Chapter 9 (1/2)
Looking up at the high blue sky, Yuna breathed out
For so her voice and, as one would expect, she wasn’t able to hide her fatigue now
“Shall we take a short rest, Lady Celiastina?”
Beside her Aeneas looked at Yuna’s state with concern
Yuna and the others had been running about the next day, and thereafter, collecting signatures Right now, they had even stretched out to the vicinity of the entrance to the gates of the royal palace and soliciting help fronatures were being collected smoothly and in these few days they had actually exceeded 100 na in and out of the royal palace
“I’m okay, let’s continue on a bit more We’ll have to return soon anyway”
“Once we return, you will be attending a cereht? If you don’t rest, your body will be impaired”
“Aeneas, you’reto accompany me, aren’t you? You’re the saht? Others too Everyone is in the same circumstances”
But, Aeneas reatly distressed face
“You’re taking too much upon yourself, you know”
Yuna turned around, surprised at the sudden voice, only to have her vision covered by a spread of white paper Next, both her hands were filled by the weight of the pamphlets
“Wah!”
It was such an unexpected event that Yuna almost accidentally dropped the ed not to and raised her head to see Siegcrest, who she hadn’t seen in a while, in front of her
“Sieg!”
“Use those”
She dropped her eyes to the pa told that –It was a lot of signatures
“T-This…”
“I thought I should help you in the end Well, I only asked around a little bit and it becahts”
“A-All of the holy knights……”
Yuna and Aeneas stared at Siegcrest in blank amazement
“Of courseto help but then I thought that, since you’ve come this far, it wouldn’t be so bad to help save Duo But the captain was really angry and that was a problehts into this with my actions as the vice-captain”
She could understand that The vice-captain of the Order of Holy Knights would have great influence
“But, in the end, that captain signed as well He’s uy”
A screst
“Sieg, it looks like you knew that ere collecting signatures”
“It’s become quite the ru around to save the life of aman”
“Eh?!”
“You should use that rumor You need to slowly involve more people The top won’t be moved by this yet”
“…… Y-You’re right”
“Sorry, but while us holy knights have a large presence during ti times of peace like this our position is weak Even with all of our signatures, you’re still lacking a decisive blow If you’re thinking ofthe people at the top then it’s necessary for you to be backed by someone who has influence and doesn’t lean towards the military”
Once again, she realized what he said again was certainly true She had acted thinking that Duo could be saved with everyone’s will being gathered, but maybe that was naive
“…… For example…”
“If the king says yes then it’s your victory, Celia But the king won’t nod unless his close aides all agree And, looking at the aides beside the king that you can reach– it would probably be Asyut or Lord Linus If you can win the about the others”
It looked like it wasn’t possible to avoid them, huh Yuna bit her lip She didn’t want to face those two at all Even if she asked them noouldn’t the result be the same?
(But this time I’m not alone There are a lot of people with me with this)
Yuna strongly hugged the list in her arned, she wasn’t ever going to give up until Duo was saved First, she would go and see Asyut Last time they talked he had told her to “take some time to reconsider” Now,the “position” she and he have– her thoughts on wanting to save Duo haven’t changed She was going to tell Asyut that And then soet him to understand
But what should she do about Linus Beyond Duo’s problem, she and Linus were at cross purposes over a funda to face Linus who had completely denied her existence However, at any rate, she needed to give her undivided attention to saving Duo She wasn’t in the position to run away from Linus
There was another problem too Duo himself He had co ell and Duo was released, at this rate it wouldn’t have been done for his sake She needed to get him to be positive somehow
The only relief was fro in order to save Duo Yuna had heard that Yodel was a person with influence comparable to Asyut and Linus Should she ht hate having to join hands with her, but they had the sa to help Duo Maybe it was possible for them to properly talk
(There are still a lot of things that need to be done What do I do? Where should I start?)
“Lady Celiastina, I really think you do not look well”
As Aeneas called out to her worriedly, he scooped up the list frocrest too had an unusual concerned voice
“Hey, you should rest a bit before the next ceremony”
“O-Okay……”
Yuna nodded a too rabbed onto Aeneas’ arm
“Lady Celiastina?”
“Sorry But, can we rest here…… just for a little bit?”
Without waiting for an answer, Yuna staggered on unsteady feet to a nearby overhang And then she crouched dohile being supported by Aeneas
“I’h”
Yuna slowly closed her eyes Various inforh her head All of them seemed to run away from Yuna’s hands when she tried to catch them It was as if it was hopeless to line theed around violently in Yuna’s head and, just for aaway and make it pure white
Yes, just for a moment
Once she calain
–Ah, it’s finally quiet I can feel a bit calmer with this–
Ha, Yuna suddenly opened her eyes
As soon as the handkerchief that was placed on her forehead shook slightly, it was draay Her eyes followed the direction of the handkerchief without thinking– and then she noticed Asyut standing immediately beside her
“A-Asyu–……”
“Have you come to?”
She looked around, still dazed, and what entered her vision was a fa, a familiar bed, a familiar table and familiar drawer– she noticed that this was un that was unfa beside her and exa her state
“I… fell asleep……”
“You are mistaken You lost consciousness”
Yuna was surprised to be told that But, certainly, her situation probably couldn’t be called “falling asleep” She caused trouble for everyone again–
“How long was I unconscious for?”
“It was not very long The sun has not set yet”
When she looked out the , she could see that it was indeed somewhat sunny
“Why are you here, Asyut?”
“Siegcrest called crest and Aeneas to return to their respective positions, but rest assured I will immediately tell them that you have awoken”
Yuna nodded And then she passed her gaze around her surroundings, only to realize that she couldn’t find the list that waselse Asyut, who saw her flustered state, see for
“If you are looking for the signatures then they are over here”
He took the list that was placed on the table beside Yuna, and handed theh of relief when she held them
“You have collected quite a lot”
“Ah, y-yes”
Come to think of it, she hadn’t told Asyut yet that she joined the petition She looked at hi that, but it didn’t seem like that Rather, he seecrest i, perhaps her actions reached Asyut’s ears a long tio
“Do you intend to continue with this movement?”
“Yes”
Even if he told her that she was bound to fail due to inadequate help, she didn’t intend to stop These signatures were so of a support for Yuna They were a precious support to prevent herself fro to help Duo
“Asyut, um…”
Yuna looked directly into Asyut’s eyes And Asyut, upon receiving her gaze, looked back at her
“…… Yes?”
“I… think I understand a littleunable to pardon Duo in your position I said that when someone’s life is concerned then one’s position doesn’t ht it was strange when I saw you stifling yourself to death to be the “First Holy Knight” I wanted you to value yourselfthe Ceremony of Display I realized that there really are people who rely on you and ht?”
Asyut did not interject and listened to Yuna quietly
“Now I understand a little bit about the responsibility the saint carries I think I also understand a bit of what you wanted to say, Asyut…… and so I thought about different things on top of those”
Yuna straightened her posture on the bed And then, like that, lowered her head deeply
“But I still won’t yield on wanting to save Duo So, please, lend th”
“……”
A gentle silence flowed
Finally, by the time she felt like she was unable to endure that silence a second longer, Asyut opened his mouth
“Before I answer, there is so I must talk to you about”
Asyut’s words were neither an affirmative nor a refusal Yuna raised her head, perplexed What could he possibly want to talk about?
Yuna fell uneasily silent and Asyut draped his coat over her shoulders before sitting down in a chair beside her
“First, even if I were to cooperate in Duo’s release, h to do this This is because your influence is too strong, Lady Celiastina It is absolute that those who defy you are immediately executed To overturn that…… yes, you would need the cooperation of soiously strong, like Lady Yodel”
“I’ll definitely do soain until he lends his strength”