‘If I stay in the temple, the same fate will repeat itself.’

She remembered the world that had vanished in the light. And before that, the crown prince—no, the man who had become the Kabir Emperor by then—who had brutally violated her.

Her teeth chattered as she recalled the face of the man who had become a beast and r*ped her, and the pain of that moment.

She never wanted to experience such a thing again. She didn’t want to cause everyone in this world to disappear because of him.

“I must escape.”

Anel made her decision.

The closer she got to coming of age, the stricter the surveillance would become. To avoid meeting the crown prince at the ceremonial greeting, she had to escape now.

Refusing to become a saintess and leaving this temple. And thus ensuring she would never meet the future Kabir Emperor.

That was the only way to prevent the world’s destruction.

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

For the next week, Anel locked herself in her room, using illness as an excuse.

Normally, she would have been receiving rigorous education as the future saintess, but there was nothing to be done if she was sick.

Since she had actually collapsed and remained unconscious for quite some time, the handmaidens in charge of her education waited patiently, hoping Anel would recover soon and resume her duties as the next saintess.

During that week, Anel secretly searched for an escape route.

During the day, she hid in her room pretending to be ill, but at night, when everyone was asleep, she left her room and explored every corner of the temple, looking for a way out. However, she found no viable path.

“This won’t be easy.”

After searching throughout the temple, Anel reluctantly came to that conclusion.

The temple was built on a small island separated from the mainland of Irensia, making it difficult to approach. There was only one entrance, the main gate outside the central courtyard, but that area was guarded by temple guards, so she couldn’t escape that way.

But after careful examination, Anel discovered a way out.

‘I can escape through the drainage system!’

Having lived in the temple since childhood, she knew its structure better than anyone. Still, she had meticulously examined even the smallest places and found the drainage system.

Due to the island’s characteristics, the drainage system in the temple basement connected to the sea. She remembered hearing that the drainage outlet was located at the back of the island.

If she crawled through the drainage system, she could swim to the dock where the boats that serviced the temple were moored.

Having completed a week of exploration, Anel put her plan into action the very day she discovered the escape route.

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

It was a dark night with the moon hidden behind clouds.

Anel stood in front of the mirror in her room and removed all her clothes. Her immature body, not yet showing signs of puberty, was revealed.

Her chest was flat like a boy’s, but her lower half was unmistakably female. However, if she covered her lower body well, she could pass for one of the boy slaves working in the temple.

For a perfect disguise, Anel applied the juice from crushed dye herbs all over her body.

It was the juice used to dye white clothes brown, and once it stained hands, it was difficult to remove.

She had seen that the hands of slaves who worked with dyes were always stained brown. The color would fade somewhat over time, but as long as they continued dyeing work, the brown stains were unavoidable.

To conceal her unusually pale skin, Anel spread the dye liquid all over her body and waited for it to absorb.

Next, she needed to address her hair. Though not very long, it still looked feminine. Without hesitation, Anel cut off her hair with scissors, snip by snip.

“…I really look like a slave now.”

After putting on the slave clothes she had secretly stolen from the slaves’ quarters, Anel’s appearance was completely transformed.

Simple pants that reached her calves, topped with a short-sleeved shirt. With her hair cut almost to the scalp, her reflection in the mirror had perfectly transformed into that of a slave.

Tying two leather pouches containing some money to her waist, Anel soon descended to the temple basement carrying a wooden tray of fruit.

There were no guards inside the temple, as it was considered a sacred space.

Although slaves guarded each floor, no one stopped Anel as she carried the fruit tray, making it seem like she was running an errand.

Everyone she passed simply assumed she was a boy slave.

Anel reached the basement without any trouble.

The kitchen responsible for food preparation was located in the temple basement. Since everyone was asleep, the kitchen was empty. Anel entered and opened the iron grate at the far end of the kitchen.

The drainage system flowed beneath it. Dirty water from the kitchen was discharged into the sea through this drainage system, and this was the only escape route Anel had found.

She jumped into the drainage system.

It was a suffocating space. Fortunately, since it wasn’t a time when water was being used, no waste was flowing, but the walls of the drainage pipe, which had carried sewage for years, emitted a terrible stench.

This was an unfamiliar space for Anel, who had been treated with reverence since entering the temple, from a time she could no longer remember.

After crawling for some time, fighting back nausea, the drainage pipe finally ended, opening into a wider space.

“Haaah.”

Emerging from the drainage pipe, Anel exhaled the breath she had been holding. She quickly realized where she was.

Though it was the basement from the temple’s perspective, it was actually on the cliff face at the back of the island, facing the sea.

Looking around with her body halfway out of the drainage pipe, she saw a cave that had been carved into the cliff for drainage construction, with its entrance a short distance from the end of the pipe.

Anel pulled herself out of the drainage pipe and moved to the cave entrance.

To the left of the cave was a stairway leading up the cliff. It seemed to have been built for drainage maintenance, but going up would lead to the temple’s central courtyard, so that route was out of the question.

To the right of the cave was a steep path that wound down along the cliff, but it was in an abandoned state, the construction having been halted midway.

Originally, it had been designed as an evacuation route to the sea in case the temple was attacked.

But since the temple had never been attacked since the beginning of Meta’s time, the construction had been abandoned and left as it was.

Anel descended along the steep evacuation route. The path, barely wide enough for one person, grew increasingly narrow until it finally ended about halfway between the cliff and the sea.

“Oh Meta. Grant me courage.”

The dark seawater churned below, about the height of two adult men. Anel prayed briefly, then took a deep breath and jumped into the sea.

After being submerged in seawater for a moment, Anel’s figure soon resurfaced along with the leather pouches.

She had brought them specifically for this purpose. The pouches contained not only money but also water.

The water-filled pouches floated like buoys, helping Anel stay afloat. For her, who couldn’t swim, they were a lifeline.

Anel pushed the leather pouches ahead of her and kicked her legs toward the dock where the boats were moored.

By the time she reached the dock, her arms and legs were completely exhausted.

Crawling onto a sandbar a little distance from the dock, Anel collapsed onto the sand, gasping for breath.

She felt so weak that she thought she might vomit. But there was no time to waste.

The temple probably wouldn’t notice her escape until morning. But once day broke, they would immediately begin searching, so Anel needed to hide somewhere before then.

‘I need to get on a boat.’

The only way to leave this island surrounded by water was to hide on one of the boats that came and went.

Fortunately, several boats were moored at the dock. After examining them, Anel carefully crept onto one.

There were no crew members on the boat. They had probably gone to the tavern at the dock, leaving the boat unattended. What caught Anel’s attention, besides the absence of crew, was that there was no cargo on the deck.

Most boats that came to the island were trading vessels.

Since the temple was on an island, trading vessels frequently came and went to bring necessary supplies.

Boats with permission to enter the port would arrive with their decks full of cargo, unload their goods, and leave. The absence of cargo on the deck meant that departure was imminent.

‘The cargo hold must be empty. If I hide there, no one will look inside until the boat departs. When we reach the next port, I’ll find a chance to escape.’

The deck was quiet. Thankfully, the lanterns installed around the dock provided enough dim light to see, so Anel used that light to examine the deck and eventually opened the hatch leading to the lower level.

As she carefully climbed down the ladder, Anel was startled.