1 - 14th Death

When she heard the voice, Annie’s eyes became hazy as if in a dream.

-Hurry, now!

Dynah quickly gave Annie one more order. Annie was unaware of the situation and followed Dynah’s command. She released the hand that was pressing Dynah’s tongue. Dynah did not miss this moment. No, she couldn’t miss it; it was only this new priestess who could understand Dynah’s words.

It was a moment Dynah had been eagerly waiting for, and thus she did not hesitate.

With all her strength, she bit down hard on her tongue until an unbearable aching pain took over.

‘It’s done.’ 

At that moment, a faint smile appeared on Dynah’s lips, who, up until that point, had been expressionless.

“Oh my god! Annie!! What have you done....!! No! Call the saint right now!” Rachel realised Dynah’s condition too late and screamed at her.

Helen poured out her divine powers to heal her, but to no avail.

Dynah’s entire body was bound to tools that deflected holy power to prevent Dyna from using it, so it was useless. Her condition rapidly worsened, and it wasn’t long before…

In a mere few seconds, Dynah completely ceased breathing.

“No way…” Rachel slumped on the ground, her expression horrified, whilst Helen trembled, staring blankly at Dynah, not knowing what to do.

Under their gaze, Dynah’s body temperature lowered on the cold dungeon floor.

It was a lonely and pitiful death.

That was the 14th death of the hidden true saint. 

♔♔♔

“Dynah?”

Dynah woke up to a voice calling out to herself.

As she blinked her eyes a couple of times to rid her blurry focus, the voice calling for Dynah came closer. “Dynah? Are you okay?”

Dynah slowly turned her head from the depths of her chest towards the repulsive voice.

‘Lavienne.’

The moment she saw her, her heart dropped to the floor.

It was the young Lavienne who called her Dynah. As soon as she checked her face, an indescribable rage enveloped her body.

“Again….”

It didn’t take long for Dynah to realise the reality that she had been resurrected.

Dynah felt nausea rising and covered her mouth.

“Dynah, where are you sick? Shall I take you to the treatment room?”

Lavienne looked at Dynah, her face pale, with great concern. Lavienne, sweet and kind, was starkly different from the Lavienne in the dungeon cell.

“Oh, no. I have a bit of a stomach ache. Thank you for your concern, Lavienne.” Dynah answered, barely managing to part her lips.

“Dynah, I feel disappointed when you say that. We’re friends, aren’t we?”

“Friends.” At Lavienne’s words, Dynah smiled bitterly.

At the same time, an old memory of the dungeon came to mind.

“Lady Lavienne! Please release me. We are friends. Right?” 

“What? Ahahaha. Friend? Are you crazy? How do you and I become friends? You really believed that? There’s a degree to being foolish.”

“But... we’ve always been friends….”

“Dynah, listen carefully. I never thought of you as a friend for even a moment. How can you and I be friends? You and I live in different worlds.”

The appearance of Lavienne was all fake.

Now that she knew Lavienne’s true face so well, she was only disgusted. “You are weird today. Why don’t you talk to the priestess and rest?”

“I will.”

In her heart, she didn’t want to have anything to do with Lavienne. But in order not to raise suspicion, she replied with a forced smile.

She looked around her, realising a little late. It seemed like it was time for the Divine Power strengthening class. She could see the faces of the saints she had trained with when she was young.

“I don’t know why Miss Lavienne is even talking to a girl like her.” 

“I know, right. Even among her candidates, we have standards.”

Dynah could hear their murmurs even from afar. But she turned her head away from them as if she couldn’t.

[Lavienne de Braons.]

She was the only daughter of the Braons family that produced the most saints in history.

Lavienne was first among the candidates for the saint, not only due to her noble origin but also of her divine power.

She was loved by God and was born with everything. No one doubted that such a Lavienne would be the next saint.

Everyone wanted her to become the saint for the peace and prosperity of the temple to all.

Dynah once did too. Lavienne was a kind person who paid attention to herself, a mere orphan. Dynah stopped thinking about her and got up from her seat.

As she approached the priestess, who was watching the other candidates, she frowned and turned her head away. 

“What’s wrong?” 

“I have a severe headache. Can I go get some medicine?”

“I told you, you don’t have talent, so you should try twice as hard as other candidates.”

“I’m sorry.” 

“Tsk. Go.” Dynah’s heart throbbed at the eyes of the new priestess, Laura. She was not very fond of her and treated her like a bug.

It was a familiar gaze to Dynah, an orphan whose divine power was ignored because of her origin.

After silently bowing her head, Dynah left the training room.

Her legs staggered as soon as she stepped out into the empty hallway; tension from earlier dissipated.

“Ha.”

Dynah held onto the wall and inhaled deeply. She had been holding her breath the whole time. When she came back to reality, she was enraged.

‘I’m alive again.’ 

She wanted to die, but she couldn’t.

Her whole world seemed to instil in her that it was impossible to escape from Lavienne. She was caught by Lavienne and imprisoned each time, facing the same fate, biting her tongue and dying.

Without knowing the reason, she came back to life, again and again, repeating her past.

‘Ha....’ 

Dynah closed her eyes and tried to silence her anger. She had learned enough through regression that nothing changed when she lost her temper.

All Dynah could do now was go back to her room. “I need to check the date.”

With an expression of resignation, Dynah moved with heavy steps.

♔♔♔