CH 223

Not long after Helmut died from drowning in a puddle of his own blood, Igel shrugged and sheathed his sword.

The plan to let Helmut die alone had failed, but his death already seemed lonely enough.

“I’ve seen a lot of people die before, but I’ve never seen anyone die like a disgusting bug like this,” Igel muttered.

“Well, he finally learned his place right before he died. Come on, we gotta go.”

Ioshiff took a black robe out of her pocket and handed it over to Imil.

Imil put on the robe and even wore a hood to cover his face. As soon as he wore the robe, his presence disappeared in an instant. Even Ivy, who was hiding right outside the door and watching the scene from the beginning, could hardly sense Imil’s presence even though she was already aware that there were people inside.

Then, Imil began to move toward the door.

Seeing this, Ivy panicked and looked for a place to hide, but there was no where she could hide. Soon, Imil strode out of the hallway.

Ivy looked at Imil with a stiff expression. She thought she would either be held hostage once again or killed, but Imil looked at Ivy in silence and then walked past her.

The moment Imil walked past Ivy, he quietly murmured.

“Take care of her on your own. The master is waiting for us.”

Igel passed by and winked at Ivy, while Ioshiff pinched Ivy’s cheek before leaving. It wasn’t until a little while after they passed by Ivy that she slumped to the floor with a puzzled expression.

At that moment, Ivy felt someone carefully touching her shoulder.

“Are you okay?”

It was Lenly Loen.

Only then did Ivy realize that Imil wasn’t talking to her but to Lenly, who had been standing behind Ivy all along. Ivy almost ran into Lenly’s arms, but stopped herself.

Lenly was no longer covering his eyes. His amber eyes were quietly staring at her.

“I apologize for being late. I thought that you were in the Red Citadel, but I couldn’t find you there. Are you okay?”

As soon as Lenly reached his hand out toward Ivy, she flinched and stepped back. Based on the conversation she eavesdropped, she already knew that Lenly was a traitor.

It didn’t take long until all sorts of rumors about Lenly came to Ivy’s mind. Lenly was known to be a man who gave up his chance to become a Templar and instead volunteered to join the Imperial Guards, just to faithfully serve His Majesty. He was even at odds with the Pope due to his loyalty to the emperor and controversy over the empire’s current doctrine.

Lenly was known to be more principled and doctrinal than even the Pope. Nevertheless, many Priests and Templars from the Church admired Lenly for his integrity and reverent attitude. After all, the Captain of the Imperial Guards did not hold much power—on the surface, his role was nothing more than a corpse cleaner.

“Saintess?”

‘But what if all of that was a lie? Did he become a member of the Imperial Guards just to get access to the emperor’s body from the beginning? What if he was used by the Pope and became a member of the Imperial Guards just to make it easier for those in the shadows to make evil plans?’

“Saintess, you don’t look too well. This tower is shaking. It might collapse at any moment, so let’s…”

‘Even the reason why we were hiding underground for days after the failed rebellion might have been a part of their plan to proceed with their next step.’

Lenly used to leave Ivy behind and go away for hours back in the underground structure, and it was also through Lenly’s persuasion that Ivy had attempted to rebel against the Pope.

‘I was being used all along.’

That was all Ivy could think of.

“Go away.”

Lenly flinched and paused his hand that was trying to reach Ivy. Lenly dropped his hand with trembling eyes upon seeing Ivy’s cold glare.

Before, Ivy would have thought of Lenly’s current appearance as heartbreaking, but not anymore. His white skin made him look like a skeleton, and his mouth that puffed up to try to say something felt like a snake flapping its tongue at her. It was hard to even read any emotion from his trembling eyes.

“...You traitor.”

“Saintess, I…” Lenly tightly bit his lips and managed to continue speaking. “Other people probably can’t understand me, but you have to understand. After all, you are the Saintess.”

“I’m not some Saintess and you know that. I’m just a woman who was killed at the hands of the Pope then luckily brought back to life. The position of the Saintess is nothing more than the Pope’s marionette!”

“No, you’re wrong!”

Lenly shouted in a violent voice without even realizing it.

Seeing this, Ivy flinched and stepped away from Lenly.

Lenly gasped at the thought that he had frightened Ivy and tried to approach her, but this only scared Ivy even more.

Lenly raised both of his trembling hands and opened his mouth.

“I understand that you are surprised. But you will know soon enough—why you were chosen as the Saintess and why you are a true Saintess. The prophecy you made came from His Majesty—it came down from a man who will become the true emperor.”

‘The true emperor…’

Those crucial words made Ivy confirm that Lenly was indeed a traitor. Ivy’s eyes were wet with despairing tears.

“I don’t care anymore. Tell everyone to die whether they are the true emperor or not. If there’s another life, I hope to be born in a world where everyone is dead,” Ivy glared at Lenly and answered.

Ivy turned around and began to run as soon as she finished speaking. The place she was headed to was an opening left behind by the collapsed wall.

Lenly screamed and tried to catch up to her, but it was too late.

Ivy began to fall down the tower as soon as she threw herself into the air.

***

Juan looked closely at Sina’s body that was in his arms as he walked in the city center.

Her pale skin, the numerous wounds, and her chest which was no longer rising, all indicated that she was dead.

Juan couldn’t tell exactly what it was that killed Sina, since there were far too many wounds on her body that were fatal.

Her limbs were still attached to her body, but all her muscles and nerves were ruptured and her internal organs destroyed.

Then, Juan discovered something familiar from her wounds—it was the side effects of forcefully using higher stages of the Baltic Sword.

Even a well-trained person had to be fully prepared to be injured if they used one of the higher stages of the Baltic Sword, since failure could result in fatal damage. Juan was able to confirm that Sina had used the Baltic Sword—she went beyond the fifth stage, using the sixth stage.

It was an incredibly high stage for an ordinary human, and it would be no exaggeration to say that she was the first human being to use the Baltic Sword at such a level.

But she was probably also the last human being to do so as well.

It was then.

Crack! Crack!

A black space suddenly began to appear as the air was torn apart. It was a temporary phenomenon caused by the Crack.

However, Juan just passed by without even looking at the black space when the Crack opened up right next to him.

Then, someone belatedly ran out of the Crack. It was Haild. He was no longer wearing a bandage on his face. After looking around as if he was searching for someone, Haild found Juan and quickly rushed toward him.

“Your Majesty!”

Haild, who was hastily running toward Juan, belatedly saw Sina in Juan's arms. Haild covered his mouth with his hand and looked at Sina in silence for a while, then carefully looked up at Juan.

Meanwhile, Juan was just walking with an emotionless face.

“...I see that Dame Sina Solvane fought bravely.”

Juan did not answer Haild.

This caused Haild to be perplexed; he had never seen Juan like this. However, he continued to follow Juan in silence. Although it was difficult to know the exact relationship between Sina and Juan, Haild knew that it was beyond that of an ordinary peer relationship.

However, they weren’t lovers either. Haild felt that there was a stronger bond than that between the two of them. It was not simply a normal relationship between a woman and a man. It was something much more than that—it was a sense of solidarity that almost connected them as one.

But Haild couldn’t just stay still and watch Juan in this state. It was clear that the battle was still going on, and so, he had to inform Juan about the situations in other regions.

“Your Majesty, please forgive me for disturbing you in this situation, but the Cainheryars have suddenly disappeared. I thought that they might have only disappeared in the East, but it is assumed that the Cainheryars have also disappeared in the rest of the regions. It is assumed that they have disappeared throughout the empire. But that doesn’t mean that the situation is completely resolved—most of the troops will remain where they are, and only some of them will come to the West. I was the first to be able to move thanks to the ability to teleport, but Captain Anya and Aunt Nienna will also arrive as soon as possible.”

Haild explained as quickly and simply as possible, but Juan did not seem to be listening to him at all. Haild tightly closed his lips. No matter how shocked Juan was, he was the emperor and the supreme leader of the empire. It was utterly ridiculous for him to be in a state of shock in the midst of such an important battle.

“Where is Captain Pavan? Is he the one currently in command of the battle?”

Once again, Juan did not answer. Feeling frustrated, Haild stood in front of Juan to block his way. Only then did Juan stop walking.

“Your Majesty, where the heck are you going?”

“To my body.”

Juan opened his mouth for the first time.

Haild was perplexed by Juan’s answer, but was still glad to have gotten a response.

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“Your Majesty’s body? Then you must be talking about the holy body. Do you know where it is?” Haild asked.

“Inside the Red Citadel. I can feel that it’s there.”

“I’ll cover you, Your Majesty. If you do find your body there… you will finally regain your power as the true emperor. Um, I don’t know if that’s what’s going to really happen, but I am assuming that it will. After all, it was said that it was Mananen McLeir’s heart that completed Your Majesty.”

Juan looked back at Haild.

Haild was perplexed by Juan’s emotionless eyes, but quickly bowed his head.

“There were many heartbreaking sacrifices along the way, but Your Majesty will finally return to your rightful place. No one can stand in your way now. Of course, there will be a lot of work to do. But first of all, we will need to find my father, I mean Gerard Gain… Uh, please forgive me. I know that you’re not in the mood to hear this, but I keep talking too much at the thought that everything is over now… It would have been nice if my mother was here to see this as well.”

‘A lot of work…’

Haild continued his gibberish, but there was only one sentence Juan paid attention to. Juan was numb as he was heading toward his body—he thought that getting his body back was another ‘work’ that had to be done.

He had just been moving without any thoughts, but what Haild said inspired him in a strange way.

A distorted and twisted idea popped up in his mind.

“No, Haild.”

When Juan suddenly opened his mouth, Haild looked at him while blinking.

“I am going to bring Sina back to life.”

***

Crash! Bang!

The city center was devastated when the huge tower finally collapsed over Cabragh.

The soldiers who had been fighting all over the city had slowly stopped fighting when, at some point, their commanders were nowhere to be found, and came to a complete stop now that they saw the tower collapse.

The soldiers of the Western Army had already completely lost their will to fight from the time when the tower collapsed. Starting with the surrender of the Order of Surtr, the various divisions of the Western Army began to surrender to the Capital Army one by one.

It was not until a long time later that the Order of the Capital accepted the Western Army’s declaration of surrender under the command of Pavan who had returned.

It was through Pavan’s report that the news of Dismas’ death was announced.

The Western, and the Capital’s forces started working together to rescue the people stuck under the rubble of the collapsed tower.

It was a terrible disaster, but there were many signs of relief among the soldiers at the thought that there was no need for them to kill each other when they belonged to the same Imperial Army.

At the same time, something major was discovered at the scene of the collapse—Pavan was able to rescue an unexpected person.

“Are you awake, Saintess?”

Ivy slowly opened her eyes. Pavan was looking at her. She slowly realized that she was being carried somewhere.

Ivy blankly looked up at the sky and muttered in a quiet voice.

“Am I alive?”

“Yes, Saintess. Perhaps you had the protection of His Majesty or you simply got lucky. Or maybe there was a guardian angel who saved you.”

“A guardian angel?”

“Pieces of stones were cut in a circular form around the place you were found. I don’t know who it was that showed off their skills on this rubble amidst the collapsing tower, but that person wasn’t there by the time we found you. I think that person might be slightly injured based on the blood stains in the surroundings, but I’m sure that he’s safe, since no corpse was found around that area.”

Pavan looked as if he knew that it was Lenly who saved Ivy.

But Ivy’s face quickly turned pale. She screamed in pain as she tried to quickly get up, causing Pavan to hastily press down on her shoulder.

“I did tell you that you got lucky, but that doesn’t mean that you weren’t injured. Your left leg is broken and you have a lot of bruises here and there, so please stay still. I need to check where else you might have gotten hurt,” Pavan said.

“His Majesty… I need to meet His Majesty. We need to hurry up and…”

“I will let him know if there is anything urgent. But the Western Army has surrendered and we also found Dismas and the Pope’s bodies. There is no need for us to be in such a hurry to…”

“Lenly Loen is a traitor! His Majesty doesn’t know that yet!”