Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 53: Crumbling
Elliot and Lloyd were walking toward the Order’s quarters when voices drew their attention. Across the courtyard, Marianne accompanied Emily, who leaned upon a maid.
“Emily ……? What’s wrong?”
When Elliot called, Marianne noticed and bowed briefly. Emily didn’t react; she kept her head lowered and allowed the maid to lead her away.
“…I wonder if something happened…?”
Emily ordinarily sensed Elliot’s presence and hurried toward him. Her haggard exhaustion was bewildering.
“If I recall, a stray undead beast appeared northeast of the capital. Emily accompanied the high-ranking knights as encouragement. Marcus and the others just returned. Shall we ask them?”
Elliot nodded and approached the knights inside the gate. Marcus and Richard noticed them and hurried over, looking pale.
“Did something happen? Emily appeared unwell.”
“No! The extermination proceeded smoothly and ended without incident!”
Marcus’s report came in a strange staccato. Richard also watched Elliot thoughtfully.
“Are you certain? Both of you’re behaving strangely.”
“It’s not that there was anything ……”
Marcus quietly described what occurred during the encounter.
“Emily fled from the undead beast?”
Elliot murmured in disbelief. Even after Marcus’s account, he struggled to accept it. Yet Marcus’s somber, dejected expression gave no sign of a lie.
Marcus lowered his head. “Vice Commander Elliot, perhaps we made a mistake.”
“I heard Lady Emily remains poor at healing magic and possesses only purification at an ordinary cleric’s level. Even that’s unstable and slow, so she’s still an apprentice. I think she told us that at the very beginning…”
Elliot blinked. Marcus’s normally loud, lively voice now rang confused and hesitant in his ears.
“When wounds were severe, priests treated them first… I remember that clearly.”
Elliot searched his own memories. On the battlefield, Emily once complained that a priest disliked her. Afterward, Elliot had resented clergy who intervened and healed him before she could.
“Healing is visible as a wound closes. But purification can’t be confirmed by sight…”
“Decay takes at least two days to begin, so purification could wait. At first, we did tell them to wait and let Emily perform it…”
Marcus and Richard’s voices sank. Other high-ranking knights appeared to remember as well and looked troubled.
“But ……”
The more Elliot searched his memories, the more their account rang true. He fell silent, unable to continue, as several people approached behind him.
Crown Prince Alexis came toward them with an attendant.
Elliot and the knights lined the corridor, made way, and offered abbreviated salutes.
“At ease. Forgive me. Since you couldn’t find time for an audience, I came personally. It appears worthwhile.”
Alexis spoke calmly to Elliot.
“Although you’ve already decided the matter, I still wanted you to know.”
With a smile, Alexis entered the knights’ chamber. They followed, and his attendant laid several documents on the table.
“I requested an audience several times. Our schedules never seemed to agree.”
Alexis chuckled. Elliot frowned at the documents and froze. One was a signed promissory note from his distant memories.
“It’s obvious when the documents are viewed together.”
Lloyd, Marcus and Richard all had looks of shock on their faces.
“You knew only the entries on a list, so this may be your first time seeing the actual notes. After your triumphant return, this matter must have been on your mind.”
Alexis placed one note atop another so their signatures aligned.
“As you can see, the signatures were meticulously copied and forged. I examined every document; all used similar methods. None of these debts ever existed.”
Alexis’s voice seemed distant. Elliot’s ears rang and dizziness swept over him. Yet beneath the shock and discomfort, part of him recognized that he had always known.
The truth exposed his own terribly distorted preconceptions.
—At the time, I wanted Flora to be a bad wife. Somewhere within me, I wanted to believe it.
The conclusion sickened him now.
It excused his attraction to a woman other than his wife.
That was why he believed the accusation without question, although he knew Flora was incapable of such behavior.
Elliot stood silent, as though the ground beneath his feet had vanished.
Seeing him frozen and bloodless, Alexis breathed in and tried to continue.
“Holy Knight Elliot, and all you high-ranking knights, listen. This is…”
The door opened before he could finish. Dylan Agreas Ziemeld and his attendant entered.
“Your Highness, there you are. His Majesty wishes to see you concerning an urgent matter.”
Behind the calmly speaking Agreas, a breathless Royal Guard messenger plainly had run all the way.
Alexis frowned, sighed with resignation, ordered his attendant to collect the documents, and departed.