“Somehow, I was exhausted. That’s how everyone understood it back then.”

Because that’s how those words sounded.

“Everyone was just clumsy at expressing themselves, but their hearts were not lacking in the slightest.”

Catarina quietly swallowed her breath.

His Majesty took on responsibilities within his reach by himself.

For four days, he prevented disturbances inside and outside the palace, fought long battles against demons,

Cared for those injured by demons and earthquakes,

She knows how much he cared.

Charlotte, swallowing her breath, asked.

“… Where is he?”

“At this hour, he should be at the training grounds. I’ll send someone to notify him.”

A moment later, a servant came with a message that the Imperial Guard’s patrol had just ended.

Saying the interior of the training grounds was dusty, they instead led Charlotte to the Emperor’s office in the palace.

“Please enter.”

Rosquella stepped aside.

“I’ll leave you alone.”

Charlotte nodded shallowly.

As the battle with demons prolonged, the Imperial family reorganized internally for that hunt. If the interior is crude, it’s the common soldiers who die the most from it.

Staff members were busily passing through the hallway to the office. The documents they held to their chests were stacked so high they blocked their view. Knowing the staff had been busy with the Poputa area affairs for days, she guessed this was the reason.

The office door opened.

“Ah.”

Benjamin was taking off his sweat-soaked shirt. His hands paused while unbuttoning.

“Come in and close the door. The rest, bring some tea and leave us alone.”

“…Should I wait outside?”

“Just stay. My shirt is wet from training, I just need to change this. It’s stuffy from being covered in dirt.”

He turned his back and removed his shirt. More burnt scars had appeared on that skin.

His arms stretched long, and broad shoulders balanced his body.

The spine stood straight, splitting the back muscles to the sides.

“Just grab a shirt from over there. I hung it on the coat hanger.”

Charlotte took his shirt and handed it to him.

“You’re hurt again?”

“It would be stranger for a knight to have no scars on their body. The body begins to deteriorate when it gets used to rest. Muscles repeatedly tear and heal slightly, and in that process, the skin becomes tougher. Hiding behind others doesn’t suit my nature either.”

He stretched out his arm.

“Your expression looks uncomfortable somewhere, are you alright?”

He examined Charlotte with a stern face.

“Call the palace doctor from outside…!”

“Several have already come and gone.”

Charlotte traced his scars as if retracing the contours of his body. Not an ounce of fat on his balanced body.

As she traced and bent his neck, blue veins stood out prominently.

Pulse throbbed as if scraping the blood vessels, and waves rippled across his neck.

The Adam’s apple protruded and blood vessels swelled.

Then, Benjamin paused his arm at the warmth touching his back.

“I’m a mess from being covered in dirt.”

“Your body temperature is low.”

“Is it because the sweat has cooled?”

“Even though the weather has warmed, it’s still like this.”

Benjamin turned his body following her touch. He straightened his waist stiffly.

“That day, I wish I had shared more of the work with you.”

“Weren’t you avoiding me?”

“I was in the middle of reconsidering what to say.”

Charlotte recounted the events of the past days.

She collected her breath and recalled the events from four days ago.

That day, as the demon trap was activated, her feet were bound, and a long struggle with demons ensued.

“So you went through such an ordeal.”

“The Imperial Guard worked hard.”

“I’ve also heard about recent events from the Imperial Guard.”

“I only remember feeling out of place.”

The hand holding the sword cut through their trap.

“Like that, they get entangled.”

“Were you scared?”

“No. It wasn’t that. My body felt powerless. As if the ground beneath my feet was sinking, my ankles felt constricted. It was always like that when entangled with them. Even when I gripped the sword, it seemed my body was saying it wished this wasn’t the path.”

“The former Pope used to say.”

Benjamin took Charlotte’s hand. His rough hand with calluses stroked the tender skin inside.

“That lethargy is one of the refusal reactions to deny the reality before one’s eyes. He said that when one lacks the capacity to fully bear the situation before them, they cut away their own emotions. Cutting and cutting away emotions to become numb to the situation, just like you are now.”

“……”

“The person who most wished for your path to be peaceful was you, wasn’t it?”

Benjamin brought Charlotte’s wrist to him.

“Unlike you, I’m afraid.”

He narrowed his eyes slightly. His complex state of mind showed between his furrowed brows.

“Those who grip blades have rough endings. That I might lose you. That at such an ending, you might have to bear it alone.”

“……”

“Now I’m afraid.”

“The Imperial Guard is always by your side, isn’t it?”

“Even with them by your side, you keep your distance as if you’ll be alone in the end. As if you know what’s at the end of this.”

As if you know what lies at this end.

“Did you sleep well these past four days?”

“Instead, my waist is stiff.”

“It’s probably because the muscles that had stiffened and tensed up have relaxed. The carriage tilted and the wheels sank, remember? You gripped a blade in hands that had never held one before, your body was bound to tense up.”

Benjamin put his arm around Charlotte’s waist to support her. His fingertips pressed into the muscles of her back. As he stroked along the spine and pressed one side, a tingling sensation rippled across her back at the sharp pain.

“There’s a bruise on your waist.”

“Ah, I must have bumped into something.”

“It’s fortunate it ended just like this. It’s better to be more careful now. This bruise will last a while. I’ve also prepared some medicine from the apothecary to reduce swelling, so apply it consistently.”

Benjamin pulled Charlotte’s wrist and held her hand. As if scratching the tender skin, his nails caressed the inside of her palm.

“The inside of your palm almost split open.”

“…I didn’t know my hands were this delicate.”

“You’ve never held a sword in those hands before. Twisting the sword as you thrust is a type of swordsmanship. Twisting your wrist to stab the enemy’s vital points more roughly, and twisting the blade to change its trajectory was correct. But you almost tore your hands apart.”

“I wasn’t aware of the flesh tearing. The pain was numbed.”

“Do you think knights’ hands are calloused from the beginning? Tearing, ripping, healing – they were people who had been rolling in the dirt with the extermination squads for over a decade.”

Your hands are weak. Just from twisting the sword to stab once, the inside of your skin almost split open.

“So you gripped the sword hilt and twisted your palm. Your skin got caught in the hilt. The leather of the hilt scraped and tore your flesh, so it’d be better to be more careful for a few days.”

As he traced her wrist, he wrapped and bound the inside with his hand.

“When you grip a sword, calluses will form on your hands.”

“……”

“Blisters will form, skin will tear and tear again and heal, scars will layer upon scars.”

Benjamin let go of her hand.

“And you will get hurt.”

The sinner who stepped on forbidden ground is bound by prohibition.

The old man’s severed body slowly recovered. At first, it was shattered like fragments, difficult to even recognize the body’s form. Later, new flesh grew on the body, and the new body was woven with demon parts.

The body woven with demon parts bent crookedly. The whites of the eyes were empty, and he blinked transparent eyeballs. The old man spat out the cane he had been holding in his mouth.

Even without eyes, the pain of tearing flesh was vivid.

The executioner’s covenant bound the curse with prohibition. The old man tore off his own arm.

“Aaargh!”

Damn it! Damn it!

“Focus on recovery.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You’re in a terrible state.”

A middle-aged man leaning on a cane took off his fedora. Fine wrinkles formed around his eyes.

Adolf Weber, his pupils turned red as he frowned. The old man gathered himself, crawling and groveling.

“The executioner’s prohibition tightened. Somewhere, the shackles tightened…”

“His shadow has fallen so deeply. How deep the shadow is, even when the soul is torn and the executioner’s existence is forgotten.”

The executioner’s shackles slowly lost their power. The covenant’s forbidden areas began to mix. Those driven underground stepped on the forbidden areas and broke down boundaries, and as the gaps in taboos widened, demons set foot outside and tore open the cracks.

“I will step on the executioner’s grave to open the forbidden area, so prepare to step on the forbidden ground.”

I will scatter the blood of mongrel dogs on the forbidden ground and erect an altar for the clan.

The bell rang in the clock tower. As this bell rang, a ripping sound tore through the air. The temple windows shattered, the bars twisted, and fragments rained down. These fragments tore into flesh, and the pain of torn flesh overwhelmed.

Haneli collapsed, clutching her eyes. The Pope flung open the door.

“What’s going on! You, you rascal, what have you done again without fear!”

“…Close the door. The other disciples are following in.”

Haneli wrapped bandages around her eyes.

Divine power lost its way and wandered. The capillaries in her skin burst, and blood vessels stood out on her neck. The Pope hurriedly closed the door and trampled on the glass fragments. The fragments crumbled into pieces.

“You, why are your eyes like that! Why have you torn your eyes into such a state?”

“Please be quiet.”

“What did you see that made the prohibition take your eyes…! It tore your flesh and took your eyes. You fool! Don’t you know what the prohibition is warning? It means you’ve entered a realm you shouldn’t have!”

The Pope’s arms trembled. Oh God. Why are you doing this? What more do you want to take away? What trials are you pushing them to the edge for?

“I can’t see ahead.”

“You’ve lost your eyes!”

“Even without eyes, I could see. Now the path has been blocked.”

Losing her eyes, the future was buried in darkness. The eyes torn by prohibition were slow to recover.

“What, what did you take in with your eyes! What on earth! What taboo in the covenant’s prohibition would tear out even your eyes? Which taboo takes… takes the eyes!”

The Pope scolded his disciple. Haneli touched her torn eyes with her hand. The prohibition tore out her eyes as if ripping flesh. There’s only one reason to tear out eyes. She peeked at a place she shouldn’t have.

“What did you want to see?”

Haneli felt her eyes.

The taboo took those eyes, and even after recovery, half a year of recuperation is needed.

“Interfering with the timeline is taboo. How can you, the future-seeing priestess, not know this! Your power is taking you away. I’ve repeatedly told you not to use your power for outside matters, but now you’re offering your torn flesh as a sacrifice to weave the future!”

The clock tower bell rang. The prohibition whispered as it took her eyes. Do not peek carelessly. It is not your place to peek. It is a soul of a different caliber. If you peek into the depth of that soul, next time it will take your life.

“The caliber has deepened.”

“……”

“What did you contain in there, what did you weave in there to look with such eyes… Are you walking the same path again!”

Haneli kept her mouth shut.

‘Do not speak of the caliber.’

It should not even be remembered to exist. Everything is a treaty bound by covenant.

This was of a different caliber. When he met eyes, the caliber beyond met eyes.

And sent her away.

Saying this is not a place for you to peek.