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Chapter 12
A few minutes earlier.
“Your Highness, where are you going like that?!”
“Take responsibility! What am I supposed to do with this damn body?!”
Clutching the white wolf in her arms, Bella ran furiously, her anger spilling out.
Me, huh?
I’m not someone who runs away like this!
[Who’s the one who came here with no plan? What is this nonsense!]
“This situation didn’t even exist in the future, okay?! I even brought two people to fight with me—how was I supposed to know this would happen?!”
The human body was too fragile a vessel. It couldn’t contain her true power, not even if she tried to draw it in.
If only she had a body like Hector’s—then she could have fought in that body!
For now, she just had to get to the ducal estate without being caught.
Once there, she could report the situation and search for informants…
[But didn’t I already tell you? There’s a way to use divine power in that body.]
“?”
Bella, who had been sprinting madly, suddenly froze in place.
“Did you just say that, Your Highness?”
A way to use divine power in a human body?
“There’s such a thing?”
[Yes.]
If such a thing existed, he should have said so earlier! This wasn’t a game.
“Hurry and tell me!”
Ophaniel rolled his eyes, then for once spoke in clear, deliberate words.
[It’s a trick, but… if a crack forms in your body, your soul seeps through it. Since your power only responds to your soul, for as long as that crack remains open, your power will think it’s you and answer the call of your soul.]
What kind of vague nonsense was that?
But tragically, Bella understood his words immediately.
“Ha… shit.”
Her future looked bleak.
A “crack” in the body…
“You make it sound so nice.”
“Got you.”
The man who spun her around with brute force grinned ear to ear.
Don’t look so happy, you bastard. I let you catch me.
Bella glared into his eyes, her teeth clenched tight.
“A crack in the body.”
That just meant…
“Die!”
Stab.
…it meant a wound.
Agonizing pain ripped through her.
[If you lose consciousness, it won’t work. Remember? I told you—so long as you’re in that body, even if your heart is pierced, you won’t die.]
Through the torn flesh and severed vessels, her soul—tinged with blood—began to seep out.
Even as she was dragged across the ground.
Even when she was lifted and thrown down with a crash.
Bella’s soul steadily leaked out, faintly wrapping her human vessel.
“Lady of the Young Duke!”
She endured the pain, waiting for the right moment.
“…I humbly pray, …I beseech you. …Light and fire…”
Until the power that lingered in the universe recognized her soul.
And finally—
The power answered her call.
First came light,
then fire,
and in the end, boundless darkness.
Within that darkness, she opened her eyes and raised her head.
“Grrrr…”
The wolf’s eyes, clouded with madness, were brimming with resentment.
Beasts once revered as divine creatures—how had they fallen to such a state?
I will burn away everything that clouds your vision.
“…I humbly pray—grant me the primordial power to burn even their resentment to ash.”
Blue flames flickered beneath her heart, and her silver hair billowed upward as if lifted by unseen wind.
Bathed in a flood of radiant azure energy, Bella parted her lips.
“Flame of Purification.”
The blue fire pooled within her surged outward like waves rushing to shore, spreading through the rancid, resentment-filled pens.
Startled wolves leapt back, thrashing wildly to avoid the flames.
Bella pressed her hand to the ground and rose.
Her feet landed upon fragments of drifting souls, even as the informants frantically tried to restrain her.
“Stay back, my lady!”
But Bella didn’t even see them.
“How stupid could you have gotten…?”
Some wolves bared their fangs, and Bella’s eyes flared wide.
“Still can’t come to your senses?!”
Her roar swept across the wolves in tandem with the searing blue flames.
“…That….”
One of the informants muttered blankly.
“What is that…?”
From below, a massive wolf slowly ascended, step by step.
Its sheer presence was overwhelming, its golden eyes gleaming brightly even in the dark.
A stench of rot filled the air, but the informants didn’t notice.
All they could do was raise trembling swords, shielding Bella.
But then the beast stopped.
A shaft of sunlight caught on its nose.
As it turned its head slowly, its eyes reflected the dazzling golden light.
How long it stared, none could tell.
Then suddenly, the wolf rushed not toward them, but at the iron bars.
Crash!
The ceiling trembled as it slammed and was thrown back.
Yet the beast rose again, hurling itself once more.
Crash!
Bloodied, it never once whimpered.
It simply rose again, silently charging toward the sunlight.
By the time its blood pooled like a pond, another wolf followed suit.
Crash!
One wolf, then another.
At last, every wolf with strength left hurled themselves at the bars.
Crash, crash, crash!
It was a struggle born of desperation.
And little by little, the bars that once seemed unbreakable began to bend.
Until finally—
Crash!
The gates of hell, thought to never open, yawned wide.
As the wolves charged toward the radiant sun, the informants snapped to their senses.
Now was their chance—
their perfect chance to escape with Belladis!
But the woman who should have been behind them was gone.
“My lady? My lady!”
Had the wolves carried her off?
They frantically searched, but were struck speechless once more.
For Bella Calypse stood unflinchingly before a wolf.
She looked coldly down at the limp beast and spoke.
“Find your pup.”
The wolf, seemingly lifeless, slowly opened its eyes.
“No one can smell your child better than you.”
Bella’s gaze met the mother wolf’s.
The informants were bewildered.
What was she saying to the beast? Had she lost her mind?
But then, the wolf rose.
They hadn’t realized when it lay collapsed, but standing, it was eye-level with Bella.
“My lady, step back!”
The informants cried in panic, afraid the wolf would bare its fangs at her.
But Bella stepped closer instead.
“Go find it. Bring it back.”
“That’s too dangerous—!”
“Right now.”
Her low, firm command fell, and the mother wolf burst into a sprint.
With a single leap, it soared over the informants, clearing the broken bars and crossing the basin.
No frail body, no towering wall could stop the instinct of a mother searching for her lost child.
After throwing Bella into the wolf pen, Roman hesitated.
Should he flee in secret, or boldly walk out of the ducal estate?
He chose the latter.
The estate’s security had risen to wartime levels.
The Filmore family—meticulous to the point of madness—were on high alert.
In such a situation, sneaking out the back would only draw suspicion.
“I need to leave before Edwin Filmore receives any report on the princess’s whereabouts.”
Time was short. But once outside the ducal grounds, victory was assured.
He planned to disguise himself immediately, and the white wolf was tucked safely in his bag.
The path toward the rear garden was quiet.
This meant the chaos in the wolf pens hadn’t yet spread beyond. The closer Roman came to the end of the path, the wider his smile grew.
But that smile shattered as soon as he reached the garden’s edge.
“Why are they…?!”
The knights of Calypse, led by the Duke of Kaltherion himself, were crossing the garden—heading straight for him.
Beside the Duke, Edwin Filmore’s golden hair gleamed in the light.
Had news already leaked to the Duke?
If he was caught now, everything would collapse.
“Damn it!”
Roman quickly darted behind a nearby tree, hiding his body from sight.
