Chapter 50
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I'll purchase divine power with money.
Chapter 50
Victoria Lawrence had headed straight to the Underground Prison the moment she finished deploying the Saint's Guard Division—the 2nd Holy Knight Division.
How startled she'd been when she heard that Ordel Kiris had been attacked last night.
Worse still, she was the last person to have been with Ordel Kiris before the attack, which left her drowning in terrible guilt.
If only she hadn't left. If only she'd defied Ordel Kiris's command, insisting there was no need to guard until dawn since there were no suspicious elements in the Cathedral.
Then Ordel Kiris wouldn't have faced such danger alone.
'It's my fault.'
The Assassin had been cloaked in divine power anyway, so her presence wouldn't have made much difference.
Besides, Ordel Kiris had managed to capture her alive.
Yet guilt didn't fade so easily.
So when she heard someone's scream echoing from somewhere in the Prison, her heart plummeted.
It was a man's voice, but she had no mind to process such details.
Upon arriving at the Prison, she saw it immediately.
Ordel Kiris, drenched in crimson blood, slowly collapsing.
"Saint!"
A horrifying sight—red liquid pouring from her mouth, eyes, and nose.
Victoria Lawrence wondered if Ordel Kiris was already dead, the condition was so ghastly.
Victoria Lawrence bit her lip hard and rushed into the Prison.
Seeing the shattered lock, she could only sigh.
Seth Noel and Airic Dert would never have opened it, so Ordel Kiris must have broken through herself.
Why. Why would she go this far.
Victoria Lawrence bit her lip anxiously and carefully lifted the unconscious Ordel Kiris into her arms.
Then she glared at The Assassin bound to the wall with sinister eyes.
If this was her doing, she'd kill her on the spot.
"...Hey."
But she couldn't.
The Assassin, who had seemed utterly vacant and unresponsive like an idiot, was now looking directly at her and speaking.
Between strands of purple hair matted with blood and dust, pink eyes gleamed with an unsettlingly vivid light.
"...That person."
Her gaze shifted from Victoria Lawrence to Ordel Kiris cradled in her arms.
Victoria Lawrence's grip tightened reflexively.
"Are... you... okay...?"
The Assassin asked.
Victoria Lawrence thought she'd misheard.
Trembling lips, eyes carefully examining Ordel Kiris's condition, a contorted face.
Wasn't she looking concerned for Ordel Kiris? Surely not...
"She's not dead, is she?"
"Shut up!"
Victoria Lawrence responded savagely to the ominous remark.
Ordel Kiris was far too formidable to succumb to something like this.
"...Yes. Then take her quickly and treat her wounds."
Despite being restrained, she displayed such composure that it troubled me, yet I had no more time to spare on her.
Victoria Lawrence said nothing further and departed the Prison with Ordel Kiris.
After securing the door with a new lock, Victoria Lawrence cast one final glance back at her.
She merely stared blankly at the ornate jeweled box resting upon her abdomen.
* * *
"...Did the Saint truly treat her wounds?"
After Airic Dert left, Victoria Lawrence alone gazed intently at the sleeping Ordel Kiris.
After explaining everything that had transpired in the Prison to him, she had gleaned several pieces of information from him.
According to Ordel Kiris's assessment, the Assassin appeared to be under the control of the Sea God's divine power.
Thus, she wished to liberate her if possible.
'If the Assassin's ability to speak and the return of focus to her eyes were both fruits of the Saint's success....'
Then it made sense that Ordel Kiris had shed so much blood.
Countering a god's divine power was a formidable task, even for a Saint.
The question was why she would willingly court such danger for an Assassin bent on killing her.
Before her reformation, she had been a troublemaker, wreaking equal havoc upon all; now, having repented, she had become far too self-sacrificing, which posed its own complications.
I could not say the past was better, even if my lips were torn asunder, yet neither could I claim the present was preferable.
Would a balance between the two be better? Must she swing so extremely to either extreme?
"Sun God, I beseech you. Please protect your daughter."
Victoria Lawrence offered a prayer to the deity who still watched over them.
May the daughter whom you loved and cherished enough to choose directly as your Saint remain safe and happy.
May she suffer no more pain.
Click.
The Bedroom door opened quietly.
Turning, Monica entered with a grave expression. Her demeanor suggested she had learned of the situation immediately upon returning to the Cathedral.
"...Victoria Lawrence."
"Hush. The Saint is still resting."
Monica approached and stood beside her.
Her eyes and nose were flushed red, as though she had wept outside.
"Did you see your parents off safely?"
"Yes. They departed from the Village without visiting the Cathedral. It was wise they did so."
Monica bit her lip once, then continued speaking, her voice still trembling with emotion.
"Of all times, this had to happen while I was away...."
"By that logic, I, who was under the same roof, should have known as well."
Though the Assassin had been shrouded in the Sea God's divine power, which even Seth Noel had failed to detect, leaving the Saint alone had been a clear oversight.
"And the reason she cannot awaken now is not from the Assassin's attack. The Saint captured her cleanly."
"What? Then why...."
Rumors of the assault had spread far and wide, but the fact that the Assassin was cloaked in divine power and that Ordel Kiris had collapsed after expending her sacred power remained concealed.
Only Seth Noel, Airic Dert, and Victoria Lawrence knew the truth.
Since Monica also needed to know as a handmaiden, Victoria revealed the truth.
"What on earth was that bastard thinking...."
Monica, learning everything belatedly, seethed quietly with anger.
Her face had flushed crimson—had Ordel Kiris not been asleep, she would have stamped her feet in fury.
"I only heard it from the High Priest, so I'm not certain of the reason. I know the Saint wouldn't act without cause, but...."
Without a clear understanding, acceptance was difficult.
Victoria exhaled a weary sigh.
'Wait, could it be....'
A thought suddenly surfaced in her mind.
The Assassin she'd last seen in the Prison had possessed quite striking beauty.
Even with her hair matted in blood and her face half-obscured by blood and dust, her beauty hadn't entirely faded.
Moreover, once her eyes regained focus, her beauty truly came alive.
Because Ordel Kiris had stripped her to prevent escape, her toned physique was fully exposed.
The extensive training she'd undergone was evident even to Victoria's expert eye.
'Come to think of it, the Saint was also the one who willingly resolved Duke Sheery's troubles.'
The common thread between the two was their exceptionally striking beauty.
Could it be that Ordel Kiris had a weakness for beautiful people...?
Even during her most reckless years, she had never once brought a man into her bedroom, so this was an angle Victoria had never considered.
"Lady Victoria? What's wrong?"
Her expression had grown quite grave, prompting Monica to ask carefully. Victoria hastily shook her head.
"It's nothing. I'm simply worried about the Saint...."
It was merely her conjecture, nothing certain, so Victoria decided to keep this suspicion to herself for the sake of Ordel Kiris's honor.
Had the sleeping Saint known, she would have been utterly exasperated by the misunderstanding.
* * *
....
Ah, my head.
The moment consciousness returned, the first thing I felt was a splitting headache.
The pain was so intense it jolted me fully awake.
Yet despite my mind clearing, my body remained heavy and utterly unresponsive.
Stiffer than sleep paralysis, my rigid body left me bewildered.
"Saint?"
Monica's voice, arriving like a savior, must have sensed my will to open my eyes.
I felt immense relief at her presence.
"Just a moment."
Soon a damp cloth gently wiped my eyelids and lips.
Thanks to her careful touch, I was able to open my eyes quickly.
The Saint's Bedroom, now as familiar as my room in my past life, came into view.
Yet somehow, today I felt a faint regret that this wasn't truly my own room.
A deep sigh escaped me unbidden.
"Why do you sigh? Is something uncomfortable?"
"...No. It was just a dream."
Yes, a dream—one that had spanned years in reality.
I wondered if Ju Hyun-jin, my precious friend, was living well.
When I died, I wept far more than I should have.
"What sort of dream were you having?"
"A dream where my friend appeared."
"Your Holiness, you had friends?"
But Monica's barbed remark shattered any lingering nostalgia in an instant.
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