“Renea, you need to tell the truth,” Ailn said.

Renea shuddered. At this point, it was abundantly clear: somehow this stranger knew she didn’t have the divine blessing.

“N-no, I w-won’t,” Renea said. She was trying to speak resolutely, but the stammering wasn’t helping. “I don’t want to…”

“Renea, right now you have the chance to pick yourself back up,” Ailn said. “You need to do it yourself.”

“I-I can’t,” Renea whimpered.

They’d just think she was a liar. Who’d believe she was faking it all this time? It was the opposite of the boy who cried wolf. She’d told the lie so well that she knew the truth wouldn’t save her now.

Because the great irony of Renea’s absent divine blessing was that it was a devil’s proof. There was no way to prove, definitively, that she wasn’t just trying to save her own skin by hiding it.

It was essentially what Sophie had tried to pull earlier.

She was the one who actually had the divine blessing.

Sophie was the one healing the sick, eradicating the shadows, and maintaining the barrier around Varant. She was the one who heard all the knights’ confessions in the bestowal chamber.

It had always been Sophie.

Renea just threw on a Saintess outfit and played a great big game of pretend. She went around raising her hands over wounds she couldn’t heal, and casting her fists at air like she was throwing lightning. All while Sophie manifested her holy aura from a distance.

And if Sophie had been in that carriage seven years ago, then their mother would have lived.

“I can help you. If you just… trust me,” Ailn said.

“I don’t—I don’t even know you!” Renea whined. Then she covered her eyes with her newly freed hands as if it would obscure her irises even further. Sullenly she mopped at all the tears that had wet her face, while sniffling and reverting back to a choked-up mumble. “J-just stop giving me hope already… p-please…”

Renea sincerely loved Varant—even though all of Varant seemed to hate her.

And she loved her family. She wanted to be a eum-Creid, even if she’d only ever be a fake one.

She wanted to keep being Renea, even though she understood how profoundly vile of a lie it was.

But what chance was there now? Even if she was proven innocent of her brother’s murder, they’d still see her red eyes. There was no way she could hide them now.

Then her absent divine blessing would be used against her. It would just be more proof that she was a demon, hiding in eum-Creid skin.

“Renea, whatever you’re worried about…” Ailn hesitated. “As your older brother, I will make sure everything is okay. I can fix things.”

What was he even talking about?

In all honesty, Renea was touched when her fake brother had defended her. She felt sorry for slapping away one of the few hands that had reached out to her.

She still couldn’t figure out his goals, but what she did understand by now was that he was one of the only ones on her side. Renea could tell he cared. Pathetic as she was right now, could she really ask for more?

It was just… it was painful to hear her brother’s voice rendered with a completely different cadence and intonation. Her real brother had sounded happier.

She was starting to feel miserable all over again. Renea couldn’t help herself from wondering: if she died now, would she even get to see him?

Where had he gone to? Would she… get to follow? Or, would she…

The tears seeping through her eyelids were getting big again. Renea wondered if she’d finally wasted all the chances she’d been given.

But that was when something strange happened.

She could swear she heard Ailn.

The real Ailn.

----------------------------------------

Ailn had no idea how he was going to do this.

Everyone’s eyes were on the two of them.

“Okay. I’ll need you to listen to me carefully Renea,” Ailn said.

But she didn’t respond.

Ailn got the sense that, at some point in their conversation, the slight lull in the intensity of her emotions was enough for her to fall back into a daze.

She was in a pretty bad state before, but at least she was talking and listening.

“Renea?” Ailn asked. “Can you hear me? Renea?”

Her hands dropped from her face, and she swiveled her head around to the side—basically the only place she could turn her head that was actively away from him.

“The inquisition is waiting, Your Grace,” Aldous said. His patience was clearly wearing thin. And it didn’t seem like he was going to stop staring any time soon.

Could he just put his forehead close enough to hers, and use his hands to block her eyes? She’d probably instinctively jerk away, though.

“Ailn…?” Renea asked, meekly.

She looked away from him.

“...I’m here, Renea. Right in front of you,” Ailn said.

But Renea just made a face and ignored him. Maybe she really was losing it.

“Your Grace…” Kylian cleared his throat. “I don’t mean to rush you, but, I’m not even certain of what you’re intending to do.”

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If only Ailn knew himself.

“...Give me a moment,” Ailn raised a hand behind him. “Renea needs… my help because she’s suffering from an imbalance of her humors. Cairn said so.”

“What?” Kylian asked.

“Huh?” Renea whipped her head back in Ailn’s direction.

“Excuse me?” Cairn asked.

“Cairn, don’t you remember?” Ailn let his stress into his tone, hoping it would get the urgency across. “The humors. The balance of the body. Cairn, you’re a masterful physician, and you spent an hour lecturing me about it. Remember?”

Cairn made a face. But he clearly got the message.

“...The humors. Of course.” Cairn couldn’t help the blitheness in his voice. “That is precisely what I’ve studied all these years. Humoral balance, and how a person’s health is determined entirely by… the ratios of liquids in their body.”

"Is there truly such a thing? I've not once heard of it," Ennieux said, casting a disdainful glance from her own personal peanut gallery. "You are fabricating nonsense again, Ailn eum-Creid!"

“Are you a physician, Ennieux?” Ailn asked. He didn’t hold back his strident tone, and it caught Ennieux completely off-guard. “Have you spent years studying the intricacies of the human body?”

“N-no, I haven’t…” Ennieux turned her eyes away. She was surprisingly demure when someone actually barked back. “B-but I read quite a lot… and so…” She trailed off.

Ailn felt a little bad about it.

“Then will the young master apprise us of the proper treatment?” Aldous asked sardonically. “Tell us, Your Grace. How shall we endeavor to restore Lady Renea’s ‘humors?’”

If there was anything that had really tripped Ailn up this whole inquisition, it was that Aldous was way better at the verbal fencing and rhetorical tug-of-war than he’d expected.

He rolled with the punches annoyingly well, and he never hesitated to take potshots.

It really pissed Ailn off.

If Ailn had to name a weakness, though, it was this: Aldous was almost a little too flexible. He was so adaptable that at times he simply gave his enemies too much slack.

Ailn realized it when he thought back to the dopey attitude Aldous put up when they were going through the secret passage. He had a lot of pride, but he was guileful too, and had no problems easing into the role of a dog who’d already seen his days in the sun.

He fooled Kylian outright and set him to work, getting the dutiful knight to do his bidding without actually restricting his agency.

That took a lot of versatility. And he displayed it over and over when he kept artfully nudging the proceedings—whether it took intensity, equanimity, or mock solidarity.

But Aldous could have probably won from the start if he’d simply been more of a control freak. He could’ve used the fruits of Kylian’s investigation without actually making him bailiff. And there were at least a few points he could’ve forcefully brought things to a close if he’d just made a stronger push.

His natural inclination was to take whatever the field gave him and dominate it anyway. In short, he was cocky, and it ended up giving his opponent too many chances.

At least, he’d just given one too many chances to Ailn.

“...The treatment.” Ailn mulled it over slowly. “Alright.”

Ailn had a flash of inspiration.

----------------------------------------

“Okay. I’ll need you to listen to me carefully Renea.”

‘I promise everything’s going to be okay, Renea.’

She couldn’t see anything, because her eyes were still squeezed shut, and she had no idea what was happening.

But she was hearing Ailn’s voice twice.

“Renea? Can you hear me? Renea?”

‘Right now, he’s the only one who can help you. Understand, Renea?’

One of them spoke in the soft and cheery tone she always remembered. The other—well the other, talked like the fake one. He sounded arrogant, even when he was trying to be nice.

It was like he was overlapping himself.

“Ailn…?” Renea asked.

“...I’m here, Renea. Right in front of you.”

That was the fake one speaking. She wasn’t talking to him in the first place, so she ignored him.

‘Just stay calm, Renea, and trust him. If you don’t believe in him, believe in me.’

“Renea needs… my help because she’s suffering from an imbalance of her humors.”

“Huh?” Renea frantically turned back in the direction of her fake brother who was saying something insane.

‘He’s a jerk, but he’ll protect you. Even when it seems like he’s just messing with you.’

“...The treatment. Alright. Don’t uh… don’t panic.”

Then suddenly she felt some kind of blanket thrown over her head and shoulders. No, it was more like a cowl.

“Bwuh!” she thrashed around and grabbed at it realizing it was just the cloak the knights used tied in on itself. Whoever had thrown it on her pulled the knot tighter, and tugged the impromptu hood down to cover her face. “W-what?”

“Right, just hold it there,” her fake brother said.

“Your Grace… What are you doing?” She could hear Kylian’s voice.

“This is no occasion for your insufferable pranks!” There was Ennieux.

“This is an ancient method for calming the nerves and balancing the humors.” That was the voice of her fake brother.

‘He’s the one who’s gonna take care of you in my stead.’ That was her real one.

“Do you think we’re fools, Your Grace?! You’re clearly just hiding her eyes!” Aldous was shouting again.

‘Renea, open your eyes when he asks you.’ Her real brother spoke again.

“Cairn! Tell them!” Her fake brother.

“...Yes, I taught him this procedure.” Cairn. How’d the physician get roped into this?

“Renea, now that you’re… calm. Can you please open your eyes for me? Just for two—no three, seconds? Just ease the top of the hood back so I can make sure your… humors are in balance.”

‘Renea, open your eyes.’

Renea listened to her older brother.

She could swear he was right there—if she just had the courage to look…

But when she opened her eyes, she saw her fake brother. He had irises that looked like emeralds, and they gleamed so brilliantly it made Renea jealous.

That said, she still had no idea what was going on. He was looking straight at her burning eyes wordlessly.

“W-what are you d-doing?” Renea whispered. She still couldn’t help her stammering, because her throat was so tight from crying earlier.

“Just be quiet for a second,” Ailn said.

Renea didn’t realize she still had the energy to find him obnoxious. Even though her body was trembling from fear, her heart held fury yet unspent—and she was this close to using it all right then and there to punch him.

Now that she saw his emerald eyes, though, she realized there was something in those eyes that looked a little sad. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but for all his bravado, he looked tired when he wasn’t talking.

Then, the emerald eyes in front of her seemed to glow a little stronger for a moment.

Renea might have just imagined it. It was so brief. But that quarter of a second where they glimmered so radiantly, she felt as if she could sense… anger in them.

Not toward her. Or even the inquisition.

She felt like she caught sight of something that had already been simmering in the depths for a long time, concealed by all the murk and thicket.

And maybe it would have hidden away forever, if he didn’t have eyes that could glow so brilliantly.

Suddenly, the emerald eyes in front of her dispelled, and Renea felt like someone poured a bucket of ice water over her. It was the kind of cold that hits you so fast you can’t even scream.

“...Alright, we’re good now,” Ailn said.

Renea blinked a few times wordlessly, suddenly feeling very tired.

His eyes were blue. Were hers too?

“Is it really alright…?” Renea couldn’t believe it. She couldn’t feel her eyes anymore, but… “Ack!”

She yelped, because with a shrug Ailn had just tugged the hood over her face again.

“Take your time until you calm down,” Ailn said.

Renea was about to fume at him, but in that moment where the hood was once again cast over her eyes, she heard her real brother’s voice just one more time.

‘Goodbye Renea. I love you.’