CH 134

Chapter 134: Tug of War [unedited]

I have so little memory of what happened last night. I couldn’t recall properly as my head was hurt like crazy as if someone hammered it. This was a pretty familiar feeling. A hangover.

“Ouch..”

If I drank again, I should just be a dog, really. 

I looked around and found myself on the bed in my room. I still can’t really remember, but it seemed that I returned safely. 

[“You weren’t drunk, were you?”]

Suddenly, Sigren and Livya’s faces appeared in my memory. 

I couldn’t help but whimpered, grabbing my aching head, while trying to search for my memories. I was sure I didn’t do anything weird. Fortunately, I wasn’t blacked out. 

I remembered that I did hug Sigren. Then, it seemed like we have talked for quite some time. 

I brought myself to focus. I hope I truly didn’t say anything weird. 

“Fiona…comfortable…what’s going on…huh? Letter?”

Ah, I think I told him. Then I gradually remembered what happened in the carriage last night. The way Sigren smiled beautifully, kissed my face, and gently soothed me appeared in my head. 

As soon as those scenes came to my mind, I was dumbfounded. I threw a pillow in embarrassment. I was so pathetic, damn. My lover used his beauty to retrieve some information from me and the worst part I fall for it! So pathetic. 

I grabbed my thick hair while whimpering for a while. 

In the end, I could barely come to my sense after drinking the tea that Celine brought for me to cure my hangover. 

“Great.. Celine, did anything strange happen to Prince Sigren, yesterday?”

“Yes. He took you home young lady, and went out right away.”

He’s never the type to let some matters slide.

I sighed. For now, let’s just do what we have to do. 

Anyway, the morning hours were blown away by the hangover. In the end, I dealt with the paperwork in the afternoon. 

And in the late afternoon, the main culprit who disturbed my mind came. 

“Do you remember?” Sigren looked at me curiously.

“Of course!”

He giggled at my angry face, and quickly put his lips to my cheek. 

I was stunned by that shameless look. “How could you use beauty trick on a drunk person!”

“It’s your fault falling for it.”

That’s true….

Sigren chuckled as if he liked my angry reaction. “I myself also couldn’t believe that the Heilon successor could fall on my beauty trick.”

“You too would have this kind of regret someday,” I replied sullenly. The reality of this third-rate novel struck me so hard. Why did I have to like him too much? Why was his face to my liking? This was truly saddening. I like him so much that I couldn’t even defend myself from his beauty and blow it all while drunk.

Eventually, I changed the subject. “So, what did you do with the information that you took from me, Your Highness?”

“How do you think I would handle it?” Sigren had a subtle smile on his lips. Then he stroked my cheek and lowered his head. “Hmm? Dear, the lady who secretly hid her love letter?”

“….” 

Lord, he was really angry, wasn’t he? 

I bit my lower lip carelessly. But he gently swept my lips with his thumb. Eventually, I stopped biting my lower lip. 

Well, then, let’s assume the worst for now. 

I looked into his eyes, “you didn’t kill him, did you?”

Sigren smiled. It was usually a beautiful smile, but at this time, that smile was a bit unsettling. 

“No.”

It was a relief for now. 

“Then, what did you do?”

“I did some research on a man named Bill Curtis. No matter how you look at it, he’s not a good man at all.”

Suddenly, what Bill said to me came to my mind. 

[“I know Lady Fiona very well.”]

It may be just some random words, but somehow it also bothered me.

“What was the result?”

“He is busy with many things. Also, his fortune has been increasing quite a bit lately.”

Oh, good. Should I poke Arrendt with this information? Tax evasion investigation? Nice.

“He also makes an interesting claim. He said he has returned alive from the darkness and found a new salvation in it. Also, he said he found the truth for the people.”

I think I heard a story like this. Livya seemed to have said something similar. 

[“He came back alive from the darkness,”]

“So.. a con artist?”

“Maybe. But, in practice, his argument seems to have worked quite well. A lot of people pay him.”

Why did those people believe that nonsense?

Ah, suddenly I remembered what Donna, an academy researcher, had told me before.

[“Some people say that the darkness appears because the god is angry. Well, even in this town, there are people who believe that God punished them for doing something wrong. I also heard rumor that a new religion related to it has been circulating.”]

Right, I’ve heard something like that. Of course, when I heard about that from Donna, I laughed it off, because I knew the darkness was not a divine punishment or something.

So, it seemed the rumor started from that guy. 

Anyway, now I could guess why Bill Curtis wanted to drag me on. Right. Because I actually blocked the darkness and came back alive and kicking well. I would be a good token to prove his point.

Sigren continued, “Actually, his followers are not simply the nobles. Rather, it is said that his most passionate followers are those who have loved ones to the darkness.”

“Why?”

“Well, maybe it’s because the feeling of grabbing the last straw.”

Sigren spoke in a low voice. 

“People can never resist the light that appears in from of them when they are in the most desperate.”

After saying that, Sigren looked at me blankly. 

After listening to Sigren’s story, I decided to ignore Bill Curtis. He seemed to be a person with a position similar to that of the cult leader of pseudo-religion. 

Most people are afraid of the darkness, but he worshiped it. This fact alone has made me uncomfortable. And when I thought about Bill Curtis’ words and deeds, it made me very bothered and very uncomfortable. However, if I went straight to him and asked him about it, it was the same as admitting that he has a point. On top of that, I also couldn’t attack him simply because I was offended. First of all, he was also the head of a decent noble family in the capital. If I did something wrong, it could lead to a family-to-family fight. 

In any case, there was no doubt that he was not a good human being. Once I got something on him, there would be no way I would let it go. 

Then I spent my daily activity after making such a resolution.

However, contrary to my expectations that it was just a cult, the situation seemed to become worse.