For a whole day, without any particular signs, Clea continued to pray in the same place.

While Clea was praying, those watching her poured out different impressions.

“It’s really terrible. How shameless must she be to keep standing firm like that?”

“But isn’t it unexpected? I thought she’d collapse on the first day, yet she’s still holding on.”

“What are you saying about just one day?”

“By the way, His Highness the Crown Prince is nowhere to be seen. Surely, according to rumors, His Highness the Crown Prince deeply cherishes the young lady.”

“Huh, did you still believe that false rumor?”

Clea was dumbfounded by them, who were busy talking about her and Admund.

‘What does it matter to them that they’re so busy talking?’

Forcibly holding back the laughter that was about to burst out inside, she shifted her gaze.

Among the gazes directed at her, pure looks particularly caught her eye.

Feeling the children looking at her with sparkling eyes, she listened closely.

“Is she an angel? Or maybe a goddess?”

“I think she’s prettier than our sister.”

“Yeah. She’s really beautiful.”

Hearing those words, Clea thought.

‘Is this how I appear to the children’s eyes right now?’

Clea smiled, quite surprised yet pleased that she appeared like an angel to the children.

During her academy days, she had always heard sharp words like villainess or witch.

Now, she was hearing words like angel and goddess.

‘Isn’t it funny, Aria? That I’m now hearing the words you’ve always heard.’

Just as she was deep in thought, Hayden appeared beside her.

Approaching Clea’s side, Hayden asked with a worried look.

“Are you still alright?”

“You talked about fairness, but is it okay for you to appear by my side like this so often?”

“What difference does it make if I appear?”

“Well. You might be able to alleviate my boredom.”

Among the most troublesome things about sitting still for days on end alone was boredom.

Of course, Clea had no time to be bored.

It was enough to entertain herself just by listening to each story that the people gathered around her were telling.

But still, she was only listening.

Since she wasn’t engaging in conversation, Hayden appeared when she was about to get bored.

Every time Hayden appeared, people would say this.

That he had appeared to advise her to give up by now.

But the reality was different.

“You’re doing penance without sufficient meals or sleep.”

“It’s the path I’ve chosen. And I think I’ve had enough sleep from the beginning.”

“How is that sleep? You were just unconscious.”

Hayden furrowed his brow, but conversely, Clea raised the corners of her mouth.

Thinking she was taking his words as a joke, Hayden wanted to lecture her about valuing her life, but her words came first.

“You’re worried about me.”

“It’s only natural for a person to have a heart that worries about others.”

“Then do those over there not even possess that which is natural?”

Hayden also knew who she was pointing to.

Hayden briefly looked at the people surrounding her from a distance.

The first to catch his eye were those glaring at Clea.

When they met Hayden’s gaze, they put on bright expressions as if lying.

Witnessing this gap with his own eyes, Hayden found it difficult to understand.

What wrong had Clea done to them that they would come to a place like this just to hate her?

As Hayden’s eyes were narrowing, Clea spoke.

“I’ve thought about it a few times. For instance, whether the darkness within me has caused others to hate me.”

“You mean ‘that’ caused hatred?”

“Actually, there weren’t people who liked me, but there weren’t people who disliked me this much either. Until the darkness settled in here.”

When the curse mark suddenly appeared, Clea wasn’t that shaken.

In living day by day, she finally thought that God had informed her that it was time to leave this world.

So she didn’t care much even when the reactions around her changed.

As she was just waiting for the day to leave this world as it was, she had no particular attachments.

But after meeting Admund, and then through Aria’s suspicious behavior, Clea’s thoughts changed.

“Hayden probably already knows who planted the darkness inside me.”

“I don’t know who planted it, but I do know someone who has something similar to the young lady.”

“Was that person loved unlike me?”

“From what I can see, yes.”

Loved.

Despite having something so dark, people didn’t dislike her.

As a district head and also a priest, Hayden couldn’t understand at all.

That there were so many people who loved her despite clearly possessing darkness.

“What do you think if she kept the ability to be loved for herself, and instead only planted the darkness in me?”

Keeping the ability to be loved intact while passing only the curse penalty to another.

He wondered if she committed such a selfish act after becoming human, but Clea was already certain.

“The worst. Is there any need for more words than that?”

“I guess so. It would be the worst.”

What if she were the culprit who cast the curse? How would everyone react upon learning the vicious thoughts behind her smiling face?

If the perpetrator imitated the victim while framing the victim as the perpetrator? What would everyone think when they realized her actions?

She looked at her own hands, which were starting to freeze faster due to the pouring rain, and smiled bitterly.

Her heart continued to beat, but her body gradually lost warmth and kept getting colder.

Seeing Clea looking somewhat precarious, Hayden reached out his hand.

He wanted to share even a little of his warmth with her who was struggling.

But before that, Clea’s voice was heard.

“What are you doing here?”

Clea was speaking with a voice colder than her physical body while looking at the other person.

Hayden followed her gaze and examined the other person’s face.

And his expression also sharpened.

“Aria Hersher.”

“I came here in person to see you.”

In contrast to Clea’s cold voice, Aria spoke brightly, even with a smile.

After observing for a moment, Hayden first asked Aria.

“No one except authorized personnel is allowed to enter here, how did you get in?”

“When I said I wanted to meet Clea, they let me in.”

At Aria’s words, Hayden felt like he had been hit on the head.

Since she had personally visited a few times to deliver donations to the temple, quite a number of people did know her face.

Still, it was now during penance.

Unless one was a supplicant, it was almost impossible for anyone who wasn’t a priest to enter here.

“Who let you in?”

Hayden asked next. Who on earth had arbitrarily let her in, he wondered.

“The other district heads said it was okay to go inside.”

“Haha, is that so.”

Other district heads.

At those words, Hayden laughed.

He almost wanted to praise their attitude of not discriminating means to win since they had made a bet.

‘The reasons for a purge have increased.’

If Hayden had been outside, he would have absolutely prevented her from entering.

It was too obvious how people would react to having the victim and perpetrator in the same space.

Clea was here now to repent.

Just by the involved party coming in person, excitement had settled in people’s gazes.

Hayden was looking at Aria with meaningful eyes. Aria smiled at Hayden’s gaze and said.

“If you try to throw me out now, how do you think people will view it?”

As Aria said, Hayden knew he couldn’t drive her out from this place now.

If he chased her away from here, it could lead to another controversy.

Especially here, whatever conversation they had could be heard by others if not done quietly.

Therefore, the situation was favorable to her in a way.

But the reason Hayden looked at Aria was different.

‘So it was true.’

It was as Clea had said.

The dark things that had been noticeably visible around her before had completely disappeared as if it were a lie.

In fact, it wasn’t right to say they had disappeared.

Right next to her, what was related to that darkness that had been felt from her before was still palpable.

Meanwhile, Aria slowly approached Clea.

Clea was quietly watching her approach.

As the distance grew closer, Aria’s smile only deepened.

In contrast, Clea’s expression froze coldly.

The moment Aria stood right in front of Clea, she leaned towards the praying Clea and said.

“You said you were curious about why I came here, right?”

Clea didn’t answer, but Aria didn’t bother waiting for her words.

“I came here in person because I heard you were repenting for something related to me.”

“So, what do you want?”

It was a straightforward question.

Clea didn’t want to talk to her at length.

It was clear that talking more here would only turn into gossip for people.

On the other hand, Aria’s expression frowned. Without even making small talk, asking directly what she wanted, Clea was being impudent.

But soon after, she smiled again and said.

“Promise to give up everything and leave the capital forever. Then I’ll accept your apology.”

Leave the capital forever.

At those words whose true intentions were too obvious, Clea almost laughed without realizing it.

Though expressed indirectly, Clea knew what it meant.

‘She’s telling me to separate from Admund.’