“By order of the Paladin, everyone evacuate the city!”

“By order of the Paladin, everyone evacuate the city!”

The knights shouted as they patrolled the streets. Only then did people who had been unable to move in either direction change course and run.

The evacuation order for the capital was Rublier’s instruction.

Following Rublier’s judgment that people should be quickly evacuated as the evil spirits were gathering at one point, the lieutenant hastily gathered some knights and issued orders.

They initially started with about a dozen men, but as fellow knights recognized their comrades and joined, the number eventually swelled to nearly half of the original force.

As the knights circled the city encouraging people, those who had been in chaos slowly began to find their bearings.

People no longer entered the Papal Palace. Instead, a line formed of those trying to move away from the capital.

“Master, Madam, the Holy Knights are telling us to quickly evacuate the capital.”

“Those of you who want to leave can go first. We’ll evacuate once Satin’s whereabouts are revealed.”

While the streets were crowded with people rushing out with their belongings, the Del Mare mansion alone remained quiet.

Satin’s parents, who distrusted Kirion because of Satin, chose to stay at home and monitor the situation instead of seeking refuge in the Papal Palace like others.

The Ka Dillon family, whose position had become ambiguous after their Paladin son took Satin’s side, also restrained their servants and holed up in their mansion.

Thus, unlike other guardian families who had rushed into the Papal Palace first, Del Mare and Ka Dillon became the families that suffered the least damage from the evil spirits.

* * *

Although the location of the secret room is said to be complex, that’s only when entering through the building.

If viewed from the sky, the space on the top floor with windows would be the easiest to infiltrate.

“Is there no one outside?”

After knocking on the door until her knuckles ached, Satin crouched down on the floor.

She was careful with her movements, fearing that sitting down abruptly might shock the baby.

Something had seemed strange, and finally, the calamity had occurred. Dozens, perhaps even more.

She thought they would rush into this secret room first, but surprisingly, the evil spirits’ entry was quite delayed.

As soon as shadows fell across the sky, people who flocked to the Papal Palace caught the attention of the evil spirits first.

They hunted people closer to them by instinct. Screams and cries of shock echoed distantly.

But some of those evil spirits would remember Satin again.

She needed to leave this room before they burst through the window, but no matter how much she shouted and knocked on the door, no one appeared.

Although human presence was rare, it wasn’t a completely empty building… It seems everyone felt the danger and fled.

She had locked the window, but it was so old that it didn’t provide much reassurance.

Satin clutched the flickering candle tightly and tried to calm herself.

The moment she saw the thickening traces of evil spirits, Satin remembered fire. They disliked fire.

However, as the secret room was not properly furnished except for a bed, there were no oil lamps, only a few broken candle pieces.

While grateful for even this much, she lamented that this was all she had.

There was nowhere to escape. Although the window could open, jumping out would not leave her legs unscathed.

Above all, she was greatly worried about the baby’s safety. If she were alone, she might have decided to sacrifice her legs to get out, but she couldn’t bear to imagine putting the baby at risk.

Soon, the window rattled. Satin felt indignant. While humans couldn’t jump out, height was no issue for evil spirits that could traverse the air.

If she could just get out into the corridor, which was like a maze, she could buy some time, but Kirion had firmly blocked the entrance with chains.

“Don’t come in, don’t come in…”

Satin glared at the window, clutching the candle.

“Just try to come in. I’ll set everything on fire.”

Though she threatened bravely, evil spirits were not beings that could be reasoned with. Having encountered evil spirits before, Satin remembered some of their patterns.

Evil spirits exert considerable physical force. Judging by how they were shaking and striking the window, it seemed they would soon either open the window and enter, or slip in through the shadows cast in the window gaps.

Was there really no one around?

Back then, at least Larie was there, but now she had to face this alone. Moments like these suddenly made her acutely aware of Larie’s absence. She felt lonely and scared. She missed Larie and felt heartbroken.

And another person she missed…

“Survive. Survive and then think.”

She must survive to mourn Larie.

She must survive to meet her family again.

She must survive to give birth to her child.

She must survive to…

Forcibly pushing away her thoughts, Satin kept a close eye on the window. Her hands trembled. He had promised to return, so he would come back.

Rublier.

Satin repeated his name. If she were to meet him again, she wasn’t sure what words would come out first.

Her mind was so cluttered that nothing was clear.

“This!”

The evil spirits had noticed Satin’s presence hidden beyond the window. The way they pushed and pulled at the window, toying with it, made this clear.

Thump. At first, the knocking sound was clearly from just one.

Thuum. But perhaps deeming its own strength insufficient, the presence intensified.

Thump.

Cold sweat trickled down her back.

Thuum.

Should she try to hold and resist with her hands? Or would it be better to stay as far away from the evil spirits as possible?

If someone could give her an answer, she would follow it. Or if she at least had time to think.

But they gave Satin no leeway at all.

Thump.

The window that they pushed with all their might swayed greatly. The old lock flew off, and a fishy air rushed through the gap.

Though it wasn’t a strong wind, it was enough to extinguish the candle. As the light faded, Satin screamed.

“Aah!”

Dark mist flew about chaotically.

She instinctively swung her arm, striking at the evil spirits. Regret came only after.

Human flesh and blood were prey for evil spirits. Having lost even the candlelight, it was as if she had thrust herself into the mouths of the evil spirits.

The unpleasant sensation of them swarming over her made her skin crawl.

That was all.

It was over.

The dreaded situation didn’t unfold at all.

The evil spirits that had rushed to devour Satin fled in all directions without inflicting a single scratch, as if they had been burned by the fire they considered their natural enemy, the moment they touched her.

They even seemed to fear Satin. They curled their tails and escaped through the window.

Satin, who had been in a daze, came to her senses. She looked down at her hands in bewilderment.

They appeared so menacing.

But why couldn’t the evil spirits attack?

“The shadow… the shade…”

Ah.

Suddenly, her eyes stung with heat. Yes, it was the baby. The baby was protecting Satin.

Because an unborn child has no shadow of malice for evil spirits to seep into. As long as the baby was there, they could never invade Satin.

Right now, Satin was safer than anyone else. It was thanks to the baby.

Now she wasn’t afraid of anything. With the strongest protector in her womb, what was there to fear?

Satin quickly closed the window again and wedged a pen into the gap.

“Is, is, is a-anyone there?”

It was then.

Perhaps having heard Satin’s scream earlier, someone knocked on the door. Satin’s eyes widened.

A formal manner of speech, though stuttering. It was someone she knew.

“…Your Eminence Vitalis?”

It was definitely Vitalis.

The other person seemed to have quickly deduced who the woman trapped in the secret room might be.

“La-Lady Satin?”

“Your Eminence, are you outside? Are you safe?”

“Pl-please wait. I-I’ll open it for you.”

Satin asked urgently.

“Can you open it?”

“Ye-yes. It’s just ch-chained.”

The noise of undoing the iron chains wrapped around the handle loudly rattled the door.

It wasn’t fast. It seemed intricately tangled. But as long as she could get out of this room, Satin was willing to wait for minutes or even tens of minutes.

After a while, the iron chains clattered as they fell. Satin quickly opened the door. Vitalis stood there with a trembling expression, holding a candlestick he must have picked up in the corridor.

Someone completely unexpected had appeared to rescue Satin.

“How are you here, Your Eminence?”

“I-I felt I sh-shouldn’t just run away… My br-brother… But when I ca-came in, it was ch-chaos…”

Satin interpreted Vitalis’s fragmented speech.

It seems he had heard the story from Rublier and thought he shouldn’t run away, so he came back to try to stop Kirion somehow.

Amidst the chaos, he must have managed to grab a light and somehow avoided the evil spirits to reach here.

Or, being familiar with the internal geography of the Papal Palace, Vitalis might have deliberately entered an unpopulated area to avoid the confusion and discovered Satin.

Satin didn’t bother to ask further. There wasn’t enough time for that.

Vitalis looked at Satin with a worried expression.

“A-are you alright?”

“Yes. I’m fine. What about Rub? Didn’t he come with you?”

“We-well… Fi-first, we need to ge-get out of here. La-Lady Satin, you’ve suffered too much in your pregnant state…”

Vitalis gestured to Satin while holding the candlestick. It was a stroke of luck that Vitalis had appeared in the maze-like depths of the Papal Palace.

Except for Kirion, few people knew the way as well as Vitalis, who had grown up here.

Satin followed Vitalis’s lead. Unable to run, she walked rather quickly, cradling her belly with both arms.

Vitalis skillfully navigated the winding corridors. Though it felt like they were taking detours, perhaps he was finding paths where evil spirits were less likely to be, making it relatively safe.

“Th-this way is quite quiet.”

Vitalis walked a few steps ahead. Concerned that Satin, being pregnant, might witness something horrific, he poked his head around to survey the surroundings.

But they couldn’t count on luck for long. There were still many people trapped in the Papal Palace, wandering the maze while being chased by evil spirits.

Their screams and wails suddenly struck their ears. When this happened, Vitalis changed direction to avoid the sounds.

Satin prayed that she wouldn’t hear any voices she recognized. Even as they followed a safe path, the echoes of screams clung to their feet like ghosts.

A pungent smell wafted from somewhere. Satin covered her mouth and nose with her sleeve.

“Your Eminence, didn’t Rub come with you?”