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chapter 25
“Wait, whose name are you making this donation under?”
Hearing her own name unexpectedly, Yulian forgot the Vicar beside her and dashed forward. Who would dare use her discarded name to make a donation, and for what purpose?
She stopped a novice cleric who was recording the donation details and yanked the hood off the anonymous robed figure.
“-Tres?”
The face revealed was someone Yulian knew. A young man with black hair and somber gray eyes—Tres. He belonged to the shadows serving the Duke of Baph, handling matters outside the law.
“Why are you here, you, my father’s loyal subordinate?”
“I am here by the Duke’s orders to see you, Lady. These are donations sent by His Grace…”
“Hey, why does your face look like that?”
Tres looked momentarily startled at hearing his name, but quickly composed himself, kneeling and bowing deeply. The shadows always obeyed the orders of the Duke of Baph. Even though Yulian’s connection to the Baph name had been severed, the Duke personally sending donations was a sign of favor. Kneeling was the prudent choice; there was no need to worry about pride in a matter so small.
“Are they still hitting you?”
“I’m fine. It’s nothing.”
“I told you before—you’re capable of independence and success as a knight. So why live under such unfair treatment?”
Yulian sighed at his posture of obedience. Seeing the bruises darkening his cheeks made her head ache. She didn’t know Baph’s rules, but she couldn’t stand by watching a young man, barely twenty, treated like this.
“I owe the Duke for taking me in and raising me.”
“Owe him? You call this treatment a favor?!”
This is why Latem was infuriating. Yulian’s head spun at the injustice before her. Three years had passed, but Latem’s cruelty seemed frozen in time. Nothing changed—neither above nor below.
When she lived among commoners, it didn’t hit her this sharply. There were no nobles or slaves there. But the place she avoided remained steep, like standing on a cliff.
Suppressing her anger, Yulian waved Tres off with a hand.
“Take the donations back. There’s no such person as Yulian Baph anymore; you can’t use that name. Imagine what would happen if the Emperor found out.”
“These donations were sent by His Grace, the Duke.”
“So? I’ve been exiled from my family and country. I don’t need the Duke’s aid. Whether I live or die, I’ll be responsible for my own life.”
Speaking firmly, Yulian turned her back without waiting for a reply. Tres could neither retort nor refuse the Duke’s orders, standing there awkwardly.
“Lady!”
Someone called out loudly. Both Yulian and Tres turned their eyes to locate the voice. It came from a knight wearing a navy uniform with a white cloak—the emblem of a phoenix on the chest, a symbol of the Knight Alliance.
“Good heavens! Sir Delsian! Sir Uber! And Sir Roksita! How are you here?”
“After regaining consciousness, we thought you’d been brought here without us. We’re sorry we couldn’t protect you.”
“It couldn’t be helped. Yet you all came to the base despite your distaste for holy knights!”
Yulian offered a lighthearted joke to cheer up the dejected knights, who had barely fought before being rendered unconscious. There had been no mistakes in the prophecy, and everyone was unharmed, which was enough. But she was curious why they had entered the temple in the first place.
“Lord Edgar’s affairs were heard by the two guild masters, who helped. They told us to investigate the situation along with the donations. He cherishes you like a ‘younger sibling.’”
“Like a younger sibling? Delsian, words must be straight even if your mouth is crooked. If that counts as a younger sibling, I have none.”
“-Roksita doesn’t have a younger sibling, right?”
Yulian laughed at the playful banter between Delsian and Roksita. With enemies all around in the temple, their presence eased her mind a little.
Watching her laugh from a distance, Tres was astonished. He had never seen her genuinely cheerful like this while at the Duke’s household. Unconsciously, he muttered to himself:
“Unbelievable. Falling to a commoner, and she’s happy about it.”
His words were so soft they drifted into the air, unheard by anyone.
“Sleep still won’t come tonight.”
Night returned. Yulian lay in bed, resisting sleep for over an hour before giving up and sitting up. Her body was relatively fine, aside from fatigue. She hadn’t slept for five days.
By now, Yulian realized she was likely under a restriction preventing sleep.
‘I wanted to see if my mark glows… but that fool Sol ran away.’
Seeing with her own eyes would be the most reliable, but Sol had fled, claiming he couldn’t enter her room. She checked with Delsian, Uber, and Roksita, but they, apparently warned in advance, couldn’t help either.
With no choice, Yulian reasoned from her “cannot sleep” hypothesis.
‘If I stay like this, the one in the most danger is me.’
The Mage Tower master could just retrieve the lost wallet; Billrod could suffer humiliation. Sol, as a sword master, could avoid contact easily if he stayed alert.
But humans die without sleep. Even if the immediate pain isn’t severe, continuous strain on brain and body would inevitably have consequences. The fire at her feet belonged to no one else but Yulian.
‘Reluctantly… I’ll go to him.’
The Mage Tower master was the only one fervently researching the prophecy all day, poring over books. The wallet and her younger brother’s likeness clearly mattered deeply.
Whether Teoron’s group was acting or not was unknown. Even if they knew something, coordination might be difficult. But the enthusiastic Mage Tower master might cooperate.
Thinking this through, Yulian donned her cloak, pocketed the Mage Tower master’s wallet, and stepped out of her bedroom. It was the early hours, when everyone else was asleep.
“Ah.”
“Ah.”
Neither Yulian nor Grey Carbon expected to meet each other in the hallway.
“Where are you going at this hour?”
“Why? Do criminals like me have a curfew?”
“You’re still angry.”
“Because I’m still here.”
Yulian answered sharply, attempting to pass Grey. He, wearing a strained smile, looked uneasy but composed himself. The atmosphere was now similar to when they first met, unlike when he had been with his father.
“Why are you following me?”
“The temple is generally safe with knights on guard, but I’ll accompany you just in case.”
Yulian scowled and stomped her feet slightly, knowing from experience that he would stubbornly follow his own course regardless of what she said. Yet she couldn’t shake him off—an unspoken protest.
