When I opened my eyes and barely managed to respond, the Captain immediately asked.

“Yulia! Are you conscious?”

“Yes… Where am I? Why was I sleeping?”

“That’s what I’d like to ask. Why were you asleep? I was worried you might have taken some dangerous drug since you didn’t respond no matter how much I called.”

The Captain continued.

“Karl told me earlier. That you went to look for me. But I hadn’t seen your face. I was worried you had disappeared along the way, so I looked around for you, and you were lying here asleep.”

“Ah…”

“So why did you stop on your way to see me and disappear somewhere?”

Hearing the Captain’s question, I recalled my memories from before falling asleep.

Right, come to think of it, I had told Karl that earlier.

That the Captain might be in trouble surrounded by the young ladies, so I should go help him.

After telling Karl that, I had entered straight into the banquet hall from the garden.

Then as expected, I discovered the Captain surrounded by young ladies, and as I was approaching him, I met… Ernant.

After that, Ernant said he had something to show me and took me underground…

“Ah!!”

Having traced my memories up to that point, I could finally remember.

What I saw after following Ernant.

How dangerous the things in his basement were.

“This is no time for this…!! Terrible things are happening in the imperial palace…!!”

“Terrible things?”

“Yes, none other than—”

I stopped mid-sentence and quickly shut my mouth.

It was because I belatedly remembered the contract Ernant had presented to me before showing me the basement.

Come to think of it, I had signed a contract imbued with a curse ability.

Since I had already signed, it was irreversible.

The moment I violate the contract and reveal the secret to someone, the curse ability will activate and take my life.

“…”

Of course, to save the people of Brausenberg Marquisate who would die because of the chimera, I should violate the contract right now and tell the Captain the truth.

Then the Captain would stop Ernant’s plot.

But… if I do that, I will certainly lose my life.

It means the person who would close the rift using future knowledge would disappear.

If I, one of the main forces for closing the rift, die, can the people left behind close all the rifts?

Even if they can close them all, it’s hard to guarantee whether it would take 10 years or 20 years.

As a result, even more people might lose their lives.

So I couldn’t carelessly die either, and as I just kept my mouth shut, the Captain asked.

“Why did you stop talking? Is something terrible happening in the imperial palace?”

“…No, it’s nothing. I think I just had a brief dream.”

“That’s disappointing.”

I couldn’t tell the Captain yet.

But that didn’t mean I planned to keep my mouth shut forever and do nothing.

Because there wasn’t absolutely no way to block the curse ability.

A curse defense item. Or someone with such an ability.

If I could find even one of those, I should be able to break the curse placed by the contract.

If I break the curse first that way, it would be possible to reveal the monsters under the imperial palace and still keep my life.

“If you had a nightmare, you can tell me about it. Looking after a subordinate’s difficulties is also one of a superior’s roles.”

The Captain suddenly said that while my thoughts were continuing.

Looking at him, he was gazing at me with kind eyes.

Eyes filled with warmth, contrasting with Ernant’s selfish and cold gaze.

Thanks to that gaze, I felt the worry and anxiety pooled in my heart melting away a little.

“You’re being unusually kind today.”

“…Unnecessary words. I’m just trying to faithfully fulfill my role as a superior.”

“Haha.”

“So what kind of nightmare did you have?”

Since I hadn’t actually had a dream, I tried to gloss over it vaguely, but the Captain asked me again like that.

As if he would hear the reason for my poor complexion.

“Thank you for your concern, but it’s difficult for me to talk about the dream. I’d just like you to know… it was a very terrible dream.”

“Such a terrible dream? Did you have some kind of worries lately?”

“Worries… I do have some. Everyone has worries after all.”

The worries I had were endless.

How to safely distance myself from Ernant in the future, and what to do about the monsters filling the imperial palace basement, and so on.

However.

“Even so, I don’t think I can share those various worries with you, Captain.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s dangerous. If I share them, I could be in danger.”

Since I couldn’t say it was because I signed a contract with a curse ability, I just vaguely let him know like that.

Hearing my words, the Captain remained silent for a while, stiff as stone.

As we were silent like that in a room with just the two of us, my lips started to dry.

So I was about to say something. But the Captain broke the silence first.

“Those worries you mentioned, are they related to Ernant?”

How on earth did he know?

Does he have some power to see through people’s hearts in those golden eyes?

The Captain saw through at once that all my nightmares and worries originated from Ernant.

I hesitated on how to respond and then shook my head.

“…No. It has nothing to do with His Majesty the Emperor. It’s just my personal—”

“Then why did your face turn pale blue the moment Ernant’s name came out of my mouth?”

“…”

I didn’t know the Captain would be this sharp.

As he said, I couldn’t hide my bewilderment the moment Ernant’s name came up.

The Captain keenly noticed that small change in expression, and now seemed convinced that I was acting strange because of Ernant.

“Did something happen with him? Tell me.”

“Nothing happened.”

“That’s a lie.”

“It’s true. Thank you for your concern, but I just have some personal worries.”

Even though I said that, the Captain’s eyes looking at me were full of suspicion.

For that reason, I thought the Captain would press me again.

To stop hiding what happened and tell him quickly. That if it’s related to Ernant, he absolutely must hear it.

However, the words that actually came from the Captain’s lips were completely different from what I expected.

“I’ll resolve it for you.”

“Pardon?”

“Whether those worries are related to Ernant or whatever, I can resolve them for you.”

It was a statement I couldn’t help but be flustered by.

For the Captain, who must find me somewhat disagreeable, to offer such a kind statement.

But sometimes, inexplicable kindness can be more dangerous than overt hostility.

There were many cases where kindness that seemed to be purely given without reason actually had some dangerous intent hidden in it.

Especially since the Captain didn’t like me enough to show me excessive kindness.

So I racked my brain to find the reason for the kindness the Captain showed, and soon I was able to find it.

“You really hate His Majesty, don’t you, Captain?”

“…?”

“Is that why you’re trying to help me? If I had some trouble with His Majesty, it would be a good justification to publicly criticize him, right?”

“No, I…”

The Captain’s lips moved as if to say something, but in the end, only a sigh came from between those lips.

With that, I became certain.

As expected, the Captain intended to attack Ernant under the pretext of helping me.

Even so, I bowed my head to him.

“Thank you anyway. For offering to help first.”

“…”

“Since you’ve decided to help, may I make one small request? I don’t intend to share my worries… but I just need a little help right now.”

The Captain, who had been turning his head away with a somewhat complicated expression, finally looked at me.

I held out my hand to him.

“I was hoping you could support me.”

“Support?”

“I have no strength in my body. I would be grateful if you could just support me to the carriage.”

Perhaps as an aftereffect of the pain inflicted on my heart earlier, I had no strength in my body at all even after waking up from fainting.

At this rate, it seemed difficult to even walk to the carriage, so I asked the Captain for help, and fortunately, he didn’t refuse.

“If it’s something like that, I’ll help.”

“Ah, thank y— Wait, what are you doing?”

I expected him to just grab my hand and help me up.

Contrary to my expectation, the Captain lifted my body up entirely.

“C-Captain?”

Although I must be quite heavy, his arms didn’t waver at all.

In any case, it was embarrassing, so I expressed that bewilderment to the Captain with my eyes.

The Captain received my gaze but didn’t put me down, and abruptly said.

“Didn’t you say you have no strength in your body?”

“…Just supporting me would be enough. Are you planning to carry me like this all the way to the carriage?”

“You said you have no strength, so how can I let you walk? If you collapse along the way, I’ll be the one pointed at as the bad guy.”