“Ah,” Leticia momentarily felt relieved but then shook her head in disagreement.
“But we can’t be too sure. It’s Tenua we’re dealing with; he’s unpredictable. I should go and inform His Highness immediately.”
As Leticia turned to leave, Ahwin grabbed her arm.
“I can get there faster. Behemoth!”
Soon after, a mysterious wind fluttered inside the tent, and a voice urgently spoke.
“Master! Tenua threw Kikelos’s corpse into the well!”
“Do you know if the delegation was anywhere nearby?”
“Not at all! There was no sign of anyone near him!”
“Are you certain?”
“Absolutely! You instructed me to ensure that Tenua couldn’t harm anyone else.”
Ahwin then turned to Leticia.
“Now you see?”
He quickly gave another order.
“Immediately search for the Principality delegation. Check if they are in any danger. If anything happens, inform me at once.”
“I will, Master!”
“If Tenua attacks them, you can intervene. Keep him occupied until they are safe, by any means necessary.”
“Leave it to me!”
With that, the wind swiftly exited the tent. Ahwin urgently addressed Leticia.
“Leticia, Tenua is targeting you.”
“As I suspected,” Leticia nodded, confirming her suspicions.
“Thank you for letting me know. I’ll be careful.”
“No, it’s not just a matter of being careful.”
“What do you mean?”
“If Tenua tries to harm you again, I will personally see to his end.”
His eyes flickered like blood-red flames.
“Don’t worry about anything.”
“Thank you.”
After expressing her gratitude, Leticia quickly left the tent.
Staggering, Ahwin bumped into a table, feeling a surge of shock overwhelming him again. He gasped for breath, his hands trembling uncontrollably. He desperately rummaged through his memories.
He had always taken for granted that Leticia was a criminal.
It wasn’t just because Josephina had said so. There was something else, a definitive moment that cemented his belief in Leticia’s guilt.
‘Think. I must remember. Hurry!’
And then, it came back to him.
She’s a bloodthirsty murderer.
The most evil devil in the world.
The first day he met Leticia.
A fragile girl stood trembling like a leaf in front of the sanctuary.
So thin, the wrists showing beneath her white dress seemed as if they might break at the slightest touch.
She appeared too weak to have ever hit anyone, let alone commit murder. That frail girl was Leticia, Josephina’s daughter, perceived as the master of the empire.
Ahwin was utterly bewildered. Josephina had distinctly described her daughter as a demon uncontrollable even by her mother.
“Ahwin, wait here. Tenua, come with me.”
Snapping back to reality, he saw Josephina approaching Leticia.
Tenua followed her with a sardonic smile. As they got closer, Leticia’s face was clearly filled with terror.
Her pale green eyes, moist with fear, briefly met Ahwin’s. It was a look of such desperate plea that it felt like his heart was being torn apart.
He wanted to rescue Leticia immediately and punish those who had reduced her to this state. Moving forward instinctively, gripping the hilt of his sword, Ahwin was shocked by his own thought.
‘Punish Josephina?’
A wing, daring to harm its master? Moreover, on his first mission as a wing. Startled by his own irreverence, he froze.
Thud. The door closed.
“Huh.”
He lifted his head.
There was no one at the door.
Everyone was gone.
In the blink of an eye, the girl who had gripped his heart, his mistress the Saint, and the second wing, all had disappeared.
He bit his lips anxiously, not knowing what to do.
“Perhaps, there has been a misunderstanding.”
It seemed his mistress might have misunderstood her daughter. Believing her to have committed crimes she had not, she mistreated her.
“I must stop Josephina.”
He then needed to rescue Leticia. That was his duty as a wing. Having reached this conclusion, he moved towards the door, but at that moment.
“She’s a bloodthirsty murderer.”
“The most evil devil in the world.”
The voice echoed.
“Don’t be fooled by her appearance.”
“You are Josephina’s wing.”
“Since Josephina hates her, you must hate her too.”
In the distance, a white statue of the goddess gazed at him.
Insistently whispering, not allowing him any room for other thoughts.
“Remember, your true master is only Saint Josephina.”
“Remember, your true master is only Saint Josephina.”
“Remember, your true master is…”
And then, everything blurred as if it was all a dream.
“My, true master…”
Mumbling absently, Ahwin stood by the door, gripping the hilt of his sword, murmuring as if under a spell.
“So I must hate…”
Over and over again.
“Cough!”
Ahwin gasped for air, his body shaking uncontrollably as he crouched on the floor.
‘It was all a lie.’
He finally realized.
‘I’ve been deceived!’
He barely managed to suppress a scream.
Leticia was his true mistress.
The wing failed to recognize its true master.
He had stood by and watched his master’s suffering, even aiding the opposition!
Ahwin clenched his eyes shut, overwhelmed by a dark sense of self-loathing.
And finally, at that moment when the second wing recognized its true master, a violent burst of purple energy erupted from behind him.
This energy, seemingly frantic after being expelled, fluttered momentarily before rushing back towards Ahwin’s nape. However, it couldn’t return.
A subtle golden wind, which had appeared out of nowhere, blocked its path, unwavering and firm, rippling like waves.
It then stood up, forming a faint silhouette of a woman.
“Retreat.”
The purple energy, contorting into a furious male face, let out a silent roar.
“Dinuut! You, again!”
“Retreat, I said.”
“How dare you…”
Eventually, the purple form glared murderously at the calm woman looking down at it before dissipating into the air below the tent.
Leticia was unaware. This was the moment her second wing was born.
* * *
When Leticia stepped outside the tent, the red twilight had already transformed into a deep blue darkness.
The atmosphere among the Imperial Knights was tense, evidently agitated by the news of the contaminated well. Their distraction was so intense that they barely noticed Leticia passing by, too engrossed in their heated discussions.
“No water means we’re dead too! What was Tenua thinking, poisoning the well like that!”
“Keep it down, will you! Before Tenua rips us apart for dehydrating to death, we’ll probably be killed for yelling like this!”
“We might as well voice our concerns now while he’s not here! When else are we going to get the chance?”
“Why would he do such a thing? Could it have been an order from the Saintess? To contaminate the well?”
“No way. Ahwin was furious about it. If it was an order from the Saintess, he wouldn’t have reacted like that.”
“Yeah, I heard he almost choked on his rage. If it was the Saintess’ command, he would’ve known.”
“This is madness! Why ruin a perfectly good well?”
Unlike the knights, Leticia had an inkling of why Tenua would poison the well.
‘It must be to torment me.’
If what Ahwin said was true, then Tenua couldn’t harm the Principality delegation.
Tenua believed his mission was to escort the delegation, and he wouldn’t directly attack them to avoid the excruciating pain of breaking the vow.
But would Leticia be considered part of that delegation to be protected?
‘Probably not. Mother wouldn’t have ordered my protection.’
Ahwin and Tenua both knew this well. That’s why Ahwin couldn’t explicitly tell Tenua to protect her.
‘It would have only raised suspicions.’
To Tenua, already frustrated at being unable to harm the delegation, Leticia was the perfect target.
‘Tenua wants me to suffer from the well’s contamination.’
For travelers crossing a desert, few things are worse than learning that a well has been spoiled.
So, he spoiled the well. Even if it meant putting his own men in danger, he didn’t care.
‘He wouldn’t care about others’ suffering.’
In fact, he’d revel in the chaos caused by his schemes.
‘Is Dietrian really safe?’
Tenua’s intentions were partly successful and partly thwarted.
Leticia wasn’t afraid of the contaminated well; it was Dietrian’s safety that weighed heavily on her heart. Despite Behemoth’s assurances, the anxiety remained, rooted in her previous experience of Dietrian’s death.
“The Principality King Dietrian is dead! The Duchy is finished! Long live Saintess Josephina!”
“The Duchy is finished! It’s completely collapsed! The Empire’s era is about to begin!”
Past nightmares flooded Leticia’s mind in an instant. She bit her pale, trembling lips.
Dietrian was her everything.
She had dedicated everything to protect him.
So, in the very last moment, he had to be safe.
She found herself clutching her chestnut-colored skirt as if running, her steps quickening. The temple and campfires were rapidly approaching under the azure sky.
“Haa, haa.”
She stopped, gasping for breath.
Was it just her imagination? Unlike when she left earlier, the atmosphere among the delegation was now chaotic, as if something significant had happened. They gathered in groups, discussing matters with serious expressions.
Already burdened with dark thoughts, a wave of fear washed over her. She tried to calm herself and decided to start by finding Yulken.
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