Ib was terrified all along.

The scene of her hurting her mother in the dream was vivid.

In the dream, Ib hit, bit, and scratched her mother.

Would mother die? Would mother hate me?

However, with a single smile from her mother, Ib’s long anxiety disappeared like melting snow.

“Mom, I’m sorry…..”

Even so, as if the dream still bothered her, Ib apologized to Louise several times.

Louise’s heart ached at the sight.

She knew the terrible fear Ib would feel from the ‘nightmare’.

Because she too could not sleep whenever she had nightmares, trembling with anxiety all night long.

Because she tried to shake off the disgusting and strange sensations and memories.

Because the scenes were so vivid that she stayed up for days and couldn’t even eat.

She didn’t want to let that fear eat away at the child’s soul.

She didn’t want to pass on the guilt she had felt.

“There’s nothing to be sorry about. Ib did nothing wrong.”

I know it’s not your fault.

I also know it’s something you never wanted.

Louise whispered while stroking Ib lovingly.

With her mother’s comfort, Ib gradually calmed down, stopping her tears.

Ib wiped her teary eyes with the back of her small hand.

Her brave appearance was so remarkable and touching.

“I’ll call the doctor for you, Mom…!”

Ib sat up like a mature child.

“Ib, I’m fine.”

“No! I’m going to call the doctor!”

Ib scolded, saying that her mother is sick and needs to rest well.

Then she sniffled once and moved her small feet swiftly out the door.

“Ib…!”

Louise tried to get up to stop Ib, but sank back onto the bed due to dizziness.

Her body did not readily obey.

‘My body…’

It was hot as if a fire was boiling inside.

She clutched her chest tightly and curled up.

‘It’s different from usual…’

After the long battle ended, she wanted to think that her body was strained, but something was strange.

The burning heat from inside seemed to spread as if it would burn her body.

Louise turned her gaze to the starting point of that heat.

The wrist that Dietrich had grabbed.

When she rolled up her sleeve, another black crescent-shaped pattern was engraved on the inside of her wrist.

The moment she saw that pattern, her head spun and her vision went black.

Louise hastily propped herself up on the bed, barely catching her body from falling backwards.

It was a curse.

In the end of the fight, Dietrich had engraved a curse on her body.

A spell completely different from the curse he had engraved on Sched’s body.

‘…It’s hard to control.’

As if the circuits in her body had been twisted, the power inside was distorting.

To the extent that it was overwhelming for her to control, as if it would overflow.

Louise tried to submerge the power surging up as if to burn her body deep inside.

If she let her guard down even a little, it seemed like it would burst out.

“Ugh…!”

When she forcibly suppressed the power trying to overflow, it thrashed violently from within.

“Cough!”

In the end, she leaned over and coughed up blood.

Bright red blood splattered on the white floor.

Only after damaging her body, the hot energy burning inside subsided a little.

Louise breathed heavily with her calmed body.

‘Dietrich…’

His last gift for her who lives eternally.

He had engraved a curse that destroys the power of black magic in her body.

‘Did he want me to… go berserk?’

She instinctively knew that she had to release the abnormally twisted power externally for the pain to subside.

Otherwise, this power will continue to eat away at her body.

But unfortunately, her body is also immortal, so it will be regenerated by that power, then eaten away again, and regenerated again.

As long as she forcibly endures the power, she will have to live eternally with pain.

Louise bit her lip hard, recalling the hazy memories.

‘…What happened to him?’

She couldn’t remember anything after the battle.

It was as if there were holes scattered in her mind.

Louise belatedly raised her head and looked around.

The golden star-shaped relic on the wall, the marble statue of an angel placed on one side of the wall, the simple yet neatly maintained interior, the warm brazier in place of a fireplace.

‘Temple…?’

At that moment, it was as if her body had turned cold.

‘Why am I in the temple…!’

She remembered Dietrich taking her to the underground lab of the temple.

She pieced together the fragments of memory that remained like a nightmare one by one.

Did Dietrich bring her back here?

Her snow-white forehead furrowed as she tried to recall her memories.

No, it’s not Dietrich.

If it were Dietrich, he would never have left her free like this.

‘Then…’

Louise suddenly remembered Giselle Marlhein’s procession she had seen just before collapsing.

Upon reaching that thought, a different kind of anxiety engulfed her.

Anxious eyes scanned every corner of the room.

Where are the priests? What was Giselle thinking, leaving me here?

The stillness filling the room was chilling.

The room, watched over by the angel statue, was too peaceful and quiet, suffocating.

There are no exceptions to heresy trials.

‘Ib…!’

Her heart raced at a rapid pace.

Louise got up, leaning against the wall with trembling legs.

She moved her feet, which seemed like they would give out at any moment, staggering towards the door.

Just then, the door Ib had closed on her way out opened with a click.

Louise raised her head to look at the door.

For a moment, her heart sank as if falling into a thousand-foot abyss.

A disheveled man stood in front of the door.

“Ah…”

His figure was clearly reflected in her green eyes.

A white shirt crumpled and not fully buttoned, sleeves loosely untied and hanging down aimlessly.

His black hair was not groomed, flowing down over his eyes, and the eyes visible underneath looked sunken and haggard.

Louise felt as if her whole body was freezing.

There were too many misfortunes to think about. So she had forgotten this misfortune for a moment.

The deep shadow she had feared most in her life.

Yes, he was there.

The place she wanted to turn away from the most in her life, yet the deepest place.

“Sched….”

It was as if she could feel the gaze of the large angel statue placed in one corner of the room.

The angel statue never blinked an eye.

Its pure white eyes were watching her without a gap.

“Louise….”

The image of him being dyed black by the curse vividly came to her mind.

The eyes with which he had looked at her, enveloped in shock, were particularly clear.

He had finally seen her hideous true nature with his own eyes.

She backed away like a small beast driven into a corner.

Her mind was in complete turmoil.

Yes, you must hate me too.

You won’t be able to forgive me for possessing the same power that cursed you.

Just as much as I abhor myself, you must feel the same way.

‘Even though I knew it would end up like this…’

Louise’s lips trembled.

She knew that when the sand in the hourglass ran out, the hidden truth would be revealed.

Still, she remained silent and avoided it. For the sole reason of being afraid.

Regret choked her throat suffocatingly.

‘If only I had confessed the truth to him early on…’

At least she wouldn’t have faced him in the worst possible way like this.

Undeserving excuses seemed to spill from the tip of her tongue.

I always wanted to protect you.

That’s why I sent you away into the hands of the Bitel Company.

That’s why I ran away from you.

Because to someone as radiant as you, I’m just a gloomy and unhappy shadow.

I just… wanted you to be happy.

She forcibly swallowed the thorny emotions.

He stepped over the threshold and started walking towards her.

Louise trembled at his movement.

“Sched, I…”

She put strength in her neck, trying to keep her trembling voice as calm as possible, but she couldn’t utter the next words at all.

Even though she was prepared, she was afraid of what he would say.

But then, his large body leaned towards her and pulled her into his strong arms.

His hot body temperature spread to her.

Louise froze in place, holding her breath.

He said nothing.

He just held Louise tightly.

As if trapped in eternity.

Louise’s heart pounded loudly.

His warmth was so tender, yet everything still felt uncertain and frightening.

At that moment, a heated, trembling voice reached her ears.

“Thank you for being alive….”

Those words shook Louise.

Could living be something to be thankful for?

The arduous eternal life felt like a curse, and she sometimes felt her life was more worthless than an insect’s.

No, rather, she always thought her life was a loss to the world.

Because her very existence was a sin.

But Sched thanked her for her life.

As if… she could keep on living.

As if telling her that her life had at least some value.

So, her heart ached and throbbed as if stabbed by a knife.

Louise pushed Sched away, who was holding her.

“…It was me. All the disasters that occurred in Ideana. Not father, but I….”

“Louise.”

Sched grabbed Louise again as she pushed him away.

Louise unintentionally raised her head at the heated voice calling her name.

Sched’s violet eyes were glistening with moisture.

His large hand gently enveloped her head and back.

“It’s not your fault.”

Sched clenched his jaw.

Louise’s eyes instantly turned hot and red.

No, to say it’s not my fault, the wrongs were too great.

So, she had been embracing guilt and whipping herself all along.

That it’s my fault.

That it’s my sin.

So I have to bear it all.

Otherwise, the victims of all those things would not be able to close their eyes in resentment.

However, Sched said it wasn’t her fault.

“No… I.”

“Louise.”

He gently caressed the cheek of Louise, who was driving herself to the edge.

He thought of the time Louise had to endure alone.

The contents of the experiment logs, so terrible that just reading them in words made bile rise in the throat.

The times that had been too cruel to her.

He couldn’t even imagine how heavy that pain must have been.

Not knowing that, he had…

“I’m sorry for leaving you alone.”

His whisper became a kiss, enveloping her.

At that moment, he felt the small body in Sched’s arms trembling.

Tears burst from her hot eyes.

She tried to hold back the flowing tears.

Contrary to her efforts, the tears did not stop.

She knew well that she could not be forgiven for all her sins with his single word.

She also knows she has no right to cry.

But she had longed for those words for a long time.

In fact, it was hard.

She was suffocatingly lonely.

She wanted to let it all out and scream.

That she’s in pain too.

That she wants to run away out of fear.

So, for someone to help her.