/
“Then, don’t tell me, everything that just happened….”
“Yeah, everything would have been delivered.”
Crap. Ria, who was swearing inwardly, closed her eyes tightly.
I came to a safe place to escape the Darkness, I didn’t know my location would be discovered so quickly.
‘Why can’t I live quietly!’
Ria clenched her teeth.
“Ria-nim, do you know why the Darkness eats people with divine power?”
“Isn’t that because he likes divine power?”
Didn’t he eat that because it was delicious?
Aaron slowly shook his head at Ria’s answer.
“There is no way an evil being would like divine power. The Darkness likes people with negative emotions.”
Someone with a heart to despise, a heart to hate, and a heart to feel anxious.
“These negative emotions are the driving force of the Darkness and his best meal.”
I see. Come to think of it, that’s right.
How could a being with such a filthy and ferocious energy like divine power?
“… Divine power is in the way.”
“Yes, because the Darkness is ‘evil’. We must be like thorns.”
Maybe that’s why the damage in the great temple was greater than in other places.
Aaron couldn’t hide his devastation as he remembered the family he had lost in the past two months.
It was fortunate that Ria, who was in a relatively safe place, came to the capital safely.
When Aaron was relieved to see Ria in good health, she had other thoughts.
Like thorns, huh? Sure we are. Those with divine power can damage the Darkness.
“He is a smart guy. He releases his clones and moves around with it, stopping the priests before they can use their divine powers.”
Aaron sighed sadly, remembering the priests who had left.
“Is that why you search for me? Because it is a threat, you want me to be aware of it in advance?”
“No, Ria-nim seems different from us, who are considered prey or targets of removal.”
They don’t know what it is, but Ria is special.
“What do you mean it’s different? No. It is clear that he also recognized me as food.”
“If he just simply wanted to eat, Ria-nim wouldn’t be here right now.”
Ludo’s eyes flashed fiercely at the rude remark. It was the same with Sera and Kira.
“I was at risk too. If it wasn’t for sir Dillian….”
“Ria-nim, all those who have come into contact with the darkness have died so far.”
Ria swallowed her breath at the unexpected information.
“… What?”
“Ria-nim is the first. The one who is still alive.”
Aaron’s straight eyes looked at Ria.
“That’s why I came to see Ria-nim even though I was rude. Because you are the only exception in this whole situation.”
It has been two months since the Darkness appeared.
In the meantime, the Imperial family and the great temple all have dug countless traps to catch the Darkness, but the Darkness escaped like a loach.
This was due to the use of the host planted with fragments to steal information.
Meanwhile, Ria appeared.
“Ria-nim is a person who came back alive from the Darkness. And at the same time, was the first person the Darkness missed.”
So far, none of the people cathed by the darkness have survived.
Luckily, there were people who survived and handed over the information, but they died within a day.
“You said that you survived because His Grace saved you, but if the Darkness had wanted it, he would have swallowed Ria-nim right on the spot.”
By those words, Ria remembered. The gaze that kept staring at her.
If he wanted to eat, or if the purpose was to get rid of her, shouldn’t he have appeared before Dillian’s present?
“I think there must be a reason for keeping Ria-nim alive. And to achieve his purpose, wouldn’t he be hanging around Ria-nim.”
“Perhaps, did he know that I was here and parasitized the knights?”
Even though I was so defensive, the Darkness still crept in. If so, it means that Dillian’s side is no longer safe.
‘If even Sinaize isn’t safe, where should I go?’
Aaron shook his head at Ria’s bewildered question.
“I don’t think he planted it knowing Ria-nim was here.”
“Are you sure?”
Aaron confirmed Nathan’s question.
“The fragments in the knight’s body are already big. As you can see, it was about the size of a bone.”
The parasite that the Darkness planted on a person’s body usually began in the size of a thumb.
That small thing sucks the life of the host and grows in size, and when the body becomes the size of a bone, it finally takes control of the nerves.
It takes about half a week to fully share sight and hearing.
And it’s been a week since Ria set foot in the duke’s mansion.
As Aaron said, it was not planted to keep an eye on her.
“Rather than planned, it would be better to think that it was discovered by chance.”
Silence descended upon the heavy story. Ria chewed her lips like a habit.
‘Where the hell did it come from?’
Ria’s head was complicated by the appearance of an unknown enemy, which she had never seen in the original.
“High Priest, do you know the exact identity of the Darkness?”
“It is a curse known to be the most dangerous and evil in the history of the Empire.”
“I see….”
That’s why he grew up eating negative emotions. Ria nodded her head with a rather dull face.
“You are not surprised.”
“I was thinking that the energy of the Darkness was similar to a curse.”
Maybe I was preparing my heart without realizing it.
Because that ominous energy was quite different from the ordinary monsters.
“The curse has never been awakened in many years, but it seems that someone has recently broken its seal.”
“That crazy man….”
Ria, who had unintentionally spit out cursing, immediately bowed her head. How dare she curse in front of the Holy High Priest.
“Sor, I am sorry.”
“No. On the contrary, it feels refreshing.”
Fortunately, the kind-hearted Aaron smiled and reassured Ria that it was okay for her to curse more.
Nathan, who was quietly listening to the story, called Aaron as if it knew something.
“If the curse has been lifted, there will probably be someone who has lifted it. It is most likely in the form of a contract.”
“Yes, and we are looking for that contractor.”
I didn’t know that if we could find that person, we would also be able to meet the Darkness at once.
“Ria-nim, I am sorry for asking you this, but could you help me?”
Aaron bowed his head deeply toward Ria.
“What the, please get up now!”
Ria, who got up in surprise, stopped him, but Aaron stood firm.
Fabian’s eyes lit up when he saw his lord bowing his head to a mere commoner.
Ria sighed deeply at the sharp eyes that told her to answer quickly.
‘I know he disliked me from a while ago, but now he is doing it openly.’
Fabian’s sharp gaze seemed to pierce my cheeks.
“High Priest. I….”
Ria’s eyes were disturbed as she looked at the crown of the noblest and most sacred person.
***
‘Please give me time to think.’
Aaron had no choice but to calmly retreat at the words Ria spit out after much consideration.
It wasn’t a definite answer, but Aaron was satisfied enough.
She is the one who disappeared and escaped for the past year. Of course, it was a very pleasant answer for Aaron, who naturally thought she would reject him firmly.
Aaron could not easily calm his excitement at the meeting, which was more enjoyable than expected.
Fabian said he couldn’t understand the blooming flowers.
“Aaron-nim. Why did you bow your head to such a person?”
“Fabian.”
Aaron scolded Fabian for his profane words, but he was too thrilled and did not understand the warning.
“I cannot understand. Why is it that woman? Wasn’t it a Saintess who should be prioritized?”
It had to be Aina, not anyone else, who the High Priest had to meet.
He has to rescue her from the imperial family as soon as possible, but the person the High Priest finds is a commoner.
It was also the hostess-to-be of Sinaize, who despised the temple.
As a person who had always looked down on Dillian, there was no way Ria could look good for him.
Even when the High Priest, whom he admired the most, came out in a low-key manner, his hostility soared as time passed.
“Fabian. I know you have a personal acquaintance with the Saintess, but keep it private.”
Despite Harris’s warning, Fabian didn’t stop.
“The priority is the Saintess. It is a Saintess who appeared after a hundred years. But what the hell is that woman pushing the Saintess away….”
“Light.”
It was the first time. Aaron cut off the other person’s words.
Fabian couldn’t hide his surprise at the unfamiliar sight.
“Ria is the light. Fabian.”
The one and only light born with an enormous mission that cannot be compared to oneself or a Saintess.
Aaron recalled Ria, who was treating the knight.
A golden butterfly hovering around her. The bustling nature.
‘A child loved by God.’
Before he met Ria, Aaron believed that he was the one who received the most love from God.
But he wasn’t.
A constantly circulating divine power. The overwhelming difference in power. Brilliant and vivid colors he has never seen before.
Ah, that’s what light is.
At the first intense emotion he felt, Aaron gently pressed his pounding heart.
It was the first time he felt awe.
“Fabian. As you said, the Saintess is the main character of the oracle that appeared for the first time in 100 years. However, Ria-nim is also the owner of the oracle.”
“What? You mean there was another oracle?”
He knew she was an unusual person, but he couldn’t expect she was also the owner of the oracle.
“A long time ago, there was an oracle that came down from the ancestors of the ancestors.”
[At the end part of Rohaim, in the cursed land shall light be born]
[When evil devours the world, it will appear through the darkness and save you]
“She will lead us into the light.”
The only person in this world who can remove the Darkness is Ria.