Chapter 26: Chapter 13.2

“Do you want some?” she asked him again.

It was quite obvious that he wanted to eat, so she took out a biscuit and held it towards his face. Suddenly, Baron ate the biscuit in one big bite. As if it wasn’t enough, he even licked her fingers before raising his head.

Seira’s jaw dropped to the ground. Was it just an honest accident or was Baron playing with her? She just couldn’t begin to comprehend what happened.

“Why did you eat it with just your mouth?” she asked, her voice raising in incredulity.

“Because my hands are dirty,” came his simple reply.

Baron showed his open palms towards her. It really didn’t matter anymore if it was dirty or not.

Disgusted by her saliva-drenched fingers, Seira rubbed them by the hem of her cloak and then held out the bag of biscuits to Baron.

“Just take it and eat it,” she told him.

But Baron didn’t even look at the bag of biscuits.

“I won’t lick them this time,” he promised her, “so can you feed me a little more? I’m hungry.”

Seira glared at Baron with her eyes narrowed into thin slits of suspicion.

‘Is he pretending to be pitiful now?’ she thought at the back of her mind.

The way he widened his sorrowful eyes at her asking to be fed biscuits reminded Seira of a childhood puppy. She clicked her tongue and against her better judgment, held out another biscuit towards him. Only then did the corners of Baron’s mouth lift into a satisfied smile.

When they finally got out of the forest, the biscuits disappeared into both of their stomachs. Baron watched Seira toss the empty bag of biscuits with regret. He reached out to her cheek and then gently wiped with the back of his hand.

“There were crumbs stuck,” he said.

“…Right.”

“Jeff’s cooking skills are pretty good, right?” Baron asked her, trying to make one last good impression on her.

Seira didn’t feel the need to answer and merely shrugged at the question.

The two of them leisurely traveled across the dark plain as the sun retired for the day. As they started to see the camp lights shining in the distance, Seira suddenly turned towards Baron and asked, “Have you ever been in a nest before?”

“No, it’s in the custody of the priests. I never thought about going in,” he immediately responded.

“Hmm… I see.”

Baron turned towards Seira with a curious look, “Why do you ask that all of a sudden?”

Seira rolled her eyes at Baron but thankfully he didn’t seem to have noticed. She looked at him and then said in a serious tone, “In the temple, it is said that the beasts are the devil’s servants. I was just wondering what the hell would someone get by sending those things to the world.”

Baron replied with a shrug.

“You’re thinking all sorts of things,” he said.

“Am I the only one who’s ever been curious about this?”

Baron sighed and then turned his gaze forward, “Even if we rack our brains trying to decipher such a question, there is just no answer as of the moment. What we do know is that plague, famine, war, and death continue to repeat. We can’t dismiss them saying it’s the natural order of things, so that’s why we should just focus on what we can do to prevent them.”

His answer was perfectly standard – even to the point it sounded too bland and rehearsed – as if he used the same answer every time the question was raised. Seira grumbled softly.

“The devils are active, and the temple simply collects the remains of the nest. In that aspect, we support the use of their holy water,” Baron quickly added.

Suddenly, Seira recalled something. At the highest part of Viseltium, the priest’s temple had a beautiful statue of a goddess symbolizing abundance and fertility.

“What the fuck is the Goddess doing?” she mumbled.

Seira had been most curious about it for the longest time. Had the Goddess done something to fight off the devil herself, Seira’s father, Nathan Askan, would have been alive to this day.

“Well, I’m not very religious,” Baron said.

Seira scoffed at his insidious reply. For different reasons, she had also been reluctant to go to the temple. Rather than donating, she made a living ripping off holy water with having the priest’s lives as collateral.

‘It’s not just that…’

She recalled a small pocket that she had snatched from the priest’s carriage.

The remains of the nests that the temple monopolized. She was determined to look into its secrets. It was necessary to find out the identity of the beasts that constantly appeared. She believed that only then she would find out the real enemy who killed her father. Whether it was evil or not, Seira was not backing away.

* * *

It was quite ambitious of Seira, who just returned to camp, to stop by Baron’s barracks. She had to wait for Baron to listen to information brought by each reconnaissance team. Seira was delayed even more because she even ate dinner. She couldn’t resist his insistence at that moment.

“Duchess…”

Seira saw Aven waiting in front of her barracks. She went inside and he followed her as he asked, “Have you eaten already?”

“Yes, I did,” she replied shortly, and then deliberately turned her back on Aven as she asked, “The atmosphere was quite chaotic. Did something happen while I was away?”

Aven was silent for a second, but then responded “It’s probably because of Damon Glad.”

“Huh?” she wondered, “Why so?”

“He said he was seriously injured when he fell while making a disturbance to go home.”

Only then did Seira’s gaze turn to him. Beneath his gray hair, his calm eyes seemed so insensitive that she couldn’t tell what exactly he was thinking at the moment.

“At this time of the night?” Seira prompted.

“Yes.”

“Oh, my dear,” Seira shook her head.

“The bastard probably wanted to get more of his mother’s milk at home,” Aven speculated.

“Yes, that could be it,” Seira hummed.

In response, Aven took off the uniform jacket from her.

Seira already knew that Damon Glad had visited her barracks with the intention of discussing a marriage proposal. She had overheard Alec, Baron’s deputy, gossip and talk about the reason for Damon’s fall. He was totally oblivious that Seira was dining in the barracks with Baron.

Although, she was quite confused why Aven didn’t tell her honestly.

‘Damon Glad…’

Aside from everything else, he was a man tied with bad rumors about his relationship with women. Did he really think Seira wouldn’t know that much because she was stuck in Askan?

‘He seemed to be looking down on me quite a bit.’