Frozen Despair and a Treacherous Rescue

The corridor outside the door plunged into darkness, the wall-mounted candle lamps extinguished, not having burned out naturally, but snuffed out by hand.

Saranya fumbled a step forward, only for her foot to slip, nearly sending her sprawling face-first onto the ground.

The door, the floor, the walls—everything was coated in a thick layer of solid ice, and a biting chill rolled through the entire building, swarming to burrow into her neck.

“Hiss… hah…”

It was terribly cold.

Saranya exhaled a plume of white mist and rubbed her hands together.

“Is… is anyone there…?”

According to the Bishop’s orders, no one was permitted to enter the antechamber during the debate.

As this was one of the entrances, divine guards should undoubtedly have been stationed here.

Yet now, no one answered her, not a single soul visible in the vicinity.

‘This won’t do…’

The temperature here must have plummeted below forty degrees below zero, freezing Saranya’s brain to a painful ache, her muscles already beginning to stiffen.

If she lingered much longer, she imagined she would become a human ice sculpture.

‘This isn’t normal. I’ll freeze solid if I stay here. I have to go back, back to the antechamber first!’

Saranya shivered uncontrollably, striving to overcome the rigidity the cold inflicted upon her, and took a hesitant step backward.

That single step consumed several times more effort than her entire journey out.

The icy current crept up Saranya’s body from her feet; the frigid temperature first caused an agonizing pain in her soles, which then dulled into numbness, and now sensation was all but gone.

A faint crunch echoed.

Saranya wrenched one foot free from where it had frozen to the floor, her boot heel, encrusted with ice shards, struck backward until it finally met the door.

In a surge of desperate hope, she reached behind her, gripping the metal doorknob, intent on prying the door open.

“Huh?”

It wouldn’t budge; the door was completely frozen shut.

“Ngh…!”

When Saranya tried to release her grip, she discovered her hand had fused to the doorknob.

She attempted to kick the door open, only to find both her feet firmly frozen to the ground as well, leaving her utterly rigid and immobile.

“Is anyone there? Phillo? Kaelan? Master?!”

Panic seizing her heart, Saranya swayed her body from side to side, struggling desperately in place.

She flailed her one free arm, clutched her hand frozen to the door, and pulled with all her might.

A ripping sound tore through the air.

“Ah!!!”

Saranya’s scream reverberated through the corridor, layer upon layer.

The skin from her palm had peeled away, adhering to the doorknob like crumpled parchment.

Dark red blood seeped from her mangled hand, spattering, and in mid-air, it congealed into crimson ice beads that tinkled as they struck the ground, rolling into the profound darkness beyond.

Losing her balance from the momentum, she fell heavily to the ground.

From her skewed perspective, she finally caught sight of the divine guards who had been watching the gate.

Embedded neatly within the frozen walls were two ice sculptures of divine guards.

They stood frozen in the act of drawing their swords, each with a smooth incision across their throats, from which gurgling blood seeped, blooming into beautiful red frost patterns within the ice.

Both divine guards wore contorted expressions, their eyes half-lidded, mouths agape as if to scream, the elongated white saliva within their mouths disturbingly clear to see.

“Saranya! Is that you?”

From behind her, the door thumped twice, and Paresha’s anxious voice drifted from the other side.

“I can’t open it…! What’s wrong, sister? Please open the door!”

“Hoh… hoh-ngh… ooh…”

A profound terror seized her heart.

Saranya found herself glued to the ground by her own saliva, blood, and sweat, curling up like a pathetic shrimp, trembling faintly.

She gasped a mouthful of frigid air, feeling frost shards form in her throat, making even the slightest sound a desperate luxury.

‘I’m going to die. If this continues, I’ll die…’

‘Just moments ago, the situation was so promising… Paresha could have legitimately become the future divine official through the vote, and she’s right there, on the other side of the door! We had won, so how could it have come to this…?’

‘Am I to be inexplicably frozen to death here, just like those two divine guards…?’

‘No… I can’t… This can’t happen!’

‘Master is gone. Master is in danger. I must find Master…’

‘Magic… I need to use magic!’

‘Ice Armor won’t work, but I still have… *that*!’

Saranya resolved to draw upon the last vestiges of magic within her body.

She closed her eyes, visualizing the magical energy flowing through her, slowly rising to her skin’s surface.

Threads of arcane runes began to emerge from her abdomen, slithering across her skin like a swarm of snakes, radiating a faint violet glow.

These luminous markings climbed her waist, brushed her sensitive tailbone, and then unfurled all the way to her collarbones.

Burning, stinging, and a strange pleasure spread across her vulnerable form in rippling waves.

Who would have thought that amidst the numbing, severe cold, the very methods Kaelan once used to torment her would now become her lifeline, a desperate means to maintain her consciousness…?

“Hah… Master’s…”

Suspicious moans escaped through Saranya’s clenched teeth.

Her body burned, her lips parted slightly, and an irrepressible, shattered smile of pleasure bloomed on her face—a look of utter rapture unique to a submissive.

This was, of course, no time for enjoyment.

She wasn’t doing this for one last thrill before death, but rather to keep herself lucid, to buy as much time as possible for thought.

‘What’s the next step?!’

‘Right! The knife!’

The ritual knife had long since frozen to her hand, but she paid it no mind.

While exhaling warm breaths, she used the blade to scrape at the semi-melted ice beneath her, simultaneously wriggling her body repeatedly, attempting to generate heat through friction.

Finally, her painstaking efforts yielded results.

She broke through the icy surface and pushed herself back to her feet.

No sooner had she risen than a figure darted from the stairwell leading to the second floor.

She immediately let out a hoarse cry, successfully drawing the person’s attention.

“Aquilis, what are you doing here?!”

Saranya was utterly bewildered.

The graceful, silver-haired girl before her was unmistakably Aquilis, the mermaid!

‘At this hour, Aquilis should be at the Redwater Tavern, busy serving food and pouring drinks for customers. How did she even get in here?!’

“Saranya… it’s a long story.

The church has been attacked! It’s dangerous here, quickly, follow me!”

Aquilis’s face was haggard, her expression frantic.

She seized Saranya’s arm and pulled her, urging her up the stairs.

The mermaid girl’s skin possessed a peculiar warmth, seemingly adept at resisting low temperatures.

With her hand clasped around Saranya’s arm, much of the biting cold clinging to Saranya dissipated.

“Where’s Master? Have you seen Master? Let’s go find Master first!”

Saranya’s mind was a tangled mess, but fortunately, Aquilis was there to guide her.

All she had to do was follow closely behind.

“Master is upstairs, and everyone else in the church is safe!”

“That’s good… Then let’s go upstairs, get help, and come back for Paresha and the others!”

“Mm-hmm, alright!”

The staircase turned a corner, indicating they had passed the halfway point and would soon reach the second-floor corridor.

From there, they could call down to connect with Paresha in the antechamber and then devise a way to bring Paresha and the others up to the second floor.

‘Kaelan is on the second floor… As long as Master is there, everything will be alright!’

“Aquilis…”

“Hm!”

“Thank you for saving me. I was so awful to you before…”

“It’s… it’s nothing…”

Aquilis glanced back, forcing a smile at Saranya as she pulled her up the last step.

“Saranya, it’s alright. I forgive you…”

Amidst her disheveled silver hair, the mermaid girl’s eyes were slightly red at the corners, and a single, clear tear slipped down her cheek.

The smile on her face slowly stiffened.

With an unsettlingly abnormal expression, Aquilis trembled as she pressed her clasped hands to the tip of her nose.

“So… after what happens next, will you forgive me too, sister…?”

“What do you mean?!”

Saranya’s pupils constricted abruptly.

Sensing the impending danger, she shoved Aquilis away and spun around, about to bolt down the stairs.

It was already too late.

Suddenly, several figures sprang from both sides of the staircase, immediately tackling Saranya to the ground.

“Hey! What—ugh—what are you doing?!”