Reborn After Betrayal: The Frail True Princess Decides to Give Up

Chapter 222 : Diverging Positions

If it were just possessing a small amount of demon bloodline, that might still be explainable.But Celitia didn't know why she would catch the attention of that mysterious Goddess of Night.

Ariel had the church behind her, and from a certain point in time, they had already headed toward an irreversible divergence.

Their positions relative to each other were perhaps already destined.

As if understanding what Celitia was saying through her silence, Ariel asked:

"For you, being the church's Saintess is an identity I can't shed, isn't it?"

Celitia neither nodded nor shook her head, only remained silent.

"Before being the Saintess, I am Ariel first—those were clearly your words. But what you didn't finish saying was that after 'Ariel,' 'Saintess' is also a shadow I cannot cast off."

Ariel spoke slowly, the disappointment in her golden eyes growing thicker, yet she hid it all away.

"In any case, I understand... Since you're unwilling to answer, I won't ask anymore."

If the other party truly were some suspicious person, Ariel might ignore their resistance and take them back to the church for interrogation.

But Ariel could see clearly that none of Celitia's actions came from selfish motives.

Forget it.

If she had her difficulties, then she would respect her choice.

She wasn't useless either—being careless this time and getting trapped in a dreamscape was one thing, but after getting out, she would definitely turn this place upside down!

The more Ariel thought about it, the angrier she became.

"Though the dream has ended, that strange energy hasn't completely dissipated."

Ariel gritted her teeth. "I need to hurry back to the church and arrange for some people to come over and hold a purification ritual to clear the abnormality here."

Seeing the changes in Ariel's expression, Celitia bit her lip, feeling somewhat guilty but more relieved.

She didn't want to fall out with Ariel.

Perhaps Ariel felt this was a sign that she didn't trust her enough...

But for Celitia, being able to keep some things from each other was already the best way to maintain their relationship.

Like hedgehogs—if they got too close, they would always prick each other.

This was true whether for Sophia or for Ariel.

Following Ariel's words, Celitia nodded:

"Right, otherwise if we let it continue and more people are attracted here, that would be bad."

She hoped the church's purification ritual could sever the connection between the inner and outer sides.

If they could eliminate the abnormality here, the two worlds wouldn't overlap anymore, right?

If more demons came out, that would be troublesome.

"Granny Monica is awake."

Benita from not far away suddenly spoke, drawing both their attention.

Benita supported Monica, helping her sit up steadily.

Monica slowly opened her eyes, looked around in confusion with a bewildered and puzzled expression: "Where is this?"

"This is the village's old site."

Celitia responded. "You accidentally wandered here, but fortunately we found you. It's getting late—you should hurry home."

Hearing the words "go home," Monica instinctively shook her head:

"No, I won't go back. I still need to wait here for Yurian to return."

"Yurian will never come back," Ariel said in a low voice. "Granny Monica, you need to accept reality."

"No, I saw it—Yurian wasn't deceived by that bad woman and stayed with me the whole time! He just went out for a while and will be back soon!!"

Monica pushed Benita away, struggled to stand up, and stumbled back.

Benita anxiously chased after her: "Granny, slow down!"

Rushing to the dilapidated house, Monica stared blankly at the house that had become ruins.

Her eyes gradually reddened, cloudy tears welled up, dropping one by one.

"Gone, everything's gone..." Monica muttered foolishly. "Those were all dreams, all of it was a dream..."

"Yes, all of that was a dream, just a beautiful dream one doesn't want to wake from."

Celitia walked behind Monica and comfortingly patted her shoulder.

"Now the beautiful dream has ended. It's time to wake up and look at the reality before you, Granny Monica."

Her voice became increasingly gentle. "Reality is cruel, but you must face it bravely and stand up again."

Listening to Celitia's words, Monica covered her face and gradually broke down in tears.

Benita gently patted Monica's back repeatedly, helping her breathe.

After a long while, Monica finally stopped crying.

Using her sleeve to wipe her red-rimmed eyes, she hunched over as if suddenly aging ten years.

"Being able to spend such a period in a dream," Monica murmured, "though it was all fake, it fulfilled the wish I'd always had..."

Celitia thought to herself that the little dream demon really didn't do right by people, but it had indeed fulfilled wishes in that regard.

Even though it was all fake, it had healed people's heartache to some extent.

Next time it fell into her hands, she'd go a bit easier on the beating.

At this point, Monica almost started crying again and hurriedly wiped her eyes once more, making them even redder.

"This morning, I was too emotional and almost hit you, and that red-haired priestess too. I'm really sorry..."

She tremblingly grabbed Celitia's hand. "I was wrong. You're completely different from that bad woman. You few are all so kind, not holding grudges… Why wasn't it you few that Yurian met, instead of that fraud Jemya..."

Monica broke down emotionally again and covered her face, sobbing.

Celitia and Benita coaxed her for a while before barely calming Monica down.

No one dared mention Monica's heartache again. Celitia pointed at the sky and urged:

"If we delay further, it really will get dark. We should hurry back."

Monica adjusted her mood and, supported by Benita, followed behind Celitia and Ariel.

The four walked slowly back along the path they had come.

Ariel remained silent the whole time until they were about to return to the village, when she said to Celitia:

"You go back. I need to go to the church immediately to dispatch people to seal the entrance to the old site and handle things there. I won't go with you."

Celitia nodded silently.

"Also, you..."

Looking at the girl's pale complexion, Ariel hesitated.

She wanted to tell Celitia to rest well and not always be so stubborn, but the words came to her lips and she swallowed them back.

Sophia always complained that she was too meddlesome—perhaps Celitia wouldn't like too much lecturing either.

If she presumed they had become close enough to be friends and interfered excessively, it would probably only have the opposite effect...

She didn't want to be looked at with that distrustful gaze.

And she didn't want to be disliked anymore either.

Ariel closed her mouth with heavy thoughts.