Chapter 583: The Holy Voice (II)

"Do you hate them?"

Rose didn’t move.

Her eyes remained fixed on Edmond’s face.

For a moment, she thought the voice had only existed inside her head. The room was completely silent, with nothing but the sound of her uneven breathing and the faint wind slipping through the narrow window.

She slowly lifted her head and looked around. "Who’s there?"

No one answered her question.

Her eyes moved toward the closed door. There were holy maidens guarding the hallway outside, so no one should have been able to enter without her noticing.

No one answered.

Rose looked toward the door, but it remained closed. There were holy maidens guarding the hallway outside, so no one should have been able to enter without her noticing.

For a moment, Rose wondered whether she was finally losing her mind.

Perhaps that wouldn’t be so terrible.

If she became mad enough, perhaps she could start imagining Edmund was still alive.

Her gaze returned to him, then her thumb gently moved across his cheek.

"Do you hate the Gods?"

The voice came again, and this time Rose knew she hadn’t imagined it. It belonged to a woman, soft and calm, yet it seemed to come from everywhere around her at once.

On the other side, Primrose felt that the voice sounded familiar, like something she had heard before when she visited the Moon Goddess Temple.

Was this the Moon Goddess’ voice?

But before Primrose could think about it further, she heard Rose let out a weak laugh. There was no amusement in it. It sounded tired and bitter, carrying years of pain that had finally become too heavy for her to bear.

"Which one of you is asking?" Rose looked back down at Edmond.

"There are fifteen of you in that temple," she whispered. "I served all of you for years."

She had spent most of her life inside the Holy Temple. She had followed its rules, carried out her duties as the Saintess, and devoted years of her life to the Gods worshiped there.

She had done everything they asked of her, and what had she received in return? Nothing.

Not once had any of them reached out a hand when she needed them most.

"When the Cardinal hurt me, none of you did anything," Rose whispered. "When he controlled every part of my life and treated me however he wanted, none of you stopped him."

Her fingers slowly tightened against Edmond’s cold cheek. "And every time he took someone from me, you did nothing."

Her voice cracked as the memories came back one after another, each one more painful than the last.

Every person she had loved and every small piece of happiness she had tried to hold on to had eventually been torn away from her.

The Cardinal had continued hurting her family again and again and the Gods had watched.

Rose laughed bitterly as tears began gathering in her eyes. "What was the point of all those years?"

She had been their Saintess.

She had stood before countless people and spoken of their mercy. She had told frightened people that the Gods were watching over them. She had listened to the suffering of others and assured them that their devotion would never go unnoticed.

Now, those words felt like a cruel joke.

"Do you know why I climb those thousand steps every morning and every night?" Rose asked.

The voice didn’t answer.

Rose lowered her head until her forehead nearly touched Edmond’s.

"It isn’t because I want to pray to any of you."

A tear slipped down her cheek.

"I climb those stairs because the Cardinal forces me to. And every time I reach the top, I curse every single God inside that temple."

Her lips trembled. "I curse you for watching."

Another tear fell.

"I curse you for letting him hurt me."

Her hand gently moved through Edmond’s black hair.

"And I curse all of you for watching while he took my family away from me one by one."

Rose could still remember the heat of the flames against her skin. She could still hear the screams, smell the smoke, and see the ruins of the home where she had once believed she would raise her daughter with Edmond.

The memory of his severed head being thrown in front of her returned so suddenly that Rose’s stomach twisted. Her arms tightened around him, holding him as close as she could.

And somehow, after all of that, she was still alive.

Alone.

"So which one are you?" Rose asked, bitterness trembling beneath every word. "Which God finally decided I was worth speaking to after there was nothing left for you to take from me?"

For several seconds, there was no answer, then the woman finally spoke. "I am not one of the Gods you served in that temple."

Rose frowned.

Before she could ask anything else, a faint silver light slipped through the narrow window. She slowly turned toward it and saw the moon hanging high in the night sky. Its pale light spilled into the room, stretching across the floor before falling over the wooden box in front of her.

"I am the one your husband prayed to."

Rose stopped breathing. Her fingers went completely still, and for a moment, even the pain inside her chest seemed to freeze.

"What?"

"He called my name many times," the voice said gently. "He begged me for strength to protect you."

Rose stared at the moonlight. Her lips began to tremble as memories of Edmond rushed through her mind.

There was only one Goddess Edmund had ever spoken about with that kind of faith.

The Goddess worshiped by the Lycans since ancient times. "The... Moon Goddess?"

"Yes."

Something inside Rose snapped. Her gaze immediately dropped to Edmond, and for the first time since his death, the emptiness in her eyes disappeared.

In its place came something hot, bitter, and almost unbearable: anger.

"You." The single word came from her mouth like a curse.

The silver light around her seemed to grow brighter, but Rose no longer cared.

"You were listening to him?" she asked.