Chapter 550: The Invitation (1)

The soft chirping of the birds outside the window stirred Kristina from her sleep early in the morning. She awoke refreshed as if she were emerging from a deep slumber.

"Ah."

The sound of rippling water made her pause as she began to sit up, her shoulders tensing. Memories of the events before she lost consciousness slowly returned — Eugene's baptism. The water in the bathtub was still warm, though it no longer shimmered with that initial, mystical Light.

[Are you awake?] Anise's voice reached her, and Kristina nodded without surprise.

'Did you wake up before me?' she inquired.

[I just woke up as well,] answered Anise.

Her mind was clear, not groggy. The only discomfort was her wet clothes clinging to her skin, but aside from that, she felt remarkably well — even better than usual, as if she were as light as a feather.

[It is morning, but we have not just passed a single dawn. We must have been unconscious for several days,] commented Anise.

But Kristina felt no hunger. She felt a fullness within her as she finally stood up. With a swoosh, the water in the bathtub evaporated completely.

'Have you not seen Sir Eugene?' asked Kristina.

[It's true I woke before you, but only by about ten minutes. Hamel wasn't in the room then,] Anise said with a small sigh. [That's actually worrying. Given Hamel's nature, he wouldn't leave us alone in the room without a good reason. His absence must be because of something important.]

Kristina started worrying, 'Could something have happened to Sir Eugene? After all the blood he shed for us—'

[Are you being serious? Kristina, I can't imagine Hamel fainting from blood loss, can you?] Anise interrupted her.

'But Sister, you are concerned about Eugene's safety—' said Kristina.

Anise interrupted once more with a reminder, [Yes, I am worried. While we were unconscious, something sinister might have lured Hamel away. Don't you remember what happened before the baptism? It wasn't just us and Hamel in this room.]

Kristina's expression hardened. It had been several days, perhaps, but Ciel had also been in that room, freshly bathed and perfumed.

[We must not overlook Ciel. It's been a year since they last met, and he did nothing for her. That girl must be harboring some resentment,] said Anise.

'Gasp....'

[Who knows what tricks she might have tried while we were asleep? She might have forced Hamel against his will...,] Anise continued explaining.

'How dare she aim for Sir Hamel's virginity!' Kristina exclaimed.

Kristina's shout made Anise momentarily speechless. At most, she had imagined a forceful hug or a date. Kristina's interjection took it to an unexpectedly drastic conclusion.

In the aftermath of Kristina's outburst, Anise couldn't help but feel a tangle of complicated questions.

Was it right to refer to Hamel as a virgin? Anise knew that during his days as a mercenary, Hamel had had his share of sexual encounters. Back then, and even now, such was common practice among mercenaries, so Anise hadn't really dwelled on it. Surely, Hamel was no virgin, right?

'What are you talking about, Sister? He's Sir Eugene, not Sir Hamel now,' Kristina reminded.

[What?] questioned Anise.

'His body is different, and his name is different. And love did not exist in the reckless escapades of his mercenary days,' explained Kristina.

[What...?] Anise asked, dumbfounded.

'Sir Eugene's body is new, and his name is new. That makes him all the more valuable and in need of protection,' Kristina declared.

With that, she abruptly shed her clothes.

Why was she undressing? Because her clothes were wet. Were there clothes to change into? Yes, there were. Neatly arranged on the bed were garments meant for the Saints, prepared ahead of time for when she might come to her senses.

However, Kristina did not even spare a glance at those clothes. She hesitated only briefly before coming to a decision and crossing the room naked. This was Eugene's room, and one side of the spacious chamber had a door leading to a dressing room.

[Good heavens, good heavens...!] Anise exclaimed, thoroughly shocked.

The devilish and shameless thoughts that Kristina harbored, then the swiftness with which she made her resolve were too much for Anise to handle.

Kristina was now entering a forbidden place that neither Sienna nor even Ciel, who had lived in the mansion with Eugene for the past ten years, had dared enter. Eugene had frequented this dressing room in nothing but his primal state since his childhood. The Saints were the first to invade his room among the females.

No, they were unlikely to be the first, though. Nina had dedicated herself to serving Eugene since his childhood. She might have entered several times, but she had done so out of professional necessity. As such, Kristina quickly erased Nina's name from her thoughts.

[Good heavens, good heavens, good heavens...!] Anise kept muttering, gasping for air.

Having casually discarded her wet clothes, Kristina had now draped herself in one of Eugene's shirts. Given the height difference between her and Eugene, the shirt's hem reached her thighs.

[Could it be, could it be...?] Anise's voice trembled.

She was now entertaining thoughts that a priest, and especially the Saint, should never have — thoughts that were lascivious and diabolical. This sacrilegious attire could, by shedding yet another layer of human decency, become a different kind of sacred. The Saint would no longer be the Saint but a saint in a different sense.

Fortunately, a sliver of reason remained within Kristina. She shook off the stern thoughts wandering through her mind, modestly fastened the shirt's buttons, and stepped outside. She then dressed herself with neatly folded undergarments and trousers that were laid out on the bed.

[Ah... well done,] complimented Anise.

While many things distinguish humans from beasts, Anise considered clothing to be one of them. Yet, a part of her felt a slight regret. If Kristina had truly abandoned her reason and fallen, and if Hamel had witnessed that, Anise was just a little curious about what his reaction would have been.

"Let's go find Sir Eugene," said Kristina.

Kristina had not lost her grip on reason, largely because this was the Lionheart estate. Had this been a sanctuary shared solely by Eugene and herself, she would have acted without hesitation, as it would naturally have been right, irrespective of propriety or reason.

But this was the Lionheart mansion, home not just to Eugene but to others as well. While she was fine with showing things to Eugene, they were not for the eyes of the others.

Just an hour earlier, Eugene had been in his room, waiting for the Saints to awaken, but now he was in the Lionheart's conference room.

Kristina's judgment was utterly correct. The atmosphere in the conference room, which she entered after knocking politely, was tense. Had she entered in the attire she initially considered, she would have been placed in an awkward situation.

"You're awake..." Eugene said in the form of a greeting.

He had been sitting with a serious expression but now found himself at a loss for words. He had known Kristina had regained consciousness some time ago. After all, Kristina was his Saint. He could sense her presence without needing to feel her physically.

His speechlessness was, at first, due to Kristina's transformation. Her blue eyes had deepened, but there was a more blatant change about her now.

A faint aura of Light surrounded Kristina, and above her head, much like the first time Anise had manifested as an angel, there was a halo of light. However, this halo was so faint it was barely visible.

Eugene stared at her in silent astonishment.

He wasn't at a loss for words just because of the aura and the halo. He had laid out clothes for her on the bed, and the fact that she wore trousers meant she hadn't failed to find them. But then why was she wearing that shirt as her top?

"What kind of attire is that?" Sienna asked while furrowing her brows.

She was sitting beside Eugene, and obviously, she recognized the shirt as belonging to Eugene.

"The clothes you prepared for me were a bit small," Kristina lied without changing her expression as she folded the overly long sleeves with her fingers.

"Small? How could they be too small?" questioned Sienna with narrowed eyes.

"They were small," Kristina responded with a shrug.

"How exactly were they small?" Sienna questioned again.

"Lady Sienna, you really are mischievous, expecting me to answer such an embarrassing question," Kristina said, looking bashful.

Sienna's lips twitched at the audacious response.

"How long was I unconscious?" Kristina asked without allowing Sienna to ask anything further. She quickly took the initiative with her question, prompting Eugene to compose his expression.

"Three days," he answered.

"My goodness. I have been asleep for quite a while."

"Not asleep, knocked out," Sienna muttered with a pout.

Kristina didn't deem it a comment worth responding to, so she continued with her questions. "What has become of the elves in the forest?"

"There has been some progress," Sienna responded.

"So, a complete cure is impossible?" Kristina muttered.

"The Demonic Disease has dark power as its nature," Sienna said while clicking her tongue and shaking her head. "But we've confirmed that the dark power isn't from the Demon King of Incarceration. That must be why even the Demon King of Incarceration couldn't curb the disease. The source of the disease is Destruction's dark power. I think... just like the Nur, the disease itself is a sign of impending destruction."

Three hundred years ago, when the war began, the elves were struck by the Demonic Disease. At the time, it was believed that the war itself was driven by the ambitions of the Demon King of Incarceration, but now the true nature of the war was known. The world was supposed to end around that time. The war was, in essence, the harbinger of Destruction.

"Well, if we kill the Demon King of Destruction, the Demonic Disease will disappear too," Eugene muttered.

Kristina nodded slowly and sat down beside Eugene. Seated on the opposite side, Sienna glanced at her. She saw that Kristina was sitting extremely close to Eugene.

Sienna couldn't help but speak up, "Move away—"

Once again, Kristina ignored Sienna's comment and interrupted with her own question, "You mentioned there was progress. What kind of progress has there been? The advancement of the disease itself should have been halted long ago."

"Uh... ah, um, we managed to extract the dark power of Destruction from the elves afflicted with the disease," stammered Sienna.

"Even after extracting the dark power, a complete cure is impossible?" Kristina asked.

"It's enough to make a gravely ill elf almost healthy again. But if they go outside, the disease progresses once more. But you, aren't you sitting a little too close—" muttered Sienna.

"By the way, why are the two of you in the conference room? The atmosphere felt very heavy when I entered. Did the two of you have a fight or something?" Kristina asked pointedly.

"Why would I have a quarrel with him?" Sienna asked, resigned.

She gave a deep sigh, having given up on distancing Kristina from Eugene.

"We received an invitation," Eugene answered, clicking his tongue as he pulled an envelope from his pocket. "...Noir Giabella."

The wax seal was broken, but the script on the envelope was clear. It was Noir Giabella's name....

Kristina's expression inevitably hardened, and she muttered, "If it's an invitation...."

"It's faster to see for yourself," Eugene murmured as he opened the envelope and took out the letter.

It was just a single sheet of paper. It wasn't densely packed with words, either.

Kristina's eyes widened in surprise.

What they saw was an enchanting red lipstick kiss mark at the center of the letter. Noir Giabella had left the mark with her lips. There was no time to discuss the repulsion it evoked.

"...What?" Startled, Kristina jumped up from her seat.

The act itself was meaningless. She hadn't been sitting in the first place. Somehow, even the space around her had changed. Until just before seeing the kiss mark, Kristina had been in the Lionheart mansion's conference room. But now, she stood in front of the crimson twilight[1].

Kristina flinched and stepped back, startled. Then, she jerked around as a splashing sound came from beneath her feet.

The scene behind her was one she recognized all too well — the Fount of Light. Behind her was the very fount Eugene had destroyed in Yuras, completely intact. But it was not exactly as she remembered it.

It was more horrifying. The fount's once gentle light had changed color. Gradually, it turned a deep, ominous red.

Beneath the surface of the spring, Kristina saw something — countless skeletons. They were the relics meant for the Fount of Light, the remains of past saints. The white skeletons seemed to be peering at her.

Click, click, click.

The skeletons' jawbones snapped, and their teeth clattered. From the hollow eye sockets, a faint malevolence flickered.

—Why?

—Why only you....

A voice laden with despair and malice reached her. Kristina unwittingly covered her mouth. A chill crept deep into her bones. The pile of bones in the fount stirred. Underneath the gurgling bubbles, someone raised their head.

—Kri... Kristina....

It was a face, decayed and disintegrated. Yet, Kristina recognized that face and voice. It was Sergio Rogeris, Kristina's foster father.

—What did I... do wrong....

She covered her mouth with her hand as she looked at him.

She had never thought of him as a father. Nor had Sergio ever shown paternal love towards her. To Kristina, her foster father was a symbol of resentment, oppression, and fear. For Sergio, Kristina was nothing more than a saint to be meticulously crafted and perfected.

—If you.... If you... didn't exist....

But seeing him made Kristina shudder. Emotions about her foster father that she thought she had completely shaken off began to stealthily crawl up from the depths of her heart.

Under normal circumstances, she would not feel this way. Sergio's death had truly had no impact on her. All the despair of her childhood and the emotions and duties implanted in her while being made into the Saint had disappeared after she watched the fireworks with Eugene and with the journeys that followed.

But....

No matter how much of the resentment and negative emotions she had shaken off, Kristina was still human. Seeing such a scene recreated a flicker of emotion.

The despair and resentment vomited by the bones of past Saints. The curse of her decayed foster father. These small emotions were amplified against her will. Thus, Kristina's mind was briefly seized by a nightmare.

"My goodness." A voice drifted from beyond the twilight. "One would expect such a vision, but your nightmare is rather dull and uninteresting."

A chuckle followed. Kristina was startled and turned her head.

Noir Giabella appeared, her figure silhouetted against the dusk. She had her arms crossed, and she was grinning.

"Ah, don't feel too embarrassed. You're not the only one who has had a nightmare. My Hamel, who saw the invitation first, Sienna Merdein, and...."

Noir's smile deepened.

"Anise Slywood, who is intertwined with you, also experienced nightmares. Each one different."

"You." A voice came from beside Kristina. Anise had appeared next to her. She steadied her trembling legs and stood upright, glaring at Noir. "You whore...!"

"It's good to hear your voice directly. It's been a while, Anise," responded Noir.

"What is this trickery? Why did Hamel—" Anise started asking.

"Why did he show you the invitation, you ask?" Noir interrupted.

She smirked maliciously. The words were ones Kristina hadn't dared to utter. This unpleasant nightmare had been induced by the invitation. There was no need to show them.

"Did you really think I didn't know about you two?" questioned Noir.

She laughed softly.

"Ah, let me be honest. Until I saw you at the duel arena, I wasn't sure either. I had my suspicions, but no confirmation. But at the arena, I instantly knew. I could see how entangled you all were," said Noir.

Anise just listened with narrowed eyes.

"And this invitation, in such a form, heh, is due to my kind consideration," continued Noir.

"Consideration?" Anise spat. She scrunched her face in disgust.

"Yes, consideration," said Noir.

The playful smile vanished from Noir's face.

With a serious look, Noir said, "It's different from three hundred years ago, Anise Slywood. Back then, I was trivial and weak. I showed you nightmares several times, but I couldn't bring you to despair or break your spirit."

She took a step forward.

Wooooooo...!

A menacing sound emanated from the twilight behind her.

"But not anymore. Now, I can show you a nightmare that will never end. No matter how complete Kristina Rogers is as a Saint or how Sienna Merdein has transcended humanity, it means nothing to me now," Noir stated.

"...What are you trying to say?" questioned Anise.

"It's simple," said Noir.

The twilight twisted, and an overflowing red engulfed the sky.

"If you don't want to die, don't come to my domain," she warned.

Noir's figure blended into the crimson backdrop.

"Don't come to interfere with Hamel and my end."

1. This is the first time we have seen this name. From this and later chapters, we realized that it is associated with Noir's conjured dreams, more like a constant that's seen in most of them, but it's not always there. I feel its associated with her powers of the Demoneye of Fantasy. ☜