KFBRV Pt 2 Ch 68

Bright moonlight spilled through the window. Rosaline, lying atop an ivory bed, snapped her eyes open, gasping like someone fleeing a nightmare.

Only a single rose? One tiny teacup?

Yes. That dream was a distinct nightmare. Injustice and resentment flared so violently that she could barely draw breath.

How can this be?! How can my power be so pathetic and insignificant!

She wanted to scream, but she held it back. She wasn't alone in the bedroom. Hannah, who shared the room, slept on the opposite ivory bed.

[Hannah] "Ugh……"

Hannah groaned in her sleep, drenched in a cold sweat as if suffering from a high fever.

Rosaline stared at her with hollow eyes. The faint aura of light surrounding Hannah's body confirmed the truth: she was enduring the fever of awakening.

I…… didn't even have a mild temperature.

Although the World Tree had never chosen a Daughter of God before, the nature of that fever was easy to guess.

When the beasts of god awakened, they suffered a fever proportional to their supernatural power. The higher the fever, the more elite the beast. The same logic likely applied to the Daughters of God.

This realization brought utter despair. It was now certain that Hannah would awaken as a far superior Daughter of God.

[Rosaline] "Ha, haha…… Does this make any sense?"

She wanted to weep. It was bitter. The world shouldn't treat her this way.

Soon, the light surrounding Hannah faded, and she slowly opened her eyes.

[Hannah] "Ro……saline?"

[Rosaline] "Hannah, you…… you had a dream, didn't you? A dream shown by the World Tree?"

Rosaline barely suppressed the boiling emotions within as she questioned her friend.

[Hannah] "Yes…… Rosaline."

[Rosaline] "What kind of dream was it?"

[Hannah] "There was a…… fountain filled with water. A massive fountain, like the ones in the city squares."

A city fountain—the water source for every citizen. A place where all the water from the city's aqueducts gathered.

Rosaline clenched her fists as she pictured the scale of it.

[Hannah] "In the center of the fountain, instead of a statue, stood a single camellia tree. Water bubbled up from its roots. I've never seen such clean water. It was so clear, it looked like it held the light itself."

Enchantment and wonder saturated her raspy, feverish voice. As the description continued, Rosaline's face hardened into a mask.

How could someone like Hannah……

The moonlight, unusually bright tonight, illuminated Hannah's face. It was an ordinary face. One that left no impression. A girl with zero presence.

[Hannah] "But…… Rosaline. Did something happen? Why do you look so sad?"

She asked the question through eyes she could barely open.

[Hannah] "Why aren't you sleeping? Are you sick?"

Rosaline stared down at Hannah. The girl's attempt to act kind felt disgusting.

Hannah reached out to take her hand, but Rosaline dodged her touch.

[Hannah] "You mustn't be sick. Our Rosaline……"

She muttered a few more useless words before falling back into unconsciousness.

Rosaline stumbled as she climbed out of the ivory bed. She couldn't stay in this room a moment longer.

[Priest] "Oh! You're awake, Priestess Rosaline!"

The hallway, however, proved to be a worse hell. Priests crowded the passage. Except for Rosaline, every one of them looked flushed and soaked in sweat.

She realized that every single priest in the Grand Temple had experienced an awakening dream.

They chattered excitedly about what they saw. One priest saw a bathtub; another saw a fish tank. Some saw flower bushes or shrubs. But no one—not a single priest—saw a pathetic single flower or a mere teacup of Purifying Water.

Something is wrong.

These priests couldn't even compare to Rosaline in grades, looks, popularity, or the High Priest's favor. How could she fall below them in an instant?

Beasts of god were ranked from S-class to F-class. Daughters of God would likely face the same ranking. She couldn't live as an F-class. She refused to live with a label that branded her the most inferior of all.

I must act before daybreak.

She forced a smile onto her face.

[Rosaline] "Oh my. Then it seems I am the only one who heard the commandment directly from the World Tree."

The priests stopped talking and turned toward her at once.

[Rosaline] "The World Tree gave us all a strict command. Those chosen as Daughters of God must not reveal the contents of their dreams for forty days."

The priests looked at one another. They showed no sign of doubt. Forty was a significant number in the Grand Temple. In the scriptures, it represented a time of preparation and change whenever God planned something special.

Furthermore, they never imagined Rosaline would dare fake a revelation. Anyone who delivered a false prophecy would be cursed to never hear the divine voice again. She didn't seem like someone who would lie at the cost of her status as a priest.

[Priest] "Don't worry, Priestess Rosaline. We will follow the commandment."

[Priest] "By the way. What was your dream like?"

She flinched.

Everyone is awake, yet only Hannah still has a fever.

That meant Hannah had awakened the highest level of purification power in the temple. If so, Rosaline had to pretend to have even greater power and more Purifying Water. That was the only way to remain the protagonist of the Grand Temple.

Rosaline spoke, mimicking Hannah's dreamlike voice—the tone of someone who had seen something magnificent.

[Rosaline] "A rose tree appeared, nearly five meters tall. The water was a deep, endless waterfall."

A wave of awe broke out among the priests.

[Priest] "As expected of Lady Rosaline."

The familiar praise felt like a mockery. Though she had lied while braced for the World Tree's punishment, the judgment arrived much faster than she expected.

Before the sun even rose, she fell into another awakening dream.

In the dream, honeybees—the messengers of God—killed even the pathetic single white rose.

---

[You are no longer a Daughter of God.]

The bees glaring at Rosaline seemed to scream that warning. The water in the teacup was no longer clear. It was thick, red, and polluted by her jealousy and hatred for Hannah.

It was a severe punishment, stripping away the tiny bit of power she had left, but she simply let out a mocking laugh.

What's the difference between being stripped of power and being an F-class?

Driven to the edge, she no longer feared God. The warnings of divine messengers were laughable.

Even if they are messengers, they are still just bees. Nothing but bugs—

She paused.

-Bugs? Bugs?

A terrifying plan flashed through her mind. Rosaline counted the bees before her.

She could do it.

The Jar-Curse.

The jar-curse from the Eastern Continent used insects. As the future High Priest, Rosaline had access to the forbidden books of the temple. She had read about the cruel ritual where poisonous insects were trapped in a jar to devour each other until only one remained.

They said the Jar-Curse is a spell to steal the happiness and luck of others. If so—

With madness in her eyes, she grabbed the bees and tore off their wings. She trapped the struggling creatures in the teacup and forced them to drink the water polluted by her malice.

The water was saturated with her hatred for Hannah. The bees' eyes glowed with an ominous light, as if drunk, and they began to devour each other inside the cup.

This…… this will work.

She giggled, sensing success.

[Rosaline] "Messengers of God are nothing special. They are no different from common poisonous bugs."

Watching the divine messengers destroy one another brought her a twisted satisfaction. She felt a thrill, as if she were punishing the World Tree for its spiteful choice.

Inside the teacup, the bees grew larger and more hideous with every kill. The bees became hornets. Finally, only one survived.

A single hornet with heart-shaped wings.

[Rosaline] "Do you want to eat this, Mr. Messenger?"

She fed the heart-hornet a withered petal from the white rose. It was the procedure to make the final insect recognize its master.

The heart-hornet stumbled and bowed its head toward her. The curse was complete.

Now, she was its master—not God, not the World Tree.

[Rosaline] "I want you to bring me Hannah's purification power."

The heart-hornet instantly transformed into a single blade of grass. She picked up the leaf, entranced.

At that moment, she woke from the dream. The grass remained in her hand.

Looking closely, it looks more like a medicinal herb than a common grass.

She instinctively knew the herb's power. Since it grew from her intense malice toward another's power, this herb would steal the purification power for her.

Rosaline let out a bright, pure laugh.

If the World Tree won't choose me, I will choose myself.

She now possessed the same power as the World Tree.

---

[Zion] "Damn it. Damn it!"

Bang, bang!

He relentlessly struck the transparent wall separating him from Odette. Beyond the barrier, she stared blankly into space as if looking at a ghost.

[Zion] "To hell with this……!"

Not a single ray of light reached the deep sea. To a normal person, it was pitch black, but Zion saw it clearly: the hideous form of the World Tree standing in the center of the abyss.

Leaving Odette alone behind that wall in front of such a thing was far too dangerous. His recovery was unnervingly slow. Even his intact right hand dripped with blood, but he didn't stop hitting the barrier.

Thud, thud.

He pounded until the wall was smeared with his blood. Finally, the barrier cracked and shattered.

[Zion] "Odette, huff, Odette."

He pulled Odette—who was still staring into the void—into his arms. At that moment, he heard the voices of Johan and Viktor.

---

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