“She was contaminated, yes, but she has never hurt anyone! Never! She just hid in her room, afraid of the light, afraid to go near anyone, not even daring to cry out loud!”
She took a deep breath, her chest heaving violently.
“You people from the Church are always like this. Whenever you encounter contamination, you must purge it, you must kill it! You don't care who the contaminated person is, even if it's the hero you yourselves speak of!”
“Just because someone is contaminated, does that mean they deserve to die?!”
Lovene held her hands in front of her waist. She parted her lips, wanting to say something, but Elena was no longer looking at her.
“Once the mist disperses, leave. The Oswell territory does not welcome you!”
“My Lady, at least let us explain...”
“Explain? Your Church has already killed my husband, and now you want to take away my daughter. What is there left to explain?”
Elena cast a backward glance at them. In those eyes, drowned in tears and rage, was an unquestionable, resolute determination.
“Leave the lord's manor before tonight. Otherwise, I will have the guards escort you out!”
Cradling Dorothy in her arms, she walked out of the study without looking back. The maids behind her followed closely, and the study soon fell silent.
The puddle of mucus on the floor had already begun to dry, revealing the corroded flagstones beneath. Mia sheathed her sword and said expressionlessly, “Your Highness, why didn't you just tell her the truth?”
“In her current state, Elena won't listen to any explanations.”
Lovene looked somewhat dejected, but the corners of her mouth twitched slightly upward before quickly flattening again.
“Let's go. Once the mist clears, we will leave.”
They returned to their room and packed their belongings. It wasn't until the mist had fully dispersed that they stepped out of the lord's manor. By then, night had already fallen over the territory.
The blue streetlamps illuminated the houses and paved roads. Set against the dark, gloomy starry sky, the territory felt as though it had sunk into the deep sea, carrying an indescribable, suffocating weight.
Having been kicked out along with them was the Church's Heresy Inquisitor, Clement.
Leaning against a lamppost, he puffed on a cigar he had acquired from somewhere. He took a deep drag and blew out a cloud of white smoke, muttering in a daze, “What do we do now? We haven't even finished the investigation, yet we've been thrown out. Fortunately, Elena didn't drive us into a corner, or we'd be like rats scurrying across the street right now.”
“Let's find an inn to stay at first.”
Lovene appeared very calm, and Mia was the same.
Looking at them, Clement asked curiously, “Hey, did you really see Elena's daughter turn into a monster and try to kill her?”
“She is not a monster.”
Without turning her head, Lovene replied.
Not a monster?
Clement shrugged.
He had actually heard the commotion when the fight broke out in the study, but he hadn't rushed over immediately. By the time he arrived, only the maids cleaning up remained.
However, he had still seen that puddle of mucus.
There was no doubt about it—that was the kind of mucus only a monster would exude.
Human contamination came in degrees. The mildest cases involved occasional auditory or visual hallucinations, while more severe cases led to mental instability and bizarre behavior.
Sprouting non-human limbs was practically the most severe stage. The Church defined such individuals as monsters, and the only solution was execution.
Dorothy was a monster.
Killing monsters was also one of the responsibilities a Heresy Inquisitor had to fulfill, but...
Since the Saintess said she wasn't a monster, then Dorothy wasn't one. As a Heresy Inquisitor, he placed great trust in the Saintess.
Heh.
Taking a couple of puffs, Clement extinguished his cigar and tossed it to the side of the road.
Slipping his hands into his pockets, he let out a self-deprecating laugh.
Since when did a Heresy Inquisitor like him start becoming soft-hearted?
In the past, let alone a seven- or eight-year-old girl, even a newborn baby contaminated by the bizarre would have been killed by his own hands without hesitation.
When did his humanity return?
Looking up at the starry sky, Clement inexplicably recalled that steadfast figure in the village cellar a few days ago. Despite being incredibly weak, she had radiated a warm, bright light—the Saintess, Lovene.
So, was it because of her?
Indeed, humans were easily influenced. After spending so much time around Lovene, he was becoming softer as well. Yet, for a Heresy Inquisitor, kindness was the most useless virtue.
Still, he didn't dislike it.
In this cold world, a glimmer of human warmth might be the very thing that reminded him that he was, after all, different from those monsters.
...
By the time Dorothy woke up in her bedroom at the lord's manor, three days had already passed.
It was nighttime, and the darkness outside the window was dispelled by the lights of the lord's city. Elena sat by the bedside, holding Dorothy's tiny hand, her eyes still red.
“Mother.”
Dorothy's voice was raspy, her lips dry and chapped.
Elena sat by the bed, her hand tightly gripping her daughter's cold hand. Hearing her voice, she quickly leaned over, pressing her forehead against Dorothy's.
“Mother is here. How do you feel?”
“Everything hurts.” Dorothy frowned, her small nose scrunching up. “But... I feel much better than before.”
Elena's fingertips gently brushed against Dorothy's cheeks, feeling the few red patches. She took a deep breath, suppressing the tears that threatened to spill over, and softened her voice even further.
“It's alright, it's alright now. Mother has driven away all those people who wanted to hurt you. I will never let them get near you again...”
As she spoke, her fingers clenched the bedsheets tightly.
The images still lingered in her mind—Mia's raised sword, the severed tentacles on the floor, the dark red liquid. She didn't dare to think what would have happened had she arrived even a step later...
Dorothy blinked, looking a bit confused.
“People who wanted to hurt me? Mother, no one wanted to kill me.”
Elena's fingers froze.
“What? But didn't the Church Saintess cause you to end up like this? If not for her, you wouldn't have been hurt!”
Dorothy shook her head.
“Mother, you've misunderstood. The way I became had nothing to do with the Saintess. Besides, she didn't come here to kill Father. She said she would cure him.”
The corners of Dorothy's mouth curved up slightly, a bit clumsily.
“She said that included me, too.”
She seemed to drift off momentarily, whispering softly, “At that time, she stroked my head, and her hand was glowing. Those things... those things that grew out of my body... they were afraid of that light. They wanted to run, and she drove them away.”
Dorothy looked down at her clean palms. She turned her hands over and back again, as if confirming that they truly belonged to her.
“Mother, she isn't a bad person. She didn't hurt me. The knight sister didn't either. She could have killed me, but she didn't.”
Rate on N.U.
