Chapter 6: Hymn (part 2)

“Ah! Here, honey! Come and help me carry my luggage!”  

Julius walked with long strides and lifted the bags. 

Cecil, who had told Rosa that she would meet her in the evening, was behaving wildly, circling next to Julius while holding a pure white dress.  

“I heard there will be a rather grand celebration at the inn this evening. It’s my first time doing something like this, so I’m really looking forward to it. Right?”  

“…Yeah, I’m looking forward to it.”  

“Kente’s beer is famous even in the capital, so I really wanted to try it, and it turned out well. Hehehe.”  

When we arrived home and exchanged words, an order to congratulate the guests was issued. Julius, who had been told to stay outside because the woman needed to prepare for one thing or another, stepped outside to listen to her and breathed in the autumn air, stroking his face.  

When he first returned to this village, his face, which had been stiff, suddenly softened with a smile. He neither bought alcohol nor attempted to contact the capital. After that night when his heart, which he desperately hid from himself, was revealed, his mask of being a faithful servant of God was shattered.  

What is God, and what is pain? What is more important is that Cecil came back alive.  

Julius wished to be with her, and she began to more and more perfectly resemble Cecil when she was alive. 

No, it wasn’t an imitation; it was the person herself. 

When the devil takes on a human body, it mimics existence itself. If the only difference is that the sunlight playing under her is no problem for her, how is she any different from Cecil?  

Once you change your mind, you feel more at ease. He decided not to try to force himself to piece everything back together and wear the mask again.  

A ray of light between the clouds shone on him, as if God were scolding him. But Julius, who had stopped pretending to be the Lord’s servant, remained oblivious. 

Julius gifted many nice clothes to the girl who always wore the same ones, and he was delighted to watch her satisfy her sweet tooth.

There was a lot of time ahead. One year would be enough to do things for her that he couldn’t do before. 

However, his smiling face, as he looked up at the sky, twisted for an instant. A cold feeling ran down the back of his neck, and something touched his chest. 

Julius slowly put his hand into his bosom and took it out.  

When he gently opened it, what he saw was a portrait of her from back in the day. 

There she was, forever bound in the picture, and his good mood for the day was shattered.  

An unknown song he had heard one day was flowing in the wind. Humming its tune, the pure white devil approached him as if dancing. 

A fishy taste lingered in his mouth.  

He didn’t wake from the dream. He just realized. His wife, Cecil, had died five years ago, and the fact was that she would never return, filled his mind.  

***  

Cecil walked slowly down the path and stared at Julius’s back as he left the house. He seemed to be in a very good mood today. Cecile hummed her tune, feeling herself getting better.  

The box contained many luxurious and beautiful clothes. It would take a year to sort through them all. 

With a light slap of her palm, the clothes flew around on their own, then were suddenly sucked into the open wardrobe one by one.  

It had once been a place to store the clothes of the wife of an old man named Mila, who lived in a mansion, but they all burned down with the old man’s funeral. It was a moment when the empty wardrobe’s wish was fulfilled.  

She felt even better. 

This time, she stomped her foot once, and a large mirror popped out of thin air. It reflected the image so clearly that it couldn’t be compared to the mirror in Rosa’s clothing store.  

Soon, she took off the clothes she was wearing and threw them aside. Since she had to wear that white dress today, she removed her undergarments and discarded them as well. The mirror reflected her clean body. After looking at her unblemished form for a moment, Cecil worked hard on grooming herself, including fixing her hair.  

She wondered what kind of scent her body would have and ended up choosing a refreshing apple fragrance. After finishing her preparations and donning the white dress—no, the pure white dress—she smiled.  

Her marriage to him had been very small, and she had secretly envied other people’s grand weddings. But she had no regrets because she had no choice but to marry him.  

‘But look at the gift he gave me at the clothing store today! Did he remember me complaining about the white dress before I died?‘

Perhaps she would receive a grand wedding as a gift soon.  

After thinking that, Cecil opened the door and stepped forward, fluttering the hem of her skirt.  

The Church of Telmere, foolish people who serve the Lord—a liar—used to say:  

[Humans are beings with a body, memories, and a noble soul. The devil’s whispers corrupt the soul and cannot be forgiven, even after death, so stay away from the devil.]

From afar, she could see long blonde hair blowing in the wind. He looked at the portrait hanging around his neck—a lie spoken by Rom.  

It said that humans have a soul.  

But the soul does not exist in this world. The only thing that makes up a human being is their body and memories.  

Then who am I?  

No matter what anyone says, I, who have Cecil’s memories and body, am Cecil Lionelta.  

Is it really that important—a devil with Cecil’s memories or Cecil with the devil’s memories?  

The daughter of Saint Erman and the beloved wife of Inquisitor Julius returned after five years.  

Only they were foolish and didn’t know.  

The wind blew pleasantly. 

‘Today, I will drink as much beer as I can with him, the town’s specialty.’

An unknown song flowed with her dancing steps.  

A congratulatory song celebrating the couple’s marriage spread widely in the wind.