After feeling a bout of violent jolting, Teresa forced her eyes open, slowly regaining consciousness.
Then, she realized she was on a prison wagon.
Her limbs and neck were shackled with cold chains. She tried to circulate her magic, only to find utter deadness within; even her Divine Grace seemed to have vanished without a trace.
Captured?
She lifted her eyes to look around. The dense forest all around completely blocked off any chance of escape.
“The dose of the potion seems to have been a bit too strong. I didn’t expect you’d wake up only now.”
At this moment, a sharp voice came from atop the horse in front of the prison wagon.
Teresa’s delicate body trembled, and she hurriedly looked toward the source of the sound.
The instant she saw that all-too-familiar face, her pupils contracted sharply.
“…Yuri?!”
“After so many years, I really didn’t expect you’d still remember me, Teresa, my lady.”
Yuri seemed to bite down deliberately on those last three words, “my lady,” making them especially grating to Teresa’s ears.
As a member of the Preston Family herself, Teresa naturally knew Yuri—not only that, he was on her must-kill revenge list.
After all, her parents’ deaths had much to do with Yuri.
Back then, Yuri had been on her parents’ side, or at least appeared friendly on the surface, but in truth, he was cunning and sinister behind their backs.
Later, for the sake of profit, he betrayed her parents, and that betrayal directly led to their deaths in no small part.
So upon seeing him again, Teresa wished she could kill him!
She struggled a bit, and after realizing the chains were unbreakable, Teresa snorted coldly, “How did you find me?”
Mention of this matter made Yuri suddenly burst out laughing.
“Sometimes, when luck’s on your side, you find what you’re looking for. That Oracle Maiden tried to protect you, but what happened? In the end, wasn’t it still me, Yuri, who found you?”
Ever since being driven out of the Oracle Hall by Saintess Selis, he’d held a grudge. Now, after capturing Teresa, he finally felt that pent-up resentment release.
It was just a pity that he couldn’t bring her before that Saintess to show off; if he could, wouldn’t that have felt wonderful?
Seeing Teresa in his grasp, that Saintess’s expression would surely be quite the sight to behold.
Tsk, tsk, tsk…
Teresa was somewhat stunned.
“Protect me? What do you mean?”
“What do I mean? Hmph, just some woman who doesn’t know what’s good for her. I went to negotiate as the representative of the Preston Family, and she actually threw me out—damnable…”
Even though he’d let out some steam, Yuri still held a grudge.
“Sooner or later, I’ll make her pay!”
If given the chance, he would definitely make that Saintess pay the price for looking down on him!
After hearing his muttered complaints, Teresa completely froze.
What did he mean, the Oracle Maiden rejected the Preston Family?
Had the Oracle Hall and the Preston Family already been in contact?
And the Oracle Hall had chosen her?
…Could something she never imagined possible really have happened?
But then, why was Isavel so cold last night? If that was the case, why hadn’t she told her and asked her to stay?
Was the Saintess who represented the Oracle Hall and rejected the Preston Family actually Selis?
Thinking about it, it had to be.
Only Selis would do such a thing.
Hugging her knees, Teresa buried her head between them.
After learning that the Oracle Hall had already rejected the Preston Family for her sake, a sliver of regret surfaced in her heart for leaving the Oracle Hall—but it was only a sliver, nothing more.
After all, the real authority at the Oracle Hall now was Isavel.
As long as she remained silent, the Oracle Hall would stay just as cold as before.
Perhaps Selis’s warmth could light up a corner, but eventually, even that would be extinguished. She would rather leave it for those Girl Knights…
After cursing the Oracle Maiden a few more times, Yuri stroked his own face and began venting his anger on Teresa.
“Teresa, why did you run? Wouldn’t it have been better to just stay put in the family? If not for you, I wouldn’t have been humiliated this time. You’re such an ungrateful thing!”
“But what really surprised me was—even though all your Divine Grace has already been drained, you could still use it? Don’t tell me, is this some unique trait of a Divine Maiden?”
As he said this, a greedy light flashed in Yuri’s eyes.
Divine Maiden and Divine Son—these titles were unique to the Preston Family and usually bestowed on the younger generation with the strongest Divine Grace.
Before anything happened to Teresa’s parents, she had been the Preston Family’s Divine Maiden. The Divine Grace within her was so abundant that it overflowed, leaving a golden mark between her brows.
After her parents died, her Divine Grace was also drawn out.
Even now, Teresa would sometimes dream of that dim underground chamber, where she lay atop the Sanctuary, and the Magic Circles all around drained her Divine Grace just like they drew out her blood.
Pain, loneliness, cold…
The golden mark between her brows had eventually faded as her Divine Grace left her, becoming a scar that could never be erased.
And her heart, from then on, had frozen completely.
At the memory, Teresa clenched her fists until blood flowed from her palms.
“Hey, hey, don’t think about hurting yourself. With me here, you won’t succeed. Besides, if the Divine Son learns about your constitution, he’ll be thrilled.”
Divine Son…
The killing intent in Teresa’s eyes grew even stronger.
That so-called Divine Son had once been an utterly ordinary child of the family before her misfortune; he became Divine Son only because he absorbed all of her Divine Grace.
“…What you people have done—you will pay for it.”
“Retribution? Do you mean how the Divine Son entered Galwin Magic Academy and became the Dean’s favorite Magic Star? If that’s what you call retribution, then I hope there’s even more!”
Yuri laughed loudly, paying no mind to Teresa’s curse.
Teresa, in turn, let out a trembling breath, then released her tightly clenched fists, as if letting go of the last thread of strength within her.
Galwin Magic Academy, Magic Star…
The gulf between him and her was now as vast as sky and earth.
Being recaptured this time, what awaited her would no longer be a cold cell, but eternal imprisonment upon the family Sanctuary as a “Sample,” wouldn’t it?
After all, she seemed to possess some special constitution… Heh.
Even the last trace of hope seemed extinguished.
She closed her eyes, yet the faces of her sisters grew all the clearer in the darkness.
Meilin’s silly smile, Leanna’s focused profile during training, Pella secretly slipping her candy…
The warmth she had fought so hard to protect, now burned like a red-hot brand, scorching her heart with pain.
In the end, she was still not worthy of all that warmth.
A single scalding tear broke free from her eyes, falling heavily onto the cold, filthy plank of the prison wagon, forming a dark spot that was soon crushed by the jolting, vanishing without a trace.
Farewell, perhaps… only in the next life.
“Scoundrel! Let Teresa go!”
Just as she was sinking into despair, a familiar, spirited shout sliced through the shroud of hopelessness like a sword.
Teresa jerked her head up. In her tear-blurred vision, several figures she thought she’d never see again in this life were riding toward her on fine steeds, silhouetted against the light.
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