Wuli had been locked up.
Locked inside another room.
When Fion said he would “think about it,” he truly only meant that he would think about it. Wuli had successfully gone from an immediate death sentence to a suspended one.
In the original story, the person she had never known how to win over was Fion.
He was also the one she understood the least.
If Shuen hadn’t told her that the thing she needed to return home was in the Church, she would never have come here and risked her life.
The white-haired girl was locked inside the room. Sitting on the sofa, she slowly turned things over in her mind.
‘There’s no rushing this.’
*
Glenn arrived.
He and Fion happened to run into each other face-to-face.
The moment Fion saw Glenn, he paused and raised an eyebrow slightly.
“You’re here to see Wuli?”
Glenn very much did not want to admit it.
After all, Wuli had personally rejected him and then turned around and gone to the Church instead. While the Church was not exactly a bad choice, it undeniably felt like a slap to his face.
He remained silent for a moment and did not answer the question. Instead, he asked, “Where is Wuli?”
Where was Wuli?
Wuli had been locked up by him.
And before long, she would be sacrificed to the gods.
A gentle smile rose to Fion’s lips.
There was no way he would tell Glenn about his plans.
What truly surprised him, however, was that Glenn seemed to care far more about this fiancée than he had imagined.
It seemed that Wuli really was quite charming.
“Your Highness, if you’re looking for Wuli, why not wait in the reception room? She’s busy at the moment. Once she’s free, she’ll probably come see you.”
The black-haired young man frowned, his displeasure plainly visible.
On the surface, Fion’s words sounded perfectly ordinary.
In reality, every sentence concealed a barb.
What did he mean, Wuli was busy and would come when she had time…?
He was the First Prince. Other than the Emperor himself, who would dare tell him they didn’t have time for him?
Yet not only had Fion said exactly that, but his tone even made it sound as though Glenn was the one chasing after Wuli.
The black-haired young man’s expression immediately darkened.
“You only need to tell me where she is.”
“Have you ever considered that Wuli doesn’t want to see you?”
Still smiling, Fion struck back. His words were blunt and razor-sharp, instantly leaving the other man speechless.
“Wuli has already made her rejection perfectly clear. Why insist on making yourself unwelcome?”
Glenn froze.
Fion’s smile remained flawless.
After a second of stunned silence, Glenn finally snapped back to himself and gritted out through clenched teeth,
“What business is it of yours? Do you think you’re any better? The Pope’s lapdog.”
Hearing such words, Fion did not become angry in the slightest.
The smile remained at the corners of his lips.
More accurately, almost no one had ever seen Fion lose his temper.
The Saint had always been that calm and composed.
And Wuli knew absolutely nothing about any of this.
She was merely locked inside her room.
Other than a single window, she had no connection to the outside world whatsoever.
Fion would not let Glenn know where Wuli was.
Nor would he tell Wuli who had come looking for her.
She was nothing more than a sacrifice.
In the end, Glenn never got to see Wuli.
After being provoked by a few casual remarks from Fion, he left still carrying a belly full of anger.
Watching his departing figure, the smile on Fion’s face gradually faded away.
He had never expected his student to be this capable, attracting Glenn to come looking for her again and again.
After a moment’s thought, he turned around and headed back the way he had come.
In that case, it would be better to offer her as a sacrifice sooner rather than later.
He never should have listened to the girl’s sweet words yesterday.
*
Wuli spent an entire day confined in fear and anxiety.
Then, at noon on the third day, Fion came personally.
The blond young man first knocked politely on the door.
Then he turned the handle and pulled it open.
Having gone so long without seeing the world outside, Wuli instinctively narrowed her eyes against the light.
The white-haired girl was currently sitting idly on the sofa.
Her pale blue eyes met Fion’s, though it was impossible to tell what she was thinking.
She was still dressed in a nun’s habit.
Looking at her, Fion felt that she looked remarkably suitable for a sacrifice.
Wuli tilted her head up and straightened her posture.
“Let’s go.”
A dark glint flashed through Fion’s mismatched eyes.
‘What?’
‘I can leave this place?’
‘No.’
Her gaze lingered on Fion as she immediately rejected the thought.
‘That’s not right. There’s no way Fion would let me off this easily.’
Fion concealed the emotion in his eyes.
Wuli shifted slightly.
“Okay.”
Wuli responded calmly.
Along the way, she had originally intended to follow behind Fion, but he was clearly far more cautious than she had expected. He deliberately slowed his pace and walked beside her instead.
The white-haired girl silently and warily surveyed her surroundings.
She had no idea what Fion was planning.
Neither of them spoke as they walked, until they arrived at a relatively open area.
What was this place?
Fion lowered his gaze to her.
“To be honest, I’ve thought about it for a long time.”
Wuli’s heart gradually sank.
Because from the look of it, Fion had not abandoned his original plan.
Nor did he have any intention of letting her leave.
“Becoming a sacrifice is the best destiny you could hope for.”
Light slowly began to emerge from a magic array.
What?
Again?
Before Wuli could react, Fion had already grabbed her head and forcefully pressed it into the center of the array.
Her footing gave way, and her heart instantly began pounding violently.
Strange rays of light started flickering across the array.
“Fion, you can’t…”
The words caught in Wuli’s throat.
She felt as though she was about to die.
In the game, a successful sacrifice led directly to a bad ending.
She had avoided contact with Fion countless times precisely to prevent herself from entering this route.
But looking at the situation now…
There seemed to be no escaping it after all.
At this moment, her life hung by a thread.
She had no way to fight back.
She was going to die…
The magic array activated, its light shining across Fion’s expressionless face.
A Saint revered as the brightest and most righteous figure in the world was currently pinning down a defenseless young girl, determined to offer her up as a sacrifice to the gods.
It was both absurd and deeply ironic.
Wuli struggled with all her strength.
She couldn’t break free.
Suddenly, a faint smile appeared on her face.
Everything felt like a dream.
For no reason she could understand, she had been transported into a game.
For no reason she could understand, she had repeatedly survived brushes with death.
And now, for no reason she could understand, she was being pinned here, moments away from becoming a sacrifice.
Fate had treated her so unfairly.
The light of the magic array flickered, reflecting within Fion’s mismatched eyes.
What Wuli did not see was that the calm in those eyes was rapidly fading, replaced by a growing look of disbelief.
…What was happening?
Why had it failed?
The strange glow of the array gradually dimmed and disappeared.
Aside from the pain of being forcefully restrained, Wuli felt no discomfort at all.
Fion pressed his lips together.
The strength in his grip slowly loosened.
It had failed.
The ritual had failed to activate.
The girl before him had not become a sacrifice.
In fact, there was nothing unusual about her at all.
Nor had the gods bestowed any revelation.
For hundreds of years, not a single sacrifice conducted by his hand had ever resulted in something like this.
Why?
Could it be because this time the sacrifice was a living person?
The hand on Wuli’s head loosened.
Without a second thought, the white-haired girl scrambled backward, putting as much distance between herself and Fion as possible. Only then did she fully process what had just happened.
The light of the magic array had completely vanished.
There was no one else around besides the two of them.
The deep-blue earring hanging from Wuli’s ear reflected a faint glimmer of light before dimming once more.
The sudden turn of events had left her unable to recover her composure.
Her body trembled uncontrollably.
The light was not particularly bright, yet Wuli could clearly see Fion’s face.
And his expression.
The blond young man was frowning, seemingly troubled by something.
Wuli understood immediately.
He still wanted to sacrifice her.
This time, however, for some unknown reason, he had failed.
“Why did the array suddenly stop working?”
The blond young man looked at her.
He was still half-kneeling on the ground in the same position as before.
One of his black eyes seemed unfathomably deep, as though it could see straight through her soul.
In all these decades, such a thing had never happened even once.
It truly defied explanation.
Wuli herself was equally bewildered.
She was shocked by the sudden failure of the array.
Just moments ago, she had genuinely believed she was going to die.
Gradually, her heartbeat settled.
After a long pause, she looked at Fion and slowly rose to her feet.
Why?
Fion’s gaze swept over Wuli from head to toe.
In terms of temperament, soul, appearance, and personality, Wuli was exceptional in every regard.
Wasn’t she exactly the sort of person best suited to be a sacrifice?
Surely the gods should have been pleased with such an offering.
So why had it failed?
Wuli staggered to her feet.
Before she could even feel any relief at having survived, the other party seized her wrist and dragged her away.
The sacrifice had failed.
Even Fion, a Saint, had no idea why.
If he didn’t know the reason, then no one else would.
This was Wuli’s first time entering Fion’s office.
Like the rest of the Church, the Saint’s office was decorated entirely in black and white tones.
Oppressive.
Solemn.
Dignified.
After pushing Wuli inside, Fion fetched a set of restraints and cuffed her to an iron pillar connected to the outer wall, ensuring she would have no chance to escape.
The office door shut with a decisive click.
Fion merely glanced at the white-haired girl before turning toward the bookshelves lining the walls and pulling out volume after volume.
Every book here had been personally selected by him.
They were the texts most likely to provide solutions to difficult problems.
Why had the sacrifice failed?
Nothing like this had ever happened before.
Fion searched through the books one after another.
Meanwhile, the white-haired girl remained shackled nearby, still unable to move.
She simply watched in silence as Fion paced around the office.
Though, in a way, this was good.
It gave her time to think.
The clues she needed to return home seemed to be hidden within the library in the restricted area.
Even more alarming was the fact that she had discovered 《A Maiden’s Western Fantasy World Setting Collection》 there.
Such crucial information…
And yet everyone else who looked at it saw nothing but a blank book.
Scene after scene flashed through her mind.
Meanwhile, Fion searched for a long time and still found nothing.
It seemed that, for the time being at least, the matter of sacrificing her had reached a dead end.
Fion’s expression grew increasingly grim.
This truly was a troublesome problem.
Then, after some thought, a new idea suddenly occurred to Wuli.
A rather unusual one.
She was indeed a special person.
Fion’s earlier assessment had not been wrong.
In that case, could she use that fact to force something out of him?
The white-haired girl parted her lips.
“Saint, let’s make a deal.”
Her voice was calm and measured.
There was not the slightest trace of fear in it.
She sounded nothing like someone who had just escaped death.
Hearing those words, Fion slowly turned his head toward her.
The white-haired girl’s gaze was sharp.
There was even a smile in her eyes, as though she were mocking him for spending so long searching only to find nothing.
She spoke again.
“I know far more than you think.”
*
Elsewhere, the deep-blue gemstone linked to Shuen’s own gem suddenly began to glow.
A few minutes later, the light faded, and it gradually returned to normal.
If Wuli had seen it, she would have immediately noticed that its quality, color, and craftsmanship were identical to her deep-blue earring.
The two had been carved from the same stone.
The white-haired young man stared at the gemstone flashing in his hand.
At first, surprise crossed his face.
Then the surprise disappeared, and his gaze gradually deepened.
It seemed she really had encountered that sort of situation.
Shuen thought to himself.
He put the gemstone away and stepped out of the room.
It looked like he needed to check whether his fake little sister was still alive.