The chain, sensing its master, loosened its grip.
Chesha, who had been tightly bound and floating in the air, descended as the chain slackened.
Thud. Her feet touched the ground.
Hailon and Chesha stared at each other in silence for a moment.
Hailon was too surprised to speak, and Chesha was at a loss for words, unsure of how to explain herself.
As they simply gazed at each other, loud footsteps echoed from outside.
The Holy Knights were rushing in to apprehend the intruder.
A fairy found in the heart of the Holy Empire, within the Relic Repository of the Grand Temple, no less.
The thought alone was horrifying.
‘I need to hide!’
Using Phantasm would be simple, but the immense power would leave traces of the fairy’s presence.
Just as Chesha was panicking and looking for a place to hide, Hailon grabbed her wrist.
He roughly pulled her towards the back of the crown display.
Hailon embraced Chesha and crouched behind the display.
The chain rattled, creating a blind spot that cleverly concealed Hailon and Chesha.
“Hailon, mph……!”
Chesha tried to say something to him.
But a large hand muffled her mouth.
The texture of the leather glove pressed against her lips.
Startled, Chesha widened her eyes.
Hailon, who was holding her from behind, whispered briefly in her ear.
“Be quiet.”
“……”
He seemed to be hiding her.
Chesha rolled her eyes.
She decided that for now, she would play along with being captured, and then slip away when Hailon was distracted.
But he was an Inquisitor who had chased fairies countless times.
Hailon could clearly see through Chesha’s thoughts.
Clink.
The white chain wrapped around her ankle.
Her body trembled at the cold touch of divine power on her skin.
A low voice was heard.
“Don’t run away.”
It was a clear warning.
Of course, Chesha had no intention of obediently following Hailon’s warning.
Chesha tried to pull the chain on her ankle with her hand.
It seemed impossible to break unless she used her fairy power to wield an axe.
Being caught here would only be a loss for Chesha.
Reluctantly, Chesha leaned against him and relaxed.
Then, Hailon released the hand that had been covering her mouth.
Instead, he held Chesha’s stomach tightly.
Bang, the door opened.
The sound of Holy Knights pouring into the Relic Repository could be heard.
They were bewildered to find the interior unchanged and silent.
“The crown is intact.”
“Where is Sir Hailon?”
“I heard he headed to the repository first……”
“He may already be tracking the intruder.”
While the Holy Knights were having a serious conversation.
Behind the display, Chesha was dying to resist fidgeting.
Strangely, she kept getting nervous.
‘The position is a bit… too distracting.’
Hailon was leaning against the display, and Chesha was sitting between his legs, embraced by him.
Her clothes had changed into a strange dress because of the flower crown, and the material was too thin.
As a result, she could feel the man holding her from behind too vividly.
She always thought his body was large, which didn’t match his pretty face.
Being this close, she was newly aware of Hailon’s physique.
‘Well, he’s tall, and his hands are huge too.’
When he covered her mouth earlier, she thought her entire face would be covered.
Chesha, who was thinking about Hailon’s long, straight fingers without any rough edges, stopped breathing.
“…!”
Hailon slowly buried his face in Chesha’s neck.
The breath he inhaled and exhaled tickled her skin.
Suddenly, a hot sensation bloomed somewhere deep inside her stomach.
The ankle wrapped in the chain was unbearably itchy.
Chesha couldn’t stand it and curled up.
As she slightly twisted her shoulder, Hailon tightened his embrace.
He pulled Chesha even closer.
It was an affectionate yet desperate clinging.
As if he wanted to trap her in his arms forever…….
Chesha recalled a moment in the past.
Even then, Hailon had clung to her so desperately.
***
Richesia had long been curious about the young apprentice knight who had helped her escape from the slave hunters.
Not often, but she thought of him every now and then.
Whether he had survived against the slave hunters that day.
Whether he had really become a Holy Knight…….
The long-standing curiosity was resolved with a sudden reunion.
Around the time she became infamous throughout the continent as a fairy.
The Holy Empire of Hildegard, which could no longer ignore the existence of the fairy, dispatched the Holy Knights to eliminate her.
Hailon was among the Holy Knights.
It was a reunion after many years.
He had shed his boyishness, and his appearance, now on the border between boy and man, was unfamiliar.
But she could recognize him at a glance.
He was the boy from that time.
The boy from the past also recognized Richesia at a glance.
He stared at Richesia with his still clear and pure blue eyes before opening his lips.
“Fairy.”
The low, heavy voice was also completely different from the past’s beautiful tone.
Richesia smiled and greeted the man who was pointing his sword at her, looking good in his Holy Knight uniform.
“Hello, Hailon.”
“……”
Hailon did not answer.
He just looked at Richesia with unknown eyes.
But the hesitation was short, and he swung his sword.
It was the Holy Knight’s holy sword punishing heresy.
The holy sword containing divine power shone as white as any holy sword Richesia had ever seen.
The boy, who was strong in the past, had become so strong in the meantime that she couldn’t recognize him.
Just as Richesia had grown.
Even Richesia, who had nothing to fear after awakening Phantasm [a powerful fairy ability], was a little overwhelmed.
In particular, the Holy Knights led by Hailon were unusually persistent.
At the time, Hailon was not even an Inquisitor [an elite Holy Knight specializing in hunting down heretics].
He was just a low-ranking Holy Knight who had not been ordained for long.
But even the higher-ranking knights could not treat Hailon carelessly.
Rather, when the situation became dangerous, they all looked at Hailon.
They waited for him to give instructions and lead them.
It was ridiculous, but it was perfectly natural for the knights.
They clearly felt what kind of being Hailon was.
She trapped the Holy Knights in Phantasm and scattered flower petals to obscure their vision.
She grabbed Hailon, who was piercing through the flower petals and wielding his sword, with a thorn bush and asked.
“Are you the leader?”
Hailon did not respond to the joke.
He only broke his silence and asked briefly.
“That day.”
“……”
“Why did you run away?”
She felt strange at the question that brought up the distant past.
She wondered if it was something only she remembered.
It was unfamiliar that he also clearly remembered the past.
“Because I wanted to live.”
Richesia answered him.
That was the end of the conversation.
The fairy had no intention of sending back the Holy Knight who had pointed his sword at her.
“If you want to live, you should run away from now on.”
The chess pieces of Phantasm fell towards Hailon.
Along with the huge chess pieces that slammed down on the chessboard, colorful flowers bloomed everywhere.
That day, she sincerely tried to kill Hailon.
But he was strong and managed to survive the fairy’s Phantasm.
From then on, Hailon began to relentlessly pursue Richesia.
In the chase that lasted for several years, Hailon and Richesia gradually grew.
Everything grew.
The power they possessed, their bodies, their positions and honors, and their infamy…….
In particular, Hailon was promoted at an astonishingly fast rate.
Starting from the very bottom, he was promoted by one rank each time they met, and if they didn’t see each other for a long time, he would be promoted by two or three ranks in the meantime.
Thus, in the year he came of age.
Hailon became the 1st Order Holy Knight.
It was an unprecedentedly fast and astonishing promotion.
Richesia, who had been forced to watch Hailon’s changes and growth because they were constantly fighting, felt strangely moved by his great achievement.
She was thinking of congratulating him when they met.
Of course, after beating him with flowers to keep him from being arrogant.
But when Hailon came to her.
Richesia couldn’t do anything.
“Fairy.”
He was covered in blood, his eyes were a mess…….
“Kill me.”
Because he begged her to kill him.