Seijo ni Narunode Nidoume no Jinsei wa Katte ni Sasetemoraimasu ~Outaihi wa, Zensei de Watashi wo Fu

     “Rebecca, can you hold it down?” 

     Rebecca nodded at Liz’s words. Her long hands passed behind the Holy dragon and opened its mouth wide.

     “Come on, Shiro. It’ll be over soon.” Liz carefully inserted her finger into the dragon’s mouth. It made a ‘gue’ sound to vomit.

     “Huh?” For some reason, instead of just her finger, her right hand was sucked into its throat. From the mouth of the dragon, her hand seemed to be growing.

     “Eh!?”

     Rebecca screamed at the horrendous sight in front of her. 

     ‘After all, what came out of the sacred fruit is a little different.’

     Before the screaming Rebecca, Liz forced herself to pull off the Holy dragon with all her strength that was swallowed up until her right wrist. 

     “Next, I’ll go and get some nauseatic or emetic medicine. A strong one.” 

     In the mixing room, the doctors were working hard to dry and grind the herbs. When she told him the situation, he quickly dissolved the powdered medicine in water and gave it to Liz with a proud, confident face.

     “It’s for humans, but it also works for animals. Well, I don’t know about the Holy dragon, but I assume it’s all right since it worked for the beast.”

     “Thank you. Open your mouth, Shiro.” Liz poured the muddy green medicine in the vessel into the Holy dragon’s mouth.

     “Wait, just a sip! Don’t let it drink too much!” The doctor loudly said to stop her, but it’s too late. The Holy Dragon has drunk all of its contents.

     “GUW…!”

     Liz has never heard the Holy dragon make that sound. It was a horrifying sound, like a sign that a volcano will soon erupt.

     Liz and Rebecca expectantly watched. Behind them, the doctors hurriedly sheltered themselves to the wall, holding  medicinal plants and tools.

     “GUW . . .!” The Holy Dragon’s face became even whiter and its eyes began to swim. And…

     Nothing happened.

     Its cheeks instantly regained their normal complexion, chirping out a “Kyu”.

     “Why!? I’d like a stronger medicine. A strong one!”

     “No, that’s the strongest medicine! Even with one mouthful, a huge beast would’ve spat out whatever is in its belly…”

     “That’s a Holy Dragon…”

     “Wow…” The doctors who were watching were pale, their eyes wide.

     There is no way. Liz turned to the Holy dragon.

     “Isn’t it possible to use the power of the Holy Dragon? The power that got rid of Grace’s fruit.”

     Now that it’s small, it’s just a bruised, gluttonous dragon, but when it’s big, it gives out an overwhelming feeling. Recognizing the meaning of those words, the Holy dragon seemed to be irritated. It spread out its wings and puffed up its chest as if saying, “Look!” Its red eyes opened and shined.

     “…!”

     The body of the Holy Dragon gave out a white glow, it opened its mouth wide, but nothing came out and it just started to cough.

     “…Can’t you?”

     Sadly, the Holy dragon nodded in disbelief and its figure sagged back down. 

     One of the pharmacists opened their mouth, “Yes! Sheena may know medicinal herbs not in the imperial capital. She’s in the next room, so i’ll ask her.”

     See Sheena? Liz’s heart started to beat fast.

     The pharmacist ran and abruptly stopped in front of the door of the next room. For some reason, Liz was worried, she looked into the room behind the doctor and was stunned. From the ceiling near the entrance were bundles of dried herbs hanging. At the back of the spacious yet cluttered room was Sheena and Keefa. Due to the hanging medicinal plants, neither of them were aware of Liz, perhaps it’s because they couldn’t see them well. 

     Her heart beat faster.

     ‘Why are they alone?’

     Then she remembered that the prime minister told Keefa to be Sheena’s advisor.

     The back of her throat felt stuffy and clogged up, she couldn’t let out her voice. Liz stared at them intently from the doorway.

     Keefa looked tired but he was smiling. Was it due to the rumblings in the palace that the maids had said? 

     Although he didn’t express it on his face, Liz noticed that he was wary of Sheena at a distance.

      Liz breathed out a sigh of relief. But then, she felt terribly complicated. She felt relieved earlier to justify herself as if it was normal. More than anything, she hated herself that she’s like that.

     Sheena opened her mouth, “You look tired. Are you alright?” Her voice was gentle and sincere.

     Liz’s eyes widened. Anxiety and fear started to rise within her.

     She’s clearly different from the previous Sheena. Through her strength, she knew that she wanted to show someone that she was on good terms with Keefa. Now, what’s shown on the surface is different. A kind and sincere attitude. It’s like—

     Keefa’s eyes widened as if he was surprised, it was like he saw something different from what he had thought.

     Liz unintentionally clenched her fists.

     She doesn’t look like Emilia. She looks Cecil. It is Cecil with a noble and dignified confidence.

     Up until now, her appearance was Cecil, but the contents inside were different. However, right now, both in appearance and substance was like a different person.

     Keefa’s eyes never left Sheena. He couldn’t let go yet he knew that she was a completely different person.

     Sheena smiles at Keefa. Her eyes held no color of arrogance, her smile was like a smile of a merciful saint.

     Starting from Liz’s fingertips, her blood ran cold. Sheena is Emilia. Even if there’s no solid evidence, she didn’t doubt her ‘intuition’. Yet the sight of Sheena in front of her made her heart shake. She didn’t want to think about it. What if there’s a Cecil in this life? What if there was a woman who looked and acted like Cecil — kind, caring, and humble.

     Liz is no match for “Cecil”. The Cecil who Keefa loved dearly in the past.

     “Liz, what’s the matter? Are you all right?” Rebecca, who was behind her, suddenly asked. Liz’s complexion might have been pale, and the look on her face would’ve been clouded with worry.

     “I’m fine. It’s nothing.” Liz hastily replied. The first thing she should do now is to help Rebecca’s sacred earthworm out of the Holy dragon’s belly. She shook her head vigorously as if she was admonishing herself. 

     She stood firmly and pushed herself forward to the mixing room. On her way, she thought that she didn’t think about Eugene. Until recently, whenever she looked at Keefa, she’d remember memories that reminded her of Eugene and his nature. And yet, her thoughts earlier were only about Keefa, Eugene did not come to mind.

     “Gaww!” 

     She suddenly heard a strange sound and was startled, returning back from her thoughts. The Holy dragon.

     At the center of the room, the Holy dragon was somehow trying to spit out the earthworm, wriggling and twisting its body. 

     Rebecca cheered it on with tears on her face, “ Holy dragon, good luck!”

     “Guo….!” However, there’s no sign of it coming out. 

     Liz took a deep breath and vigorously shook her head again, scratching her head. It was for her to get Keefa and Sheena out of her mind. That’s not something that she should be thinking of now.

     ‘—if it happens, I’ll have no choice but to tear the Holy Dragon’s belly out of it.’

     A conclusion has been reached.

     “Shiro, let’s go to the doctor.”

     “Gyu!?” The holy dragon went stiff.

     “What are you doing?” Lloyd, who was passing by, asked. When Liz explained their situation, he tilted his neck with a “hmm”.

     “If you cut its belly and pull it out, it’ll be quicker. It’s a holy dragon. I’m sure it’ll be alright.”

     “Right. I thought so too.”

     Liz had a serious expression while Lloyd looked amused and interested. They both looked at the Holy dragon.

     “Gyu!!” The dragon turned pale.

     “Well, I have to go. I’m sorry I can’t see the belly of the Holy Dragon, but I have work to do.”

     “You have a job!?”

     Lloyd frowned at the startled Liz, “I’ve told you so many times, you’re becoming really rude.” He placed his mouth close to Liz’s ear, “It’s a secret. The saint said that there was something strange in the second temple. All the priests have been looking for it. Though, I don’t even know what to look for.”

     Suddenly, Liz remembered something.

     “Now that you mention it, I just found a strange stone. It’s a black stone, though I’m not sure if—”

     “Where?” Lloyd hurriedly asked her.

     Just as a lower-ranking priest was entering the room to deliver the luggage, Lloyd cried out to him, “Tell the Chief Priest at once!” 

     The priest went out in a rush.

     “Liz, let’s go!” Lloyd rushed out of the room while Liz hurried after him.

     “In the garden!?”

     “Yes.”

     Lloyd, who was running next to her, had a blank, serious expression, his lips were like a flat line.  

     Liz felt quite uneasy about the seriousness of the situation.

     “Does it have anything to do with what the chief priest said?…I may have actually mistaken it and it may just be an ordinary stone.” She doesn’t doubt her intuition but she somehow lost a bit of confidence about Sheena and the selection.

     Lloyd replied to Liz without looking at her, “It’s your intuition, right? Then, you’ll be fine.” as if he had no time to think, he just spoke what was on his mind. 

     Liz was surprised and looked at Lloyd, who was running beside her. Lloyd doesn’t seem to have the time to ruminate the words he had uttered.

     “But a while ago, you told me that you didn’t believe my intuition about Sheena, didn’t you?.”

     “Ah! That’s a lie.”

     At last he seemed to have recovered to his usual self. When he looked down on Liz, her face clearly said “shut up.”, her eyes were wide open. 

     “…Well, I think it’s going to be more interesting than that.”

     After a moment’s silence, a laugh tickled from Liz’s heart.

     “Now that’s Lloyd.”

     “What is that?”

     “No, nothing”

     “What’s that?”

     It was unusual for him to act like that and he seemed to look quite regretful.

     Liz grinned, “When there’s no room to spare, I’m sure you’ll get the real feeling.”

     “…”　Lloyd frowns. What’s even rare was that his regretful face seemed to have turned a little red.

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