Ariel suspected that Kassy might be very frightened and had run back to seek help from Sophia and Celitia.

Going to find them would most likely allow her to catch Kassy.

By the time Ariel reached the academy, asked for directions, and finally found the small villa hidden deep within the academy grounds, it was already dark.

"Sophia? Celitia?"

Ariel knocked on the door but got no response.

Was no one home?

Ariel stepped back a few paces and looked up at the windows, seeing lights on inside.

Were they deliberately not opening the door despite being home?

After knocking a few more times, Ariel began to lose patience.

Pressing the door handle, Ariel discovered the front door wasn't locked.

"You're inside, aren't you? Since the door isn't locked, I'll let myself in."

Pushing open the door, Ariel strode in aggressively.

In the living room, only one lamp was lit. The light wasn't very bright, but it was enough for Ariel to clearly see a figure sitting alone on the central sofa.

From the scattered silver-gray curls, Ariel recognized it was Celitia.

Why was she alone?

"Where's Kassy? Did she come to you?"

Ariel immediately launched into accusations. "Kassy confessed that her curse would activate today. I arranged a purification ritual for her, but she actually ran away?!"

Speaking of this, Ariel became more and more angry.

When Sophia and Celitia had come to her initially, they hadn't told her any of this.

Even during the examination, Ariel herself hadn't noticed any major problems and had inevitably let her guard down.

"I'm asking you, do you know about Kassy's situation?"

Ariel had vented her anger but received no response.

The girl on the sofa remained motionless, still leaning against the sofa back, curled up in the corner.

After observing strangely for a while, Ariel suddenly felt something was wrong.

"Celitia?"

Calling her name tentatively, Ariel walked to her side.

She saw the girl wrapped in a blanket, tightly curled into a fluffy ball, her long hair hanging down and spreading messily from the edge of the chair back.

The blanket covered her pointed chin, revealing only half her pale face.

Her long eyelashes trembled slightly as Celitia struggled to open her eyes.

"Ariel? Why are you here?"

"What's wrong with you?" Ariel stared at her intently.

"I don't think I agreed to let you in." Celitia didn't answer, only saying flatly, "Does Lady Saintess always like to barge into other people's homes?"

"You think I wanted to run all this way here?" Ariel said irritably. "Kassy is missing, so I came to ask if you've seen her."

Celitia asked: "Kassy is missing? What happened?"

"Don't you know about her condition? You came to me for help—don't tell me you were deceived by her?"

Ariel felt this trip was probably wasted.

No, maybe not entirely wasted.

Examining the girl before her, Ariel noticed she was clearly not in good condition, reacting slowly, seeming somewhat off.

"Are you feeling unwell?"

Remembering Sophia saying she had poor health, Ariel kept a watchful eye.

Celitia took a deep breath, trying to make her voice sound as calm as usual: "I'm fine."

Ariel recalled that day in the underground prison, Celitia had also been stubbornly enduring like this, and couldn't help but sigh.

"If you're feeling uncomfortable, just say so. As a Saintess, helping believers is my responsibility."

"Helping believers?" Celitia couldn't help but chuckle softly. "I thought it was punching believers to send them to meet the Goddess. Come to think of it, that's also a kind of help."

Hearing Celitia's words, Ariel's face immediately turned bright red.

She gritted her teeth and roared: "I've never done such things!!"

Ariel was beginning to doubt herself—was her reputation really that bad?

It shouldn't be. At most it would be like this at the borders and in the military, but surely not in the capital?!

Rarely seeing Ariel look so embarrassed, even while still enduring physical discomfort, Celitia felt it was worth it.

"Sorry, Lady Saintess, I was just joking," she said with a smile. "Looking at me like this, I don't seem like I'm in much physical distress, do I?"

"You better not be!"

Ariel glared fiercely at Celitia, feeling the girl's sharp tongue was particularly hateful, reminding her of unpleasant memories.

Right, there was something familiar about it...

She heard Celitia continue: "Kassy really isn't here with me. I'll also try to find her later."

After examining the girl a few more times, Ariel thought that if she could joke around, she should really be fine.

Finding Kassy was the priority right now...

"Good," Ariel nodded and said straightforwardly, "If there's any news, come to the church and tell us as soon as possible."

Celitia straightened up and moved to the edge of the sofa, but showed no intention of standing up, only waving at Ariel:

"Well then, Lady Saintess, take care."

How rude, not even getting up to see her out.

Ariel grumbled internally, but thinking that she had also barged in forcibly and they were equally at fault, she had to swallow her slight displeasure.

She turned and walked toward the door.

Before reaching the door, Ariel heard a loud "thud" from behind.

What happened?!

Ariel spun around to see the girl who had just been waving goodbye from the sofa had rolled off entirely and collapsed onto the dark blue carpet.

"Celitia?!"

Ariel rushed back in one stride, reaching out to help the girl who had fallen to the floor.

The moment she touched Celitia's body, Ariel noticed something was wrong.

The girl in her arms was unusually cold, her chest rising and falling rapidly, her whole body trembling involuntarily.

Her cheeks were pale to the point of being almost bloodless, her forehead covered in cold sweat that slowly trickled down from her temples.

"What are you doing?!"

Ariel almost cursed out loud.

So Celitia had been joking with her earlier to deliberately trick her into leaving?

She really almost got fooled!

What was this girl thinking, being so stubborn beyond reason?!

"You... you haven't left yet?"

Celitia struggled to open her eyes, the first thing she saw being Ariel's enlarged face.

She had just suddenly felt dizzy, lost control of her body, and somehow fell off the sofa.

That moment seemed to stretch very long, and she had thought Ariel had already left.

If she had known, she might as well have saved the politeness...

She just wanted to act more convincingly, but it backfired instead...

"Just now I was just... suddenly a bit dizzy... I'm fine..."

Celitia struggled to get up, trying to push Ariel away.

She tried to grab Ariel's wrist, but was immediately broken free from, and instead had both her hands firmly gripped, unable to move.

"Don't move around!"

Ariel used just one hand to suppress all of Celitia's resistance.