Chapter 14 Part 1
“I was told to consume these, and they look like mana crystals made by Xenoph.”
Hyle carefully examined the crystals I’d handed him, then slightly furrowed his brow.
“What’s wrong?”
“Rosiel, these…”
Worried there might be something wrong with the crystals, I cautiously asked, and Hyle’s lips slowly parted.
“Creating this many crystals would consume a significant amount of holy power. But the energy I sense here… it’s not Xenoph’s. They’re all different.”
I wasn’t sensitive enough to holy power to notice such differences.
But if Hyle said so, then it must be true.
“So you’re saying these were all made using different people’s holy power? But how…?”
Holy crystals, like demonic crystals, were considered precious stones.
Condensing one’s power into a tangible form was no small feat.
I hadn’t questioned it before, assuming that Xenoph, being a cardinal, could naturally produce them, but now I was seeing a glaring inconsistency.
“Rosiel, Xenoph, with his obsession over the Holy Maiden, isn’t the type to be satisfied with your heart being purified gradually. He’s probably drawing holy power from others to transform you into the Holy Maiden more quickly.”
“I know it’s an obvious ploy, but I have no choice but to go along with it. Even if Xenoph is using others’ holy power to make these crystals, we can’t identify whose…”
Like demonic crystals, creating holy crystals required an enormous amount of holy power.
Even Caligo, a greater demon, could only produce two or three demonic crystals at most. It was hard to believe that a cardinal would possess so many holy crystals.
Unless he was forcibly extracting holy power from someone, creating this many crystals would be impossible.
Hyle seemed to contemplate something before speaking again in a cautious tone.
“Anyone around Xenoph with a significant level of holy power would be a target. He never lets himself lose out, so he exploits others that way.”
After hearing Hyle’s words, one person immediately came to mind.
“…Hertiana.”
For some reason, she suddenly flashed through my thoughts.
Someone close to the cardinal with holy power as pure as Hyle’s.
Someone who was no longer a Holy Maiden candidate and had faded from public attention.
Moreover, Tia had a gentle temperament, making her the perfect target for the cardinal to exploit.
“Raphla.”
With an ominous feeling, I immediately summoned Raphla.
I needed to find out where these crystals came from.
A cardinal exploiting others’ holy power was a clear violation of the goddess Renesia’s will not to harm others.
That was a serious crime deserving of expulsion from the temple.
“This is a tracking spell I placed on Hertiana. I’ll give it to you so you can help protect her from the cardinal.”
Raphla’s bright yellow eyes turned red upon receiving my command.
I could feel the ruby-colored eyes absorbing a significant amount of my magical power.
I’d never felt my magic being drained so acutely before…
Perhaps because my power was weakening, lately I was beginning to understand what it meant to “run out of magic.”
“And… show me the feather I attached to Abel.”
If my guess was correct, Abel would know by now that the oracle hadn’t chosen him and that our engagement had been officially annulled.
Knowing his character, he wouldn’t sit still, and I was worried about what he might do.
Fortunately or unfortunately, I knew he wasn’t the type to destroy the temple in anger, but still… for now.
Raphla projected an image of Abel’s feather into the air.
In the image, Abel was riding in a carriage heading somewhere, but due to the heavy downpour, I couldn’t hear what was happening inside.
“…Isn’t that the alley leading to the Laté estate?”
Hyle casually remarked as he watched him.
Now that he mentioned it, the surroundings in the image did seem familiar.
Since I usually traveled using magic, I wasn’t very familiar with the roads carriages took.
“Is he visiting without notice in the middle of the night?”
“Like the cardinal, Abel seems to be in a hurry too.”
It was probably because of the news about our annulment… but I wasn’t particularly eager to see him.
Now that the Grand Temple had officially approved our annulment, Abel and I no longer had any relationship.
Continuing as friends like before… well, I wasn’t a fool, and knowing he had been using me behind my back made that proposition unappealing.
Above all, whether he was joking or serious when he confessed to me, I could no longer treat him as just a friend.
“Not exactly the face I want to see at this hour.”
But I couldn’t avoid going home either…
Watching Abel’s carriage approach the Laté estate, I sighed deeply.
Sadly, it seemed I hadn’t escaped his obsession even after our engagement was annulled.
“Don’t go.”
Just then, Hyle’s voice broke the gloomy silence.
His carelessly thrown words somehow sounded low and dark.
“What do you mean, don’t go…”
You want me to stay overnight here?
I turned to look at him with ironic eyes, and Hyle straightened up from where he’d been leaning against the wall.
Lifting a candle, he created a pure white light with his fingertips.
It quickly spread throughout the villa, brightening the previously dark interior.
“The exterior might look old, but the interior is quite decent. It’s a cozy villa, rare in this era that values extravagance. Above all, it’s my private property. No one will come looking here.”
Hyle pointed at the brightened interior with a resolute gaze and continued speaking softly.
It was certainly more spacious and comfortable than it had appeared from outside now that the lights were on…
But more importantly, why was he so enthusiastically introducing his villa? It was as if he was advertising it to me.
…Wait, was that really what he was doing? If he just told me not to go home, then…
“Are you seducing me right now?”
To stay overnight here?
At my probing question, the corner of Hyle’s mouth curved slightly.
Facing his smooth smile that had silently risen, I let out an incredulous laugh.
This… seduction seemed a bit too obvious. Telling me to stay over out of nowhere.
“Does it sound that way?”
After hearing my hollow laugh, Hyle merely shrugged and pretended not to know.
A playful glint flashed across his ash-gray green eyes.
“You’re becoming more shameless by the day…”
“You seem to like me this way.”
Just as I was exhaling in exasperation at Hyle’s nonchalant remark of blaming me again, I felt a terrifying sensation as if my heart had suddenly stopped.
Simultaneously, my breath caught, as if someone had roughly grabbed my airway.
Ah, I forgot.
I hadn’t consumed any holy crystals, I kept using Raphla, and I even completely rejected Hyle’s offered hand earlier… it would be strange if there wasn’t a severe magical backlash.
I realized my carelessness too late.
Regardless of my will, my body collapsed to the floor.
“Ro…!”
Seeing me suddenly collapse, Hyle extended his hand urgently with shocked eyes, but the speed of my weak body crumbling—drained of both strength and magic—was faster.
I’d collapsed so many times that this chilling sensation was starting to become tiresome.
At first, perhaps because I didn’t want to admit my weakness, it was incredibly painful.
Now, having accepted that “Yes, without magic, I am weak,” it wasn’t so heartbreaking or painful that I wanted to cry.
After all, I’d been wielding demonic power and strong magic, so it wasn’t entirely wrong.
When I came to my senses, I was in Hyle’s arms.
There’s a term for this position in popular culture… what was it again?
…A princess carry?
It was somewhat embarrassing, but my body felt incredibly comfortable.
I could feel the firm strength in his hands as they steadily supported me.
Hyle carried me quickly to the second floor.
Then I felt something soft and warm against my back.
“…Ugh.”
As if heavy muscle pain had seized my waist, I involuntarily groaned when something soft touched my back.
Opening my eyes gently, I saw Hyle sitting next to the bed, looking at me.
“Rosiel, why do you think I inherited the position of head of the family?”
His inscrutable green eyes were perfectly calm.
