Chapter 208 - 209
Anice subconsciously supported him and with her help he managed to crawl over to Lily where he attempted to heal her with the last of his energies. After several moments, his silver eyes dropped in sadness and he shook his head in a helpless manner.
"She’s gone," he said weakly. "There’s nothing...I can do..." He fell into a fit of hoarse coughs, blood leaking from the corners of his mouth as he stared up at Anice with all sorts of emotions in his eyes.
"L—Lord Silverkin, can you try again?" asked Jaden, his voice brittle as he stared down at his deceased lover. "She only hit her head. It wasn’t hard. She’s just unconscious."
Violet and Rosa cried hysterically as they clung to their sister, Emely and Helen hugging one another as they sobbed into each other’s shoulders. Violent death was difficult to witness for anybody, let alone young and delicate girls like them.
Amidst this scene of sadness, Corrie suddenly appeared a few dozen paces up ahead, the soles of his boots crunching against fallen scales of ice that were left over from the desperate struggle. Looking past Stason and Mr. Albeck’s bodies, his eyes settled on Lily’s unmoving form before they took on a deep look of depression. His ratty old dagger was clutched tightly in his right hand, its blade slick with blood. After a moment’s hesitation, he gritted his teeth and strode over to address the group, though Anice hardly heard his words.
"It was the church," he said amidst the chorus of sobs, continuing on despite the fact that nobody looked over at him. "One of them admitted to it when he had a knife to his neck. He said he didn’t have a choice, something about a curse. He mentioned the delegation, but then he began to seize as if he’d ingested some sort of poison. I slit his throat just to be safe."
"You’re saying...the church did this?" Jaden didn’t look away from Lily’s face as he spoke, his hands shaking with emotion. Suddenly angry, he screamed, "How can you joke around at a time like this?" Softer and in broken tones, he went on, "Why would the church want to hurt someone like Lily? Why would they want to hurt any of us?"
Caedmon bowed his head, and for a moment Anice was worried that he’d never lift it again.
Sputtering, her father said, "It’s me... But I...don’t know why..."