66 [1-66] Still a weak picker. (2/2)

I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that I'm not the only one who's interested in this.

No, father. It's not ...... necessary anymore.

What?

I felt like I knew what was going on.

I couldn't ask him what.

I couldn't ask him what. He seemed to be afraid to ask further.

”...... Father. Can I get some rest?

”Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I'm sorry. You must be tired. Get some rest.

And with that, Catherine left in a flash.

* * *

Katherine was in her bedroom, dressed in her nightgown, throwing herself on the bed.

The fiasco at King's Landing, the chaos of the escape, and the forced march in the carriage. I was so exhausted that I didn't want to move my body anymore, but I didn't feel like sleeping at all. I could hear the crackling of wood from the fireplace.

--That wasn't Iris from the ...... beginning.

That thought was now a certainty in Catherine's mind.

She had been ruminating on the conversation she had had with the thing that had taken the form of Iris.

She couldn't forget the bottomless emptiness and sadness in his eyes when he said, ”I'm happy just to have my mother.

When she said, ”Everyone is unhappy,” she could not forget the heavy voice that sounded as if it carried all the unhappiness in the world.

I wonder if those were Iris's words. ...... Maybe so.

But if you think of it as René's words, they fit together too well. Everything fits together.

Every night we talked about trivial things.

She told me tales of her adventures (I don't know if they were made up or if Iris was really experiencing them), and Catherine told me stories about herself.

We laughed when things were funny. Sigh in the warmth of hot milk.

Was it all a lie?

Was she just hiding under the guise of Iris to get revenge, and acting as Iris to avoid suspicion?

Did she sneer at Catherine in her mind when she thought she was having a good time chatting with her?

No, she thought.

She thought that Rene was there as a girl, unmasked as a revenant.

Rene was a girl her own age to Catherine.

She imagined what it would be like if she had lost her parents for some unreasonable reason and had been beheaded.

She was sad, frustrated, lonely, and painful, and she didn't think she could bear it.

Of course I'd be lonely. ......

Unable to stand it any longer, Catherine rushed to the window.

It was still early in the evening, but in winter the sun set early. The silvery moon was shining in the sky.

Rene knew that the Rose Princess of Hell was a monster that had invaded the capital with a large number of undead monsters.

Even though she knew that, Catherine couldn't help but feel sorry for Rene.

”Rene, ...... don't you need a friend, ......?

Catherine's breath fogged the window.

The girl who would later be known as ”the one who blocks the thorns” and ”the war goddess of powerlessness and inflexibility”, Catherine Margaretha Kiely.

For the rest of her life, she was ......