“I was foolish, I shouldn’t have done it…”

Whether Catherine forgave him or not, Saul remained tormented. Catherine exhaled softly. She wanted to know what was causing him such pain.

“I shouldn’t have listened to those words…”

His muttering, almost swallowed inward, wasn’t clearly audible. Yet Catherine realized the fragments she caught sounded familiar somehow. Don’t listen…

It was identical to the warning David had given her before. Come to think of it, Saul had also repeatedly told Catherine not to listen just moments ago.

“That it would become so fixated on you.”

Only then did Catherine recall the strange sight she had witnessed earlier—the disheveled man pounding on the window, crying out his love for her.

The only striking feature of that corpse-like man was his red eyes that stared at her with near-madness. Red eyes? Catherine blinked suddenly, feeling something off.

Looking back, the man outside the window seemed to resemble Saul in some way. Though the resemblance was merely physical, and she knew immediately upon meeting his gaze that it wasn’t Saul…

Hadn’t she felt this sensation before? Following this thought, Catherine felt goosebumps rising on her skin. What on earth was that thing?

“…An unholy being.”

She must have spoken her question aloud, as Saul’s voice quietly continued with an answer.

“One who betrayed God. One who coveted what should not be coveted, who hasn’t paid the price for his sins.”

As he answered, Saul lifted his chin to look at Catherine. His eyes shone with blue light.

Saul looked utterly exhausted. Meeting Catherine’s concerned gaze, he pulled his lips into what might have been a smile, but having rarely smiled before, it didn’t quite look like one.

Instead, he ran his dry hand over his face, exhaled deeply, and extended his hand to Catherine.

“This will be a rather long story. Would you like to hear it?”

Having always been curious about Saul, Catherine had no reason to refuse. When she smiled and willingly placed her hand in his, Saul nodded quietly with an unusually gentle expression. 

Then he slowly led Catherine deeper into the dark corridor.

The deeper they went, the darker it became, until the surroundings were barely visible. After walking a bit further, Catherine could see nothing except Saul standing close to her. Yet she wasn’t afraid.

The firmness of Saul’s hand holding hers made her feel he would never let go, no matter what happened. For a while, the sound of their slow footsteps shattered in the pitch darkness. Saul, who had been gazing into the darkness with thoughtful eyes, began to speak.

“For a long time, we have been preparing to kill that unholy being…”

His tone sounded distant, like someone recalling very old memories. Catherine wondered who “we” referred to but didn’t ask. Partly because Saul seemed lost in deep contemplation, but also because she had a suspicion about whom he meant.

“He doesn’t remember, but when we were very young, we met a certain man.”

From Saul’s subsequent story, Catherine confirmed her suspicion was correct.

“The man, who identified himself as a prophet, told us that the brothers had received God’s blessing side by side.”

Catherine listened attentively to Saul’s voice as he slowly recounted the old tale.

“He believed there must be some special reason for God’s blessing upon the brothers. So he said he would take one of us away.

He assured us that with proper teaching, one would possess holy power so strong that no one would dare challenge it…”

Having said this much, Saul suddenly let out a hollow laugh and shook his head, seemingly without thinking.

He muttered, “But who would want to hand their child over to someone whose identity they didn’t know?”

Saul’s tone was somewhat cynical, yet strangely, it also sounded resigned.

“Besides, God’s blessing? Something difficult to obtain even after decades of faithful practice by countless people—to claim that such power was possessed by children barely old enough to understand language would make him seem like nothing but a fraud. Especially demanding children of noble blood… He should have been grateful to leave with his limbs intact.”

Listening to Saul’s story, Catherine found herself nodding unconsciously. Had she heard this story at that time, she too would have found it difficult to believe.

Catherine didn’t believe in God, but she didn’t deny the existence of holy power either. There were several historical examples proving God’s existence, and the actions of priests who performed miracles on His behalf were frequently heard of.

However, as far as Catherine knew, there was no precedent for young children—especially brothers of similar age—receiving God’s blessing.

“Perhaps if we had followed his words back then…”

Saul muttered this but quickly shook his head, clearly regretting having spoken aloud. Yet his face revealed lingering regret and sorrow that couldn’t be fully concealed.

Silently, Catherine moved closer to Saul and patted his arm comfortingly.

“Thank you,” Saul whispered, gently caressing Catherine’s knuckles that were intertwined with his.

Catherine responded by lightly tapping his arm. For a moment, perhaps choosing his words, Saul said nothing, and Catherine only felt his gentle stroking of her knuckles in his hand.

“As you may already know from the gamekeeper… there was an accident.”

Saul resumed his story after his fingertips had slid to the back of her hand. Seeming to suddenly realize what he was doing, he hesitated, stopped his movement, and withdrew his hand as he continued.

“It’s difficult to blame anyone for what happened. It was unexpected. Both the child and I realized too late why we had received God’s blessing side by side…”

Saul exhaled a long breath. For a while, he fell silent again, seemingly reorganizing his thoughts. Since the story he had told was quite difficult to believe, Catherine also remained silent, trying to process everything she had heard.

They walked wordlessly for some time. When a faint light began to appear in the distance along their path, Saul suddenly asked:

“Do you know why one is called unholy for what they covet?”

Catherine shook her head. This was the first time she had heard about beings called unholy. Slowly stopping his steps, Saul turned toward Catherine.

The faint light settled on his profile like a veil. Just as Catherine instinctively reached out to brush it away from his cheek:

“Because with a finite body they covet immortality, and for that immortality, they covet what belongs to the finite.”

Saul answered in a calm tone, his voice betraying no emotion, detachedly reciting what seemed like someone else’s story.

Catherine wrinkled her nose slightly, finding Saul’s words difficult to understand. Coveting immortality with a finite body, and for that immortality, coveting what belongs to the finite… Coveting immortality meant seeking eternal life—that much she could roughly grasp, but the latter part made no sense to her.

Why would someone who covets immortality also covet what belongs to the finite? It sounded as though the one who coveted immortality had failed to obtain complete immortality…

As this thought occurred to her, Catherine suddenly blinked. An unwelcome, ominous realization knocked at her mind.

Thud. Catherine recalled the disheveled man with red eyes pounding on the window. She remembered his appearance, vaguely resembling Saul.

According to Saul, that being was unholy—one who coveted immortality with a finite body and, for that immortality, coveted what belongs to the finite.

Then, what belonging to the finite had that man coveted to obtain complete immortality? And who was that finite being? Catherine’s gaze quickly turned to Saul.

“…What does that mean?”

She had momentarily been misled by Saul’s detached tone, which resembled that of someone narrating a stranger’s story.

Catherine now clearly recognized this involved Saul directly. Suddenly, she recalled what the gamekeeper had told her a few days ago.

“Come to think of it… the eldest young master collapsed around that time too.”

Then she remembered what Saul had just told her.

“There was an accident.”

The realization struck like lightning. That accident was related to the unholy being. The unholy one had coveted something from the finite being—Saul. The young Saul must have had something taken from him by that being. With trembling lips, Catherine managed to ask:

“What did he take from you…?”

Her grip on Saul tightened. What exactly did you lose? Catherine urged for an answer while holding Saul’s shoulders. Saul grasped her hands on his shoulders in a calming gesture, then lowered them.

Then, with that dry expression Catherine knew so well, he briefly looked toward the direction of the faint light.

Only then did he return his gaze to Catherine and speak. However, his response wasn’t an answer to her question.

“This is a story about my sin.”