In an instant, Ivy grabbed me by the hair.

“Let go of me!”

I tried to resist, but Ivy’s rough movements threw me back onto the floor.

My whole body already ached, and now an indescribable, searing pain shot through my back where I had hit the ground.

It hurt so badly tears welled up without my realizing.

Still, I didn’t want to show Ivy any weakness, so I squeezed my eyes shut and gritted my teeth to endure it.

At that moment, Ivy climbed onto my stomach, breathing heavily.

“Watch your mouth. Witch? I’m the Grand Holy Maiden.”

Ivy’s eyes twisted savagely.

Her weight pressing down on me made every inch of my body scream in pain, yet I opened my eyes and stared straight back at her.

“You stole my power to claim that position. You’re not the real Grand Holy Maiden.”

“No! I am the real one! Everything that was yours was always meant to be mine!”

I let out a hollow laugh.

“How can you possibly think my healing power belongs to you? Are you seriously that delusional?”

“What?”

I stared at Ivy with icy contempt, as if she were some repulsive insect.

“You’re a witch. A fraudulent witch who stole what was mine and deceived everyone.”

“…….”

“That elegant dress you’re wearing, that luxurious necklace, those expensive earrings—they were all meant for me. You just took them.”

I wasn’t sure whether it was the word “witch” or “fraud” that triggered her, but Ivy fell for my deliberate provocation instantly.

Her lips curled downward unnaturally, and black veins began to crawl up into the whites of her eyes.

It was a horrifying, grotesque sight.

“Damn you, Latieana. You stupid, filthy bitch! I’m done being nice.”

It wasn’t easy staring at Ivy’s face as it twisted into something nauseating.

But I, too, had no intention of being lenient with her anymore.

Regardless of whether I came to the temple or not, Ivy didn’t belong here.

Last time I was caught off guard—but not today.

I didn’t struggle to free my captured arm. Instead, I kept my gaze locked on Ivy.

Her eyes had turned entirely black, the whites completely gone, and from beneath the bodice of her dress, black mist began to seep upward.

“Ivy, are you sure you can handle this?”

“What?”

“If you kill me now, everyone will find out what you’ve done. What will you tell the people inside the temple?”

“…….”

“Will you tell them you brought your ‘beloved like family, deeply worried about’ friend here just to steal her power and murder her? What about Crown Prince Killian, who brought me here? Will you say, ‘Oh, I brought her, but then I killed her’?”

She hadn’t thought that far—my words made Ivy’s eyes widen in panic.

But only for a moment. Then she looked down at me like I was some pitiful stray animal abandoned on the roadside.

“What nonsense are you spouting, Latieana?”

Pfft. Ivy burst into mocking laughter, her lips curling up cruelly.

“Do you really think Killian even cares about you?”

“What?”

“You’re nothing here. No one gives a damn about your existence. I only brought you because you’re my friend and I asked for you. Who do you think you are, that you deserve attention? Whether you live or die, no one will care.”

Heh heh heh. As she spoke, Ivy kept grinding her teeth together, laughing with smug satisfaction.

It was such an unnerving, grotesque laugh.

“So no matter how you die here, Killian won’t blame me. He’ll only think the friend of the Grand Holy Maiden he brought here has died—and that I’m grieving because of it.”

“…….”

“He cherishes me deeply, you know.”

“…….”

She wasn’t wrong. That’s exactly how it was.

—Forget what isn’t important.

In the original story, when I was discovered as a mummy, Killian had said exactly that.

In a temple where Holy Maiden candidates kept dying one after another, the death of one insignificant person meant nothing.

Killian had never cared about anyone except Ivy.

Ivy laughed as if she had already claimed victory—as if she had already stolen everything from me.

After mocking me for a while, she parted her glossy pink lips.

“In the end, you’re nothing. Just an orphan girl who could die right now and no one would bat an eye. You and I are different. We’ve always been different, and we’ll live completely different lives from now on.”

Ivy grabbed my arm.

“You exist only to be used by me until you die. Once I take your power completely today, I’ll become the real one.”

The black mist that had risen from her chest had already crept down her arm and reached my fingertips.

At this rate, just like last time, Ivy would drain my power and turn me into a mummy. But.

“Fine. Take it.”

I let all the tension leave my body.

“What?”

My unexpected reaction made Ivy freeze completely.

“I said, take it.”

I smiled even wider at her.

“But if I die now, you’ll lose that Grand Holy Maiden position very soon.”

Ivy flinched and released my arm.

“What are you talking about?”

That was my cue. I shoved her weakened body away and stood up.

“My healing power is completely drained right now.”

I grinned at Ivy’s deeply scowling face.

Of course, I was lying.

My condition right now was perfect. If Ivy absorbed all my power now, she’d become the flawless Grand Holy Maiden just like in the original story.

That absolutely couldn’t happen—and I needed to buy time. Maximus was still in the temple.

I had to stall even a little, find an opening, escape, and ask Maximus for help.

“You can’t recover your healing power on your own, right? That’s why you’ve kept absorbing mine, isn’t it?”

“…….”

I was just guessing—but judging by Ivy’s reaction, I’d hit the mark.

In the original story, Latieana was said to have become a mummy while healing knight after knight without time to recover—but that wasn’t true.

Before coming to the temple, Ivy had waited until Latieana fully recovered, then drained her power completely.

“Don’t lie to me! Where did you use that healing power…!”

Ivy’s mouth snapped shut mid-sentence.

“Don’t tell me… you used it on Prince Edan?”

“Why wouldn’t I? You, a fake, are thriving just fine using my power.”

“You insane…! Latieana!”

Ivy collapsed right where she stood, screaming my name and clutching her head.

It was almost satisfying to watch her flustered. Only the person who actually possessed the healing power could gauge how much remained—and since Ivy wasn’t me, she couldn’t know for sure. She might disbelieve me and drain my power anyway—but if I was telling the truth, she wouldn’t obtain perfect healing power.

“Damn it, damn it, damn it!”

Mentioning Edan added credibility to my lie. Everyone knew Edan needed healing power more than anyone else.

“So that’s why… that’s why that day… Damn it! That’s why Prince Edan…!”

Muttering to herself, Ivy’s face flushed red and purple as she panted heavily.

She looked like she might leap at me again any second, unable to contain her rage.

I quickly stood and stepped several paces away from her.

“Latieana. You… I’ll kill you.”

That was when—

Bang. The door flew open, and Killian appeared.

“Grand—”

Killian, accompanied by a servant, strode into the room without hesitation—then frowned.

He seemed momentarily stunned, taking in the scene: Ivy crouched pathetically clutching her head, and me with my hair wildly disheveled.

When the door suddenly opened, I had instinctively looked toward Killian—but now I quickly turned my head back to Ivy.

By then, Ivy had already returned to her normal appearance.

The black mist that had surrounded her, the black veins crawling along her arms, the eyes that had turned completely black—all of it had vanished without a trace.

“K-Killian!”

Dressed in her white gown, Ivy gazed at Killian with a pitiful expression.

Then, she rose weakly from the floor and walked toward him.

“What’s going on here?”

Killian’s gaze fixed on me.

From appearances alone, it looked as if Ivy had been horribly mistreated—and I was the culprit.

“I didn’t do anything.”

The black hair I’d seen at the mansion was now neatly combed back past my forehead.

Though that altered my image slightly, there was no doubt—Killian was indeed the one who had knocked me out and brought me here.

“Grand Holy Maiden, you explain.”

Ignoring my words completely, Killian asked Ivy gently.

“Ah, it’s nothing. I was just… feeling a little hurt.”

Ivy had become an entirely different person from when we were alone.

She hunched her slender shoulders and wiped her dry eyes with the back of her hand, pretending to have been crying.

“It seems Latieana didn’t really want to see me.”

“…….”

At that, Killian’s gaze turned back to me.

“She said she wanted to leave the temple… So I felt a little hurt, that’s all.”

I never said that! What disgustingly good acting!

“You want to leave the temple?”

Killian repeated Ivy’s words slowly, then nodded to his servant.

At his signal, the servant stepped forward and handed me a sheet of paper. As I stared at it in confusion, Killian spoke.

“Sign it.”

It was an ordinary white sheet, with a few short sentences written on it.

Sign it?

I looked down at the paper with growing suspicion.

Killian, impatient, jerked his chin at the servant again.

The servant immediately forced the paper and pen into my hands.

“Read it. If someone qualified enough to become a Holy Maiden candidate has entered the temple, they must fulfill their duties.”

Reluctantly, I unfolded the paper.

It was a pledge: as a Holy Maiden candidate, I swore to abide by temple laws and devote myself fully to healing the Empire’s gifted individuals.

They wanted me to sign this…? Am I insane? If I sign this, I’ll never be able to leave the temple again.

Legally, I’d become property of the temple.

“No.”