Ch.40Devotion Offered by the Sword (15)

The nun’s steps were cautious, as if walking through a field of thorns. She carried neither candle nor knife in her hands. Yet she surely hadn’t opened the lock with her bare hands.

Just then, the nun turned toward the bookshelf. As expected, her habit was slit open along the side.

From her right hip down to her knee, smooth yet firm muscles were clearly visible. It looked perfect for climbing over walls or ambushing someone.

Her legs weren’t bare. Two leather straps were tightly fastened like a harness.

One was near her hip and the other at mid-thigh. Between the two straps, various knives, lock-picking tools, and ice picks were visible.

She seemed to deliberately keep her stride short because of the harness. The equipment might make noise if it collided.

Above all, the position was perfect. If she dropped her arm naturally, her hand would reach the tools. This meant she could draw them comfortably and quickly at any time.

Her footsteps. The way she wore her equipment. The speed at which she picked locks. She was a professional.

‘If I were to confront her…’

The nun’s habit was baggy, which would surely be a burden to her. By taking advantage of the surprise element and the inconvenience of her habit, I could subdue her in one go.

But whether to strike immediately was somewhat questionable.

It was clear the nun was searching for something. She was meticulously examining each bookshelf, from top to bottom.

Judging by her extremely unhurried manner, she seemed to know there were no patrols here.

Well, she had openly picked the lock in the corridor to enter. This meant she was familiar with the internal affairs and geography of this place—an insider.

She had also chosen her time well. Wasn’t this when both the guards’ vigilance and the brothers’ concentration would be at their lowest? And assuming she was an insider, it made sense why she came in ‘today’ specifically.

The fact that the Pope was destroying evidence. The fact that Haspel was already dead. The fact that Haspel had been dispatched to investigate the Knight of Chastity.

The only people who knew all three pieces of information were the high-ranking inquisitors who had gathered in Heinrich’s office.

Then this nun must be a subordinate of one of them.

‘But what information is she looking for? What does she plan to do with it?’

If she opposed the Pope, she would try to steal it for herself. If she supported the Pope, she would try to destroy it first. Or perhaps send it ahead to the Pope before a formal investigation could take place.

Kain decided to watch a little longer. He could ambush her anytime. If the nun found something, he could pounce then.

The nun moved to the next bookshelf. When a creaking sound was heard, she stopped. After carefully stepping on the floor again, she bent down. As she curled her body,

“…Let there be light,” she whispered.

With a snap of her fingers, a flame about the size of a candle flickered. It seemed she too could use miracles.

Concerned about light leaking outside, she carefully covered the flame with her sleeve. She fumbled, inserting a knife into a gap and lifting it.

“Hmm.”

The nun tilted her head. She seemed troubled that a space that should have contained something was completely empty.

She snapped her fingers to extinguish the flame. The nun suddenly stood up and walked toward the desk. Kain rolled his body to move into a blind spot.

The nun made clicking sounds as she unlocked the desk. There was a sound of a drawer opening and something being rummaged through. She must not have found what she wanted, as it closed quickly.

Sighing, she seemed to return to the bookshelf, but then came back to the desk.

She pulled up a chair and lowered herself. The backpack. She had discovered the backpack containing the diary.

Kain lunged like a snake.

In an instant, he moved behind the nun and choked her with both arms. As he applied strong pressure, the nun’s head drooped.

After confirming her slowed pulse, Kain laid the nun on the floor.

“I’m sorry.”

It was time to leave. He securely fastened the backpack to his body.

After fixing a rope to the upper balcony, he could climb up repeatedly to exit. Kain unwound the rope from his waist.

– Duck!

The Shadow shouted. Kain instinctively bent his knees. A knife flew over his head with a whoosh. The nun had somehow gotten up.

“Who are you?”

Her voice was grotesque. It sounded like how a tree might speak.

Her body was swaying, unlike her precise movements from before. She looked like someone drunk and staggering.

“Who are you to dare touch my daughter? Did you think you could safely leave after touching the daughter of the Ash Tree?”

Shadows were dripping from beneath the wooden mask.

The nun grabbed an ice pick from her thigh. A weapon called “Mercy” because it could end the suffering of those with incurable wounds with just one proper stab.

The nun rushed forward and struck down with the pick. Kain blocked it with his club. With a loud thud, the pick pierced straight through the club. As he threw the club away, the pick was also pushed to the corner.

The nun’s hand moved toward her right thigh. Kain kicked hard at the side where her weapons were tied. Taking advantage of her loss of balance, he pushed her abdomen with his foot. As expected, the nun blocked it with her left arm.

He punched her mask. With a crack, the mask split. The nun clutched her face and retreated. The shadow fell to the floor like a downpour and scattered into the darkness.

“…You!”

The nun took her stance. Annoyingly, it was that precise stance from before. She picked up a dagger and slashed her habit all the way to the bottom.

‘I have a bad feeling about this.’

He couldn’t retrieve the discarded club. Kain slightly hooked the chair leg with his ankle and pulled it toward himself.

“Haah!”

The nun threw herself forward. She placed both hands on the floor and did a large forward tumble. A kick loaded with weight and momentum flew at Kain. He pushed the chair he had pulled.

It was futile. The nun elegantly bent her arms and then extended them like a spring, easily jumping over the chair.

And again, a fierce kick. Kain was pushed toward the wall. The nun tilted her head slightly and then lunged with a strange cry.

It felt like fighting a human-sized spider. Just as he blocked a foot flying at his side, a knife came at his opposite shoulder.

He barely managed to strike her abdomen to push her away, but what he felt was the distinctive touch of hard leather armor. She seemed to be wearing tight leather clothing under her habit.

The assumption that the habit would hinder her was a miscalculation. The fluttering cloth and skirt blocked his vision. It was close to an elaborate yet absurdly street-like brawl.

‘At this rate, I’ll be pushed back.’

He lowered his stance and threw an uppercut. Though it narrowly missed her chin, he didn’t care and rammed her with his shoulder. The nun’s balance was disrupted. He tripped her leg and pushed her backward.

The nun fell backward. Even in that moment, she tried to rise by using momentum in her waist.

Kain quickly climbed on top of the nun. Just as he pinned her down with his leg, the nun extended her right arm straight toward Kain’s face.

Click.

– Deflect it!

Almost simultaneously with the shout, Kain raised his left arm to deflect the nun’s right arm. A blade that had sprung from the back of her hand flashed.

It was a mechanical device attached to the wrist, with a simple structure where a spring would release and a blade would pop out when a switch was pressed or the arm was twisted at a specific angle.

Though its weakness was poor durability, it was also a tool that could catch someone off guard if they didn’t know about it.

“You, who are you?”

The nun panted. Pinned down completely, she seemed unable to resist.

Kain shook his head. He couldn’t even guess where and how many more weapons she had hidden.

“Are you an assassin hired from the East? Almost only they use wrist blades in actual combat. How did you know to block it?”

“I don’t intend to harm you. If I really wanted to kill you, I would have cut your throat when I ambushed you earlier.”

“Ah. How noble. After tying up a weak nun so she can’t move her limbs?”

Kain closed his mouth. Light footsteps were heard from the far end of the corridor.

He couldn’t cause more commotion. There was no time to persuade or appease the nun. If she screamed, it would be troublesome for Kain.

Kain choked the nun with his right hand. He skillfully moved his thumb to keep her airway open but pressed the spot that would make her lose consciousness.

Unlike before, he hoped she would properly faint this time. The nun trembled and then went limp again. Her eyes rolled back.

“…Desire conceives and gives birth to sin.”

Again, that grotesque voice. A sound like forcibly squeezing the throat.

The nun slammed her clenched left hand on the floor with a thud. She seemed to be trying to hit the floor, not Kain. He tried to choke her again, but it was meaningless. It felt like choking a wooden doll.

“…And sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. You greedy one. Take your fruit.”

The nun slammed her fist down again with a thud. Blood dripped with a patter. As she drew strange letters on the floor with blood, the smell of burning blood stung his nose. Shadows crawled up the nun’s body.

– “Kairos.”

Kain was terrified. What he was pinning down was not the nun. It was his dead fiancée. Naked, with blood flowing from her knife-cut neck, Beatrice Dandolo was looking up at him.

– “Kairos. I missed you.”

Flames rose. Black, sooty flames. Far from scorching flesh, they couldn’t even burn a single thread. They didn’t spread to the wooden floor nor did they illuminate the surroundings.

Yet they consumed Beatrice’s body and spread to Kain’s.

It was cold. But it burned life force, cut off breath, and froze the heart. Beatrice spat out black blood. It was a sizzling lump of blood that had been burned.

– “Kairos. My beloved Kairos… kiss me. Hurry. You said you loved me. You said we’d be together in life and in death.

Your heart is my heart, and my heart is your heart, whether in happiness or sorrow, in joy or in grief, we shall always be one.

Did you forget our engagement vow? Don’t you remember? Or… perhaps you’ve found another woman?”

His heart was burning up. His fingertips were freezing. Kain, no, Kairos could only shake his head. Beatrice pulled Kairos’s hand to her exposed chest. Like putting a hand in mud, he felt her cold heart with a sinking sensation.

– “Why. Are you tired of a heart that doesn’t beat?”

Beatrice’s eyes gleamed maliciously. Somehow, her slender hand had pierced through Kairos’s chest. It was cold and chilling, like an icicle stabbing his heart.

– “It’s warm. Kairos, give it to me too. Make my heart beat again too. Just one bite. Just one bite for me. Then I can come back to life. Hurry. Hurry… give it to me now!”

Beatrice squeezed Kairos’s heart with both hands. Kairos groaned.

It was a lie. This was a lie. But his body didn’t listen to reason. Kairos gasped in pain.

– “Your heart is my heart! My heart is your heart! You swore! You promised! Give it to me. Give it to me! It’s unfair. Unfair! Why must only I burn in hell? Why? Why? Why must I alone suffer in that cold hellfire? Why… why…!”

Blood vessels entangled Kairos’s body like vines. Tendons firmly held Kairos’s body.

– “Why. Why are you doing this? Because I don’t embrace you like before? Because we don’t make love like before? Are you disgusted by someone like me now? You’ve found another woman, haven’t you? You don’t care about the dead woman anymore! How could you do this? I’ve been waiting only for you, I’ve been waiting for you at the bottom of hell!”

The door flung open. Kairos couldn’t turn around. The dead woman was pulling his body. Chest to chest, their lips almost touching.

“Sin conceives suffering.”

The flesh melted from Beatrice’s face. The fresh body withered and twisted. The melting fiancée let out a scream. A peaceful light spread throughout the room.

“Suffering gives birth to regret and nurtures it.”

Like being thrown into the river of time, Beatrice’s body aged rapidly. Her flesh melted into dust, and her bones rotted black and crumbled. Yet her heart remained as vivid as a seed drained of moisture. It seemed as if it would beat again if just a drop of blood touched it.

“Regret shoulders the legacy of atonement and embarks on a long journey.”

Inquisitor Heinrich’s hand rested on the bodies of the nun and Kain. The nun convulsed and twisted her body. The black fire began to extinguish. The coldness gradually receded from Kain’s body.

“You. Wanderer. Where do you seek rest today?”

“Urghhhh….”

The nun wailed strangely.

“Heinrich…! I curse you… I curse you…!”

Heinrich’s manner of speaking changed instantly.

“Begone, demon! You still think of the affairs of the living! The land of the living belongs to the living, and the land of the dead belongs to the dead! Return to the darkness where you belong!”

The nun’s eyes rolled back. Kain moved away from her body. Though staggering, she tried to stand upright.

“Ugh! Cough, cough!… Father…”

“Shh. Shh. It’s alright. It’s alright.”

The nun sobbed faintly. She was still trembling. Small light emanated from Heinrich’s hand, pooling like water on the nun’s wounds. The reclining moonlight illuminated them.

Only then did Kain realize the source of the strange sense of dissonance.

It wasn’t just the nun’s strange gait. Heinrich and the nun looked surprisingly alike. From the forehead to the nose, they were almost identical. The age difference also seemed appropriate for a father-daughter relationship.

“…I’m sorry.”

Kain slumped down. Heinrich’s hand emitted light. The nun went limp. No demon-like entity jumped out this time.

“I didn’t expect you to come tonight, Agent.”

“I didn’t expect that… that nun to attack either.”

Kain roughly pulled off his mask. Heinrich extended his hand to Kain as well. The peaceful light drove away the cold chill.

“She’s your daughter, isn’t she?”

“…Yes.”

Heinrich checked the nun’s neck. Fortunately, she seemed to have fainted.

“How can a nun use shadow magic?”

“…She takes after her mother.”

Kain stared blankly at Heinrich. Heinrich nodded.

“Yes, this child is the daughter of an inquisitor and a witch. Born of sin, but a beloved child nonetheless.”

“Haspel said you could be trusted.”

“Haspel knew.” Tears flowed from Heinrich’s eyes.

“Only Haspel knew. My wife… was also Haspel’s younger sister. But Agent, we don’t have much time. I came up for a breath of fresh air while on night duty. Since the weather isn’t good, let’s meet tomorrow at the lion statue clock tower in Magdeburg. Just after three in the afternoon. How does that sound?”

Kain nodded.

The return journey was unbearably painful. Heinrich kept watch in the corridor, and it was easy to climb up to the roof of the Inquisition, but the wind carrying the chill of the dead kept reviving the painful sensation.

Kain ran. He ran believing that darkness would cover darkness and cold would wash away cold. Half relying on experience. Half unconsciously.

When he finally sneaked into the disguised lodging of the Royal Guard Bureau, Kain was too exhausted to even take off his clothes.

After confirming that Lily was sleeping comfortably, he slumped against the wall and fell into a dreamless sleep.

It was a cold, cold sleep.