Chapter 190

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The Demon Domain’s Forbidden Book Repository, deep within the section that housed forbidden curse magic.

Upon arriving here, Sheffy felt a complicated mix of emotions.

The books were noticeably denser than before, and the number of fire torches had dropped by more than half, leaving the lighting dim.

Sheffy gathered 【Light Magic】 in her hand for illumination, letting it rise and float, casting light in place of the torches to brighten the area.

At the same time, her peripheral gaze subtly shifted—discreetly locking onto Belith.

With her wings spread, Belith flitted through the towering stone shelves, flipping through books with an air of unfamiliar curiosity.

“Royal Sister, are the books you’re looking for in this section? Eh… I didn’t know the Forbidden Repository went this deep. This is my first time here—have you been here before, Royal Sister?”

“I have. You’re sure you’ve never been here?”

“I don’t think so? I don’t remember. I think the only time I came to the Forbidden Repository was to find a book about cooking for Mother. I definitely didn’t come this deep though? Why do you ask, Royal Sister?”

“It’s nothing. Just keep looking.”

“Hmm?”

“I need a book on cooking too.”

“Okay!”

Belith responded casually, then earnestly resumed her search, as if it came naturally.

—As though this truly was her first time in this place.

Sheffy withdrew her gaze, her eyes sweeping over the cold stone tiles surrounding them.

Not far from her feet lay a scorched mark.

The sight of that blackened patch made her heart skip a beat, a trace of cold sweat seeping from her forehead.

To Sheffy, this place still harbored lingering terror.

Back then, when Belith sought power and suffered backlash from a forbidden curse, she was nearly burned to death by demonic flames. At the time, Sheffy had only just attained Eight Wings and was still unfamiliar with handling that level of power. To say she hadn’t panicked or felt heartache, or that she wasn’t frightened and haunted by that moment—would be sheer bravado.

Belith’s personality had certainly changed. She now saw many things with clarity and composure.

Sheffy had surmised that perhaps Belith remembered the moment in this very place, when she was rescued from despair by her own hands.

But in the end, that was only Sheffy’s assumption.

Belith had never once said she remembered anything.

The forbidden curse magic, 【Origin】, included among its costs a side effect—memories relating to its use would be lost.

Could it be that… Belith’s change really did come from her own awakening and realization? That she hadn’t remembered any of it at all?

But in truth, the answer to that question no longer mattered. What mattered was that Belith’s life had returned to the right path. She was no longer extreme.

And if she truly had forgotten… then perhaps that was for the best.

To be burned near to death by unquenchable white flames… just the thought alone was enough to cause nightmares.

As those thoughts drifted through her mind, Sheffy was suddenly interrupted by a sound coming from the stone ceiling above.

“Royal Sister! I can translate the parts that have already been deciphered, but most of these books—I really can’t read them! There’s too much undeciphered ancient script. If you’re looking for information about that kingdom princess’s abilities, I think we should go ask Jeffriel first?”

“Ah? That’s too much trouble. Who even knows if Uncle Jeffriel is still in the Demon Domain right now? Besides, I doubt he’d know anything useful. Asking would be a waste.”

“That’s true…”

Jeffriel, the Six-Winged Demon, had lived for centuries. His strength was extraordinary, his prestige widely recognized, and he commanded a noble faction of his own.

In addition to all that, he had long studied ancient languages.

Besides holding the position of commander of the Demon King’s Army Fourth Division, Uncle Jeffriel could also be considered an archaeologist!

But just as Sheffy had said, archaeology was one thing—if they really asked him to decipher a whole book’s worth of ancient script from scratch, who knew how long that would take.

Fortunately—

Sheffy had come prepared!

She pulled a small notebook from her chest, decorated with delicate feathers.

Matching the messy handwriting in the notebook, Sheffy began flipping through a book she retrieved from the stone shelf.

Belith retracted her five wings and gracefully drifted down beside Sheffy, lightly pressing her shoulder. The violet floral scent on Belith enveloped Sheffy’s senses.

“Royal Sister, what’s this?”

“A notebook. Are you blind?”

“Ugh… Royal Sister, you’re still so mean! I know it’s a notebook—I meant, what’s written in it? Ancient script? And there’s a translation too…! Wait—Royal Sister, where did you get this?!”

“Sylatrella wrote it for me. I heard she stayed up several nights writing this… Tch, that girl. Maybe she actually did something really useful for once. Guess I won’t call her a perverted freak today.”

Jeffriel may have lived for centuries and seen the world—

But even he couldn’t compare to that one blue-haired loli.

Back when Sylatrella learned to read, the script she used was ancient text!

—

20. What’s She Up To?

Holding the notebook, Sheffy seemed to envision Sylatrella recently burning the midnight oil, furiously scribbling notes by lamplight, racking her brain with a dumbfounded expression.

The handwriting in the notebook was clumsy, uneven—like fiery red ants scurrying around chaotically. The way she held the pen might’ve been entirely wrong.

And yet Sylatrella had persevered, night after night, sitting alone by the lake, under moonlight, recalling the texts she had once read. She pulled them from the depths of memories dating back a thousand years—like lifting fine grains of sand from the ocean, cautious and meticulous.

The reason she wanted to write these characters—Little Holy Sword knew it well.

Sometimes, Sylatrella would suddenly remember…

That she was merely a wandering soul awakened from the river of time.

By a twist of fate, she had continued to exist thanks to Lady Sheffy’s magic. She was deeply grateful that Sheffy had brought her into this era.

Awoken from a grand slumber, blood once shed now flowed as a gentle stream; a mountain of corpses had become a field of blooming flowers.

A time when wars were rare—a time when the Demon King’s Army had not invaded the royal capital, when she did not need to leap into lava to change anything.

A time without the cold stares of family—without anyone calling her a monster different from others.

And no one said… that she was something that should never have existed.

Lady Sheffy had simply said, as long as you don’t cause trouble, just live however you want. Run around, stir up chaos if you like—this world is big enough to tolerate a tiny pervert like you.

The words weren’t pleasant, but Sylatrella loved hearing them.

And precisely because of this…

Now, she was especially afraid of being abandoned again.

She knew well that she didn’t belong to this era—her very existence was an oddity.

Even if she claimed to have a mother, to have a home, it was all just self-deception.

She didn’t actually like fishing that much, yet she always followed behind Lady Sheffy to help scoop the fish with the net. But many times, Lady Sheffy caught nothing, so there was no fish for her to scoop.

“Not needed”—that was a rather terrifying phrase.

Every time she followed behind Lady Sheffy on the way home, empty-handed, bathed in the sunset’s afterglow, Sylatrella was always afraid of hearing those words:

—So useless.

—We don’t need you anymore.

—Your only value is sacrifice. You were born to save all people. Your birth exists for the sake of your death.

Lady Sheffy had never said such things.

But Sylatrella still lived in fear.

After all, her family from a thousand years ago had always been full of laughter and warmth—yet in the end, with just one sentence, they pushed her into a sea of flames.

She dared not speak of it. She pretended to be optimistic.

She pretended to be carefree, only knowing how to eat and drink, all so she wouldn’t trouble anyone—so she wouldn’t make anyone unhappy.

Because if she made others unhappy…

They would realize that she was unnecessary.

Sylatrella wracked her brain for many sleepless nights, writing everything contained in this little notebook.

All simply because she had once overheard Lady Sheffy complaining to Xiarette like this:

【I can reproduce Aimeris’s instant-cast magic, but I’m not sure if it follows this principle. If possible… I don’t want to draw conclusions from half-baked information. Any careless assumptions could lead to irreversible consequences. The opponent claims to be a god after all—it’s better to assume she really is than risk assuming she’s not. We could check the Demon Domain’s Forbidden Book Repository to see if there are related records, but… ugh, what a hassle. I can’t read ancient text at all. Each character takes forever to decipher. It’s exhausting.】

Sylatrella listened—and was overjoyed.

She felt that she could finally share Lady Sheffy’s burden, truly, for once!

She had eagerly run off to the market by herself, using the pocket money Lady Sheffy had given her, to buy a little notebook and a feather pen.

It was originally meant for donuts—but more than donuts, Sylatrella loved it when Sheffy smiled at her.

She had rushed home excitedly, and every day, poured her effort into recalling the ancient characters and matching them one-to-one with modern kingdom text. Then she compared kingdom text with demon text and discovered that both shared notable similarities in their ancient linguistic roots. Linking them was not a problem, and most translations could be reasonably interpreted.

She worked hard for many days.

Every day, she was drowsy with exhaustion.

Reaching across such a vast stretch of time to retrieve memories—was not something easy.

But Sylatrella had to do it—because things that seemed trivial to others were, to her, the entirety of her self-worth.

At last, just in time for the day when Lady Sheffy would be coming to the Forbidden Book Repository—

Sylatrella had finally completed the little notebook that carried her value!

【Lady Sheffy, look! I wrote this—it’s something only I could write! No one else remembers it!】

【Why are you emphasizing “only you” could do it…? Well, hmm?! Not bad at all! You really do have some skill, huh? Say no more—once I get back from the Forbidden Repository, I’ll make you a whole sweet-and-sour fish!】

“Ah…”

“What’s wrong, Royal Sister? Why the sigh? Isn’t it way easier now that we have a translated reference?”

“It’s nothing. I wasn’t sighing about that… I just… never mind. You wouldn’t understand even if I told you.”

“That’s mean…”

I really am kind of mean.

Thinking about it more carefully, Sheffy finally understood why Sylatrella had emphasized “only I could write it” when she handed over that notebook earlier.

That little pervert really had it tough…

Sheffy figured she’d owe her a small apology when they got back. She’d give her some praise, too. As for that sweet-and-sour fish—maybe a little extra sugar wouldn’t hurt.

Sheffy’s expression gradually softened. Belith, fully aware of this kind of gentleness, clasped her hands behind her back and paced slowly. While hovering closer to the stone shelf, she muttered softly to herself.

“Even the Holy Sword is willing to work that hard for Royal Sister… Royal Sister hasn’t changed—she still has that charm that makes everything and everyone depend on her… I’m just a little jealous.”

At first glance, one might think Belith was admiring Sheffy’s magnetic personality.

Years ago, that might have been true—Belith would have viewed it from that angle.

But the jealousy in her voice now was aimed at Sylatrella—and at all those who now relied on Royal Sister.

Royal Sister used to be just my Royal Sister… we were always together, every day… but now she has to divide her attention and care about their problems too. How could Belith not feel envious and stifled?

Sheffy hadn’t quite caught Belith’s quiet muttering. She asked again, but Belith didn’t offer any explanation.

“What the heck…? Talking halfway and stopping—how annoying. Whatever. Belith, did you find any books about 【Word Spirit Arts】? Or 【Instant-Cast Magic】 would be fine too. Seriously, why are all these bizarre techniques popping up lately?”

“Not yet. Hmm? Royal Sister, isn’t that one next to you about Word Spirit Arts?”

“Which one?”

“That gray-covered one.”

“Hah…! Right under my nose the whole time—just fell into my lap without any effort. You’ve got a good eye, Belith. Uh… wait.”

“……”

Belith, who had been facing away while searching for books, froze in place.

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