“No… please, I have to save her… I have to save her…!”

A faint light. Holy power bloomed from her fingertips, but it was unstable. The light flickered as if about to extinguish.

“No… no…”

That’s when Theodore covered Kayla’s hand with his.

“You can do it. Slowly, trust your power.”

Theodore’s voice was low. Kayla wiped her tears and concentrated again. The unstable light rose steadily. Finally, Martha’s breathing returned.

“Martha…!”

Martha opened her eyes with difficulty. Kayla held her hand tightly while crying. Theodore quietly exhaled beside them.

“Your Highness… why would you use holy power on me… it shortens your lifespan!”

“Don’t say that. I’m so… so glad you’re alive…”

However, at the same time, Kayla realized that because she couldn’t control her power, she could only save her belatedly.

※※※

That night, Kayla sat on the bed looking at her fingertips.

“Am I… useless?”

Theodore approached and quietly sat beside her.

“Don’t ever say that again.”

“Because of me… Theo, Martha almost died. Today, and that day too… I couldn’t save you in time…!”

“But you did save us.”

“No… I can’t even control it properly…”

Kayla finally lowered her head. Clear tears welled up in her eyes.

“I want to protect you, Theo.”

At that moment, Theodore couldn’t say anything.

“… I should be the one protecting you.”

“I wish I could protect you too.”

She tightly clenched her small hands. Theodore quietly stroked Kayla’s hair.

“You don’t need to. From me… just rest.”

But both Theodore and Kayla knew. Her power was no longer just theirs.

※※※

A few days later, the grand ducal residence began fortification work instead of wedding preparations. The Black Knight Order was turning the Grand Chapel and the grand ducal residence into defensive lines. The wedding and holy ritual would proceed as planned, but everything was prepared for war. Theodore gazed into the darkness beyond the window.

‘I will… end this war.’

Somewhere, Frea and Kalek were also waiting for the wedding day. A bloody wedding that no one could stop was approaching.

Kayla was still consumed by guilt. What if she hadn’t been able to save Theodore and Martha in time that day? The mere thought made her shudder. The light that bloomed from her fingertips had saved everyone, but at the same time, she knew better than anyone how important that power was. So she decided. She should no longer draw out that power through fear alone. She must control it. The next day, Kayla visited the temple, trying to calm her rapidly beating heart. As she entered the sacred temple, a subtle fragrance brushed her nose, and sunlight pouring through the high clerestory enhanced the atmosphere. The high priest was already waiting at the entrance.

“Welcome, Your Highness the Grand Duchess.”

Kayla tried to hide her nervousness, gently holding the hem of her dress with her fingertips and bowing respectfully.

“Thank you for your time, High Priest.”

“Ho ho, please don’t say that. Now, don’t be too nervous, come this way.”

The high priest spoke with a kind smile, as if reading her expression.

“Let us train together to control your holy power.”

Kayla nodded slightly. The training soon began. The high priest first spoke in a firm voice.

“Holy power is energy. Please focus your mind on your lower abdomen and fingertips.”

Kayla closed her eyes. Her mind was filled with memories of Theodore, Martha, and that day, but she barely gathered her thoughts and summoned the holy power. In an instant, a faint light bloomed from her fingertips. A dual sensation that was both warm and cold, comforting yet evoking unfamiliar fear. The light was beautiful, but at the same time flickered unstably.

“Focus more, Your Highness.”

The high priest’s calm voice resonated through the temple. Kayla was barely maintaining the light with trembling fingertips. The white light blooming on her palm was trembling irregularly like her heart. The weight pressing down on her entire body wouldn’t disappear. The light didn’t last long before quickly extinguishing. Looking at her as she caught her breath heavily, the high priest said.

“Holy power is a blessing. And… also a calamity.”

“A calamity?”

Kayla raised her eyes to look at the high priest. His gaze didn’t waver in the slightest.

“Now, let’s focus once more.”

As Kayla concentrated again at the high priest’s words, an unstable white light bloomed from her fingertips. The high priest continued.

“When the third rampage comes, Your Highness will consume all of your lifespan. You will turn yourself to ashes while burning everything around you.”

A suffocating fear overwhelmed Kayla. As she instinctively tried to withdraw her hand, the high priest grabbed her wrist.

“That is the rampage of a holy power wielder. So remember. That power could kill you.”

The light at her fingertips flickered anxiously. Her whisper leaked out.

“… So that’s why the Empire manages it.”

The high priest said firmly.

“No country neglects a calamity.”

With those words, the light distorted as if in resistance. Kayla barely withdrew that light. Until the light scattered like embers and disappeared from her palm, she had forgotten she was even holding her breath.

“It is right to have fear, Your Highness. But do not be consumed by that fear.”

Kayla nodded weakly. That night, after Kayla had returned, Theodore was sitting alone with the high priest. Having heard the truth about holy power, he too couldn’t say anything. The high priest looked at Theodore in silence.

“If others see the holy power rampage, they will fear Her Highness the Grand Duchess.”

“Still… I will protect her until the end.”

No one could block that determination. Theodore simply vowed that he would hold her hand even in the moment she collapsed in fear.

※※※

Meanwhile, in front of a campfire in a shabby inn. Frea was anxiously hunching her body, holding her slender fingers up to the firelight. Soon, piercing through the darkness, Kalek slowly walked out.

“… You came.”

“Frea Rosehill.”

His red eyes glowed ominously. Kalek, who sat across from her with an expressionless face, asked in a low voice.

“I’m curious about something. Why did you choose the wedding day?”

Frea opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again. After a moment, she said quietly.

“There’s no opportunity except that day. With so many people distracted by that woman, it’s perfect for sneaking in.”

“Is that woman your enemy?”

Frea didn’t answer that question.

“In the north, we killed all enemies. We didn’t drag things out like this.”

Frea’s voice was quiet, but it struck like a sharp dagger.

“… Your north was destroyed, wasn’t it?”

For a moment, the air sank heavily. After a brief silence, Kalek looked at her with crimson eyes.

“The north wasn’t destroyed by the Empire.”

Frea looked at Kalek with wide eyes.

“In the end, it was a destruction I chose…”

Before she could ask more, Kalek stood up.

“On the wedding day, I will kill the Grand Duke. And that woman too, of course.”

Frea said nothing. Only the campfire cast an ominous light on the two of them.

※※※

At that time, Crown Prince Evan was walking alone in a dark corridor. As always, a gentle smile floated on his face, but his eyes shone coldly.

“If the defense line is disrupted… the people will get hurt. Then Kayla will eventually have no choice but to use her holy power.”

Evan whispered softly.

“At that moment, everyone will acclaim her. As the vanguard of the subjugation campaign. And Theodore will no longer be able to stop that atmosphere.”

Evan quietly laughed.

“No one can object in the face of war. Because fear becomes justification…”

His laughter was quiet, but in the coldly spreading whisper, the shadow of blood and calamity was deeply cast. On the wedding day, the catastrophe prepared by invisible hands was already approaching.

12. Procession of Death and Blood

On the morning of the wedding day, Kayla was blankly staring at the clear blue sky beyond the window. The sunshine was warm, but the world reflected in her eyes somehow trembled uneasily.

‘Today, something will happen…’

Faint holy light seeped from her slender fingertips. The more she tried to suppress her anxiety, the more the holy power flowed out on its own, tormenting her. Kayla clenched her trembling hands and gritted her teeth. From the corridor, the busy footsteps and low voices of maids could be heard continuously. Everyone was excited preparing for the grand ducal household’s biggest celebration, but even that liveliness felt heavy and cold to Kayla.

“Your Highness, I’ll help you put on your dress.”

“… Yes.”

Even as hands combed up her hair and placed the silver veil, Kayla couldn’t relax. Today was the wedding, a day to be blessed. However, an unknown fear was taking root in one corner of her heart.

‘What will I lose today…’

Martha approached, unable to hide her worried expression.

“Your Highness, are you alright?”

Kayla forced herself to nod, but for a moment her vision blurred. A sharp scream brushed past her ears. She couldn’t tell if it was a memory from the past or a premonition of the future.

‘No, trust Theo…’

Her heart beat rapidly. She placed both hands over her chest and exhaled a trembling breath deeply.

※※※