Chapter 83
“…Come to think of it, it’s nearly the time when the dead begin to roam freely.”
Ragnar muttered under his breath. Ever since the forest of fae had burned down, the dead buried long ago beneath Mount Derden had started to crawl back out like insects whose natural predators had vanished.
Before summer came, around the time of the full moon, the dead would often descend from the mountain and defile the world of the living.
The world was still filled entirely with heretical things.
To protect this sacred domain, Ragnar had to walk the path of the divine today as well. And he had to purge all those impure elements, repel them, and in the end, reform them.
Just as the angels of Beckelus had exalted Impellias’s victory as trophies of triumph, those who were reformed through the great holy power Ragnar received directly from the god would become faithful servants of Impellias.
That was Ragnar’s great mission.
God had commanded him—
To cleanse and reform this wicked world brimming with heretical power.
“Do not be afraid, great holy knight.”
A priest spoke in a damp, slithering voice behind Ragnar as he turned away. Ragnar stopped in his tracks.
“You are different from those lowly creatures.”
“……”
“You will become a saint. Your touch will reform the cursed. Just like the great Saint Beckelus.”
The young lord walked on without replying. He did not want to admit that those snake-like eyes had seen into the fear within him.
What exactly did Carmen believe he was afraid of?
The darkness was long. In the solitude of that darkness, once again, the woman whispered in his ear. Sweet like a curse.
“To live a life under the grace of the god… in the lord’s land.”
“Enough.”
“…Let me stay by your side.”
At the end of the darkness where he stood alone, Ragnar lifted his head. The sensation of Arzeletta’s body clinging to his shoulder, the feel of her, was all too vivid.
Daphne had been right. He was running away.
“Ah, haah.”
‘Rzel, my Rzel.’
Arzeletta clutched her chest in a dreamlike daze. Theogrim. His name, branded into her heart with a single prayer, burned through her.
‘Save me.’
“Ah, Theo…”
‘Deliver me from this pain. Kill him. Please.’
“Hhh…!”
Arzeletta opened her eyes. As if struck by an arrow, she pressed her chest and gasped for breath.
Cold sweat beaded at the nape of her now-pale neck. Her slender neck shimmered even more brightly in the dim moonlight. Arzeletta brushed aside her long, fallen hair.
Hair darker than the night scattered between Arzeletta’s pale fingers. It almost felt like she could hear the sound of it sliding. Awakened beasts gazed up at her quietly with gentle eyes, captivated by that shimmer, by the deep, rippling black.
Within the beasts’ dark, docile eyes, the beautiful Arzeletta clutched her heart in agony.
‘Rzel, my Rzel.’
“Ah, please…”
Theogrim’s command lashed at Arzeletta. The sharpness that dug into her heart day by day grew ever clearer.
Did Theogrim know?
Arzeletta wondered. Her eyelashes were wet with the physical pain that stabbed through her chest.
Did he truly know?
That there was a pitiful person here who could not sleep because of his suffering. That there existed someone who had to throw everything of herself into obeying a command born from a sincerity he hadn’t even realized himself.
The thought didn’t last long. Arzeletta shook her head.
He wouldn’t know. The two of them were far too… young to understand the meaning of a vow.
Even Arzeletta herself didn’t know the power her prayer held.
Or what kind of fate that prayer would cast her into.
‘Do you regret it?’
Suddenly, Arzeletta asked herself. Her green eyes, like fresh buds, blinked with moisture.
No.
No, no, no.
Her long eyelashes slowly lowered. Moonlight rested on them, casting long and delicate shadows.
No matter how many times she turned the thought over, the answer was the same.
Arzeletta thought of Theogrim’s lonely back.
How high and dignified his back appeared among the people, and how terribly wounded it was beneath that dazzling white robe.
She ached as she reflected on Theogrim’s days—how harsh they were, burdened with punishment for sins he did not commit.
Even if she went back again, she would still reach out to hold Theogrim’s hand.
If he hadn’t saved her that day, she would no longer exist in this world.
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