Free Web NovelChapter 154: The Saintess’s Gratitude
The survivors stood frozen before the tear in space,
Their salvation and way out.
Standing before said salvation, was a face they recognized, The Ice Empress.
They realized that she was the one who had made all of this possible, not the prince, though he had fought bravely.
Not the others, though they had each played their part.
It was all hers.
The woman who had descended into the black sea when no one else could, who had faced whatever lay beneath it and emerged with stars in her wake.
She was the one who had created a way out of here for them.
Adrian looked at the expression on the Survivors’ faces and nodded. Everything was going exactly as he intended.
He then turned towards his lady, who was also looking directly at him, and from the look in her eyes, she wanted him by her side.
In response, Adrian just smiled and shook his head.
This was one of the rare times he would allow her to stand alone, after all, it was essential to his plan that she did.
[Lead them out, my Lady,] he mentally communicated his thoughts to her and Renelle could only comply.
She understood what her butler was up to and although she would have preferred him by her side, she chose to trust in his plan.
Renelle then turned towards the hundreds of survivors looking at her with gleaming eyes and said, "Follow me."
With that, she turned towards the tear in space and walked forward.
As simple as her words were, it was all the survivors needed and they immediately stepped in line behind her.
Lucian stepped beside Adrian, still limping a bit, as he looked at the scene before him with something akin to a frown.
He was supposed to be the one currently leading the people out but he could do nothing at this point.
Especially when said people were currently following someone else without even being asked twice.
"You planned this, didn’t you?" He said as he looked at the Butler.
"Of course," Adrian didn’t bother denying it, "is the prince feeling threatened?"
Lucian went silent for a while before letting out a sigh and replying, "No, the Lightbringers have been ruling Avera for as long as one could recall, that’s not about to change anytime soon."
"Is that so?" Adrian muttered before finally turning to the prince, "I wouldn’t bet on that."
Lucian continued looking at the butler, reminded of one thing, as he said, "I truly dislike you."
"The feeling’s mutual, your highness," Adrian replied in a tone so polite, that one wouldn’t be able to tell that the two were saying they hated each other.
The prince thought that he’d at least be able to finally get along with the butler, especially in a place such as this, but no.
The man was as unlikable as when they first met.
Noelle walked towards the two, hesitantly looking at Adrian as if she wanted to say something.
After hesitating for a while, she swallowed her fear of him as she started, "t-thank you for helping us find a way out of here."
Adrian looked at her, noticing that she was bowing, despite the prince, very clearly, not wanting her to.
The butler didn’t think much of the Saintess. Of course, the manhwa showed her as a warm person who naturally pulled people towards her.
That was the reason the prince chose her over Renelle in the first place.
Noelle felt cold sweat run down her back as she felt Adrian’s gaze on her. Again, he was looking at her as if she weren’t human.
The same way he looked at everything that wasn’t Renelle, but seeing Renelle’s reaction to his disappearance the past month, everything made sense to her.
These two insane humans belonged to each other.
"You misunderstand something, Saintess," Adrian finally replied, "if my lady wasn’t in this dungeon, then I’d have no need to save any of you."
Lucian clearly understood what he meant, if he didn’t want these people to see Renelle as their savior, then he’d have only left with her the moment the exit was discovered.
Or at least that’s how he interpreted the Butlers’ words.
Still, Lucian didn’t appreciate the way he was speaking to Noelle who was only trying to be polite, so he said,
"You really don’t know how to speak like a normal human being, do you?"
"I was under the impression that honesty was a virtue," Adrian replied with a shrug.
Before Lucian could respond, Noelle cut in again, "s-still, you ended up saving us all, even if that wasn’t your intention."
"No," Adrian corrected calmly, "my lady saved them."
He turned towards the survivors who were still walking towards the tear, with smiles on their faces, and he spoke a bit louder.
"The Ice Empress descended into the black sea, she faced the corruption within the temple, she willed for the stars above your heads and now, she is leading these people back home."
Adrian seemed like some kind of fanatic spreading propaganda right now, but he didn’t care, after all, it was very clearly working.
Lucian looked at him for a while before giving up and turning to Noelle, "Let’s just go."
The Saintess looked at the butler for a while, noting that he truly wasn’t as scary as her mind had made him out to be.
Just crazy.
With a nod, she turned around and helped the prince go through the tear in space, and out of the dungeon.
Adrian watched the two go without a word, but his attention was suddenly pulled to the side by the quickly approaching Darius.
The red-haired idiot, stopped right in front of him and asked with excitement, "Since I’m a lot stronger now, can we spar? For real this time."
{You’re being rude you idiot,} the dragon lying on his commented, before looking at Adrian and saying, {I apologize on behalf of my contractor, would you please overlook it and not inform Lord Noctis of his behavior?}
’Lord Noctis?’ Adrian mentally repeated with amusement.
«What’s funny?» Noctis’ voice was heard in his head, «At least the child knows to show respect to a being such as I.»
Adrian ignored the cat and looked at Darius again before saying, "Alright then, but only when we return to the academy."
"Nice," Darius muttered with a grin on his face before rushing towards the exit, "let’s go, Bob."
{I told you, my name’s —}
They were through the tear before it could finish its words.
Adrian silently continued looking at the survivors walk through the exit until he was the last one left within the dungeon.
....
Well, almost the last one. freёwebnovel.com
"I assume you have something to say," Adrian started as he turned towards the floating third year, "Cassian."
