Claire cried as she walked, and tears rolled down her cheeks, which were red and bleeding from Malina’s slap.
She wasn’t crying because it hurt; she was just crying because she didn’t think leaving would be so painful.
Claire walked unconsciously, not knowing where she was going. She just walked forward, not knowing where to go or what to do next.
She didn’t know how long she had been walking when a familiar voice suddenly rang out.
“Heh?! Claire, why are you here?”
Claire turned her head and saw Lathel looking at her through the small window of the cab.
“Lathel… you…”
“Wait! What’s wrong with your face?” Lathel was startled when he saw Claire’s face.
He quickly got out of the cab, walked in front of Claire, held her shoulders with both hands, and asked worriedly: “Are you okay?” Oy! Did you hear what I said?”
Lathel saw Claire just staring at him and not answering.
‘No OK!’ Lathel thought to herself: ‘Could it be that someone beat her? Yes, that’s probably it; these are traces of slaps, and it is very fresh, so it probably just happened.’
He quickly checked Claire’s ears. When slapped, it could easily lead to brain haemorrhage and temporary deafness.
Seeing that her ears were undamaged, Lathel breathed a sigh of relief.
Claire just stared at Lathel, tears pouring from her eyes like taps.
‘Is… is he interested in me?’
‘Why does he care about me so much?’
‘Is this what it feels like to be cared for by others? It’s so warm, so comfortable…’
“I…” Claire stammered: “I’m fine.”
“Fine?! Do you call this fine?” Lathel shouted angrily. He took out a porcelain bottle and poured out two recovery pills.
Claire glanced at the two pills and knew they were high-grade recovery pills because there were two white lines of light on the pills.
“Hurry, swallow them!”
“I… it’s too precious, I can’t take it.” Claire hastily refused.
Lathel shouted: “I order you to swallow it! Don’t you understand what I’m saying?
‘Heh?! Why is he angry?’ Claire felt confused in her heart, but what made her even more confused was that… seeing him angry made her feel even warmer.
Claire pursed her lips and nodded: “Uhm!”
After taking the two premium recovery pills, Claire’s face seemed better, but it would take some time to fully recover.
“Who were you beaten by?” Lathel angrily asked: “Your master, where is Malina?”
Claire shook her head while smiling painfully: “My master doesn’t need me anymore.”
“What?! She doesn’t need you anymore. Hearing that, Lathel immediately felt confused.
Claire nodded and recounted how Sivir brought the Queen’s announcement to the Montague family to regain Claire’s freedom.
Lathel frowned and thought to himself: ‘That’s strange, if Malina knew that Claire possessed such high talent, it would be right to keep her.’
‘Someone as intelligent as Malina must know that Claire’s potential is greater than the amount of reward the Queen gave her.’
“Then… Did she chase you away?” Lathel asked again.
“No, I… I wanted to leave.”
“Why?” He frowned and asked: “Malina saved you before, right?”
“That’s right. But… I realised that I could not live in her shadow forever.” Claire said softly: “Besides… She just sees me as a commodity. If she gets more benefits, she will immediately throw me away.”
“I… I have never felt warmth from her. However, I don’t understand why, when I left, I felt so much pain.”
Claire cried as she spoke, her tears flowing again. Lathel sighed, seeing that. He felt that the saying ‘women are made of water’ was completely true.
He also didn’t know where the water that kept flowing from Claire’s eyes came from, but he also didn’t want her to cry anymore.
Lathel took out a handkerchief and gave it to Claire: “Use this.”
Claire saw the clean handkerchief in Lathel’s hand, smiled a little happily, and used it to gently wipe her tears.
“Do you have any plans yet?”
Hearing Lathel’s question, Claire just shook her head: “I… I don’t know.”
He looked around, then asked: “The person who hit you was Malina,?right?”
Claire pursed her lips, then nodded slightly. But she quickly grabbed the corner of Lathel’s shirt and hurriedly said: “Lathel, I… I’m fine. Please… don’t hit her, don’t cause trouble with her.”
Lathel saw Claire’s expression and could only sigh. He also had no intention of avenging her, after all, this is her personal matter, and he doesn’t want to butt in.
“Don’t worry…” He smiled gently, placed his hand on Claire’s head, and stroked it: “I won’t do those stupid things.”
Claire bowed her head and enjoyed his warm hand like a kitten, as he felt that this moment was wonderful.
“Do you want to dine with me?”
Hearing Lathel’s question, Claire raised her head to look at him, her face showing a happy smile: “Uhm!”
Lathel forced a smile: “Aren’t you a little forward?”
“No!” Claire quickly shook her head: “I’m really hungry, I really want to eat with you.”
Lathel heard that and sighed: “Okay…”
…
In the cab, the atmosphere was a bit awkward, and it was difficult to talk.
Claire was like a little cat, as she always sat next to him, making him feel strange.
‘Could it be that after being abandoned by Malina, she craves the feeling of security?’
He glanced at Claire, while thinking in his heart: ‘Maybe that’s it. She was also pitiful. Even though she had good talents, in the end she was thrown away like a commodity.’
‘Hm… but her future is difficult to predict. After all, the Healing Rank B talent is so powerful that even the Queen of this empire issued a statement demanding her release.’
‘It seems… The royal family has paid attention to Claire, she will definitely be very brilliant in the future.’
“Claire…” Lathel couldn’t stand it anymore and spoke up: “You… you can sit a little further away from me, okay?”
“Ah! Sorry, I… I…” Claire felt embarrassed and sat across from him.
Lathel saw that she was also looking at him, her face was a little red with embarrassment.
‘This is even more embarrassing…’ (ˉ ˉ |||)
He sighed and said: “Claire, my teacher, did Lilith tell you what you need to do next?”
Claire shook her head.
‘As expected…’ Lathel thought to herself: ‘She doesn’t seem to care much about her students.’
‘Even… the main character, Alec, doesn’t seem to be able to see Lilith much. Strange, does Lilith really not care about Alec?’
‘He is the main character, he needs a teacher who can help him break through to higher levels, protect him, and even provide resources for him to cultivate.’
‘But… Lilith doesn’t seem to care about Alec at all, she always follows me.’ 𝘪.𝑐ℴ𝘮
Lathel sighed, feeling a bit tired.
“Heh?! You… Why are you sighing? Am I causing you trouble?” Claire asked worriedly.
“Ack!” Lathel was startled and hastily explained: “No, I was just thinking about something else.”
Hearing that, Claire nodded and continued: “Actually, Principal Farmyrth told me the three paths that I can take.”
“The first path is to join the Royal Family, the second path is to join the Church; and the third path is… to establish one’s own religion or church.”
“Heh?!” Lathel was startled. In fact, the first and second paths felt normal to him.
But what the hell is the third path, establishing a church by herself?
“So… Do you choose to join the Royal Family or the Church? But it seems that in this empire, the church is not allowed to operate.” Lathel nodded and said.
He immediately ruled out the third path, anyway, that path was too strange and impossible.
Why?
Lathel did not know what the relationship between the Empire and the Church was like, or what the attitude of the Empire and the Church would be when a new religion appeared.
He only knows that… establishing a church is not as simple as establishing a company.
Establishing a church in this world is even more harsh.
He can imagine a scenario where, if the Pope is not strong enough to protect and develop the Church, the ultimate outcome is… death.
Lathel never thought that a weak and shy girl like Claire would choose the third path.
Hearing that, Claire pursed her lips, shook her head, and said: “I still haven’t decided yet. But… Do you have any advice for me?”
“Me?!” Lathel frowned. He thought for a long time and then said: “Claire, if I make a decision, it will be very quick, but… do you really want to follow my decision?”
Claire quickly nodded: “Of course, I will definitely listen to your decision.”
Lathel sighed and shook her head: “Then I don’t want to tell you.”
“Why?”
“Claire…” Lathel looked straight into Claire’s eyes, startling her: “You have found freedom for yourself, but in the end, you have not found freedom for your heart.”
“Heh?!” Claire asked a little anxiously: “What do you mean? I… I don’t understand.”
Lathel looked at Claire for a long time, then asked: “Claire, how do you feel after being free?”
“I… I feel a little pain.” Claire placed a hand on her chest and frowned.
“That’s because you have no desire for freedom.”
Hearing that, Claire opened her eyes wide and looked at Lathel, but he was right: ‘That’s right, I… I never thought I would be free.’
‘I always thought that I would serve and be Malina’s servant for the rest of my life.’
Lathel continued: “Like a bird locked in a cage since childhood, even though the cage is broken, the bird is free, but…”
“That bird has never seen the outside world before, so it doesn’t know where to go. It doesn’t even know how to flap its wings and fly.”
“Claire, your current condition is the same as that bird. You must learn to flap your wings and fly on your own.”
𝑖𝘦.𝑐𝘰𝘮