“My Lord! My Lord, I beg of you! Don't take it away!” His voice no longer sounded human, resembling the wail of some animal with its throat stepped on.
“The Lady Saintess said she can purify it! Let her purify it! Let her save us! I beg of you!”
Clement looked down at him, his eyes filled only with weariness toward troublesome things. He raised his foot and kicked Harvey away as if kicking a bag of obstructive clutter.
“Get lost.”
Harvey lay sprawled on the ground, trembling all over. His forehead pressed against the cold stone slab, his fingers clawing grooves into the floor. He turned his head and looked toward Lovene.
The face that had been full of malice and harshness moments ago now held nothing but terror.
“Lady Saintess...”
Crawling on the ground, he dragged himself two steps toward Lovene.
“Lady Saintess, save us. I was wrong... I shouldn't have gotten in your way, I shouldn't have insulted you... Please... save us...”
His forehead thudded against the ground, once, twice, each impact making a dull sound. Not just him, but the villagers who had joined Harvey in obstructing Lovene earlier couldn't help but fall to their knees as well.
At this sight, Clement let out a cold snort.
In his eyes, these people didn't actually realize they were wrong; they just knew they were about to die. He had seen too many of their kind, and they were simply not worth saving.
But Lovene looked at them and remained silent for two seconds.
Then, she walked over.
Supported by Mia, she tottered over to Harvey. Gathering the hem of her holy robe, she slowly squatted down and reached her hand out to him.
Sprawled on the ground, Harvey froze.
“Rise. I have never disliked you, nor have I ever said I would abandon you. Besides, you did nothing wrong. It is this world that is in the wrong.”
“Therefore, you do not need to beg me for anything. I was always going to save you. This is the duty of the Saintess.”
As she spoke, her body swayed slightly, like a white flower battered by wind and rain. Yet in Harvey's eyes, she looked just like the angels sent by the gods to save the world in ancient legends.
Holy, elegant, perfect...
Inexplicably, a deep sense of inferiority washed over him. Looking at the young girl's outstretched hand, he did not take it. Instead, pushing himself up from the filthy ground, he scrambled to his feet in embarrassment.
Someone like him was unworthy of touching an angel.
His baseness and his darkness were a blasphemy simply by existing in the presence of an angel.
“I'm sorry, I'm sorry...”
Guilt sprouted wildly in the depths of his heart. Harvey wept tremulously, starting to regret everything he had done.
He truly couldn't understand why his past self had distrusted the Lady Saintess and chosen to hurt her, when she had been trying to save their village from the very beginning.
...Despicable. He, Harvey, was a despicable wretch.
While he was consumed by regret and self-reproach, Lovene pulled back her hand. She took a step forward, standing between Harvey and Clement.
Her figure was slender, yet she was like a safe harbor, offering the villagers an infinite sense of security.
“They are all good people.” She bowed slightly to Clement, her voice soft but filled with an indescribable firmness. “So, please give me one more day...”
Clement's brow furrowed.
“Good people?”
He muttered, then shrugged indifferently.
“If they were truly good, you wouldn't have ended up in this state. Besides, they are merely resources for the church. As the Saintess of the church, shouldn't you uphold such a view?”
The Church of the Morning Light was not one that saved all living beings.
However, Lovene did not think that way.
“No, that is not what the title of Saintess means.”
She lifted her head and looked straight into Clement's eyes, a light flickering in her golden pupils.
“Relieving the world's suffering—that is what a Saintess should do. Every Saintess of past generations was like this, and I will be no exception. For them, I can sacrifice everything.”
Clement stared at her, a complex expression flitting across his face.
“You are still willing to give them a chance?”
“I am.”
Hearing Lovene's unhesitating response, Clement fell silent. Meanwhile, Mia gripped the hilt of the longsword at her waist, seemingly prepared to strike.
Her stance interrupted Clement's contemplation.
“Attacking me would be apostasy, Lady Saintess. Please do not make things difficult for me.”
“I am sorry,” Lovene said, shaking her head. “This is the only way I can think of.”
The cellar fell into absolute silence; even the breathing of the crowd could be heard. Everyone's eyes were fixed on Clement, whose eyes gradually narrowed.
Time ticked away in this eerie silence, second by second. Finally, he let out a sigh.
“Fine, I can give you one more day.”
Lovene's eyes lit up.
“Really?”
“Of course. But you have to do me a favor.”
“What kind of favor?”
Clement glanced at her pale face, then averted his gaze, looking at the half-purified stone heart on the altar.
“I will tell you later. For now, please focus on purifying this stone heart.”
He picked up the black magic box that had been knocked to the ground and walked straight through the crowd toward the cellar exit, while Lovene walked toward the altar step by step.
Arriving at the altar, she knelt before it and held her wrist over the stone heart.
Blood dripped down.
One drop, then another.
Slowly.
As Clement passed by Harvey, he stopped, swept a glance at the self-reproachful young man, and said coldly:
“You should thank the Saintess. If not for her, you would already be a dead man.”
Harvey bit his lip and hung his head, unable to say a single word.
In the end, Clement's figure disappeared into the cellar entrance, his footsteps swallowed by the darkness.
Silence returned to the cellar.
Lovene's body swayed, and Mia quickly supported her.
“Your Highness...”
“I am fine.” Lovene offered a faint smile, her face deathly pale. “Let us continue. It is not over yet.”
Harvey watched this scene silently, saying nothing.
He couldn't describe the emotions in his heart; he only knew that he had never regretted anything so much in his life, so much so that he even wanted to die.
But he couldn't die.
The reason he was still alive was because the Saintess before him had fought desperately for it. If he died, it would be a heavy blow to her—not to mention, she wouldn't let him die either.
Therefore, he had to live, to live and repay her kindness.
Lovene knelt before the altar, continuing to drip her blood to purify it, while Mia stood guard by her side, keeping watch over the surroundings. This time, Harvey and many of the villagers did not leave.
They kept them company in silence, their faces filled with guilt and gratitude.
Finally, at dawn, the stone heart let out one last low hum and fell completely silent. Its color turned from grayish-white to a normal grayish-black, its cracks no longer emitting black mist, nor did it beat anymore.
The invisible lifelines snapped one by one.
The purification was complete.
Rate on N.U.
