Chapter 486

**The latter part of the previous episode has been revised!

Instead of Ha-shal-leur going up with Rana, it has been changed to him temporarily separating from her!

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“I’m here. I heard you were worried?”

As I opened the door and entered Lacey’s room,

she was half-leaning on the bed, still in her pajamas, as if she had just woken up.

“Uh…”

The moment I faced her, I couldn’t help but be taken aback.

Though it hadn’t been that long, Lacey’s face had already become half of what it used to be.

…No, Milia, this isn’t just “worry.” It looks like she’s been through a lot.

Dark circles were piled under Lacey’s eyes, and her cheeks were sunken.

If she weren’t a Saint Candidate, I might have mistaken her for someone seriously ill.

“Hey, Lacey… Are you okay…?”

I stepped into the room, voicing my concern.

Lacey stared at me with an expressionless face, then slowly turned her head to look at Seilon, who had followed me in, before looking back at me.

She repeated this, saying nothing.

“Lacey…?”

At my call, she finally seemed to snap out of it, her wandering gaze fixing on me.

Her eyes were a mix of exhaustion and devastation.

It was like looking into the eyes of a terminally ill patient on the brink of death.

“…You’re back. Sir Median.”

When Lacey softly replied, I felt a chill run down my spine.

What is this, the curse of the Ice Blade?

I hadn’t reacted to it since the Ice Blade burned out, so why now?

“You’re back. Yes. You’re back. With Sir Seilon. I see. With Sir Seilon. You came back with Sir Seilon.”

Lacey began muttering like a broken radio.

She slowly opened her right hand.

“The rumor that you abandoned your position as a paladin of the Elpinel Church Order and… shared a bed with Sir Seilon… I thought it was just misinformation. But here you are, coming together.”

It might have been my imagination, but I thought I saw a blue flame flicker in the center of Lacey’s palm.

“Ah, well, you see…”

“Didn’t you tell me to trust you?”

– Whoosh!

It wasn’t my imagination—it was the Holy Flame!

Facing the blue flames burning alongside the Divine Light, I frantically waved my arms to calm her down.

“Wait, Lacey! It’s a misunderstanding! It’s true we shared a bed, but it’s not what you think!”

We just slept together, that’s all!

In the cathedral, or while camping in tents!

“No, Ha-shal-leur. If you say it like that…!”

Seilon, who had stepped forward to protect me the moment he saw the Holy Flame, turned to look at me in a panic.

He looked just as flustered as I was.

Yeah, I get how you feel.

I also regretted my words the moment I said them.

“You… shared a bed…?”

– Whoosh!

With Lacey’s muttering, the Holy Flame on her hand flared up even more.

It was almost covering her entire hand.

“It’s a misunderstanding! I’ll explain everything, so just stop for a moment!”

Sweating profusely, I quickly approached and grabbed her arms.

I had to stop her before she unleashed the Holy Flame at Seilon, as she seemed to have half-lost her mind from all the stress.

“Hyaah…?”

Lacey, whose arms were suddenly grabbed, let out a strange moan as she was forced into a “hands-up” position.

While firmly holding her arms, I signaled to Seilon with a jerk of my chin to step out for a moment.

“…Are you sure you’ll be okay, Ha-shal-leur?”

“Whether I’m okay or not, just get out of here. If you stay, you’ll turn into a fireball.”

Seilon nodded and quickly stepped out of the room.

Finally coming to her senses, Lacey, who had been trembling, immediately extinguished the Holy Flame.

After confirming that the Holy Flame had completely disappeared, I let out a sigh of relief and released her arms.

…What kind of mess is this?

—

Lacey let out a long sigh and then bowed her head deeply, apologizing.

Her attitude was completely different from before—calm, almost deflated.

Her ears were bright red, as if her embarrassment had reached its limit, and her shoulders, exposed above her pajamas, were trembling slightly.

“…I made a fool of myself. I had just woken up, so I thought it might be a dream… I don’t even know how to apologize.”

If it had been a dream, she would have burned Seilon to a crisp.

It’s a good thing I grabbed her in time, or we would have been in big trouble.

“It’s fine. No one got hurt. You’ve been through a lot, it seems.”

I pulled a chair near the desk over to the bedside and sat down.

Looking at Lacey’s face, I didn’t feel like getting angry. Her face was half gone—what’s the point of getting mad?

Lacey stopped apologizing after I reassured her five times that it was okay.

She wasn’t usually this fragile… but then again, when the body weakens, so does the mind.

She clearly hadn’t been sleeping well, so it’s understandable.

“So… can I ask what happened? Why were you with Sir Seilon…? And why were you called Ha-shal-leur…?”

Lacey, now a bit calmer, lifted her head and asked.

…Where do I even start explaining this? It’s probably best to go in order.

“First, it’s true that I stepped down from my position as a paladin of the Elpinel Church Order. I had no choice. If someone from the Elpinel Church Order interfered with the Astraea Church Order’s affairs, it would just cause more trouble.”

“…So you quit just to avoid that? That’s so like you, Sir Median…”

Lacey sighed, pressing her forehead.

…It’s not like I quit just to avoid trouble.

Well, let’s move on from that.

The real important part is coming up now.

I took a sip from the water pitcher on Lacey’s bedside and continued the story.

The fight between the two Church Orders in Arad, the suspicious Archbishop Radenis, Fritz from the Special Operations Unit who became Belcus’s lackey, and the defeat of Wilhelm’s forces…

“Belcus…! That maggot-like bastard is still alive and daring to…!”

At the mention of the demon, Lacey seemed to regain some energy.

Though her reaction was quite extreme, it was still better than her slumped-over state.

“It’s not just Belcus. According to Archbishop Radenis’s speculation, Belcus, Eljure, and other heretics have gathered in Arvil to form some organization called the Reverse Ascension Society…”

“We should burn them all to death.”

Lacey’s eyes trembled with anger. Her gaze was so intense it seemed like flames might shoot out.

A murderous aura was oozing from her sunken eye sockets.

…Alright, I think it’s time to tell her about the Holy Mark.

She seems to have regained some energy.

“…Hey, Lacey, besides Belcus, there’s something really important I need to tell you.”

“More important than the demon?”

“Yeah. Actually, this is the main point… It’s the reason why the Astraea Church Order retreated after just one duel, and why Seilon followed me all the way here.”

“Ah, right. I wanted to hear an explanation about that, but I almost forgot because of the heretics. What happened?”

I placed my left hand on the bandages on my chest and carefully chose my words.

It’s better to explain it first rather than just showing her the Holy Mark outright.

“Uh… calm down and don’t be shocked.”

“I don’t think anything could be more shocking than the rumors I’ve heard.”

…I guarantee you, this will be more shocking.

I took another sip from the water pitcher and finally spoke.

“…I have a Holy Mark. Astraea’s Holy Mark.”

“…………What?”

Lacey tilted her head in confusion.

Her expression was filled with incomprehension and doubt, as if she couldn’t believe what she had just heard.

The smile on her lips had frozen like a statue.

“Uh, I think I misheard. Could you say that again?”

“I have Astraea’s Holy Mark. It appeared after I fought Wilhelm.”

“…Could you say that again?”

“……”

It’s faster to just show her.

Even if she doesn’t believe my words, she’ll have to believe her own eyes.

“Look, here it is.”

I pulled down the bandages on my chest with my left hand, revealing the clear scales of justice engraved there.

Astraea’s Holy Mark. An undeniable proof was now before Lacey’s eyes.

“See? Do you believe me now?”

Her face twisted like a child who had just seen a ghost.

“…Sir Median, could you call Miss Agnes…?”

After a long silence, Lacey whispered in a trembling voice.

It wasn’t an answer to my question, but a completely unrelated response.

“Agnes? Why her all of a sudden?”

Does she not trust her own eyes and wants another Saint Candidate to confirm it?

When I asked, Lacey trembled and barely managed to lift her head from my chest to look at me.

For just a brief moment.

“…I think I’m going to faint now.”

With a soft murmur, Lacey collapsed onto the bed as if her strings had been cut.

Her eyes rolled back, and her mouth hung open.

Her heart was still beating, but her consciousness had already flown far away.

…She really fainted.

I was too stunned to speak.

—

In the end, I had to gather everyone except Damian and Seilon in Lacey’s room to continue the proper explanation.

Agnes, who had been praying in the next room, Hersh, who had quietly descended from the ceiling, Milia, and Rana, who had been waiting on the first floor—everyone was there.

Before Lacey, who had been treated by Agnes, woke up, I first showed everyone my Holy Mark.

They were all equally shocked… but at least none of them fainted like Lacey did.

“Uh… is this for real?”

Milia poked at my Holy Mark with a disbelieving face.

It’s not like poking it would make it feel any different.

“…This is unprecedented. The Scales of Justice. It suits you, Ha-shal-leur, but… even so, for a non-believer to receive a Holy Mark…”

Agnes tapped her chin as she carefully observed my Holy Mark.

As someone who understood the meaning of the Holy Mark second only to Lacey, she seemed to find it hard to believe that I had been granted one.

…To be honest, I can’t believe it either.

“A Holy Mark! That’s amazing, unnie! It’s a shame it’s not Shaulite’s Holy Mark, though!”

Rana just stared in admiration, her eyes sparkling as she clung to me.

It seemed she was more excited about the fact that I had been recognized by a god than the Holy Mark itself.

And Hersh…

“A Holy Mark? Ha-shal-leur as a Saint Candidate? …Is this the end times?”

She muttered under her breath like an ant crawling by.

It was such an absurd comment that I just let it slide.