Chapter 661: Joy is Always Short-lived (Part 1)
After Tais and Laurence left, Shiel and Irene still had doubts in their eyes. However, they spoke to Verafia and the others softly before saying goodbye together.
After sending Ophi back to her room, Verafia paused her steps slightly, her turned eyes gazing at the sky, which was as quiet as if it had been washed by frost. In the distance, the church’s firelight illuminated the scene, casting a protective glow upon the city.
The sound of the wind blew through the sky, and the faintly shaking vision seemed to make the firelight scattered upon the sky flicker, seeping into her silk skirt, causing her to shiver unexpectedly.
“Hoo…”
The slender breath she exhaled softly turned into tiny white mist, blown away by the wind. Verafia was about to rub her little hands together when, suddenly, they were picked up by the boy who walked closer.
“Eh, Ig?”
“Young Lady, it seems you’re thinking about something…”
The black-haired boy smiled. He moved closer, and through the fabric of her skirt and long clothes, she could feel Ig’s familiar warmth, which made her lean her delicate body against him involuntarily.
“I am thinking about some things.”
Verafia pouted her delicate lips, her big eyes looking at him. However, her heart suddenly felt a moment of hesitation, wondering if she should tell him.
Ig carefully lifted a strand of hair that had fallen onto the young girl’s delicate face, tucking it behind her exquisite ear before smiling, “Ha, then let me guess, are you still having some doubts about Miss Tais’s words?”
Verafia feigned displeasure, lifting her youthful little face and glaring at him with her gorgeous gold eyes, as if to say, “Even the Young Lady doesn’t want to say, and you, idiot, are still asking.”
However, she still nodded, “I do have some reservations… Before you all arrived, I asked her quite a few things.”
Ig’s warm hand held her little hand, like a warm hearth fire in winter. Sitting beside her, a lazy and comfortable warmth made her reluctant to let go.
Tais had also used her magic to dispel the chill for her, but she hadn’t felt this way.
That woman was a gentle and dignified, polite young lady. It was difficult to generate hostility when interacting with her… but it was also very difficult to truly get close to her.
Verafia certainly didn’t think there was any problem with this.
After all, being able to lead the Kasha Cult to survive the encirclement by the city-state armies, including the Frost Calamity, if one were to truly consider her an open-hearted elder sister without any hidden motives, that would be a foolishly naive act.
In fact, she hadn’t felt any malice from Tais’s actions. That young girl, who inherited the Kasha Cult, truly possessed noble ideals and was willing to sacrifice herself to resist the Frost Calamity… Her vague concealment and watertight explanations were just a cautious choice.
However, even though her impression of Tais wasn’t bad, in terms of keeping warm, she couldn’t compare to her Ig~
She looked at the boy’s familiar and intimate face, the corners of her mouth involuntarily curving up slightly. Her little hand gently tightened, her tender skin pressing closely as if yearning for the warmth she could feel.
This was not the heat generated by magic, but his body temperature, the temperature of the boy she was intimate with.
Verafia explained softly to him.
The hem of her pure white formal dress was blown by the wind from the top of the castle, like a flawless petal blooming in the frost-white moonlight. The young girl’s delicate body leaned gently into the boy’s embrace. The close warmth dispelled the chilling wind, and her gently raised exquisite jade face gazed at the night sky shrouded over the entire city.
The flickering firelight of the church, the cold light reflected by the weapons of the knights hidden in the night, and even the frost light of the pale moon high above were reflected in her gorgeous gold eyes, which shone like fierce flames.
The young girl’s slender eyelashes blinked gently, her voice as pleasant as a nightingale’s song, as if telling of the chill that enveloped the world.
Listening to the girl’s voice, Ig’s eyelashes gradually furrowed. He gripped her little hand, and until the girl’s voice slightly paused, he looked up. In the young girl’s dazzling gold eyes, her gaze was fixed on him with a gentle smile.
“Vera, you wanted to question Miss Tais when you chased after her earlier, didn’t you?”
Ig came to his senses, smiled, and gently brushed the girl’s soft hair with his free left hand.
Verafia moved her little head, squinting her golden eyes and leaning comfortably on his shoulder. Then, she lifted her little face, her gorgeous eyes flowing with a trace of cheerful emotion.
“Of course. If I, this young lady, hadn’t asked, do you think Miss Tais would have told Shiel without any reservations?”
Ig took back his hand, rested his chin on it, and thought, “That’s true, but whether it’s the Frost Calamity followers, the Kasha Cult, including that Cardinal and Sir Trist… Actually, what Young Lady is most concerned about should be Miss Tais’s speculation about their actions.”
“That’s not it.”
Verafia proudly lifted her little face, the corners of her youthful lips curling up with a hint of cheerfulness. Since she had decided to confide in Ig, she naturally didn’t need to show her worries to this guy.
She withdrew her little hand, her fair and slender fingers gently tidying her skirt before lifting her golden eyes.
“Whether it’s the Frost Calamity Church or those conspirators, in the final analysis, they are just a group of humans fighting amongst themselves. I, this young lady, can’t be bothered.”
The young girl clasped her delicate hands slightly, her gorgeous gold pupils gazing, “But, just as Tais said… no matter what the true intentions of these Frost Calamity followers are, there must be, after this calamity, the shadow of the Frost God’s will.”
The Frost God’s will.
Ig’s clear blue eyes narrowed slightly, but he didn’t show much surprise. After the Frost Calamity, there was an evil god of ice and frost… Verafia had told him this information long ago.
He looked at the girl’s face. She was gently lifting her little face, her gold eyes revealing considerable interest. After a moment of hesitation, he spoke:
“Then, Vera, you say, Miss Tais’s speculation…”
“At least, it’s not impossible.”
Verafia raised her delicate face, her big eyes blinking. She extended her slender fingers, and on her fingertips, it seemed as if a fine frost condensed, but in an instant, a golden flame seemed to ignite and melt it.
However, Ig knew that this was not real fire. Or rather, as the girl’s God’s Chosen, he saw clearly that the flame was the manifestation of the girl’s will.
Even without divine power or status, the girl was still a deity… And the Frost God after the calamity, even if complete, was no more than a being of her same rank.
“The knowledge of deities is not much, even for Peka, the Empire, or the Church of Light. Not to mention, on this continent, using an illusion as the basis for their faith… Perhaps, this reflection after the Frost Calamity is the first materialized deity on the Aer Continent.”
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I discovered that one chapter isn’t enough…
