Although Helos’s fighting spirit was already burning to its peak, and she wished she could rush out right now to drag that damn Graham out and beat him up, reality was often cruel and lean.
She had just set one foot on the floor, and before she could take a second step, the door to the room was thrown open with a bang.
“Sisi! Where are you going?!”
Eleanor stood at the door, holding a bowl of steaming medicinal porridge, her face full of panic.
And behind her, Gavi, who had transformed into a blonde girl, was holding a stack of clean change of clothes, staring at her quietly with those calm gray eyes.
“I… I’m going to eliminate evil!”
Helos tried to look imposing, but her legs, wobbling from weakness, and her loose-fitting pajamas were hardly convincing.
“Nonsense!”
Eleanor walked over quickly, set the medicinal porridge on the nightstand without argument, and then pressed Helos’s shoulders, forcing her back onto the bed.
“Your body is so weak right now, you can’t even stand steadily. Who are you going to eliminate? The air?”
Helos tried to retort.
“But—”
“No buts!”
Gavi also walked over.
She put down the clothes and stood on the other side of the bed, forming a perfect encirclement with Eleanor.
“Master.”
Gavi’s voice was crisp and calm.
“According to my assessment, you are currently in a fatigue period after overexertion. Your body has not fully recovered; your mental energy, though stable, is still at a low ebb.”
“If you forcibly engage in high-intensity mana activity or strenuous exercise now, there is a high probability you will faint again.”
She extended her pale, slender finger and pointed out the window.
“Moreover, it is daytime. In your current state, you won’t even make it out of the mansion gate before the steward stops you.”
Helos was left speechless by the duo’s back-and-forth.
She looked at her sister on the left, her face serious and brows furrowed, then looked at the expressionless personal maid on the right, who only stated facts.
A deep sense of powerlessness washed over her.
“Fine! I surrender! I surrender, okay!”
Helos raised her hands in defeat, then flopped back onto the soft pillow like a salted fish that had lost its dream.
“That’s right.”
Eleanor’s expression finally softened a bit.
She picked up the bowl of medicinal porridge, gently stirred it with a spoon, and blew away the steam rising from it.
“Come on, drink this first. The cook made it especially for you, adding many restorative herbs.”
“I can do it myself—”
“No, open up.”
Eleanor’s attitude was unusually firm.
Helos had no choice. Like a three-year-old child, under her sister’s “feeding,” she drank the porridge that tasted a bit strange, mouthful by mouthful.
“And, Gavi.”
During a break in drinking the porridge, Helos didn’t idle. She glanced at the blonde girl standing beside her.
“Can you stop looking at me with that expression? Right now I feel like a little white mouse that’s been stripped naked.”
“Apologies, Master.”
Gavi bowed slightly.
“This is to ensure your safety; I must constantly monitor your vital signs. But if you don’t like it—”
She paused.
“Not liking it won’t change anything; I won’t yield on this point.”
“Unless you gouge out my eyes.”
Helos quickly waved her hands.
“Don’t make such terrifying jokes with a straight face!”
If Gavi blinded herself, how would she ever command this all-purpose maid to work in the future?
No way!
After Eleanor finished feeding the last mouthful of porridge, she took out a handkerchief to wipe Helos’s mouth, then tucked the blanket in tightly around her, leaving only her head exposed.
“Sisi, I know you’re anxious.”
Eleanor sat by the bed, reached out to smooth the stray hairs on Helos’s forehead, and her voice became gentle and earnest.
“We will never let that Graham and those Chaos believers go. Brother is already taking action. Your most important task now is to rest and recover.”
“Once you’re better, you can take revenge however you want. But until then, you must listen obediently.”
“Yes, Master.”
Gavi also chimed in at the right moment.
“As long as the green mountains remain, one need not worry about firewood. You taught me that before.”
“I… I taught that?”
Helos shrank into the warm blanket, looking at the two people in front of her who were alternately “lecturing” and caring for her.
If it were before, she would have gotten annoyed and tried to drive them away.
But now…
She looked at the faint dark circles under Eleanor’s eyes from staying up late, and at Gavi’s eyes that, though expressionless, were always fixed on her.
Suddenly, a warm current surged in Helos’s heart.
She didn’t retort anymore, nor did she show an impatient expression.
The corners of her mouth uncontrollably lifted, revealing a genuine smile tinged with a bit of dependence and satisfaction.
This feeling of being cared for.
This feeling of being cherished like fragile treasure.
It’s actually pretty good.
“Okay, okay.”
She muttered softly, burying her face deeper into the blanket to hide her slightly flushed cheeks.
“I’ll sleep obediently… You two go rest too.”
And upon hearing this, Julius, who had been silently watching the three interact from the side, finally spoke:
“That’s right, I’ll watch Helos fall asleep obediently, so only I need to stay—”
“You go rest too, you idiot!”
***
Meanwhile.
Thousands of miles away.
Kingdom of Faran, Royal Capital.
This was a neighboring country bordering the Asgard Empire, known for its prosperous commerce and free academic atmosphere.
In a private estate with a quiet environment on the outskirts of the capital.
Lilith was sitting under a garden sunshade with a gloomy face.
She was still wearing her signature dark purple dress, and even in this informal setting, her posture was impeccable.
However, the delicate folding fan in her hand had been deformed by her grip, revealing her inner anxiety and anger.
And across from her, an old man in a blue mage robe holding a withered wood staff was slouching in a wicker chair without any dignity.
He was holding a cup of red tea, a specialty of Faran, squinting and savoring it with enjoyment, as if he was completely oblivious to Lilith’s murderous gaze.
It was the mysterious “Enlightener.”
Lilith finally couldn’t hold it in.
She gritted her teeth and asked in a cold voice:
“So, this is the ‘good news’ you came all the way here to tell me?”
“Helos’s awakening was interrupted? That brat named Julius not only destroyed the ritual but also purified that Chaos Demon Beast?”
Lilith grew angrier as she spoke. She snapped the folding fan shut with a sharp sound.
“What the hell was Graham doing?! I had already set everything up before I left!”
“As long as he guided step by step, within a few months at most, Helos would have fully awakened the [Enlighten] and [Phantom] imprints! By then the deed would be done, and even if the Olivias family found out, it would be too late!”
“And what happened? He couldn’t wait? He had to provoke Helos into performing some forbidden experiment? And got caught red-handed?!”
“Oh, little Lilith, don’t be so angry.”
The Enlightener slowly put down his teacup.
He raised his eyelids, and a hint of carelessness was in his deep blue eyes.
He chuckled with his hoarse voice:
“Young people are always prone to impulsiveness. That Graham guy has a bit of cleverness, but he’s too obsessed with the knowledge of enlightenment, wanting to use the aftermath of the [Saintess]’s awakening to break through his own bottleneck.”
“And this time, he overplayed his hand.”
“Overplayed his hand?”
Lilith sneered, her tone sarcastic.
“This can’t be solved with a simple ‘overplayed his hand.’ Now the situation in the Imperial Capital is completely in chaos. That fox Christ must have sensed something. Coupled with that Chosen One who popped out of nowhere…”
“Our cult, which has been lurking in the capital for so many years, is probably going to be exposed this time.”
She stared at the old man, her eyes full of reproach.
“If Graham hadn’t been so radical, if we hadn’t listened to your ideas and guided slowly, how could it have come to this?”
Facing Lilith’s accusations, the old man just shrugged indifferently.
“Expose is expose.”
He picked up his teacup again and blew on the leaves.
“After all, there weren’t many believers in the Imperial Capital anyway. Most were just nobles, scholars, and opportunists who only daydreamed. Lose them, lose them. No loss.”
A sinister curve appeared at the corner of the old man’s mouth.
“Originally, this old man was just bored and helped you guys out of convenience. What do I care about the life or death of the cult?”
Lilith was choked by his shameless attitude.
“You—”
“Moreover.”
The Enlightener changed his tone, the playfulness in his eyes disappearing, replaced by a deep-seated malice.
“Who says this is necessarily a bad thing?”
“I’ve prepared a big gift for those self-righteous people long ago.”
He thought of the huge flesh egg that was hatching after being stimulated by him.
“…Let’s see how they handle it.”
Lilith didn’t pick up his thread.
She wasn’t interested in that so-called “big gift.”
She only cared about one thing.
“What about Helos?”
Lilith frowned, her tone full of anxiety.
“You know that only she can be the [Saintess]; her soul trait is unique. If this awakening fails, or if those church people purify her completely…”
“We don’t know how many centuries we’ll have to wait for the next such perfect vessel!”
This was the core of all their plans.
Without the Saintess, there would be no divine blessing.
Without the blessing, their “God” could not descend into the world.
“Helos…”
The Enlightener muttered the name, slowly yawned, and stretched.
“Don’t worry, my little Lilith.”
He looked at the anxious Lilith and said casually:
“Awakening is like a seed sprouting. Once it starts, it’s not easy to stop.”
“Although that Chosen One temporarily suppressed the power inside her, it’s only temporary.”
“As long as that seed is still in her soul, it will eventually break through the soil again.”
“But now she’s been put under protection!”
Lilith retorted.
“The Olivias family, and that Julius, they’ve surrounded her like an iron bucket! We can’t get to her at all!”
The old man laughed.
He laughed like a sly fox that had just stolen a chicken.
He leaned forward, his deep blue eyes staring straight at Lilith.
“Can’t get to her?”
“Little Lilith, since you’re an expert at manipulating people’s hearts, you should know better than me.”
“How easily human beings can be guided.”
“Fortresses are often breached from within.”
“Since we can’t attack externally, we’ll find a way to make her walk out of that ‘iron bucket’ herself.”
“What do you mean?”
Lilith was stunned.
“The little girl is safe now because she has her family’s protection, the empire’s status, and that Chosen One’s protection.”
The Enlightener raised a withered finger and gently shook it.
“But if we use a few little tricks…”
“For example, letting the entire empire know that the noble Duke’s daughter is actually a ‘witch’ who secretly conducted evil biological experiments and even colluded with the Chaos cult?”
The old man’s voice became soft and venomous, like the whisper of a devil.
“As long as we nudge public opinion a bit, as long as we put those pieces of evidence—whether real or forged—on the table.”
“Then, not only the Church, but even the royal family, in order to maintain their own dignity, will have to abandon her.”
“We can naturally make this Saintess lose the empire’s protection.”
A cruel light shone in the Enlightener’s eyes.
“Once she loses protection, once she’s spurned by everyone, exiled by her family, isolated by the world…”
“Then, with nowhere to go.”
“Won’t she become a plaything in our hands, to be manipulated as we please?”
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