Chapter 14: The Auction Item’s Name is Lynn

With every step she took, the Holy Light radiating from her body grew stronger.

The heavy armor of the Templar Knights hummed along with it, and an invisible pressure surged toward Vivian.

Caught in the middle, Lynn felt as if even breathing had become difficult.

One exuded the iron-blooded aura of a battlefield, while the other radiated the divine pressure of a fanatic.

The two fields of influence collided in the tiny dressing room, producing a “sizzle” and a series of muffled “pops.”

[Vivian’s Blackening Value: 97%]
[Alicia’s Blackening Value: 98%]

‘It’s over, it’s going to blow!’

Only those few words remained in Lynn’s mind.

He wanted to say something, like “Ladies, please calm down,” but he found that he couldn’t make a sound.

Under this level of pressure, a normal person like him didn’t even have the strength to open his mouth.

“So, you’re going to try and take him from me?”

Vivian released Lynn’s wrist, but she remained standing in front of him.

Her hand was already resting on the hilt of the greatsword at her waist.

“This is not taking, Your Highness.”

Alicia stopped three steps away from her and shook her head with a smile.

“This is setting things right. Your eyes have been clouded by desire. I will purify you, along with your soul.”

This was an explicit declaration of war.

She didn’t just want Lynn; she was prepared to strike against the Imperial Princess!

‘They’re crazy. Both of these women are insane!’

Lynn looked at the two of them.

One had blonde hair like fire, the other had silver hair like snow.

One was wild like a lion, while the other was holy like a deity.

At this moment, because of him, they were facing off in this narrow, cramped place, ready to level the entire Academy at any second.

He frantically cursed himself in his mind for ever meddling with the data in the first place.

Just then, Vivian spoke.

“Fine.”

She laughed, a wild and arrogant sound.

“Then let me see if your God is more powerful, or if my sword is harder!”

“Hum!”

The greatsword left its sheath, bringing with it a gust of wind that blew away the lingering steam in the dressing room.

The edge of the blade pointed directly at Alicia’s throat.

Alicia didn’t even blink. Behind her, the Templar Knights struck the floor with their halberds in unison.

“Clang!”

“Boom!”

“The entire floor shook.”

“God says that the profaner shall be burned with Holy Flame.”

Alicia chanted softly, and a ball of white fire ignited out of thin air in her palm.

The flame had no temperature, yet it made Lynn feel as though his very soul was trembling.

[WARNING! High-concentration Holy Energy detected! Please distance yourself immediately!]

[WARNING! High-intensity physical deterrence detected! Please distance yourself immediately!]

The system’s warnings flashed frantically in Lynn’s mind.

‘I want to get away too, dammit!’

Lynn looked at the two women poised for combat, at the cold glint of the greatsword and the flickering white Holy Flame.

For the first time, he truly felt the threat of death.

If they started fighting here today, he would definitely be the first one killed by the aftershocks.

He had to do something!

He had to stop them before they moved!

“But what could he do?”

He was unarmed, and his strength was as weak as a chick’s.

‘Reason with them? Reasoning with yanderes is no different from suicide.’

Just as Lynn’s mind went blank and he was about to give up thinking, his peripheral vision caught sight of the letter Vivian had tossed onto the table.

“Lilith’s letter!”

A crazy idea instantly popped into his head.

“Stop!”

A hoarse shout came from Lynn.

In this critical moment, he used every ounce of his strength to force the sound from his throat.

The wind pressure from the greatsword and the divine aura of the Holy Flame both stagnated for a split second because of that shout.

Vivian and Alicia’s gazes snapped toward him simultaneously.

One was filled with confusion and the displeasure of being interrupted, while the other held a trace of coldness that seemed to ask, ‘How dare you disturb my purification of filth?’

Lynn held the letter high in his hand—the crumpled paper still bearing Lilith’s wax seal.

He treated it like a final lifeline, holding it in front of him.

“You can’t fight!”

Lynn panted, his mind racing at top speed as he fabricated what was likely the boldest lie of his life.

“Because… because I already belong to someone else!”

As the words fell, the air in the dressing room went silent.

In the corner, one of the students who had been facing the wall lost their footing and fell onto their backside with a dull thud.

Vivian did not lower her sword.

She simply tilted her head, her golden eyes filled with utter bewilderment.

“Someone else’s?”

She repeated, as if trying to comprehend a brand-new vocabulary word.

“What does that mean?”

The smile on Alicia’s face vanished as well.

The Holy Flame in her palm did not go out; instead, it flickered even more violently.

[Alicia’s Blackening Value: 99%]

[Vivian’s Blackening Value: 98%]

The numbers jumped up another notch.

‘Shit…’

Lynn knew he had made a bad gamble, but he was already riding the tiger and had no choice but to keep acting.

“It means… exactly what it sounds like.”

He shook the letter in his hand.

“I… I’ve accepted someone else’s token. I promised her—”

Before he could finish, Vivian interrupted him brutally.

“Who is she?”

Vivian took a step forward.

The tip of the greatsword nearly touched the bridge of Lynn’s nose, and the cold Sword Qi made the skin on his face sting.

“A witch,” Alicia’s voice rang out eerily.

She extinguished the Holy Flame, but her emerald-blue eyes were more dangerous than the fire.

“A rat hiding in the gutter dares to covet a gift from God?”

Her focus was clearly entirely different from Vivian’s.

Vivian cared about “who”—who had stolen her property.

Alicia cared about “what”—what kind of trash dared to defile her holy artifact.

“So what?”

Vivian turned to look at Alicia, her tone full of impatience.

“Even if a fly set its sights on him first, what does that have to do with you? I was here first.”

She pointed the sword at Lynn and then back at herself.

“Lynn has been following me since he was a child. His guardianship has always belonged to the Croft Imperial Family. I am his guardian, and I have the right to decide everything for him, including clearing away all the trash around him.”

She directed those words at Alicia.

“Guardianship?”

Alicia let out a soft laugh.

The sound was ethereal yet carried a chilling undertone.

“Princess Vivian, are you talking about secular laws? Such things have no jurisdiction in the realm of God.”

She slowly walked to Lynn’s other side, forming a standoff with Vivian.

“Master Lynn’s soul has been branded with the radiance of God from the moment of his birth. He belongs only to God and the Agent of God on Earth.”

She extended a slender finger and gently tapped Lynn’s forehead.

“I am his true master.”