But less than an hour later, she blushed when she saw the bag hanging on the doorknob of her room.
'Oh no! I think I've been caught.'
The shabby bag contained nothing more than a salve for wounds and a roll of clean bandages, and it was clear who had left it there.
Dorothea, who had wrapped the wound area with only a handkerchief, applied the ointment and wrapped it in a bandage. She then carefully took out a piece of notepaper, wondering what to do.
Thank you for the medicine and bandages. It is a small token of my appreciation, but I hope you will accept it.
And she tucked the short note into the next page of the detective novel she had brought this time. It was a detective novel that she had carefully chosen after going all the way to the downtown bookstore, even though she was on a tight schedule to leave for Pervaz.
'Will he like it…?'
Dorothea smiled the whole time she did this. She was not even aware that she was smiling.
* * *
It was exactly one month after Carlyle arrived in Pervaz that an unexpected guest made a secret visit to Pervaz Castle.
"What? What did you just say?"
Lionel saw Carlyle's hand, which was holding a pen, shaking with anger, and he guessed that the pen would soon meet its fate.
However, he could understand why Carlyle was angry.
"I said that High Priest Gabriel requests an audience."
Crack.
As expected, the pen that Carlyle was holding broke in half with a single scream.
"He came here on his own two feet to die by my hand?"
"I don't know about that. But from the fact that he came without a single attendant, I think he is confident that he will not die. It also seems to be true that he came secretly."
"I don't know if he came secretly or if he's pretending to come secretly. Anyway, it seems like he has something to propose to me."
Carlyle snorted.
It was suspicious that someone who was clearly in alliance with the Empress, and clearly a high-ranking aide, had come to find him, who was no different from a fugitive in Pervaz.
"Let's hear him out and kill him if it doesn't matter. Bring him in. Let me see that shameless face."
"Yes."
Not long after Lionel answered and left, Gabriel, wearing a gray hooded robe and concealing his appearance as much as possible, entered quietly.
When Carlyle stared at him without saying a word to come in, he lowered his hood and revealed his mysterious silver hair and beautiful face.
"It's been a long time, Your Highness."
"I didn't really want to see you, but it has been a long time."
The murderous aura that Carlyle gave off made his skin crawl, but Gabriel smiled faintly without flinching.
"I know what you think of me, but please put away your murderous aura. In fact, I'm here today to see Countess Pervaz, not Your Highness."
At that, Carlyle's murderous aura grew stronger.
"The High Priest, why?"
To the question that didn't even try to hide its hostility, Gabriel sighed softly and shook his head before speaking.
"I heard that Countess Pervaz was fighting the savages of the abandoned land and became addicted to magic."
"I wonder who you heard that from. It seems that Pervaz Castle has a spy."
"I only heard it through Her Majesty the Empress, and I don't know the details. But I owe Countess Pervaz a debt of gratitude, so I came here to help him without Her Majesty's knowledge."
Carlyle narrowed his eyes to gauge Gabriel's sincerity.
"How can I believe that? The High Priest isn't even a healing priest."
"I may not have made a name for myself as a healing priest, but I do know how to heal. There are quite a few priests with special skills that are not known to the public."
When Carlyle still didn't look convinced, Gabriel stepped forward.
"I had no desire to see His Highness Carlyle myself. I don't want to be in the same space as someone who insults God."
"Now you're talking, High Priest."
Carlyle smiled as if he was pleased. He couldn't tell how much he had been looking forward to Gabriel throwing away that disgusting 'angel' mask.
However, Gabriel had really visited Pervaz in secret to save Asha.
"Countess Pervaz is different from Your Highness. She is so sincere and upright that I think she must be the reincarnation of a saint. As a servant of God, I could not stand by and watch her life be drained by magic."
"You say this, but you could be the one harming Countess Pervaz."
"Isn't Your Highness standing guard outside with your sword? Unlike Your Highness, I still have a lot to do. I can't die yet."
Carlyle snorted as if to laugh at Gabriel, but he was shaken inside.
'If the High Priest knows the divine healing method, Asha could wake up today.'
Thanks to the fact that he had been pouring out his divine power, she was out of danger, but if Gabriel could just heal her properly, Asha could recover quickly.
Gabriel was suspicious and hateful, but the desire to wake Asha up was too strong.
"Do you know what it means that I will be guarding you with my sword? My sword is not a decoration."
"Of course. After my treatment is over, if you check Countess' condition and it seems to have gotten worse, you can cut me down right away."
At the words that he was risking his life, Carlyle finally made a decision.
"Lionel!"
He called Lionel who was outside.
"The High Priest will be treating Countess Pervaz. No one is to come near him."
"Yes? Are you… sure?"
"I'll guard the door. It's better if there are no people around during the healing. Strange auras can get mixed in."
"Yes, then… I understand."
As Lionel answered and left, Gabriel gave Carlyle a subtle look.
"You seem to know a lot about divine healing."
"I practically lived in the temple when I was young because I was born blessed. I picked up a lot of things back then."
Carlyle muttered as he strapped the sword belt that had been lying next to him to his waist.
"So don't even think about deceiving me, just focus on healing."
Armed, Carlyle led Gabriel straight to Asha's room. Since Gabriel couldn't afford to stay leisurely anyway, treatment needed to start immediately.
Entering Asha's room, Gabriel sighed briefly as he saw Asha lying on the bed like a statue.
"How did this happen…!"
"I don't think we have time to explain everything. How long will the treatment take?"
"Um… about an hour, I suppose."
Gabriel, who was gauging Asha's condition by holding her wrist, replied.
Carlyle, still staring at Asha's wrist held by Gabriel, clenched his teeth tightly, suppressing all sorts of emotions.
"Alright… I'll wait outside."
"Understood."
Carlyle watched as Gabriel took a seat beside Asha. He wanted to monitor closely to see if Gabriel was up to something, but he had to resist. Mixing his divine power with the healing might interfere with Asha's condition. If, by any chance, conflicting divine powers clashed, he didn't know what might happen to Asha.
'If I can save you, I'll even kneel to my enemies. So please, just wake up, Asha…'
Carlyle held the handle of his sword, standing guard outside the door, silently praying earnestly.
Meanwhile, inside the room, Gabriel was tending to Asha.
As expected… she was hit by the savage's magic.'
It was said she was hit in the chest by magic, but seeing she was still breathing meant she was lucky. Normally, one would die instantly if hit by dark magic piercing the chest.
"Why didn't you listen to my advice, Countess."
Gabriel muttered in a whispering voice, reproaching as he began to absorb the magic from Asha's body. This was another method of removing magic that Carlyle didn't know about.
In fact, Gabriel didn't know the healing method using divine power. He didn't have divine power to begin with.
'What I had to do was difficult to achieve with just divine power alone, so the gods granted me the ability to wield dark magic instead. To eradicate enemies and also… to save lives.'
He healed Asha while secretly enjoying the fact that her life was in his hands.
TL/N:😑😑😑😑
As the magic was being expelled, Asha's face began to regain some color.
And while looking at Asha like that, Gabriel murmured as if confessing.
"Although it was my doing, I didn't wish for you to be hurt as well. If you had listened to me and left Pervaz, I would have achieved my goal, and you wouldn't have been hurt."
When he heard the news that Pervaz had not fallen to the savages, Gabriel had a hunch that Asha had remained in Pervaz.
Since then, whatever he did, his heart was always a little anxious. He didn't care if Pervaz didn't collapse, He was worried that Asha might be dead.
"But seeing that you are alive, I am sure that you are the one Libato sent to me, as I expected. So follow the will of God and come to me."
He stroked Asha's cheek with his other hand.
"I will take away all the burdens you have to bear. Whether it's Pervaz or Carlyle. You, the chosen one, should live a blessed life without being bound by worldly things."
And he added a short sentence.
"By my side."