Chapter 191: Dragon's Eye, Human Heart (55)
Chapter 191: Dragon's Eye, Human Heart (55)
The temple’s concentrated healing room was deathly quiet.
It stood in stark contrast to the scene outside, where crowds had swarmed the temple gates. The silence was a testament to the sheer number of casualties resulting from the demonic beast assault.
It had been an ambush involving hundreds of demonic beasts. Including the civilians staying in the city, the scale of the damage was beyond imagination.
The mastermind behind this unprecedented invasion remained unknown.
The Academy professors maintained a heavy silence, as if they had heard something they couldn't share, but the crowds outside engaged in heated debates, each offering their own hypotheses.
Some claimed it was the culmination of the abnormal demonic beast sightings that had persisted since the last Hunting Festival.
Those with more courage whispered that the Imperial Household’s secret biological laboratories were to blame—claiming that beasts had escaped from such a facility due to some accident and attacked the Academy.
There were various other theories, but as long as there was no official announcement from the Academy, they were nothing more than empty arguments. There was simply too little information to form a plausible conclusion.
However, amidst the flood of eyewitness accounts, one particular story stood out.
It was about a certain man.
He had traversed the battlefield, saving countless students—and surprisingly, many of them were the very people who had once hated and tormented him.
Since most of the Academy had been complicit in his bullying, the impact of this rumor was even greater. Humans, by nature, tended to be captivated when someone revealed an unexpected side of themselves.
Yet, in total opposition to the clamor outside, the interior of the temple was sparsely populated. The only sound in the hallways was the hurried footsteps of priests.
Faced with a murderous workload that had descended all at once, the temple had temporarily banned visitors. They simply didn't have the manpower to manage guests while caring for the patients.
It was an unavoidable choice to reduce the burden, even by a small margin. No matter how much they pitied the people pacing anxiously outside the gates, the lives of the patients had to come first.
However, even for the temple, it was impossible to bar everyone. Occasionally, VIPs whose authority exceeded that of the Great Temple would visit.
The girl currently sitting in Ian’s sickroom was one such person.
Her dark blue hair, reminiscent of the night sky, flowed with a noble luster. Her pale gray eyes, ravaged by regret and worry, were clouded with a faint mist of tears.
Cien, the Fifth Princess of the Empire.
She, too, had been receiving treatment at the temple until moments ago. Fortunately, her injuries were minor, and she had been cleared for discharge quickly, but she had insisted on visiting Ian’s room one last time.
As she looked down at the pale face of the man, Cien’s heart was a tangled mess of emotions.
It’s because of me.
Because of her, this man lay unconscious, his face drained of all color. Of course, many others had fallen as well.
The head maid, the escort knights, and in a broader sense, every patient staying in this temple.
The Dark Cult had targeted Cien.
Today’s catastrophe had been carried out with that specific objective. Fortunately, she had heard there were few fatalities, but that did not erase Cien’s guilt.
Yet, even in her agony, she loathed her own fickle heart for feeling a secret sense of relief.
Because the person who matters most survived.
The man who had offered her pure kindness for the first time in her life, the man who had willingly shouldered infamy for the sake of everyone and overcome his trials, was now fast asleep.
Cien reached out a trembling hand to tentatively stroke Ian’s cheek, but she flinched at a voice that pierced the midnight silence.
“His internal organs have turned to mush due to an overdose of drugs, he has multiple fractures, and his internal bleeding is severe. It’s a miracle of mana that he was able to keep moving until the very end.”
The curtains of moonlight parted, and a silver-haired woman appeared.
Her rose-pink eyes were sunken and still. Her emotions were buried too deep to read, but Cien knew. The Saintess was in a foul mood. Very foul.
“No, in truth, it’s a miracle he’s even alive… He knows how to protect others, but he’s a fool who doesn't know how to look after himself.”
The Princess hung her head without a word.
Every word from the Saintess felt like a lash of reproach. Of course, the benevolent Saintess would never intend that, but Cien fidgeted with her fingers, feeling like a condemned criminal.
The Saintess didn't say anything more. She simply stood with her arms crossed, looking down at Ian with sorrowful eyes.
It took a long time before the Princess could squeeze out a voice.
“……Can he be fully cured?”
“I’ve sent requests to the Holy Kingdom and the Imperial Household. It’s impossible to treat him with divine power alone. He’s sustained too many fatal wounds over time…….”
The Saintess bit her lip as she spoke, her voice cracking slightly. It seemed she couldn't control her emotions otherwise.
It was behavior uncharacteristic of the Saintess, who always wore a warm smile, but in Cien’s world, only she and Ian remained.
The girl spoke hesitantly.
“I—I will speak to my father about Sir Ian, so……”
“You certainly should.”
The Princess gasped at the icy tone. It was a voice she hadn't heard in a very long time.
Her pale gray eyes, which had been staring blankly at the man, slowly turned toward the Saintess.
Standing there was a woman with a cold expression. The kind and gentle Saintess was gone; only those burning rose-pink eyes betrayed her hostility.
“And whose fault do you think this is?”
At those spat-out words, Cien’s gaze went blank.
It was such a blatant display of emotion. Even without using the 'Dragon’s Eye,' she could tell. The Saintess hated the Princess enough to kill her.
No, that can’t be.
Regardless of the circumstances, was she not the Saintess, the symbol of love and sacrifice?
Cien shook her head a few times in bewilderment, and when her pale gray eyes met the Saintess’s again, the hostility she had felt moments ago had vanished without a trace.
I must have imagined it, the Princess thought, exhaling a sigh of relief.
Nevertheless, the Saintess’s voice remained incredibly somber.
“……It is time for his treatment. Please leave now, Sister Cien.”
With that dismissal, Cien stepped out of the temple.
She felt miserable.
She had no idea how to apologize to Ian once he regained consciousness. No, would she even be forgiven?
She couldn't even tell where things had gone wrong. From beginning to end, hadn't she been nothing but a nuisance to him?
In fact, most of those instances had been schemes born of Cien’s own malice.
It was only natural that the shoulders of the usually proud Princess were slumped.
What snapped Cien out of her depression was the voice of a knight running toward her in a frenzy.
“Your Highness!”
Hearing that voice filled with emotion, the Princess shifted her gaze. There stood a knight she had sent away on a mission to another region this morning.
It was a relief, in a way. At least one less person had been caught in the tragedy.
As she followed that bittersweet train of thought, a memory snagged in her mind like a stumbling block.
Wait, come to think of it…….
What instructions did I give this morning?
Cien’s eyes suddenly lost their light.
“I—I am so glad you are safe. This is surely the grace of His Majesty the Emperor……!”
“……The merchant guild.”
As she uttered those two words, Cien’s pale gray pupils shook violently.
Her face turned deathly pale, and her entire body began to tremble. Her slender, twitching hands gripped the knight’s arms roughly.
“The—the merchant guild… the one Sir Ian’s younger sister is said to run! What happened to it?!”
Cien asked, praying desperately.
She hoped for an answer saying that something had gone wrong while the knight was on his way, or that the plan had been disrupted.
But the knight, oblivious, gave a loyal reply.
“Ah, that! I carried it out exactly as you ordered…….”
Staggering, the Princess stepped back. She looked precarious, as if she might collapse from vertigo at any moment.
The moment the knight took a panicked step forward, a thunderous scream erupted from the Princess’s mouth.
“Ca—cancel it immediately… right now! No matter what it takes!!”
The knight looked troubled by the sudden reversal of orders, but sensing that Cien’s state was far from normal, he bowed his head and began to sprint away.
But the Princess knew.
It was twice as hard to overturn a board that had already been set in motion.
In her anxiety, the Princess panted, her steps faltering. She could hear the people around her whispering, but she didn't care.
None of them combined were worth as much as that one person.
This can’t happen… it can’t…….
Despairing tears began to well up in Cien’s eyes.
Cien’s trial was not over yet.