Episode 186
Time at the temple passed slowly.
“Sorry. Our priests are doing their best. However, the strength of a mere human cannot overcome the power of a divine being from another world. We are just ordinary people who will be given a portion of the power of the Lord God.”
“Yeah, thank you for doing your best.”
Elisha was wearing white and showing the nape of her neck to her priests. The priests had been struggling to erase Elisha's tracking tattoo for several days.
But all of those attempts failed.
'The high priests of the sanctuary here, who are said to have the strongest holy power in the world……. I can't get this tattoo off.'
The priest couldn't fight and defeat the wizards, but he could nullify what the wizards had done.
One day in my previous life. At some point, rumors began to spread among the collateral. Priests were able to erase seals placed by wizards for nefarious purposes.
'It was information I heard in my previous life that only high-ranking priests could remove this tracking tattoo. However…….'
The basis of the tracking tattoo magic was that the tattoos were paired. By keeping the other side of the tattoo, the owner of the tattoo can track the location of the opponent and sometimes inflict pain.
In Jacob's case, his magician kept the tattoos of the collateral. However, when Lucerne married Elisha, Jacob's wizard took over the tattoo.
There, things got messy.
“You mean you could remove tattoos in the past?”
“Yes. You're right. Like I said……. If the tattoo was done by a normal wizard, it can be removed. But it wasn't until he kept half of the tattoo…….”
The priest said as if he was in trouble.
“The shadow demon he deals with is really a real 'quasi-god' from another world. Our priests can't touch the half of that Junshin's tattoo.”
Elisha was admiring Lucerne's obsession. It seemed that his power was truly beyond human.
'Lucerne, you are always a variable to me.'
Elisha had secretly planned to escape for a long time. With Rosaria's help, she qualifies as a fake saintess candidate and she flees to the Sanctuary. There, she erases the tracking tattoo on the nape of her neck and disappears using her borrowed name and account. This was her original plan.
'I got caught out too early, starting with the borrowed name.'
First of all, Lucerne was tougher than I thought. She didn't know that the identity creation would be so ruthlessly exposed.
'Thanks to me, things have become easier, but he's someone who would have destroyed the Cartier family somehow.'
Elisha thought that thinking like that would make her laugh. An information guild where Elisha created a borrowed-name identity with the help of Ilione.
That guild is a guild that will later use Jacob as well as the family head. In other words, the people of the Cartier family knew all the secrets and brought them to them. With that guild, it wasn't even a task to manipulate and destroy the Cartier family.
'I thought that guild was Lucerne.'
When Elisha was incarcerated, Lucerne gave her mostly answers to questions she asked. It was the same with Sophie.
Elisha then learned about the information guild's secret. Lucerne would have been the winner of the the house game no matter what.
'Is it 60% success?'
Some of the escape plans succeeded, some failed.
However, Elisha did not regret it.
Lucerne was a poisonous snake that devours poisonous snakes. Against such a person, she really…… I did enough. Besides, she also had an unexpected income.
That she had caught the weak spot in his heart. She didn't know that Lucerne would really imprison her, but within that time, Elisha fully grasped him.
'Do I have to negotiate with Lucerne again?'
Elisha smiled bitterly and thought. She is the only sweet memory in Lucerne's life. Loved by her fake mother, she made even her false memories crumble.
What would you be now?
Perhaps the monster's heart was gone forever.
'No, you might not have had a heart from the beginning.'
Elisha thought. But she's given birth to a weakness in the monster's non-existent heart. She may have created a miracle in a sense.
'Now you can't kill me.'
That was the only confidence that Elisha had gained after countless tests. If not, would she have fed Lucerne her confession and stupidly questioned her love?
She doesn't have too much, so. She's girl, she's the only collateral she's got is herself.
She had to throw all of herself in order to catch her weakness in Lucerne.
'And the outcome of the game of my life……. What kind of chess piece is in my hand?'
* * *
That night, Rosaria came to visit.
There was an incident that day. One of the priests who was trying to get rid of Elisha's tracking tattoo was attacked and injured by her tattoo. The priests officially announced that they would stop removing the tracking tattoos.
Rosalia came because she was afraid that Elisha would be discouraged even during her busy schedule.
“Elisha, are you okay?”
“I'm OK. I'm worried about the priest who got hurt because of me.”
Fortunately, the priest's injuries were not serious. Elisha was relieved of her guilt when she was told that she would recover soon. Anyway, Elisha was entangled in the Cartier family, and she didn't want to see anyone get hurt anymore.
“I don't know if you were disappointed.”
“Is there anything to be disappointed about? We have to find another number.”
Elisha said calmly.
Rosalia nodded her head. They were accustomed to counting on her own comfort.
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
“I want to go out of the sanctuary for a while.”
“Outing? There is still an uproar outside about the Cartier family. Besides, the people of Lucerne must be keeping an eye on you around the Sanctuary.”
“I want to visit the monastery where I grew up. It's a very short outing, so it should be fine. I'll try going while Lucerne is in the capital. Don't worry too much about Lucerne. If he didn't choose the means, the sanctuary would already be on fire.”
“You speak too harshly. Our Guardians also have the ability to stop him.”
However, Rosaria did not greatly deny it.
“By the way, why is that place?”
“To move the monster.”
Elisha spoke briefly.
“You have to melt your heart. It's my loss to fight head-on. Maybe there are clues. If you still have a heart for him.”
Elisha hoped that his heart was just frozen. Now she was Elisha because she would melt and use his heart to survive.
* * *
'Lady Rosaria. Do you remember? In my childhood……. The plague patient in the monastery. He was a patient with a distorted face.'
'Ah, I don't remember. I couldn't see anyone because of my illness, but didn't you often run errands and deliver meals? But they didn't live long even after they flowed into our monastery.'
'Right. I remembered about him not too long ago.'
Said Elisha.
'A long time ago he heard his name. I forgot like an idiot. His name is…….'
* * *
It had been two months since he had left the sanctuary. The monastery where Elisha grew up. Spring was quickly approaching there too.
I didn't have much time. Any time Lucerne notices Elisha leaving and stimulates her tattoo, Elisha's location is revealed. As Rosaria told Lucerne, she said that she was distracted by various things.
The monastery where Elisha grew up was not far from the sanctuary, but it was quite a distance from the capital.
'It's probably only an hour or two at most.'
Elisha's heart became a little impatient.
'I remember. This is…….'
The building of the monastery where Elisha lived. After that, there is a very dark, dark place. It was older than any other building in the monastery.
It is said that it was previously a place to house patients with contagious diseases. As far as Elisha knows, there have been no epidemics of contagious disease in the area where she grew up. Only one patient stayed there.
“Are you sure you want to come in here?”
The priest who guided Elisha spoke cautiously.
“Hey, this place……. This is the place where someone who suffered from a very bad plague in the past died.”
“I know.”
Elisha nodded her head.
“It will be fine now. Because it's already been 10 years. It's not okay to get sick.”
Elisha said quietly. She went into it It was a place made of stone walls.
'As expected, there's nothing right now.'
The room had been burned once a long time ago. After that, it was cleaned, but the inside, like a haunted house, was more dreary than imagined.
