Chapter 134
“Wait outside the room, Karl.”
Odette ordered Karl with a face that had grown even colder.
Sion’s mood improved even further at that.
‘So Karl doesn’t know as much about revenge as I do.’
It confirmed that he alone was still connected to Odette.
When Karl left, Sion fully regained his composure. And so he spoke lightly, almost jokingly.
“Why were you traveling with Karl? I’d have been better than some Fenrir mutt, wouldn’t I? You said yourself I’m the only one who can truly understand you and help you. You should take responsibility for your words.”
“Then Your Excellency should take responsibility as well. For saying you despise me. And for saying you found it shockingly pleasant that I promised to disappear after six months.”
“Do you perhaps know that I despise you? Albrecht.”
“You’ve placed something quite nice on my desk. I’m shocked by how pleasing it is.”
At Odette’s calm voice, Sion’s lips stiffened instantly.
It wasn’t the content of her words—
It was her tone.
Even though those were words he himself had once spoken, just hearing them now made his chest lurch.
How could she say them so dryly? As if his past words held absolutely no value to her.
‘Right. It was only something I said back when I barely knew you.’
Back when he didn’t know the radiant vitality she possessed, or the face she made when she cried.
So he should have been grateful that Odette treated his past thoughtless remarks so lightly.
Then why couldn’t he breathe?
Why was he so desperately searching her face for even the slightest sign of hurt?
As if instinctively realizing something was going very, very wrong.
“Enough with the petty jokes. Just get to the point. If you went as far as threatening to interfere with my revenge, then it must be something quite important.”
Sion wasn’t the type to joke about revenge. So if he claimed to have “useful information,” it should have been something serious.
“This is about the Purifier’s Oath. I’m here to tell you… you don’t need to keep it anymore.”
But the words that came out of his mouth were shockingly useless—so useless that she frowned without meaning to.
“I found out how to nullify a Purifier’s Oath. As expected, the Pontiff knew the method. I had to pay a rather extravagant donation to get him to talk, by the way.”
“……”
“It’s simpler than you’d think. If a Purifier makes a conflicting oath, and the Transcendent accepts both oaths, then both become invalid.”
Sion slowly removed his hat.
Gods truly were generous toward Purifiers, adding such pointless details to their system.
“So if you swear in the name of God that you’ll never leave me, and I accept it, then your original oath disappears. Very convenient, really. Makes it as though the first one never existed.”
He touched his hand to his waist—the habitual gesture he always made after delivering an important point—while watching for her reaction.
She blinked.
Surely he didn’t mean…
“…That was your big revelation?”
At her question, Sion’s lips twitched. As if yes, that really had been his main point.
He had threatened to ruin her revenge, and this was all he wanted to say?
Stunned, she briefly lost words, then shook her head.
“No. There’s no need, Your Excellency. I intend to keep my oath to leave.”
His expression grew even stiffer.
“You’ve gone through an unnecessary amount of trouble. There’s absolutely no need to nullify it. I fully intend to keep what I swore before God.”
Because of Charlotte’s arrival, she would keep that oath much earlier than expected.
There was no reason to erase it now.
“You don’t remember what you swore, do you?”
As if she could forget.
“In six months, I’ll disappear completely. In front of you and the other S-grade Transcendents.”
She recited her promise from that day word for word. But Sion looked displeased, as though restraining anger.
“You’re saying you’re determined to keep your oath… to leave me?”
He stepped closer, voice sinking. His towering figure loomed over her threateningly.
But she didn’t back away. She simply met his purple eyes in silence.
“……”
A short silence—then he laughed hollowly.
“Albrecht, so you really… want to leave. I mean nothing to you at all.”
He spoke as though realizing something.
Then he let out a bitter, betrayed laugh.
“Fine. Let’s get rid of that damned oath. Do you know how much I had to grovel to that Pontiff to learn the method?”
“Your Excellency.”
“I realized at the Rotbart River. I don’t like seeing your back. It pisses me off. I never want to feel that again. Which means you can’t leave. Ever.”
“So that’s really all you came to say? Then please, go ba—”
“Odette. Do you think I’d need to brainwash you over something this trivial?”
Sion stepped even closer. Because of their height difference, she had to crane her neck uncomfortably to look up at him.
He deliberately used that sweet voice she had heard once before. He even called her name affectionately—Odette.
It was a threat. A reminder of the last time he’d brainwashed her.
But that couldn’t work anymore.
“If you want to brainwash me, go ahead. I can leave you anytime without needing any oath.”
At her calm reply, the always composed Sion raised his voice—something he never did.
“Swear in God’s name that you won’t leave me. Damn it. Who told you to mean it? Just nullify the damn oath! Is this so hard?! Why are you rejecting this so obsessively?!”
“You’re the one acting strange, Your Excellency. The old oath is more than enough—”
“Damn it! I’m acting like this because I like you!”
The room went dead silent.
She had lost her words, utterly dumbfounded.
“Now… of all times?”
Her voice was filled with disbelief.
“Is there such a thing as ‘too late’ when it comes to liking someone?”
Sion frowned.
In his purple eyes were forceful obsession… and a faint, miserable longing. Perhaps even resentment toward her.
Seeing that, a question she had always held back burst out. One she had never dared to voice, too focused on lowering his hostility toward her.
“There’s something I could never understand, Your Excellency.”
“I just confessed, and you immediately change the subject? That’s cruel.”
He let out a hollow laugh, as if wounded—but she continued.
“You’re meticulous and obsessive in every matter. So why was it only the Albrecht House’s information that had so many gaps? Nine people at the manor. Thirty-five in the intelligence division. How did so many agents with low loyalty and weak will slip through?”
At her question, the blood drained from Sion’s face.
“…Albrecht.”
His strangled voice was answer enough.
“You already knew, didn’t you? How I was treated in that household.”
“……”
“You thought it didn’t matter. Better to be misled by traitors than officially acknowledge that I was abused. Because you hated me that much.”
Silence filled the room. Heavy and long—an unmistakable answer.
After that silence, Sion finally spoke.
“I didn’t know. I didn’t. I only suspected it was… possible.”
It was him—
The man who couldn’t stand not understanding or controlling a situation completely.
Not knowing was believable.
But for someone like him to leave it unexamined after suspecting it?
That meant there was intention behind it.
He didn’t want to know.
Because if he knew, he’d be obligated to save her.
Because if she were a victim, he couldn’t freely despise her.
Because he wanted her out of the way, and a Transcendent couldn’t kill a Purifier.
So he intentionally placed agents with low loyalty and weak will around her.
“Even if I was an innocent victim of abuse, it didn’t matter to you.”
Her tone stayed calm; she wasn’t seeking to corner him.
“I used to despise you. But that’s all in the past, isn’t it? It doesn’t matter anymore.”
He sounded almost pleading. Yet there wasn’t even a hint of regret or remorse on his face.
He truly believed the past didn’t matter at all.
“What matters is the present, Albrecht. I like you. Quite a lot.”
Shameless.
As if that emotion outweighed everything she had endured.
“Hah.”
A dry laugh escaped her.
She remembered the pathetic days when she had wished for just one person to like her.
Even insincerely would be fine—she just wanted someone to show her kindness.
She had wished someone—anyone—would save her.
“How naive.”
“You’ll get over this feeling soon, Your Excellency. It’ll fade just like the contempt you once felt toward me.”
A simple truth.
Anger flickered in Sion’s eyes behind his monocle.
How dare he.
How dare he be angry.
“Reject me all you want. But don’t presume to define my feelings, Albrecht.”
His voice grew dark as he gripped both her shoulders—
as if wanting to lock her inside his hands.
