I Became a Fake Priest the Saintess Is Obsessed With

31 – Only After the Flowers Withered Could They Smell the Fragrance (4)

When Mabel arrived at the location Ivany had mentioned, an elderly man from Baekban was there to greet her.

He called himself Pobby… or something like that, and he dragged Mabel abruptly into the underground.

However, Mabel, still unaware of the old man’s identity, couldn’t easily keep up.

“You remember that suspicious guy? He told me to give you this. Now take it!”

While bickering at the entrance of the underground for quite some time, the old man seemed to realize something and handed Mabel a letter.

Reading the ludicrous contents of the letter, Mabel understood that the old man was the one who could guide her on the path mentioned by Ivani.

Realizing this, Mabel put the letter in her pocket and followed the old man.

“Hey, kid! Stop wandering and follow properly!”

The sewer paths were even more intricate than the back alleys.

Having no idea where they were going, Mabel had no choice but to rely on the old man.

As they went deeper, the stench of metallic blood vibrated in the air.

Eventually, as if nothing but the smell of blood remained, a ladder and a manhole cover appeared as they ventured further.

“Go up first. Do you really have to stick so close behind?”

The old man attempted to climb the ladder.

Then, with a massive explosion, the sewer shook violently.

The old man, attempting to climb the ladder, fell to the ground.

The sound of his buttocks hitting the ground pierced through the explosion, resonating loudly.

“Argh!!! My back!!!”

“Uh… Are you okay?”

“No! Not okay at all! I think my back is shattered!”

He handed Mabel a small knife from his pocket.

“Ugh! It seems like I’ve come this far…! I have to climb up there with that… alone…!”

Mabel unexpectedly received a knife.

“And there’s a young priest friend up there! Bring him down and tell him to fix my waist!”

She exchanged a bewildered glance between the old man and the knife in her hand.

With a determined resolve, she tightly gripped the knife and ascended the ladder.

“Please!!!! Hurry!!!!”

Ignoring the old man’s screams, she climbed up the ladder.

When she reached the top, Mabel couldn’t help but be taken aback.

It was so shattered by the explosion that it was hard to recognize, but it was her father’s room.

“No way…!”

Realizing where she was, she shuddered all over.

Entering the space she had been avoiding to escape, she was involuntarily overwhelmed by fear.

But Mabel had no reason to be afraid.

She had always planned to come back here to save the children.

Beyond the door, she heard the loud noise of the building collapsing and the voices of two men.

Her resentful father’s voice and the voice of a certain unreliable man she believed in.

Without hesitation, Mabel opened the door.

Prepared to stab her own father with the knife in her hand.

***

“Pretending to be dead, how despicably vile of you…!”

A man with his grip around my neck curses at me.

Yet, knowing all too well the cowardice and wretchedness of my actions thus far, I silently squeeze his throat shut, silencing him.

He struggles, trying to break free as he grasps my rough, tightening grip on his wrist.

But with feeble strength, he cannot escape the clutches of the monster.

Moonlight spills over the limp man’s head.

The crimson-stained moon, so mesmerizing, steals my gaze.

“The moon… truly beautiful.”

Seeing that beautiful moon, old memories inevitably flood back to me.

Every moment spent with Elisa brought me immense happiness, almost beyond what I was allowed.

She painted color into my world tainted with ash, and was the sole refuge for the weary monster in life.

Thus, Elisa was my salvation, and of greater worth to me than anything in this world.

Yet, while indulging in fleeting happiness, my father’s voice haunted me every night.

You are a monster. You must not find happiness like others.

Despite knowing it was a self-induced delusion, his voice, mingled with countless others blaming me, caused unbearable pain.

And that pain grew as I lost happiness in the world.

“What is left for a wandering monster without refuge?”

Only sadness, despair, self-loathing, and boiling instinct remained.

I created countless hybrids to save Elisa.

Humanity was long abandoned.

My child called me a lunatic.

However, I’ve always been insane since I accepted myself as a monster until I lost Elyssa.

If I can regain happiness, anything is fine.

“Really… this is just ridiculous…”

Ivan uttered with a trembling voice.

Rene, who no longer wanted to hear his words, strangled Ivan with the purpose of making him faint.

But, she was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a black life form.

Syl, hiding in the darkness, sensed the danger to its owner and bit Rene’s arm with all its might.

Rene tried to remove Syl, but the attached pet lizard had no intention of letting go.

In the end, Rene released Ivan’s neck from her grasp.

Freed Ivan approached Rene and slapped her face forcefully.

“Just for the sake of a woman you love… such excuses are too pathetic.”

“Shut up! You don’t even know my pain…!”

“No, I know. I know how desperate you were when talking about a person named Elyssa. But…!”

Ivan grabbed Rene’s collar.

Although Rene could push away his hand, she couldn’t bring herself to do it under the overwhelming anger in Ivan’s eyes.

“Do you really think that despair is the only thing left in you…?”

“Yeah, after losing Elyssa, all that was left for me was despair…!”

From Noble mtl dot com

“I’m asking you if you listened to the voices of those who believed in you – Mabel, Phil, Yeongjimin! Have you paid attention to their voices?”

Ivan poured out the echoes of his repressed emotions to Rene.

His outcry reached Rene, who was blind and deaf, plunging her into deep contemplation.

When I lost Elisa, Mabel and Phil consoled me in my agony.

They tried to hide their own sorrows and comforted me even as I grew sadder.

My daughters truly pitied me.

However, I dismissed their consolation as mere sympathy and turned away.

What was the reaction of the Yeongji Min when my misdeeds were gradually revealed?

They believed in me to the end, never leaving my side even as I crumbled.

Yet, I regarded their faith as a trivial one, merely to maintain their positions.

Was that really right?

Was Elisa the only being who could truly understand me?

Why did I close my eyes and ears, refusing to listen to their stories?

Deep regret arose from my own foolishness.

“But, it’s too late to go back now…”

However, I had already crossed the line where regret was futile.

Barely standing on the brink of humanity, I had made myself a monstrous figure.

Now, there would be no one left who could understand me.

“It’s not too late yet, Father…”

A delicate voice reached the despairing René’s ears.

The voice was not just heard once or twice; it was incredibly familiar, yet slightly roughened, making it unfamiliar.

When René turned around, she met eyes with Mabel.

Facing Mabel, René crumbled like a sandcastle swept away by the waves.

The child looked so haggard that it was almost unrecognizable.

The once long hair had been cut short, and the eyes, once filled with innocence, now reflected a despair similar to their own.

Mabel threw the knife in her hand and embraced Renet.

“Let’s go back. To the time when we were happy. Even without Mother, the three of us… let’s live happily together…”

Mabel shed tears.

The tears running down her cheeks stained Renet’s clothes with blood.

Renet also shed tears.

Grateful to Mabel for accepting her even in this state.

And knowing that she could never undo the countless sins she had committed.

She simply shed tears endlessly.

“I… cherished the flower of happiness so dearly in this illness, but now that the flower has withered… I can only savor its fragrance…”

Moonlight shone between the two, soaked in tears.

The moonlight seemed to only watch over them, yet it also seemed to wipe away their tears.

Ivan, who had been watching everything from a distance, hoped that the moonlight would comfort them.

And he turned around at the sound of a cold message.

[Main Quest: Count’s Obstruction Completed.]

[Reward: Mabel’s Affection +30, 0 PP Obtained]

[Main Quest: Obtain Miguel’s Affection.]

[Reward: High Priest Appointment Potential Significantly Increased, Obtained Withered Flower]

A small flower appeared in Ivan’s hand.

Rising up pure white, cradling the moonlight beautifully… It was a flower resembling either a lily or a dewdrop.

The Ama flower was likely an item Ivan obtained as a reward for the quest.

Instinctively, Ivan realized that this was the flower Renet had mentioned as the embodiment of happiness.

Gazing at the flower and Renet, he delicately placed the flower into his pocket.