The Light Swallowed by the Deep Sea

Vera's body stiffened.

She could feel Lovene's fingertips resting against her waist through the thin fabric of her clothes. The coldness was like a needle, piercing straight into her taut nerves.

She pulled away abruptly, taking half a step back. She lowered her head, not daring to meet Lovene's eyes.

“I'm fine, I'm fine!”

Then she turned around and practically fled toward the clinic's counter.

She had to pack her things and leave immediately!

Before the Saintess could react!

Her documents... forget them! Even without her travel documents, it wasn't as if she couldn't leave the territory!

With that thought, she began packing her things into a crate. To hide her impending departure, she deliberately grabbed a few potion bottles and placed them inside, making it look to anyone watching like she was merely organizing her medical kit.

But just then, the nurse's casual voice fell like a heavy boulder onto her chest.

“Oh, it's getting misty outside.”

A shudder ran through Vera's body.

She stared in horror at the clinic's window. Outside, a wall of grayish-white mist shut out the rest of the world.

She couldn't see the roofs opposite, she couldn't see the blue lantern at the end of the alley—she couldn't see anything at all.

“When the white mist rises, do not leave your home.”

That was the rule. She couldn't leave.

She was trapped in the clinic with the Saintess and the Holy Knight.

Leaning weakly against the wall, she stole a glance at Mia. But even so, their eyes met. Those cold eyes were filled with scrutiny.

Her heart felt like it was about to leap out of her chest...

She was almost certain now. The Holy Knight had come here to stop her from leaving. Once the white mist dispersed, the lord's wife would bring her guards to the clinic.

When that time came, they would list her crimes one by one, order her arrest, and sentence her to death.

Vera buried her face in her knees, her fingers gripping her hair tightly. Her lips trembled, and her teeth chattered with a faint clicking sound.

“What do I do? What do I do? It's so terrifying...”

She didn't want to die. She didn't want to die!

There had to be a way. There was definitely still a way for her to survive!

There had to be!

“The tide outside the door will answer you...”

“Who's there?!”

Vera snapped her head up, her eyes wide with shock.

Her voice was incredibly raspy, filled with terror and an urgency she herself didn't even realize.

But what terrified her even more was that no one else in the room seemed to have heard it. It was as if the words had originated from the depths of her own mind.

“Push open that door, and I can sink that light which does not belong here, along with the shadows it stirs, into the eternal tide...”

Something tapped gently in the depths of her consciousness—low, damp, and slimy, like wood that had been soaked in seawater for a very long time.

In her daze, only the clinic's door remained in her line of sight.

Just as she was about to respond, a damp breeze brushed against the back of her neck, as if someone were pressing against her back, leaning down to whisper in her ear.

It carried a faint, salty stench.

“Push open that door, and you will witness with your own eyes how that disruptive light is swallowed by the deep sea...”

Vera's fingers tightened against her knees. She swallowed hard, her throat bobbing.

“Why should I believe you?”

A few seconds of silence followed. In those seconds, she could only hear her own heartbeat, thumping heavily, beat by beat.

Then the voice spoke again, exceptionally gentle, like a mother whispering her child to sleep, yet carrying a certainty that sent a shiver down her spine.

“You will. You will open it. The tide is already waiting...”

The voice was like a sticky trail of water seeping from the deepest cracks of her consciousness, carrying an irresistible gravity.

Vera covered her ears and shook her head frantically, screaming “No!” in her mind. But when she snapped out of it, she was horrified to find her fingers already touching cold metal.

It was the door latch.

Made of iron, it had been eroded by the mist over the years, leaving a layer of dark red rust on its surface. The cold touch made her fingertips go numb, yet her hand still slid involuntarily over the rust, lifting the latch.

The thought flashed through her mind like a match blown out by the wind. But she had no time to dwell on it, for the door was already slowly creaking open under her hand.

The cold mist poured in like a bursting dam, carrying a thick, salty stench heavier than anything she had ever smelled in the clinic before.

The mist was almost liquid, flowing over her feet and seeping into her skirt, so freezing cold it felt like countless tiny needles pricking her skin.

With a soft sputter—

The lights inside the clinic went out.

And then, she saw it.

A tentacle loomed in the mist outside the door.

It looked like a limb belonging to some colossal creature. It was easily two meters in diameter, its grayish-white skin covered in dark mottling, its wet surface constantly dripping with slime.

The base of the tentacle disappeared into the depths of the white mist, leading to who knew where, as if connected to an unimaginably massive body.

It hovered right outside the clinic's entrance, less than three paces from Vera.

She could smell the pungent, fishy stench radiating from it—like a decade-old pile of fish entrails. It made her stomach churn.

She wanted to run, but her legs felt as if they were filled with lead, refusing to budge. Even her throat felt constricted, preventing her from making any sound.

The tentacle slowly retracted, coiling back.

It was about to strike.

Before a tsunami hits, the water level near the docks recedes drastically. The tentacle did the same. At this moment, Vera could practically see her own death flashing before her eyes.

When the tentacle swept across, she would be brushed aside like trash, reduced to a pile of mush.

The thought made her knees buckle, and her body tilted backward. But at that exact moment, the tentacle lunged fiercely toward her. In that instant, memories of her past seemed to flash before her.

“Watch out—!”

A white figure dashed past her side, moving as fast as a streak of golden light.

Lovene lunged forward and shoved Vera out of the way with her shoulder. Vera was sent sprawling to the side, her head striking a nearby flowerpot, sending a wave of darkness over her vision.

Immediately after, she saw Lovene's body freeze for a fraction of a second in midair as the tentacle swept across like a tightly compressed spring suddenly released, slamming brutally into Lovene's flank.

The sound of bones snapping was terrifyingly clear, like a dry branch being snapped in half.

Lovene let out a muffled groan as she was sent flying like a broken kite, overturning a sickbed inside the clinic before slamming into the wall, bed and all.

Several fine cracks splintered across the plaster wall, sending a shower of dust fluttering down.

“Your Highness—!”

Mia cried out, but instead of rushing to help Lovene, she drew her sword and charged toward the door.