Chapter 214 – Sword and Poison (4)

Chapter 214 – Sword and Poison (4)

“Are you awake?”

Ivy opened her eyes upon hearing the voice. She was startled to see Dismas looking down at her, but she soon wrapped her arms around her head due to a terrible headache. Ivy had a feeling that she saw something important in her dream, but she couldn’t remember anything now that she was awake.

Dismas held out a glass of water in front of Ivy when she quietly groaned.

Ivy hesitated for a moment, but took the glass to her mouth. Upon glancing around at her surroundings, Ivy saw walls made of red granite and countless symbols representing the emperor built outside the window.

There was only one place like this throughout the entire empire. It was Cabragh, the capital city of the West. To be exact, Ivy was in the Red Citadel, the base of the Order of Surtr.

“I know that you’re worried. But you are safe here, Saintess. I promise you that there is nothing to worry about,” Dismas said.

Ivy bit her lips. I a hostage?”

“Hostage? No way. How could I dare to treat the Saintess as a hostage? All I did was rescue you. I apologize for taking advantage of your good intentions in the process of doing so. I will ask for forgiveness by getting myself whipped a hundred times.”

Ivy looked slightly fed up. She had seen a knight of the Order of Surtr getting whipped as a piacular rite before. They borrowed the hand of a fellow knight, since punishing themselves on their own could weaken the intensity of the whipping. She recalled not being able to watch the piacular rite until the end due to its violent nature.

“Um, no. You really don’t have to...”

Ivy wasn’t cold-hearted enough to openly say ‘Yes. Go ahead and whip your back until you become drenched in blood.’

On the other hand, Dismas opened his eyes wide at Ivy’s words and soon nodded.

“Thank you, Saintess. It seems like you are slowly turning back to normal after you’ve escaped the evil spell of the fake emperor. I appreciate you for your understanding that I was moving for a greater purpose.”

Only then did Ivy realize that Dismas had misunderstood her words. Ivy frowned and opened her mouth again.

“I’m not saying that I forgive you. I’m just saying that your habit of trying to be easily forgiven using pain is inappropriate. You are just trying to be forgiven quickly and comfortably by choosing to endure simple pain.”

Dismas slightly opened his mouth and looked at Ivy with trembling eyes. After remaining silent for a while, Dismas lowered his head.

“...That is something I need to think deeply about. But I appreciate you for your considerate advice.”

Ivy wondered if she had made a mistake. She could have bought Dismas’ trust by lying and telling him that she agreed with him. But she had a feeling that she ended up making him even more wary by saying unnecessary words.

“Are you planning to lock me up in here?” Ivy asked.

“No. I have ordered the knights to honor the Saintess and treat you the same as His Holiness. You can freely access any location, but please understand that it is limited to the inside of Cabragh. It is for the sake of your own safety, since we are at war right now. Also, one of the knights will always be with you to guarantee your safety.”

In other words, Dismas was telling her that he will always have a watchman to keep his eyes on her. Yet, Ivy was surprised to see Dismas offer her more freedom than she had expected; she thought that she would be locked inside this fortress until His Majesty or Lenly came to rescue her.

“You seem to be quite surprised. As I already said, you were only deceived by the fake emperor. I was shocked at first, but now I understand after meeting him in person. He looks remarkably like His Majesty, doesn’t he? No wonder you fell for his tricks. After all, my sister Nienna and the majority of the empire also fell for it. False prophets always tend to appear with applause.”

“He’s never been applauded,” Ivy answered in a cold voice.

Dismas looked back at Ivy. Ivy couldn’t figure out why she was standing up for the fake emperor. She was in a dangerous situation where her neck could be cut off at any moment if she was not careful with what she said.

However, due to being someone who had already heard a lot about Juan through Sina, Ivy couldn’t help but stand up for Juan.

“His Majesty has returned after being sold to a slave merchant to roll around in blood, dust, and mud in the Colosseum. No one applauded him until he set his foot in Torra. He had to prove to everyone that he was the true emperor, all the way until the end.”

Dismas looked at Ivy without saying a word.

“It seems like his grip over you is much stronger than I had expected, Saintess.”

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“Cabragh will be just around the corner by tomorrow. Dismas is not going to give up on defending it, so this is going to be a siege war. He has concentrated all his elite soldiers in Cabragh—which means that the fortress attacks that we have done so far will be considered nothing but a joke compared to what we are about to face tomorrow.”

Pavan drove his horse closer to Sina.

“His Majesty will not be able to fully concentrate on Dismas. While we might see more Cainheryars, there’s also the Pope. Oh, and don’t forget about the existence of Telgramm. One thing that is clear is that it might be a difficult battle for His Majesty to handle on his own.”

“Oh my goodness... I know! I already know all this. How many times do I have to tell you?” Sina answered irritably.

“I’m glad that you know.”

Pavan smiled and slowly drove his horse away from Sina.

“I don’t wish for you to hate me any more than you already do, so I’ll go on and track down the remnants. Dame Sina, I wish you the best of luck.”

Sina glared at Pavan as he disappeared beyond the darkness.

***

“That’s the plan, Your Majesty.”

Juan looked at Pavan with a dumbfounded expression.

“Dame Sina can be considered to be capable enough to kill Dismas. It’s actually more than enough. Your Majesty would also have thought the same if you looked at her skills and combat capabilities while handling Oberon—although she seems to underestimate herself.”

“This is quite confusing, Pavan. Isn’t this supposed to be something you planned behind my back? Why are you telling me this?”

“Because there’s no way that I can deceive you, Your Majesty.”

Juan sighed and shook his head. Pavan’s words were true. Juan already knew quite early on that Nienna had given Oberon to Sina and that Sina was training with it. He also knew that Pavan was helping her do so.

“What’s the point of letting me know after you’ve already done it?” Juan asked.

“It is to motivate Dame Sina. She wants to simply be someone who observes Your Majesty, but she also wants to be of help. Who would want to kill Your Majesty’s child? No matter how much Dismas deserves to die, he is still Your Majesty’s son. Who knows whether or not Your Majesty would later punish the person that kills Dismas? In that sense, this is the most perfect duty for Dame Sina.”

“Perfect, huh?”

“Perhaps she might think that it is only fair for her to kill Your Majesty’s child, since Your Majesty annihilated the Order of the Blue Rose,” Pavan added.

“Do you realize that Hela’s irritating and unpleasant tone has rubbed off on you? Even Hela couldn’t be forgiven if she talked to me like that. And you’re not even Hela, are you?”

Juan grabbed Pavan by the face.

Pavan was feeling extreme pain from Juan’s hand grabbing his cheeks.

However, Juan soon sighed and let go of Pavan’s face.

“I guess I shouldn’t pull out the commander’s teeth with the battle just around the corner. You should be sleeping and eating well. Don’t think about playing dirty tricks, and just lead the battle well, will you? Don’t worry about Dismas anymore.”

“What do you mean?”

Juan glared at Pavan with displeased eyes.

Pavan swallowed a gulp upon facing Juan’s eyes that were rife with murderous intent, but he managed to barely stand without collapsing to the floor.

“I will be the one to kill Dismas. It’s a shame that your work will go to a waste, but Sina won’t have the chance to play an active role. This is the answer that you wished to hear, isn’t it? That I’ll hurry up and kill Dismas without any hesitation to keep Sina out of danger?”

Pavan bowed his head instead of answering.

Juan looked at Pavan for a while and chewed his words.

“You really want to kill Dismas that badly, huh. Are you trying to manipulate me at the cost of your own life? Do you have a life to spare or something?”

“The weak have their own ways. No matter how disciplined I am, I’ll never even be able to reach even the feet of Your Majesty’s children. So what else can I do?”