Chapter 120

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“I grew up in the temple since I was very young. They were all kind to me, but I was like a princess in a tower. I couldn’t get out. Now that it’s been revealed that everything around me was a lie, I’m really afraid, Dame Nina.” 

It was a whispering voice. Her slender shoulders trembled. 

Her beautiful light-green eyes with tears in them looked straight at me like a frightened little animal. I gently reached out and patted her on the back. 

“It’s okay, Fiona. Everyone can stand on their own.” 

“And who doesn’t have legs?” 

“······In a metaphorical way.” 

“Ah.” 

Fiona nodded her head.

“It’ll be easier if there’s just someone who can help us until we can stand by ourselves. The Saint······. Not all of the members of the temple are like her, right? There’s also High Priest Ashton······.” 

“I’m scared. I’m a coward, so I want to ask him to protect me. But if he dies like······. If he dies like Edgar, I······.” 

“My Lady, that’s-” 

As I opened my mouth, I heard the cloth of the tent being moved and Randell came in. He was holding a bouquet of flowers in his hand. 

I don’t know where he got that in this war, but it was a bunch of small wildflowers. 

“Dame Nina······.” 

In a dying voice, Randell bowed his head at the entrance. 

“I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.” 

“Sieur Randell.” 

I beckoned him to come this way. He approached cautiously and I said with a smile. 

“Please take off your glasses and apologize.”

“What?” 

His eyes widened over his glasses. Fiona also jumped out of her seat in surprise. 

“Si-Sir Nina-” 

I asked Fiona, who was trying to dissuade me, to go out for a while. Fiona left the tent even though she didn’t know what to do. Randell stared at me and asked. 

“Should I apologize with my glasses off?” 

“Who hurt me was Sieur Randell without the glasses.” 

“I don’t know.” 

“It’s yourself, please don’t talk like it’s none of your business.” 

“······.”

Sighing, Randell took off his glasses, and as soon as it was off his face, his tone changed. 

“This arrogant orphan girl······.”

‘Ah.’

“Asking for an apology? Take off your glasses? Who are you to give orders to others?” 

“The victim.” 

“This is what a moron who can’t avoid a simple attack, even if they have a spirit, looks like when they don’t know their place and come to play in the war.” 

Randell reached out and grabbed my hair. It hurts because the burnt part was pulled. 

“Apology? Don’t make me laugh.” 

“Why are you always so angry?” 

“What?” 

Looking at his dark blue eyes, I asked again. 

“Why are you always angry?” 

Then Randell, “Ha-!” let out a laugh or something, and pressed my head hard against the bed. 

Oh, this really hurts.

“Why, are you trying to take care of my mental health like that stupid Saint bitch?” 

“Well, I’m an injured woman, and I can only use my fists. So it would be a little cheap of you to use magic, right?” 

“What?” 

I grabbed him by the hair, pulled him in, and punched Randell in the face with my other fist. 

“?!” 

When I saw Randell reeling from the shock of being beaten, I limped out of bed, spitting “phooey.”

“Come on, motherfucker.” (Nina)

The fistfight ended blandly with my victory. 

Randell had a nosebleed and collapsed on the floor, only able to exhale. I’m sure his beaten parts will bruise tomorrow. 

“Are you cool-headed now?” 

He replied, “What do you think? You made it that way.” he said.

I shrugged my shoulders.

“But isn’t it a little better than the first try? It’s also a good idea to just pour everything out when people solve their problems.” 

I reached out and tried to help him get up, he grabbed my arm and pulled it. 

Oh, that’s cheap. 

I thought an attack would come in, but I just fell on top of him. We barely managed to keep each other’s faces from bumping together. 

“…y.” 

“What? I can’t hear you. A little louder.” 

“……ry.” 

“What are you whispering about?” 

“I’m sorry!” 

The great Grand Sage, who shouted with a bright red face, was both funny and sad.

“What are you doing outside?” 

Ah, Duke Luverne.

“Oh, inside, Lord Randell and Sir Nina are······.”

The crying saint.

When I heard the voices of the two people outside the tent, I was about to say it was okay now, but the tent opened and the Duke of Luverne came in.

His face hardened. 

“What the-“

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Nina opened her eyes and she immediately saw the dark ceiling.

Where am I?

Is this still in the dream?

“Nina.”

The voice she heard was quiet and calm. She turned her gaze and Adrian was looking down at her.

It was the Adrian she knew.

‘Holding my hand.’

Her head was blank, so no words came out of her mouth. Only her fingers twitched, but Adrian grabbed Nina’s hand as if he understood.

“Are you okay? Would you like some water?”

“A..drian-.”

Tears welled up as she called.

What should she do?

What does she do if she keeps having these strange dreams and it turns into something bizarre?

It reminded her of what happened when she was five years old. At that time, the memories of another world came crashing down like a tidal wave. How much trouble did she suffer?

It took a year to fight and win against those. She also hurt her sister and her brother.

Compared to then, she is older now and she has a strong spirit but she couldn’t help but be afraid. If the dreams continue over and over again, will they one day eat her up?

What if Adrian becomes the ‘Duke of Luverne’ just like in the dream?

Just like how she shouted out that she doesn’t have a sister or a brother, what does she do if she doesn’t know Adrian?

What if she shouts he’s not her Adrian?

Normally, Nina would be okay and just laugh it out, but when one is sick, weakness rises to the surface. Her anxiousness, vulnerability, and helplessness on not knowing what to do began to intensify and overflow.

“Nina, does it hurt? Shh-, it’s okay, I’m going to call Kirill.”

“No. Don’t go.”

Nina grabbed Adrian’s hand and squeezed it tightly. Tears dripped down her cheeks.

“I, I, I dreamed. What if I forget Adrian? Me······. Once again, uh, uh-.”

“Nina.”

Adrian gave strength to the hand he was holding.

“I’ll remember. I’ll stay with you. I’ll be with you.”

Adrian looked into her eyes and spoke clearly.

“I will never let go.”

After a long time that he was silent, he added with a sigh.

“Unless Nina wants me to let go yourself.”

After that, Nina laughed and held his hand.

“Don’t let me go, Adrian. Never let me go. Don’t let me go far······.”

Even in my dreams,

Even in my memory,

Hold me so I won’t get lost.

Nina felt relaxed and she became drowsy again.

“That’s what I wanted to say.”

The voice of Adrian whispering and the body temperature of the hand that she was holding tightly was clear.

A long breath of relief flowed out and Nina fell asleep once more.

Then she had a dream again.

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“Come to think of it, Dame Nina always has short hair. It’s so cool. Is it because you’re a Knight?” 

At Fiona’s words, I awkwardly touched the back of my hair and said.

“I don’t remember if it was like this when I was a kid. My village was attacked by bellacs, so I must have lost my memory in shock.” 

Fiona’s eyes turned round.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know······.”

“No. It’s a thing of the past. My hair has always been short since I could remember. So maybe my family cut my hair like this and kept it. Someday maybe, the memory will come back.”

When I finished talking, I laughed quietly.

“But there could be no love in a family that cuts a girl’s hair this short.”

“No! You might have had a haircut yourself!”

Fiona raised her voice.

“Is that so?”

Would I have been loved?

What was my family like?

I wish I could remember

But it’s also scary. That the things I remembered would be memories of a family that sold me.

“I also had a family when I was little!”

Fiona raised her voice and I looked her way.

“My mother remarried and my stepfather tried to sell me. When I was about to be sold, Priest Ashton saved me.”

“I see.”

“I grew up with Edgar at the orphanage of the temple, just like siblings. And······. And······. Lucrezia.”

“What?”

“Ah, no, there was a friend of mine named Lucrezia at the orphanage······.”

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