Chapter 79: I want to stay

Aldric only had time to raise his hand.

BOOM!

His body was sent flying straight into the wall behind him, cracking the stone as blood immediately burst from his mouth.

Rhea did not stop.

The greatsword swept horizontally, but the blade was not aimed at Aldric. Instead, it came down directly on the center of the Magic Array.

BOOM!

One of the array nodes shattered.

The second strike followed immediately, and the ring of runes on the left side went dark.

By the time the third strike came down, Aldric had already charged forward.

"Fireball!"

Flames erupted.

Rhea angled her greatsword.

BOOM!

The Fireball exploded directly against the surface of the blade, but she only moved half a step backward. Before the smoke had even dispersed, Rhea had already passed through it and kicked Aldric straight in the stomach.

His body folded forward.

The hilt of the greatsword immediately slammed down onto his shoulder.

Crack!

The sound of bone breaking rang out clearly.

Aldric dropped to one knee.

The tip of the greatsword immediately stopped beside his throat.

The entire chapel fell silent.

One of Rhea’s subordinates hurriedly stepped forward.

"Judicator."

Rhea did not take her eyes off Aldric.

She only needed to push the blade a few centimeters farther, and his head would separate from his neck.

In her previous life, Rhea had looked forward to this moment more than once.

But she also remembered one thing far too clearly.

Whenever Aldric was pushed to the edge of death before his Fate had weakened enough, the world always found some way to save him.

An unexpected inheritance would appear.

A powerful expert would happen to pass by.

A secret realm would suddenly open.

Or some absurd disaster would fall upon someone else and create an opportunity for him to escape.

Driving Aldric into a corner too early might not kill him.

On the contrary, it could very well cause that Fate protecting him to retaliate even more violently.

’Not yet.’

Rhea slowly withdrew her sword.

Aldric looked up, obvious surprise appearing in his eyes.

Rhea looked at him.

"Don’t misunderstand. I’m not sparing you."

The moment she finished speaking, another kick slammed directly into his chest.

Aldric was sent flying backward again.

"I simply don’t want to kill you today."

Kiyome immediately threw a crystal onto the ground.

Rhea turned her head.

"Back!"

White light erupted.

By the time it disappeared, both Kiyome and Aldric were gone.

One of Rhea’s subordinates immediately moved to pursue them, but Rhea raised a hand to stop him.

"No need."

"But..."

"The transmission route has already been severed. They prepared an escape route in advance."

She looked at the place where Kiyome had vanished, then turned toward the others.

"Seal off the entire western district. Inspect every trace of the ritual. No one is allowed to erase anything without permission."

"Yes!"

Only then did she turn back toward Lathel.

He was still standing near the wall, but the writing board in his hand had been shattered by a stray magical fragment when Rhea destroyed the array, while his pen had fallen somewhere unknown.

Rhea walked toward him.

The soles of her boots stepped through the layer of dirt on the floor, causing one of her subordinates behind her to unconsciously glance downward.

They all knew how much Rhea hated filth.

Normally, if the hem of her robe merely brushed against a table that had not been properly cleaned, she would immediately move somewhere else.

But now, she did not stop at all.

Rhea walked up to Lathel and knelt on one knee, allowing the white hem of her robe to touch the floor covered in ash and dried blood.

The three subordinates behind her all fell silent.

Even Elias looked at her.

Rhea ignored them.

She took Lathel’s wrist through her glove and checked his pulse, then slowly shifted her gaze to his neck.

The five bruised finger marks had faded, but they were still clearly visible.

Rhea frowned.

"Aldric didn’t do this."

Lathel paused slightly.

Rhea lowered her gaze toward his ankle.

The marks left by the chain were still there.

Her expression gradually turned colder.

But before she could ask anything else, hurried footsteps sounded outside the corridor.

Black Rose.

Rhea turned her head.

Catrina appeared at the chapel entrance.

From the moment she stepped inside, she did not care where Aldric had gone or ask how Kiyome had escaped.

Her gaze stopped only on Lathel.

He was alive.

That alone finally allowed the breath she had been holding during the final stretch of the journey to escape her chest.

But the relief lasted only a few seconds before Catrina noticed that Rhea was kneeling directly in front of him.

One hand was still holding Lathel’s wrist to check his pulse, while the knee of her white robe was already covered in dust and a streak of blood that Rhea herself did not seem to notice.

Catrina immediately walked forward.

"Lathel."

He looked up.

Catrina’s gaze quickly swept over his entire body.

There were no fatal injuries, but the bruises she herself had left around his neck had not disappeared yet.

There were still chain marks around his ankle.

And his clothes now bore several additional burn marks from the ritual.

Her hand slowly tightened.

Catrina had just started forward again when Rhea stood up.

She did not deliberately block Lathel.

At least, it did not look that way.

But her position happened to place her directly between the two of them.

Catrina looked at her.

"Move."

Rhea did not.

"I’m examining him."

"I’ll do it myself."

Rhea looked at Catrina for several seconds before slowly lowering her gaze toward Lathel’s neck.

"You?"

Only one word.

But Catrina immediately understood what Rhea was thinking.

Her expression turned cold.

"What happens between Lathel and me has nothing to do with you."

"It does."

Rhea answered immediately.

"I said it doesn’t."

"And I said it does."

The atmosphere changed instantly.

The members of Black Rose behind Catrina all placed their hands on their sword hilts, while the Judicators accompanying Rhea silently shifted their positions.

Elias stood between the two groups, looking left, then right.

After several seconds of thought, he quietly stepped aside.

A young Judicator looked at him.

"Where are you going?"

Elias lowered his voice.

"I don’t think standing in the middle is a good idea."

The young man thought about it, then also took half a step back.

Rhea paid no attention to them.

She continued staring directly at Catrina.

"I just destroyed a ritual meant to extract Fate from his body. If I had arrived even a little later, the consequences would no longer have been this simple."

Rhea’s gaze fell once more on the bruises around Lathel’s neck.

"Then I discovered that these injuries were already there."

Catrina remained silent.

Rhea asked directly:

"You did this?"

No one answered.

But Catrina’s silence was enough.

Rhea’s gaze instantly turned completely cold.

"And the chain marks?"

Catrina still said nothing.

One of the Black Rose members behind her unconsciously lowered her head.

Rhea saw that reaction and understood.

She looked at Lathel once, then back at Catrina.

"I remember you once said you would take care of him."

Catrina immediately raised her head.

"What right do you have to bring that up?"

Rhea was not provoked in the slightest.

"I don’t care whether I have the right. I only care about the result."

She gestured lightly toward Lathel’s neck.

"Strangled."

Then her gaze shifted toward his ankle.

"Chained."

Finally, Rhea looked toward the destroyed Magic Array.

"He leaves your residence for less than a day and gets lured into a forbidden ritual."

She tilted her head slightly.

"Catrina, exactly how are you taking care of him?"

The mana around Catrina immediately fluctuated.

The members of Black Rose behind her tensed almost simultaneously.

Rhea remained where she was.

She had seen Catrina angry before.

She also knew how terrifyingly powerful the woman in front of her was.

But none of that made her change even a single word.

Catrina stepped forward.

"You don’t know what happened."

"Correct."

Rhea admitted it immediately.

"I don’t know about your curse."

Catrina froze.

"I also don’t know what you’ve endured. But Lathel has no obligation to pay the price for it."

The mana around Catrina suddenly stopped.

Her hand remained clenched, but she could not refute those words.

Rhea continued:

"You say you love him, want to protect him, and want to take care of him. Then at the very least, don’t become the person he has to fear."

Catrina unconsciously looked at Lathel.

He was not looking at her.

That one small detail made her chest hurt more than any accusation could have.

"I know."

Her voice softened.

Rhea paused slightly, perhaps not expecting Catrina to admit it so quickly.

"I know I was wrong." Catrina looked at her own hand and spoke in a low voice. "I don’t need you to remind me."

"Then fix it."

Catrina immediately looked up.

Rhea remained as calm as before.

"Knowing you were wrong means nothing if you do the same thing again next time."

Catrina gritted her teeth.

"You..."

Lathel suddenly raised his hand.

Both women looked at him.

His board was broken and his pen was gone, so he could only use sign language.

Stop.

Rhea looked at his hand movements and nodded.

"All right."

Catrina froze.

Rhea truly stopped speaking.

She did not add another word.

She did not insist on finishing what she wanted to say simply because she believed she was right.

Lathel wanted her to stop.

So she stopped.

It was something so simple that it almost did not seem worth thinking about.

Yet Catrina had once been unable to do it.

She looked at Rhea, then at Lathel.

A strange, unpleasant feeling slowly appeared in her heart.

Rhea turned toward him and asked:

"Do you want to go with her?"

Catrina’s entire body immediately stiffened.

The members of Black Rose behind her also fell completely silent.

Rhea did not look at Catrina at all.

The question was entirely for Lathel.

He looked at the masked woman in front of him.

Catrina desperately wanted to speak.

She wanted to tell him to come back.

She wanted to say that the estate was still his home and that she would never do something like that again.

But every word became trapped in her throat when she remembered the note Lathel had left behind.

[I simply can’t continue staying somewhere I don’t have the right to decide whether I can leave.]

If she demanded that he return now, then how would she be any different from before?

Catrina took a deep breath and forced herself to remain silent.

Lathel looked at her for a very long time before using sign language.

I want to stay at the Academy.

Rhea watched his hand movements.

"Understood."

Catrina slowly closed her eyes.

Her nails dug deep into her palms, but this time she gave no order.

She did not call Black Rose to keep him there.

Nor did she step forward and drag Lathel back.

When she opened her eyes again, she only asked:

"You want to stay here?"

Lathel nodded.

Catrina remained silent for several seconds.

"...All right."

Only one word.

But saying it was much harder than she had imagined.

She looked at Rhea.

"I won’t take him back."

Rhea showed no sign of victory.

She only nodded calmly.

"Good."

Catrina: "..."

For some reason, that single word made her want to hit someone much more than before.