‘What are you doing?’

 

Raysis let Lindsey grab his hand. He knew she couldn’t harm him in any way.

 

He was just curious about what she was up to.

 

After Lindsey didn’t make any move for a while, he tried to pull his hand away.

 

“Don’t let go of this hand….”

 

Raysis couldn’t finish his sentence. Lindsey gave him a seductive smile.

 

And in that moment.

 

A very faint power was felt. It was a strange power that Raysis had never felt before. He forgot to breathe. The weak power seemed to shake his soul.

 

“What, what the…?”

 

Raysis looked at Lindsey.

 

His pupils were trembling incessantly. Lindsey stiffened her smiling face. She brought her lips close to Raysis’s ear.

 

A sweet voice that seemed to melt into his ear was heard.

 

“Do you believe me now? That I awakened my sacred power.”

 

Lindsey passed by the bewildered Raysis. When Raysis regained his senses and turned around, Lindsey had already disappeared.

 

⋆★⋆

 

Lindsey arrived at her room.

 

The time Lindsey spent guiding Raysis was very short. She only used the minimum guiding ability. But even with that, Raysis should realize that she awakened her sacred power.

 

‘Maybe he can notice that I’m different from other clerics.’

 

Lindsey glanced around her room. The room, which seemed to have not been cleaned for months, was pitifully shabby.

 

Nothing had changed.

 

Even though twenty years had passed, it seemed like time had stood still here.

 

‘It’s inevitable. I was the only one who went there.’

 

Lindsey momentarily questioned whether her life in Korea with Han Ji-yoo was real.

 

Was it not an illusion created by her loneliness?

 

Wasn’t the fantasy she created dying in front of the Radian Marquisate’s castle?

 

There were transcendents who awakened at the brink of death.

 

In fact, her guiding ability might have been obtained by awakening.

 

Lindsey shook her head vigorously.

 

‘No, my life with Han Ji-yoo was real.’

 

The people who were so kind to the point of bringing tears to her eyes.

 

The espers who believed in her and fought alongside her. It couldn’t all be false.

 

Lindsey searched under her bed. Eventually, she found the secret compartment she had created.

 

She carefully opened the space. There was a box placed there. When she opened the box, the first thing she saw was a small note.

 

It was the note she had written before leaving Kesion Marquisate.

 

-I will never come back here.

 

Unfortunately, her pledge was not kept. She had walked into this dreadful mansion herself.

 

-Erasing my name from the family registry and becoming free… Finding a way back to Korea.

 

The money needed to seek asylum in another country. The power to find a way back. And most importantly, freedom.

 

All of that existed in Kesion Marquisate.

 

‘After erasing my name from the registry and freeing myself from the Kesion Marquisate’s slavery, I will return to Korea. Definitely…’

 

After that, she would never return here, just as she had written in this note.

 

But the note didn’t end there.

 

-If I come back here, it means I failed to manifest my sacred power, right?

 

-Please, if I come back, it means I didn’t read this note… If only I had married Azet without any problems…

 

As Lindsey looked at the note, strength entered her hand.

 

In Kesion Marquisate, there was no one interested in her.

 

Not even a maid to come to her room for cleaning. Her situation here must have been worse than that of a maid’s. Perhaps she thought that she was the only one who would read this note, and Lindsey subconsciously clenched the note in her hand.

 

‘Let’s go back. Let’s go back and meet those people. Let’s not run away from this crazy world.’

 

That’s when it happened.

 

“Lady Lindsey.”

 

Lindsey stood up at the voice of the maid calling her from outside the door.

 

“The Marquis requests your presence.”

 

⋆★⋆

 

Raysis adjusted his glasses with a complicated expression on his face. He stared at the teacup in front of him lost in thought.

 

‘It was definitely sacred power…’

 

The sacred power he knew was dreadful. It was nothing more or less than a compulsory measure to prevent rampage.

 

‘It should be dreadful…’

 

But he felt good.

 

That fact confused Raysis. He covered his face with his hand.

 

He felt strange feeling this confusion. He had never felt confused since receiving education at the Marquisate. What was this emotion exactly?

 

“You must smile, Lord Raysis. To survive in the Marquisate, you must not show your emotions.”

 

“You must associate with suitable people.”

 

“You must not treat dirty blood as siblings.”

 

Raysis furrowed his brow.

 

“I guess I have to go and see.”

 

He thought he should talk to Lindsey more. It was when Raysis was about to head to Lindsey’s room.

 

“Lord Raysis!”

 

He put on an expression at the voice calling him.

 

“What’s the matter?”

 

“The Marquis is calling for you right now.”

 

“….”

 

“Miss Sylvia Radian has sent a message again.”

 

Upon hearing that, Raysis quickly hurried his steps. It was when he reached the Marquis’s office.

 

Lindsey had also arrived at the office. She was about to open the door to the office.

 

“Are you really willing to die?”

 

Raysis was incredulous at Lindsey’s appearance.

 

Did she really not know what would happen if she met her father now?

 

Raysis blocked Lindsey, who was trying to enter the Marquis’s office.

 

“If you go in now, you’ll be dragged into the Radian family.”

 

“You’ll end up kneeling in front of Sylvia Radian.”

 

At his words, Lindsey tilted her head.

 

She asked him, “Even if that’s true, what concern is it of yours?”

 

His tone was so cold it could freeze even her heart.

 

Even when dealing with others, it would be warmer than this. Raysis found it hard to believe what he had heard.

 

“What did you say?”

 

“Was I wrong?”

 

Lindsey tilted her head, looking at him.

 

If he had worried about her when he considered her family, he would have understood. But now they were nothing to each other.

 

Didn’t Raysis once tell her that he had expected something from her?

 

“I was wrong to expect anything from you.”

 

“I don’t have anything more to say to you.”

 

Lindsey said, looking straight at him.

 

“We’re not on speaking terms like this.”

 

Raysis couldn’t reply.

 

In fact, since meeting Lindsey again, he had been struggling with confusion.

 

After being disappointed in Lindsey, he had decided not to care about her. In fact, since then, he had almost never seen Lindsey.

 

And yet…

 

He couldn’t understand why he was concerned about her.

 

‘But I am concerned.’

 

He admitted his state.

 

Lindsey Kesion was bothering him. His face became pale.

 

‘Did Lindsey Kesion really do it?’

 

Did Lindsey really take his mother’s memento?

 

Raysis’s heart began to beat faster. Just thinking about building a home made his chest ache.

 

He hadn’t properly listened to Lindsey’s words. The sense of loss at that time was too great.

 

But if what Lindsey said wasn’t true…

 

No, it wasn’t true.

 

There was no way. All the evidence and witnesses were saying that Lindsey was the culprit.

 

He couldn’t possibly think that she wasn’t the thief who stole the memento just because of Lindsey’s words alone.

 

The more he thought about it, the more confused he became. Raysis tried to control his emotions with a stern face.

 

‘It was just to confirm the fact that she’s a priestess…’

 

Raysis tried to find his calmness. Haven’t his teachers always emphasized that he shouldn’t be swayed by sudden emotions?

 

There was an ideology emphasized in Kesion Marquisate. A calmness that doesn’t succumb to the power of the goddess. He had to maintain his composure.

 

Realizing his own insignificance, Raysis stiffened his face.

 

He spoke to Lindsey.

 

“I guess you don’t even have the courage to open the door, do you?”

 

After regaining his composure, he felt doubtful. Lindsey was afraid of her father… and yet she dared to walk in by herself?

 

Lindsey laughed at Raysis’s words.

 

“No courage?”

 

“You’re afraid of your father. Especially after rumors spread that you might be incompetent.”

 

“….”

 

“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but… for now, go back to your room. I’ll talk to my father…”

 

Before Raysis could finish his sentence, Lindsey immediately opened the door.

 

And she spoke in a sharp tone.

 

“You know nothing about me.”