Why had he come to see her again of his own accord?

Artia thought about the reason for his change of heart and smiled gently.

“Of course. I’ll bestow a blessing on you.”

Even if the past had changed, it could be reversed. She was confident. Ilion would surely come back to her.

Artia infused even stronger holy power into Ilion’s body than before.

A pure white light slowly flowed through Ilion’s body.

“How do you feel?”

Ilion’s eyes changed, noticing the subtle change.

He must have realized that her power had an effect on his curse. Artia smiled inwardly. With this, their strained relationship might improve a little…

“What would you like as compensation?”

“Pardon?”

“If there’s anything you desire, please say so.”

However, Ilion’s response was unexpectedly straightforward.

“I didn’t do this expecting compensation…”

“Ravenne…, my fiancée, asked for this, I know.”

Ilion sighed softly as he mentioned Ravenne’s name. Yet, there was a hint of affection in his voice.

“It seems she asked the Saintess out of concern for me. Since I’ve received help, I’ll do my best to grant any wish you might have.”

His tone was polite, but there was a sense of distance. Were we always this far apart?

The past had changed more than she thought.

At the center of it all was Ravenne. Both Ilion and Klaus treated her differently from the past.

If that was the case, she could only think that Ravenne knew something.

She should have talked more with her then. Artia bit her lip slightly.

‘No, it’s not too late yet.’

Whatever Ravenne’s intentions were, Artia knew more about Ilion’s curse than her.

Ilion needed her. The curse couldn’t be suppressed by infusing holy power once or twice. He would surely need her again as the blessing had to be continuously applied.

“Um…”

“What brings the Duke here?”

Just as she was about to speak, an uninvited guest arrived. Dazzling golden hair sparkled in the sunlight.

“Greetings, Your Majesty.”

Artia bowed in greeting.

“You two seem quite close? To think you’re meeting alone like this.”

She composed her expression and looked at Klaus.

He still had that pure, angelic face. What schemes might be hidden behind that seemingly kind smile…

“We just happened to meet and were talking briefly.”

Artia hurriedly made up an excuse to avoid provoking Klaus unnecessarily.

He hated her being alone with Ilion in the past as well.

“Is that so? Did the Duke come alone today?”

“Yes.”

“I see. I thought you had other plans today…”

Klaus’s eyes curved strangely. It was an unpleasant smile. Artia felt goosebumps rising on her skin without realizing it.

“This might be for the best. I had something to discuss about forest development rights anyway. Why don’t you come in for a moment?”

Ilion nodded in agreement to Klaus’s suggestion.

“Then, I’ll see you next time, Saintess.”

Ilion politely bid farewell to Artia and left. Unable to finish their conversation, Artia couldn’t help but feel disappointed.

‘He usually shows no interest, why did he have to appear at this moment…’

Watching the two disappear in the distance, Artia let out a small sigh.

***

“Ah, my head.”

I woke up, holding my head that felt like it was about to split open.

It seemed I had fainted from the ear-splitting roar. My head was spinning.

As my vision slowly returned and I looked around, small lights were illuminating the cave walls.

“Are you awake?”

“Ahhh!”

Startled by the sudden voice from behind, I screamed, and the other person seemed surprised too, flinching.

“W-who are you?”

“That’s what I want to ask.”

A woman with red hair and red eyes was staring at me intently.

Suddenly, I remembered Lily’s words.

And what else did she say? Surely… that she eats people…

“I-I wouldn’t taste good if you ate me!”

“Why would I eat you?”

The woman tilted her head and asked back.

“Does that mean… you won’t eat me?”

“Well. You don’t look like you’d taste good anyway…”

It sounds like she’s not going to eat me, right? I don’t have to worry about being eaten, do I?

Trying to calm my anxious heart, I revealed my identity.

“I’m Ravenne Rischefeld.”

Normally, one would introduce themselves in return, but the red-eyed woman just stared at me silently.

“Um, wi… I mean, sister, what’s your name?”

I quickly changed my form of address, almost calling her a witch by mistake.

“Sister?”

She raised an eyebrow and asked back.

Sensing that she might be displeased with my form of address, I hurriedly apologized.

“If… if the form of address offends you, I’m sorry.”

“…I’m not particularly offended. My name is Spinel.”

Then why did you look so displeased…

“Do you live here by any chance?”

We were inside a large cave. There was nothing that could be called furniture, just an empty cave.

“Yes.”

“That’s a bit problematic…”

“What is?”

Well, this land is going to be developed soon, so it’s obviously a problem if someone’s living here. If an accident happens during construction, it would be a disaster.

“Do you have any family or friends?”

“No.”

“Ah…”

Could she really be a witch? Otherwise, how could someone live alone in such a mountain?

Why did Lily have to tell me such stories this morning! I started to feel scared as I remembered what Lily had said.

It seemed best to get out of here and regroup with Lily first. I could think about her identity later.

“Um, I fell from above when the ground collapsed. How can I get out of here?”

“You can’t leave.”

“What?”

“Do you think a human who has stepped into my space can leave alive?”

What reason could there be for not being able to return alive? Haha.

“Um, Spinel. Did I perhaps offend you somehow…”

“You did. You made my eyes like this.”

Saying that, she pointed to one of her eyes. There was a long scar mark near her eye.

The scar looked like it had been made a long time ago.

“That scar doesn’t seem to have been made by me.”

When I timidly replied, she said that wasn’t it, and brought her face close to mine again.

“Can’t you see how bloodshot my eye is?”

I couldn’t tell because her eyes were red, but now that I looked closely, even the whites of her eyes were bloodshot.

“I can see it, but…”

No matter how reckless I might be, I wasn’t so ill-mannered as to poke a stranger’s eye.

“I don’t think I did that…”

When I denied it out of a sense of injustice, Spinel frowned and got annoyed.

“You humans are the best at pretending you didn’t do something when you actually did.”

It was an unfair accusation no matter how I thought about it. But it’s best not to argue with strange people. You never know what harm they might do.

I quickly apologized and tried to soothe her discomfort.

“I’m sorry. If you need treatment, I can help you. So, could you please help me get out of here?”

“Didn’t I tell you? Don’t think about leaving alive. The only reason I’m keeping you alive is to ask about Ceras.”

“…Who is that?”

It was a name I’d never heard before.

“You don’t know Ceras?”

“Um… Is it someone famous?”

Is it like an idol in this world?

“You smell of Ceras.”

It didn’t seem to be a person’s name. I lifted my arm and sniffed, trying to detect the smell she mentioned, but I couldn’t smell anything other than sweat and dirt.

“I really don’t know what Ceras is…”

“Fine. So you’re not going to talk.”

“It’s not that, I really don’t know.”

“Alright, I understand. If you don’t know, I’ll just have to make you spit it out.”

Saying that, Spinel headed to a corner. She really was someone impossible to communicate with.

“I had a book with confession magic written in it somewhere here…”

As I suspected, it seemed she could use magic. Still, confession magic sounds like a relatively gentle method. Just looking at her face, I thought she’d say she wouldn’t let me go until I confessed, hanging me upside down.

“Um, if I still don’t know anything even after you use magic, will you show me the way out?”

I asked her with a smile, cautiously.

“Well, maybe I’ll just kill you then?”

“……”

So much for gentle methods!

I could understand why Lily was so scared when talking about witches.

I need to escape from here and get outside first.

While she was rummaging through a box of items, I slowly moved towards the entrance of the cave, muffling my footsteps.

Fortunately, she didn’t notice me leaving the cave at all, and I was able to safely enter the narrow path outside the cave.

The way out was more complicated than I thought. I encountered several forks in the road, and each time I had to choose one direction.

Luckily, I found the direction where the wind was coming from and ran towards it, and in the distance, I saw light.

Hurriedly running towards that light, I arrived at…

“A cliff… it’s a cliff.”

What I thought was the outside was actually a sheer precipice.

A strong gust of wind blew from below the cliff. Feeling like I might be swept away by the wind, I stepped back a few paces.

My lips dried up without me realizing it.

Looking back, there was only pitch-black darkness again.

Even if I went back, could I find the exit? How many forks in the road had I encountered so far?

I couldn’t remember them all. I started to feel anxious, worried that the witch might chase after me.

“Lily! Lucas!”

Hoping they might hear my voice and come looking for me, I called out their names. But my voice only returned as an echo.

It seemed best to give up quickly and find another way.

Just as I was about to turn around and go back into the cave…

“So here you are.”

Spinel was standing in front of me.