Chapter 7

Chapter 7

“It seems the Priestess exerted herself and is quite tired.”

Aaron spoke the moment Amelia took her hand off the child. Amelia flinched, her eyes widening.

“We’ll postpone today’s prayer until next week.”

“Yes.”

Louis clasped her hands respectfully and replied. Though privately Aaron’s cousin, a strict hierarchy existed within the temple.

“Louis, you may go.”

Aaron said with a leisurely smile. Even Louis departed. Amelia looked back at the woman with a crestfallen expression. But the woman, overwhelmed with gratitude that her child had received divine blessing and healing, had already left.

“I will escort you.”

Aaron looked down at Amelia, whose face was as flustered as a cornered mouse, and spoke gently. However, his words carried a subtly coercive undertone.

“……”

He definitely won’t leave me alone. The thought made her fingertips tremble uncontrollably.

“Shall I carry you?”

She was still unable to move. Aaron spoke to her in a voice that sounded concerned. His lips were undeniably smiling, but his eyes held no mirth.

“Ah, no.”

“……”

“I’ll go on my own two feet.”

Amelia rejected Aaron’s offer. Whatever else, she had no desire to be carried in his arms. Even the thought of their skin touching was abhorrent to her. So, trembling, she had no choice but to follow him on her own feet.

“It seems the Priestess does not know how to treat her own body with care.”

Aaron, walking ahead, said in a low voice. Amelia just moistened her lips with her tongue, unable to offer any reply.

“You are nothing short of a pillar of Escliffe.”

A body that must not be injured, must not feel pain, must not die. Amelia’s body was one that could never be used carelessly.

“Even if you don’t die, you’re not immune to pain, are you?”

It was fortunate that the child’s illness only seemed like a fever, but what if it had been a contagious disease? Amelia, raised in seclusion deep within the temple, couldn’t possibly have immunity to plague. If she were to collapse without any countermeasures, they would all be utterly screwed.

“P-please, stop…”

She was about to order him to turn back. Knowing no one was watching, Aaron grabbed Amelia’s wrist and pulled her along.

“You didn’t think I’d just let this slide, did you?”

Amelia fluttered like a piece of paper, pulled along by him. Once Aaron had made up his mind, Amelia had no choice.

“N-no.”

Amelia braced herself at the top of the stairs leading to the basement.

“If you didn’t want to come here, you should have listened.”

Did it know its master had arrived?

Loud barking echoed from the basement. At the same time, Amelia’s face turned pale. Aaron didn’t miss the moment her strength faltered; he hoisted Amelia over his shoulder and began to descend the stairs.

“No!”

She struggled, but to little effect. Aaron descended steadily to the basement. The dogs, confined in iron cages, wagged their tails upon seeing Aaron. Their short fur was sleek and shiny, and their muscular bodies looked agile, making them seem more suited for hunting than guarding.

“I-I’m sorry.”

Amelia hurriedly apologized. She was terrified of dogs.

“I’m sorry. I won’t ever, ever do it again, so…”

But Aaron did not stop. Her belated apology, made in terror after being defiant, had no effect.

“Go inside.”

Aaron unlocked the iron cage with a key. With a click, a gap appeared in the door, and the dogs instantly tried to force their way through.

“Please. I won’t do it again.”

Amelia apologized repeatedly, but Aaron didn’t hesitate. He gently lowered her slender body to the floor and pushed her into the iron cage.

“Why are you so slow to learn?”

Aaron muttered regretfully as he locked the door from the outside again. Three dogs approached closely, beginning to sniff Amelia from her feet to her legs. It was as if they were gauging whether she was prey or not.

“D-don’t come any closer.”

Amelia, terrified, stumbled backward.

“Ah!”

As she kept backing up, her ankle caught on a chain lying on the floor. At that moment, the chain, sharpened by the dogs’ teeth and claws, grazed Amelia’s ankle. A stinging pain came with a faint smell of blood.

“Ah, ah…”

At that instant, the dogs’ eyes glinted, as if they had caught the scent of prey. In particular, the eyes of one dog, with a large scar across its face, shone ominously.

“Get her.”

The one from her memory, Khan, drooled and opened his mouth. Her consciousness flickered, turning white.

The day her twin sister died, Amelia’s mother lost her mind. She moved when told to, but that was all. She never did anything of her own free will. Naturally, with a soul that had already died, her eye never sparkled from that moment.

“Now.”

Amelia was also accustomed to her mother’s lifeless gaze. But the winter of Amelia’s tenth year was a little different.

“M-mom?”

Wondering where such strength came from in her slender body, her mother gripped Amelia’s shoulders tightly with both hands as she lay in bed and spoke. It was the first time in seven years Amelia had seen such life in her mother’s eyes.

“Let’s get out of here quickly.”

She didn’t know how the opportunity arose. But as if her mother had been waiting for that day, she pulled a hood over Amelia and dragged her along.

“If you stay here, you’ll die too.”

Not you, not you. Her mother muttered, desperate to protect her child.

“Where are we going?”

“You just have to get out of here first. Get out of here and…”

Her mother, who had been muttering and moving as if that were her sole purpose in life, suddenly stopped. A shadow appeared at the end of the corridor.

“……”

One person, three beasts. The growling sounds clearly conveyed a threat.

“What are you two doing, so dangerously, at this late hour?”

Moonlight streamed in. The face of sixteen-year-old Aaron, nearly a young man, was revealed. Aaron’s palm stroked the head of the beast beside him.

“You know moving isn’t permitted. Go back.”

At Aaron’s words, her mother’s trembling hand gripped Amelia’s shoulder.

“Do you see that bush? Run there. Behind it, there’s a hole big enough for you.”

“What about you, Mother?”

“I can’t go with you. Can you manage on your own?”

Then she whispered, just loud enough for Amelia to hear.

“Just run, no matter what. Understood?”

Amelia nodded dazedly. Her mother then turned and began to run wildly. Aaron released the chains holding the dogs, and the hounds chased after her mother.

“Oh…”

Amelia, who had been standing blankly, came to her senses belatedly. She then started running west toward the bush, following her mother’s urgent plea.

“Get her.”

At that moment, Aaron released the last leash he held. Taking that as a signal, a dog began to chase the running child. It was the dog with a large scar across its face.

“D-don’t come closer!”

Amelia screamed and ran toward the bush. No human would welcome a beast larger than themselves getting closer, especially if that beast clearly carried aggression.

“Aargh!”

Before she could reach the bush, a beast’s paw struck her from behind, pinning her body down. Amelia thrashed in terror. The moment the beast’s drool dripped onto her neck was pure horror.

“U-u-uuaaah…!”

Her scream didn’t even reach its conclusion. The dog Aaron had trained and unleashed, following its instruction, bit into Amelia’s shoulder and dragged her. Each time she resisted, its teeth dug in harder. It felt as though her bitten shoulder would be ripped off. Her body was practically paralyzed by pain and fear.

“Both mother and daughter are truly nothing but fools.”

The dog reached Aaron and spat Amelia’s shoulder out. Aaron looked down at Amelia, who was merely trembling and foaming at the mouth, and clicked his tongue briefly.

He then grabbed Amelia by the collar of her clothes and dragged her along. Unable to even think of moving her injured arm, Amelia was simply pulled. Her legs, exposed beneath her skirt, were scraped red and swollen by the accumulated snow. Spots of blood from her arm wound marked their path.

“No!”

Her mother, whose hair had been grabbed and dragged first, screamed when she saw her young child being pulled along by Aaron.

“You could have just, just pretended not to see. You could have let this child go…”

Her face, as she desperately hugged her child and cried, fearing her child might die, was filled with sorrow. Aaron remained expressionless despite the weeping woman’s resentment.

“Someone must have heard the scream. Someone must have seen this! You can’t hide the secret forever!”

At some point, Amelia’s mother shrieked fiercely. It was as if she hoped someone would hear and rush out.

“Everyone who sees this scene will die.”

“……”

“And those who heard your scream too.”

Aaron scoffed at that hope. The dogs growled, scanning the surroundings and listening intently. A chilling wind blew from where a scream had been cut off, carrying the scent of blood.

“That child is your future self.”

“……”

“Because you gave birth to her.”

Aaron said this, then gently stroked the head of the dog, which was wagging its tail with blood on its muzzle, as if seeking praise.

“Because I gave birth…”

Amelia’s mother, who had been stroking Amelia’s head repeatedly, sobbed. Amelia fixed her gaze on the moonlight flickering behind her mother’s shoulder.

“I’ve become worse than a dog.”

On a night devoid of hope, snow piled on her slender mother’s shoulders, and stray black hairs scattered in the rough snowstorm.

Under God’s name, hell was exquisitely beautiful.