Chapter 13: The Holy Maiden Arrives, Blocking the Door

Her hand reached over.

It wasn’t a grab, but rather her calloused fingertips gently brushing across Lynn’s collarbone.

Lynn stiffened all over.

The cross on his neck, the one Alicia had given him, began to heat up.

[Alicia’s Blackening Value: 89%]

[Warning: Detected that the host is being deeply contaminated by the ‘Source of Impurity,’ starting Purification Program…]

“Here it goes again!”

“I’m not leaving!”

Lynn blurted out.

“I’m a student of the Academy. I have to finish my studies here!”

“Studies?”

Vivian sneered, her fingers sliding down his chest to stop right over his heart.

“Is that kind of thing more important than your life? Or do you think you can attend classes in peace with that religious nut around?”

“If you stay here, she’ll swallow you whole sooner or later. I’m saving you.”

Her tone was incredibly sincere.

Lynn had no doubt that she truly believed what she was saying.

The logic of a yandere was always self-consistent.

“What’s the difference between you taking me away by force and what she does!”

Lynn tried to appeal to her reason.

Vivian’s gaze turned cold.

“The difference?”

She pinched Lynn’s chin, forcing him to look up at her.

“The difference is, I won’t use those disgusting things to tie you up. At most… I’ll just break your legs so you can’t go anywhere.”

[Vivian’s Blackening Value: 92%]

The cross grew hotter and hotter. Lynn felt as if the skin on his neck was about to be cooked through.

He had to break free from Vivian’s touch before Alicia’s “Purification Program” could start!

“Let go of me!”

Lynn began to struggle.

“Don’t move.”

Vivian pressed down on his shoulder with her other hand, easily suppressing all of his resistance.

“I’ve already prepared a carriage at the Academy’s back gate. We’re leaving now, and we’ll reach the Royal Palace before dark.”

As she spoke, she actually pulled out a roll of coarse hemp rope from the leather pouch at her waist.

She had even prepared the tools for the crime!

Lynn’s pupils shrunk to the size of pinpricks.

Looking at that roll of rope and feeling the temperature on his neck that was now hot enough to fry an egg, a wave of despair surged in his heart.

Today, he was truly going to be finished.

“Right then.”

“Whoosh”

A slight magic fluctuation echoed throughout the entire locker room.

Immediately following it, a holy, ethereal female voice filled with a hint of pity resonated from all directions, sounding as if it were speaking directly into everyone’s minds.

“It was Alicia’s voice.”

Broadcast through the Academy’s magitech broadcast system.

“Lost lambs, there is no need to panic.”

“The guidance of the light is about to descend.”

“The filth lingering here will eventually be purified by the Holy Flame.”

“Please wait quietly for my arrival.”

The voice wasn’t loud, but it possessed an unquestionable piercing power.

The few students facing the wall in the corner trembled in fear.

Vivian’s movements also stopped.

She looked up at the ceiling as if she could see through the walls to Alicia, who was currently reciting those mystical lines in the broadcast room.

[Vivian’s Blackening Value: 95%]

[Alicia’s Blackening Value: 94%]

The values of the two reached a startling synchronization at this moment.

The cross on Lynn’s neck was so hot that he gasped for air.

Vivian released him, but she didn’t let him go.

Instead, she grabbed him and yanked him behind her to protect him.

For the first time, her face showed the cold, sharp fighting intent truly belonging to a knight.

“Tch, she really is persistent.”

She spat the words under her breath, her eyes as sharp as knives.

As soon as the broadcast ended.

The sound of uniform, heavy, and hurried footsteps came from outside the locked iron door of the locker room.

“That was heavy armor!”

“It was the Templar Knights!”

“Alicia had arrived with her people!”

“Bang — !”

A loud explosion echoed — not an impact, but a blast of some kind of power.

A hole was blown right through the latch of the heavy iron door that Vivian had locked from the inside.

Charred, molten iron dripped onto the floor with a sizzling sound.

The door opened.

Standing outside wasn’t an armed knight, but Alicia.

She was alone, wearing her intricate Saintess robes, a compassionate smile on her face.

Behind her, lining both sides of the corridor, stood the Templar Knights clad in silver-white heavy armor.

They held halberds and remained expressionless, like rows of cold statues, blocking the entire hallway.

The air in the locker room instantly dropped several degrees.

One of the boys facing the wall in the corner felt his legs go weak and slumped directly onto the ground.

Alicia’s gaze crossed the threshold, ignoring Vivian who stood at the front, and landed precisely on Lynn, who was being protected behind her.

That look was so tender it seemed as if it could melt into water.

“Lord Lynn, you’ve been frightened,” her voice was ethereal and holy.

“I have isolated the filth outside. Please come to me. I will purify all impurity for you.”

As she spoke, she raised her hand, her palm emitting a soft white light.

The light shone into the dim locker room, dispersing the moisture, but it made the hair on the back of Lynn’s neck stand on end.

[Alicia’s Blackening Value: 96%]

This woman spoke of purification, but in reality, she was treating Vivian as the “filth”!

“Vivian sneered.”

Instead of moving aside, she took another step back, shielding Lynn even more thoroughly.

“Alicia, my name is Vivian Croft.”

She tilted her head, looking at Alicia as if looking at a fool.

“It’s not ‘filth.’ Did your God never teach you the etiquette of the nobility?”

“Your Highness Vivian.”

Alicia finally turned her gaze toward her.

The smile on her face remained unchanged, but there wasn’t a hint of warmth in her azure eyes.

“God teaches me to rescue lost lambs from the clutches of the devil. Your presence here is a desecration in itself.”

She paused, her gaze sweeping over Vivian’s tight-fitting knight’s attire, before finally stopping on the hand gripping Lynn’s wrist.

“Furthermore, you used your hands, stained with blood and sweat, to touch the Holy Artifact bestowed upon me by God.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the cross on Lynn’s neck suddenly burned.

[Warning: Purification Program target locked: ‘Vivian Croft.’ Execution level: Maximum.]

Lynn trembled in fear.

This thing even had a target-locking function!

Vivian didn’t take her threat seriously at all.

She even deliberately pulled Lynn a few inches closer into her arms right in front of Alicia.

“Your Holy Artifact?”

Vivian’s tone was full of mockery.

“Since when did a member of the Croft Royal Family become the property of the Church? Alicia, has your brain rotted from all that praying? Do you want me to find the best doctor in the Royal Capital to examine you?”

She directly brought up her status.

This was a warning to Alicia that the Imperial Family stood behind Lynn, and he wasn’t someone a mere Saintess of the Church could claim at will.

“The glory of the Royal Family comes from loyalty to God.”

Alicia remained unmoved as she walked in step by step.

“And Lord Lynn is a revelation sent by God, the guide of the future. His purity does not allow anyone to defile it.”