CHAPTER 77: THE LAST CRY

"Since the carrier of the Devil’s disease is contained, we should be able to check on your wife first." After William was finished relaying everything that had been happening in the house, Father Nelson was the first one to make a decision.

"I am very grateful for the assistance of the order, Father." William heaved a sigh he had been holding for a long while.

Although a bit concerned, father Augustus smiled and said, "You are one of the valued patrons of the church and also a very reputed member of the society. If we did not even help someone like you, we have no reason to exist."

The second priest seemed pleased with his flattery and nodded in approval.

"Please, this way." William then proceeded to guide the two priests to the upper floor.

—

’What is happening to me...’ As she listened to the unknown woman who had barged into the room where she was being held, the maid felt as though she had been targeted by a shady merchant.

"So, What do you think? Are you ready?" The woman who introduced herself as a passerby asked her.

’Ready? Can she really do what she had just been told to?’ a look of hesitation flashed through the maid’s eyes. But that only lasted for an instant. ’What other choice do I even have?’

Her eyes glimmered with wet fear as she thought of the fate that was set in stone for her if she let things proceed as they were about to.

Soon, desperation kicked in, pushing every hesitation and doubt away as the maid nodded her head as much as she could.

"Good." Hearing her reply, the red-haired woman’s lips curled up in a satisfied smile. She wanted to say something more—maybe to comfort her or to tell her something else about the plan—but the sound of distant footsteps made her freeze in place.

And the sound grew louder as the footsteps grew closer and clearer. Even the maid could tell that a group of people was coming in the direction of their room.

’No no no...’ her stomach twisted in fear as she thought that her time had arrived. ’I don’t want to die...’

While she was despairing, something cold jolted her alive. She could not see it, but she could feel something cold and sharp sliding under her sleeves.

"Use it when the time is right." Agnes whispered hastily, seeing the maid’s odd yet curious gaze locked on her before rushing to the closed doors of the room.

There was no way for her to leave the room without creating a commotion. The windows were closed shut, and the only way out was the gate she had left open on purpose.

She knew that anyone could come here at any time to check up on the maid, so she left it open so she could hear them approach and hide before they entered the room.

Agnes peeked through the gap between the door and saw William approaching with two priests and his head butler, Jarvis.

’Are they here to take her away?’ her fists tightened with panicked agitation. Thankfully there was someone to calm her down.

’Don’t jump to conclusions. Wait and see first and hide against the wall next to the gates.’

Agnes did not even wait to think and followed his suggestion. She could hear her heart pounding in her chest, against her ribs, as the adrenaline rushed through her veins.

Step! Clanks!

The sound of their boots clanking against the hard floor finally came to a stop, and much to Agnes’s horror, it was right in front of the room.

’Hold your breath, don’t move.’

—

Unknown to the second presence inside the room, one of the four gentlemen stopped and looked inside.

It was none other than Father Nelson, the older priest of the two.

Father Nelson’s stern expression darkened as his eyes fell on the maid lying on the bed. "So she is the treacherous maid you wanted us to take away?" he sneered. "Just look at her face. There is no doubt about it—she might as well be the devil’s whore."

"Father, we should attend to Lady Herbert first," Father Augustus said, his voice quieter, laced with discomfort.

The older priest let out a disapproving grunt, his hatred clear even beneath his calm and cold appearance. The moment he laid eyes on the tied maid’s face, he seemed to have made up his mind about something.

Agnes stayed pressed against the wall, eagerly waiting for them to leave. She let out an inner sigh of relief upon hearing that their priority was not this maid.

’There is really no other choice for me.’ On the other hand, the maid felt her mind becoming oddly clear as she realized that she had no choices left to make.

The freedom to choose was something she forfeited the moment she was infected with this godforsaken disease.

Her eyes steeled with resolve as she watched the four men walking away without even giving her one glance of mercy or sympathy.

She knew she amounted to nothing in their eyes. She was nothing but an indisputable soul for them, so she decided to be just that... but for someone else.

Agnes did not immediately move when she heard the footsteps receding. Instead, she waited for a few minutes before stepping out.

"You know what to do." Giving the maid one last look, she turned around and whispered. "You only have a small window of opportunity to act. Lose it and you lose your head."

The maid only felt the cold wind brushing against her face after those words faded into the air.

There was no need for Agnes to even tell her that, as she had already come to terms with her decision and decided that...

’I have to escape.’ She focused her attention on the cold feeling under her palm and slowly raised her wrist to search for another thing she felt.

The firm, hard wooden handle.

Once she got hold of it. The maid moved her without caring for the tearing pain she felt from the rough movements against the leather bindings.

Resting the cold, hard blade against the thick folds, she jerked her folded hand up and down.

Chrrr...

The faint sound of leather tearing echoed in the silent room, filling the trapped maiden’s heart with a flame of survival.

Agnes returned to her quarters and packed her bags, preparing to leave the place herself.

’Are you sure she would survive and escape?’ Even as she moved with hasty steps, Agnes’s thoughts wandered back to the room she had just left.

’It’s all up to her now. You already gave her the route to escape.’ Jinn’s comforting voice instantly replied. ’You have to leave soon.’

—

"How long has she been like this?"

Just seeing the unconscious woman lying on the luxurious bed, Father Augustus flinched. Her body was frail and thin, like all blood and water had been squeezed out of it; she looked no different from a skeleton.

Her thin white hair was scattered around the bed; her clothes appeared so loose that it felt like they might fall off if someone raised her, as she had no strength to do so by herself.

Had it not been for the faint breath of life in her body, he would have claimed her to be dead.

He raised his head and caught the huge portrait of a beautiful woman along with a handsome man hung above the bed.

The man was none other than William Herbert, and he guessed the woman to be Mrs. Herbert, the same woman lying in front of him.

"It has been almost a month, father." William let out a tired sigh as he told them everything that happened to his wife. "She was just tired at first, but then she started to sleep for more hours than usual..."

His hands clenched around the wooden board of the bed, making it creak.

"Now... She barely wakes up enough for the servants to feed her twice a day."

Father Augustus made a praying gesture before his chest and murmured some words that seemed like a prayer under his breath.

"I am sensing a dark presence in this place." Father Nelson nodded with a grim look on his grumpy face. "You did the right thing reaching out to the church."

Father Augustus looked over to see a dark hue shimmering around the man’s body. Although Father Nelson’s root chakra did not become visible, the power of dragon energy shimmered around his body.

Seeing this, the lazy priest activated his root chakra. ’By the power bestowed upon me by the true lord that resides where all creations end, I seek the righteous forces to guide the lost lamb.’

A green orb took shape at the end of his waist, and his hair shifted against the force of nature. It pulsed faintly, glowing like a heart coming alive within the dimly lit room.

The faint hum that came along with it made the air shudder, shaking the candle flames resting across the mantle.

Slowly, the sound deepened, merging with the rhythm of Father Augustus’s breath.

The younger priest’s eyes turned sharp and distant—his pupils fading into pale light as the sacred power coursed through him. His robes fluttered though there was no wind, and the metallic cross hanging on his chest began to shimmer faintly under the pressure of the summoned energy.

The glow wrapped around his skin like molten silk. With every breath he took, the pressure in the room thickened, as if time itself were holding still in reverence.

William took an uneasy step back, his throat dry. He had seen priests perform purification rituals before, and this was not it. From the familiar sigil behind Father Augustus, he could tell that the man was also blessed by the god of the Pilgrims.

Under his curious and worried gaze, the priest raised his hand above his wife’s skeletal chest, and the next second a dark glow shot out from his hand, piercing through her body. ’...what?’