Marco was slapped to the ground, while Iserine stood where she was, looking down at him from above.
Her eyes held a mockery that was almost akin to pity.
“Still haven’t recognized reality? Marco, the Pure Heart isn’t nearly as precious as you think it is.”
“Extending one’s lifespan, strengthening the physique—in the outside world, these things can be achieved simply by persistently training the Magic within one’s body. One can even go much further than that.”
At this point, a mocking curve hooked the corner of her mouth.
“It is only you frogs at the bottom of a well, isolated from the rest of the world, who would treat it as a unique and peerless treasure, even going so far as to sacrifice lives for it.”
“No, impossible!”
Marco was like a beast whose tail had been stepped on. He scrambled up from the ground in a pathetic mess, staring fixedly at Iserine with bloodshot eyes.
Even with the reality of the Pure Heart’s Magic being shattered right before him, he could not bring himself to believe that what Iserine said was true.
Because this was the belief he had pursued for half his life.
“If it really isn’t precious, then why did you come back?! Why did you try every possible means to get it?!”
This was almost the last excuse capable of supporting his convictions.
Selis, who had been standing quietly to the side, finally spoke in a soft voice.
Her voice remained ethereal and peaceful, yet it carried an unquestionable authority, as if she were stating the most basic common sense:
“It allows forged weapons to be infused with a trace of pure Divine Aura, thereby increasing their lethality against Abyssal Demons. That is all.”
Selis emphasized the words “that is all,” but Marco acted as if he had caught a life-saving straw, shouting urgently:
“Is—isn’t that quite precious?!”
However, Selis’s next words shattered his final bit of wishful thinking.
“But the little value it possesses is not worth letting any innocent girl sacrifice her life. Without it, the Rose Knights can still eliminate those demons of the Abyss by relying on our own strength.”
Her tone was decisive, carrying absolute confidence.
Marco simply clutched his head with both hands and let out a painful wail. The massive impact of his faith collapsing nearly caused him to break down, his body trembling violently from agitation and fear.
“No! No, no! I don’t believe it, I don’t believe it!”
He could not accept reality. He could not accept that the thing he had pursued for half his life was a status quo easily obtainable in the outside world.
After all, if all of this were true, then what had everything he had done over these years been for?
One must know that to become the Village Chief, he had gone through immense hardships and put in countless efforts, all just to get a little closer to the Pure Heart…
If the Pure Heart wasn’t precious, then what was the point of everything he had done?
His efforts and sacrifices now seemed utterly laughable…
Marco suddenly burst into loud laughter, his body shaking wildly. Tears welled up in the corners of his eyes and slid down his chin. Mrs. Marco looked at him with a face full of worry, not knowing why he had become like this.
Watching him in this state, the last trace of a ripple in Iserine’s eyes returned to tranquility, leaving only complete indifference.
“Whether you believe it or not is up to you. I heard that the Empire will dispatch more reinforcements to the Snow City Fortress. When that time comes, the Fortress will undergo a large-scale expansion, and the roads in the Snow City Forest will be reopened. This place will no longer be an isolated location.”
She took a step forward and, under Marco’s vacant gaze, plucked the Pure Heart that was suspended in the air. Afterward, she, Selis, and the others walked together toward the outside of the Temple.
Just before disappearing, she left behind one last sentence.
“When the time comes, go see for yourself. See just how laughable everything your generations have pursued appears to the outside world.”
***
The cold, clear moonlight fell upon the silent hillside. Iserine sat on a pile of hay with her knees hugged to her chest, her smooth long hair fluttering slightly in the night wind.
She tilted her head back, gazing at the stars twinkling in the night sky. Points of starlight were reflected in her eyes, which also hid a trace of elusive, complex emotion.
Before long, a set of extremely light footsteps came from behind her.
Selis walked to her side. Her snow-white long dress became exceptionally soft under the illumination of the moonlight.
She followed Iserine’s gaze to look at the starry sky, then spoke softly, breaking the silence of the night:
“Do you regret not killing him?”
Iserine did not turn around immediately. She continued to gaze at the starry sky and shook her head faintly.
“How could I?”
Her voice was very light, yet it carried firmness.
“For a person like him, watching the convictions he held onto for so long shatter completely is the most cruel punishment.”
Selis watched her quietly, keenly capturing a ripple that flashed deep within her eyes. So, she followed up by asking: “Is it that… you’ve thought of your grandfather?”
“Him…”
Iserine paused for a moment, as if mentioning an insignificant stranger.
“He can’t affect me anymore.”
However, her slightly tightening fingers betrayed that she was not entirely unmoved.
Although she still hated her grandfather in her heart, after learning that he had also done those things for her sake, the resentment in her heart had dissipated quite a bit, replaced by nostalgia.
After all, before she was called a Witch, the relationship between her and her grandfather had been very close.
“Then what are you thinking about?”
Selis moved slightly closer to her.
Iserine was silent for a moment. When she raised her head again, there was a bit more resentment in her gaze.
She looked directly at Selis, as if she wanted to imprint her into the depths of her own soul.
“I’m thinking about my future.”
Without waiting for Selis to respond, she continued, her tone carrying a trace of vague complaint and urgency:
“The time the Rose Knights can spend together is still too short. I was thinking, in such a limited amount of time, exactly what I should do to… take you down.”
As she spoke those last few words, she turned around and tackled Selis onto the grass.
Selis was clearly stunned by this sudden tackle and the extremely bold statement.
She breathed in the scent of green grass permeating the air, her clear eyes widening slightly as a clear look of bewilderment appeared on her face.
“Eh?”
Iserine, however, acted as if she didn’t see her surprise—or rather, this was exactly the reaction she had anticipated.
She grabbed Selis’s wrists and looked down at her, her gaze burning:
“Lady Selis, Juliessa should have told you already, right? I especially like cute things. I like them to the point of… even being a bit crazy.”
Her gaze traced Selis’s features like something physical, carrying an unmasked obsession.
Selis felt a bit uncomfortable being watched by such an overly direct gaze, her cheeks flushing slightly.
She turned her head, her eyes flickering for a moment as she tried to use a light tone to dissolve this strange atmosphere:
“Does… does this have anything to do with me?”
Her voice carried a trace of indiscernible fluster.
“Of course it does!”
Iserine’s answer was decisive. She pressed down slightly, the distance between the two of them becoming so close they could almost feel each other’s breath.
“Because in my heart, Lady Selis is the cutest, most perfect existence.”
Her tone gradually took on a scalding emotion:
“You are too gentle and considerate. No matter who it is among the other girls in the order, as long as they show the slightest hint of sadness, you will go to take care of them without hesitation, and you never ask for anything in return.”
“While this makes me feel jealous, it also makes me incredibly envious of them.”
She lowered her voice, carrying a dreamlike longing:
“Sometimes, I also want to be like them—having a knot in my heart that’s hard to untie, then being discovered by you, and being gently cared for by you…”
“Afterward, perhaps I could even take the opportunity to hide in your embrace, smelling the reassuring scent on your body as I sink into a dreamland…”
At this point, her eyes regained their clarity.
“But I also know that if I did that—if I also became fragile and in need of protection like them—then… I would forever lose the qualification to become your partner.”
“Partner?!”
Selis was shocked. The composure on her face vanished completely.
She instinctively reached out, wanting to feel Iserine’s forehead, but after failing to break free, she looked away and said in a small voice:
“Ah, Iserine, have you… have you been too stimulated lately? How about… how about you get off of me first and we talk slowly?”
She noticed that Iserine had gotten extremely close at some point, and her slender long legs were even pressing against the hem of her skirt. That oppressive aura made her heartbeat a bit erratic.
She had come to find Iserine tonight just wanting to give her some guidance, right?
As a result, this development was… no, this wasn’t quite right, was it?
To be pinned down by a Rose Knight she trained herself—what was going on?!
…But fortunately, at least she hadn’t been pinned down while in the form of Isavel.
This left her a final shred of dignity!
Hearing Selis’s words, Iserine not only didn’t get up but instead went a step further, allowing her hair to intertwine with Selis’s.
Her gaze was like that of the most persistent hunter, firmly locking onto her prey.
“No, I haven’t been stimulated, Selis.”
“I investigated clearly from the very beginning. When you became the Saintess, your age should have been around twenty-four, and I have already passed twenty. The age difference between us isn’t that much.”
She tilted her head slightly, her hair flowing with a faint radiance under the moonlight.
“A mere few years of time won’t affect any feelings that might arise between us at all.”
She said this extremely naturally, as if it were already an established fact.
Immediately after, Iserine took a deep breath. Her gaze no longer held any playfulness or probing; instead, it was incomparably focused and sincere as she declared word by word:
“I like you, Selis.”
“Ah…”
Selis had completely failed to expect such a blunt confession. Her brain seemed to go blank for an instant, and she could only let out a soft cry carrying a flustered breath.
For some reason, at a time like this, she thought of Nora.
Noz had also confessed to her like this, but compared to her, Iserine was even more fervent, and even more… sacrilegious.
At least Noz was a woman of the same age as her. Iserine… she had always regarded her as a child. Not just her, but all the girls of the Rose Knights were the same.
Being confessed to by her own child?
She instinctively wanted to press the back of her hand against her obviously burning cheek, but both her hands were pinned by Iserine and could not move.
She could only force her lips shut, not daring to meet Iserine’s overly burning gaze.
Seeing Selis’s pure-hearted appearance, like that of a startled fawn, Iserine held it in for a minute before she finally couldn’t help but burst into laughter with a “pfft.”
The previous sincerity also vanished within that laugh.
“You really are cute, Lady Selis.”
She deliberately dragged out her tone, her voice filled with playful delight.
“Just because I directly said I like you, you actually blush? You’re really… pure-hearted.”
She seemed to have discovered some interesting secret, her eyes lighting up.
“Iserine!”
Selis called out her name with some shame.
Looking at the girl’s face full of playfulness, she felt like she had been toyed with.
The reason this girl confessed to her was perhaps just to see her in such an embarrassed state.
Seeing this, Iserine’s smile became even more brilliant.
She finally released Selis’s hands, stood up, and crossed her arms, speaking in a tone that seemed relieved:
“Well, if you’re this pure-hearted, then I can rest easy.”
She nodded, a trace of sly luck in her eyes.
“At least I can be certain that the Lady Selis I like is definitely not one of those scumbags who likes to deceive people’s feelings.”
Selis tried hard to calm her heartbeat. Afterward, she attempted to reclaim a trace of the dignity belonging to a Saintess.
Straightening her face, she spoke with a tone carrying a bit of reproach and warning:
“Iserine, being disrespectful to the Saintess is punishable.”
However, in the current ambiguous atmosphere, these words sounded more like a helpless, coquettish huff.
“Alright, alright, I’m sorry.”
Iserine raised both hands in a gesture of surrender, yet that smile that made Selis’s heart flutter remained on her face.
Looking at her like this, Selis sighed helplessly and shook her head, whispering, “You… Iserine, you’re really showing no respect for your elders…”
As she spoke, she carried a sense of indulgence that even she herself hadn’t noticed.
Just then, Iserine’s gaze suddenly fixed on the corner of Selis’s lips. She took a step forward and let out a soft cry of feigned surprise:
“Eh, wait a moment, Selis, your mouth!”
“Hmm?”
Is there something there?
Selis was startled instinctively, completely deceived by her acting. She opened her mouth slightly in confusion, wanting to reach out to wipe it.
In that exact moment when she was completely off-guard!
The approaching Iserine stood on her tiptoes and quickly, precisely planted a brief but clear kiss on Selis’s lips.
It was a touch and go.
Having done this, Iserine quickly retreated to a safe distance, her face beaming with the smile of a successful plot. Immediately after, she winked and said with a voice full of laughter:
“You’re only a few years older than me, so how can this count as being disrespectful? But well, taking this opportunity, I can be considered to know what the Saintess’s lips taste like…”
Her fingertip lightly brushed her own lower lip, her gaze provocative and charming.
“It’s sweet.”
Under the moonlight, only Selis was left standing completely frozen in place.
Her right hand, which had been reaching to touch her lips, froze mid-air.
Her brain fell into a brief blankness, and even the sound of the surrounding wind seemed to stop at that moment.