HSHK 04

Episode 4

It was not only Irene who was shocked.

“Wh-Who…!”

“Eeeeeek! Bl-Blood!”

Everyone in the banquet hall recoiled in horror at the sight of Michael, covered in blood from head to toe.

The others could not recognize who the blood-soaked man was, but Irene knew him at once.

‘Michael.’

The moment she realized who he was, Irene’s mind became even more confused.

‘This can’t be.’

Ever since her new life had begun, the major events that had happened in her previous life were occurring just as they had before.

The only things that had changed were minor matters directly connected to her.

Therefore, Michael should have appeared today exactly as he had in her previous life.

Irene recalled when Michael had come here back then.

‘It was definitely around the time the banquet was ending.’

It had not been a mistake. He had deliberately arrived late to the banquet.

Although he was meticulous about time, there was a reason for him to do so today.

‘Because he had no intention of obediently complying with the Kingdom Alliance’s demands.’

The Kingdom Alliance was extremely wary of Michael.

Michael entered dungeons alone that other knights would not even look at because they were not profitable, and exterminated the monsters inside.

The commoners who were able to regain their homes and livelihoods thanks to Michael wanted to show their gratitude to him, but every time, Michael would say,

“It was only God who guided me. Therefore, all glory should rightfully go to Him.”

So the people went to the temple, made donations, and offered prayers. Naturally, the more famous Michael became, the more the temple’s reputation rose alongside his.

The temple redistributed the donations and goods it received from the people to those suffering because of the dungeons.

As a result, more people began to sincerely follow God, and among those whose lives had been saved, more and more began offering their own lands.

The kingdoms were extremely wary of this.

“The temple’s territory keeps growing. At this rate, they could establish an entire country!”

“The temple was practically on the verge of disappearing, yet it has been revived because of a single holy knight. Isn’t there some way we can deal with this?”

“If that one holy knight was the one who raised it up, then wouldn’t the temple fall on its own if we brought down that one man?”

Thus, the Kingdom Alliance devised a plan to bring Michael down by any means necessary.

However, there was no way they could assassinate a man who possessed the strongest martial power on the continent, and it would be a waste to kill someone who could single-handedly handle high-level dungeons that ordinary knights struggled to clear.

“In truth, it would be enough if we simply destroyed the faith people have in him.”

So the Kingdom Alliance decided to bring disgrace upon him.

Once would not be enough. But if they continued spreading rumors that he was doing things unbefitting of a holy knight, and if he gradually lost the people’s trust…

‘Then we can bring him into our kingdom as a knight.’

With their own ulterior motives, the Kingdom Alliance informed Michael that they had established a continental law agreed upon by all kingdoms, stating that knights without a pair could no longer enter dungeons.

Even a holy knight could not be exempt from this law, so Michael was told to come to the fortress and find his pair.

It was an insulting demand.

A holy knight was originally a noble figure, hardly different from a priest.

Naturally, Michael refused the Kingdom Alliance’s request. Then, as though they had been waiting for it, the Kingdom Alliance dispatched knights to prevent him from entering the dungeons.

Meanwhile, the voices of the commoners suffering because of the lowest-level dungeons that no one was entering grew louder and louder.

In the end, unable to bear watching their suffering any longer, Michael conveyed his intentions to the Kingdom Alliance.

He would attend the banquet to find his pair.

‘That was today… And he deliberately came late. He was going to arrive after all the other purifiers had already found their pairs, then ask to operate alone until the next banquet because there would be no purifier left to become his pair.’

All of this was information Michael had told Irene in her previous life.

Words he had muttered on the bed when he was no longer in his right mind.

“But you were still there…”

Michael had moved while saying those words.

As Irene screamed from the intense pleasure and pain that coursed through her body from head to toe, she had thought:

Ah, if only I had not been there, he would have been able to keep his honor.

Remembering the thought she had repeatedly tormented herself with in regret during her previous life made her throat tighten.

‘I don’t know why Michael’s condition is different from his previous life…’

But now, she had no reason to become entangled in his life.

So she would not ruin him either.

Irene bit her lip and tried to take the hand of the knight she had been negotiating with.

At that moment.

Step. Step.

Michael, who had been standing still and surveying the banquet hall, turned his gaze toward Irene and immediately approached her without hesitation.

“Wh-What? Why is he suddenly…?”

As the blood-soaked man, looking like a demon from hell, approached them, the knight beside her recoiled in horror.

Unlike him, Irene did not avoid Michael as he approached.

‘Michael.’

No matter how drenched in blood he was, the golden strands of hair revealed here and there were dazzling.

And so were his deep, clear blue eyes, which had never once been tainted by demonic energy.

Just by looking at these things, anyone could immediately tell that he was Michael.

As memories of him resurfaced, a dull ache began spreading through a corner of Irene’s chest.

In her previous life, Irene had respected and loved him.

‘There was no way I couldn’t.’

To him, she was the person responsible for staining his honor.

If Irene had not clung to him in tears, he would have simply gone back outside and continued living the life of a noble holy knight.

She had embraced him in an attempt to save his life, but in the end, that action had led to his excommunication and resulted in the death of his soul.

And yet, he had remained courteous toward Irene until the very end.

Another person might have remained only to hurl insults and curses at her, but he had bowed his head, shown her the respect due to a knight, and withdrawn.

How could she not have loved such a person?

While Irene was choked by emotions from the past, he came to stand before her.

The moment the disgusting stench of monster blood rushed toward her, she came to her senses.

“Why…”

Why had he appeared here in such a state, unlike in her previous life?

Before she could bring herself to ask, he dropped to one knee before Irene and said,

“Please, bestow upon me the blessing of purification.”

Gasps of shock erupted from all around them.

It was the phrase knights normally used before forming a contract with a purifier.

“What? Why are you asking me…?”

Irene was equally shocked.

It made no sense.

There were still so many purifiers in the banquet hall.

Then why was he immediately asking her to form a contract?

At Irene’s question, Michael raised his head.

“……!”

At that moment, Irene’s body flinched.

In her previous life, he had always looked at her with eyes as calm as a tranquil lake.

But now, beyond his eyes, there was a glimmering light like a stormy sky.

Something close to madness.

She had seen something similar in people who had been corrupted by demonic energy…

As the startled Irene tried to take a step back, Michael’s blood-covered hand seized hers.

Then, trembling, he pressed her hand against his face.

“I… need you.”

Those words reminded Irene of her previous life.

Back then, in the banquet hall, he had said to her,

“I do not need you.”

He had definitely said that.

Then why, even though he was the same person, was he saying something completely different?

In this life, she had not been entangled with him in any way yet. So why?

Irene looked down at the hand holding hers, slick with blood. The increasingly intense stench of monster blood brought her back to her senses.

She had to let go.

She could not become his disgrace in this life as well.

Just as Irene was about to pull her hand away—

“Please.”

Michael clutched her hand as though Irene’s hand were the only thing left in the world for him to hold onto, rubbing his face against it as he begged.

“Please purify me.”

At his almost desperate voice, Irene froze and could not move.

Why on earth had he come straight to her?

‘Could it be that Michael remembers something too?’

But she soon realized it was a ridiculous thought.

If he remembered the past, he would have kept even farther away from her, not approached her like this.

‘Of all these purifiers, why me…?’

Suppressing the dozens of questions rising in her mind, Irene opened her mouth.

“Why… are you making such a request of me?”

Michael smiled faintly and answered,

“Because you’re the purifier closest to me.”

“……”

It was an incredibly anticlimactic answer.