A Brother's Voice
“Saintess!”
“Saintess, please save my child!”
“My husband has been possessed by a demon again! Please grant us salvation!”
Those still in their right minds prostrated themselves before Rachel with desperate fervor, their eyes burning with fanatic zeal.
“Today my younger sibling was possessed by a demon!”
“Saintess, find the Black Apostle! Hunt down the apostle who commands demons and punish them!”
Rachel gazed down at the clamoring villagers with a look of pity.
“The Day of Purification draws near. When it arrives, I will find the Black Apostle who commands demons. You need not worry.”
Canna, who had been watching the scene unfold, felt a surge of confusion.
Saintess? They’re calling the lord’s daughter a saintess?
And what exactly is this “Day of Purification”?
Once the crowd had been dispersed, Rachel calmly explained.
“Once a year, we search for those suspected of being Black Apostles and perform the purification.”
The words carried an ominous weight that made Canna’s skin crawl.
“How is the purification carried out?”
“We hang them upside down from a tree and burn them alive.”
Her worst suspicions were confirmed.
Canna’s stomach churned. The image of the seemingly gentle Rachel began to crack and splinter in her mind.
“So finding people suspected of being Black Apostles… that’s your duty, Lady Rachel?”
“Yes. I am faithfully carrying out the duty the gods have bestowed upon me.”
She was the only woman on this island who had never once suffered from the madness. On top of that, she was the lord’s daughter. In a closed-off place like this, that alone was enough to earn her the title of saintess.
“How do you identify the Black Apostles?”
“After examining everyone who has fallen into madness, I seek out the one radiating the strongest demonic energy.”
“You can sense demonic energy?”
“Yes. There is always one who gives off the most sinister aura. That person is the Black Apostle, the one who spreads the madness to others.”
“I see.”
Canna swallowed the sarcastic retort that rose to her tongue.
Even the descendants of holy knights from the Addis and Valentino families can’t do that. It’s a power the priests of the Great Temple don’t possess either.
“So every year, you burn at least one villager at the stake.”
“They are a Black Apostle before they are a villager.”
“Then why does the same thing keep happening every single year?”
For the first time, Rachel had no answer.
Canna pressed on.
“You claim to have found and purified the Black Apostle, so why does the madness return year after year?”
“……”
“Have you ever considered that you might be harboring a truly vicious delusion?”
“Pardon?”
“Perhaps everything you see is nothing more than your own imagination. Or a simple mistake.”
At that moment, Rachel’s expression crumbled. Her eyes trembled violently.
Just then—
“Because evil multiplies endlessly!”
Jerome, who had been following behind them the entire time, shouted in rebuttal.
“So please refrain from insulting the young lady! Lady Rachel has never once made the wrong choice.”
His face flushed as though he himself had been insulted, and he rushed to defend her.
“Once the Purification Ceremony ends, the number of people possessed by demons steadily decreases until none remain! At least until this same season next year!”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. That is proof that we have correctly identified and purified the true Black Apostle!”
When the suspected Black Apostle was burned, the madness would gradually subside and peace would return to the village—at least until the rainy season arrived the following year.
The more Canna listened, the more something felt deeply wrong.
There’s something here.
A crucial piece of the puzzle hovered just out of reach.
This isn’t ordinary madness. There’s something else.
Her mind felt like a scattered jigsaw puzzle, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t piece it together.
That night, Canna tossed and turned until the very moment sleep claimed her.
There’s something. I feel like I’m about to remember…
When morning came, she would have to examine the villagers more carefully.
There had to be something they all had in common.
Right. So for now, I should just sleep.
It had been an exhausting day.
* * *
“Noona!”
Ugh.
“Noona, wake up.”
“Too loud……”
Canna frowned and burrowed deeper under the blanket.
Just a little longer. She wanted to sleep just a little more.
Her body felt as though it had been bound in chains. She was so tired…
“……”
Wait.
Canna slowly opened her eyes.
That voice just now—what was it?
“Noona!”
Canna shot upright.
Standing right beside the bed, so close she could touch him, was a man.
She stared up at him in a daze.
“What’s with that stupid expression?”
Black eyes. Black hair. Sharp, slightly upturned eyes, faintly irritable brows, a straight nose, and the fresh-faced look of someone who had only just turned twenty.
Canna’s trembling gaze traced every line of his face.
She couldn’t believe it.
“Seon……”
Her lips quivered. Her breath caught in her throat.
“Seon-hong?”
It was him.
The young man standing before her was Lee Seon-hong—the brother she had cherished and called her own for her entire life.
“L-Lee Seon-hong!”
She scrambled out of bed in a panic, reaching for his hand.
Seon-hong took one step back.
“Noona, don’t do that. Just follow me. Everyone’s waiting outside.”
“H-Huh?”
“Hurry!”
Seon-hong turned and ran out. Still dazed, Canna stumbled after him.
What is this? What the hell is going on?
She didn’t even think to grab a shawl or put on slippers.
Why? Why was Seon-hong here?
Reality crashed over her like a wave.
Did Seon-hong fall into this world too?
It wasn’t impossible.
Juhwa had suddenly possessed her body one day. Maybe Seon-hong had experienced something similar and ended up here as well.
The thought sent a violent tremor through her entire body. Her mind went white with a terror she had never felt before.
“Lee Seon-hong! Get over here right now!”
“Noona, hurry up and follow me!”
“Wait—let’s go together. This place is……”
This place—this world—is dangerous!
At that moment, someone grabbed her arm and stopped her.
“That was rude of me. My apologies, Your Grace.”
It was Sir Claude. He smiled and asked,
“Where are you going? It’s raining quite heavily outside.”
“Let go!”
“But Your Grace—”
Canna stared at the spot where Seon-hong had vanished and shouted in desperation.
“That’s an order!”
Claude was a knight who obeyed commands like a well-trained hound.
The grip on her arm disappeared. Canna bolted after Seon-hong in a frenzy. But chasing someone who had trained as an athlete since childhood was no easy task.
She ran like a madwoman, her mind spinning with panic.
Not Seon-hong. Not him.
He couldn’t come to this world.
Juhwa was already enough. She herself was already enough.
She couldn’t let Seon-hong—her own brother—live in this dangerous world too.
“Seon-hong, wait!”
Before she knew it, she was sprinting through a torrential downpour. She didn’t even notice she was getting soaked.
“Seon-hong!”
Where are you? Where the hell—
“Meow!”
Ah!
Her ears perked up.
Even through the deafening roar of the rain, that cry rang out crystal clear.
She would never mistake that sound.
“Ttotto? Ttotto!”
“Meow!”
“Ttotto!”
My cat!
Canna sprinted toward the sound in a frenzy.
Yes—this was Ttotto’s cry. Her cat.
The cat that had always fallen asleep in her arms. Her warm, soft cat.
“Noona, over here!”
“Meow!”
From behind a distant tree trunk, Seon-hong waved at her. Beside him, a cheese-colored cat sat drenched to the bone, staring straight at Canna.
“Hurry! Come quick, before it’s too late, Noona!”
“Meow!”
Her eyes met Seon-hong’s, then Ttotto’s.
“W-Wait……”
A sob tore from her throat.
“Wait for me.”
Tears streamed down her face, mixing with the pouring rain.
“Please… just wait.”