The Kind of Evil-Chapter 434: The smiles.
Eveline walked down from the carriage and looked at the temple in front of her. She couldn’t believe that she had managed to reach the Holy Nation without any problems. She was so used to being on the edge back in the North because the demons would appear at any moment.
Aurelia came with Alexander and Novia while Serena stayed by Astrea’s side, who was in a wooden wheelchair. In the past week, Astrea’s condition had worsened, the medication and the herbs that Sima had left for Daryus were no longer working on her condition.
"Lady Eveline, welcome..." Aurelia looked at Eveline and the tall and beautiful woman beside her, Noir Wolffein.
Aurelia knew about the Wolffein family, a family that was said to have contributed to uniting North Neva along with the Wyverncrest family. The Wolffein family produced prodigies in swordsmanship, and swore to protect the north. That made her wonder why Noir followed Eveline and didn’t stay in the North when the situation there was way worse than in Central Neva. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖
"Thank you for having us here, Saint Aurelia... I mean, Lady Aurelia," Eveline smiled at Aurelia. "It means a lot to all of us, that you’re accepting us while we have nothing to offer," she frowned.
Aurelia shook her head repeatedly with a smile on her face. She looked at the Paladins escorting the refugees to the east side of the city where she had prepared for them.
"No, it’s my pleasure. Lady Monica must have entrusted all of you to me, and I’ll do my best to not disappoint my friend," Aurelia said with a gentle gaze filled with genuine care. "But if I may ask..." She paused to look at Noir. "Lady Wolffein, I didn’t expect you to be here. I thought you would stay in the North?" She asked with a confused look on her face, looking at Noir’s cold and unreadable expression.
Eveline’s warm and gentle smile suddenly disappeared when she heard the question. She cleared her throat and looked at Noir, who stared down at Aurelia with the same cold and unreadable expression.
"Lady Noir is the last Wolffein, Lady Aurelia. She would love to stay in the North and to fight the demons, but we want to keep the Wolffein family alive, and so, we all made a hard decision and forced her to join me here," Eveline answered, her voice quiet and filled with sorrow.
Aurelia’s face turned bright red from embarrassment and shame. She immediately apologized directly to Nior for not seeing it coming. She felt ashamed that she had failed to see it, and when she was deep in thought, she was startled when she felt a hand on her right shoulder.
"Don’t be," Noir said as she pulled her hand from Aurelia’s shoulder. "There’s no point in apologizing since you don’t know, Lady Aurelia," she assured.
Aurelia nodded with understanding even though she was still ashamed and felt guilty. She then let them rest since their journey should be tiring, however, Eveline went to meet with Astrea first. She watched Eveline walk toward Astrea, realizing that those two had met a few times before.
Eveline looked at Astrea’s body which was covered in bandages. She slowly went down to one knee and reached for Astrea’s hand, holding it with both hands. Astrea closed her eyes because for the first time, she felt dirty and filthy in the presence of a real family of Saint.
"Moriganne wished to see you, Lady Astrea. My sister, she was worried about you when she heard about your condition back then, and she wished to use her power to heal you, but she couldn’t because she had to stay in the North, to protect the people," Eveline muttered with a gentle gaze as she tightened her fingers around Astrea’s hand.
"My time has come, Lady Eveline," Astrea muttered, slowly opening her eyes to look at Eveline. "I can feel it, I can sense it," her voice was barely above a whisper.
Eveline could see acceptance in Astrea’s eyes, something that she had been accustomed to ever since the war with the demon began. She responded with a soft smile, nodding with understanding, but she didn’t let go of her hands. She then glanced at Serena, feeling an overwhelming Divine energy that came out of her, more than Monica, more than Moriganne, and more than them all combined.
"You’re Saint Serena, the one that came back to life after a hundred years of being dead," Eveline slowly stood up and let go of Astrea’s hand. "I heard a few things, and it’s an honor to see you in person," she said as she lowered her head a bit.
"No need for formality. Do you see knights or priests around me? No, it’s because I don’t want to. So please, treat me like how you treat your friend or someone you know," Serena said with a gentle smile.
Eveline nodded with understanding and she was wary of Serena. She had met countless people and knew all kinds of personalities. Those who humbled themselves in front of others, they were either kind, had ulterior motives, or they didn’t have any interest in others. She didn’t know which one Serena was, and her mind told her that it wasn’t the first.
"I heard that the Magic Tower has decided to break their neutrality and support Lady Aurelia. But, I didn’t see Great Sage, only her disciple, Lady Novia," Eveline looked around for Lenin, but until now, she didn’t found Lenin everywhere.
"Great Sage Lenin is currently escorting the people from the South, Lady Eveline," Novia answered.
Eveline turned around and looked at Novia with a curious look on her face. "Escorting the people from the South? Escorting where?" She asked, tilting her head.
Before Novia needed to answer the question, they all heard the loud humming sound of propellers in the sky. Everyone looked up, even the people in the city stopped doing whatever they did to look up at the sky. They saw hundreds of blimps with the Magic Tower crest on them. Everyone immediately went to the landing site to welcome them, including Eveline and Nior.
One by one, the blimps landed on the landing sites, filling the empty spacious space with blimps that barely had any space left for a blimp to land there. The first one to walk down the blimp was Lenin, and then followed by Thalior, Xena, and Uriel. Nior saw the golden-haired woman with golden armor and a red scarf around her neck. She knew that was the person she had been wanting to meet in person, however, she felt a pang in her chest because she remembered her brother because he also wanted to meet Uriel in person.
The Union army, the Servil army, the armies from various nations, and thousands of individuals like adventurers and mercenaries who volunteered to join the cause finally walked out of the blimps. In total, there were two hundred thousand people from the South to join Aurelia in defending Central Neva from demons that threatened humankind. Aurelia’s hands trembled in disbelief, touched by the fact that there were so many people who chose to fight alongside her even though they knew the truth about the Holy Nation and the Angelis family.
Eveline smiled when Thalior looked at her, not expecting to see him again after the expedition. Thalior smiled back and lowered his head as he walked toward her and Aurelia. When they were standing face to face, Thalior heard enough from Lenin and knew the situation and what had happened in the North.
"Lady Eveline, we pray for the safety of the people in the North," Thalior said, his voice filled with sorrow and guilt because he couldn’t be there and had promised Lenin to help her protect Central Neva.
Eveline responded with a soft smile, and that hinted at Thalior, Lenin, Xena, and Uriel that there was nothing behind that smile. They hoped that smile wasn’t a smile of defeat and acceptance, but they had seen that smile and were accustomed to that kind of smile.
"When did you arrive, Lady Eveline?" Lenin asked as she stood beside Eveline, trying to give her some kind of comfort.
"Just now, Great Sage. We just arrived and Lady Aurelia welcomed us and let the Paladins guide everyone to where they will be staying," Eveline answered and stared Lenin in the eyes with tired eyes.
"In that case, I believe it’s best to let everyone rest first, Lady Aurelia. Archduke Thalior and the others are also tired. We will discuss everything tomorrow in the morning," Lenin suggested as she looked at Aurelia.
"Yes, that’s the plan, Great Sage," Aurelia nodded in agreement. "Everyone, please come with us. We will show you the rooms for you to stay, and I’ll let the Paladins guide everyone to the west side of the city. We have enough houses for everyone," she added as she looked at Thalior, Xena, Uriel, Eveline, and Nior.
They all nodded with understanding and followed Aurelia from behind. Thalior and Eveline walked side by side while Nior and Uriel walked behind them. They both looked at each other for a moment, recognizing each other, a Swordmaster and the Northern White Star. They both nodded their heads to each other with a straight and stoic expression.
"Lady Goldmane," Nior said quietly, filled with respect and interest.
"Lady Wolffein," Uriel closed her eyes and nodded once again, showing respect and interest toward Nior.
That was the only thing they said to each other before they focused on their surroundings as they matched the walking pace of Thalior and Eveline.
