[My power can’t be broken so easily. That can’t be!]
Josephina, who came to her senses, struggled like a madman. As soon as he undid the straps that bound her arms, she ran to the marble bathtub.
[No, that’s nonsense.]
She gazed in disbelief at the dark powder that was sinking to the floor, then chanted a spell.
[Saintess!]
[Don’t come closer!]
The piercing scream forced Ahwin to stand still in place. Josephina’s figure was reflected in the opposite window.
He got goosebumps at the sight of her sporadically doing hand signs one after another. In response to an instinctive resistance, Ahwin took a step back without even realizing it.
He wasn’t even aware that he’s avoiding her.
After a while, dark purple smoke flowed from Josephina’s fingertips. Soon, she started creating something out of thin air.
He stared at it like she’s a madman and Josephina suddenly burst into laughter.
[That’s right! As expected! My power is fine! It’s not broken!]
Looking at the pattern floating in the air, Josephina laughed hysterically.
The grotesquely twisted purple patterns flowed like melted candle wax.
[Damn wench. How dare you make me look like this.]
Josephina raised her hand with deadly eyes.
[I will put an end to it right now.]
An unfamiliar pattern appeared in the air, and while Josephina energized the pattern, Ahwin couldn’t move, as if he was tied to something that made him weak.
It wasn’t just because of Josephina’s order not to come closer. As soon as he saw the flowing pattern, he got goosebumps like cold knife scratching his skin.
He even feared that the pattern in front of him might break something important to him.
‘Why do I feel like this?’
When Ahwin stiffened like ice due to the unknown emotions.
[Aagh!]
Josephina suddenly screamed and collapsed.
[Ahh! It hurts, it hurts!]
Soon, she grabbed one arm and rolled on the floor. Ahwin regained his senes and ran to Josephina, as if he’d been doused with cold water.
[Ahhk! Help me! Aaaagh!]
[Saintess!]
He could not keep Josephina’s order not to approach her. Ahwin, who was hugging the seizing Josephina, blinked in a daze.
A black aura surrounded the purple pattern floating in the air.
It looked like the black energy was trying to eat the purple pattern.
As a result, the corners of the pattern began to crumble, like a tree that had died.
The purple pattern wasn’t just getting hit. But as it crumbled, it pushed back the black fog and regained its place.
Then the black mist broke the pattern again.
It looked as if two forces were fighting. Before he could understand what the situation was, Josephina clung to Ahwin.
[Ahwin, save me. He will come to me eventually. He’ll kill me.]
Josephina’s eyes were a deep black, overshadowing the depravity from just now.
[Who is he? Who the hell would do that…!]
Ahwin was speechless. The inside of Josephina’s forearm, which had been fine until just now, was crumpled like the skin of an old person.
[What the hell is this…]
He had never heard of such an injury.
[Please wait a moment, Saintess. I will treat you soon.]
The surprise continued.
He managed to come to his senses and poured healing power, but the damaged skin didn’t heal at all. Even though he poured the divine power from his whole body to the point of sweating.
In the end, Ahwin had no choice but to give up.
[Saintess, I apologize. There’s no treatment.]
Josephina leaned against him and wept like a dead man.
[I’m done for. No can stop him. No one…]
Josephina, who had been sobbing, suddenly stopped crying. She soon tightly grabbed Ahwin’s arm. She was so strong that her fingernails dug hard into his skin. Madness shone in her purple eyes.
[But there’s the law of causation! If he touch me any more, he will die!]
At the death-defying declaration, Ahwin held his breath.
Josephina quickly turned her head. As if the opponent was there, she glared at somewhere.
[You! How dare you touch me again! Do you think the Principality will be safe! Just try to kill me! I will kill everything that lives on that land. My wings will do that! Rotten corpses and rivers of blood will cover the land! If that’s what you want! No matter how much you interfere with me!]
After screaming for a long time, Josephina trembled again and begged Ahwin. Tears dripped from her eyes. From the outside, she looked very pitiful.
[Ahwin, you’ll do it, right? You’re going to kill them all, right? That damn bitch, and the damn descendant of the dragon…!]
Josephina opened her eyes wide as if she had realized something.
[Prince Dietrian! It was because of him.]
Hoping to have finally got a clue, Ahwin quickly asked Josephina.
[Please explain in detail. Did he harm the Saintess? Did what just happened because of him?]
[That’s because he’s on my land. That’s why the dragon appeared!]
Josephina trembled like an aspen tree. Tears welled up in her purple eyes.
[I didn’t mean to call the Prince of the Principality. Kick him out right now so I can live. Ahwin, Ahwin…]
Josephina wept bitterly. She sobbed for a while, then got exhausted and went limp.
***
As he left the shrine, Ahwin was lost in thought. The moonlit steps shone faintly.
‘It’s the dragon.’
Josephina’s seizure today was surprisingly caused by the dragon of the Principality.
Josephina said that the dragon that had disappeared appeared and tried to kill her.
In fact, it was hard to believe.
The dragon abandoned his people long ago and left this world. It was for this reason that the Empire was able to seize and shake the Principality at will.
Even looking at the actions of the delegation from the Principality, it made no sense. If the dragon had really returned, the descendants would have known first.
If so, Prince Dietrian wouldn’t be suffering helplessly from the Empire like he is now.
However, the prince’s attitude did not change at all. Just a few hours ago, when the priests mocked him, he even bowed his head politely.
A bitter smile formed on Ahwin’s lips as he thought so.
‘I’m doubting what the Saintess said.’
It was something unimaginable in the past. The words of the Saintess were law to the Wings, no, they were more powerful than the truth.
If the Saintess said that the sun was the moon or call day night, they would believe it and nod.
Even if he wasn’t conscious of it, their hearts would flow like that without even realizing it. It should be so.
‘Since when?’
When did it start to change? Since when did his feelings toward the Saintess not be the same as before?
‘I wonder if it’s because of Noel.’
He didn’t call Noel today.
He did so even though he knew that borrowing the power of another wing would help him heal the Saintess.
He was afraid that the restless Josephina might take out her anger on Noel.
Noel was more important to him than the Saintess.
Ahwin let out a light sigh.
‘Is it okay for me to be like this?’
He didn’t show it to Noel, but in fact, he too was feeling the cracks from the beginning.
There were many times when the Saintess’ misdeeds, which he would have taken for granted in the past, made him uncomfortable.
Unlike Noel, he was very afraid of this change.
Becuase he had someone to protect.
If the Saintess tried to harm Noel, he couldn’t oppose.
Even for the sake of that day, he had to act perfectly as the Saintess’ Third Wing now.
Ahwin let out a smirk.
“I’m disqualified as a wing.”
A wing that plan to fight against the Saintess.
Ahwin closed his eyes for a moment. After brushing off his thoughts, he made plans for the future.
‘First of all, what needs to be done right now.’
The Saintess ordered that Prince Dietrian be kicked out as soon as possible. Apart from the appearance of the dragon, it seemed right that his existence stimulated the Saintess, so he had to get rid of him quickly, even for Noel’s sake.
‘I must hurry the national marriage.’
There were so many things to do. It seemed like it would be a very long night.
***
Leticia was still unconscious.
He wanted to get her to the doctor right away, but his circumstances were not going well.
The detached villa where the Principality delegation was located was too far from here. Besides, he had to avoid people’s eyes.
“Then, is that why Lady Noel overthrew the knights?”
“That’s right. Let’s not go near the west villa for a while.”
Outside the bushes, patrols flirted past. Dietrian held her tightly in his arms, hiding her body in the darkness.
Unlike Leticia, who was wrapped in a thick cloak, he was wearing a thin shirt. The night wind was cold enough to make him freeze.
“She threatened to kill anyone she sees, and it gave me goosebumps.”
“Wah, that’s scary. I thought she was a good one.”
“Wings are wings.”
Dietrian’s eyes shimmered coldly at the shadows that passed over the bushes.
He needed to get her to a place of safety quickly but couldn’t because of them.
He wanted to twist their necks as they walked leisurely. As he managed to endure, the giggling gradually receded. He took her in his arms and came out.
‘I have to go indoors first, wherever it is.’
As the night progressed, the temperature would drop. No matter how thick the cloak was, it could not completely block the bitter cold.
Fortunately, there was a small one-story building nearby. It was a prayer place made so that priests could pray at any time.
After looking around, Dietrian moved quickly.
The wooden door opened with a creak. The inside of the prayer hall was very dark and narrow. Only the statue of the Goddess on the old platform shone faintly in the moonlight.
A look of dismay appeared on Dietrian’s face at the chill rising from the stone floor. The floor was too cold. He couldn’t possibly lay her down in a place like this.
In the end, Dietrian chose to continue holding her in his arms.
He carefully propped her up against the wall and pulled the cloak over her cheeks.
He leaned against the wall only after checking again to make sure that no cold wind would enter.
He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and put his arm under her knees.
“I’ll just hold you for a moment.”
She couldn’t hear it, but he asked for her permission anyway. A cold chill permeated the back leaning against the wall.
Even though he was wearing a thin shirt, he didn’t even realize it was cold.
As long as she was safe.
He could take more than this.
Looking down at her pale face, he softly whispered.
“Please be patient. As the night progresses, we should be able to escape the guards. As soon as I leave the temple, I will show you to the doctor.”
It wasn’t an ordinary thing to escape from the temple while avoiding people’s eyes. If they were discovered by the guards at all, they would be in great trouble.
But Dietrian couldn’t think of any other way. At this moment, the fact that he was the prince and that he had people to protect seemed like a story from a distant land.
Thankfully, her condition quickly improved as time went on. Color returned and her breathing and pulse became normal.
Dietrian, who was preparing to move immediately if it worsened even slightly, only then relaxed his stiff shoulders.
After looking at her sleeping face for a while, he reached out for her.
He found her hand inside the cloak and held it, then carefully pulled it out.
His eyes darkened. When they parted in the central temple, her hands, which were fine, were now messed up.
He softly asked, holding the hand full of dirt and scars.
“Was it because of brother’s remains that you went to the central temple today?”
Now in his arms was the remains of Julios.
Looking at her messy hands, he noticed a long chafing mark.
Following the end of it, there was a clumsily buried black box.
In order not to reveal the remains, she dug the ground with her bare hands and hid them.
He naturally recalled the image of her desperately crawling away even a little while in pain to get away from that place.
It was like being hit in the heart with a hammer.
The scene at that time still haunted him.
“Did you go through all that hardship in the temple trying to steal my brother’s remains?”
Dietrian’s eyes twisted slightly.
“Why did you do something so dangerous?”
“…”
“Is it because you heard what the priest said to me?”
While she was treating Enoch, Dietrian was being threatened by a priest.
The priest promised to destroy his brother’s remains if he did not feed Abraxa to Enoch. The man’s shouts reverberated through the villa, so she must have heard them too.
After all, even the blood she shed today in the temple was to protect him.
Dietrian whispered impatiently.
“Who are you? Who are you to do this to me?”
It was like swallowing a fireball in his chest. It seemed that he would not be able to endure this fire unless he vomited it out.
“Why does my heart hurt so much when I see you?”
From the moment he first saw her in the temple, to the moment he checked her face, to now holding her in his arms.
It was as if he had become a completely different person.
His heart beat like a drum, and he couldn’t take his eyes off her. His breathing became desperate, as if her breath was his own.
He thought he would die if he lost the woman in his arms again.
Those terrible feelings could not be explained as just gratitude towards a benefactor. However.
‘I don’t care anymore.’
Dietrian put his lips on her wrist for a moment. The feeling of her heart pounding put his mind at ease.
He quietly looked at her face, closed his eyes and then rested his cheek on top of her head.
As if this had been his place for a very long time.
A tingling feeling of fullness crept into his heart, He just wished that time would stop forever.
Leave a Reply