Chapter 51
Chapter 51
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter Title: Persephone - (2)
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Elise spent her time slumped in the pitch-black room.
She had no idea how much time had passed. With not even a sliver of light penetrating the lightproof chamber, the only measure she had was her hunger.
Of course, she hadn't touched the meals the maids had brought in. She didn't deserve to eat.
"I'm such an idiot..."
Elise buried her face in her knees.
"Really, beyond saving."
Her mind felt like it had been invaded by a massive beehive. The buzzing tinnitus scrambled her thoughts.
On one hand, Archbishop Balua's mocking voice echoed.
'It's because you acted so recklessly that your friends ended up dead. It's your original sin.'
Those words stabbed into her chest like a dagger. She wanted to deny it. She wanted to scream that it was a lie. But Elise couldn't.
Helena and Sophia were dead.
And if there was a cause, it was all because of her.
"Ah..."
A headache surged, and Elise rubbed her dry face. Her palms came away wet.
If only she hadn't done something so foolish. If she'd just done as the Archbishop ordered and lived like a docile doll. Then at least the people around her wouldn't have died.
'Priest Leo...'
She couldn't even guarantee Priest Leo's safety. According to Balua, Leo was currently in the interrogation room.
The interrogation room. Naturally, a facility designed to inflict pain. Even the man who had shown her a new path was suffering because of her mistake.
"I... didn't know my place."
Elise curled up her trembling body.
She loathed herself.
What kind of saintess was this? Far from a saintess, she was a witch who brought disaster wherever she went.
She even thought that biting her tongue and dying might be the only way to atone.
"I'm sorry, everyone... Really, I'm so sorry..."
Only her quiet sobs echoed softly in the darkness.
The crying soon turned into hollow laughter.
"Ha, haha..."
A twisted smile leaked from her lips. Self-loathing quickly turned to doubt.
"I... was never a saintess."
The blood, sweat, and tears she'd shed to become one. The prayers she'd scribbled until her fingers blistered, the nights spent studying theology, the pristine body she'd maintained through fasting.
All of it wasn't devotion to God—it was merely the process of preparing a well-honed sacrifice.
That was Elise's life. From the moment she was born, her body was destined for this moment of sacrifice. What difference was there from fattening livestock right before slaughter?
"It was all... meaningless."
Balua's model garden. A wind-up doll dancing within it. That was the true nature of Elise Aurora de Lua. She had never been qualified to think for herself, make choices, or love.
If her life was to end so futilely, destroying those around her and becoming a mere tool...
"I never should have... been born."
Just as she sobbed those self-mocking words—
—Clunk.
Something opened.
It wasn't a window. Or the door. And it wasn't mealtime.
Elise cautiously lifted her head. Though she couldn't be sure in the lightless room, it was the sound of the ceiling vent opening.
And then.
——Chirp chirp.
"...You."
The chirp of a bird.
A sound Elise knew well.
A lark. One that Elise had personally tamed with her holy power.
How had it found her without any holy power guiding it?
More importantly, a mere lark couldn't open the vent's hinges.
Sure enough—thud. Someone jumped into the room.
"..."
Faint breathing.
In the dark room, someone had come for Elise.
"Ah..."
The mystery resolved instantly. The presence before her was far too familiar.
She could tell from the breathing alone.
With a trembling voice, Elise spoke.
"Priest Leo..."
"Yes."
An immediate reply to her murmur.
A warm voice.
It was Priest Leo.
"...Sister, are you alright?"
The moment she heard that voice, Elise bit her lip until it bled.
What could she say to this man?
Should the foolish woman apologize for causing him trouble and atone with her death?
'...Atonement. Then is this the sacrament of confession?'
With that thought, the darkness surrounding Elise felt almost welcoming.
She couldn't see Leo's face in the dark, but it felt just like the partition in a confessional.
How strange.
And so.
With no partition or anything.
Elise opened her mouth as she always did.
"Priest Leo, I... was just a tool without even the value of living."
"..."
A brief silence flowed in the darkness.
He must despise her now. But she had to confess. Elise let out a hollow laugh and continued.
"Because of my mistake, Miss Helena and Miss Sophia died. You must have been captured and tortured too. So I'm... beyond saving."
Elise poured out her lament from there. Less a confession of sins and more like a scream.
After spilling everything, Elise bowed her head like a criminal awaiting judgment.
She even hoped he'd scold her.
But...
"...First, let me correct something."
Priest Leo spoke carefully, as if unperturbed.
"Miss Sophia and Helena are... alive."
"...What?"
"They both escaped unharmed. I can guarantee it."
At first, she thought it might be a white lie.
"I don't know what that old fool Balua spouted, but Helena escaped safely and went to request reinforcements. And Miss Sophia... well, as you know, she wouldn't die to mere knights."
There was no waver in Leo's voice.
He had never lied to Elise, not once.
Sophia and Helena were alive. Just that fact made Elise's heart race as if she'd been saved.
"Sister—no, Miss Elise."
Only then did Elise realize Leo had called her name for the first time.
Elise lifted her head. In the impenetrable darkness, only one silhouette filled her vision.
"Just now, you said you were beyond saving, a tool without the value of living."
The silhouette lowered itself carefully. To meet her eye level.
"A tool doesn't dream of rebellion on its own. A tool doesn't yearn for the sea or beg to save its friends. And above all, it doesn't scheme mischievous escapades."
"..."
"Over the past few months, Miss Elise, you've lived more defiantly than anyone. Skipping masses you hated, pranking the maids, boldly demanding gifts from me."
"...Uh."
Elise let out a small groan at the last part. Leo continued in a voice laced with amusement.
"There's no tool in the world that moves so freely. So Miss Elise, you're no tool."
"But my life... it's been decided from birth until now. To become a sacrifice... for the power..."
"Who decided that?"
"Huh?"
"Wasn't it that archbishop?"
It was irrefutable logic, so Elise nodded carefully.
"Don't mind what that man says. Before you're Elise Aurora de Lua, sister, you're just Elise."
"...E-lise."
"Do you remember what I said when you came to the confessional for the monthly evaluation?"
She couldn't forget.
'Every choice you make is right. It's not for me to decide—it's yours.'
"Every choice you make is right. Not decided by some archbishop."
Elise's shoulders trembled at those words.
"...Why do you do so much for me, Priest Leo?"
She asked reluctantly.
Leo extended his hand gently.
"Because Miss Elise is my first confessor, and... as far as I know, the one who requires the most care."
The tension drained from Elise's shoulders. It wasn't grand reassurance. But the straightforward acknowledgment felt more real.
Elise was still alive, Sophia and Helena were safe, and Leo was right there smiling.
"I... was such an idiot."
Instead of taking Leo's hand, Elise clutched his robe tightly. Then she rested her forehead briefly against his chest.
That was all.
It was enough.
"...You're so spoiled."
"It's all your fault, Priest Leo. You have to take responsibility."
She felt relieved deep down.
Thank goodness this man had been at the chapel she'd visited that day.
Just as Helena said, she was completely hooked on him.
"...Priest Leo."
"Yes."
"Do you have scissors or a dagger by any chance?"
"Of course. I'll free you right now."
In the darkness, Leo held out a glinting dagger.
Coincidentally, it was the very dagger Elise had gifted him recently in the coastal city of Bellus.
"Haha..."
How ridiculous the situation was.
In terms of getting a gift returned, it wasn't much different from the earrings she wore now.
Leo cut the ropes binding Elise's hands and feet. She then took the dagger from him.
"What are you going to do with that?"
"Make it easier to move."
What Elise currently wore was the crude clerical robe the maids had forced her into the day before.
Rip.
She tore it off.
Exposing her legs fully, just like before. Not stopping there, she sliced the top. Modified it to reveal her collarbone. Tore away the fabric around her chest and tightened the corset even more.
She could feel Leo visibly flustered by her antics.
She burst out laughing.
"Haha, Priest Leo. Why are you so flustered?"
"Ah, no... You're ruining such fine clothes... And a saintess candidate showing so much skin..."
"Saintess? I'm not a saintess anymore. I'm Elise. Not de Lua, not a candidate."
Elise was fairly confident in her figure. She'd meticulously groomed her appearance to perfect it.
From childhood, she'd noticed some parishioners at the cathedral glancing at her chest, so she'd been aware for a long time.
Exposing her body without restraint could be seen as an expression of her confidence.
Or perhaps a petty scheme to seduce the man before her.
"Don't worry. I won't show this side to anyone but you, Priest Leo."
A virtual confession.
Helena would have cheered if she were here.
"...Ahem. Sh-should we go?"
"No."
Elise gently took Leo's wrist.
"...Stay a little longer."
The reason was simple.
Leaving the dark room now would be a bit inconvenient.
Elise was glad for the darkness.
Her flushed face wouldn't be seen by the man before her.
"Priest Leo."
"Yes."
"Will you keep calling me Elise from now on?"
"Of course."
Elise rose with a faint smile.
"Let's go, Priest Leo."
She brushed back her disheveled hair and smiled.
"Time to skip out."
After all, Elise loved her rebellions.