could jump to any bad conclusions, “The scene back there… was a bit chaotic. I didn’t have time to talk to her much, just told her to run fast. Later, Margaret… oh, Saint came. She had the nun take Sophia to hide in the church… and then I went off to do other things and didn’t see her again.”
“Oh…”
Sarah’s expression seemed a bit dazed.
Although I had been careful with my wording and didn’t mention the danger of the situation, she probably still sensed the hidden peril from my vague words. Maybe she even visualized the scene at that time, swallowing hard with some anxiousness.
“Then you… ah she saw you…”
“Right.” I nodded lightly, “At that time, things got a bit… intense. Sophia may have been scared… but don’t worry, I know she’s safe.”
“Safe… that’s good…”
“Mmhm.”
Then there was a brief moment of silence.
The girl in front of me looked dazed, not knowing what she was thinking. Seeing her emotions stabilize a bit, I took two steps back, smoothed out the wrinkles in my skirt, and adjusted my hair in the mirror, suddenly hearing Sarah speak again: “Peilo, your… your hair, what happened?”
Hair?
Ah…
I touched the tuft of white hair on my forehead, and a little girl’s radiant smile suddenly flashed through my mind.
“This, maybe it’s… from using Frost Order for too long? It’s nothing…”
“Frost Order? Oh right, Miss Silvya is with Frost Order… but how could the Power of Order—”
Sarah looked a bit puzzled, but before she could finish her sentence, Daisy knocked on the bathroom door.
“Sarah, Peilo, what are you doing in there? The black goose meat is about to get cold…”
“Oh, we’re coming out!”
I quickly replied, shared a glance with Sarah, and then hurried to open the door, finding Daisy standing outside looking adorable yet slightly suspicious.
“You guys… are washing up?”
“Yeah, you asked us to clean up, right?” Sarah chimed in from behind.
“Oh…”
Daisy nodded, her eyebrows furrowing deeper as she hesitated for a moment before saying, “But you guys…”
“Ah, kids shouldn’t ask too many questions.”
“Eh…”
Her saying that made Daisy even more confused. But she just pondered foolishly for a moment before not asking anything further.
The quiet of the night gently poured into the room through the silver-white moonlight filtering in the window.
After Sarah finished washing up, the three of us split the black goose meat and finished it off while I devoured the remaining seven venison patties by myself. During this time, Sarah seemed to be somewhat absent-minded, and a couple of times Daisy noticed, but was easily brushed off with a few words.
We chatted idly, and Daisy asked where I had been these days. I told her I had some matters to attend to outside the city, and after returning, I stayed at the church for a while, went home a few days ago, and came back when the Academy resumed. I kept it vague; I knew shy Daisy wouldn’t pry.
Once we finished eating, I tidied up my bedding a bit, extinguished the candle, changed into my pajamas, and lay down.
A sense of tranquility washed over me.
