Damn Reincarnation

oyful festival taking place in front of them.

“I’ve already saved you,” Eugene said as he pulled on Kristina’s wrist and slowly strode forward.

Kristina couldn’t think of what to say, nor could she find the will to resist.
Not knowing what to do, she just allowed herself to be dragged along by Eugene.

“Since I’ve saved you, I won’t ask you to do something like repay the favor.
I was the one who decided to save you on my own, and it was my choice to do so.
As such, all you need to do is to make your own decision,” Eugene said as he walked.

“What are you talking about?” Kristina asked in confusion.

“Whether or not you want to keep following me,” Eugene clarified.

Kristina was honestly dumbfounded.
Was there even a need to make a choice? Kristina’s intentions were clear.
She had no thoughts of remaining in Yuras.
Even if Eugene said that he hated her and wanted her to get lost, Kristina would still follow behind Eugene.
Was it in order to repay the favor of saving her? No, Krstina was well aware that Eugene would despise such a reason.

It was just….

Kristina wanted to follow him.
Eugene was the Hero, and the truth was, he was also the Stupid Hamel from three hundred years ago.
But those sorts of things weren’t important to the current Kristina.

Eugene hadn’t saved the Saintess; he had saved Kristina Rogeris.

As such, Kristina just wanted to accompany him, not as the Hero or as Hamel, but simply as Eugene Lionheart.

“I will follow you,” Kristina stated firmly.

“If that’s the case, you can’t be afraid or hesitant when it comes to just watching something like this,” Eugene scolded.

There were a lot of people on this street.

However, wherever Eugene walked, the people would move slightly to open up a path.
They weren’t even conscious of why they were moving the way they did, nor of their stuttering steps backward and the way that their bodies secretly trembled.
All of this was the unavoidable result of their instinctive behavior.

Having opened up a path, Eugene dragged Kristina behind him.

Eugene continued, “Because from now on, this kind of thing should just be an insignificant part of the scenery to you.”

Kristina stayed silent.

“Aren’t you here now?” Eugene reminded her.
“I don’t know what you were thinking of, what you were focussed on, or what you might have remembered.
I don’t even want to know, and I won’t even bother asking.”

Eugene ’s steps suddenly came to a halt.

He let go of Kristina’s hand and pointed to what lay in front of them.
It was sparkling, colorful, fun, and noisy.
The festival parade Kristina had imagined as a child was marching past right in front of her.

Eugene instructed her, “So no matter what, just keep looking.”

Kristina stood there dumbfounded as she stared straight ahead of her.
She hadn’t spent all her time imagining watching this parade.
Once she became a Saint Candidate, there were many times when she saw the parade in person.
She had even stood at the head of the parade herself on many occasions.
However, her feelings now were completely different from what she had felt at those times.

The agony, hatred, and rage that she had felt in the past, the sense of ridicule she felt for those who praised and admired her as the Saint Candidate without knowing anything about her, and the sense of shame that she had felt for herself and the unnatural nature of the Saint Candidate — she wasn’t feeling any of those complex feelings at this moment.

Just like Eugene had said, the memories and emotions of back then, as well as the scenery in front of her, all looked insignificant.
Kristina felt a huge divide between how she was feeling now and the view she was looking at.
There was upbeat music, colorful costumes and decorations, the laughter of children, and the admiration of the spectators.
All of it felt a little far away from her, but at the same time, Eugene, who was right in front of her, felt a little too close.

“See, it’s really nothing,” Eugene said with life as he turned his head to look at her.

Even though she should have already shaken off the remaining intoxication… Kristina’s face felt strangely hot.

Kristina’s lips moved soundlessly for a moment before she stopped and ducked her head.
She stepped back as if to run away, but Eugene wouldn’t allow Kristina to run from him.

“Isn’t that so?” Eugene pressed her.

Kristina stammered, “I-It’s different.
This is… really something different.
I just….”

At this moment, Kristina couldn’t help but feel like she was facing a huge dilemma.
Her heart wanted to turn around and run away.
It wasn’t because the trivial sights in front of her had made her feel emotions that she didn’t want to recall, but in fact, it was simply because she felt too embarrassed to keep looking at Eugene’s high-spirited face.

However, Kristina absolutely, definitely, couldn’t confide such a feeling to Eugene.
She would much rather leave everything to Anise and hide by switching their consciousness, but her mischievous Sister had no intention of giving her even a word of advice even though she was listening to everything that they were saying right now.

What if she really did run away? Unless Kristina explained things properly, then Eugene would definitely come to a misunderstanding.
Kristina would rather die than allow Eugene to have such a misunderstanding of her.
If she ran away after he had dragged her all the way here and said such things to her, wouldn’t Eugene feel like everything he had done had been in vain? Kristina was afraid that, in such a case, Eugene would feel disappointed in himself.

‘…Although there’s no reason for him to feel that way, but…,’ Kristina was stuck in turmoil.

“What’s with you?” Eugene asked.

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It was time for her to reach a decision on her dilemma.
Kristina took a deep breath, then undoing her step backward, she took a step forward.

“L-let’s follow it,” Kristina nervously proposed.

Eugene was taken aback, “What?”

“That’s… w-wouldn’t it be fun to follow the parade?” Kristina quickly stammered out before pushing herself into the procession following the parade.

After staring at Kristina for a few moments, Eugene smirked and began walking beside her.

Why can’t this night be as dark as it should be?

That was Kristina’s sincere desire.
Merciful Light, please don’t illuminate this night.
That was what she prayed for, but it was hopeless.
Nighttime in the Capital City, Yurasia, was always illuminated by soft lights, and at this moment, in particular, their surroundings were overly brightened by the shining parade.

Kristina felt like these bright lights were clearly illuminating her face, so she couldn’t help but feel embarrassed.
She didn’t want to show such a heavy blush to Eugene.
At the same time, she also didn’t want the crowd to notice that her face so closely resembled Anise.

Right now… there were too many people surrounding them.
Was it because of the mood? It felt as if their eyes were getting drawn to her face.

‘Ah,’ Kristina belatedly realized something.

She was currently wearing a robe with her hood pulled down behind her.
Kristina quickly pulled the hood up deep over her head, covering her face.

“What are you doing?” Eugene asked from beside her.

“I’m afraid that someone might recognize me,” Kristina admitted.

Eugene sighed, “You’re doing that again.”

“Please understand my concerns,” Kristina pleaded.
“There were already a lot of people in the plaza earlier, but unlike then, we are actually taking part in a procession now.
If anyone finds out I’m here, it might end up ruining the parade.”

Eugene glanced at Kristina through narrowed eyes.
He still wasn’t really satisfied with her excuse, but unlike before, he didn’t forcefully remove Kristina’s hood.

They continued walking together like this for quite some time.

Even with all the cheerful music, Kristina could clearly hear the beating of her own heart.
Even though she continued walking along with the procession while pretending nothing was wrong, her face was still steaming.

‘…Holy Light, please….’

Even with her hood pulled down low, their surroundings were so bright it felt like a spotlight was shining on her face.
So Kristina tried praying once more.

Had her earnest prayer managed to reach its target?

All of the lights that had been brightening up the parade went out at the same moment.
The same went for all the lights that had been illuminating the street.
The parade came to a stop with the sudden arrival of the darkness.
The procession that had been following the parade looked around their darkened surroundings and murmured to themselves.

Boooom!

The darkness was lifted.
Fireworks shot up from a tall clock tower nearby and lit up the sky.
These fireworks were launched to mark the end of the festival.
The muttering of the crowd turned into cheers.
Everyone lifted their heads to watch as flowers bloomed and lights fluttered in the sky.

Only Kristina didn’t.
She pulled her hood further down with both hands and kept her head bowed.

“Kristina Rogeris,” Eugene called out her name.

Kristina’s shoulders trembled at his call.

His hands slowly approached her and covered both of Kristina’s hands.

Eugene told her, “Right now, the only one looking at you is me.”

His rough hands, which were covered in calluses, pulled off Kristina’s hood.

Kristina quietly gasped, “…Ah…!”

High up in the sky, the fireworks exploded.
Kristina looked up to see Eugene staring down at her and the fireworks shooting up from behind him.

“Because of that, you shouldn’t hide yourself,” Eugene insisted.

Kristina was well aware that these words weren’t addressed to her as the Saintess.
Instead, they were addressed to ‘Kristina Rogeris.’

Eugene continued, “If you have decided to follow me, then you need to be looking at the same things as me.”

Without being too conscious of her role as the Saint….

Without hiding herself from the gazes and mutters of her surroundings….

…No.

All of that simply felt insignificant and distant now, just like she had felt before.
Everything around her was insignificant and distant, but only Eugene felt close.
Was what she currently feeling admiration or worship? Or else….
Kristina tried not to think too deeply about it.

Everything just, it just felt beautiful.
Fireworks soared up into the sky, and below them stood Eugene.
Eugene, who had stretched out his hand to her while she was trapped in her fate as the Saint, which was more like a curse.
It was Eugene Lionheart, not the Hero, who had saved not the Saint but Kristina Rogeris.

It felt like there was a miracle so close to her that all she needed to do was to stretch out one hand to touch it.

It was so beautiful and lovely that her eyes were dazzled by it.

“…Yes,” Kristina swallowed a trembling breath as she closed her eyes.

Her eyes were so dazzled that it felt like she would go blind if she kept looking.
For Kristina, all of this was a miracle.

As such, Kristina burst into laughter.
Without opening her closed eyes, without putting off any sort of pretense to mask her true feelings, she just focussed on this miracle that was so close, so bright, and so beautiful.

“Yes, Sir Eugene,” Kristina repeated with a smile.