Chapter 122

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A single paragraph occupying an entire page.

[The rose shall protect everything touched by the sunlight.

That is the rose’s mission and absolution.]

There was no need to read further.

Silence fell for a moment.

Angelina, who had been staring at that sentence for a long time with her hands on the table, frowned.

“……Is the rose really the enemy?”

She narrowed her eyes.

She recalled what she had seen in her ‘memories.’

Though she hadn’t seen much, there were some things she could be certain of because she had witnessed and felt them directly.

“If the heart is the Sun’s priest, and the sword is the Sun’s knight, then what is the rose?”

Angelina spoke as if asking Blake, but in reality, she was asking her own memories.

“If we consider the sun as a ‘god’…… there’s only one possibility left.”

“What is it?”

“A believer.”

The rose is the Sun’s believer.

Priest, knight, believer. All were beings who could only love the sun, and did love it.

She had seen and felt this directly through those memories.

Moreover, perhaps among the three, the rose might have loved the sun the most.

The way that person had rushed toward her holding that rose was definitely not the footsteps of someone capable of ‘betrayal.’

“If the rose is truly the enemy…… why did the thorn guard the tomb?”

“……”

“Ha, I know it all sounds like wordplay. But no matter how I think about it, these aren’t just random names.”

“I agree. Considering that the Sun’s tomb came to be called the Witch’s tomb for a reason, everything must have its purpose.”

“Yes.”

Angelina pressed her head firmly.

“The black lake containing the shadow of the sun. That represents the sun’s darkest moment.”

Angelina knows where that sacred object shaped like a broken mirror appeared from.

The Black Land. And the description of that place is clearly remembered from what she saw in the original work.

If she were to change the place in her memory that she saw while touching the sacred object to pitch black, it would become the place described in the original work.

Precisely, the place where the sacred object was located.

“And her tomb is, surprisingly, the moment when she was happiest.”

The hill she saw at the tomb was none other than the tomb itself.

A fleetingly beautiful moment.

Beneath all those emotions—the knight sighing, the priest getting angry, and the rose gloating—happiness was deeply embedded.

“Then the place where the rose bloomed would be where she shed tears……”

Angelina pressed her eyes shut.

If she could find out why tears were shed, she could confirm whether the rose truly ‘betrayed’ them, whether the rose was really their enemy.

But the problem was that the sacred object was with the Magic Tower Master. And that Magic Tower Master wasn’t meeting with her now.

She let out a groan and lowered her hand.

‘……I need to go there.’

Angelina thought.

Since there was no way the Magic Tower Master would agree to just send her the sacred object, she would have to go directly to the place where it had been sealed.

“Your Grace.”

Angelina straightened up, approached Blake, and gestured to him.

He willingly bent down to lend his ear.

She whispered quietly so that those around couldn’t hear.

“Please kidnap me.”

“Pardon?”

He asked in surprise, and Angelina nodded.

After briefly checking whether it was a joke, Blake soon realized she was serious and quickly scanned their surroundings.

“……Now?”

When he asked quietly, she suddenly embraced him and exclaimed.

“Yes! Right now!”

“……?!”

Blake was utterly bewildered.

“Miss?!”

But upon hearing Haley’s surprised voice, he regained his composure.

He held Angelina tightly and drew his sword.

“Hold on tight!”

Bang!

As he struck the floor, his sword energy caused an explosion.

“Eek! Miss!!”

Haley screamed and cast a holding spell.

Blake raised his guard with his sword wrapped in sword energy.

But something else touched and neutralized the magic even faster.

It was the white light that burst from Angelina’s fingertips.

Not only Haley’s binding spell cast in panic, but all the other magic surrounding them was completely nullified.

“Ugh.”

A sharp pain pierced the back of Angelina’s head, causing her to let out a brief groan.

Then Laura reflexively threw her apron strings, but Blake created distance by moving backward.

She had tried to capture Angelina using the strings.

She tried again, but the second attempt was deflected by Pudding, who was protecting Angelina.

“Grr!”

Pudding growled angrily and carried Angelina and Blake on his back.

No matter how much time Pudding had spent with Laura, Angelina was always his first priority.

To a divine beast, messenger of the gods, the Saint was an absolute being.

“Ugh….. My head. Pudding, let’s go!”

Angelina’s vision spun due to the throbbing headache caused by the sudden use of power.

Feeling nauseous, she held onto Blake more tightly.

As if responding to her, Blake embraced her and swung his sword widely.

Rumble-! Crash!

“Gasp, what’s happening!”

“Kyaa! The wall is collapsing!”

After magnificently blowing away half of the villa, he mounted Pudding, who had grown in size, while holding Angelina.

“Are you crazy? Your Grace!”

Mason and Sean, who had been waiting outside, showed shocked expressions as they watched the three rise into the sky.

They hadn’t been informed about such a plan!

But leaving everyone behind, Angelina and Blake soared upward.

“Pudding, you deceived me again?”

Angelina shouted at Pudding, who was running through the air.

He was actually running through the void by condensing holy power on his paws to create temporary footholds.

This, too, was an act that consumed an enormous amount of holy power, so it couldn’t be done frequently.

It wasn’t often necessary either.

But in any case, Angelina felt wronged since she hadn’t known this was possible.

“Miss Flaubert, I’m going to increase the speed.”

Blake held Angelina tighter to prevent her from being thrown off.

The three disappeared in an instant.

“S-Senior, what should we do?!”

“What is happening?”

Sean and Mason, who were left behind amid the commotion, came running in surprise.

“The tracking spell?”

Laura ignored the two and asked Haley.

“It seems the young miss erased it just now……! Even though the amount of her power is small, its potency is so great……”

“Your magic was erased?”

Haley nodded tearfully.

“……That power of the sun is incredible.”

If the young miss could fully utilize that power, not just a small portion… it would be believable to say that it wasn’t a Saint but a god directly descending.

But what bothered Laura wasn’t that the young miss had suddenly become stronger.

It was the young miss’s face turning pale every time she used her power.

“Haley, contact the Marquis.”

“To tell him the young miss has run away?!”

She stomped her feet, saying her head might roll if she did that.

Ante wasn’t someone who wouldn’t find out just because they didn’t tell him.

“No. Tell him I think I’ve found the cause of the young miss’s illness.”

“Huh?”

From what had just happened, Laura was certain.

If the young miss truly had a terminal illness, it wasn’t some unidentified rare disease, but definitely related to that power.

“The holy water will purify the blood vessels in the young miss’s body, which are on the verge of bursting from the overwhelming holy power.”

The information from the black market merchant had been reliable.

“Holy sickness.”

Laura narrowed her eyes as she looked at the remnants of the sun’s power that still lingered where Angelina had disappeared.

“Originally, it was developed to cure holy sickness, but somehow it began to be misused in other ways. A pity.”

“And it seems to be holy sickness caused not by ordinary holy power… but by the power of the sun.”

***

The two safely escaped the capital.

Pudding set them down in that shabby shantytown they had visited before.

Usually, there would be some people passing by during the day, but it was quiet, perhaps due to the recent black market incident.

“Good job, Pudding.”

“Kyuu……”

Pudding, now small again, sprawled and stretched out on top of Angelina’s head.

Seeing that he had returned to hamster size, it seemed that flying through the sky also consumed a lot of energy.

“Are you alright?”

Blake, after setting her down, first checked on her condition.

Apart from her hair being slightly disheveled and being covered in dust from the escape, she appeared uninjured.

“I’m fine. Is your wrist okay?”

It seemed like Laura’s dagger had touched his arm.

Angelina checked his torn clothes. But fortunately, there was no wound.