Holy Kingdom – Collapse (3)

-Churup. Lick. Lick.

Rena was lapping up a pale liquid with her face buried in an iron bowl.

“Is it delicious?”

“Umm… It’s delicious!”

Raising her head, Rena wiped the substance around her mouth with her finger.

-Swish.

She then put it straight into her mouth, savoring the taste.

“Ah! Your Holiness, may I ask something that’s been on my mind?”

“Now that you’ve eaten well, you may ask.”

“Though the probability is extremely low… what if Jade still loves me even after hearing the whole truth? I have to leave his side, but…”

“Hoho, that’s entirely possible. After all, Rena-yang has thoroughly enchanted the Hero.”

“I-I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright. If the Hero says he can’t give you up… you should attack him.”

“A-attack Jade?”

Rena froze abruptly, staring blankly at the Pope.

“Rena-yang?”

The Pope momentarily felt goosebumps.

‘An eerie sensation…’

But the Pope dismissed it as unimportant.

He had confirmed multiple times that the brainwashing was perfectly intact.

“No need to listen so tensely. For example, you could steal his sword to attack him. If that’s impossible, even something like glass shards would work. Of course, it mustn’t endanger his life or leave lasting damage – just the act of attacking him will make him abandon you.”

“Without endangering his life. Understood.”

Rena nodded as if comprehending.

“But if I do that… Jade will come to hate me…”

“Hmm… Rena-yang, come closer.”

“Pardon?”

“Quickly.”

The Pope beckoned impatiently.

Rena hurriedly approached the Pope.

“Do you have a command for mㅡ”

-Bang!

“Gak… Keok…”

Rena clutched her stomach, trembling violently before collapsing face-first.

The Pope’s holy power-infused fist had struck her abdomen brutally.

The Pope approached the writhing Rena and knelt before her.

“Do you still harbor lingering feelings for the Hero?”

“Kkeuk… Euek…”

Only drool trickled from Rena’s gaping mouth instead of answers.

“Rena-yang, you must remember. You are a ‘criminal’.”

“Kkeup… I understand, Your Holiness.”

Enduring the pain, Rena prostrated herself before the Pope.

“I’m sorry for asking such a… haah… strange question.”

“Never. Never hold back the Hero’s progress.”

**

“I love you too.”

-Stab.

Cold, sharp metal easily pierced through skin and muscle.

Crimson blood flowed down the blade onto the floor.

-Drip. Drip. Drip.

“Rena. Is this your choice?”

“J-Jade…”

Rena withdrew her hand from the hilt and scrambled backward.

-Bang!

The door burst open as Lucas rushed in.

“A-are you alright? The criminal just attacked you withㅡ”

“……”

Jade and Rena’s gazes naturally turned toward the uninvited Lucas.

‘For the interrogator to appear right after the stabbing…’

Jade studied Lucas intently.

“Were you spying on us?”

“…My apologies. I heard a loud noise and peeked through the door crack to assess the situation.”

Lucas readily admitted his fault with a bowed head.

Had he been watching since they collapsed together earlier?

Jade considered reprimanding him but let it go.

Such trivialities didn’t matter now.

“More importantly, are you injured?”

At Lucas’s concerned question, Jade raised his left hand.

The sword Rena had thrust remained impaled through his palm.

Moments before.

As Rena stabbed toward Jade’s abdomen,

-Stab.

Jade swiftly blocked it with the back of his hand.

Even caught off guard, Jade couldn’t possibly miss a mana-less sword thrust from Rena.

Jade stared briefly at his left palm.

-Drip.

Blood continued flowing from the gaping wound.

Without priestly healing, this could permanently disable his left hand.

Normally, he’d be writhing in sudden agony…

Yet strangely, he barely felt anything now.

“It’s slightly painful but manageable.”

Jade showed his hand to Lucas.

“Y-you blocked that with your hand?! We must treat it immediatelyㅡ”

“No.”

Jade yanked the sword from his palm in one motion.

-Clang!

He tore his clothing to hastily wrap the wound.

The blue fabric quickly stained crimson.

“That won’t stop the bleeding properly.”

Unable to watch, Lucas grabbed Jade’s left hand.

-Shhh.

White light emanated from beneath Lucas’s palm.

“I’ve temporarily stopped the bleeding. But you’ll need a healing priest soon to prevent scarring.”

“…Thank you. I’ll be fine now, so please leave.”

“Rather than that, I should apprehend the criminalㅡ”

-Grab.

Jade firmly gripped Lucas’s shoulder, cutting him off.

“I beg you. I need time alone with Rena.”

“Hero…”

“Please.”

Beneath Jade’s seemingly rational exterior raged violent anger and sorrow.

Recognizing this, Lucas had no choice but to retreat.

“…Understood. I apologize again for spying.”

Lucas bowed before quickly exiting.

Once again, only Jade and Rena remained.

-Thud. Thud.

Jade began walking toward Rena.

He remembered hearing that extreme anger could paradoxically bring calm.

‘Is this that state?’

He never dreamed Rena would subject him to this worst possible experience.

Though Jade now stood before her, Rena remained crouched motionless.

“Rena.”

“……”

“Was this your choice to push me away? I told you – I’d choose you even against the world. Yet you had to hurt me like this?”

Rena trembled, biting her lower lip as if frightened by the situation.

“Th-that’s…”

“Or did that Malus bastard order you to kill me if exposed?”

Perhaps they’d ordered her to kill the now-unusable Hero.

If so, Rena had agreed and executed that command.

“This plan could never succeed. Even if you’d stabbed true, I wouldn’t have died. Yet you chose demons over me. Was our life-risking love worth so little?”

Hah.

Mere minutes ago, Rena had confessed her love was genuine.

‘Sniff… I love you. I love you so much.’

Yet now this betrayal.

Perhaps even that love was false.

‘How far does Rena intend to play with my heart?’

Jade could no longer believe anything she said.

Only then did Jade realize why his palm didn’t hurt.

The agony of Rena’s genuine betrayal tore through his chest.

‘It hurts. It hurts so much.’

Would being stabbed dozens of times through the heart hurt this badly?

The anguish overwhelmed all other sensations.

“Say something. Any excuse, no matter how absurd.”

“…Sorry.”

“I don’t need apologies now. Tell me what the demons promised for killing me. Was it something I couldn’t provide? I’m the Hero too. Weak now, but capable of achieving anything eventually.”

“……”

Jade continued questioning in a monotone.

But Rena remained catatonic, unable to answer properly.

“Ha… ha…”

Haven’t I tried hard enough?

Despite her colluding with demons, betraying friends, and deceiving everyone, he tried embracing her.

Yet Rena trampled his heart until the very end.

By pointing a blade at him.

‘Must I abandon Rena now?’

With everything this tangled, there might be no immediate solution.

Mere romantic love couldn’t sway Rena’s heart.

Though he’d wanted to believe otherwise, some things simply couldn’t be achieved through willpower alone.

“Rena, now isn’t the time. We who’ve run together this far need time. From here… we might never run together again.”

Jade turned away from Rena.

-Thud.

Seeing Jade leave, Rena desperately grabbed his leg.

“J-Jade, I’m so sorry.”

“Ah. Afraid of execution? I’ll prevent that.”

“That’s notㅡ”

-Peck.

Jade bent down and lightly kissed Rena’s forehead.

“I’ll give you time to reflect. When we meet again… I believe you’ll choose me.”

Rena.

Can we reconnect?

If not… I’ll…