What was that sound? Did she just... moan?. Lucian’s throat went dry, and he swallowed hard, his steps faltering mid-stride.
No, I must be imagining it. But that voice—it felt so familiar, almost like déjà vu. His thoughts stumbled to a stop, footsteps quiet and hesitant, torn between curiosity and the urge to turn back.
"Isabella... your skin is so smooth. Have you been keeping your body just for me?"
"N-nngh... Saintess... please... I get so sensitive when you touch me there... Ngghhh..."
Lucian flinched. What the hell?! That voice... it sounds exactly like Saintess Lumina! Is that really her? What are they doing inside a carriage, in the middle of the road, like this?!
He could barely believe what he’d just heard. He stepped forward, slowly. Through the dim silhouette, he could see the carriage rocking gently.
The carriage is rocking?! Damn it... what are they actually doing in there?!
"Nngh... I feel calmer now. But is it really alright to be doing this in the middle of the road? Maybe we should stop here for now..."
Heat rushed to Lucian’s ears. His heart pounded like a hammer strike. Torn between fleeing and staying to listen, hesitation held him in place. Then the voice from inside the carriage turned suddenly cold. Sharp.
"Sshhh. Relax. No one can interrupt us right now... not even the little rat eavesdropping outside."
"Isn’t that right, young man? Would you like to join us in here?"
Lucian’s body froze solid. His blood ran cold. Damn it! If she noticed me from this distance, her level is far above mine! I never should have come here in the first place!
He took a slow step back.
"Nngh... trying to run away?" The woman’s voice inside turned razor-sharp.
"Saintess... shall I deal with the intruder?" Isabella’s voice answered from within.
They’re going to attack me! It’s just me and Rumelia here—neither of us can fight! What do I do?! Lucian froze mid-step, his mind racing for an exit.
At the peak of his panic, a flash of light suddenly filled his blurred vision.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
✦ [GOD-EYE: TIER UPGRADED]
Effect: Conductor’s visual perception fully restored to standard human vision.
"Ugh—! My eyes! Agh! ARGHHH!"
Searing pain tore through both his eyes. He screamed, clawing at his blindfold.
"Look out, Young Master!" Rumelia shrieked from behind him.
Through his hearing, Lucian caught something slicing through the air, impossibly fast. He twisted his body on instinct.
CRACK!!—
Glass shattered, the sound splitting the air, followed by a heavy thud against the ground.
THUD.
A body dropped lifeless in front of Lucian. It wasn’t him. It wasn’t Rumelia.
"The little rats move fast. I only laid out a small bait, and they came running with the entire Shadow Hunter squad," a graceful voice murmured—now crystal clear.
The burning in Lucian’s eyes began to fade. When he opened them, the world was no longer a blur of silhouettes. Color. Sharpness. Even through the black cloth still covering his eyes, everything came into focus.
My eyes... is this... is this my hand? Lucian stared at his own fingers, stunned. Then he looked up—and cold steel flashed into view.
"Don’t move!" a deep, gravel-heavy voice barked.
A blade hovered inches from his face. Beside the man, a corpse lay sprawled in a pool of blood—masked, marked with the sigil of a sun, wrapped in a long white robe.
Good god... what day is this even?! Why are so many things happening at once?! Lucian’s mind spun in panic.
"Who are you?!" he demanded.
"I said don’t move!" the masked man snapped again.
Lucian glanced around. He wasn’t the only one at swordpoint. Near the carriage, a group of sun-masked men had surrounded two women.
CLAP. CLAP.
Mocking applause echoed from the carriage.
"I didn’t expect Cardinal Miranda’s Shadow Hunters to actually chase us all the way here," said the crimson-haired woman. Lucian was certain now—one hundred percent. That voice belonged to Saintess Lumina.
"Saintess Lumina! Drop this act and come with us to the Kingdom of Castilla, peacefully! And Archpriest Isabella—you’re under arrest for treason!" the lead masked man declared.
Lumina...?! So that voice really was hers?! Damn it, I want to see her face right now—but who exactly are these Shadow Hunters? Lucian didn’t dare move, the blade still pressed against his chest.
"Arrest me? On what grounds, Wyatt?" Isabella’s voice came out cold.
"Is this Cardinal Miranda’s order—or has the Kingdom of Castilla grown bold enough to infiltrate Bravenheart territory?" Lumina added, calm.
"Isn’t this all because of you, Saintess Lumina?!" Wyatt shouted, fury in his voice. "You’ve been inciting the King and nobles of Castilla to traffic humans into Bravenheart! And you call yourself a Saintess of the Order of Lumielle?! Aren’t you afraid of what happens when the Central Order in Virelle finds out?!"
Lumina let out a soft laugh. "Hah. How amusing. If I’d truly done something wrong, shouldn’t the Central Order be the ones coming for me—not you? The fact that you’re here means you have no real evidence."
"That’s because you’re manipulative! You’ve kept this buried until now. Which is why we’re dragging you and your accomplice back to prove it!" Wyatt snapped.
Lumina’s eyes turned murderous. But Wyatt stepped toward Lucian instead.
"Get your blade off him. He has nothing to do with this," Lumina cut in, her tone shifting—protective.
"Saintess... do you think we don’t know about your terrifying power? You can control a person’s body with nothing but your eyes! That’s proof of your bloodline—the cursed Crimson Clan, sworn to demons! Cardinal Miranda knows everything about you!"
The Crimson Clan...?! Isn’t she the Archduke of Augusta’s own daughter? Wasn’t that clan wiped out eighty years ago?! Lucian’s mind reeled.
From somewhere else, Rumelia—held back by a masked soldier—screamed. "Is that true?! Is the Saintess descended from the cursed Crimson Clan?!"
Her voice carried a hatred Lucian had never heard from her before. "Why are demons like you still alive?! Young Master, run! Get away from there, now!"
Lucian’s head throbbed harder. The Crimson Clan... the demon clan that slaughtered four kingdoms in the central region... Is Lumina really descended from those monsters?
"Shut that woman up! Nobody move!" Wyatt barked.
Lumina ignored them all. Her blood-red eyes softened as they turned toward Lucian. "Lucian..."
"I never expected we’d meet again like this. Honestly, I don’t want you listening to these filthy rats. Won’t you come to me?" She extended her hand, smiling with a warmth laced with something far darker.
"Young man! Don’t listen to her unless you want to end up a living doll!" Wyatt cut in sharply.
"A doll?" Lucian whispered.
"Don’t you know how the Crimson Clan slaughtered tens of millions?! They used human bodies as vessels to summon demons! If you become her doll, your soul will be shattered, and your body possessed by a demon!"
Lucian’s chest thundered. Possessed by a demon...?! That’s the same as death! Does Lumina really intend to do that to me?
His mind reeled. He thought of the friend and fiancée he’d trusted most, the ones who’d betrayed him without hesitation. This world was made of nothing but lies.
"Lucian... I said come here. Listen to me..." Lumina called again, her voice pressing harder now.
Lucian turned toward the sound of her voice and shouted, cutting through the tension. "Lumina! Be honest with me! Is everything they’re saying true?! Do you really intend to make me your doll?!"
"Of course not, Lucian! I’m your Saintess. They’re nothing but filthy pigs trying to smear my name in front of you!" she answered instantly.
"Tch! Boy, are you blind?! Look at the woman beside her—that Archpriest is already a soulless puppet! Ah, forgive me... you can’t see, can you. Just don’t follow that demon’s orders!" Wyatt shouted.
Lucian’s fists clenched. In the middle of his tortured indecision, the system window flared to life behind his eyes once more.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
✦ [HEARTWHISPER: ACTIVATED]
Effect: The Conductor can now hear the innermost thoughts of targets within range.
⚠ WARNING: Exposure to raw human desire may cause severe mental instability in the Conductor.
Hear her heart...? Could I hear what Lumina is really thinking right now?
The moment the thought crossed his mind, a deafening ring tore through his hearing. Voices—unearthly, resonating straight into his skull. Lumina’s true voice. Her soul, laid bare.
[ LUCIAN IS MY SLAVE OF LOVE... ]
Ngh—that voice...?! Lucian clutched his head as a violent dizziness slammed into him.
[ LUCIAN IS MY SLAVE OF DESIRE... ]
S-stop...
[ LUCIAN IS MY SLAVE OF PLEASURE... I’LL MAKE HIM MINE. COMPLETELY MINE! ]
ENOUGH! SOMEBODY STOP THIS!
✦ [HEARTWHISPER: DEACTIVATED]
Silence.
For a moment, Lucian couldn’t hear anything at all—not Wyatt’s shouting, not the clash of steel nearby, not even his own heartbeat. Just an empty ringing, echoing where her voice had been.
Then it all came crashing back at once.
Lucian collapsed to his knees. His breathing came in ragged gasps, cold sweat drenching his entire body. His mind reeled from the raw madness he’d just heard—the true depths of what lived inside the Saintess’s heart.
Seeing him suddenly collapse, Wyatt mistook it for a threatening move.
"Hey! I said don’t move!" Wyatt barked, angling his blade straight at Lucian’s chest.
"W-wait... I’m just... exhausted..." Lucian rasped, raising both hands weakly.
"GET YOUR BLADE OFF MY BELOVED, YOU FILTHY RAT!!" Lumina’s scream tore through the air, pure fury.
A crimson-black aura of mana exploded from her body. "Lucian, come here! Your body needs healing, now!"
An overwhelming pressure of mana swept across the area. An invisible force pulled at Lucian’s body, dragging him forward, step by step, toward her.
N-no... my body’s moving on its own! Damn it! I have to resist... If I get any closer, she really will make me her slave!
"Argh! Restrain him! Chant the sacred prayer, now! Don’t let that boy get pulled in by her demonic magic!" Wyatt shouted at his men, panic rising in his voice.
"Isabella... kill them all," Lumina ordered, cold as ice.
Within seconds, Isabella moved like a shadow given form. Mercilessly, the Archpriest tore through the masked soldiers with movements no human should have been capable of.
H-how can an Archpriest fight like that?! Is this... the effect of the soul-slavery Wyatt mentioned?! Horror gripped Lucian’s mind.
"Lucian... come here..." Lumina’s whisper called again, from a distance.
His body kept being dragged forward, bound by the pull of her magic. At the same moment, cornered and desperate, Wyatt made an extreme decision. Better to kill the vessel than let the Crimson Clan reclaim its power.
Time seemed to slow.
Lucian heard it before he felt it—the faint whistle of steel cutting through air, growing louder, closer. His heartbeat filled his ears, one final, thunderous beat.
SPLURGH!!
Cold steel plunged through his chest.
"LUCIAN!!" Lumina’s scream tore through the air, hysterical.
His vision blurred instantly. All his strength drained away in a single breath. A searing cold spread from his chest, flooding through every vein.
This blade... it’s poisoned...
Fresh blood spilled from his lips. His body collapsed, crumpling onto the cold ground.
"Young Master!!" Rumelia screamed from a distance, her eyes wide with disbelief.
Lumina ran like a woman possessed, shoving Wyatt aside so hard he was thrown off his feet, then dropped to her knees and pulled Lucian’s body into her arms.
"Damn it! Hold on, Lucian! Hold on!!" Her fingers trembled violently as she pressed down on the wound in his chest. But blood kept pouring, steady and unrelenting, from his mouth.
"PURIFY! PURIFY!! WHY ISN’T THIS WORKING?! PURIFY!!" Lumina screamed, frustration cracking her voice as sacred healing light poured from her hands.
Seeing the glow of that holy light, something stirred in Lucian’s chest, cutting through the burning pain. Purify...? Isn’t the cursed Crimson Clan supposed to wield only dark mana—magic that could never cast something sacred...? Was I... was I wrong about her, this whole time?
"I said hold on! Open your eyes, Lucian!!" Her voice cracked, ragged. Her tears fell, landing on his cheek.
Through what little sight remained beneath his thinning blindfold, Lucian saw her face clearly for the first time. A beautiful face, now shattered by fear and grief so raw it hurt to look at.
It hurts..
but this is the first time I’ve ever seen her face clearly... How foolish I was, thinking she only wanted to hurt me...
"Lucian! Don’t close your eyes! Please!!"
Lucian smiled faintly, his breath fading.
Seeing your face... I don’t know why, but I feel so calm...
"LUCIAN! OPEN YOUR EYES!!"