Huff, huff.

Rosalyn panted heavily. She tried to shake off the hand that held her.

“Kenyan Radian, what are you doing? Let me go! We need to run away.”

Rosalyn, who had been fleeing faster than anyone, was caught by Kenyan. She fell into a state of panic.

Contrary to her bold words, she was terrified the moment she saw Mikhail.

‘I can’t heal him.’

I need to escape, I must escape.

If I don’t, I’ll be beheaded. Rosalyn recalled Mikhail’s gaze as he looked at her.

It was the gaze of a monster she had never seen before, as if looking at something worthless.

Raised in the marquisate of Kesion, always revered, Rosalyn felt fear for the first time.

“Rosalyn Kesion!”

Rosalyn looked at Kenyan with disbelief. In the instant their eyes met, Kenyan’s eyes bore a resemblance to Mikhail’s from before.

Eyes filled with disdain and contempt.

‘Why are they all treating me this way?’

Rosalyn covered her mouth with her hand. She felt wronged by Kenyan’s accusing gaze.

Shouldn’t such accusatory eyes be directed at Lindsey? Besides, hadn’t Kenyan been close to her since they were young?

Rosalyn had never once been treated with such disregard by anyone.

Feeling humiliated by the unfamiliar gaze, Rosalyn failed to notice that her surroundings had gone quiet.

“Look over there, Rosalyn.”

Only after Kenyan’s words, colder than winter wind, did Rosalyn snap back to reality.

Slowly, she turned her gaze.

There was Lindsey. Her divine power was healing that monstrous man.

Rosalyn watched the scene with wide eyes.

“The… rumors…”

“Yes, the rumors were true. And you ran away without fulfilling your role.”

Rosalyn looked around.

The transcendents and priests had all stopped fleeing and were staring at Lindsey.

As priests, they couldn’t be unaware of the significance of what Lindsey was doing. Rosalyn stood frozen, trembling all over.

She considered her situation. The Marquis of Kesion would be furious upon witnessing her disgrace.

He might call her an embarrassment and treat her with contempt.

In the Marquis of Kesion, her position depended on her father’s mood. Lindsey was in the same boat.

Rosalyn imagined Lindsey laughing at her. The thought of that lowly girl mocking her made her blood boil.

“No, never…”

If Lindsey Kesion failed to heal Mikhail and died there, the situation might improve.

As she thought this, it happened.

“Lindsey Kesion?”

In a daze, she saw Lindsey collapse with Kenyan’s voice.

⋆★⋆

Lindsey looked around.

She saw the old Marquis of Kesion. Lindsey was hiding in a party hall.

‘This is strange.’

She was sure she had been healing Mikhail. Why was she now seeing the Marquis of Kesion?

Moreover, these were past memories.

The most terrible times of her life.

Sometimes, Rosalyn would take her to parties. The other family members thought it was out of Rosalyn’s kind nature.

“Lady Rosalyn is so kind.”

“Indeed, bringing that dirty blood to the party.”

“Do you see those tacky clothes? Perfectly matches her vulgarity.”

Lindsey had never been happy at any party held by the Marquis of Kesion.

They treated her like a toy. When a hungry Lindsey tried to eat, people would look at her like she was an animal.

Vulgar thing. Dirty blood.

Words more often heard than her name, Lindsey Kesion.

At some point, Lindsey learned what she needed to do to avoid drawing attention to herself.

She would hide in the party hall balcony, watching Rosalyn.

Rosalyn, always smiling brightly.

Rosalyn, always loved by everyone.

Wherever she went, Rosalyn was the center of attention. The successful product, adored by the Marquis of Kesion.

A saint who would illuminate the Kesion marquisate, having awakened her divine power in childhood.

“Lady Rosalyn will one day be able to heal Lord Mikhail.”

“They make such a good match.”

“Although Lady Sylvia is currently healing Lord Mikhail, one day, a priest from the Kesion marquisate will take over.”

People always praised Rosalyn. While Lindsey hid on the balcony, clutching her hungry stomach, Rosalyn was busy receiving blessings from people.

Lindsey felt envious.

But she never revealed that feeling.

‘Rosalyn is the only one who likes me.’

Even feeling envious of someone as glorious as Rosalyn seemed like a sin.

She didn’t want to go against the heart of the only person who liked her.

But when she left the house,

Lindsey never forgot what Rosalyn said.

“Do you know why I played with someone like you?”

“It was to make myself stand out more.”

“Stupid Lindsey Kesion.”

“Did you think I was sincere?”

That’s why Lindsey doesn’t trust anyone in this world. This world has given her nothing but deception.

“Han Ji-yoo, what are you doing?”

“Why are you so spaced out, you fool?”

At that moment,

a familiar voice called out.

Her Espers were calling her. The comrades who fought through battlefields with her.

The people Han Ji-yoo had opened her heart to.

Tears dropped from Lindsey’s eyes.

“What’s this, are you crying?”

“Who made you cry? Just tell us. Did some guy force you to guide when you didn’t want to?”

“Who made you cry, seriously… Don’t cry…”

Despite the voices coming from behind her, Lindsey didn’t turn around.

She felt like she would collapse if she did.

You fools. I’m not here anymore. I can’t see you anymore. Lindsey tried her best not to turn back.

If she hadn’t heard that voice, she might have been able to ignore them until the end.

“I’ll come find you.”

Lindsey turned around.

She heard the voice of someone she longed to see, even in a dream.

But when she turned around, there was no one there, as if the voice was an illusion.

‘Now that I think about it, what did he look like?’

Lindsey realized she couldn’t remember Baek Ji-hyuk’s face.

⋆★⋆

“Why isn’t she waking up?”

Raysis glared at the physician beside him. The Radian household was enveloped in silence.

Lindsey had collapsed after healing Mikhail. Initially, they thought it was because she had overused her divine power.

Just like when she healed Mikhail before.

But this time, Lindsey wasn’t waking up easily. Instead, her fever was rising and she was starting to suffer.

Raysis’s eyes twitched. Lindsey was sweating cold and breathing heavily.

“Has there been no contact from Mikhail?”

At Raysis’s harsh question, the knight beside him answered nervously.

“No, there has been no sighting of him since then.”

Raysis gritted his teeth.

‘Mikhail disappeared right away.’

That fact also bothered him. He knew Mikhail was a cold person, but he never imagined he would be this indifferent.

To leave the priestess who healed him behind.

“Can she be cured?”

At Raysis’s menacing question, the physician bowed deeply, almost groveling.

“This is beyond my expertise.”

“Beyond your expertise?”

“It seems to be a curse of black magic. Black magicians often use bizarre tricks, and in this case…”

“…”

“She will continue to dream. She might regain consciousness a few times, but her condition will keep deteriorating. Her body will slowly stiffen.”

“…”

“And eventually…”

She may never wake up again. The physician couldn’t finish his sentence as Raysis’s face twisted in anger.

“Then what should we do? There must be a way!”

“We need a magician.”

At the physician’s words, Raysis’s face turned pale. He approached Kenyan and grabbed him by the collar.

“Is this what you wanted?”

“…”

“Did you want Lindsey Kesion to die?”

At Raysis’s outburst, Kenyan stared at Lindsey in a daze.

Kenyan was a transcendent who often went to the battlefield. Thus, he was well aware of the curses of black magicians.

‘She won’t wake up.’

To break black magic, a magician of a similar level was needed.

Lindsey had collapsed after healing Mikhail. The black magician was strong enough to afflict Mikhail.

To find a magician as strong as them, they would have to go to the Mage Tower in the South.

And by the time they brought a magician from the Southern Mage Tower…

‘Lindsey Kesion would be dead.’

In the past, he wouldn’t have cared. Unlike the physically strong transcendent, priests were generally weak.

It was common for priests to die on the battlefield. Becoming a priest meant being prepared for death. Lindsey had simply fulfilled her role.

That’s what he would have thought. That was the education he received from the Marquis of Kesion.

But why…

Why did it feel like he was going mad?

“Damn it!”

Raysis shoved Kenyan roughly. Kenyan staggered backward.

“How long will it take for a magician to come from the Southern Mage Tower?”

“Even with teleportation magic, a month.”

At Kenyan’s answer, Raysis grabbed his own hair in frustration.

A month was a long time.

Long enough for that weak, small woman to die. It was then that they heard Lindsey’s faint voice, sounding as if it might break at any moment.

“Please…”

The room fell deathly silent.

Raysis and Kenyan focused on Lindsey’s faint voice.

And then they froze at her next words.

“Save me, Mother…”

“…”

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. Please…”

Her voice was small but desperate.

Kenyan realized who Lindsey was referring to as her mother. Lindsey Kesion had no mother. She had been raised in the Marquis of Kesion from a very young age, so she wouldn’t even know her mother’s face.

Her pitiful voice must have been directed towards Sylvia, her would-be mother.

Mother.

It was what Lindsey had said when she first came to the Radian household for the engagement.

Kenyan also remembered how Sylvia had treated Lindsey after she uttered those words.

He recalled the moment Sylvia’s sharp hand struck Lindsey’s cheek.

Back then, he had merely watched the scene.

“Pathetic woman.”

He had said those words.