Gazing at the withered hand with its eerie, flickering flames, the maid’s expression remained calm. She extended her right hand—the one clutching a dagger—towards the desiccated palm.
The fingers of the withered hand gradually tightened, slowly grasping the maid’s wrist.
Sizzle, sizzle…
The eerie flames danced, filling the room with the stench of burning flesh.
The maid’s face turned pale, her forehead drenched in cold sweat, as if enduring extreme agony.
Yet, in her eyes, a fervent emotion brewed—like a devout believer witnessing a miracle!
Moments later, the withered hand released her wrist and retracted into a swirling dark vortex.
The terrifying aura vanished as if it had never existed.
But the eerie flames remained, still blazing fiercely on the maid’s right hand, along with the dagger she held!
“Evil Priest?”
Celicia’s voice returned to this world, laced with indescribable fury:
“You sewer rats dare show your faces before me again?”
“Rats? To a noble princess like you, we are indeed just rats.”
The maid raised her eyes, their cold reflection mirroring the flames and Celicia’s slightly pale face.
Her expression mocking:
“But, oh noble princess, you’re about to be killed by these lowly rats.”
The maid vanished once more.
And then reappeared in front of Celicia.
The flame-engulfed dagger, at a cunning angle, mercilessly thrust towards Celicia’s heart.
“Hmph, in your dreams!”
Celicia let out a cold snort, and an even more terrifying chill erupted from her body, instantly shredding everything around her into fragments with extreme cold and a storm.
But it lasted only a moment.
A brief moment, not even enough to affect the maid who was already within striking distance, merely causing the dagger in her hand to shift slightly.
Because the next moment, that chilling aura suddenly, unexpectedly, and without warning, disappeared.
Celicia was stunned for a moment, but quickly regained her composure, her gaze falling on the flames burning on the maid’s right hand.
“As I thought, this is a power specifically designed to counter me, isn’t it?”
Celicia’s ice was a divine blessing, different from ordinary frost magic, representing the power of rules.
To freeze all things.
That was the essence of the rule.
So, theoretically, even flames could be frozen by her!
But now, this power was temporarily useless. She couldn’t even summon her trusty ice sword.
Because another rule, one that completely countered her, was burning on the maid’s right hand and dagger!
“But do you really think this is enough to kill me?”
Celicia quickly calmed down.
Her strength wasn’t solely reliant on the gods’ blessings!
Before the maid’s second attack could land, Celicia suddenly closed the distance, advancing instead of retreating!
Her slender fingers pressed together into a palm, with sharp battle aura swirling in her hand, fiercely striking towards the maid’s chest!
“I almost forgot, Your Highness’s martial skills are nothing to scoff at. But sadly…”
The maid didn’t dodge, instead directly clashing her palm with Celicia’s.
Their battle aura clashed, resulting in a brief stalemate.
The violent wind pressure ruffled the maid’s neatly trimmed short hair.
Her expression remained cold.
“Sadly, since you’re accustomed to using an ice sword, you haven’t brought an ordinary longsword for self-defense.
And due to your overconfidence, you didn’t even bother carrying a defensive magical artifact.”
“!”
Celicia’s expression remained cold, but deep in her eyes, a subtle flicker passed.
“So—”
The battle aura in the maid’s palm suddenly reversed, sucking in Celicia’s hand.
Taking Celicia’s strike head-on left the maid with significant injuries, but it also left Celicia with no escape!
“So I believe I can still kill you.”
The maid’s right hand had already been raised. Holding the dagger in reverse, she aimed for the vital spot, ensuring precision, force, and a single lethal strike.
Death had raised its scythe once more.
This time, it was a dire situation.
…
“F*ck, what the hell am I thinking?”
Mu’en, cowering in the corner, suddenly slapped himself hard, shaking off the irresistibly tempting but utterly inappropriate thoughts.
It was unimaginable—he had just wished for Celicia’s death!
For his own selfish desires, he wanted Celicia to be killed by that assassin!
“True, if Celicia dies, no one would hold me accountable for assaulting the princess, and I could survive a little longer.”
“But after doing such a thing to an innocent girl, I still thought about taking her life?”
“What kind of ultimate, shameless, scum of the earth am I? Celicia is innocent!”
Mu’en punched the ground hard, the sharp pain helping him calm down a bit.
And it was because of this that the guilt began to rise, consuming his entire being.
Indeed, from start to finish, Celicia was innocent. She hadn’t done anything wrong.
She was only in this room because of Mu’en’s cowardice, drugged because of his despicable actions, and robbed of her purity because of his stupidity.
Now, she might lose her life because of a single mistake on Mu’en’s part.
She shouldn’t have been here. She could have lived a happy life, meeting the one she loved, just like in the original story.
She shouldn’t die here!
“No, I can’t just watch Celicia die. I have to help her!”
Mu’en clenched his fists, a glimmer of determination in his eyes.
But when he looked up and saw Celicia battling the assassin, that determination quickly faded.
“How… how do I even help?”
He couldn’t even keep up with the assassin’s movements.
He didn’t have divine blessings.
He recognized the assassin’s [Prayer], a ritual from the original story that allowed the Evil Priest to draw power from the Evil God.
That was way beyond his current level of power.
He was a pampered duke’s son, a mere stepping stone for the protagonist.
He was also just an ordinary first-year student at St. Maria’s Magic Academy, and for most of that year, he’d been slacking off. The only spell he could recall at the moment was a useless light spell.
There was no way he could help Celicia.
“Maybe not getting in the way is the best help I can give?”
Like those useless but well-meaning female leads in dramas who only make things worse, perhaps staying put was the best option.
“Celicia will definitely win. She has to! She’s so strong. She doesn’t need my help.” Mu’en muttered to himself, as if convincing himself.
…
Click.
Mu’en suddenly heard a crisp sound behind him, like the unlocking of a door.
“It’s almost over. You can leave now, Mu’en Campbell.”
That familiar, somewhat weak voice from before sounded in Mu’en’s ears once more.
