Chapter 175
Chapter 175: Azure Flames Consume the Moon, Blood Stains the Royal City (Part 9)
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Victoria...
I slowly lifted my head, gazing up at that strikingly beautiful face framed by golden hair and golden eyes, breathing in the heartwarming fragrance that drifted from her. A wave of relief quietly washed over me.
I shifted around in her arms, finding a comfortable position, then closed my eyes and murmured softly, "You're too slow..."
Never thought I'd get carried princess-style by someone one day... but honestly, it really was comfortable.
Comfortable enough that I was starting to feel hungry.
I wanted to eat her up.
"Is it resolved already."
Victoria's calm voice drifted to my ears. I answered with a drowsy hum through my nose, replying like someone talking in their sleep, "Probably... where did she land..."
The tension that had been strung tight for so long finally snapped loose, and a powerful wave of exhaustion crashed in. I really wanted to sleep, but I was also hungry... really, really hungry.
"To the south."
A faint sense of weightlessness came over me as Victoria began to descend... a gentle breeze blew strands of hair across my face, tickling a little.
"Where are we..."
"Near the Academy."
Near the Academy... wasn't that practically the center of the city... had I really flown that far?!
Victoria's words gave me a sudden jolt, and I snapped my eyes open at once. "We need to get over there—"
"Explain the situation to me first." Victoria cut me off immediately, her elegant brows furrowing slightly. "And stop moving around. You're injured."
"I'm fine..."
"You're covered in blood."
I tilted my head and thought about it. "That's not mine."
The moment those words left my mouth, the look Victoria gave me was as if she were regarding someone deeply profound.
I suddenly felt a little nervous. I thought she was going to say something, but she didn't. It was just... I don't know if it was my imagination, but it seemed like the wind blowing against me had somehow become softer... cool and faintly soothing.
I really wished I could fly too.
Holding that thought, I turned my head and looked down below.
The lit-up buildings and streets gradually came into sharper focus.
Unlike the situation in the northern district, this area was a busy commercial quarter, lined with shops and taverns that stayed open through the night. Security in the royal city was excellent, and at this hour the streets were still bustling with people... most of them were looking up, heads tilted toward the sky. A few had spotted me and Victoria floating in midair, and seemingly grasping that this was their Queen, hurriedly averted their eyes, not daring to stare directly.
But the closer we got to the ground, the louder and more frantic the murmuring voices became... the disappearance of the royal city's protective shell had clearly thrown the civilians into no small amount of panic.
Victoria drifted to a gentle landing atop a tower.
The moment she set me down, several figures immediately converged on us from nearby, stopping a few steps away and bowing their heads. "Your Majesty."
From their attire, they appeared to be Sword of Kanri members... Ah! My skirt was torn to pieces, I was about to flash everyone!
Panic seized me and I frantically looked around for anything I could use to cover myself... only to see Victoria beside me unclasping the white cloak from her back and tossing it my way without a second thought.
"Put it on."
"...Oh."
I caught it and obediently draped it over myself, a quiet sense of security settling in my chest. I wanted to thank her, but found that Victoria's attention had already shifted away. She turned to the Sword of Kanri members and asked, "Where is she."
"Over there..."
One of them pointed toward a street not far away, then hesitated slightly, a look of uncertainty crossing their face as they added in a halting voice, "More or less... probably..."
"Probably?"
Victoria's expression turned cold, and the faint questioning in her tone made the person stiffen up immediately. They rushed to explain, "She shattered into ice fragments on impact, scattered all over the street... it's genuinely difficult to identify."
Hearing those words, I let out a long, truly heartfelt breath of relief.
"It's definitely her..."
Who else but Theresa would have fallen and shattered into ice... she was really dead.
I killed her...
The moment that realization set in, my emotions became impossibly tangled. Countless faces flashed through my mind one after another... Tanis, the monks of the Church, the children of Cataloma, Charles, Elle... finally settling on the faces of Lucas and Abel.
Snowflakes drifted down from above, icy cold and quietly heartbreaking.
"Is this... snow?"
"Such powerful Frost Order..."
"It's so cold."
"Has anything else been found."
"Nothing... Rex and the others are still searching."
"...Sylvia."
Victoria's soft call pulled me out of my daze.
"Hmm?"
"What happened with Theresa, and why did Boswell disappear. And where is Lecter... tell me everything you know."
"...Okay."
I drew a deep breath and laid out the whole sequence of events in pieces.
Starting from when we snuck into Cataloma that night, then finding Theresa's notes, the clock tower's cellar, Tanis's body in the cellar, the children who had been beheaded and bled dry, the eerie spine bones, the Goddess's Tear, and the battle that followed... I kept it as brief as I could, and Victoria listened in silence.
She showed no emotion from beginning to end, only lowering her head in thought after I finished.
After a moment she raised her head again and looked at me. "You're certain the Goddess's Tear was on her?"
"I think so." I gave a small nod. "In the cellar, I saw her... tuck the blood pearl into her inner lining."
"How long was she out of your sight."
"For a while."
"Give me a specific time."
"...20 minutes."
Roughly 20 minutes... I was in no state to be counting seconds at a time like that.
"When did Lecter engage her."
I tilted my head and thought about it, then shook my head. "Not sure."
What was she getting at...
"Were there any other Gate of Truth members besides Theresa."
"...No."
My heart suddenly sank... the problem was becoming clear.
I suddenly recalled that back when Theresa was still in the cellar, she had said "no time."
She had left in a great hurry, as though something urgent had come up. But by the time I came out and found her in Cataloma, she had been unusually unhurried, almost relaxed... as if there was nothing else pressing at all, and she just wanted a good, clean fight. The situation had been so urgent at the time that I hadn't had much room to think, and nothing had struck me as off. But looking back on it now... the shift in Theresa's attitude before and after had to mean something.
She couldn't possibly have come alone.
And Victoria... she had clearly picked up on something.
"Victoria..."
Victoria said nothing.
After a moment, perhaps growing a little impatient with the silence, one of the Sword of Kanri members spoke up. "Your Majesty, shall we go search as well..."
"No need." Victoria said in a low voice. "Theresa was only buying time. There's nothing to find on her... Esther."
"Here."
"Go notify the royal city garrison to seal off the entire city immediately. No one leaves tonight... and send word to the Church as well."
"Yes."
"Also, who is in charge of the Arbitration Office in this district? Have them organize civilian evacuation at once."
"Yes."
Victoria's decisions came swiftly and without hesitation. After issuing a string of commands, she looked at me once more.
"Sylvia." The tone had softened slightly compared to before. "You're exhausted. Go rest. Come to my place, there's a doctor there."
I immediately shook my head. "It's fine, I'm not..."
Before I could finish, a sudden commotion erupted from a street in the distance.
"Ahhh—!"
"Oh god..."
"What is that..."
Terrified screams and cries rang out one after another, mixed faintly with several urgent, commanding shouts.
"Evacuate the civilians, now—!"
"Get out of here!"
"Watch out!"
A sense of dread rose in my chest, and on instinct I moved to step toward it.
BOOM—!!!
In the next instant, a towering inferno exploded into the sky.