Chapter 134: Betrayal and Reunion
Sue watched Jean fly away for a while, then looked away.
It was over. A temporary ceasefire.
Yuna, climbing down from the debris, immediately went to find Reeves. And she punched him hard in the face. Reeves collapsed to the ground without resisting. Yuna glared down at him coldly.
“What? Fulfill my duty as Knights Captain? I don’t want to hear that from you.”
She turned and walked away, probably to Melaine.
‘Right… There was still Melaine.’
Sue stepped out of Acrea’s arms and carefully crossed the debris.
“Byron, where are you going?”
Acrea asked, and Sue turned to him.
“To Lady Melaine. I don’t think the soldiers will be able to bring her back.”
“It’s dangerous, let’s go together.”
Acrea followed her immediately.
Melaine was huddled at the bottom of the chapel, trembling. As Sue had expected, the soldiers who had come to get her looked troubled.
“Meli!”
Melaine finally looked up when Yuna called her name.
“Sister, Sister…”
“Meli, are you okay?”
Yuna embraced her.
But Yuna felt a strange sense of dissonance. Melaine looked surprisingly fine, considering she had jumped from the third floor of the mansion barefoot.
“Lady Melaine!”
But she quickly forgot about Melaine’s condition, seeing Sue and Acrea following her, and Melaine’s anxious expression.
“High Priest… I… I…”
She was still in shock, unable to accept that the high priest had abandoned her. She clutched her head, her dry eyes streaming with tears, or perhaps blood.
“Meli, please, look at me. It’s your sister, Yuna.”
Yuna pleaded, cupping her face. Melaine looked at her. It was the same trustworthy sister she had always loved.
Melaine asked weakly,
“Sister… Is the high priest gone?”
“Yes, but I’m here, aren’t I?”
But Melaine, as if she hadn’t heard her, buried her face in her knees again.
“I really have no value now…”
“What?”
“I’m… useless now. No one, nothing needs me anymore…”
“…You’re not worthless, Lady Melaine.”
“Byron?”
Sue, who had been silently observing her, finally spoke. She hadn’t wanted to say anything. There was nothing to be gained from getting involved in this situation.
Honestly, Sue didn’t understand Melaine. How could she have fallen this far, just because of a broken engagement?
She had no value other than helping her sister.
But whenever she had heard Melaine say those words, a strange feeling had stirred in Sue’s chest.
Frustration.
“This might sound strange, but… You looked much happier when you were active in the Holy Demon Religion than when you were with me and Lady Enzhe… I know, it’s mostly because of the brainwashing. But still, the joy you felt while helping others, while talking to them, wasn’t fake… Probably.”
Her wavering gaze, her hesitant voice, it was so Sue-like.
Sue had observed Saint Melaine since she had started going to the Holy Demon Religion chapel. Melaine was still a woman who didn’t fit the word “Saint.” She was the second worst human being, after Enzhe and Sue. She was always preaching about knowing one’s place, but no one was as arrogant as her.
But she had looked genuinely happy when she was helping people as the Saint of the Holy Demon Religion. Even when the sick, dirty, smelly people clung to her, calling her “Saint,” Melaine never showed any disgust and cared for them kindly.
To think she had to be brainwashed to do good deeds.
“…Well, it’s good to live a kind life. If that’s what makes you happy.”
Sue chuckled bitterly and poked the ground with her toe.
“Right, it is good to live a happy life.”
Reeves, rubbing his red cheek, came down. Melaine, regaining her senses, flinched and trembled. Yuna glared at him furiously.
“Don’t be mad, I have to do my job.”
He ignored her and approached Melaine, meeting her gaze. Melaine’s face paled even further as their eyes met. Yuna was about to stop him when…
“Ah, there really is something in her. Yes, it’s a curse. I see. It was so faint that I thought Woo was lying. I don’t understand it, though.”
Yuna stopped. She stared at him silently for a moment, then spoke, her voice a sigh,
“…Can you cure her?”
“Well… I recommend taking her to the Grand Temple. I think Lady Melaine would be uncomfortable if I treated her.”
“Meli…”
Yuna bit her lip, her face filled with worry. Melaine grabbed Reeves’s sleeve.
“Master Reeves, please answer me one thing.”
“Yes, what is it?”
Reeves asked gently. Melaine hesitated for a moment, then slowly spoke,
“Why did you break off our engagement?”
She didn’t want to hear him say that Yuna wouldn’t be happy if she married him. But if he said it again, she was going to ask him why.
“Why? Because Lady Melaine is too young.”
“J-just because of that…?”
Melaine stared at him, dumbfounded.
Reeves smiled. He placed his index finger on her forehead. He was going to put her to sleep with magic.
“Get some rest, and think carefully about it, Meli. About what would truly make Yuna happy.”
“Ah, that’s what I wanted to…”
The Melaine Vava rescue and Holy Demon Religion destruction operation ended with Melaine Vava falling asleep.
***
Late at night, at the Acrea grand duke mansion.
Woo Acrea Ire’s second reception room.
“Byron, why were you there?”
“Ten came to the mansion in the middle of the night, saying that Lady Melaine was in danger…”
“Then the ideal course of action would have been to report it to the Vava family or the Acrea family first.”
“Ten was so distraught that I had no choice.”
“Where is… this maid of yours, Ten?”
“She’s currently resting at my townhouse.”
“What were you doing in the annex before we arrived?”
“The same as you, Master Acrea. I was looking for Lady Melaine.”
“Did you break down the door to the annex?”
“Of course not. It was already broken when I got there.”
“Did you see a man with a jade-colored ribbon?”
“Not at all.”
“Then… where did you get this Holy Demon Religion necklace?”
“My aunt gave it to me. It seems like there was a follower of the Holy Demon Religion in Patroclus, where my aunt lives. She said she received it from that follower.”
“…Okay, thank you for telling me. I believe you, Byron.”
***
Sue visited the Vava mansion after hearing that Melaine’s period of bed rest was over.
“Welcome, Sue.”
Melaine greeted her with a smile, but she looked haggard.
She had been receiving treatment at the Grand Temple for a long time. The formula of the brainwashing magic on Melaine was so complex that even skilled mages couldn’t break it. So they had sought help from a Saint to remove the toxins from her body, ignoring the formula.
Fortunately, the high priest’s disappearance had weakened the influence of the brainwashing. So even though she occasionally had delusions, her mind wasn’t as contaminated.
“I still miss the high priest.”
Melaine confessed weakly, her knees drawn to her chest as she sat on the bed.
“Haha, if it had been like usual, I would have just taken it out on someone. How did it come to this?”
It was almost a lament.
How did it come to this?
Sue knew the answer to the question that everyone was wondering about. Because Soran Halo was absent from her life. But she also knew that it wasn’t the fundamental answer.
“Sue, I didn’t know you were so worried about me that you rushed into the chapel.”
Melaine had heard from Woo Acrea about what had happened. That Sue, who had only ever agreed with her at the academy, had actually been the most worried about her.
“By the way… Lady Melaine, how did you get to the chapel?”
“Huh?”
Sue asked the question that had been bothering her.
“I heard you jumped out of your room on the third floor. You managed to avoid the gate guards?”
She hadn’t seemed badly injured when they had met at the chapel.
It was almost impossible for a normal noble lady to avoid the gate guards, even if Melaine was physically capable, unless she used magic. So Sue had asked if she had used any tricks, but Melaine’s reaction was lukewarm.
“How did I get to the chapel…? …Hmm… How did I…”
“?”
“I don’t remember. I was out of my mind back then. All I could think about was meeting the high priest, even if it meant risking my life.”
So she had been that desperate.
Sue understood her, knowing Melaine’s state of mind at the time. She had even defied Enzhe. The Melaine back then would have climbed over the city gates if she had to.
Sue nodded, and Melaine changed the subject,
“Sue, as a reward for rescuing me from hell, I’ll tell you something interesting.”
She closed her eyes slowly and smiled faintly. She rested her head on her knees and met Sue’s gaze.
“Do you know why the Vava and Acrea families tried to arrange a marriage?”