Chapter 20

I lightly touched Calix’s cheeks and said.

“Calix······. You’re going to catch a cold at this rate. Let’s go back to the city for now. Okay?”

I was worried about him. He was soaking wet from head to toe, it was early spring, and the night air was chilly.

Moreover, Calix doesn’t look so well. I don’t want him to break down more than he currently is. I looked up at him eagerly. Then Calix nodded and stood up.

I looked around our surroundings while I was in his arms—a serene beach with stars pouring down from the night sky.

It was a beautiful place where there seemed to be no particular danger. However, by nature, no one knows where those creatures would suddenly pop out.

“Calix, be careful.”

Calix quietly blinked, implying that he understood. He seemed relatively calm, so I was a little relieved.

We don’t know how long the evil spirit’s attacks will last or to what extent it will be·····. But first, we need to go back to the city and make sure that Letty, Alice, and the Osborne father and son were safe, and then······.

‘I’ll have to talk to you.’

I shouldn’t run away any longer. It’s not right to leave him behind when he’s already this ruined.

We definitely must have misunderstood each other.

Sia’s appearance, the oracle’s descendance, and the story’s rightful development where they got married to each other. I thought it was irreversible; that’s why I was here. I thought that no matter what I do, no matter how hard I try, it will never change. It will be impossible to alter.

Long before, just like I couldn’t save Calix’s parents, I thought that the wheel of fate would always go back to its rightful place.

However······ It changed.

Though it didn’t change altogether,

But what has changed is Calix’s heart and the turn of events of the original story where he fell in love with Sia and ends up being together.

I gently gazed at Calix’s blue eyes.

‘At that time, I saw you kissing Sia.’

Why didn’t you marry her?

Did the oracle come down?

What’s the current situation in the Imperial City?

I was cooped up in this outskirts, I didn’t know anything.

I had lots of questions. I wonder how had he been for the past seven years, or if the people of the Ecree Marquis were safe, and what’s happened all these years.

And somehow······ How did you become like this?

Calix’s condition looks extremely terrible. It makes me deeply scared and anxious.

‘Calix, you’re not sick, are you?’

I couldn’t bring myself to ask and could only gaze at him. As I continuously stare at him, Calix smiled faintly.

It was a heartbreaking smile.

“Laure·····.”

He softly called my name. His blue eyes contained immeasurable words.

“Laure, I missed you.”

“·····.”

My throat choked up, and I couldn’t answer as my eyes grew hot.

“Don’t abandon me anymore.”

Hearing his quiet but desperately begging voice, my heart sank.

Calix lowered his head and kissed me on the forehead. I stroked his cheek with trembling hands.

It was the moment when he was about to lower his head a little more, and when our lips were about to meet.

Screech-

From somewhere, I heard something like the sound of iron scraping the floor.

Calix stiffened and abruptly stopped, then quickly became alert and drew out his sword.

Screech-!

The sound gradually became clearer and more apparent. I turned my head in the direction of the sound. As I nervously kept my gaze at the place, a dark fog suddenly crawled over the floor like a snake.

‘It’ stopped in front of us. Then it slowly rose into the air, and soon it took on a complete form.

At a glance, there seems to be a human figure in the midst of it, and it’s bulging red eyes were wide open. I gasped for breath. Long vertical pupils, blood-red iris, and blue-gray eyeballs······.

It was undoubtedly a dangerous, high-level superior kind of evil spirit.

“Laure. Make sure not to get separated from me. Hold on tight.”

Calix’s arm that was holding me tightened. The very next moment, the black arm of the evil spirit reached out towards us.

The evil spirits, which do not have a specific form, usually were influenced by its surroundings, and it always changes its appearance continuously. Sometimes in response to people’s malice, and sometimes to despair, it will shape like a person’s nightmare.

However, we couldn’t know where did the evil spirit attacking us at the moment reacted to and why it looked that way.

The shape of its limbs was excessively long compared to its upper body. Then one arm split into several pieces, creating dozens of hands.

It was like a form that responded to someone’s greed.

Swish-!

The evil spirit’s hand passed right by us. The greedy hand continued to reach.

Calix simply dodged them and narrowed the distance with it. Even though he was holding me with one of his arms, he still moves at an astonishing speed, closing the distance with his sword.

Blow!

Screeeeech!

As Calix’s sword pierced the eyes of the monster, it screamed and retreated. The evil spirit staggered in agony and soon scattered away and disappeared.

Only then did I remember that Calix’s sword was a ‘holy artifact.’

A keepsake from a saint. It was said that it was embedded with the sacred power that has the capability to defeat the devil. To be exact, the magic formula engraved on the sword’s blade was a holy relic.

“Calix, are you all right?”

I asked anxiously as his complexion doesn’t look good. Calix nodded and replied.

“We have to get out of here immediately.”

It was when he’d already run for about ten steps with me in his arms.

We haven’t even left the coast yet, but dozens of superior monsters like the one before unceremoniously came out and surrounded us.

It’s a very imminent situation. My heart thumped with fear. I wondered if there was anything I could do.

But all I had was a magic ring that could simply make a person faint. ······If I’d known it would be like this, I would have made a lot of offense magic tools.

However, it was quite unexpected that such a group of evil spirits suddenly attacked. It was also a very unnatural phenomenon.

The demons slowly approached us. It was the moment when Calix held me tightly in his arms and raised his sword.

Whoosh-!

An immense light suddenly flashed from all directions. As if several stage lights were lit at the same time.

The dazzling light devoured the evil spirits all at once and then quickly dissipated them in a flash. It only took a blink of an eye—such tremendous power.

“This······.”

Disconcerted, I wettened my chapped lips. This force was, no doubt, divine energy. And this capacity will certainly not come from just any ordinary priest,

‘Don’t tell me······!’

“Oh, thank God!”

It’s the cheerful voice of a woman. My heart dropped as soon as I heard it.

“What a relief! You’re safe!”

She appeared with black hair that flutters gently like silk and a smiling eyes and lips through the gradually fading light.

“Calix!”

Calling his name, Sia’s eyes glistened as if looking at her beloved lover.

‘Why is Sia here?’

My heart beats anxiously.

Sia’s appearance was as unexpected as the attack struck by the evil spirits. The presence of the divine lady was very priceless. So unless it’s a special case, she won’t be just recklessly moving around.

But to be here, coming all the way to the Jura Peninsula, which is also called the edge of the world?

‘Perhaps is it because of Calix······?’

Is he a special person, enough to violate the rules of the temple·····? As I was restlessly thinking to myself, Sia strode and approached our way.

“I was so worried, Calix. I’m so glad you’re okay.”

Sia smiled as she sweetly looked at Calix. Her smile and the way she looks at Calix makes my heart feel sore.

For seven years, they must have gotten a lot closer. The moments I don’t know how Calix was doing······ Sia must have spent it with him.

As I was about to feel endless melancholy, I suddenly heard Calix’s chilly voice.

“Why are you here?”

My eyes opened wide in surprise. Then I lifted my head and looked at Calix; he looked genuinely displeased.

“Of course, I came here to save Calix······ In fact, a few days ago, I received a revelation. This city is going to be in danger. God, Phoenix told me.”

At Sia’s words, Calix ridiculously laughed as if what the woman had just said was too preposterous.

“What a great coincidence. Of all places, to what extent is there a possibility that this region is where the monster attack will be, specifically this city.”

“That’s what I thought so too. I was anxious. Because I knew that Calix was going to visit this city.”

“I remembered I’ve told you to stop monitoring my movements.”

All of a sudden, Calix growled at Sia. I winced at his sharp reaction and the word ‘monitoring.’

As if noticing my inner reaction and agitation, Calix paused and embraced me tightly. As if to reassure me.

“Monitoring? I’m just worried about Calix.”

When Sia spoke in a voice as if she was treated unfairly, Calix gritted his teeth and replied.

“In case you don’t have it in yours, in this world, we also call that ‘stalking.’”

“Oh my, what do you mean, stalking? That was a very stern expression. Can’t you just think of it as my interest and affection for Calix?”

“Ha······. You haven’t changed at all in seven years.”

Calix annoyedly swept his hair, and Sia just giggled as she watches him. She looked as if she didn’t care about his reaction at all.

“Anyway, I’m happy that you’re okay. I was concerned that something wrong might happen to Calix. I was so anxiously worried.”

“I don’t need your concern.”

I watched them silently and asked questions in my heart. It was as clear as day that Sia has feelings for Calix, but he seemed to be······.

‘Loathing her so much to the extent that it seemed a bit excessive······?’

“Please, I’d like you to stop involving yourself in my life.”

The other person is the divine lady. Is it okay for him to talk to her like that?

I was concerned that Calix might get caught in a conflict with the temple. But at the same time, my heart pounded at the coldness of his reaction to Sia.

Calix seemed to dislike Sia genuinely. It was very unexpected, but frankly, I was happy.

‘Then seven years ago, what was the scene I saw in the Imperial Palace’s garden?’

I bemusedly gazed at Calix. He was growling while glaring at Sia.

He looked like a beast that warns it’s opponent not to come any closer.

Sia, on the other hand, was smiling leisurely like a weasel.

She seemed to have the confidence of reversing whatever Calix feels and thinks about me.

My heart felt stuffy for some reason due to her attitude. What do you call this feeling? Irritation······?

That’s right, I was somewhat irritated at her. That smile she displays towards Calix and that gaze, I didn’t like it one bit.

‘······As expected, Laure Ecree must have been a villainess.’

I swallowed a sigh in my mind. Even though I’ve only seen Sia for a short while now, I was already terribly jealous.

If I go further from here, I will come to hate her. But is there a possibility that it was also the same for Sia? Does she hate me, too?

I glanced at Sia. She was only looking at Calix without giving me the slightest attention.

‘······She’s been completely ignoring me for a while now.’

What do you think of me? A sack of barley?

Though it would be the most appropriate words to use to infer to me. A sack of barley because I couldn’t help Calix at all and be just being heavy baggage to him.

As I get depressed and lowered my head down, I heard Calix’s shrill voice.