Locked in a private prison, Lina was crouching while holding her knees.
Her chestnut hair clinged to her cheeks and her pale skin, her usually effervescent mood had completely disappeared. Unmoving slightly, Lina looked like a marionette with seemingly broken strings.
There were no prisoners other than Lina in this prison, which was tightly constructed with holy relics. No other human beings were there either.
Three times a day, all the food came in through the hole made in the bars, and only the palm-sized windows were on the high wall. She could guess the time by the light coming through the window bars.
But it didn’t matter.
Because Liegel would take her out of this place.
As long as Prince Jun arrived properly.
She hoped he would.
Squeak.
It was then that the three tightly closed gates of this prison were opened.
And then…. Lina heard the voice that she thought she would never hear again in this life.
.”..Saintess…”
Like a person burning on fire, Lina stood up quickly. Then she faltered and retreated.
It was High Priest Jubelud.
“You guys stay back.”
“Yes, High Priest.”
As the Holy Knights and the priests moved away, High Priest Jubelud approached and sat down in front of bars.
“Saintess.”
“…….”
“You took my seal.”
“…….”
“That has unlocked and destroyed the holy relics at the boundary of the canyon. There were holy knights and several other knights who died.”
Lina made no reply. But there was a smear of blood from her bitten lips.
A silence fell. High Priest Jubelud looked at Lina without saying anything else and quietly took out a book from his pocket.
“……!”
Lina’s eyes shook like a wave when she recognized the book. She couldn’t help but notice. It was her favorite book when she was educated in the Great Temple. When Lina was just a Saint, when she didn’t have any worries, and used to lay on her stomach reading it…
High Priest Jebelud opened his mouth in a somber voice.
“I come every week. I will come and read this book to you.”
Lina opened her mouth for the first time.
“Why?”
Her voice choked. It was because Lina, locked in the prison, was terrified and screamed loudly.
The High Priest looked at her.
“Because I believed you to be a Saint.”
“…….”
“You would have wished that you were a Saint too, not anything else .”
Lina almost collapsed, her legs momentarily losing strength.
“What you did cannot be forgiven, and those who died cannot return…. Still…”
The voice came in wet as it sank in.
Lina stood still and listened to the book High Priest Jubelud was reading to her. Like a doll whose spring had been loosened completely, she showed no reaction.
The 30 minutes flew by. High Priest Jubelud’s injuries had not yet healed, and he roused his tired body.
”High Priest Jubelud.”
Lina opened her mouth for the first time.
“My name is Rina. Yurina.”
“…….”
“But everyone just thinks of me as Lina…. I’m telling you.”
High Priest Jubelud smiled, clouded but clearly.
“I’ll remember that.”
The night in the pitch-dark prison came on tediously. Lina shivered a little and gritted her teeth at the blue moon seen through the window.
Kung!
Soon a dull sound was heard inside the prison. The small but clear sound brought the holy knight who was guarding outside inside.
“……?”
Lina was bleeding from her forehead. The same mark was on the wall. It looked like she had smashed her forehead against the wall with great force.
“What are you doing…!”
While the holy knight was looking for the key in a panic, Lina approached the bars. She stuck out her arm and caught the holy knight.
It was in an instant.
With a decisive scream, the holy knight collapsed, leaving only bones and skin. His skin was tainted as if everything had been contaminated by Maggi.
Beep! Beep!
At the moment, the holy relics, which sensed an unregulated force, began to sound an alarm like crazy.
“What, what is it!”
“Ha! He’s dead!”
“…Wait a minute. Was her hair that long?”
The Holy Knights who immediately rushed in were confused. Lina’s hair, which had always been short, had grown oddly long.
In an instant, Lina’s hair was braided round like the bracelet Liegel had put on her. At that moment when the Holy Knights took out their swords.
Boom!
With a powerful explosion, part of the prison broke down. When the dust that had come in disappeared, so did Lina.
***
“Ha…”
Moving into a strange space, Lina became engrossed and nauseous. She hated it. Liegel had made her to suck human life the way he had eaten numerous stars. Finally wiping away her tears, Lina straightened her body.
“Cassius! I’ve been waiting for you…..”
Lina’s lips stopped moving.
Cassius wasn’t there. Instead…
“Kalis…”
Kalis stared at her.
“Why…why are you here?”
Lina looked around reflexively. Surely this must be the abandoned tower where Cassius was …. Where was this place?
Why was there no one here?
Kalis’s gaze went to the bracelet Lina was holding.
“They said they seized a bracelet identical to that one from Cassius and burned it.”
The priests thought it was strange that Cassius was so honest about the bracelet. If Seria was so clear about it, there must have been something to it, but it was also suspicious that Cassius let it burn.
Their intuition was right on target. Cassius had hidden the real bracelet.
“There’s no better way to hide it than to swallow it. Normally, he would have suffocated to death….you said you were Magi.”
“……!”
“So he was made of Magi, too?”
Lina backed away. There were two reasons why Kalis got involved in this. Because it was dangerous. Kalis felt responsible.
In any case, he was one of the heads of the seventeen families with whom Lina had the closest relationship.
“I wish I had never met you then.” (Kalis)
Hearing Kalis’s words, Lina’s hands tightened. She felt resentful and disappointed. She wanted to put a dagger in Kalis’s heart.
“Why do you blame me?” (Lina)
“…….”
“You may think that it was my fault and that I used some strange method to make you abandon Seria, but no! Because while there was some Magi left in your body, it wasn’t enough to control you on making important choices. You’ve been with Seria for so long. How much could Magi control you?” (Lina)
Kalis’ eyes shook as if they had met a storm. Lina said emphatically.
“That’s why I believed in you more.” (Lina)
Lina wiped her wet eyes and gritted her teeth.
“It was you who abandoned your fiancée. Kalis.”
“…….”
“It is you who chose me. Kalis.”
The abyss of Kalis slowly collapsed.
“…It’s unfair that I am the only one who is miserable.”
Just as Lina murmured, a holy knight tried to attack her from behind. Kalis reflexively lifted his sword. Lina turned around. Her gaze met Cassius’s bloodshot eyes as if it was a dream. His body was full of blood. (*Cassius blocked the attack and got hit)
Kang.
The holy knights held Cassius to the floor. In Cassius’s body, Magi was growing little by little. It took a moment for him to show his inhuman strength.
Cassius opened his reddened eyes as a vein popped up on his neck.
“Lina!”
Yes, Lina was Cassius’s only lifeline.
The only one that could return honor again to Cassius, who had been robbed of all preciousness.
Lina held the holy knight’s hand.
“Argh!”
The holy knight collapsed, leaving only bone and skin. Lina staggered back and disappeared completely. A step later, Kalis reached for her, but there was nothing to catch.
***
“Stern! You are here!”
A high-ranking priest welcomed Seria with tears of joy.
“Please come this way. The staff have almost completed the route now. There will be a few more revisions, but….”
The magical border of the Berg territory has collapsed. This was much more severe than Cassius’s breaking of the canyon boundary the other day.
It was because all five of the magical borders collapsed at once.
A state of emergency was declared, including the Great Temple, the Glick Empire, and even the neighboring kingdoms. Seria immediately went with Myote to the northernmost part of the Berg territory.
At the large outpost, which she was also visiting for the first time, knights from various families, including the Holy Knights, arrived one after another.
“Miss.”
Abigail approached and glanced outside.
“It’s starting to snow.”
“Snow? This time of year? It’s true.”
It was not just the demons that poured down along the collapsed boundaries.
Even the harsh cold air of the uninhabitable north was gradually flowing. Although the season was still late summer, it was already even snowing here.
When she thought she had to prepare the formal attire for the cold, a loud voice struck her ear.
“Grand Duchess!”
It was Linon. He ran up to Seria, hugged her knees and gasped.
‘Is he weak in the lower half of his body because he’s half mermaid?’
By the way…
”Why did you come all the way here? You must be in the Berg castle.”
“I was. Now the importance has long since changed.”
“……?”
A smirking Linon whispered as he looked at Abigail.
“By the way, Grand Duchess. Why is Sir Abigail wearing something strange on her back? Is it a weapon?”
“No, it’s the Stern insignia.”
“Well… Does carrying that on your back protect you from the demons?”
“It can’t be. I brought it with me and Bibi took it from me.”
Hanging on Abigail’s back was the Stern insignia wrapped in cloth.
The words that Tuban engraved, “Bring Lesche Berg’s heart,” were still clear.
In an unparalleled state of emergency, the Great Temple dispatched an enormous number of holy knights to Berg territory. Seria was anxious to leave the insignia where the security level had dropped sharply, so she brought it with her.
“Grand Duchess!”
She heard Alliot’s voice shortly after. He ran toward Seria in a flash and whispered.
“His Highness will be back soon.”
***
“Kah!”
Prince Jun was thrown to the floor.
The mountain range was close to the north, so the snow was already piled white. Prince Jun looked horrible as Magi took over his body. It was unknown if he was a human being or a demon…
But Prince Jun was human. Tears streamed from his eyes.
“I am sorry… It is not because I want to. It is because my body moves on its own….Magi….”
The noble royalty knelt down like a lowly slave and slammed his forehead on the frozen floor. When even the high-ranking priest with the tracking team couldn’t speak.
Clack, clack.
The sound of metal clashing. Lesche, who had heard the news that they had captured Prince Jun alive, was walking in a hurry.
Without any hesitation he walked past the knights to Prince Jun.
Immediately, his hand grabbed the prince by the hair and lifted him roughly.
“……!”
Instantly, a cold sweat broke out on the backs of all those present.
Prince Jun smiled brightly.
Very bright.
That speckled face, with wet eyes contorted in regret but only the mouth wickedly raised…. It wasn’t human anymore.
“Berg.”
Prince Jun’s eyes lit up.
“Give me my moon.”
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