Just as she had always comforted herself in her dreams—
As long as Anna was safe, that was enough.
Whether what awaited her was the stake or some other tragedy, she no longer cared.
“Listen!” the First Prince sneered. “Ha! What a fine ‘a life for a life’! You make it sound sweeter than a song!”
He turned and bowed toward the high platform. “Then, I wonder what the archbishop intends to do about your beloved disciple openly assassinating a member of the Royal Family? Is the Church still going to shelter a murderer?”
The archbishop gazed at her most cherished student for a long moment, and could only let out a long sigh in the end: “You should have had the most dazzling future… but for the sake of a so-called ‘truth,’ you chose self-destruction. Was it worth it?”
Although she saw through her student’s attempt to shield Annabell, since Rosalind had taken the capital offense upon herself, there was nothing she could do.
“Your Majesty.” The archbishop gave a slight bow toward the throne.
“Causing the death of the Fourth Prince is indeed an unforgivable grave crime. But I beg Your Majesty to consider that she was eroded by the Abyss and acted in self-defense, and to grant a lighter sentence…”
The First Prince was momentarily at a loss for words.
After all, the archbishop was one of the Church’s top combat powers. If she ever touched the threshold of Demi-God in the future, the Church’s strength would absolutely be able to rival the Royal Family.
That did not serve his interests. If they completely tore off all pretenses, it would only let the great nobles profit from the feud.
From atop the throne, Emperor Augustus’s proclamation crashed down:
“In consideration of the Pope and your sake, the death penalty is commuted. But the living punishment cannot be avoided.”
“I have heard that your Radiant Church possesses a tower of punishment built above an extreme cold Abyss, named the ‘Tower of Sighs.'”
“Rosalind may be spared death, but from this day forward, she shall be stripped of her position as Saintess and permanently suppressed at the bottom of the Tower of Sighs! Without my writ, she shall not take a single step outside until her death!”
Bishop Cecilia’s hand gripping the holy staff trembled violently at those words.
Cast into that Tower of Sighs where not even a sliver of light can penetrate, where bone-biting cold gnaws year-round?
That… that was a hundred times crueler than killing her!
“What? Does the Church have objections?”
Cecilia closed her eyes, her voice aged by ten years.
“This punishment… is only fitting.”
“Hey hey hey! Wife! Wife! Are you there? Are you there?”
“Anna, what are you doing? Are you already on the airship?”
“Hey hey hey! Answer me if you can hear me!”
Annabell had just settled into her seat in the first-class cabin of the airship, preparing to rest for a bit, when Charlotte’s mana voice transmission came blasting through the twin mark like rapid-fire firecrackers.
They had only left the outskirts of the Imperial Capital less than fifteen minutes ago!
How could this girl be this clingy?!
Annabell let out a helpless sigh: “I’m here. The airship has already taken off.”
Charlotte’s voice instantly turned soft and syrupy: “Heeheehee, bye-bye! I haven’t even completely lost sight of the airship’s shadow, and I’m already missing you… Does Anna miss me?”
“You have to miss me!”
Annabell coldly retorted: “No.”
Charlotte refused to let it go: “Not allowed! You’re my fiancée!”
Annabell: “I just won’t.”
Charlotte: “Hmph, fine then, I’ll miss you! Oh right Anna, I just asked Grandma for some advice, and I found out this twin mark isn’t just for transmitting sound—if the mana resonance frequency is high enough, it can even simulate touch! I get it now! Take this!”
With a “smack! smack! smack!”
A rapid series of extremely loud kissing sounds immediately echoed right by Annabell’s eardrums, and she even felt a strange phantom sensation of softness on her lips!
Annabell sat in the luxurious private cabin, her entire face instantly flushing bright red as she covered her forehead in speechless exasperation.
Just what kind of chaotic flirtation secret arts had that old woman taught her besides alchemy?!
Charlotte: “Anna! Your turn! Kiss me back now!”
Annabell gritted her teeth, her face bright red: “…I refuse to engage in such childish behavior.”
Charlotte pressed on: “We’ve already done that kind of thing, so what’s wrong with a kiss? Won’t you grant the wish of your poor, lonely Little Sweet Wife waiting alone at her family home?”
“We’ve already done that kind of thing, so what’s wrong with a kiss? Won’t you grant the wish of your poor, lonely Little Sweet Wife waiting alone at her family home, please?”
As if she could see that pitiful, tearful, beautiful face through the void, Annabell’s iron-hard defenses finally crumbled.
“Just this once!”
Annabell conceded, then glanced around like a thief checking for witnesses. Seeing no one, she closed her eyes, focused her mind on the mana mark, and softly let out a “smack.”
“Hee hee… my wife is the best.”
A silly, lovesick laugh came through the Sea of Consciousness.
After a brief pause and a bout of silly laughter, Charlotte reluctantly said: “Ah, time to head to the meditation room. So I can protect you in the future, I need to work twice as hard! I’ll find you again when I rest tonight—consider that ten more flying kisses!”
“It’s me who should be calling you wife!”
Annabell retorted.
With the last of her voice fading away, Charlotte obediently cut off the soul mark’s voice link.
Feeling that warmth already carved deep into her soul, Annabell couldn’t help but curl a light smile and mutter a low scold: “…This is way too clingy.”
Marveling that this ancient twin contract was basically the otherworldly version of instant messaging technology, Annabell finally collected her thoughts and began organizing her plans for what came next.
“Go back to the Duke’s Estate, dump the whole matter of that old geezer Sylvia pressuring me onto my cheap mom, and then I can head to the academy and show off in peace.”
“Oh right! My System rewards!”
She suddenly remembered that after helping Charlotte out of a jam and sharing a bed with her for a full nine days, the System’s affection level had long since maxed out, but she had been so busy she hadn’t opened the highest-tier bound blind box reward yet.
With a thought, she summoned the ethereal blue light screen only she could see.
With a crisp chime that felt like it came with a coin-drop sound effect, a gorgeous treasure chest popped open in her consciousness.
[Ding! Detected that the original heroine “Charlotte’s” bond has been completed. Full binding achieved. Issuing special stage reward package!]
[Casual Acquaintance threshold: One hundred high-grade magic crystals.]
[Acquaintance threshold: High-grade magic tool [Sage’s Alchemy Cauldron].]
[Soulmate threshold: Rare law-level strange flame [Void Black Flame].]
[Sworn Sister threshold: Super-grade magic tool [Sage’s Alchemy Cauldron].]
[Growing Old Together threshold: Lost divine art [Ancient Sacred Alchemy].]
[Till Death Do Us Part maximum bond: Trait evolution [Truth Magic Eye·Mangekyo Form]!]
Staring at the dazzling array of light, Annabell took a deep breath, feeling her heartbeat racing wildly.
Just the few golden entries at the end—not to mention the hundred high-grade magic crystals that alone could buy an entire town—were absolutely enough to rewrite fate!
Annabell first summoned the small cauldron called [Sage’s Alchemy Cauldron] and held it in her palm.
It was crafted from a material neither metal nor stone, a perfect match for the extremely rare and terrifying strange flame [Void Black Flame].
This strange flame did not burn ordinary wood or flesh, but specialized in burning mana and the laws of cause and effect.
Combined with the vast amount of [Ancient Sacred Alchemy] knowledge directly poured into her mind, Annabell could say without exaggeration that every grandmaster of magic herbs on the entire Continent would be nothing more than an apprentice before her now.
“From now on, magic herbs will never run short. I won’t have to worry about improving Charlotte’s constitution or adding to her survival measures either.”
She cheerfully tossed all the spoils into her storage space.
But that final ultimate bond reward… made Annabell sink into thought for a moment.
[Truth Magic Eye·Mangekyo Form].
That name sounds pretty badass. Is my magic eye about to evolve into a Sharingan or something?
To be safe, Annabell immediately summoned the seven mithril floating blades and activated a high-intensity frost defense matrix covering the entire cabin, then locked every door.
“Claiming the awakening right now!”
[Awakening new skill: See through the trajectories of all magic, allowing reverse incantation.]
[Skill acquired: Tsukuyomi. Can use eye technique to unfold an illusion domain.]
[Skill acquired: Amaterasu. Can use eye technique to emit inextinguishable black flame.]
Then, Annabell abruptly shut her eyes, feeling the mana lake within her.
Under the power of the awakened magic eye, those mana blockages that plagued countless casting geniuses for most of their lives were swept clean by her nearly perfect magic circuit, like floodwaters washing away mud and sand.
With the high-frequency compression roar of massive water elements in the air, a brand-new, vast and boundless aura surged within her.
No obstruction whatsoever, as naturally as water flowing into a channel.
The bottleneck of level seven? That membrane had been pierced so easily?
Annabell felt the surging tide of mana inside her and opened her eyes in disbelief.
She had now officially stepped into the realm of level eight, truly joining the ranks of the few powerful beings on the entire Continent.
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