Aurelia watched the Paladins dug the ground for a mass burial for the fallen knights. She had to see, she had to see the cause of the battle, the bodies that were no longer recognizable. She had to witness the cost of war, she had to bear all the responsibility for their deaths even though she felt like her chest was being squeezed from guilt.

"My Lady, you don't have to be here to watch everything," Ulric said as he looked at Aurelia with a worried expression.

"No, I have to be here. I will remember their faces... at least their remains. I'm responsible for their deaths, I caused this to them," Aurelia answered, her face was unreadable, but her voice was filled with guilt and pain.

The Paladins could feel the emotions within Aurelia, and they respected her for trying to stay strong. They wanted to assure her that they shared responsibility, and that she wasn't alone in this, but they chose to stay quiet. They focused on digging the ground and wrapped the lump of meat that had been molded together with the melted steel with cloths.

Once they buried all the bodies, Aurelia clasped her hands together, standing in front of the mass grave. She prayed for their souls with the Paladins behind her and Serena beside her. Videl secretly devoured the souls of the dead, making sure they became food for his strength and power. If only Aurelia knew that her prayer was pointless because the Devil himself had stolen souls before they could meet their maker, she would feel devastated.

Aurelia walked back into the city with Serena beside her, there was only silence between the two. However, Aurelia felt nothing but comfort from Serena's presence, no judgment, no words to justify her deeds, no assurance, just the ministry of presence.

"There will be more of them to come, more people will try to take over the city, more bodies to bury. This battle will be heard, this battle will place me in the dark, the people will try to get rid of me for what I have done here today..." Aurelia muttered as she walked on the empty street. "They will treat me as a threat, an enemy of the people, a fallen Saint that has gone crazy, a figure to get rid off..." She sighed and looked up at the sky with exhaustion written all over her face.

"It's not them that you should be worried about, Aurelia. It's those behind them, the ones who provoke them to fight you while they're busy reaping all the benefits to themselves. The Prime Lords, they're going to make us fight each other while they're using it to strengthen themselves while weakening us," Serena responded, walking beside Aurelia with a calm expression and eyes closed. "But humans are foolish. They're always moved by emotions, blinded by them until it's too late to realize it," she added.

"I have to convince them somehow, but I know it's impossible. It's not that they won't listen or can't understand, but that they have their own people to protect and to listen to. Brute force won't make them listen, they will only retaliate against us even more. I need to go out there, Saint Serena, I need to be out there to speak not to their ears but to their hearts..." Aurelia said and stopped walking, staring into the distance with her brows furrowed, knowing it wouldn't be easy and it would be close to impossible.

"And how are you going to do that?" Serena opened her eyes and looked at Aurelia with her brows raised.

"I have a plan," Aurelia answered as she clenched her fist.

Serena could see the determination and confidence in Aurelia's eyes. She chuckled softly as she looked at the city, completely abandoned and yet she could imagine that soon enough it would be filled with people.

"Now, Aurelia. What are you going to do with that corpse? The Zevrathi's body that your ancestor stole and preserve so their descendants could take a piece of the flesh and ate it to gain power," Serena asked with her brows raised.

"I'm going to burn her body down until there's nothing remaining but ashes. I'm going to send the ashes into the sea so there would be no trace of her," Aurelia answered without hesitation. "I know for sure those people earlier wanted to possess her body so they could gain power from it. The demons also want her body for whatever reason, and I'm not going to let that happen. I won't let anyone have her," she continued.

"Wouldn't that be a waste? Why don't you take the remaining power from her body and make it yours?" Serena asked, crossing her arms.

"No, I don't want any of that power. I'm not a hypocrite," Aurelia answered, shaking her head repeatedly.

"Then let me have it," Serena smiled, her smile didn't reach her eyes as she stared into Aurelia's eyes. "Since you don't want it, then give it to me," her smile widened.

Aurelia was speechless for a moment, not knowing what to say because of how complicated it was more than she could expect. If she gave the body to Serena, she knew that Serena was Rasmus's people, and she didn't trust Serena with such power. However, if she denied Serena's request, that also put fear and anxiety in her. She was afraid that Serena would change her mind about her. She didn't want Serena to avoid her when Serena was the one who seemed to understand her deeply with her struggle. Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on NovᴇlFɪre.ɴet

"I don't trust you, Saint Serena," Aurelia answered as she stared into Serena's eyes. "I know nothing much about your past, what's your goal, and why you chose to follow Count Rasmus. I can't risk for something that I might regret," she explained without looking away from Serena's gaze.

Serena chuckled softly as she closed her distance, slowly cupping Aurelia's cheeks. She leaned closer until their faces were only a breath away from each other.

"Good. Never let someone decide what you should do no matter who they are, nobody..." Serena muttered with a gentle smile on her face before she pulled away and let go of Aurelia's cheeks. "Now then, shall we burn the body?" She tilted her head and her brows were raised.

Aurelia gulped nervously because nobody had ever stood so close to her like that. She shook her head and tried to brush off the closeness from her mind. She cleared her throat and nodded with understanding, thinking of burning the body as soon as possible since there were too many sides that wanted to possess it.

They both went back to the palace and went to the hidden passage where the Angelis family had kept the body of a Zevrathi for centuries. They looked at the body of a woman with straight brunette hair who was lying on the big table stone. The body looked like a woman who was sleeping so soundly.

"Saint Serena, wasn't your situation similar to her?" Aurelia asked, staring at Serena who was standing across from the table stone. "Your body was preserved for more than half a century, right? Your body didn't decay while my grandmother's body decayed over time," she pointed out.

"What are you trying to imply, Aurelia?" Serena tilted her head, staring into Aurelia's eyes.

"I'm just wondering if the Angelis family's divine power is because we borrow the power from this body, the moment we die, we lose the power and that's why our bodies decay over time. Since yours wasn't decaying based on Count Rasmus's words, and I know he wouldn't lie, that means your divine power is real, a true Saint," Aurelia explained as she looked at the dead body on the table, the smooth and pale skin of the body making her want to touch it. "I don't know about the Sancticus family, if their sainthood is real or not. What I'm trying to say here, what if..." She paused, not sure how to say it.

Serena slowly raised her brows, staring at Aurelia, waiting for her to finish her sentence.

"What if, the one and only true Saint has the Zevrathi's blood running through their veins? What if... you're a Zevrathi but you don't know it..." Aurelia said as she stared into Serena's eyes.

There was only silence after Aurelia spoke of her thoughts and uttered her speculation. Aurelia was waiting for any reaction, but Serena didn't give any, and that made her more anxious and sounded so stupid. However, it could also mean the other way around, the fact that Serena didn't answer immediately and didn't show any reaction, Aurelia might have poked into something that she shouldn't have.

"Hmm..." Serena hummed, breaking the silence as she leaned against the stone table, crossing her arms on top of it and stared at the dead body in front of her. "I wonder..." She stared at Aurelia with a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

Aurelia held her breath, didn't like the answer that Serena gave at all. She didn't like the ambiguity of Serena's answer, and that would only haunt her even more. At that moment, she realized why Serena chose to follow Rasmus, and the answer was the ambiguity that lurked around Serena. She knew she could trust Serena, and she should be careful around her.