Chapter 112
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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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Chapter 112
The chains, resonating with their master, loosened their grip.
Chesa, who had been bound tightly and suspended in mid-air, descended as the chains unraveled around her.
Her feet touched the ground with a soft thud.
Hailon and Chesa regarded each other in silence for a moment.
Hailon was too shocked to speak, while Chesa found herself at a loss for words, unsure how to explain herself.
As they stood staring at one another, loud footsteps echoed from outside.
Holy Knights were rushing in to apprehend the intruder.
A fairy discovered in the heart of the Holy Empire, no less in the Grand Cathedral Sacred Relic Storage.
The thought alone was horrifying.
'I need to hide!'
Using the Illusion Realm would be simple, but such a tremendous display of power would leave traces of the fairy's presence.
As Chesa frantically searched for a hiding place, panic rising in her chest.
Hailon seized her wrist.
He pulled her body roughly toward the back of the crown display case.
Hailon drew Chesa close and crouched behind the display case with her.
The chains shifted and clinked softly, creating a blind spot that cleverly concealed both of them.
"Hailon, wait—!"
Chesa tried to say something to him.
But a large hand covered her mouth.
The texture of the leather glove pressed against her lips.
Startled, Chesa's eyes widened.
From behind, Hailon whispered softly against her ear.
"Stay quiet."
"...."
He was trying to hide me, it seemed.
Chesa's eyes darted about.
For now, I could stay captured here, then slip away the moment Hailon was distracted.
But this was the Heretic Inquisitor who had pursued the fairy countless times before.
Hailon saw through Chesa's thoughts as clearly as if they were written on her face.
A soft click.
White chains coiled around my ankles.
My body trembled at the cold touch of holy power against my skin.
A low voice reached my ears.
"Don't run."
It was an unmistakable warning.
Of course, I had no intention of obediently complying just because Hailon warned me.
I tried to pull at the chains around my ankles with my hands.
Unless I used my fairy power to swing an axe loudly, these chains wouldn't break.
Getting caught here would only hurt me.
Chesa had no choice but to go limp in his arms, complying without resistance.
Only then did Hailon release the hand that had been covering her mouth.
Instead, he wrapped his arms firmly around her waist.
Bang—the door burst open.
The sound of Holy Knights pouring into the Sacred Relic Vault flooded in.
They confirmed the interior remained unchanged and fell into confusion.
"The crown is still here."
"And Lord Hailon?"
"I heard he headed to the vault first...."
"Perhaps he's already pursuing the intruder."
While the Holy Knights exchanged serious words among themselves.
Behind the display case, Chesa was dying from the effort of suppressing her urge to fidget.
For some reason, she felt increasingly tense.
'This position is... really bothering me.'
Hailon leaned against the display case, sitting with Chesa nestled between his legs, held in his embrace.
The crown had transformed her clothes into an oddly delicate dress, and the fabric was far too thin.
Because of it, the man holding me from behind felt far too tangible.
I had always thought his body was disproportionately large for his beautiful face.
But pressed against him like this, I felt anew just how broad Hailon's frame truly was.
'His height is considerable, and his hands are enormous.'
When he covered my mouth earlier, I thought his palm might engulf my entire face.
As I recalled Hailon's long, straight fingers—unmarred by any roughness—my breath caught.
"...!"
Hailon slowly buried his face against the nape of my neck.
His breath, drawn in and released, tickled my skin.
Suddenly, something deep within my belly grew warm.
The ankle bound by chains tingled unbearably.
Chesa couldn't endure it and curled her body inward.
The moment she twisted her shoulders slightly, Hailon tightened the arms around her.
He pulled me deeper into his embrace.
It was a tender yet desperate clinging.
As if he wished to confine me within his arms forever, if only he could....
Chesa recalled a moment from the past.
Back then, too, Hailon had clung to her with this same desperate longing.
***
Lichesia had long wondered about the young apprentice knight who had helped me escape from the Slave Hunters.
Not often, but very occasionally, I recalled him.
Whether he had survived that day against the Slave Hunters.
Whether he had truly become a Holy Knight....
My long-held curiosity was resolved by an unexpected reunion.
Around the time I had become infamous across the entire continent as a heretic.
The Holy Empire Hilderd, unable to ignore the existence of heretics, had dispatched the Holy Knight Order to eliminate me.
Hailon was among the Holy Knights.
It was a reunion that came after several years had passed.
He had shed his youthful appearance and stood at the boundary between boyhood and manhood—a figure unfamiliar to me.
Yet I could recognize him at a glance.
That boy from back then.
The boy from the past also recognized Lichesia at once.
With eyes still clear and pure, a brilliant blue, he gazed at Lichesia intently before parting his lips.
"Heretic."
His low, heavy voice was completely different from the youthful tone of the past.
To the man in Holy Knight regalia who pointed his sword at me, Lichesia greeted him with a smile.
"Hello, Hailon."
"...."
Hailon did not respond.
He merely gazed at Lichesia with an unreadable expression.
But his hesitation was brief, and he swung his blade.
It was the holy sword of a Holy Knight punishing heresy.
The holy sword, imbued with sacred power, shone with a pristine white radiance that ranked among the brightest I had ever witnessed.
The boy who had been strong in the past had grown formidable beyond recognition.
Just as I had grown.
Since awakening the Illusion Realm, I had feared nothing—yet facing him proved burdensome even for me.
The Holy Knight Order led by Hailon was unusually relentless.
At that time, Hailon was neither a Heresy Inquisitor nor a commander of knights.
He was merely a low-ranking Holy Knight, not long after receiving his ordination.
Yet even knights of higher rank did not treat Hailon carelessly.
Rather, when situations grew perilous, they all looked only to Hailon.
They waited for him to give orders and lead them forward.
It was absurd, yet entirely natural to the knights.
In this inverted hierarchy, I clearly felt what kind of existence Hailon was.
I trapped the Holy Knight Order within the Illusion Realm and scattered petals to obscure their vision.
I grasped at Hailon with thorny vines as he thrust his sword through the petals, and asked him.
"Are you the commander?"
Hailon did not respond to my words, spoken half in jest.
He merely broke the silence that had persisted until now and asked a brief question.
"That day."
"...."
"Why did you run?"
The question dredging up such ancient history left me feeling unsettled.
I wondered if perhaps only I remembered it.
It was strange that he too retained such vivid memories of the past.
"Because I wanted to live."
Lichesia answered him.
That was the end of their conversation.
The Fairy had no intention of letting the Holy Knight who had drawn his blade against me leave unscathed.
"If you want to live too, you'll have to run from now on."
The chess pieces from the Illusion Realm came crashing down toward Hailon.
Alongside the colossal chess pieces thundering down upon the Chessboard, magnificent flowers bloomed in all directions.
That day, I had genuinely tried to kill Hailon.
But he was strong, and he managed to escape alive from the Fairy's Domain.
From that moment on, Hailon began pursuing Lichesia relentlessly.
Through years of unending pursuit, Hailon and Lichesia grew steadily stronger.
Everything expanded.
Their power, their bodies, their positions and honor, and their infamy as well....
Hailon in particular rose through the ranks at a breathtaking pace.
Starting from the lowest rank, he advanced one tier each time they met, and when we hadn't seen each other for a while, he would have climbed two or three ranks in the interim.
And so, in the year he came of age.
Hailon became a First-Rank Holy Knight.
It was an unprecedented and miraculous ascension in the long history of the Holy Empire.
Having been forced to witness Hailon's transformation and growth through endless combat, even Lichesia felt her heart stir at such a remarkable achievement.
I had thought to offer him a word of congratulation when we next met.
Of course, only after beating him senseless with flowers to keep him from getting too full of himself.
But when Hailon came to find me.
Lichesia could do nothing.
"Fairy."
Drenched in blood from head to toe, his eyes hollow and devastated....
"Kill me."
He begged for death.
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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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