Since Dowd didn’t even know how to respond to Iliya’s words, he just gave her a blank stare.

Iliya didn’t even wait for his response before immediately firing off her next words though.

“Anyway, you’re my fiancé, Teach! Everything will be okay as long as you listen to me!”

“...Um, excuse me…uh…Ms. Iliya—”

Before Dowd could finish his reply, Iliya cut him off sharply.

“T-That’s why, g-get some more rest! I’ll see you at the next ordeal!”

Just like before, her words came out rapidly.

It was almost as if she heard his response, she wouldn’t be able to control herself from doing…unspeakable things…

With her face flushed red, she dashed out of the room as quickly as she spouted out her previous words. Leaving Dowd, who was watching her leave, slumped onto his bed dazedly.

“Excuse me, Caliban.”

[Hm?]

Caliban barely managed to respond, as he desperately suppressing the nausea he felt.

‘I can’t believe this…’

‘To think that I’d directly witness my own sister falling to such depths…’

‘Is this karma for all the times I made fun of this guy…?’

“...MHow can this be possible? My goodness!”

[Mm.]

Caliban could understand his shock.

If he were to be confronted by a woman he had never seen before, then she claimed to be his fiancé while making absurd demand like he could only survive by listening to her alone, even he would be dumbfounded by—

“How could I forget my own fiancé? Was I out of my mind?”

[...]

Caliban barely held onto his fading consciousness.

‘That’s…not it…’

‘Seriously, that’s not fucking it!’

‘Yes, you are out of your mind, I agree with that!’

‘But that isn’t the point! It was so obvious that Iliya was trying to force her way to create a relationship with you!’

‘Also, you were literally the one who said that you wouldn’t get into a serious relationship with anyone until the matters with the Prophet and the Devils are resolved!’

[...I dunno.]

“But, didn’t you say you knew me before I lost my memories? Did you really not know anything about me having a—”

[If I said I don’t know, then I don’t know, you fucker.]

“...”

He disliked lashing out at someone who was asking a genuine question, but this was unavoidable for him.

‘Fiancé, my ass…!’

Caliban internally screamed, grabbing at the back of his imaginary, nonexistent neck.

‘There’s no way I’d admit out loud that my sister was so blinded by greed that she resorted to deceit—!’

[...But, I do have a piece of advice for you.]

“Yes?”

[You might want to…double check at whatever words a woman told you. Just to see if it’s genuine or not…]

Throwing out this hint was the least thing his conscience could manage.

After hearing it, a frown actually formed on Dowd’s forehead as he turned to stare at the Soul Linker.

“Are you telling me that there are people who’d lie about such things?”

[...]

‘Yes, there are.’

‘There’s one particular fucker who did this shit to almost a dozen women at once.’

“Surely you jest. People who purposely play with others’ hearts deserve nothing but divine punishment. There’s no way someone like that actually exists!”

[...]

“And you’re telling me to suspect Miss Iliya and others of such a sin? There’s no way! They are such good people!”

[...]

“If anything, I feel guilty for not properly remembering my relationship with those wonderful people!”

‘Every statement he made was correct.’

‘All of them, without exception…but—!’

‘...Ugh, this is so fucked…’

Caliban cursed in his mind.

But…

It wasn’t like he could tell him that everyone around him, including Dowd himself, was a bunch of fucking lunatics.

He thought so as he slightly shifted his gaze.

At the end of his gaze was Yuria, lying as if dead next to Dowd.

Right now, the White Devil inside her body must be doing everything she can to cling onto Dowd’s soul and refused to let him go.

[...]

Caliban didn’t even bother to entertain the thought that the bastard would die.

After all, that guy was someone who had been swept up in much worse crises than this.

Even through those crises, he managed to survive and this time, it wouldn’t be no different.

That was why, instead of being concerned toward him, what Caliban wanted to was…

‘Please! I’m begging you! Please, come back quickly…!’

Begging for him to come back.

This kind of moment made him realize how much he appreciated Dowd’s presence.

To not witness those Devil’s Vessels succumb to the depths of unsightliness was the most earnest wish he had at the moment.

Officially, the Hero Selection was still ongoing, but in reality, they were halting everything temporarily.

Publicly speaking, they stated that they needed time to prepare for the Second Ordeal in the Forge of Struggle, but anyone with an adequate information network knew that this wasn’t the case.

The real reason why this happened was because the leaders of the Three Superpowers agreed to put them on hold for a few days.

Because all of their attention was focused on a certain man.

Indeed, all of the leaders; The Empress and the Chancellor of the Empire, the Chieftain of the Alliance Tribe, and even the Pope of the Holy Land himself.

“...There doesn’t seem to be any immediate issues with your body.”

As she was having such complicated thoughts, Lucia removed the hand that she placed on top of Dowd’s body.

She had been examining his body, looking for any abnormalities inside with the Divine Power that she injected into her hand.

Now that his soul was replaced by a Spirit Entity, it became pretty much her role to check for any irregularities inside his soul and body.

This didn’t discredit Dame Indra of the Elfante Medical Corps, since she was also reliable in this regard, it was just that even she couldn’t match a professional cleric’s level of precision.

“...”

To put it in a less optimistic way.

Even a cleric of the Saintess’ caliber couldn’t do anything except for performing a simple check on him.

Until now, no one had come up with a ‘measure’ to restore his original personality.

Lady Tristan was still burying herself in the library, while Chancellor Sullivan was holing herself up in a meeting room inside the Imperial Palace, both were trying to look for a way to cure him with their own methods.

Lucia herself was pretty much in the same situation as them, without a way to help this man.

‘...What a sinful situation this is…’

Lucia glanced at Yuria, who was lying on the adjacent bed, with deep, sunken eyes.

She did not wish to blame her own sister.

But, it was an undeniable fact that this man had suffered greatly twice because of her and her sister.

‘My sister and I…’

‘Might have to spend our whole lives to atone to him…’

As she was lost in such thoughts, Dowd politely bowed his head and spoke to her.

“As always, thank you, Saintess.”

“...”

Seeing him bowing reverently before her made her let out a bitter expression.

Usually, he’d shamelessly come forward to request various things from her, telling her that he needed it for this and that, but now he treated her like a ‘Saintess’, and she found this treatment extremely awkward to receive.

“...No, my younger sister is also involved in this, so it’s only natural that—”

Lucia abruptly stopped her words.

Because she noticed Dowd’s visibly ripped muscles as he put his clothes back on.

‘His body looks better than before…’

‘I’ve heard whispers among the female student recently, they’ve been saying that it might be worth keeping an eye on him just because of his appearance—’

‘W-Wait! S-Such discourtesy—!’

As such thoughts came to her mind, she covered her face with both hands, prompting Dowd to close his eyes and quietly bowed his head again.

“I apologize. I showed you such an discourteous sight.”

“...W-Why are you apologizing?”

“Though someone of your exalted stature might not think anything of it, Saintess, I still want to show you proper respects…”

“...”

‘Does he even know what he’s saying?!’

‘Saying words that could poke at my heart so nonchalantly like that—!’

“By the way, does this mean I can engage in somewhat vigorous activities without worrying about my body?”

“That may be the case, but…why do you ask? Is there someone who’s trying to make you do such a thing?”

Lucia asked in a chilly voice.

‘If someone dares to exploit him for their own goal…I won’t stand for it…’

‘Above anything else, he needs to rest and to be protected! If there’s anyone who’s brazen and tactless enough to push their own agenda on—’

“N-No. It’s not like that.”

Upon seeing her reaction, Dowd said those words with a bitter smile.

“I heard that I was participating in the Hero Selection with Ms. Iliya.”

He said, as if it was natural for him to assist Iliya.

“Since this is something I’ve agreed to do with her, I have to complete it, right?”

Following that, a smile appeared on his face.

“Because she's someone precious to me.”

“...”

Lucia clenched her fists.

Her heart felt like it was being squeezed. Just that one sentence made her blood run cold.

She didn’t exactly understand why she felt this way.

More than anyone, she was aware that she was in no position to complain about how this man's kindness was directed toward another woman.

But still…

“...”

Her heart…was hurting...

She didn’t even know the reason, she just knew that her heart was hurting so much.

Just being aware that this man treasured another woman brought forth such a sensation.

She barely managed to open her tightly-clenched mouth and spoke.

“...It might be dangerous, Dowd Campbell.”

“Even so, this is something I have to do, no?:

“...”

‘He lost his memory, that’s for sure…’

‘But, why…? How…?’

“...Why would you go to such lengths?”

Lucia found herself asking this question before she could even realize it.

While yes, she had harmed him a lot to the point that she felt guilty about it all the time, why was it when he lost all his memory, others still received his unconditional kindness, but that wasn’t the case with her…?

What exactly was the difference between them?

“Huh? Isn’t it obvious?”

Just like before, his reply flowed out naturally.

“Because Ms. Iliya is my fiancé.”

“...”

After hearing that outrageous response, Lucia was dumbstruck, as if someone whacked the back of her head with a hammer.

‘...What a sick joke…!’

‘Fiancé?! What fiancé?! Fiancé, my foot…!’

Lucia gaped in shock as these thoughts raced through her mind.

‘That’s a blatant lie! She just tricked him like that, really?!’

‘How dare she, deceiving someone who had lost his memory to fulfill her own desires—!’

‘...Fine, if that’s how you want to play it…!’

‘Then, I won’t hold back either!’

“If that is the case, I do have a valid reason to stop you!”

“...Excuse me?”

Dowd tilted his head, unsure of what she actually meant by that.

“B-Before you lost your memory, I-I was— y-your…!”

She tried to continue…

But soon found herself at a loss for words.

“...”

‘Huh…?’

‘What was I to him again…?’

‘I wasn’t his lover…not his girlfriend either… Acquaintances? No, that’s too ambiguous, isn’t it?’

‘It feels like I’m just a tool that he used whenever he needed something, but it isn’t like I can say that out loud—!’

“...Saintess?”

Seeing Dowd calling out to her with a puzzled look, a sense of urgency filled Lucia’s face.

‘I need to say something! Anything!’

“...Uh, I do not know what this is about, but you don’t have to force yourself to say anything.”

Dowd spoke with a wry smile on his face.

“I mean, how could someone of your stature have any significant relationship with someone like me, Saintess? You are one of the most revered people on the entire continent, after all.”

“...”

“I just hope that I haven’t inadvertently troubled you or made some mistake in the past, Saintess.”

Her statement was warm and kind.

Even so, one thing came to Lucia’s mind.

‘Such an ironic thing to say…’

It was his kindness that reminded her of the most audacious thing he had ever done to her.

“...”

Her body trembled at the sacrilegious, irreverent, blasphemous, shameful, and embarrassing thought; Something the usual Lucia would never even dare to contemplate.

But in this situation…

If she didn’t act right now, she would lose. Considering that someone else had already stolen the lead, she didn’t have the leniency to be picky.

That was why…

“...”

Lucia took a deep breath and pulled something out of her pocket.

An object she always carried with her, because she didn’t know when she might be summoned by this man.

A collar.

One that looked so similar to a dog’s collar.

“...Saintess?”

Though Dowd spoke in bewilderment when she suddenly produced such a strange item…

She closed her eyes tightly and placed it around her neck.

Just thinking about saying the words that came to her mind with her own mouth made her whole body want to convulse.

However, it had to be done.

Only then could she prevent this man from being entangled in the machinations and tricks of other women.

“...I-I was…”

Lucia, with her eyes still tightly shut, extended the handle of the collar she had placed around her neck towards Dowd.

“Y-Your pet…”

“...”

Dowd’s mouth fell open.

“Y-You made m-me into t-this, so…”

“...”

“You, have, to take, r-responsibility, for—! Thespecialrelationshipthatwehave-!”

Upon hearing her last sentence, pouring out without taking a single pause...

Dowd’s face turned utterly pale.