‘I can do it.’

She took a deep breath and stepped toward Rudvalt holding the holy sword.

‘I can do it……!’

Hadn’t she faced even a rampaging priest with the swordsmanship she learned from Kyllen?

Seeing Shailyn approaching, Rudvalt felt an ominous premonition and struggled.

“Let go of me! Let go! If you touch me, I won’t let you get away with it! I’ll curse you!”

He couldn’t be sealed like this again.

Kyllen, Linus, and Chester gritted their teeth and held on while restraining him.

Shailyn, finally arriving in front of Rudvalt, calmly raised her sword, recalling past memories.

Feeling Solaris’s holy power flowing through the holy sword, Rudvalt struggled desperately.

“Nooooooo!”

Stab.

Shailyn stabbed Rudvalt’s heart with the holy sword without hesitation.

“Aaaaaaaah!”

Even at the ear-splitting scream, she raised her heels to put weight behind it and pushed the holy sword deeper.

The holy power granted by Solaris flowed through the blade and bound Rudvalt.

The black energy that had been surging around his body was covered with a white light.

Shailyn felt dizzy for a moment, feeling her strength draining away, and staggered. But she didn’t let go of the holy sword until the end.

“No……!”

With that death cry, Rudvalt was overwhelmed by Solaris’s holy power and sealed as he was.

His shadow that had possessed Raviel’s body gradually lifted.

The skin that had been dyed black-purple became white again, the swollen body shrank back to its original size, and the eyes that had turned black regained their violet color.

“Huff……”

Raviel, exhaling a rough breath, slowly raised his head.

“Shai, lyn……”

“……Raviel.”

Shailyn, having been gripping the holy sword until her fingertips turned white, slowly withdrew her trembling hands.

The other three men also noticed that he had truly returned to being Raviel and stepped back.

Three swords were stuck in Raviel’s body as he sat powerlessly on the ground. It was the result of wrong judgment and greed.

“I…… just, loved you……”

He gazed at Shailyn with moist eyes. While looking at him with pity, Shailyn replied coldly.

“Don’t make excuses like that. If you truly loved me, you couldn’t have done such things.”

Raviel couldn’t deny her words either. He remembered what he had done while his body was taken by Rudvalt.

He dropped his head and apologized.

“I’m sorry……”

The body that had been used as the demon’s host began to crumble bit by bit.

Shailyn, watching him scatter like ash with sad eyes, opened her mouth.

“I understand. I won’t forgive you, but I’ll accept your apology.”

At this, Raviel smiled faintly. Because he could feel her kindness until the end.

He closed his eyes and humbly accepted his end. Before long, his body completely turned to ash and disappeared.

The head priest once loved by everyone perished like that.

“Shailyn, are you okay?”

Kyllen led his injured body and embraced Shailyn’s shoulders.

Leaning her head against him, Shailyn let out a quiet sigh.

It was a mixture of relief that everything was over and the hardship of the past time.

***

I was sitting leaning against Carl, completely drained, when Grandfather came running from far away, calling us.

“Shailyn! Duke Celsior! Are you both alright?!”

Behind him, I could see Uncle, Dain, and Deborah too. Everyone was coming this way.

“We’re fine, Grandfather! Is everyone uninjured?”

I supported my shaking legs and got up, looking at them with concern.

Because when I returned, the situation was quite urgent, so I couldn’t pay any attention to my family’s condition at all.

“Haha, we’re all fine too. Only I got hurt a bit, but it’s not serious.”

Dain, whose sleeves were stained with blood on both sides, laughed heartily as usual. Then Deborah choked up and hit his waist with her elbow.

“Brother, are you proud of that?!”

“……No, sorry.”

Leaving Dain being scolded behind, Uncle extended his hand to Carl.

“Duke, let me support you.”

“……Thank you.”

Carl grabbed Uncle’s hand with a slightly awkward face and stood up.

Grandfather patted each of our backs, saying we all worked hard.

Beyond us, I could see the empress holding back tears while embracing the crown prince.

“You worked hard, Linus. You don’t know how worried I was that something might happen to you……”

“I’m sorry for causing you concern. But I didn’t do anything shameful as your son.”

“Yes, well done.”

The tower master stood alone awkwardly beside the mother and son having a tearful reunion.

Just as I was about to take care of him too.

“Tower masterrrrrr!”

Vice tower master, Jeron, came running hurriedly through the crowd.

“Are you alright?!”

“……Ah, Jeron.”

The tower master’s somewhat lonely face brightened when he saw him.

Jeron examined the wounded tower master from head to toe, then furrowed his brow.

“I was absolutely terrified when someone who can’t even fight stepped forward!”

“Be quiet, it’s not that bad.”

“What do you mean it’s not that bad! I’m really going to lose years of my life because of you, Tower Master..”

Though he beat his chest as if upset, both their expressions weren’t bad.

Well, they would have spent much more time together than I have.

Afterwards, as the empress and crown prince cleaned up the incident as the nation’s leaders, the chaotic Grand Assembly came to an end like that.

I held hands with Carl and my family and returned home.

To our home that had become more precious to me than anything.

***

Two months passed since then.

As the year changed and full winter set in, white snow poured from the sky day after day.

Dain, having injured both arms in the battle with Rudvalt, fortunately recovered quickly. Carl did too.

Based on the heretic registry, the imperial family tracked down and arrested all the demon’s followers.

Of course, they weren’t people who would be caught quietly, so there was quite a commotion, but the crown prince personally led and defeated them.

Since the emperor and high priestess died, they couldn’t properly question their crimes, but they received the punishment of having their names erased from the imperial and temple history.

Including Raviel.

The empress filled the emperor’s vacant position, and at the court meeting held to welcome the new year, the crown prince’s accession was officially decided.

An invitation to the coronation ceremony, scheduled early for the nation’s stability, came to me too.

‘It’s being held in a week.’

After checking the schedule, I set the invitation aside for now.

Because today was the day I was supposed to meet Carl.

“Mandy, dress me as neatly as possible. Like when meeting adults.”

“Yes, Miss.”

Mandy curled my hair and twisted it up, then put on a narrow cream-colored hat decorated with feathers.

I wore a low-saturation velvet high-neck dress and draped a white cloak with a bluish tint over my shoulders.

I took a bouquet I had picked early in the morning and rode in a carriage to meet Carl.

Our meeting place wasn’t somewhere like a busy street or theater.

“You came?”

“Yeah.”

“We can go this way.”

Carl, having arrived first and was waiting, took my hand and escorted me.

I followed him with a nervous heart, carefully holding the bouquet in my arms.

Carl glanced down at me and chuckled.

“It’s not like you’re meeting a living person, so why are you so frozen?”

“……What are you saying like that. Still, I’m meeting your parents anyway.”

I pointed my eyes sharply and poked his side gently so it wouldn’t hurt.

Then Carl, having been exaggerating that it hurt, nodded his head as if apologizing.

The place we came to today was none other than the cemetery where Carl’s parents were resting.

After my formal confession during the Grand Assembly, we had naturally become lovers.

So we came to pay respects at the ancestral burial ground where the Celsior ducal family were buried for generations.

I held Carl’s hand and climbed the gentle hill. I could see two tombstones placed cozily under a large tree.

I had heard that Carl had properly arranged what the Howard family had roughly buried after he regained his position.

Small red plum blossoms were blooming abundantly on branches covered with snow.

“Here are my parents.”

“Ah, hello. I’m Shailyn Sharofe. Nice to meet you for the first time.”

I bowed politely and placed the bouquet under their tombstones.

Carl, having been casually throwing words around when we came, became serious when he faced his parents.

His red eyes like plum blossoms were deeply colored with longing and affection.

“You said you were curious about what kind of person I would meet later. I met such a loyal and wonderful master.”

He smiled slightly and added while interlocking his fingers with mine.

“So I wanted to introduce her to you both and brought her here.”