Bang! There was a tremendous sound as if a rock had collided rather than a person.

Ivy’s body, bound by the blue light, trembled violently as if convulsing, and I turned away from her, furrowing my brow.

Soon after, bang! bang! bang! bang! The relentless sound of someone being struck down was heard.

Even without seeing, the scene was easily imaginable. Ivy being thrown around without even uttering a groan.

In the now-quiet garden, as the final thud was heard, I opened my tightly shut eyes.

The gazes of everyone, including Killian and the High Priest, were directed at Ivy. Especially the High Priest, who seemed the most shocked, had turned pale with his mouth agape, frozen in place.

It happened so quickly that no one could stop Edan. I too slowly turned my head towards Ivy, following the others.

“……!”

The once white dress was now torn to shreds and dyed crimson with blood, and Ivy lay unconscious on the ground in a terrible state. Her limp form on the ground looked as if every bone in her body had been shattered.

She, she looks dead…….

I looked at Edan. As if nothing had happened, he turned his gaze towards Killian with relaxed eyes and spoke.

“Let’s take her away for punishment. She’s still breathing.”

The situation that followed was instantaneous.

The fallen Ivy was bound by magical devices brought by the holy knights—.

“Lock her in the underground dungeon.”

As soon as Killian’s order was given, the holy knights picked up Ivy’s completely limp body like a rag doll.

Beneath the tattered dress stained with blood and pus, one shoeless leg was visible.

Her once snow-white thigh had turned into a dark, bruised skin.

And her soles, blackened with dirt, perhaps from struggling and crushing the grass. The lovely appearance Ivy had falsely created was gone without a trace.

Now Ivy was nothing more than a hideous witch.

Though she wouldn’t remember anything in her unconscious state, when she opens her eyes, she’ll be in a dark underground cell.

There was something I had heard while rummaging through Maxium and magic books in the castle.

About the underground dungeon where he had been briefly imprisoned.

A place so dark that you couldn’t even see your own hands, and so quiet that your ears would ring, he said. A torturous place where occasionally, when you hear the sound of an insect passing by, you get the illusion that something might suddenly jump out and attack you.

He said he was able to endure thanks to Edan secretly arranging for a temple maid to bring him supplies, but if it hadn’t been for that, it would have been truly unbearable.

Ivy will die in such an underground dungeon.

Alone, in a place where only darkness exists, lonely and miserable.

I think it’s a fitting end. But you should be grateful even for that, Ivy. Compared to what you’ve done to the other saint candidates and me, this is a merciful death.

“I hope you regret until your last breath, Ivy.”

I watched until Ivy disappeared behind the building.

“Oh my……”

The High Priest, who had been staring at Ivy like me from a distance, staggered backward and clutched his forehead.

His already pale face had turned even paler, as if under extreme stress.

Come to think of it, what should I do about this situation? Even I find it a bit overwhelming.

How did it come to this?

The holy knights of the temple, the knights of the imperial family, and even Edan’s subordinates from the North.

People who should never meet at this late hour have all gathered here.

As the knights who had been scattered trying to catch Ivy moved in an orderly fashion to find their places, I finally turned my head towards Edan.

“Can you see me now?”

Edan, who was already looking at me, naturally extended his hand as if beckoning me to come.

“Edan!”

“Yes. Come here.”

I quickly ran to him and grabbed his hand.

Until just now, I had been limping due to bruises, but with Edan in front of me, I don’t even feel the pain anymore.

Edan’s large hand gently caressed mine.

That warmth was so comforting and affectionate that if it weren’t for the people around, I would have wanted to hug him with all my might.

Sniffling to hold back the tears of sorrow that were welling up, I looked up at Edan.

Up close, I could see that his clothes were stained with much more monster blood than I had thought.

I carefully observed him from his forehead and eyebrows, revealed by his swept-back hair on one side, down to his nose bridge, cheeks, and chin.

Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be any wounds. But if he had used his ability, he must be suffering from the side effects.

In the situation where the wall had collapsed, Edan would have fought more passionately than anyone else.

Though he might look fine on the outside, he could be enduring excruciating pain inside.

“Are you alright?”

In response to my worried question, Edan slightly raised the corner of his mouth.

“Who’s worrying about whom now?”

“What about the wall? Was it resolved well? You didn’t just fight with your body, did you? Did you use your ability properly?”

“You saw earlier.”

“I mean besides what you did to Ivy, at the unbreakable wall. Did you fight properly against the monsters?”

“If I did well, will you praise me?”

Just praise? I’d do anything for you!

As I nodded vigorously, Edan lightly stroked my disheveled hair. Then suddenly, his hand stopped.

“What’s this?”

“What is it?”

“This.”

Edan gently rubbed the corner of my eye with his thumb.

It was the dried trace of tears that had instinctively fallen when I was under pressure from Killian’s ability.

Edan’s gentle voice lowered a bit.

“Did you cry?”

I did cry. I was really miserable. My body was covered in wounds, and even when I told the truth, no one easily believed me.

But I didn’t want to act hurt in front of someone who had gone through more hardship than me.

“A little. But it’s all fine now.”

I smiled brightly. However, Edan’s gaze sharpened.

“Lati.”

“Yes?”

“Stay still.”

Edan slowly lowered his gaze.

Slowly but surely, he examined my condition as if not to miss even the smallest problem. Edan’s eyes, which were scanning me meticulously, paused once on my reddened neck and once on my wrist.

Edan, who had been silently staring at my wrist with tightly closed lips, moved very close to me.

The crumpled sleeve that had only slightly revealed my wrist slowly rose, showing my bruised arm.

“You say you’re fine?”

I quickly lowered my clothes.

“This is from Ivy…… But it’s okay! You beat her up terribly in my place, didn’t you?”

To the point where her bones were shattered! Even though Edan didn’t know I had been hit, I think it’s enough.

“Are you joking? If I had known, I wouldn’t have let her faint so easily. I would have sliced her flesh piece by piece in her conscious state……”

Edan’s psychopathic tendencies, which I had momentarily forgotten about, surfaced. As I widened my eyes, Edan clicked his tongue as if he had made a mistake and finished his sentence.

“Anyway.”

With his gaze still on my arm, Edan furrowed his brows and spoke in a low voice, then his eyes moved up again.

His burning red eyes landed on my neck once more.

Edan carefully brushed my hair from my cheek to behind my ear.

As my hair was completely swept back, the marks left on my neck from Killian choking me were revealed. Edan’s expression darkened and his gaze became even colder than before.

“……It was my brother.”

He realized it was Killian without me saying anything.

I couldn’t check in a mirror, but if there were handprints left, they wouldn’t have been from Ivy.

Edan, who had been silently caressing the wound, clenched his jaw.

At that moment, Killian, who had been briefly talking with his knights to sort out the situation, returned to us.

Edan slowly turned his head to look at Killian.

“Since when have you become so ill-mannered?”

Standing close, Killian was just slightly taller than Edan.

Side by side like this, they had a subtly similar but distinctly different aura.

Killian, standing with his broad shoulders squared in his impeccable attire, stared at my neck where Edan’s hand was resting and spoke.

“Well, I wonder.”

A voice that wasn’t a denial, but showed no remorse either.

Killian smirked and continued.

“Well, let’s just say it was a mistake. By the way, not content with planting a rat, you dare to set foot in the temple so carelessly. I’ll have to punish you for that. And add the crime of cunningly hiding the real one.”

It’s true that Ivy had made things difficult for me all this time, but on the other hand, it was because Ivy was in the temple that I could be by Edan’s side. But now that Ivy is gone…….

‘I knew this would happen.’

That’s why I didn’t want to reveal Ivy’s true identity until I found a solution that didn’t involve going to the temple. My head is throbbing.

“Latieana Merigold, this is why Ivy had been looking for you all along.”

“……”

“I thought it was strange that she brought you to the temple where the saint candidates might die while claiming you were her precious family. But I never imagined there was such a secret.”

Killian looked at me sharply as if he might snatch me away at any moment.

With Edan beside me, that probably won’t happen, but the suffocating sensation of being caught in his ability earlier resurfaced, sending chills down my spine.

The very person who had banned entry to the temple, pushing Edan into agony. I instinctively felt that he was different from Hillstain and Dante, who had easily turned to my side until now.

Trying to avoid his gaze somehow, I turned my head, and just then, a large shadow covered my front.

“Lati, come behind me.”

It was Edan. He came in front of me, blocking the space between Killian and me. His broad and large back looked like an enormous shield. The best shield that would never break.

Without realizing it, a faint smile appeared on my face in relief.

“Ugh! Kuh!”

“Keuheok!”

Suddenly, groans of agony were heard from around us, and about a dozen of Killian’s knights standing nearby all fainted at once. Assessing the situation, Killian looked around and then shot a sharp glare at Edan.

“You……”

“Oh my, were those the subordinates you cherished, brother? The ones you always kept by your side?”

Killian’s face twisted terrifyingly.

“Edan Dietrich!”

“Yes.”

Edan, who had calmly answered, put his hands in his pockets in a slouched posture and continued.

“Don’t be too angry. It was a mistake on my part too. I can’t strangle your neck, can I, brother?”