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“Obelus is once again driving you into death under the pretext of a mission. Am I wrong?”
“That’s what I had to do.”
It was an answer full of strength, but she couldn’t hide her shaky eyes.
“You said it was your will to return time? Let’s be honest It must have been the will of Obelus, not you.”
The Darkness dug deep into her chest as if it were a pity.
“Who will compensate for your broken mind and body? For your lost time? Will anything change when you get another chance? No, you’re just repeating the same path over and over again.”
Aina couldn’t answer anything.
“Aina, I’m the only one who can understand you.”
The Darkness whispered to Aina, who was staring blankly at him. The emotion reflected in the shiny self was pity.
“I’m the only one who knows you’re back in time. Isn’t it?”
As the Darkness says.
Aina got a chance to turn back time and live her life once again.
This was a gift from God to her who sacrificed and saved the world.
But no one recognized her effort. It was natural.
Because this is the will of Obelus. Because God made the world that way.
Neither Cassis, whom she loved, nor the divine creatures recognized her.
Even Dillian, who was once an enemy, did not recognize Aina.
It was Aina, she alone who remembered everything .
“You are not alone.”
It was the Darkness that recognized Aina’s loneliness. The Darkness knew at once that she had returned.
Because he did not believe in God, he could escape from God’s will. Ironically.
“Release it.”
“… If I let it go, what’re you going to do next?”
“For me, I’m going to destroy this world created by Obelus. And making it new again.”
A world where everyone is equal.
“A world in which neither you, nor me, nor anyone is left behind.”
The Darkness words were full of contradictions.
Everyone is equal? Eating humans and increasing their power?
Nonsense. There is no such thing as sophistry.
However, Aina put her hand in her pocket after contemplating. The key was in the hand that came out slowly.
When Aina put the key in the hole, as the Darkness thought she would do that, his purple eyes bent.
Click.
Squeak- With a creepy sound, and the excited Darkness hurried her as the door opened.
“Aina. Hurry up.”
“Shut up. I haven’t decided what to do yet.”
Aina went inside and took out holy relics then embedded in Darkness one by one.
The only way to restrain the formless Darkness was to nail down the holy relics to limit his movements.
“Yes, Aina. well thought out.”
When the last restraint was released, the Darkness, which wriggled heavily, tried to convince Aina in the end.
“Aina, think carefully about what I say. Is the mission of a Saintess really for you?”
“… Get out through the underground waterway. Because all the divine creatures are gathered up there.”
“I’ll come pick you up when the time is right.”
The Darkness whispering in Aina’s ear quickly disappeared.
Aina sighed heavily at the sight.
“I don’t know if I’m doing a good job….”
Aina rummaged through her pockets, pulled out a crystal ball, and stared at it.
Even though the underground door opened and footsteps could be heard, her attention was focused exclusively on the crystal ball.
“So the Shadow has fled.”
“Aaron-nim.”
Aina raised her head at the bright light she felt above her head.
Aaron was not surprised to see the empty prison and Aina sitting in it.
“Did the plan succeed?”
“Yes. I guess he didn’t notice.”
“That’s a relief.”
“I think he thought I would be shaken. If I do well, we might be able to go all the way without getting caught.”
After confirming that the red dot inside the crystal ball was flashing and working properly, Aina handed it over to Aaron.
Aina remembered Kanae who approached her when Ria was talking to Aaron.
‘This is an item sent by His Grace.’
‘What is this?’
‘It’s a location tracker I made. Just plant this in the Darkness body.’
‘Location tracker?’
‘If this is successful, we will be able to find the location of the Darkness. Well then, I wish you good luck.’
Aina implanted a tracker in the process of unraveling the Darkness.
The excited Darkness didn’t even notice that Aina was acting as well as setting up a tracker.
“I hope my choice is not wrong.”
“Aina’s choice is not wrong. I’m sure, it will definitely lead us to victory.”
“That would be nice.”
After all, there was no information that could be obtained by holding on to it.
In that case, it was far more rational to pretend to let it go and find out where the Darkness was hiding.
And all of this was Dillian’s plan.
“I never imagined that the duke would help us.”
“Since Ria-nim is involved, even His Grace couldn’t have stayed still.”
Aina nodded her head. It’s definitely different back then.
Small things gathered little by little, changing the present.
“Aina, I don’t know what the Darkness has said, but you must not be shaken by it.”
“Aaron-nim, don’t worry. I believe in Him*.”
*Obelus
The Darkness said that this suffering would never be compensated.
Yes, if she accomplishes her mission, her whole body will break. It may all feel like a futile effort.
However, Aina had a different idea.
“I am well compensated.”
Although the Saintess’s duties remained the same, God sent a guardian angel named Ria as promised.
Someone who understands her and cares for her.
She met Ria, she met Aaron, she also met Cassis.
She met a relationship she thought she would never see again, how can this be called a sacrifice?
That alone was sufficient compensation.
Aina grabbed Aaron’s extended hand and stood up.
“Please recruit the knights. I will follow you as soon as we are ready.”
***
“Miss, then I will go in first.”
“You worked hard, miss Kanae.”
After Kanae, who returned to her main job as soon as my escort was over, I headed to the greenhouse.
It was to plant the world’s candle grass as soon as possible.
As if he wasn’t very interested in the seedlings, Nathan went back to his room first.
Either way, my mind was focused solely on planting the world’s candle.
Squatting in the right place, I started digging the ground.
Sera stamped her foot because of the soiled dress, but I didn’t care.
I covered the soil so that the roots were not visible and gave it all the water before I was able to straighten my back.
“Sera, listen up, huh!”
Startled by the hard chest in front of me, I unintentionally took a step back.
“I was surprised.”
Holding my chest in my pounding heart, I looked at Dillian and sighed.
“When did you come?”
“I have been with miss Ria since the moment you came home.”
Really? I didn’t know? When I slowly rolled my eyes and asked Sera, she nodded cautiously.
“Is it that good? Miss Ria can’t even see me, who was waiting for you?”
Obviously, Dillian’s mouth was smiling, but the eyes were unusual.
At his bitter smile, I unconsciously blocked the front of the flower.
“Why, why are you looking at me with those eyes?”
“What’s wrong with my eyes?”
What’s wrong? It was the eyes that wanted to break the stems while pulling the world’s candle grass and set them on fire.
“An intense eye that hurts me so much…?”
But I couldn’t tell the truth. Because it seemed like he would really make it that way if I ever got my thoughts out of my mouth.
“My eyes looking at miss Ria are always hot.”
Dillian, who casually brought out the embarrassing words, asked with a glance at the world’s candle plant.
“So, what is that great thing that you can’t even see and pass by me?”
There was a thorn in the words.
It seems like he was expecting a picture of me coming back after going out to immediately meet him, but it was clear that his inside was twisted when I just passed by.
“It’s the world’s candle that Aaron-nim gave me. It’s hard to find, but he gladly gave it to me as a gift.”
I said calmly, suppressing my excitement because I was afraid Dillian would get jealous if I showed that I liked it too much.
But for some reason, Dillian’s smile grew even deeper.
“It must be precious.”
“Sure. It is a very difficult species to raise, but Aaron-nim raised it well.”
“Hmm.”
“It’s vulnerable to stress, so even the slightest mistake will kill it, not just one, but he gave me more than ten.”
The longer the words, the more the feeling of seeing the greenhouse of the Great Temple at that time was revived.
In the end, it was a time when I forgot the situation and talked about the conversation I had with Aaron as if I was proud of it.
“I guess you two got very close in the meantime. You call his names in a friendly way and receive gifts. Right?”
“No, not that much… a little?”
I secretly avoided Dillian’s eyes which were burning with jealousy.
‘I’m in trouble. I touched his nerves.’
I, who couldn’t stay still and shifted my gaze, immediately made a decision.
“Argh! My stomach hurts so much! I will go in first!”
In an instant, I quickly escaped from the greenhouse.
‘For now, run away!’
But my plan was shattered in less than a minute.
My body bounced like a spring in the hand that grabbed my shoulder.
Dillian, who thought my gesture was an escape, wrapped his arms around my waist.
“Are you crazy? What are you going to do when people see it!”
I leaned back and backed away from Dillian.
“Don’t cheat.”
I paused as I pushed the face of Dillian approaching to me more and more. What did I hear?
“… Pardon?”
“We’re definitely engaged, but you’re calling out the name of an outsider with such a happy face in front of me.”
“What are you talking about!”
When other people hear it, they would get it wrong!
As I screamed, Dillian raised his voice as well.
“The high priest is over 200 years old. He was already a grandfather when I was this big.”
“No, who doesn’t know that! I know it well!”
“I’m afraid that you will think that he is in his mid-twenties just by looking at his face.”
Maybe he was really worried that I might fall for it, there was a slight jealousy in Dillian’s eyes.