Chapter Seventy-Five: The Girl from the Choir of Saints (Part Two)
“Peilo, big sister…”
The cold winter winds gently kissed my face, sending shivers down my spine.
Above, in the dusk sky, two bright silver crescent moons suddenly broke through the clouds and showered down silvery light upon the earth, illuminating the dark and gloomy alleys between the stone building rooftops.
And so, a thin sliver of light gradually revealed the face of the girl in front of me.
Aili had really grown taller than me!
This was the first thought that popped into my head after confirming it was her. Not exactly a happy thought.
I instinctively pouted at the figure standing in front of me like a bamboo sh**t and suddenly realized that I had to tilt my head slightly to meet her gaze—this realization made me feel a surge of annoyance.
What the heck.
Standing there so straight, it’s blinding…
Then I noticed that the little girl who had long since faded from my memory had now blossomed into a youthful lady.
Her freckles had vanished, her short hair gave her a clean and neat appearance, and her lovely features had undergone a significant change. While I could still faintly see traces of her childhood self, today’s Aili had already begun to show flickers of womanhood.
Serene…
Graceful…
And on top of that, her outfit no longer bore the simplicity and modesty of before. She now wore a form-fitting black outfit with a close-fitting suede waist, sporting a rather androgynous style, along with a pitch-black thorny cloak from the Choir of Saints that accentuated her tall and slender figure. The once naive little orphan girl now stood tall and imposing in the snowy landscape, an air of striking beauty around her, especially accentuated by the flowing cloak with the bl**d-red thorny flower design.
“You’re still alive…” she exclaimed.
In her eyes, I seemed to see my own reflection, my face slowly becoming clearer in her pupils.
Her expression changed before my eyes, morphing from surprise to disbelief, then sadness, and finally into a struggle born from some unknown reason. In less than a second, I clearly registered the sequence of these emotions.
“You’re really still alive…”
Aili began to shake her head, stepping back, her emotions too jumbled to describe.
“Aili…”
I called her name again, intending to reach out and hold her hand.
…Wait.
What did she just say?
She knows I’m not dead?
“Why?” The girl kept retreating, her face showing signs of wanting to cry. “What are you doing here…?”
That didn’t look like the reaction of someone excited to see me alive, at least not for that reason.
To be honest, I was a bit thrown off.
Everything happened so suddenly and unexpectedly, and with so little information, I had no idea what Aili’s current situation was. I just watched her back away, her cloak impossible to overlook, and expressionless, I whispered, “You joined the Choir of Saints?”
“Yes.”
The girl named Aili nodded, biting her lower lip. “So what…?”
It seemed my question had annoyed her, and she struggled to suppress her emotions while pondering something. After a moment, she seemed to get it, her tone dripping with sarcasm, “So you really did come to profit off those nobles wallowing in indulgence at the palace…”
“…What?” I was completely confused by her question.
Nobles wallowing in indulgence? Like Viki and the others?
Huh?
“Well, sorry then…”
Buzz—
Without giving me a chance to respond, a surge of divine light suddenly flared in my line of sight, and the Sin Barrier materialized in a whirlwind of shimmering lights enveloping me. This time, the girl seemed intent on trapping me with this… Ha.
Are you kidding me, Aili?
I felt my patience wearing thin.
I stood rooted to the spot for two seconds, letting that gossamer-like Sin Barrier gather and shape around me, completely enveloping my body.
I tilted my head up just in time to see the girl leap onto the high walls behind the stable. After reaching the top, she even looked back at me as if saying goodbye… Do you really think you can get away?
Clang clang clang clang!
The jarring metallic sound echoed as Aili swung her arms, sending two gleaming golden chains flying toward me. But before the chains could get close, I lightly poked the half-transparent arc of the Sin Barrier with my fire-wreathed fingers, and the golden light shattered into countless pieces!
In the next moment, I had already caught the chains in my hand, the crimson glow in my eyes shimmering, and I burst through the fragments of gold, reappearing in Aili’s view. Her widened eyes, clear in my sight, were caught in a dilemma over whether she should knock me out first or try to knock me out. Suddenly, a shadowy figure darted down from above her, faster than I could strike.
With a swift and clean motion, a hand struck Aili’s neck.
The girl’s body stiffened suddenly, her eyes rolling back as she slumped down, just about to tumble off the wall, but was caught by the mysterious figure.
“I told you, how come you don’t understand? No girl can easily escape from my grasp…”
He caught Aili and dropped down, chatting to himself as he walked over to me, giving a casual “Hi,” and asking, “So, looks like you two know each other?”
“Aili…”
I looked at the Forgiveness Head, expressionless. “The girl from the Cataloma Orphanage. We first met in Winter City and went through the Theresa incident together. Remember? I saved two kids from the bell tower.”
“Oh.”
Realization dawned on Rect as he exclaimed, “Is she one of those kids?”
“Yep.”
I nodded, turned, and began to walk away. “What’s the situation at the estate? Did you catch everyone?”
The Forgiveness Head man picked Aili up under his arm like a little chick, striding alongside me. “There shouldn’t have been any slip-ups. We’ll lock this girl up too, since you’re familiar with her. Once she wakes up, you can interrogate her, right, Your Highness?”
I furrowed my brow slightly, not immediately agreeing.
…
Upon returning to the estate, the traces of the earlier battle had been cleaned away. The eastern wall had collapsed in part, and a few trees had fallen, but overall it didn’t seem too problematic.
According to Rect, all the kids had been captured, and one seriously injured had been sent to the royal palace for treatment, while the others were brought to the basement of the main estate. That’s when I found out that “My Home” even had an underground prison—maybe I should just fix up a big bedroom next? Make it look like what Viki likes, and I’ll just move out.
Barry and Ryan came running out to ask what happened. I told them everything was fine and to go rest; they should get Grandma to sleep too.
Barry said Grandma was a bit worried, so I thought about it and went back to chat with her a bit more until I got her to fall asleep, then stepped out of the side building and found Rect at the main door.
“Alright, spill it. What happened?”
