NMRJKM Chapter 109

 

Someone asked in confusion. Carlothian did not miss the small sound and gestured to his knights.

The knights exchanged glances and began to shout in feigned voices.

“It’s the hymn of Saint Dorothea!”

What she was singing was a song taught to her by Dorothea. It was also a song that Dorothea often sang.

“W-why is the witch singing the saint’s hymn?”

Ariadeline raised her voice even higher. The high notes, reaching toward the heavens, echoed throughout the grand hall.

Once again, I will rise. I will unearth your sins buried in the ground. And thus, I will reach the spear of that light.

Ariadeline spread her hands and gathered all her divine power to sing. Her clear voice pierced the ears of the nobles, the knights, and Yermondi.

“Look over there!”

A knight from the Duke of Denaves shouted.

“The monsters are melting away!”

At the knight’s words, people turned their gaze toward the monsters. As her song resonated high, the monsters were visibly losing their strength and melting away.

People quickly fell into chaos. A hymn, a hymn? Divine power? The witch who summoned those monsters?

Denying it seemed impossible as Ariadeline’s voice grandly sang the name of God. And then.

“Aaaah-!”

A scream was heard from somewhere. People turned their attention that way. Was there someone who hadn’t escaped from the monster yet?

But what they saw was.

“Ariadeline! Why do you have divine power…!”

It was the sight of Princess Yermondi, wrapped in purple light and suffering. Her eyes had turned completely black as she clutched her head.

Ariadeline did not stop singing. Yermondi screamed like a sinner from the song.

‘Why, why can you use divine power?!’

Yermondi struggled to control the rising purple magic to protect herself, but the pain only intensified, and she couldn’t contain it at all.

In the meantime, Ariadeline’s song reached its climax.

“O sin that has reached the tip of the spear, you who have been pierced and given your life. You shall once again gain a new body. Again. You shall be reborn!”

Light burst forth from Ariadeline’s pendant. In response to her divine power and song, the holy object poured out its strength. White light enveloped Ariadeline, spreading like the wings of an angel.

“Oh my….”

People couldn’t help but gasp in admiration. She looked like an angel descending from the heavens.

And then they saw the contrasting figure of the princess.

Her eyes were blackened, like those of a devil. The ominous purple magic surrounded her.

The monsters ultimately melted away in response to her song. If it had been solely Ariadeline’s power, it would have been difficult. She gripped the holy object in her pendant tightly.

‘I’m glad I borrowed it after all.’

Ariadeline spoke to the knights who were aiming their swords at her.

“The monsters have vanished. Lower your swords.”

They looked at Ariadeline with confused eyes before turning to the princess. The princess, still enveloped in purple light, was still in agony.

She was suffering from the divine power and the hymn. The implication was clear.

“Surely….”

Yermondi gritted her teeth and glared at Ariadeline. It looked like the face of a demon risen from hell.

“Ariadeline, Ariadeline!”

Yermondi shouted. She clawed at her own head until it bled, cursing as she screamed.

“Why, why are you, why…”

You, who should be the weakest of all. You, who should have no power at all. Why, why are you making me crumble like this now?

Yermondi couldn’t understand. A woman who could do nothing but smile sweetly.

A woman who could only shed tears while gazing at the man she loved. And so, a woman who could ultimately be deceived by her and broken by her own hands.

Ariadeline, with her beautiful blonde hair and blue eyes, who only smiled at her.

In an instant, Yermondi headed for the stairs leading to the second floor. She threw people aside on the first floor as she ascended to the upper levels. She gritted her teeth.

How did things come to this?

Where did the you, who could do nothing, go?

Seeing Yermondi disappear to the top floor, Ariadeline hurriedly made her way to the stairs.

“Carlothian! Please take care of the people with the knights!”

“Ariadeline!”

“I’m the only one who can face her! Trust me! Don’t come any closer, understood?”

Leaving that one comment to him, Ariadeline disappeared upstairs with Yermondi. Carlothian shouted to the knights.

“Protect the injured, but ensure that no one among us goes outside!”

“Yes!”

After giving orders to the knights, Carlothian followed her up the stairs. Ariadeline had asked him to believe in her, but his anxious heart showed no sign of calming down.

As he was heading to the second floor, a blue light below caught his attention. The blue flower. The one that hung around Ariadeline’s neck.

That flower looked so ominous. Carlothian ran after her.

But he should have been a little faster.

 

☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓

 

Yermondi continued to ascend to the upper floors without being able to contain the dark magic flowing from her body. And she arrived. At the fifth floor, decorated as an aerial garden.

The aerial garden looked calm and peaceful, as if it knew nothing of the events happening below. Flowers and trees, which could only be seen in the royal palace, swayed gently in the breeze.

Yermondi gasped for breath as she slowly approached the edge. It can’t end like this. Not like this.

“Yermondi!”

Just as Yermondi reached the edge of the aerial garden, she heard Ariadeline’s voice.

“Just give up now.”

Yermondi burst into laughter at those words.

“What?”

“Everything. Just everything.”

Ariadeline moved closer to her. At that moment, Yermondi shouted.

“Don’t come any closer!”

She stood precariously at the edge. Seeing this, Ariadeline stopped in her tracks. Yermondi laughed at the sight.

“Even after coming to this point, such threats still work. You really are too weak.”

“You saw it. I can’t do nothing alone anymore.”

At those words, Yermondi wiped the smile from her face. Then, with a painfully expressionless face, she stared directly at Ariadeline.

“Yeah, that’s right. You’ve pushed me to this point.”

“Yermondi. You are the one who made me like this.”

“No, you are the one who made me like this.”

“You….”

“It’s all your fault!”

Yermondi screamed like a cry.

“It’s because you married Carlothian!”

She was filled with rage.

“It’s because you appeared before me!”

Yermondi looked into the distance.

“It’s because you called me that day.”

She let out a hollow laugh.

“It’s because you…”

“…….”

Ariadeline’s mouth was shut.

Yermondi found it delightful. She liked that Ariadeline could say nothing. Yes, it was better for you to just stand there and do nothing. Then this wouldn’t have happened.

Why did she want Carlothian? Why did she want to marry him? Why did she choose him?

Why, why.