Hwarurug (blaze). Red torches were transferred to the perch on the wall one after another.
A thick smell peculiar to oil that had been neglected for a long time spread throughout the hallway. The shadows of the torch shimmered ominously over the scattered old furnitures.
“Please come this way.”
Noel followed the paladin with a hard face. She was now on her way to Leticia’s room after that demonstration.
[I want to talk to Noel alone. If you try to drag me by force, I will stab my throat with this knife.]
The paladins did not believe that at first. But when the blood began to flow from Leticia’s throat, they couldn’t just ignore it.
[Do you think I’m lying? I’ll show you my blood if you want. But I’m worried. As you all know, I’m about to become a Princess of the Principality, right? What will mother think if she finds out that her daughter, who is about to get married, made an extreme choice because of the paladins following her?]
In the end, the paladins had no choice but to follow Leticia’s words. When she even mentioned the Saintess, they couldn’t ignore the threat.
Noel gritted her teeth.
‘An evil woman. Dare to blackmail us by putting the Saintess in her mouth? Living her whole life driving a nail into the Saintess’ heart. With what kind of face did she dare do that?’
She was as angry with herself as she was with Leticia.
‘It was my mistake. I should have dealt with her myself from the start.’
Had she stepped in, things wouldn’t have gotten to this point.
‘I know how much Ahwin is trying, so I can’t work like this.’
Ahwin was so desperate to help her.
She hated herself for not being able to do the job he entrusted her to help her.
If things went further south from here, she wouldn’t be able to look at Ahwin.
‘I have to put everything back in place now.’
She swallowed her anger and marched on. She saw two paladins standing restlessly in front of an old door.
Noel held back her distorted expression and approached them.
“Why are you all outside?”
It was said that Leticia was alone in the room.
“She threatened to slit her wrists if we didn’t go out…”
“Ha.”
Noel’s eyes widened.
“Get out of the way. I will deal with it myself.”
“Underst-…huk!”
The paladin, who received Noel’s momentum upfront, hesitated. His complexion was pale and he couldn’t breathe properly.
Noel couldn’t afford to be considerate of them. She thought of Leticia beyond the door as she clutched the old doorknob.
She would never, never forgive her.
As she wished, she would show her the power of a Wing.
Suddenly, the door opened.
The cold wind on her cheek gave Noel an intuition that something was wrong. Noel cried out as she ran into the darkness.
“Fire!”
The paladins carried torches and followed after.
Noel’s face contorted.
The room was empty. The curtains fluttered over the wide open window.
Noel, who hurriedly ran and looked down at the garden, screeched.
“I was tricked by that woman!”
She let the paladins go and left the room.
“Follow me right now. She couldn’t have gone far. Search the garden first!”
“Understood!”
The paladins rushed off. The buzzing hallway became empty. Noel touched her forehead with a trembling hand.
The woman ran away.
Everything was ruined. What now?
“Water, I need water.”
All she needed was water to find her.
But she didn’t have a torch so she couldn’t see where the water was. Noel looked for the candlestick, relying on the dim light from the hallway.
She hurriedly fumbled over the chest of drawers.
“Noel Armos.”
A humble call. Noel’s movements stopped for a moment. Dark eyes slowly filled with astonishment.
“Are you looking for me?”
A shiver ran down her spine as if she’d been struck by lightning.
Nonsense. How could this be?
Tokak.
The sound of footsteps drew closer.
“Ahh.”
Noel covered her mouth with a trembling hand.
She stumbled and managed to grab the chest of drawers.
Instead of anxiety, an unfamiliar joy filled her heart.
An instinctive awareness.
This was exactly the feeling the Goddess promised.
She closed her eyes tight.
Tears poured out profusely.
***
The night Noel died. That night, like today, was full of stars.
[They’ve already found us.]
Seeing the pursuers approaching, Noel bit her lip in frustration.
[Lady Leticia, I’ll try to drag the time.]
She stumbled and rose from her seat. Blood flowed endlessly from the wounds that had just been tied up.
[Leave the rest to me and go.]
Contrary to her determined words, Noel seemed about to collapse at any moment. Hearing the sound of horse hooves, Leticia intuited the end.
Noel wouldn’t last long.
She wouldn’t be able to run away either. So she didn’t move.
[…I won’t go.]
Noel, who was preparing to use the Goddess’ power, noticed and urgently spoke.
[Hurry, get up and go. There’s no time. Come on!]
[…]
[Come on, please go! Lady Leticia has to survive!]
It was as if she feared Leticia’s death more than her own. Leticia couldn’t understand Noel. So she had no choice but to ask.
[Why are you going this far to help me?]
[Lady Leticia!]
[You are my mother’s Wing. But why are you trying to save me?]
[I will answer you later. So, you have to run away…]
[There is no later. Because it’s over anyway.]
Leticia shook her head. Her sprained ankle was swollen before she knew it.
[Even if I ran away with this bridge, I will eventually be caught. Noel should know that.]
Despair apopeared in Noel’s eyes at that low whisper.
[So please answer me. Why are you trying to save me?]
[That…]
Noel’s face contorted as if crying. Leticia couldn’t understand the look in her eyes, tangled with guilt and remorse.
[I’m sorry.]
[…]
[I realized too late. I couldn’t protect you…]
Before she could even ask what she was talking about, Noel opened her eyes at the sound cutting the wind.
Leticia reflexively responded to her slowly collapsing body.
She saw an arrow sticking out from behind Noel’s back. The pattern engraved on the shaft was familiar.
Her mother’s Wing.
Perhaps the third…
Before she could even remember the name, Leticia collapsed to her knees. Noel’s body trembled helplessly. She could barely open her mouth.
[Noel.]
No answer came. She probably wouldn’t hear from her forever.
[Ah, ahhh.]
Leticia’s body began to tremble.
And after a while, a long shadow covered the two of them. Leticia’s frozen gaze slowly rose.
She saw a curved bow, long silver hair blowing in the wind past the whitish knuckles.
It looked painful.
Empty red eyes stared down at her. Soon, he slowly lowered his body to one knee. He didn’t stop Leticia, who instinctively tried to step back from him.
[Give her to me.]
His voice, half hoarse, sounded so heartbreaking that Leticia swallowed her breath.
[Please. I’m begging you like this, please.]
His crouched shoulders swayed like waves. Holding onto the hem of Noel’s cold clothes, he cried.
[Please, give her back…]
***
It was because of the memory of that time that Leticia demanded a private meeting with Noel, even threatening the paladins.
In the past, Noel was killed by Ahwin’s arrow while trying to protect her. The Saintess’ Wing had defied their master’s order.
Leticia couldn’t even guess why. Because there was no point of contact between Noel and Leticia.
It was thanks to the ladies-in-waiting’s gossip that the long-standing doubts were finally resolved.
[The criminal that Noel Armos hid was found?]
[Again? How many times was this?]
[I still can’t believe it. To think that the Wings harbored resentment towards the Saintess…]
[She’s from the slums. Where could that lowly blood go?]
[I feel sorry for Sir Ahwin. To go crazy because of a woman like that. In the end, he was even abandoned.]
Even after Noel’s death, her name went around the temple for a while. It was revealed that for about three months before she died, she had been hiding sinners of Josephina.
[The reason why Noel Armos betrayed the Saintess is probably because of that, right?]
After Leticia left for the Principality, children from the slums were unjustly imprisoned.
They were injured while rebelling against the priest who was trying to kidnap them. The priest, who failed to kidnap them, accused them of blasphemy.
Noel defended the children, but to no avail. All the children involved were imprisoned. Some of them couldn’t even bear the harsh imprisonment and died.
‘I guess that’s why she decided to go against mother’s will.’
It must have been that she had made up her mind not to leave innocent sinners behind.
That’s why Leticia blackmailed the paladins to create time to be alone with Noel.
‘Because I owe Noel.’
Although the escape attempt failed, it was true that she died trying to help Leticia.
Before she left, she wanted to be of any help to Noel in any way she could.
‘I can’t reveal everything because I can’t reveal the regression.’
All she could say was to be careful of the priest in question. Of course, there’s a good chance that Noel wouldn’t believe her.
‘If necessary, I’ll have to talk about Ahwin.’
After killing Noel, he became insane. In the end, he ended up being discarded in the hands of Josephina.
‘If it weren’t for that event in the slums, Ahwin wouldn’t be like that.’
Seeing Noel’s shoulders tremble slightly, Leticia took a deep breath.
“Noel, I have something to tell you.”
“…”
“This is a story you need to hear. You must know it in order to protect Ahwin.”
Noel winced and turned around. Leticia blinked her eyes in embarrassment, seeing those cheeks filled with tears.
“Noel…?”
Instead of asking about Ahwin, Noel asked in a trembling voice.
“Are you really the Saintess’ daughter, Leticia?”
“…if so?”
“No way…”
Noel shook her head in disbelief.
“That can’t be. Everyone said you were a terrible villain. There’s no way I can feel these feelings for you.”
Noel burst into laughter as she cried. Leticia was still dumbfounded.
“Noel?”
“But I can’t help it.”
Noel was clearly confused, but on the other hand, she also looked very relieved.
Noel smiled prettily as she still had tears in her eyes.
“Because there’s only one person in the world who can shake me this much.”
The instinct engraved in Noel’s soul spoke.
That the woman in front of her was the very person she had been searching for so desperately.
Peace finally came to the heart that suffered in front of Josephina.
“Lady Leticia.”
Noel fell on her knees as if possessed and placed her forehead on the back of Leticia’s white hand.
“Master of my soul.”
“…!”
Leticia’s eyes widened.
“I have been waiting for you all along.”
Noel whispered earnestly to Leticia, who had even stopped breathing.
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