“A healthy person would have recovered even without treatment, but in the princess’s current state, it’s as serious as a deep sword cut.”

The physician explained that this small wound was more of a trigger than the cause of her illness. Her weak body, unable to heal itself properly, had collapsed from a strong shock and a wound that even children could easily overcome.

“I understand, so save her.”

“Of course I’ll do my best, but……”

“Your life will depend on the result.”

At the physician’s words, Roshan inwardly muttered that even this appearance reminded him of a lily. A white, fragile flower would turn yellow around a small wound on its petal before withering.

When he had seen such flowers wither before properly blooming, he had clicked his tongue, saying they couldn’t even properly serve their purpose of providing a spectacle. But what had changed? Like that white flower at that time, the woman lying with a small wound, unable to recover—the princess he had brought here—made him feel sorry and pained. He felt anxious and his chest tightened at the thought that she might not overcome this illness.

“……Explain properly what happened.”

Roshan spoke while looking at Yerena’s face, which was contorting in pain as she twisted her neck. Alicia, who had been with Yerena throughout, began explaining everything from receiving the curse judgment from the high priest to meeting the emperor.

Roshan had already heard briefly that Yerena had encountered the emperor. Given his half-brother’s character, he could somewhat predict how he had treated her. But despite his anticipation, Roshan’s expression gradually darkened.

Alicia paused while speaking, feeling pressured by Roshan’s aura. Then Roshan asked, looking at Yerena’s hand, which had been treated with medicine and bandaged to prevent touching,

“How did this happen?”

“After His Majesty left, when she was speaking with the envoy from the Sedas Kingdom……”

“……”

“……She collapsed and seems to have been scratched by the rust on the iron bars she was holding.”

“Collapsed?”

“……”

“What did that man babble about to cause that?”

Alicia, who had been calmly explaining even the emperor’s behavior, hesitated. The Sedas envoy’s conduct as he looked down at Yerena with an arrogant face was too barbaric. He had directly read aloud a letter supposedly sent by the Queen Dowager of Sedas, and its content was so appalling that she found it difficult to repeat. She thought it fortunate that Juul and Jael couldn’t understand the language of Sedas.

“Speak.”

As Alicia continued to hesitate, Roshan urged her. Finally, she opened her mouth and told what she had heard.

“He verbally delivered a letter from the Queen Dowager of Sedas to Lady Yerena. But its content……”

“……”

“It seems the Sedas king’s mother has expelled maids who were close to Lady Yerena from the capital. And there was mention of putting pressure on the families of some maids’ fiancés……”

Alicia summarized and softened the long and terrible contents of the letter as much as possible. In reality, the letter had repeatedly cut Yerena with seemingly affectionate words. Yerena had to hear how many of her maids, who could be considered friends, had fallen from grace and who had committed s*icide unable to bear it.

But the letter didn’t end there. Toward the end, the letter abandoned even its affectionate tone and became too difficult to even speak of.

“Continue.”

“……Most of it was mocking Lady Yerena’s situation in the empire. Forgive me. It’s difficult for me to repeat what I remember before Your Highness.”

Alicia stopped speaking, unable to further summarize or soften the content. Roshan remained silent for a moment before speaking,

“Where is the letter?”

“He didn’t hand it over.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“……”

“That man probably hasn’t left the empire yet.”

The fate of the Sedas envoy was clearly predictable. He would pay dearly for the sin of looking down on the princess, dragged as a prisoner of the empire, in her shabby clothes and based on the emperor’s attitude.

“When will you be able to use holy power?”

Roshan asked while kneeling at Yerena’s bedside and touching her forehead, which was hot as fire. But Alicia was too shocked to answer.

It was none other than Roshan Vistius—a man famous for being arrogant and indifferent to everyone. Yet here he was, easily kneeling and firmly holding the hand of a delirious patient. It was utterly unbelievable.

Roshan turned his head toward Alicia, pressing for an answer. Only then did she separate her lips, which seemed stuck together, and said,

“Three days will be enough. By then, I should be able to help you, Lady Yerena.”

“……I’ll compensate you as much as I can.”

Roshan knew that using holy power took a physical toll, hence his words. But his statement surprised Alicia once more because his voice, immersed in anxiety, had a pleading tone.

Regardless of what Alicia thought, Roshan focused again on Yerena. His eyes were passionate as he looked at the woman lying weakly in bed, suffering from illness.

He regretted deliberately poisoning her months ago. Though it had been a perfect plan with a carefully measured amount of poison and thorough preparation of Alicia’s holy power and medicine, it might have weakened someone who was already frail.

The more he thought about it, the more his irrevocable anger boiled. It was difficult to endure. Listening to the groans coming from between Yerena’s pale lips, he slowly rose with a grim face.

“I’ll send Frederick in. If anything happens, inform him immediately.”

Roshan told Alicia and turned to leave the bedroom. Outside, beyond the curtain, were the physician and Jane.

At Roshan’s signal, the physician quickly went inside. As he passed by Jane, he said,

“Take good care of her until I return.”

Jane, who had forgotten her fear of Roshan due to her worry for Yerena, froze. She barely managed to nod at the man’s tense atmosphere, like a predator before a hunt.

* * *

“What should I do?”

After the physician left and even Jane was sent out, Alicia spread her hands in front of Yerena’s face. Golden light burned like fire, creating a shape like a heat haze.

As she had said, Alicia didn’t have enough holy power to heal Yerena immediately. But she had sufficient strength to temporarily free her from the pain of her persistent fever.

However, Alicia wasted her holy power in the air without sharing any with Yerena. Instead, she touched her forehead, burning with fever, and whispered,

“Your hands are so cold, yet you suffer so from fever…… But you should be able to endure this much heat. It should be bearable compared to the pain of a body burning alive.”

A temple burning brightly, friends turning to ash and crumbling, a woman laughing amidst it all—these images scattered like heat haze into golden light. Alicia lowered her head and put her lips close to Yerena’s ear.

“It would be interesting to watch you die in agony as your illness worsens. But princess…… that’s not enough. Far from it.”

Yerena’s title had changed. Simultaneously, Alicia’s demeanor altered. She raised her head and removed her hand from Yerena. Then she hardened her face coldly, like a holy knight executing a heretic.

“When I first heard you were alive, I even felt resentful toward the goddess, but not anymore. She spared you out of care for me. She helped me wield the knife of vengeance myself. She is truly merciful.”

The hand that had withdrawn from Yerena’s forehead now touched her neck. With slight pressure, the deep wrinkles on Yerena’s brow deepened further. Alicia looked down at the coughing Yerena with a cold smile and covered her mouth with her other hand.

“Princess. As I said before, the Goddess of Light is different from the gods of Sedas that you believe in…… Unlike them, who abandoned people and followed monsters to disappear from this continent, she remains with us. That’s why she takes care of those who believe in her like this.”

Yerena’s upper body heaved violently. Alicia continued speaking, paying no attention to this. Her blindfold, catching the sunlight, flashed like a blade.

“Now I understand how to wield the knife in my hand. Princess. First, you will take my eyes. And before long……”

The avenger removed her hand from the princess’s neck and drew an invisible golden sword. Then, in an eerie voice as if about to swing it, she murmured,

“……you will see the light again.”

* * *

Count Wibly. Born as the second son of a knight in the Sedas Kingdom, he had no proper title and lacked wealth, so he wasn’t treated as a proper nobleman. But because he excelled at saying pleasing things to his superiors, he managed to form a connection with Bianca through several intermediaries.

Bianca, who had earned the king of Sedas’s deep hatred, was only the king’s consort in appearance. However, being the queen’s younger sister and having given birth to the king’s illegitimate child (though unacknowledged), she was a very high-ranking person to someone as insignificant as Count Wibly.

‘You speak in such an entertaining way.’

‘I’m honored by your words, Lady Wirgo.’

‘Lady…… You’re quick-witted too. I like that.’

Thus, Count Wibly flattered Bianca for nearly ten years. And eventually, patience rewarded him with good fortune. The Vistius Empire’s invasion killed not only the king and queen of Sedas but also all the legitimate princes. The illegitimate son, unacknowledged by the king, became king overnight, and his mother Bianca became the queen dowager. Additionally, Count Wibly, whose loyalty Bianca recognized, received the title of count and became one of Sedas’s powerful nobles.

Perhaps that was the problem. Having succeeded with Bianca’s backing, Count Wibly became excessively arrogant and forgot to be cautious.

‘Deliver this letter word for word to that girl living like a criminal in the empire. And when you return, make sure to tell me what she looked like and how miserably she’s living.’

He had long known that the relationship between the princess taken to the empire and Bianca was poor. Therefore, he roughly anticipated what kind of words might be written in the letter that Bianca had instructed him to read directly to the princess.

However, until he arrived in the empire, he had debated whether to read the letter in front of the princess. Though rumors said the princess was imprisoned in a tower, what if she was secretly favored by the emperor? Count Wibly resealed Bianca’s letter after reading it.