<Chapter 59>

“Do you… believe me?”

Nod, nod!

Seeing Ferry nod enthusiastically, the man felt uneasy. ‘Can such a naive child really be trusted as her guard?’ he wondered.

‘Still… it’s a relief for now.’

Despite his youthful appearance, the boy before him possessed extraordinary strength and speed. If it came to a fight, the man wasn’t confident he could subdue him without lethal force. In fact, it was more likely he’d be the one to die.

“I have some questions. You’re Inosensia’s guard, right? That place earlier… it wasn’t the Great Temple, was it? Why was Inosensia there? And that monster of a man who restrained me briefly—who is he?”

At the man’s questions, Ferry only tilted his head in confusion.

At first, the man thought Ferry wasn’t going to answer. But seeing the clueless look on the boy’s face, the man quickly realized the truth.

“Wait… you can’t talk, can you?”

Nod, nod.

“Then… can you write?”

Tilt, tilt.

The man let out a sigh of frustration. The only person who could answer his questions right now was this boy. But of all things, the boy couldn’t speak or write.

No matter how formidable his skills, is this really someone they should place at Inosensia’s side?

‘Could this placement… be intentional?’  

Is it to isolate her completely, to ensure no information reaches her?

Grab.

“Huh?”

Before the man could process his thoughts, Ferry had stepped closer and clasped his hand firmly.

The man was startled—once by how he’d let Ferry get so close without realizing it, and twice by the warmth of the boy’s gentle grip.

“Wh-what are you doing?”

And then—

Swoosh!

A brilliant white light, speckled with golden particles, burst from Ferry’s body, enveloping the man entirely.

His vision flashed white, and he instinctively flinched. But he didn’t shake off Ferry’s hand.

‘This energy…!’

A warm, comforting energy welled up from deep within him, washing away the impurities clogging his mind like sludge.

The dam blocking his memories shattered, and countless images poured out in a torrent.

“Oh, I can’t stand her. Why would someone with such pathetic divine power be chosen as a saintess candidate? Did she bribe someone?”

“Not likely. She’s just a street urchin orphan. What could she possibly bribe them with?”

“Pray? You? Just go do the laundry, that’s how you can help.”

“Her guardian? Please, that’s something I’ll regret for the rest of my life!”

“Did you hear? That Inosensia girl who went to the North… she supposedly died because she didn’t want to marry the Monster Duke.”}

‘What is this… Are these memories real?’

The man couldn’t believe the fragments flashing through his mind.

No, he didn’t want to believe them.

He had given up everything, even himself, to protect his sister. Yet, manipulated by the Pope, he had walked past her suffering without a second glance…

‘This isn’t what I wanted!’

He knew how Saintess candidates were treated at the Great Temple.

Regardless of age, they were always accompanied by a retinue of followers. Devotees who came to pray treated them with reverence.

With the Pope unable to act publicly, the Saintess candidates held the real power in the Great Temple.

He had wanted his sister, who grew up suffering on the streets, to spend the rest of her life in comfort and safety.

‘Then why… Why did Inosensia have to go through such things?’

As a fugitive wanted for murder, he couldn’t protect her himself. He had thought leaving her in the care of the Great Temple was the best he could do.

If he had known… he would have become an outlaw alongside her and protected her with his own hands!

“Your sister will live a life of utmost care as a saintess candidate.”

“You broke your promise…”

The words slipped out, raw with anger he could no longer contain.

At that moment, he felt something erupt from deep within his chest—a power that surged outward in an explosion of blinding white light.

Swoosh!

“What is this…?”

The light surrounding him was tinged with golden particles. The man stared, wide-eyed, unable to hide his shock.

“What is this energy…?”

While his memories were lost, he had lived as an Inquisitor, a pawn of the Pope. His weapon of choice was the sword at his waist and a silver spear conjured through divine power.

But that divine power always came from the Pope.

Whenever it was exhausted, he would have to return to the Pope to replenish it through a pendant that served as a conduit…

‘No, that’s not right. It wasn’t always like that.’

Even as a child, he had known there was an unfamiliar energy coursing through his body.

With it, he had punished wrongdoers and avenged his parents, who had been framed and stripped of their title. But that vengeance made him a fugitive…

Eventually, he was captured and brought before the Pope. Only then did he learn that the energy within him was divine power.

Yes, this power had been his all along, from the moment he was born. It was not something he needed the Pope’s permission to wield.

If anyone had the right to grant him access to it…

‘It should have been God, not the Pope!’

At that realization, the divine power within him—purified by Ferry’s touch—swelled to many times its former strength.

As the man stood in stunned silence, Ferry beamed at him.

Then, like an old friend reunited, Ferry threw his arms around him, patting his back a few times. Before the man could react, Ferry pulled something from his pocket and placed it in his hand.

“Wait… you—!”

Before the man could call after him, Ferry disappeared like the wind.

Left standing alone, the man stared blankly at the item Ferry had given him.

“This is…”

A sigil of identity, engraved with the Winstein family crest.

He had been a wanted man, but his fugitive status had been erased after making a deal with the Pope.

Still, his identity remained unclear.

The pendant had once signified his affiliation, but now it was broken…

‘That pendant…’

The moment he had accepted it from the Pope, he had lost himself. But when it shattered, he had regained his sense of self.

The fact that the Pope had used the pendant as a conduit to grant him divine power—it was suspicious in so many ways.

And yet, every member of the Great Temple, including the Saintess candidates, carried one of those pendants.

“Ferry! Destroy that pendant!”

‘Inosensia must have known it was suspicious all along.’

If so, she probably realized the Pope himself was untrustworthy. Perhaps that’s why she chose to go to the North.

At least there, she might be safer than in the Great Temple…

‘No, it’s not safe there either.’

As he replayed the memories that had resurfaced, the man clenched his teeth.

‘He promised to take care of my sister… and then ordered me to kill her.’

If not for those two men stopping him, he would have killed his only remaining family with his own hands.

He had no right to face Inosensia.

Only after severing the Pope’s head with his own blade would he kneel before her and beg for forgiveness.

‘But first, I need information.’

The Pope, no matter how corrupt, was still the Pope. He was protected by countless holy knights.

This meant there would only be one chance—when the Pope let his guard down, unaware that the man had regained his memories.

The memory of his sister’s lilac eyes overlapped with the image of the little Inosensia he had once vowed to protect.

From the start, his goal had always been the same:

To protect the only family he had left.

‘Wait for me, Pope.’

Fueled by vengeance, the man clenched the sigil Ferry had left him tightly in his hand.
 

<To be continued>

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