In the middle of faint consciousness, I smell something bitter. As I licked my lips, the bitter taste surged from the throat. Seems like it"s not from a bitter food, did someone feed me some medicine? Without hesitating, I open my eyes.
I"m not familiar with this room.
Waking up in an unfamiliar place after lost consciousness wasn"t a rare experience. However, usually my body would always stay the same. I just straighten up my upper body and sit on the bed. Then, I lower my head and stare at both of my hands.
“Oh… they"re small!”
A pair of white and soft small hands without callous. That d.a.m.n Demon King said he would switched my soul and seemed like he succeed. In that case, this girl"s soul was in my body? Not good… I"m worry about her safety.
Ughh…she was suddenly in the middle of the Demon King"s castle ruins, right?!
It"s impossible for a delicate girl to find the right exit from the castle ruins without any directions board. If she could get out from the Demon King"s castle and explored the woods, certainly there were some Holy Knights Squad on guard, but the distance was too far… Another problem was, it"s not guaranteed that she could take the right way. If she took the opposite way, she instead would went deep into uninhabited mountains.
First I need to visit the church and ask them to send a rescue team.
Afterwards, I have to find a way to return to my original body. If I couldn"t find the solution by myself, I"m certain that I could find it by capturing another Demon King and exhort him to open his mouth. After I decided it, I get up from bed. As soon as I stand up straight after woobled a bit, I feel like I"ve got shortened by a head than my previous height.
“It turns out her body is also short.”
Well actually I was considered tall for a woman, but from a normal girl height, this girl was short, wasn"t it? She didn"t look like a little girl. She got breast and even though her body was small, but it"s closer to be an adult woman. I looked around quickly then make a dissapointed face.
“How could there is no mirror in a girl"s room? Even I have one in my room.”
Not only the room isn"t s.p.a.cious but also deserted. The available furnitures are only a bed, a table, two chairs, and an empty display cabinet. Sigh… perhaps this place is decent as it was used to make sacrifices for Demon King.
I"m actually feeling uncomfortable as I wear this white night gown, but there aren"t any change of clothes here and I can"t even find the wardrobe, so I just leave the room. Not even more than a couple steps, I meet with a maid who"s bringing a tray with medicine on it. With surprised look in her eyes, the maid stares at me.
“Miss! Miss finally wake up!”
Miss? Being called this way is the first time ever in my life. I feel a little embarra.s.sed. I scratch my head a bit out of my usual habits and ask her.
“How long was I unconscious?”
“A week. A week ago Miss suddenly collapsed.”
“It has already been a week?”
Sigh… It turns out time has pa.s.sed much longer than I expected.
“Was there any peculiar incident while I unconscious?”
After all, I was the leader of the Holy Knights with acknowledgement from The G.o.ddess and the High Priest. In other words, if they discovered my corpse, the news should have spread in this area even if this place was in another country. After the maid listened to my question, she"s seem a bit hesitated before finally answered.
“I"m not sure whether I should tell Miss when you"ve just regain your consciousness.”
“Just say it!”
“Ughh…”
The maid took a deep long breath then said, “Master Roel, the leader of the Holy Knights… has pa.s.sed away.”
“WHAT?!”
F**K!! Pa.s.sed away?!
The maid frowned and looked at me with concern.
“Miss must have felt… really shocked.”
“What …?”
Yeah. Of course I"m very shocked to hear I– to be exact, my body—-died. But, shouldn"t this Miss whose body I occupied, not care about that matter? It couldn"t be that she is my relatives, I"m an orphan anyway.
“Miss really likes him, right?”
“Ah…”
Oh… I get it now. Seems like this Miss was also one of my admirer. Even though I"m like this, I was really popular amongst the girls in the capital city. You know, I was handsome, capable, and friendly. A good looking man with blue eyes and blonde hair who managed to occupied the posit.i.tion of leader of Holy Knights at the age of 20 years old! It"s no other than me, Roel. Well… even though my real gender is female. Anyways, Holy Knights weren"t allowed to get married, let them thought I was a male, without caring what my real gender is.
I let out a long breath then stared at the maid.
“I want to hear about the news in detail.”
“Okay. But now Miss should return to the bedroom and drink the medicine. Miss has just waken up, it"s not good for the body to stay outside any longer.”
“Mm…”
I quite dislike drinking medicine, but I still nodded obidiently and return back to the bedroom.
As soon as I sat down on the bed and drank the medicine, the maid started to retell the story.
“Half a month ago, the Holy Knights Squad went to defeat the Demon King Avros who placed a curse on His Highness the Crown Prince.”
“Yeah.”
Until I got near the demon castle, I was still together within the squad. However, the priests that departed together with us weren"t capable enough to pa.s.s the Demon King"s barrier and I was the only one who managed to pa.s.s through the barrier so I entered alone. If the Demon King really did lost his power based on what he said before, probably the barrier had dissapeared now.
“Thankfully His Highness the Crown Prince"s curse has been successfully lifted but Master Roel who faced the Demon King by himself… lost his life.”
“Really?”
Arghhh that f.u.c.king b.a.s.t.a.r.d demon king! He had already succeed in switching my soul, how could he even still killed my body that I left behind? If there was anything to be thankful for, it"s this girl"s soul who had gotten salvation. If it went according to how it should proceed, her soul should be fallen into Demon King"s hands, but her soul could return to the G.o.ddess" embrace due to have been switched with my soul which directly canceled the contract with Demon King as his sacrifice.
But no matter how I think about it, how could a young woman who could get herself a maid, established a soul contract with Demon King?
“Miss?”
The maid in front of me stared at me while I felt deep in thought, full with suspicion.
“Are you really okay Miss?
“Eh? Oh, what a pity. I still can"t believe he"s gone.”
“…, Miss.”
With serious expression, she continued to speak.
“I have noticed it since we met in the corridor. Miss seems to have changed a bit.”
Well, of course it can"t be help right?! Because the soul inside this body has changed. But, I just can"t suddenly say that I"m the leader of the Holy Knights who died, right? In this situation, one thing I should do is obvious.
“Seems like… I have lost my memories.”
“…, what?”
“I lost my memories! Did my head b.u.mp into something when I fainted?”
By claiming that I lost my memories is the best solution I could think right now. Its much better than being considered a mad person just because I confess the truth, right? The maid"s face become paler after heard my words.
“L-Lost memories?”
“Yeah. Whats my name again?”
“S-Silla Epheria…. but Miss really lost your memories?”
“I asked because I really did lost my memories, alright? Epheria, is it?”
There was no such household name in my memory. Well, it can"t be help that I only remember a few household names that I could barely count on my fingers.
“Anything else?”
“Miss is the eldest daughter of Count Epheria family, this year you are nineteen years old… Miss really doesn"t remember anything?”
“Once again I told you, I"m asking because I really don"t remember anything. Otherwise, do I have any reason to lie?”
“Ughh… ermm…t-thats…”
The maid muttered unclearly with confused look. Did this body"s original owner really has enough reason to feign amnesia? Well… thats not something to be surprised of, because in reality the eldest daughter of a Count family made a contract with a Demon King. A young n.o.ble lady who sold her soul wasn"t something common afterall.
“Its fine if you don"t want to say it.”
The Count family will be banished by the church if proven guilty that they made a contract with a Demon King. Futhermore, there was that curse problem that implicated the Crown Prince, if they took a misstep, they could possibly regarded as a rebel. Naturally its impossible for a lowly servant to know something important in detail and wouldn"t easily open their mouths. It will be much faster to know the detail by urging the Count rather than asking to a servant.
“Miss…”
The maid opened her mouth while her eyes br.i.m.m.i.n.g in tears with determined looks as if she had made an important decision.
“Miss, you should leave the household by using this excuse!”
“…, what?”
“Miss should go to the church where The Priestess" live to recover your health. By doing so, Madam and Miss" fiancee can"t do anything to you.”
First, lets pretend there"s nothing weird on how the maid mentioned the Madam, but…
“I have a fiancee?”
“…. yes. Miss has an a.s.shole fiancee who acts like those hooligans in small alley.”
This is not good.
“And, my mother?”
“Madam is Miss" stepmother. The young master is still very young, so she saw Miss as a thorn in her heart.”
So thats the reason why my room is in this state.
“Then, how about my father?”
“I"m not sure what happened, but the Lord feels distant with Miss.”
“Long before he got married to my stepmother or after they got married?”
“Ermm… thats… since Miss was born.”
Its highly possible that the one who sold this girl to the Demon King is the Count himself. Seems like he sacrificed his first child as the repayment for the contract. Actually, sacrificing a human as a repayment for the contract with a demon can"t proceed if there is no will from the party involved, however a soul from a child who has not been conceived is an exception. A child could get a protection from the G.o.ddess at least if he had already been conceived in a belly. Well most demons rarely accept a contract where one use an unborn child because they highly suffered a loss if someone deliberately not having any children or not being able to have children.
What exactly did the Count Epheria gain by sacrifice his daughter? As a matter of fact, the life of a young lady named Silla was full of bitterness. She lost her mother since birth, discarded by her father even before she was born, got a bad treatment from her stepmother, had a sc.u.m fiancee, and lastly died in young age. At least she avoided a bad fate of having her soul trapped by that ‘dude" (aka demon king).
“For the meantime, I"m thinking of delaying my departure to the church.”
I feel like I should investigate the contract between the Count and BlBla. Since the contract had been fulfilled, there must be no evidence left behind. Therefore it will be easier if I probe by pretending as Silla, the Count"s daughter.
“But, Miss… Miss even got amnesia, is Miss going to be okay?”
“After I heard your stories, seems like there"re no one who cares either I lost my memories or not. Oh, right. Whats your name?”
“I"m Sofia, Miss.”
After respectfully answered with a face full of worries, Sofia started to explain about Count Epheria household.