Chapter 378: Chapter 378 – Looking into the dark past! (10)

Night fell over the Holy Kingdom.

The golden glow of the evening faded into deep blue darkness, lanterns flickering to life along the streets like scattered stars. Wind slipped through the narrow alleys, carrying the distant clatter of armor and the echo of shouted orders.

The city was searching.

And two fugitives were running through it.

The old healer moved quickly despite her age, pulling the woman along narrow side paths and forgotten streets. Her breathing had grown heavy, but she refused to slow.

“We can’t stop,” she muttered under her breath. “Not yet.”

The woman stumbled beside her.

Her body was weak.

Her legs trembled with every step.

Blood still stained the edges of her dress, and her breaths came short and shallow—but her arms remained locked firmly around the small bundle she carried.

The baby girl.

Wrapped tightly in cloth.

Held close to her mother’s chest.

The woman’s tears never stopped falling.

But she didn’t make a sound.

She only pressed the child closer, as if trying to shield her from the entire world.

Luca followed silently behind them, his jaw tight.

Beside him, the Saintess walked like someone in a dream.

Every breath felt heavier than the last.

The streets grew darker.

The city quieter.

But the guards—

There were more of them now.

Armored patrols moved through intersections, torches blazing as they searched alley after alley.

“Split up! Check every corner!”

“No one leaves the district!”

The healer peeked from behind a building, her expression tightening as another group of Divine Guards passed by.

“…They know,” she muttered grimly.

She turned back toward the woman.

“It seems they discovered we escaped.”

The woman’s face crumpled.

Fresh tears spilled down her cheeks.

But she only nodded weakly, holding the baby tighter against her heart.

“I’m sorry…” she whispered to the child. “I’m so sorry…”

They moved again.

Through the back of an abandoned courtyard.

Across a narrow stone bridge.

Into the outskirts where the buildings thinned and scattered rocks and hills broke the ground beyond the city walls.

Finally—

The healer stopped.

“Here.”

They crouched behind a large boulder near the edge of the road, its shadow swallowing them whole.

The woman slid down to the ground, her legs finally giving out beneath her.

Her breathing had grown ragged again.

Her hands trembled violently around the baby.

Footsteps echoed somewhere nearby.

Armor.

Voices.

Divine Guards were searching the area.

The woman looked at the healer.

Her eyes were swollen from crying.

“…Can you take her?” she whispered.

The healer turned sharply.

“What?”

The woman pushed the bundle toward her.

“Please,” she begged weakly. “Take my daughter and go.”

Her voice broke.

“Please… I beg you…”

The healer stared at her in disbelief.

“You’ll be captured again,” she said firmly. “If you stay behind—”

“I don’t care!” the woman cried, though she immediately lowered her voice in fear of being heard.

Tears streamed down her face.

“I don’t care what happens to me,” she whispered desperately. “As long as my daughter is safe.”

Her hands shook as she held the baby close one last time.

“She deserves a life,” the mother sobbed. “Not this… not this curse.”

The baby stirred softly in her arms.

The mother kissed her forehead again and again.

“My little light…” she whispered.

The healer looked between them.

The exhausted woman.

The innocent child.

Her hands clenched tightly at her sides.

“…Damn it…” she muttered under her breath.

Before she could answer—

CRASH.

The boulder beside them exploded.

Stone shattered outward as a blade slammed into it, splitting the rock apart like brittle clay.

Fragments scattered across the ground.

The women recoiled instinctively.

And from the broken dust—

Armored figures stepped forward.

Torches burned bright behind them.

One Divine Guard lowered his sword, a cruel smile spreading across his face.

“Well, well…”

His voice echoed coldly in the night.

“Look what I found.”

He raised his hand.

More soldiers stepped out from the shadows behind him.

“There they are.”

The guards moved in quickly.

Boots crushed gravel under heavy armor as they spread out in a loose circle around the shattered boulder. Torchlight flickered across steel and stone, painting the night in jagged shadows.

“Well, well…” one of them chuckled.

Another stepped forward, rolling his shoulders lazily as if this were nothing more than an evening game.

“Running away?” he sneered. “Did you really think you could escape from us?”

The woman staggered back instinctively, clutching the baby tighter against her chest. Her body trembled violently—exhaustion, blood loss, fear—but her arms never loosened.

“Stay back!” the old healer barked, stepping slightly in front of her.

The guards laughed.

“Listen to that,” one mocked. “The old witch still thinks she’s brave.”

Another leaned forward with a cruel grin.

“Hand the child over quietly and maybe we’ll be gentle.”

More laughter.

“You can’t escape from our grasp anymore.”

“Did you really think you could outrun the Holy Kingdom’s bishop?”

One guard stepped closer, reaching out.

The woman twisted away, desperation giving her strength for a moment. She stumbled backward, shielding the baby with her entire body.

“No!” she cried.

The healer swung her staff at the guard’s arm.

The strike wasn’t strong—but it was enough to knock his hand aside.

The guards burst into louder laughter.

“Oh ho! She can fight!”

“Careful,” another jeered. “The old hag might break a hip!”

They advanced again.

The circle tightened.

Beyond time—

Luca’s fists clenched so hard his knuckles turned white.

His teeth ground together.

Every instinct screamed at him to move.

To cut them down.

To stop this.

But he couldn’t.

His body remained frozen in the invisible prison of the past.

Beside him, the Saintess trembled violently.

Her breathing had grown shallow, her hands shaking uncontrollably.

Her eyes burned.

Fury.

Horror.

Helplessness.

She watched as her mother struggled… as those men laughed.

And she could do nothing.

Back in the night—

One guard lunged.

The healer shoved the woman aside, intercepting him with surprising speed. Her staff cracked against his knee, forcing him to stagger.

Another guard grabbed her shoulder.

She twisted violently, elbowing him in the ribs.

For a brief moment—

They resisted.

But it was hopeless.

The guards were trained soldiers.

Armored.

Stronger.

More numerous.

One grabbed the woman’s arm.

Another reached for the child.

“Stop struggling!” he barked.

“Or we’ll take her anyway!”

The woman screamed, clutching the baby tighter.

The guards only laughed.

Then—

Something shifted.

The old healer stopped moving.

Her breathing slowed.

Her eyes drifted toward the woman.

Then—

Toward the child.

The baby girl lay nestled in her mother’s arms, completely unaware of the chaos surrounding her.

She was still smiling.

Tiny fingers waving softly in the night air.

The healer’s expression changed.

Something deep inside her stirred.

Her eyes widened slightly.

A single tear slipped down the wrinkles of her cheek.

“…So this is how it is,” she whispered.

The guards didn’t notice.

They were too busy mocking the struggling woman.

The healer lifted her gaze toward the sky.

“…Oh, Goddess,” she murmured softly.

Her voice carried a strange calm now.

“Your doings are truly something we mortals can never understand…”

She stepped forward suddenly and grabbed the woman’s shoulders.

“Listen to me.”

The woman froze.

“Go,” the healer said firmly.

The woman stared at her in shock.

“Run.”

“I—”

“RUN!” the healer barked.

Her grip tightened.

“I will cover your back. Make sure the child stays safe.”

The woman’s eyes filled with confusion.

“But—”

“Don’t let her fall into the hands of these beasts!” the healer roared.

Her voice shook the night.

“She is the light that will end the darkness of this Holy Kingdom!”

The guards blinked in surprise.

“What nonsense is this old witch—”

“GO!” the healer shouted again.

The woman stood there, stunned.

For a moment—

She couldn’t move.

The healer looked different now.

Her posture had straightened.

Her eyes burned with something fierce.

Something resolute.

Then—

She shoved the woman hard.

“GO!”

The woman stumbled forward instinctively.

And at that exact moment—

Light exploded from the healer’s body.

Blinding.

Radiant.

Holy mana burst outward like a star igniting in the night.

The guards recoiled instantly.

“What the—?!”

The healer threw her head back and laughed.

A loud, wild laugh that echoed across the dark hills.

“Hahahahahaha!”

Her voice rang with something almost ecstatic.

“She is here!”

The light around her intensified.

“Ha… hahaha!”

Tears streamed down her face as she stared at the child one last time.

“She is finally here!”

The woman stood frozen for a heartbeat.

The healer’s blazing light burned behind her like a second sun, shadows dancing wildly across the rocks and ground. The laughter still echoed through the night—loud, defiant, almost triumphant.

“Hahahahahaha!”

The guards shouted in confusion.

“What is that light?!”

“Stop her!”

But the healer’s radiance swallowed the space behind them, forcing the soldiers back, their silhouettes swallowed by blinding brilliance.

The woman stared at the old healer’s back.

Confused.

Terrified.

Desperate.

Her lips trembled.

But the old woman did not turn.

Her voice rang out one last time through the night.

“RUN!”

That single word broke the spell.

The woman gathered herself.

Her breath came in sharp, ragged pulls as she tightened her hold on the baby girl against her chest. The child stirred faintly in the cloth, still warm, still alive.

Still smiling.

The mother clenched her jaw.

Then she ran.

Her steps were uneven at first.

Her body screamed in protest. Every movement tore at the wounds left by childbirth, every breath burned in her lungs. Blood still stained the hem of her dress.

But she ran.

Because behind her—

Someone had chosen to stay.

She stumbled over loose stones, nearly falling, then caught herself and kept going. Her arms tightened instinctively around the small bundle.

“Please…” she whispered between breaths. “Please… just live…”

The night stretched around her.

Dark streets.

Silent courtyards.

Empty paths beyond the city’s outer districts.

She ran through them all.

Time blurred.

Minutes.

Hours.

Her legs grew weaker.

Her vision swam.

But she didn’t stop.

Not until—

Her body finally gave out.

She staggered forward several more steps, turning her head desperately to check behind her one last time.

No guards.

No torches.

No armored silhouettes chasing her through the darkness.

Only silence.

The woman collapsed to her knees.

Her breathing was violent now, chest rising and falling as if each breath might be the last.

But even as she fell—

Her arms never loosened around the child.

Slowly, painfully, she lifted her head.

Before her stood a modest courtyard.

Simple stone walls.

A quiet gate.

And above it—

A wooden signboard hung slightly crooked beneath a lantern’s dim glow.

The words carved into it read:

“Barden’s Orphanage.”

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