Huff, huff.
Hi, this is hard.
Finally freed, May and Lucia collapsed onto a nearby fountain, catching their breath.
As the tension began to ease, their sweat glands opened up like a dam, resulting in May buying two towels to wipe off the excess.
“Uh, is she alright?”
Worried about Sen, Lucia asked, and May reassured her not to fret.
“She’s exceptionally strong. From what I saw earlier, she seems capable enough.”
Moreover, since the assassin still hadn’t caught up, it felt like either a conclusion was still pending or Sen had emerged victorious.
“How did you know?”
How did she know that she and Lucia were being hunted? May took off her jumper and draped it over her arm as she wiped her nape with a towel.
“Sen could notice the Chokugen Faction immediately.”
“Geez, that startled me!”
Startled by Elise suddenly peering in, May instinctively threw her towel.
With a thwack, the towel hit Elise squarely in the face, causing her previously smiling expression to falter slightly.
“Wow, you really caught me off guard there! I recently regretted helping you.”
“My bad! But honestly, I was surprised and just reacted.”
Accepting the towel back, May awkwardly apologized. Elise wiped her face with a handkerchief and sighed.
“Isn’t she a nun of Helios? The current Saint Candidate.”
“Right, how did you know that?”
Seeing May’s astonished expression, Elise felt a bit smug but continued calmly.
“First off, we need to take her back to the cathedral. It’s extremely dangerous out here. There’s a very dangerous person targeting her.”
“Targeting me?”
“Must be another saint candidate.”
Elise nodded, sighing after May’s obvious remark.
“A nun serving Goddess Demeter. There’s a gigantic person backing her. I can’t say who, but just be aware.”
That was enough for Lucia to grasp the situation. Someone was targeting her from another faction of nuns.
Despite feeling a chill of fear, as a nun and a saint candidate, she couldn’t ignore this issue.
“Head back to the cathedral right away. I can help up to this point.”
“Yes, thank you so much.”
“I’ll take you.”
Leaving Elise’s aid behind, Lucia and May headed back toward the cathedral. It wouldn’t take long if they quickened their pace slightly.
After the two left, Elise sighed and stretched.
She had tried her best to thwart the plans of her older brother, Oliver de Frisia, the 1st Prince, and had succeeded to some extent.
Outwardly, she pretended to assist him, but secretly sought to sabotage his plans.
With the prince moving, she had asked the senior Sen to check for the Chokugen Faction.
Thanks to Sen, who knew their habits like the back of her hand, they could effortlessly detect the enemy’s pursuit.
‘By now, Sen must have taken care of them.’
Having her maid, Bertia, follow her, Sen couldn’t have possibly lost. Elise strode leisurely toward the alley where Sen was fighting.
“Wait…?”
Blood flowed through the alley like a river, never ceasing, finally reaching the tips of Elise’s shoes.
“You’ve arrived.”
Her servant, Priscilla, stood there alongside two fallen individuals.
Sen and Bertia.
‘Did she just lose to Priscilla?’
While Priscilla, Oliver’s servant, was certainly impressive, Bertia, the former leader of the Shadow Guild, must have had superior skills.
“That wasn’t me. Someone from the Chokugen Faction took care of it; I merely came to clean up.”
“……!”
“If it’s the princess, I know for certain she would help her friends. Though she might try to act indifferent, deep down, she’s very caring.”
“Are you spying on me?”
How dare someone dig into her affairs as the 3rd princess and set such traps?
But Priscilla answered without a flicker of emotion.
“Surely, Prince Oliver wouldn’t want anything from the princess. He’s perfectly self-sufficient.”
“I… must have forgotten how he was during our last meeting.”
What kind of person that man was.
She thought about how things could have been different had she been more cautious but already considered it too late.
Inviting her to his hotel room was the trap itself.
Feigning friendship, he was simply looking for a way to ensnare her. Similar to a fighter intentionally exposing their weaknesses to counterattack.
Even if she realized this, Elise could only act as she did now. May and the other students could be in danger, and if that happened, Daniel would be sad.
“The princess wasn’t incompetent. Rather, she was wise enough that the prince would deliberately mix truth and lies. Since I mentioned the nun of Demeter, it’s no wonder you fell for it.”
Oliver had shown her plenty of evidence that he had been supporting Demeter’s nun for a long time, leaving Elise with no choice but to believe.
“He said we should go together. The prince has granted a special mercy towards a traitor. This is a rare exception, made possible by the blood ties.”
Feeling her insides getting scratched by Priscilla’s words, Elise bit her lip and held onto her dress tightly, but there was literally nothing else she could do.
‘Ah, Daniel, I’m sorry.’
This is where it ends for me.
*
“Just start things off with a sucker punch when you see that nun of Demeter.”
“Huh? But that’s a bit…”
Against Lucia’s protest, May struck her chest with frustration.
“Hey, you were the one who had that assassin target me. It’s just a fair exchange. I would’ve gone straight in with a bat to crush her.”
“I’ll… do my best.”
As they spoke, the two entered the threshold of a long bridge. They’d reach the cathedral right after crossing it. After a moment’s thought, May smiled and said,
“Still, this was kinda fun.”
Chasing after an assassin couldn’t have really been fun, could it? Knowing this was May’s attempt to ease the tension, Lucia managed a faint smile.
“You’d actually suit being a nun pretty well.”
“Ugh, me?”
She’d never thought of that before and pretended to gag, but then reflected.
“Nun outfits are kinda sexy, though?”
“H-Hey! Why are you saying that in front of a nun?”
“Why? I’ve heard guys say nun outfits are kind of hot. I think it’s about the gap. A nun should be pure, yet secretly has that side.”
“May!”
“Hehe, I wonder if Daniel likes nun outfits?”
If he does, I’d totally wear one!
In that moment, her foot swung uselessly into thin air.
With their centers of gravity tipping forward, the two girls realized a few seconds later that they had fallen from the bridge.
“Lucia!”
May hurriedly grabbed Lucia, pulling her into her back as they fell into the river crossing Bartrian City.
The sound of the two girls splashing into the water drew the startled gazes of onlookers. The surprising part? Nobody had noticed the two girls falling from the bridge.
Gulp!
“May!”
Disoriented from the fall, May struggled to regain her senses. This time, it was Lucia who held her and swam towards the riverbank below the bridge.
“Huff, huff! May! Are you okay?”
“Cough!”
May coughed up water but didn’t lose consciousness, so Lucia hugged her tightly.
“Ah, Helios!”
Genuinely grateful to Helios, Lucia checked May’s face. Though pale, her expression was reassuringly calm.
“Surprised, huh? A nun swimming so well—guess you played in streams a lot when you were a kid?”
The sinister undertone in that voice was practically oozing. It felt like a spider crawling on her neck and spinning its web.
Even under the bridge, a lady dressed in a black lace dress and sporting a black parasol looked down at them with a smile—perfectly suited to the description of a madame.
“Crap, Lucia, run!”
Though her body was still weak, May hurriedly stood, grabbing Lucia’s hand.
“That person was the woman who passed by us just before we fell off the bridge!”
In an instant, a chill ran down Lucia’s spine.
How could that woman, who seemed so far behind, now be standing underneath the bridge?
Is she some kind of ghost?
The woman covered her mouth in laughter, lightly teasing.
“Do you think you can escape?”
“……”
“I could easily take your head right here, right now. Be a bit wiser and consider your options. You’re either begging me for your lives or negotiating something.”
The hint of conversation caused May and Lucia to freeze. Clearly, the woman’s prowess held depths beyond their imagination.
If they underestimated her and moved carelessly, they could lose their heads just like they fell off that bridge.
“Alright then…”
Just as the madame smiled and was about to say something, a loud, booming male voice interrupted.
“May Plov!”
You know what they say, it’s an age-old cliché, but thugs generally love hanging about under bridges.
Especially in a new city, finding their sanctuary and secret hideout is a top priority.
Like cockroaches slipping under a bed.
“Senior Talois?”
There stood Talois, the Fist King of the 5th grade, along with his entourage.
There were far more of them than when they saw each other in the city, including 4th graders and even some of the 3rd graders she knew.
‘Were they recruited?’
While they seemed to be instructing her to betray herself, this was instead an opportunity.
May grabbed Lucia’s hand and pushed her way through the group.
“Whoa!”
The gang was startled as May squeezed in among them, and she shouted with a grin.
“Hey, seniors! It’s her! That woman over there called us fools!”
“Oh my, how vulgar.”
The madame, still wearing that cunning smile, shifted her gaze to the gang.
May had her reasons for pulling such a stunt.
Both the assassin throwing daggers earlier and this madame seemed intent on creating an area with no people nearby. In other words, they didn’t want any witnesses involved in their reason.
‘Our students won’t dare kill us outright.’
May’s prediction was spot on.
Someone of the madame’s caliber could simply tear through human barriers to find May Plov and Lucia but chose to retain her smile instead.
Finally joining the end of the gang, May turned to see Lucia, squished between the crowd.
“Run straight to the cathedral now, got it?”
“May, are you…”
“Hey, I’ll deal with this lady. I’ll buy you time until you get to the cathedral.”
“But then…!”
May hugged Lucia tightly.
“She can’t kill me. If you notice how she’s only targeting you, it’s clear.”
“May…”
“As long as you step into the cathedral, we win. Make sure to give that Demeter nun a good hit for me.”
Lucia hugged May tightly as well.
“I definitely will. It’s been a short time, but I’m really grateful. I hope we meet again, my delinquent friend.”
“Go now.”
Wiping her flowing tears, Lucia dashed toward the cathedral. She understood that her escape would conclude all of this.
Therefore, she could only make the heart-wrenching choice to leave her friend behind.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
Talois approached May, visibly annoyed.
He raised his fist, ready to hit her, but she merely grinned and pointed behind him.
“Think we have time for that?”
“What?”
“There’s that crazy lady coming this way.”
The madame was strolling towards them, clapping slowly as if this was a hilarious drama.
*
“Lucia?”
Upon entering the cathedral, Lucia met the waiting priest but ignored him, marching deeper inside.
“Lu, Lucia! That’s where the other nuns’ rooms are! You can’t just go in!”
Strict rules prohibited nuns from knowing each other’s faces or names until the election started, meaning Lucia shouldn’t be acting carelessly.
But Lucia had long given up on being a saint.
Helping her delinquent friend was far more important.
‘Prepare for some nosebleeds.’
With the priest’s voice trailing behind her, Lucia quickened her pace. Gripping the rosary around her neck, she pushed open the door bearing the emblem of Goddess Demeter.
“You!”
Just as she was about to confront whoever was inside, the first thing that greeted her was an unbearable stench.
The vivid blood, blinding her eyes, stained the perfectly clean nun’s clothing along with the richly decorated carpet.
“Uh?”
Demeter’s rosary hung around her neck.
In a paralyzing sense of dread, she froze as she saw the lifeless nun sprawled out.
A dagger lodged between the ample bosoms of the nun serving Demeter.
That nun was already dead.
“What on earth…?”
Twisting her body to turn back toward the priest who had accompanied her followed a strange realization.
“Child, you should have known your limits.”
The priest, who had come with Helios, covered Lucia’s mouth with a handkerchief, and with the sting of a drugged scent, she was knocked senseless.
