Chapter 19: Interlude – The Seven Eyes

Iris headed to her dorm room. Unlike the shabby government-funded dorms where cadets like me stayed, her dorm had the elegance and polish that could put most luxury hotels to shame.

She unlocked the door with her Hero Watch and gently opened it. “This is my room.”

A completely unknown space in my past life now unfolded before me. I stepped inside and looked around.

So, this is Iris’s room.

The first thing that struck me was how spacious it was. Compared to my cramped little room, where the bed and desk barely fit, hers was spacious enough for a family of four to live in comfortably.

The second thing that grabbed my attention was how meticulously organized the room was. The furniture was arranged at crisp, precise angles, not a speck of dust in sight, and everything sparkled like it had been polished to perfection. It was like a room ready for military inspection.

“It’s so tidy,” I muttered.

Iris gave a shy smile. “Other than Camilla, you’re the first person I’ve shown my room to.”

She then walked toward the dining table. Just as she had said earlier, the food was already ready, and the table was piled high with dishes.

“Please, have a seat,” she said.

“What about the chefs?” I asked.

“They always step out after setting the table and wait outside until we’re done eating.”

“I see.”

So, it’s really just the two of us in this huge room. This feels kind of surreal,

I thought.

Even in my previous life, there hadn’t been many occasions where just the two of us ate together. We became a couple only after joining a party with Yuren, Berald, and Senior Sophia, so meals were usually a group affair.

I gave the spread on the table a quick look. “Well then...”

As expected from the Holy Empire, the dishes were mostly centered around vegetables, making me groan. It was not that I hated vegetables, but everything on this table was just green stuff. A sigh escaped my lips before I knew it.

“These are all good for you, so no complaining. Eat up,” Iris said.

“Yeah, yeah. Got it.”

Normally, a vegetable-only diet wasn’t as healthy as people thought. It usually lacked proper nutritional balance. However, Holy Empire cuisine was different. I still didn’t know exactly what kind of magic they used on their vegetables, but somehow they always managed to pack the vegetables with all the essential nutrients. Of course, they sacrificed taste in the process.

Still, it was better than the bread and milk from the store. If I were serious about building up my body, this was the right way to go.

“Thanks for the meal,” I said.

Under the banner of health, I started stuffing my mouth with the mountain of greens before me. As I chewed dutifully, I noticed Iris stealing glances at me, hesitation in her eyes. So, I asked, “What is it?”

“

Um

... I have a favor to ask.”

“What kind of favor?”

“

Ehem

. Just a moment.” She walked over to the kitchen shelf and brought something back.

“Ramen?” I said.

“Well, I’ve been craving the ramen you cook.”

Wait. This is what she was so happy about earlier? To the point of even humming to herself?

I wondered.

I teased her. “So you’re giving me a plate of plants while you want to eat ramen?”

“I-I eat like this all the time! It’s fine for me!”

“That’s harsh, too harsh. I didn’t think our dear Saintess would be so cruel.”

Iris looked up at me with the saddest, most dejected puppy eyes I’d ever seen. “So, does that mean you’re not going to make it for me?”

My heart skipped a beat.

This should be illegal. Forget being former lovers or whatever, what man in the world can say no to that face?

I thought.

“Alright. I’ll make it for you,” I said.

Her gloom vanished in an instant as she raised her fists in the air like she’d won a grand prize. “Yayyy!”

“Do you have eggs?” I asked.

“Yes, but why?”

“

Heh

. Just wait and see.”

I’ll show you the taste of heaven,

I thought.

I poured the soup base and noodles into boiling water, and just as the noodles began to soften, I cracked an egg in. Five minutes later, the ramen was ready. Then, I brought the steaming pot over to the table and set it in front of Iris.

Her eyes sparkled as she stared at the bubbling pot of ramen. “Wow!”

“Go on, try it. This one’s different from the last,” I said.

“Okay.” Iris scooped up a bite of noodles along with the softly-cooked egg and slurped it up. The next moment, she let out a delighted hum and kicked her legs under the table as though she were a happy duckling.

“How is it? It’s good, right?”

“How is this even possible?! Just one egg, and it tastes completely different!”

Watching her devour the ramen with such excitement made me smile without realizing it.

Seeing her eat makes me want some too. Plus, ramen always tastes better when it’s someone else’s, doesn’t it?

I thought.

I said, “Alright, maybe I should have just one bite too—”

Iris immediately snapped the pot away like she was guarding a treasure. “No can do. Dale, you still have your healthy meal to finish.”

“Wait, what?”

“

Hehe

. That’s what you get for living off junk food from the campus store.” She smiled sweetly as she pointed to the pile of greens in front of me, but all I could see was a wicked demon hiding behind her saintly face.

Maybe my sulky expression was just too funny, but Iris covered her mouth and burst into laughter. “Just kidding, don’t make that face. Here, I’ll share some with you in a bowl.”

“As expected of our dear Saintess,” I said.

Yeah, I never doubted Iris for a second.

“But you still have to take care of your health, so make sure to eat your vegetables too, okay?”

“Got it.”

Seeing her worry about my health brought back memories of our past life, one after another.

Seriously. She is still the same old Iris, huh.

As we continued our cozy little lunch together, I suddenly recalled something and asked, “By the way, Iris. Were you okay?”

“

Huh

? With what?”

“That hideous tentacle monster.”

“

Oh!

” Iris gave a sheepish smile and twirled a strand of her light pink hair around her finger. “Actually, I didn’t see it. That so-called terrifying tentacle monster.”

“You didn’t?”

“Nope. There’s... a special power in my eyes. Illusions don’t work on me.”

“Special power?”

Those beautiful blue eyes, like clear skies captured in crystal, turned to me, and she said, “Just a moment.”

The next instant, the color of her irises shifted into a radiant, iridescent spectrum.

I exclaimed, “That’s...”

“The oldies of the Holy Empire, oops, I mean the respected elders call it the Seven Eyes.”

The Seven Eyes were proof that she had received the blessing of the Seven Gods and the very reason she was revered as the Saintess of the Holy Empire.

“Thanks to these eyes, I wasn’t affected by the illusion and passed the test easily. I think Professor Morpheus noticed that too. He didn’t say much even after the illusion spell failed.”

I stared silently into her shimmering, rainbow-colored eyes. Suddenly, a memory from our past life surfaced.

“What happened to your eyes?”

I had asked.

“Oh, my eyes?”

She had told me once that in her fourth year at the Hero Academy, her vision had started to blur, and it gradually worsened over a span of months, until one day, she couldn’t see at all.

“It was a curse,”

she had answered.

“A curse? From who?”

At that time, I had wondered who could dare curse the Saintess of the Seven Star Church.

“The Archbishop of Dreams and Fantasies, Astaroth,”

she had replied.

It was the Demon Cult, a religion standing in direct opposition to the Seven Star Church and formed by those blessed by the Demon God, known as demons. Among them, Astaroth was one of the six most powerful demons.

“He... was after the power in my eyes. He cursed the entire academy.”

“Wait, the entire academy?!”

“You probably didn’t know. Actually, no one knew.”

Even if the opponent was an Archbishop-level demon, no one would ever imagine that someone could cast a curse over the entire Hero Academy.

“The curse only affected the one who possessed the Seven Eyes.”

That was why no one had noticed; no one could have noticed.

“As my vision blurred more and more each day, like an idiot, I just thought I had angered the Seven Gods.”

Back then, she had smiled bitterly, gently touching the black blindfold covering her eye.

“By the time I realized it wasn’t divine punishment but a demon’s curse, I had already lost everything.”

She had lost her Seven Eyes that contained the blessing of the Seven Gods, her life as the revered Saintess, and something else as well.

“My... most precious friend, too.”

I never knew how she had managed to rise again to the position of Saintess after losing her Seven Eyes and being half-exiled from the Holy Empire. Back then, I was just a lowly mercenary, struggling to survive day to day. But I was certain of one thing: Iris had lost too much along the path to becoming a Saintess once more. Even that playful, teasing smile she wore now, something I had never seen from her in our past life, was probably part of the cost.

Iris broke me out of my reverie. “Dale?”

“

Ah

, yeah?”

“

Hehe!

My eyes glowing like a rainbow must look kind of weird,

huh

?”

I shook my head as I looked at those shimmering, iridescent eyes. “No, not at all. They’re beautiful.”

So beautiful, I would stake everything I had just to protect them.

Iris quickly turned her head away. Her eyes had already returned to their usual calm blue. “

Erm!

E-even if you say nice things like that, I can’t keep them on for long... I still haven’t fully learned to control the Seven Eyes.”

Blushing furiously, she stood up as if to hide her face. “It’s almost time for the chefs to come back and clean up.”

“

Ah

, yeah.”

“There’s no afternoon class today. Want to go grab a coffee or something?”

“Sorry. I’ve got a few things I need to take care of.”

She looked disappointed, gently tapping her toes against the floor. “

Oh!

I see.”

“Let’s have lunch together again next week,” I said before leaving.

“

Ah!

Yes! Definitely!”

“And you’re not just going to ditch Camilla again, right?” I said in a teasing tone.

Iris turned away with a mischievous grin, feigning innocence. “

Hmph

, I don’t know what you’re talking about, though?”

It was a smile I had never seen in our past life, childish and playful—a side of her I never knew and a version of her I had not met before.

I stepped out, gently closing the door behind me. Then, I leaned back against it, pressing my weight against the wood. “It’ll be okay.”

I made a vow I knew she wouldn’t hear and a promise that wouldn’t reach her. Still, I whispered through the door, “This time, you won’t lose anything.”

I’ll make sure of it.