The carriage that Karina and Lucia were riding arrived at the palace without delay. Around the palace, there were dead monsters here and there, their bodies cut to pieces by swords. And among them, monsters that had appeared again were wandering around.
Kyaaaah!
The monsters that had discovered Karina and her party let out a fierce cry and threatened them.
"We'll stop you, so come in quickly!"
David's private soldiers who had been ordered to escort the carriage covered her and Lucia. While the private soldiers were dealing with the monsters, Karina and Lucia quickly entered the palace. The interior of the palace they had just entered was so empty that it felt desolate. Karina paused for a moment. It was so quiet that it seemed as if no one was there, so she didn't know where to go. However.
"This way!"
Lucia pointed in the direction where the dark and sinister energy was flowing out. Karina followed Lucia who started running and hurried her steps.
'This side is definitely...'
She was on her way to the Great Hall.
'The place I saw in my dream was also the Great Hall of the palace.'
Karina couldn't hide her anxiety the whole time she was coming here. In her dream, she saw Jeremiah fall down after being attacked by magic. She was anxious that it might become a reality.
'I hope it's not too late!'
Karina prayed for Jeremiah's safety. At that moment, she saw the gates of the Great Hall open in the distance. And she saw Jeremiah standing inside, perfectly healthy.
'Jeremiah!'
The moment she saw him, the anxiety that had been weighing on her disappeared. A sense of relief came over Karina's face. But the thought of relief was short-lived.
"Your Highness, wait a minute! There's a barrier."
Lucia stopped in front of the Great Hall Gate.
She looked at the Great Hall Gate with a serious face, then suddenly ripped off the button on her sleeve and threw it into the barrier. Then...
Crackle!
Black magic-filled electricity ignited and the button instantly turned black.
"...!"
Karina's face turned pale when she saw that.
'Jeremiah is right there and I can't get in.'
Worry and anxiety came flooding in.
"Jeremiah!"
She called out to him loudly in frustration, but Jeremiah didn't look back. It seemed like he couldn't hear her voice. Not only that, he couldn't even see her standing in front of the open door.
"Why..."
Lucia said to her, who was feeling dejected.
"I think it's because of this barrier that it's isolated from the inside of Great Hall."
"Then how do I get in?"
"I don't know if it will work, but I will try to purify it using my divine powers."
Lucia looked slightly unsure. Perhaps because she had purified the knights who had been brainwashed by black magic on the way here, but they had not returned to their original state. However, there was no other way now. Lucia took a deep breath, put her hands together, and began to strongly infuse the barrier with divine power. Then, the barrier revealed intricately intertwined magical formulas and trembled uneasily. But then.
Weeeeeeeee! Pew!
The divine power shot out with a sharp sound.
"Huh!"
Under the influence, Lucia grimaced and sat down.
"Lucia! Are you okay?"
"Yes. But it seems that divine power alone cannot break the magic barrier."
The black barrier continued to shake as if it had been shocked, but it was not destroyed. In fact, divine power and magic were different in principle and mechanism, so even though they looked similar, they were clearly different powers.
'What do I do now?'
It was so disappointing that she couldn't go to Jeremiah, even though he was right there in front of her. Karina bit her lip and stamped her feet, but she heard the Emperor's voice, furious, from inside...
"You're going to keep bothering me until the end. You son of a bitch!"
'Huh? What is it?'
Unlike before, the voices inside were clearly audible. It seemed as if the divine power that Lucia had breathed into them had had some effect, as a crack had appeared in the barrier.
'If we do a little more, wouldn't it be possible to get past it, even if it doesn't get destroyed?'
While Karina was thinking like that, the Emperor continued speaking.
"As expected. That woman didn't do her job properly, so this is the result. I should have killed her a long time ago and replaced her with something else."
As soon as Jeremiah heard those words, he became extremely angry and started to yell.
"Shut your mouth!"
It was as if his body was being burned by a blazing fire.
***
Jeremiah's clenched fists trembled. He felt red anger seeping into his head and burning his brain.
"What have you done...! Because of you... what pain has Karina suffered!"
Jeremiah ground his teeth without finishing his sentence. His clenched jaw became indescribably hard. She was an innocent and delicate woman. A very ordinary woman who was not harsh to others and was too weak-hearted to say a single harsh word. She simply wanted attention and affection from her father and those around her. She was a person who believed that if she tried, she would be loved someday, that she would be accepted by others, and that she held on to the hope that she would succeed. She had endured all that hardship and contempt for a long time but had not given up on being loved.
What had the Emperor done to such a weak and delicate woman!
He had shattered her patience and efforts.
"You covered up the truth by putting Marquis Millainer, who abused her, in the forefront."
"..."
"You intentionally created misunderstanding and distrust between me and her, driving her into despair."
And that's not all.
"You treated her life as if it were nothing more than dust and tried to use her only as a tool."
Jeremiah's eyes became bloodshot.
"And then you framed her for being the murderer of the Marquis of Milliner, and in the end, you tried to kill her and offer her up as a sacrifice to satisfy your dirty greed."
Because of that guy!
How much hardship and frustration Karina had to endure alone. How much terrible contempt and scorn she had to endure amid unfair misunderstandings. When he thought of Karina, his heart ached as if it were going to break. Even after all that hardship, her confession that she loved him and her sad smile with her tearful face left a pain in his chest.
Who could know even a tenth of her pain? How could he embrace all those wounds that were engraved on her heart like an indelible brand?
It felt like a thousand fires were burning inside him.
"Do you know how miserable her life was because of you?"
Jeremiah's voice was sharp as a blade. If the voice had a form, it would have already cut through the emperor's body and pierced his neck.
"Ha!"
But the Emperor sneered in a dark tone, asking, "What's the big deal?"
"That's funny. Why is it my fault that that woman is unhappy?"
"What?"
"That was the only use she had. What's so frustrating about that? If anything, I can't help but be grateful that she can be of use to the empire."
The Emperor narrowed his eyes and clicked his tongue. Immediately after that.
Kwakwang!!
A ferocious murderous aura exploded from Jeremiah's body. It was so ferocious that not only the knights of the Royal Guard who had been brainwashed by black magic and had no sense but even the monsters that were baring their teeth and growling instinctively flinched in fear.
"Yes. There's no need to talk any further."
Jeremiah aimed the tip of his sword at the Emperor. A clear murderous intent flashed in his eyes.
"I'll rip your mouth off so you never say anything like that again."
Meanwhile, Karina, who had heard the Emperor and Jeremiah's conversation outside the barrier, was blankly staring at him. She didn't know how to react. Jeremiah was speaking for her and was furious. He was thinking back to the pain and terrible times she had experienced in the past, and his face was distorted horribly as if he was feeling that pain. And as if he could never forgive the Emperor for contributing to her suffering, he rushed at him with a preconceived murderous intent.
'I never even thought about this.'
She understood and forgave Jeremiah. And she acknowledged that Jeremiah had feelings for her and that she still loved him. But she didn't know that he thought of her this much. She didn't know that he would suffer and share her pain and sorrow as if it were his own.
Her heart ached, and something hot welled up in her throat. An emotion she couldn't pinpoint spread throughout Karina's body in an instant, and her eyes turned red. Her chest ached and she felt like tears would burst out at any moment.
'No. Now is not the time to be crying.'
As she watched Jeremiah slaughtering the guards and the monsters with his bloodshot eyes, Karina bit her lips and held back her tears. She gathered her wits and asked Lucia to use her divine power once more.
"I have to go to Jeremiah. Please help me get there."
Then, Lucia, who had been staring blankly at Karina with eyes that seemed unclear, opened her mouth quietly.
"I envy you."
"Yes?"
Karina turned her head to see Lucia, who was smiling softly at her.
"Lucia?"
Karina called the Saintess's name with a face that said she didn't understand English. Then Lucia spoke again with a slightly awkward expression.
"I really envy the Grand Duchess."
The bitterness lingered in the mouth of the Saintess who spoke like that. Lucia had never felt love before. More precisely, she had never felt unconditional love. When she was very young, her memories were vague. She was born as the daughter of an ordinary commoner and was a member of an ordinary family like everyone else, and she seemed to have grown up receiving love from her parents.
However, that changed the moment she developed divine powers. The attitudes and gazes of those around her changed to expectations, admiration, and longing. Her parents were no exception to this change.
'Ah, Saintess!'
They looked up to Lucia more and more. They looked at her not with eyes that looked at their beloved daughter, but with eyes of longing for a Saintess. They were the only ones who praised and sanctified the divine power with miraculous healing powers and treated her only as a servant of God. They did not treat her as a human being like them but as a separate being.
From the moment Lucia realized this difference, she suffered from a subtle sense of emptiness and complex agony. To fill that emptiness, she worked harder to serve as a healer and tried harder to save and help people. However, the more she did so, the more her position as a saint became solidified.
"Thank you, Saintess!"
"You showed me a miracle when I was dying."
'You is indeed a man blessed by God!"
The respect of the people of the empire for the Saintess grew, but no one saw her as an equal, as a person, as a friend. No one saw her as just Lucia. Lucia felt great loneliness, solitude, and loneliness at that fact. However, she could not abandon her duty as a Saintess. All she could do was accept and resign herself. That was why she envied the Grand Duchess.
At first, It was strange that Karina treated her with a completely unfriendly attitude, unlike the others. Of course, she continued to watch her, thinking that the situation could not be otherwise. While watching her, Lucia realized that people surrounded her even without necessarily craving love and affection. What she envied the most was the fact that there was someone who loved her with their life just for her existence. Even though she was determined to shake things up, Jeremiah did not allow even a little bit of room and only looked at Karina. Lucia felt so envious of the Grand Duchess' appearance that Jeremiah loved Karina as she was and desperately wanted her. Even though she did not like Jeremiah, she felt jealous of Karina.
So, just before he pulled out her dagger towards the Emperor to complete the mission she had received from God, she asked the Grand Duke.
'Your Highness, please smile for me just today.'
Just once. Even if he was only her husband in the name. In the last moments of her life, as the one closest to her, she asked him to smile just once. Of course, the Grand Duke did not grant her request. As if to prove that his heart was only for Karina. With a hardened face, he did not give her even a single smile, not even a single bit of his heart. That did not make her sad. Because she had already expected it to be like that. She was just curious.
How could the Grand Duchess be loved like that? How could she receive such perfect love without any price?
Now, she thought she could vaguely understand the reason.
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