That night, Leticia spent a dreamlike time with Dietrian.
While Leticia was happy, Noel couldn’t sleep all night.
It was because of Leticia and Ahwin.
After meeting Leticia, Noel’s life completely changed. The sky, once thick with clouds, seemed to clear for the first time, and the once-heavy world looked beautifully iridescent. But.
‘Ahwin is still the wing of Josephina, isn’t he?’
Regrettably, her lover Ahwin was still loyal to Josephina. The happiness felt thanks to Leticia made Noel anxious.
‘When can Ahwin break free from Josephina?’
Leticia’s departure from the empire was approaching, making it all the more urgent.
Eventually, suppressing her anxiety, she cautiously brought up the story of Leticia. However.
“There can be no other Holy Maiden except Lady Josephina, Noel. The one we must serve is only her.”
Ahwin sharply crushed her hopes.
How cruel Ahwin was, asserting that fact wouldn’t change even if the sky split in two. A surge of disappointment arose.
Noel unknowingly wanted to argue. Why couldn’t he recognize Lady Leticia even though he had eyes? Why didn’t he sense the holiness from her?
Since that conversation two days ago, Noel had been in a cold war with Ahwin.
In fact, it was a cold war of her own. Ahwin was busy preparing to escort the delegation from the Principality.
Despite the sadness, it was a small consolation that Ahwin was escorting Leticia.
‘It’s too early to give up hope. While being with Lady Leticia, Ahwin will eventually recognize her true worth.’
Even while consoling herself in this way, she increasingly felt desolate.
‘In the end, I have to stay alone.’
Unlike Ahwin, Noel had to stay in the empire. She had to protect the despised Josephina.
“It’s for Lady Leticia. Let’s not complain.”
Despite starting the morning with such turmoil, astonishing news awaited her.
“I’ve been assigned to escort the delegation from the Principality?”
Surprisingly, not only Ahwin, but she too was said to be participating in the escort of the Principality’s delegation.
“Really? I’m really participating in escorting the delegation from the Principality?”
“Yes. The Holy Maiden herself ordered it.”
My goodness. Who would have thought that Josephina would be of help?
Noel subtly lowered the corners of her mouth that were subtly rising. Barely holding back a burst of laughter, she quickly covered her mouth and stepped outside.
“That’s great!”
She could follow Lady Leticia to the Principality. Moreover, with Ahwin!
Her heart swelled with emotion. It felt as if she was soaring through the sky.
‘I must tell Lady Leticia right away!’
She would surely be delighted to hear this news. Noel dashed towards Leticia’s room as if flying. Her demeanor resembled a puppy running towards its owner, tail wagging excitedly.
‘Let’s see. Lady Leticia’s schedule for today is…….’
Leticia’s schedule was packed. With the wedding being tomorrow, there was much to do, starting with checking the dress. Noel’s eyes sparkled.
‘I can see Lady Leticia’s wedding dress!’
Her steps were light with excitement.
‘The door is open?’
However, for some reason, Leticia’s door was half open.
Feeling an odd anxiety and hastening her steps, a familiar groan pierced her ears.
“Ugh!”
It was Leticia’s voice.
Noel didn’t think twice and abruptly opened the door.
Leticia, half-dressed in a white wedding dress, was propping herself up on the floor.
Leticia struggled to lift her body, while the maids of Josephina’s palace snickered, looking at her.
“Stop whining and get up. We are also busy, you know.”
“Fainting just for that? Stop playing weak.”
“Get up already! Helping with your wedding preparations is utterly irritating as it is.”
Noel blinked slowly. She could not believe the situation before her eyes.
No, she didn’t want to believe it. Her only master was collapsed, in a place out of her sight.
‘Why, just why?’
Because of those wretched creatures.
“Oh my, Lady Noel. You’ve come!”
One of the maids noticed Noel and created a fuss.
“You, why are you here?”
Noel stared at the maid expressionlessly. Her gaze was as cold as a midwinter snowstorm.
“Hehe, we thought Lady Noel would be busy.”
The maid approached with small, prancing steps, hands clasped together. She spoke in a cooing manner, as if flaunting her mischief.
“We were just giving that woman a little ‘mental training’.”
“Mental training?”
“Lady Noel is in charge of that woman, isn’t she? We were worried that the magnificent wings would be bothered by such a trivial woman, so on the way by…… Aack!”
The maid couldn’t finish her words. In the blink of an eye, she was dragged by her feet across the corridor. Transparent ropes of water were tied around both of her ankles.
“Ugh!”
The maid, having forcefully hit her head on the floor, crouched down, letting out a stifled sound.
Noel coldly stared at her. With one hand, she rapidly drew a symbol in the air.
Transparent water filled with a life force whipped violently, like a lash.
“Kyaaak!”
The maid, previously collapsed on the floor, was abruptly flipped and suspended from the ceiling. The other maids in the room, witnessing this, gawked at Noel with horror.
“L, Lady Noel?”
Instead of responding, Noel took a step into the room.
Leticia was barely lifting her body.
Noel clenched her teeth. She wanted to rush over and support Leticia immediately, but with so many eyes watching, she couldn’t. So, she cleared them all away.
“Aaah!”
“Kyah!”
“Spare me!”
The maids inside the room were swiftly hung from the ceiling, just like their colleague had been. No matter how much they struggled, the ropes made of water did not release them.
No, they constricted their ankles even more tightly, actually digging into their flesh.
“La, Lady Noel! Why on earth are you doing this?!”
In the rapidly encroaching terror of death, the maids gasped for breath.
“Why, why, why in the world.”
“You failed to understand your place.”
Noel declared icily.
“The master of the western palace is my responsibility, entrusted to me by the Holy Maiden. Who are you, to interfere with my duty?”
Noel neither exerted force nor made threats. She merely whispered chillingly.
Nonetheless, the maids’ faces turned deathly pale. Noel spoke in an eerie voice they had never heard before.
“How dare you. Creatures like you, how dare you.”
The maids felt as if they were dreaming. A terrifyingly vivid, horrific nightmare.
Throughout their long service in the divine palace, they had encountered various Wings.
Except for the First Wing, enshrouded in a veil, they had seen them all. The more they saw of the Wings, the less they seemed human. Not only their transcendent power but often their personalities too exceeded the normal range.
The Second Wing, Tenua, was a prime example.
Originating from the leader of a mercenary group, he was infamously brutal. The appearance of Tenua was enough to turn the divine palace upside down.
One never knew who he would find fault with or for what reason. Once he found fault, nine out of ten times, it ended badly.
Josephina neither prevented nor condemned Tenua’s malevolence. For the powerless maids, the best strategy was to avoid him.
Ahwin, the Wing most beloved by Yozephina, was equally challenging to deal with.
The red eyes that could make one shrink with a mere glance, and the cool, imposing aura characteristic of a Wing who controlled the wind were problematic. Perhaps they might say he was like a human made of ice, that even when pricked, not a drop of blood would flow.
In contrast, Noel was different.
She was as casual and friendly as a next-door neighbor. Always greeting the maids with a smiling face and treating them with respect.
Despite being a Wing of the goddess, she had never once flaunted her authority. Hence, everyone in the divine palace liked Noel.
That’s why they could never have imagined a situation like this.
“It’s not overstepping. We were just helping with the wedding preparations!”
“So, why do you take it upon yourselves to do so? That is my task.”
Noel, declaring icily, murmured a spell.
“Engulf them!”
Moments later, a water barrier flew in from somewhere, stopping right in front of the maids’ faces.
Through the transparent curtain of water, the image of Noel glaring at them flickered.
“From now on, stay silent. If you make a sound just once more, I will seal your breathing passages.”
At those words, the maids’ faces turned ashen. They realized Noel was serious. If they misspoke, they could become the first people in the divine palace to be killed by Noel.
The maids instantly became silent. Noel, suppressing her desire to kill them, returned to the room and hastily assisted Leticia.
“Lady Leticia, are you hurt anywhere?”
Looking at Leticia, Noel’s face seemed a distraught contradiction to the demonic demeanor she exhibited towards the maids moments ago.
“I’m fine. It doesn’t hurt at all.”
Though Leticia said this with a smile, Noel couldn’t bring herself to believe it.
Although it hadn’t even been a week since Noel had gotten to know Leticia properly, she had easily figured out her disposition.
Leticia endured everything too well, all too silently.
It was the same when Noel first met Leticia. She had lain in the middle of a cold puddle for quite some time. She never showed any sign of struggle and even consoled Noel, who was worried about her.
And that wasn’t all.
During the tea party, even with her eyes rolled back in pain, she assured Noel that her own wounds were nothing and calmed her down. She was unthinkably different from Josephina’s notorious demeanor, despite being her daughter.
So, Noel made a resolution.
To protect her mistress so that she never needed to bear pain silently again. Because she thought so,
“Lady Leticia, what is this wound?”
When Noel discovered needle pricks on Leticia’s arm, it felt like the sky was falling.
“Who dares to do such a thing.”
At that moment, Noel saw pins scattered messily on the table. The same pins were attached to Leticia’s dress.
In an instant, realizing the answer, flames sparked in Noel’s eyes.
“So it was the doing of those people earlier.”
She should have killed them after all. Hanging them from the ceiling was too merciful.
“Please sit for a moment. I will deal with this and be right back.”
“Noel, what do you mean deal with?”
“I’ll go kill them all. It’ll be over quickly.”
“Kill them? You absolutely cannot!”
Leticia desperately grabbed Noel. Noel was taken aback.
“Cannot?”
“You just punished them. That’s enough. There’s no need to take their lives.”
“It’s not enough. They are still perfectly fine.”
“Even so. You can’t kill people over just this.”
Noel could no longer contain herself at that.
“Why are you like this? Just this? Your injury is not ‘just this’ to me, Lady Leticia!”
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