Chapter 21: Right to the End, an Ice Queen
"Hmm..."
Rian swallowed and examined his left hand, which now shimmered with the golden bliss of pure Holy Mana.
It radiated the exact same way it once had from Jeanne’s body. The warmth, the sensation, everything about it was the same as hers.
And as it happened, Rian noticed something strange.
His body, which only a moment ago had been brimming with Dark Mana, was now slowly replacing it with Holy Mana.
’...Shit!’
He quickly cut the Holy Mana off before it could spread any further.
The golden glow dimmed down to nothing in less than three seconds.
’...That was close. I nearly screwed myself over.’
He didn’t want to drain his Dark Mana and swap it out for something he had no idea how to control, not for the rest of the time he was stuck in this forest.
That would be suicide.
Rian opened his palm and closed it twice, then curled it into a fist. His eyes narrowed on Luthan, who was watching him with his jaw hanging open, looking as though he’d just witnessed something impossible.
Well, Rian couldn’t exactly blame the man.
’...I’d be surprised too, if I were in his shoes.’
"...G-Great Master..."
Thalia uttered the words with one of her crimson eyes blown wide, both hands raised to cover her startled lips.
’...Right. This was her first time seeing it too.’
She knew nothing about the Holy Mark, so she and Luthan were in the same boat.
Rian rubbed the back of his head.
’...Hmm. Now what?’
The real question running through his mind was what he should do about Luthan.
Thalia wouldn’t be a problem, but Luthan, a Cardinal, was a different story entirely.
’...Should I kill him?’
The thought rose in his mind for a moment before he brushed it off.
He’d given his word that he would let the man live. And besides, if he killed him, he had no interest in landing on Jeanne’s bad side.
’...She never forgave the Empire either, once she learned the truth.’
Rian had been there, standing beside her, when Jeanne mercilessly cut down the Emperor.
...Hoooo~...
A chill ran down his spine as the scene came back to him.
’...Nope. Not happening.’
"Luthan, was it?"
Rian spoke up in his usual tone.
"Y-yes, that’s correct, Mr—uh... Great Master?"
Rian’s eye twitched at the word.
Great Master?
Seriously?
’...Cardinal, sir. I don’t think my dear maid would like that. Look behind you, she’s already planning how to behead you.’
Luthan felt his skin crawl as every hair on his body stood up, pricked by some unseen force.
He didn’t want to look behind him. But he already knew exactly where the feeling was coming from.
"...My apologies... Then what should I call you?"
Rian could still see it in his eyes, that he had plenty of questions to ask, and yet he wasn’t asking a single one.
Luthan was a cautious man, after all.
After seeing what the young boy had just pulled off, it would be foolish to start questioning him so soon, at least not until the boy chose to answer on his own.
For now, Luthan would simply get himself out of here, and decide later what to do with this earth-shaking piece of information.
But one thing was certain.
Under no circumstances would Luthan ever let this reach the Emperor’s ears.
If it did, the war between the two Empires would escalate far beyond what it already was.
Rian blinked, confused by Luthan’s question, and repeated it back.
"Wait, you don’t know who I am?"
He asked it as though he were some kind of well-known figure.
"...I’m afraid I don’t." Luthan genuinely had no idea who he was.
It was his first time ever seeing this boy. And had he met someone like him before, there was no way he’d have forgotten.
’...Is he serious? I’d have thought my name carried a little more weight than that.’
Even back when he’d joined Caelistra, Rian had been rather famous, on both sides of the border.
Or so he thought.
Rian was still unaware that the looks people gave him in his previous timeline weren’t because he was famous in the right way, but because of what he’d done during his time at Caelistra, and on his very first day, no less.
Seriously, who in their right mind would pick a fight with the top student of the Holy Empire?
Certainly a lunatic!
Rian gave him his name.
And the moment the word "Orlok" left his mouth, Luthan shot to his feet.
"The Orlok?! You’re related to them? The House of Necromancers?"
’House of Necromancers’ was the name the Holy Empire had given them.
There was a heavy reason behind it. To the Holy Empire, raising the dead was the highest form of heresy, a direct defiance of the will of their Gods.
Of all the forbidden arts, Necromancy was the most despised, the most vile among all.
"I’m not just related to them," Rian said. "I am one of them. Rian leth Orlok, Eldest son and the Heir to House Orlok."
Hearing that, Luthan suddenly had far too much to process at once.
"Rian... Rian...? Rian—?!"
His eyes went wide.
"Ahh! The Lunatic! You are him?"
He thrust a finger straight at Rian’s face.
Rian’s eyes twitched.
’...Guess he does know me after all.’
Rian didn’t speak much. Instead, he let Luthan do the talking.
And through it, Rian learned that Luthan had been sent here to plant a Holy Anchor deep inside Pandora’s Rainforest, but that the whole thing had been a cover. The men who came with him were the Emperor’s people, sent to finish Luthan off and pin the blame squarely on the Dark Empire.
It matched what Jeanne had once told him about her brother, and the reason behind her early hatred for the Dark Empire, before she ever learned the truth.
Luthan swallowed, loud enough to be heard, and asked the question that mattered most.
"...Is it really alright, giving me your name like this? Aren’t you afraid I’ll expose it?"
"Afraid?" Rian tilted his head, genuinely puzzled. "Why would I be afraid?"
"...."
Luthan averted his eyes at the answer.
A man who is feared has no need to fear.
Rian had given his name freely, because he knew the Cardinal understood exactly what would happen to him if he ever repeated it to the wrong ears.
But then again, a Cardinal of Luthan’s standing was by no means weak. Alone, he could go toe to toe with the Retainer of a Demon Lord.
If Luthan threw everything he had into it, he might just be able to make a run for it. But that would leave him severely wounded by Rian and his maid.
And even if he reached the border with all those injuries, Luthan was certain the Emperor would have stationed more of his people there to deal with him.
To make it past the border alive, Luthan needed to be in full form.
Rian had caught onto this, his desperate ’I want to live’ air about Luthan the moment the man showed submission.
He knew exactly why Luthan wanted to live, badly enough to bow his head here.
’...So he knows Jeanne was chosen by the Holy Mark.’
It was highly likely Jeanne herself had told him.
And this might just work in Rian’s favor.
A plan began to take shape in his mind.
Right now, Luthan wanted to live, because he wanted Jeanne kept safe, out of the Emperor’s clutches.
But unlike last time, Jeanne didn’t have her memories of the past life. This time, it was Rian who had returned, not her.
Which meant Jeanne had no reason to slip away from the Emperor and enroll at Caelistra to escape his manipulation.
Rian recalled the hint Jeanne had given him, right before she took his last breath.
「 "Please, come find me. And tell me not to listen to the Empire." 」
One by one, the dots began connecting in his head.
Before, Rian had never put much thought into Jeanne’s request. But now, thinking it through with a clear mind—
’...What did she mean by come find me?’
Jeanne and Rian both attended Caelistra Academy. So why would he need to find her? She’d be right there, in the very same academy.
Unless...
’...She was never going to attend the academy to begin with.’
It made so much more sense now.
Why would the Emperor ever let his Holy Saintess enroll at Caelistra, a place where he held no influence, no control?
The answer came to Rian on its own.
It was because of her regressions.
Jeanne had told him she’d regressed twice before she gave her Serpent of Time to Rian in the third loop.
Which meant she only chose Caelistra after she discovered, in an earlier life, that the Emperor was manipulating her.
In her first life, she’d have stayed under his thumb. And only after regressing did she flee to Caelistra to get away from him.
’...This is bad.’
Rian couldn’t believe he’d overlooked something this simple.
’...That idiot! Why didn’t she just tell me?’
Seriously, even on her deathbed she’d been playing her ’read between the lines’ game.
’What an Ice Queen! Would it have killed her to just tell me, instead of using her bogus wordplay?’
...It did, in fact, kill her.
"...Haaah."
Well, no use crying over spilled milk.
Rian should have put far more thought into the words she’d given him before she died.
’No. No, I can’t let it happen.’
He couldn’t let her fall into the Emperor’s hands.
And so, without a second thought, Rian extended his hand toward the Cardinal.
"Luthan d’Aurelle. How would you feel about becoming my ally? Do that, and I swear I’ll keep the ones you love unharmed."
.
.
[A/N: For Bonus Chapter info, please read the Auxiliary Chapter]