MPBAGS Chapter 27

Gabriel had to go meet that kindly looking old-coot bishop from earlier, so I should graciously excuse myself here.

Did I accomplish everything I needed to? I successfully rescued Henna and Kanna from that noble's harassment, the girls saw the painting, and though I didn't see it myself because it burned—well, I had no intention of looking at it anyway. I retrieved the statement, and I even earned a favorability point with Gabriel by saving one of his knights.

A new character named Daisy suddenly appeared out of nowhere, but Gabriel still seems to like me, so no problem!

"Should we head back now?"

"Yes!"

Kanna answered enthusiastically. She'd been waiting here for hours, so of course she'd be eager to leave.

As I gathered my things and stood, Gabriel reached out as if to stop me. His hand hovered awkwardly in the air, unable to quite commit to actually grabbing me.

"You're leaving?"

What, should I stay and live here with you? I bit my tongue to stop the sarcasm from escaping. Right... I'm a romance fantasy resident now. I can't show disgust and make a scene just because the male lead throws out romantic lines. I need to charm the male lead properly and escape the villainess fate.

"It's getting late."

"Then I'll escort you to your carriage."

Gabriel rose from his seat. Since he had to see the bishop anyway, he was probably planning to see me off at the same time.

When we stepped back outside, the sun had already begun to set.

The carriage wasn't far. The coachman, who'd been sitting in the driver's seat trembling, gasped when he saw me. Oh right, I'd startled him earlier with that sudden teleportation. I'd forgotten.

I started to explain the situation to reassure him when the carriage door opened. Jelly peeked his face out without fully stepping down.

"You're back?"

"Good work, Jelly."

His tone demanded attention for all his hard work. I was patting Jelly's head and praising him when Gabriel called out to me.

"Lady Rohanson."

I turned to find Gabriel extending his hand. What's this? Ah. He was probably offering to help me board the carriage.

I placed my hand on Gabriel's. But his hand kept rising, and then Gabriel brought his lips to the back of my hand. For a moment I almost hit him out of pure shock. So it wasn't an escort—he was greeting me.

I knew this was the romance fantasy style of greeting, but experiencing it firsthand felt... strange? I should have worn gloves! At least Gabriel only mimed the gesture.

Still, the ticklish feeling remained. Instead of moist skin touching my bare hand, I felt his breath. As warm, soft breaths touched the back of my hand, I somehow felt shy and wanted to run away immediately.

"I look forward to seeing you again."

Without responding to Gabriel's words, I simply climbed into the carriage. Kanna, the last to board, deliberately made a loud noise as she slammed the door shut forcefully.

While listening to Kanna grumble about how much she disliked Gabriel, I briefly considered telling her he was originally meant for her.

Oblivious to my troubled heart, the carriage rolled smoothly along.

Long after the Rohanson County carriage disappeared from view, Raphaela—who'd been standing there in a daze—finally regained his senses.

"What... what were you doing?"

He was so flustered his words came out broken.

"A farewell greeting."

"What on earth were you thinking..."

The answer Gabriel gave back was infuriatingly sensible. But if the other party is that Evangeline, isn't kissing her hand as a farewell greeting actually insane? Honestly, whether it's the Commander or Uriel below him, how can they all be so carefree? Michel is crazy anyway, so we'll skip him.

"And just now too. Commander, why didn't you tell her everything? Before we came here, Lady Evangeline and the nun were talking, and your name came up. The nun probably confessed everything to the lady..."

When Evangeline Rohanson had interrogated Gabriel about what he'd heard, Raphaela had wished the Commander would just tell her everything honestly. The moment he met Evangeline's red eyes, his heart had plummeted. Her gaze at that moment had been like a dangerously sharp blade.

So he'd desperately signaled with his eyes and hands to just tell her... But instead, Gabriel had lied.

At that moment, Raphaela had prepared himself to leave this world, thinking it was all over—but then Gabriel went even further and handed Evangeline the statement.

It naturally contained everything Daisy had confessed in detail. What was the point of lying with your mouth if your hands were going to be honest? But Evangeline had looked at it and just... let it go.

"Why did you do that? I'm sure you had your reasons, Commander..."

It had been Gabriel's instinct-like intuition.

From his early experience, what Evangeline Rohanson valued most was immersion in her role. Based on her actions so far and her courteous manner of speaking, she seemed to be acting in a way that made others see her as Evangeline Rohanson when in public.

The only time Evangeline Rohanson had shed her ladylike demeanor was when Gabriel had overstepped and offered to help her. She'd been so furious because he'd tried to strip away that role.

So Gabriel had appeased her this time too. He couldn't risk her fury by lying, so he handed over the paper, but he said the complete opposite to signal he'd pretend not to have seen it. Fortunately, Gabriel's handling seemed to please Evangeline.

And by deliberately giving her a farewell greeting, Gabriel had realized one more thing.

He'd extended his hand for the greeting.

Though Evangeline wasn't short, the size difference between her and Gabriel was considerable, so her hand was much smaller than his.

Her body temperature was extremely low. He'd placed his hand over hers and focused on her fingertips to feel her pulse.

Even as he mimed kissing her hand, he'd known Evangeline Rohanson wouldn't pull away. He'd deliberately slowed down, bringing his lips close slowly while counting her heartbeats. Slow but definite—her heart was beating. Small but present—she was breathing.

He'd suspected a corpse was being forced to move, but she was clearly alive.

Daisy had said Evangeline Rohanson was animating a dead body, but those words were wrong. However, the thought that what resided within wasn't human remained the same. Evangeline regarded people as mere creatures and made being treated like a creature feel natural.

The moment he'd first seen Evangeline remained vivid.

Among all living, breathing things, the only thing that was dead.

Among all warm things, the one starkly cold.

That's what made Evangeline Rohanson special.

Gabriel unconsciously touched his lips. Even though he hadn't actually kissed her hand, Evangeline's low temperature remained like a brand.

Uriel went to the infirmary and laid Michel on a bed. Could he leave now? He'd already been doused with holy water, so there shouldn't be any need for additional treatment... Just as Uriel was about to leave the infirmary, Seraph entered.

There had been sounds of clashing swords earlier when he'd arrived—Seraph must have been sparring. There was a shallow cut near his neck. Seraph looked at the soaking wet Michel and reacted with shock and alarm.

"Sir Michel! Wh-what happened? Why are you so wet? Are you hurt? It's not cold sweat, is it? Don't die, Sir Micheeeel...!"

"Sir Seraph, calm down. It's just holy water."

"What? Was he injured that badly? Or—oh no, he didn't jump into a fountain, did he?"

Seraph was particularly timid and prone to worry. Uriel explained what had happened to prevent any misunderstandings.

Every time he said something, Seraph inserted his own speculation in between, distorting the story and slowing its progress.

Their conversation continued until Gabriel and the knights stopped by the infirmary after seeing Evangeline off.

"That's how it happened."

"I see... I understand perfectly."

Watching the two converse, Raphaela nearly closed the door again. Melodramatic Seraph and simple, clueless Uriel—a terrible combination.

Fortunately, besides those two, a knight named Jeremiah was also in the infirmary. Jeremiah had come looking for Seraph when he hadn't returned after going to the infirmary for a quick treatment during their sparring session, and had ended up trapped here. When Jeremiah's eyes met Raphaela's, he flailed his hands in a plea for rescue.

"Sir Raphaela! Commander!"

"Commander. What about Lady Rohanson?"

"She's gone."

"Ah..."

Uriel sounded so regretful that Raphaela was confused whether "gone" meant she'd ascended to heaven.

"What about Michel?"

"He's still aslee—oh, he's awake?"

Seraph exchanged an awkward greeting with Michel, whose eyes were wide open. Raphaela pressed his hand to his forehead.

"Ah... My apologies. The two of you were talking so enjoyably that it was difficult for me to interrupt."

Michel, who'd been scratching his cheek, sat up. Fortunately, there seemed to be nothing wrong with his movements.

"Michel, are you alright?"

"Yes. I apologize for the concern."

"Do you remember what happened?"

"Yes. I remember some things, and I just heard Sir Uriel's account, so I roughly understand the situation."

After examining Michel, Gabriel and Raphaela were greatly relieved to see he had no injuries and seemed fine. It was thanks to the holy water Evangeline had poured. Looking at him now, his mental state also seemed to have returned to normal. Still, they needed to ask just in case.

"Michel, are you okay now? Not your body—your head."

"Pardon?"

"Do you still think what was depicted in that painting was an angel?"

"Ah... I apologize. I don't understand why I thought that way at the time. Now that I think about it, it was an extremely ominous and grotesque painting."

"Looks like you've come back to your senses."

Raphaela sat down on the bed opposite where Michel lay, greatly relieved. Michel, you bastard, making us worry like that.

"Michel, you should really be grateful to us. We locked you in a room to make you snap out of it, but how did you escape and then have the nerve to embrace something on fire? If it hadn't been for Lady Rohanson, you would have been seriously injured."

Raphaela vented his pent-up frustration at Michel. Michel listened sheepishly to Raphaela's words, but when Evangeline was mentioned, his eyes lit up.