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Chapter 26: The four saintess candidates

Chapter 26: The four saintess candidates

Leviana raised a hand to her forehead and sighed.

Anna was still sitting by the bed as though nothing she had just said was the least bit unusual. Lathel’s left hand was still held firmly in hers, pressed against her chest right over her heart. After confirming he was out of danger, the strange state that had blanketed the room gradually stabilized. The red of the fire in the hearth returned, the medicine bottles on the table regained their original colors, and the sound of rain outside the window rang clearly once more.

Only Anna still refused to let go of Lathel’s hand.

Leviana watched her for a while, and in the end didn’t know what to say.

In the previous life, among the women who had stood by Lathel’s side, Anna was perhaps the only one who had never truly done anything wrong to him.

Leviana had once doubted Lathel, misunderstood his warnings, and even personally called for someone to drag him out of the hidden chamber the day before Aldric stole her magic veins.

Catrina had also, out of pride, smashed the medicine vial Lathel had traded half his lifespan to obtain.

But Anna was different.

From the moment she met Lathel, she seemed to have never once demanded that he prove anything. When others didn’t believe him, Anna still did. The words Lathel couldn’t speak aloud, she would patiently wait for him to finish writing. When he gave a warning that sounded utterly absurd, Anna was one of the rare few who would actually stop and think before deciding.

Perhaps that was precisely why, after Lathel’s death, she became the most unhinged of them all.

The one who had never pushed him away was still the one who lost him in the end.

Leviana closed her eyes for a few seconds, forced those memories down, then looked at the two people before her.

"We need to talk about what comes next."

Catrina leaned against the edge of the table, the red marks from the earlier slaps still visible on her cursed face. She gave a slight nod, while Anna only stroked the back of Lathel’s hand, her attitude making it clear she was listening.

Leviana looked at Anna and said: "I know you’ve just arrived, and I know you want to stay until Lathel wakes. But from now on, we can’t keep acting entirely on emotion. What happened at Grail Pass proved one thing. The moment we change too much, Aldric will also change how he acts."

Catrina said nothing.

She understood the remark was aimed at her.

Leviana didn’t continue the blame, only speaking more clearly: "The previous life is our greatest advantage. We know where Aldric will go, what he wants to take, who he’ll approach, and which disasters are coming. But if every event is destroyed from the outset, it won’t be long before those memories lose their value."

Anna finally spoke. "You want everyone to reenact the last life?"

"It doesn’t need to be exact." Leviana shook her head. "The outcomes must change, but the links that don’t need to be broken yet shouldn’t be torn apart carelessly. At the very least, until we know how many cards Aldric still holds, he should go on believing that most of what he knows about the future is still useful."

Anna thought for a moment, then asked: "Let him keep walking into the places we already know about?"

"Exactly. When he feels he still has the initiative, that’s when we can predict his next move."

Catrina looked at Lathel on the bed, her voice dropping lower. "What if the next event involves him?"

Leviana was silent for a few seconds.

This was the real problem.

If it only concerned Aldric’s fortuitous encounters, they could calmly set the stage. But the moment Lathel appeared in any of it, none of the three could truly be certain they would keep their heads.

Leviana tightened her hand slightly, then answered: "Then we prepare in advance. This time, we don’t let Lathel walk into danger on his own."

Anna didn’t object.

She only bowed her head and looked at the unconscious man.

"I can accept that."

Leviana breathed out.

At least Anna was willing to talk.

She leaned back in the chair. After two days of intense emotional upheaval, Leviana’s complexion was still very pale, and even today’s window of consciousness was nearing its limit.

"Right now I can still only stay awake about four hours a day. Most of the time I can’t monitor things myself, so what happens outside will have to fall to the two of you."

Catrina nodded. "Black Rose can continue tracking Aldric."

Anna asked: "Where do you think he’ll go?"

"The Church’s Magic Academy."

The room went quiet for a moment.

Leviana continued: "Aldric just failed at Grail Pass and has seen many things happening ahead of what he knows. With his personality, he’ll want to grow stronger even faster. The Academy is the most suitable place. It has the Mana Spring, purification rituals, a great many medicinal herbs, and resources that even major noble houses would struggle to obtain elsewhere."

Anna tilted her head slightly.

Leviana looked at the cloth band over her eyes. "The Academy is under Church jurisdiction. On this matter, you’ll be more important than either of us."

"I understand."

"There’s another issue." Leviana spoke slowly. "The soul traveling with Aldric."

Catrina understood at once who she meant.

Anna showed no sign of surprise either.

Leviana continued: "We still don’t know whether she came back as well. If she also kept her memories, everything becomes far more complicated. But if things are the same as the last life, she’ll continue guiding Aldric, helping him access ancient magic and secrets an ordinary young man could never know."

Catrina asked: "Do we need to find a way to confirm?"

"Yes, but no direct contact." Leviana gave her a look. "I don’t want you charging in with a sword again."

Catrina frowned slightly but didn’t argue.

Anna suddenly spoke from beside them: "If Aldric comes to the Academy, I can look."

Leviana looked at her.

Anna gently stroked Lathel’s fingertip, then explained: "I don’t need to make contact with the soul inside the ring. As long as Aldric steps within the Church’s domain, I have a way to determine how many different life signatures he’s carrying."

"Don’t push the Eye of Life too hard."

Anna answered calmly: "I won’t die."

Leviana closed her eyes, her head beginning to ache again.

"That’s not the standard I want to hear."

Catrina turned her face slightly to one side, the corner of her mouth seeming to twitch.

Anna paid no mind. She only said: "I’ll be careful."

Having gotten at least one normal-sounding answer, Leviana moved on.

"There’s something else at the Academy we need to prepare for."

Anna raised her head.

Leviana looked at her for a long time before saying: "The four remaining Saintess candidates."

The room went instantly quieter.

Anna didn’t move, but the hand holding Lathel’s had clearly tightened.

Catrina also remembered.

In the previous life, before Aldric had fully taken control of many forces within the Church, he had maintained very good relationships with the four women competing for the official Saintess position.

The four had different backgrounds and different talents, but all held very high standing among the Church’s younger generation.

Aldric appeared beside them at just the right moments.

He helped one pass an examination, gave another a fortuitous encounter, and used foreknowledge to save yet another from danger.

Step by step, all four came to trust him.

Through them, Aldric gained access to many areas that were normally closed to outsiders. He obtained medicinal herbs, magic, holy artifacts, and information about the young geniuses being trained by the Church.

After that, the very people who had helped him became his next targets.

Leviana looked down at her hands, her voice dropping lower. "By the time Aldric needed stronger magic veins, those four became the best source of resources. He had prepared the ritual in advance, but Lathel discovered it."

Catrina inhaled slowly.

Anna maintained her composure.

Only the tip of her finger paused on the back of Lathel’s hand.

Leviana continued: "Lathel found a Judicator of the Church and led him to where Aldric was preparing the ritual. He arrived in time to save their lives, but he was still one step too late."

The old memory surfaced before all three of them.

A secret chamber beneath the Academy.

The stench of blood so thick it made one nauseous.

Four young women lying on separate stone altars, their limbs still shackled by chains of mana. Black and red array lines ran along the floor, and the stone beneath their backs had been dyed dark with blood.

They were still alive.

But their magic veins had already been ripped out.

One tried to raise her hand but couldn’t produce even a spark of light. Another only stared at the ceiling, eyes hollow, as though she still hadn’t understood why the person she had trusted had turned her into this.

Lathel stood in the middle of the room.

His clothes were stained with blood.

Both hands signed rapidly at the Judicator beside him, trying to explain what he had just discovered.

But Aldric had prepared in advance.

Evidence was planted in the right places.

Demonic aura appeared on Lathel’s body.

Several items related to the ritual were also found in his pouch.

Aldric vanished.

The only suspect left in the room was one person.

A mute who couldn’t speak for himself to explain what had happened.

Leviana remembered the news that followed with perfect clarity.

Lathel Kirlinghalm conspired with the Demon Race.

Infiltrated the Academy, used forbidden arts to steal the magic veins of four Saintess candidates.

The plot was discovered by a Judicator.

The person who had risked his life trying to save them ended up becoming the one hunted by the entire Church.

The memory ended.

In the present room, all three women drew a deep breath at nearly the same moment.

Catrina clenched her fist.

Leviana looked at Anna.

Anna still sat motionless.

Her face showed no violent expression whatsoever; the corner of her mouth even held the faintest curve.

That was precisely what made Leviana feel the danger more acutely.

She had seen Anna angry before.

Had also seen Anna kill.

But the most terrifying state this woman could enter was never when she lost her composure.

It was when she was so calm that not a single trace of emotion remained on her face.

The color in the corner of the room faded a little once more.

Anna slowly stroked the back of Lathel’s hand.

"I remember."

Just two words.

----

Catrina looked at Anna.

The woman before her was still terrifyingly calm.

Anna continued to gently stroke Lathel’s hand, then said: "I remember how the Church’s people issued the bounty on him. I also remember how many of the very people he had once helped came forward to testify that he’d shown suspicious behavior."

No one interrupted.

The color around Anna faded a little further, but after only a few breaths she forced the power back down. The fire in the hearth returned to its normal red, and the sound of rain outside the window grew clear once more.

Leviana knew that continuing to dwell on it now would serve no purpose.

She was silent for a few seconds before moving to the thing that was harder for her to say than anything else.

"And the reason Lathel was able to enter the Academy..."

Her voice suddenly dropped.

Catrina looked over.

Anna also raised her head.

Leviana lowered her eyes to Lathel on the bed.

"Was Pandora’s Box."

The hand resting on her knee slowly clenched.

In the previous life, Lathel had no ability to use ordinary magic.

He couldn’t chant incantations.

The mana in his body was so weak that most people who examined him concluded he had virtually no talent.

Under those conditions, passing the entrance examination for the Magic Academy was nearly impossible.

But at the time, Leviana was gravely ill.

Her body’s condition after years of coma had been steadily deteriorating. A type of medicinal herb that could help stabilize her foundation only grew within the Mana Spring zone controlled by the Academy.

Outsiders couldn’t take it.

Even nobles who wanted to purchase some had to wait through a lengthy approval process.

Lathel didn’t want to wait.

Because the healer had said Leviana’s condition couldn’t hold much longer.

So he sought out Pandora’s Box.

Leviana still remembered the day Lathel appeared before her after the Academy’s examination.

He was thinner than before.

His complexion was terrible.

But in his hands he held a pouch of herbs wrapped with care.

When Leviana asked where he had gotten them, Lathel only wrote that he’d been lucky.

At the time, she hadn’t even known what he’d done.

It was only much later that she understood what Pandora’s Box truly was.

A cursed object.

Each time it was opened, it allowed the owner to use magic for a short period, regardless of whether their body was suited for it.

The price was lifespan.

The box didn’t take everything at once.

It ate away little by little.

Every spell Lathel cast shortened the time he had left to live.

He used it to pass the aptitude test.

Used it during the combat examination.

Used it to become a student that no one would have believed a mute could ever become.

All because he needed to walk through those gates.

All because inside was a type of herb Leviana needed.

She still remembered that when she learned the truth, she had once asked someone who witnessed the examination that day.

The person said Lathel had performed terribly.

He wasn’t accustomed to using magic.

Every time he finished casting, his face grew paler.

In the final round, Lathel had coughed up blood after leaving the arena.

But he still passed.

The day he received clearance to enter the herb cultivation zone, the first thing he did wasn’t choosing a spell or a reward for himself.

He went straight to the area where Leviana’s medicine was grown.

When he brought the herbs back, he wrote a single line on the board.

"Good thing I made it in time."

Leviana bowed her head.

Her eyes had reddened at some point without her noticing.

She tried to continue but her voice caught immediately.

"Back then I even asked him why he had to go that far."

She bit her lip.

Lathel had only smiled at the time.

Then wrote:

"You’ve been lying down for too long."

That was all.

He hadn’t even mentioned what it had cost him.

Leviana covered her eyes with her hand.

"I drank his medicine. I used something he’d traded his lifespan for to recover, and it wasn’t until much later that I found out the box had been eating away at his life every single day."

Her shoulders trembled faintly.

Catrina said nothing.

Anna only watched her.

Leviana lowered her hand, her eyes red but her voice fighting to stay steady.

"I used to think the things I’d done to Lathel were already bad enough. But the further along I went, the more I discovered that while I was lying there waiting for someone else to save me, he had quietly done far too many things without telling a soul."

She looked at Lathel’s injured right hand.

"Even when the magic he gained came at the cost of burning his own life, he didn’t use it to win status for himself. The first thing he took was still medicine for me."

The tears fell at last.

Leviana quickly turned her face away.

A long time passed before Catrina finally asked, her voice hoarse: "Where is the box now?"