Chapter 9: I’m looking for a new good girl

Liang Lai winked at her, then suddenly made a funny face.

Dolosa’s sobbing stopped abruptly.

She saw Liang Lai’s bloodstained lips open and close, silently mouthing, “Look, do I look like a toad?”

At the two hundred and fiftieth step, Liang Lai’s vision started to blur.

She felt a warm liquid sliding from the corner of her eye, not knowing if it was blood or tears.

Suddenly, a gasp erupted from the crowd—under her feet, the bloodstains began to glow, forming tiny cross-shaped patterns.

“Saint Mark!”

An old believer cried out.

“She’s enduring the Holy Wound!”

Liang Lai didn’t hear any of this.

In her ears echoed the passage of Ancient Church Scripture that Dolosa had recited to her that morning: “Love is patient, love is kind…”

When she took the final step, Liang Lai fell straight to her knees.

But she immediately struggled to her feet and turned to bow to the Judgement Council.

“Thank you all…”

Thank you all for letting her see reality clearly, and for making her realize that her transmigration this time wasn’t a joke, nor a sightseeing tour.

She was still carrying a burden.

When Dolosa broke free and rushed toward her, Liang Lai finally couldn’t hold on and collapsed forward.

The little girl caught her with her frail body, and the two of them fell together into the pool of blood.

Dolosa’s tears fell in big drops onto Liang Lai’s face.

“Why did you…”

It was the first time she had seen herself cry like this, as far back as she could remember.

Liang Lai cupped Dolosa’s face with her bloodied hands.

Her palms had been cut beyond recognition by the crystalization, but her touch was as gentle as a feather.

“Because… if even I am afraid, what will happen to those children?”

Dolosa suddenly felt something shatter in her chest.

She lowered her head, looking at her fingertips, which had crystallized without her noticing.

The spikes that were supposed to stab at the Blue Robe Inquisition were softening, turning into gentle points of light.

Liang Lai’s blood stained her face, burning hot like a melting sun.

She… her power wasn’t enough yet.

If she kept fighting, she would only drag down the Saintess before her.

“I hate them.”

Dolosa buried her face in Liang Lai’s neck, her voice muffled.

“I really hate them…”

Liang Lai gently stroked her back, humming an off-key tune.

The onlookers started whispering among themselves, some of the commoners secretly wiping away tears—even Margaret turned her face away.

Something was breaking.

By the time the Healer Priest finally arrived, Liang Lai was on the verge of losing consciousness, but she clung tightly to Dolosa’s hand.

“Come with me… I can’t rest easy… if you’re alone…”

Dolosa ran alongside the stretcher.

She saw something strange happening to the soles of Liang Lai’s feet.

The crystal fragments embedded in her flesh were melting, forming a translucent film that covered her wounds.

“You’ll be okay…”

Dolosa pressed Liang Lai’s hand to her own face.

In the medical room late at night, Dolosa fell asleep at Liang Lai’s bedside.

Her fingertips were still wrapped around a strand of Liang Lai’s silver hair, as if it were the only anchor she had.

Moonlight streamed through the stained glass, casting mottled shadows across her face.

Half-awake from pain, Liang Lai felt something warm pressed against her palm.

She turned her head slightly and saw tear stains still on Dolosa’s sleeping face.

Between their clasped hands, a tiny Crystal Cornflower was blooming.

“Hoo~”

Liang Lai let out a soft sigh.

“Looks like I didn’t get the easygoing isekai script after all. This kind of world isn’t much fun… Feels like you could die just by playing around a little.”

She moved her shoulder a bit, feeling that most of her wounds had already healed.

That was the one good thing about most isekai worlds—as long as it wasn’t a fatal injury and you had money for medicine, you could recover quickly.

I was too impulsive today, Liang Lai thought.

She had oversimplified things.

Maybe it was because the sudden transmigration felt unreal, and she spoke without thinking, completely forgetting about the class system of this world, and that this wasn’t some computer game.

“I really can’t take risks like that again… If I die, I’ll end up dragging down…”

Liang Lai’s gaze fell on Dolosa, and she let out a soft sigh.

“I’ll end up dragging innocent children down with me.”

Liang Lai felt that Dolosa had already suffered enough in her past life.

Abandoned by her biological parents in the Underground Sanctuary, the Sanctuary recognized her ability and kept her.

Although Liang Lai didn’t know exactly what was in the Underground Sanctuary, she’d heard that almost no one ever came back out.

There, something terrifying was hidden—revered by the Darkspawn, and feared by the Church.

“If there’s only one child, then the chances of my child becoming Pope are really too slim.”

Liang Lai felt sore from lying down so long, so she lifted the covers, slipped on her slippers, and walked over to the window.

She placed her hands on the cold windowsill, lifted her head slightly, and gazed up at the moon.

“Looks like I need to get out more, and find some new good kids.”

When morning light filtered through the medical room’s curtains, Dolosa woke up.

“We’re going to the market today!”

Liang Lai announced.

“I heard there are Fire-Spitting Birds.”

Dolosa was wary. “But your wounds…”

“They’re all healed~”

Liang Lai spun in place, the hem of her Saint’s Robe flaring out like a lotus.

“We Saintesses are pretty tough, you know.”

She didn’t mention that she’d secretly used her Crystalization Ability in the middle of the night to heal the deepest wounds.

There were still faint gold web-like patterns left on her soles.

The market was even livelier than expected.

Between colorful tents, vendors hawked Light Honey, while trained birds circled overhead, scattering fragrant golden powder.

Dolosa clung tightly to Liang Lai’s sleeve, but her eyes shone as if filled with stars.

“Try this.”

Liang Lai popped a color-changing candy into Dolosa’s mouth.

Suddenly, a scream came from a dark alley.

Pushing through the crowd, Liang Lai saw five or six commoner children throwing stones at a girl huddled in the corner.

The besieged girl hugged her head, her shadow rippling beneath her like boiling water.

“Stop!”

Liang Lai’s rebuke unconsciously carried the authority of a Saintess.

The children scattered, leaving only that small figure trembling in the corner.

Dolosa suddenly gripped Liang Lai’s clothes tighter.

“Her shadow…”

Liang Lai had already crouched down.

When she touched the girl’s shoulder, the other jerked her head up—her eyes were a pale green, with star-shaped pupils.

Even stranger, Liang Lai saw a withered hand stretch halfway out of the girl’s shadow, then quickly retreat.

She’d read about such things in books in this world.

Those things that lurked in shadows were called Shadowborn.

“What is your name?” Liang Lai asked softly, her fingers quietly forming a Purification Seal.

The girl’s lips moved a few times, then she fainted in Liang Lai’s arms.

Her shadow instantly returned to normal, as if the earlier anomaly had been nothing but an illusion.

Dolosa stared at the black, sticky residue on the ground, her brow furrowed.

“We need to take her back,” Liang Lai said, picking up the feather-light girl. “She needs…”

“Are you going to adopt this strange one too?”