Chapter 14
Shhhh, shhhh, shhhh.
Rosha’s consciousness began to return when she felt a touch that tickled and fell on her body. It came up with a sniffing sound from the bottom as if smelling Rosha.
“Sadrak?”
The scent came up to Rosha’s face.
She tried to ignore it because she wanted to sleep.
Woof woof!
If it weren’t for the barking of the baby wolf….
Sadrak was barking. That meant that it was not Sadrak that went up and sniffed her body.
Come to think of it, she didn’t feel any soft fur at all from sniffing so close.
The moment she noticed this, Rosha opened her eyes.
A demon with red bumps all over its body was propping up the ground with each arm and leg under the bed, looking down at Rosha.
Kakaaa.
A cry that resembled a girl’s cheerful laughter came from the demon’s mouth.
The filthy monster’s breath and disgusting body odor hit Rosha.
Rosha’s face slowly twisted in disgust, and she reached for the demon’s face. Flames erupted in Rosha’s hand. The skin of the demon began to burn.
The demon’s skin gradually melted, and a thick liquid trickled down Rosha’s wrist. The melted demon’s skin was so hot that it burned Rosha’s skin as well, but Rosha endured it without letting go of the demon.
Even if her body was crushed and burned to death, she would not let the demon in front of her live.
Kaaaaaaaa.
However, Rosha was unable to kill the demon, because with a big shake of its head, the demon escaped from her grasp. It took two steps back from Rosha’s bed with its long, spider-like arms and legs. It seemed to be struggling in pain. Rosha took the opportunity to grab Sadrak, who was trembling in fear in the corner, put him in the closet, and closed the door.
Rosha quickly tried to grab her cane, but it took her too long to hide Sadrak.
Kaaaaa.
Demon stuck out its long tongue like a frog.
“Ahh!”
Demon’s wet tongue wrapped around Rosha’s neck. The more she twisted her body to get out, the tighter it grabbed.
“Ahhh…..!”
At this rate, she was bound to die of a broken neck before the demon could take and eat her. Rosha put her hand on the demon’s tongue that covered her neck and tried to use her magic. But there was no way she could use magic when she was losing consciousness to the point where her eyes were blurred.
Magic only works as long as the knight still has mental and physical strength. It was impossible to use magic when she was just before passing out.
“Ha. ……”
Tears flowed from her eyes. Rosha clawed at the demon’s tongue, knowing instinctively that it was useless, but she had to try.
She had let her guard down, knowing that the end of carelessness would lead to death.
A feeling of helplessness overcame Rosha. She felt like her bones were about to break. Rosha’s eyes slowly lost their focus.
Shriek!
But then, something flew through the window, shattering it.
Shriek!
The demon was attacked by something , and the long tongue that had been clamping around Rosha’s neck naturally loosened.
“Haha, haha…!”
As a drop of tears flowed down, she could clearly see the situation in front of her. Ray, whom Rosha hadn’t seen since she arrived here, had broken through the window and come in, poking the demon’s eyes.
God had always been on Rosha’s side in the battle against the ruined demons. Rosha took her cane. But before that, the demon was faster. It escaped through the broken window, avoiding the eagle Ray that had devoured one of its eyeballs.
Rosha hurriedly put her face out of the window and looked at the direction of the demon’s escape.
The demon climbed the wall like a spider with its long legs and entered another room where the window was already open.
“D*mn it……!”
It was, of course, Joshua’s bedroom.
Rosha hurried into the room where Joshua was, cursing wildly.
…… No, she tried to head to his room.
But something outside the window caught her eyes.
It was a large number of dead white pigeons.
“Ray, bring me the dead pigeon.”
As soon as Rosha finished her order, Ray flew at once, picked up the pigeon’s body and flew back to Rosha.
Wearing gloves, Rosha grabbed the dead pigeon and smelled it. It didn’t smell like that demon.
Instead, it smelled of other evils.
“Ray, you stay here and protect Sadrak.”
There was no reason to delay here any longer. Rosha hurried over to Joshua’s room.
Boom!
The door swung open roughly and hit the wall. Joshua, who was lying on his bed, woke up rubbing his eyes when he heard someone coming in. Joshua’s eyes caught sight of Rosha, her expression cold.
“Rosha…?”
Walking in a large stride, Rosha opened the closet door of Joshua’s room.
“Rosha, what are you doing…?”
Joshua’s question didn’t stop Rosha from searching under the couch and then under the bed. It was when Joshua, who couldn’t stand to see Rosha’s strange behavior, was about to call her again.
“Ro…..ahh.!”
Rosha pulled Joshua roughly by the neck and sat his little body down on the sofa.
“A demon came to your room.”
“A demon……?”
“It’s a hideous shaped monster!”
“I didn’t see it ……..”
“Why did you leave the window open when you went to bed?”
“I was warm…..”
“In this cold?”
Rosha was so angry that her hands were shaking when she was attacked by the demon, who had fallen asleep without being careful.
She couldn’t tell if the shaking was from fear and shock, or anger and disgust.
“The pigeon you touched was dead. Did you know that?”
“That’s…..”
There was no shock on the boy’s face, as if it had been totally unexpected.
Indeed, the boy was also well aware that the animals he touched could die in a pinch.
“You knew that if you touched an animal when you’re depressed, it’s likely to die. Did you touch it to comfort yourself?”
“The animals came…….”
“If you didn’t want to kill it, why didn’t you just shove it into a corner of the room and not touch it?”
“…….”
“If you watch life die, do you feel pleasure?”
“No, I don’t!”
It was Joshua who touched a pigeon today, a wild pigeon, not a human-owned pigeon.
But the pigeon’s corpse reeked of evil. It was a much worse smell than that of demons. When she was twelve years old, Rocha happened to smell it.
Babel.
The word referred to the evil force that tried to mess with God. They smelled very stale and damp. It was the scent of roses in full bloom, but it was a horrible stench for Rosha, who was chasing evil. However, the pigeon touched by Joshua smelled that terrible.
It smelled like the distinctive rose perfume used by Babel.
“You’re not hiding anything from me, are you?”
“No……”
“Are you sure?”
“Nothing, I’m afraid, Rosha.. ….”
Rosha thought. It was really strange.
Why did he leave the window open on this cold day?
That huge demon had definitely entered this room, but now that Rosha had come to visit, the trace had disappeared cleanly.
The strangest thing of all was the fact that she could smell Babel from the pigeon Joshua had touched. That particular scent, that odor that Rosha smelled, was a smell that was solely among those who belonged to Babel.
Rosha took out the pocket watch she wore around her neck.
“Ro, Rosha.”
“Stay still!”
The terrified boy pleaded with Rosha, but she held him tightly by the neck as she screamed.
“Look closely at this clock.”
If Joshua didn’t want to tell the truth, Rosha was going to hypnotize him to get the truth. Rosha didn’t stop this action, even the boy’s eyes were brimming with tears.
It was at the moment when Rosha was about to slowly shake her pocket watch.
“Stop.”
Someone approached without her knowing and grabbed her arm.
The voice was familiar and she slowly raised her head.
“…… Kashin.”
Kashin was looking down at Rosha with cold eyes. It was with the coldness in his eyes that Rosha finally realized.
She was acting irrationally.
She was to question why he was here, but Rosha quickly shook her head. It was his role to keep track of the situation of the Rosteliers scattered in different countries and protect the candidates , so it was his business whenever and wherever he appeared. But the fact that Kashin had seen her blame Joshua, of all people, made her fingers tremble finely.
Even if it was just for the sake of it, Kashin had always doubted her qualifications, but to see her in such a pathetic state was ……. She couldn’t even deny that she was in the wrong, so Rosha was ashamed and felt sorry for herself.
“Get out of the way, Rosha Rostelier.”
“…….”
“I have to protect the child from you.”
Rosha couldn’t say that she was very sorry. Trying to protect the child was a reasonable thing for Kashin to do.
As the excitement subsided, shame overwhelmed her.
Noah had certainly said that Babel would make them confused, but to lose reason at this level at best…….
Thinking about it, someone could have snuck into this remote place while she was visiting the Angel Orphanage.
Rosha moved her trembling eyes and looked at Joshua. Joshua, held in Kashin’s arms, was sobbing and fighting back tears. Not having the confidence to watch him any longer, Rosha left Joshua’s room.
When she returned to her room, Rosha felt comforted as she touched Sadrak’s fur. Sadrak also noticed that Rosha wasn’t feeling well, so he sat on Rosha’s lap, wagging his tail and licking her hand. Ray also rubbed his face on Rosha’s arm.
Rosha suddenly remembered what she had said to Joshua earlier.
“When you see life die, you feel pleasure?”
How could she say something like that when she herself also found comfort by touching Sadrak?
She didn’t try to approach the child emotionally, but if she tried, she could understand as much as she wanted to understand about the child’s situation.
It was a child left alone in a remote place. The only object that could have given him warmth would have been animals…….
Rosha felt like banging her head against the wall in shame.
“I’m crazy.”
“You seem to know that you’re crazy.”
Rosha raised her head at the familiar voice she heard again. Perhaps he had calmed down Joshua, but Kashin had come into Rosha’s room.
“Come up with an excuse. I’ll listen to you.”
“I have nothing to say. I’ve lost my reason.”
Rosha didn’t want to lose a single word to Kashin, but here today she really didn’t have an excuse.
“Then make your report on that boy.”
“…….”
“Including what had happened, in detail.”
She didn’t want to exchange a word with Kashin, but this was a report about work. Even if she wanted to avoid it, she couldn’t.
“…..I was asleep, and when I woke up, the demon was right in front of me, and it ran to the boy’s room.”
“Is that all?”
“No, besides that…”
Rosha explained everything that had happened during that time. But the more she continued to talk, the more it only confirmed the fact that she was hypersensitive.
The only circumstance in which she could think that Joshua had called the demon was the fact that demon had entered Joshua’s room. The fact that the pigeon that Joshua touched died had nothing to do with this.
The possible direction of inference here was that she had unconsciously thought Joshua was one of the evil ones in the story she had heard as soon as she entered the Count’s house.
Rosha couldn’t look up. For once, she wasn’t confident she could meet Kashin’s eyes.
“I knew you were emotional. That’s why I was against letting you in on this case.”
“…….”
“It’s obvious, I don’t need to see it. As soon as you came, you went to the orphanage to find your family. I’m sure Noah had some idea of what was going on, but he turned a blind eye to it.”
“I know. Shut up!”
Rationally, it was Rosha’s mistake to be absent from Joshua’s side even for a little while. And that she shouldn’t have left her position since the first day.
However, the reason why Rosha wanted to join the Golden Dawn Society was to find her sister. Killing demons and trying to get rid of Babel was her family’s revenge, and it was important. But more important was to find Lily. She didn’t want to be taunted by Kashin, who was convinced her sister was dead because she put her first.
In the end, Rosha said what she shouldn’t have said out of spite.
“You can’t understand my feelings, since your whole family is dead!”
It was Kashin’s family history.
She heard about it from rumors. It was about the day Kashin, who was an orphan but lived with his twin brothers, lost his brother and awakened after being involved in an incident in which Babel directly intervened.
Rosha regretted it as soon as she spoke out of anger.
She knew that she shouldn’t mention his family, no matter how angry she was. However, she couldn’t bring herself to apologize to Kashin.
There was an awkward silence for a moment.
“No.”
Unexpectedly, it was Kashin who spoke up first.
“My brother is alive.”
“What?”
“To be exact, it’s hard to say that he’s alive or dead.”
“What do you mean?”
“……Rosha Rostelier.”
“…….”
“How much do you love your sister?”
She was curious as to what that would mean, having Kashin’s brother alive, but it seemed that Kashin didn’t want to answer, Rosha decided not to ask.
Instead, she answered Kashin’s last question without hesitation.
“I would give my whole life for her.”
But the response she got was cold.
“Yes, arrogance.”
Kashin said with a snicker.
“Family is important. It’s especially sad when their survival is threatened by demons, or if it was unexpectedly separated.”
“…….”
“That sadness gives people an illusion. They are willing to devote their entire life to it.”
“…….”
“But there is no such thing, Rosha Rostelier.”
“…….”
“Don’t get drunk on yourself and do the most important thing wrong.”
Rosha’s body trembled with anger as she clenched her fists.
‘Kashin, if you had a family that you loved, but could not understand me, it would be because you’re a cold-blooded person without feelings.’
She wanted to refute, but the recognition of the mistake was greater than pride.
Rosha calmed her trembling body and just listened to Kashin’s insults disguised as advice not to make a mistake like the one she had just made.
“Noah had said that Babel makes the child of God look like an evil child too, just to confuse us.”
“You mean the boy’s the child of God?”
Kashin shook his head.
“He could just be a normal child. …Or he could be a truly evil child. Whatever it may be, you have to keep your emotions in check and watch that child until the truth is confirmed.”
“…….”
“I’m going to report what happened today to Noah as it happened. It’s up to you to find your sister, but keep an eye on the boy.”
Kashin left one last warning.
“Keep in mind that if you mess up the mission, the Golden Dawn Society will not be able to help you find your sister either.”
That was the end of it. When Rosha raised her head again, Kashin vanished without a trace.
Except for the baby wolf Sadrak, in the room left alone, Rosha collapsed in bed with her legs loosened.
It was a heavy and lonely night in her heart to spend alone.