Muyoku no Seijo wa Okane ni Tokimeku

Chapter 52: Leo got what he wanted. (3/3)

Gustav fell to his knees. He was sweating cold, his vision was blurry and his throat was burning. He could barely keep his consciousness.

(Fufu, as expected of a holy knight... he's still conscious, huh♥?) – Thought Natalia, as she stood in front of Gustav with pleased smile.

"Do you know why we believed Harlet, when he told us that we shouldn't use our magic power to help other people?"

"Ugh...! Because it's... poison...!"

Gustav was glaring at Natalia, like he wanted to kill her—

"Correct—"

—However, that only served to amuse her even more.

"—The dragon blood running through my veins is poisonous. But that's not all, I'm from the Klingbeil household and we're quite good at poisoning people—"

Natalia then leaned forward with a chuckle.

"—Wouldn't you say so? I bet your body is probably going numb by now."

"Kuh...!"

Indeed, Gustav couldn't feel his limbs. The blood–or rather, the poison that Natalia made him swallow, was forcefully eroding the spirit power in his body. Staying on his knees was already draining everything he had.

"Hey, how does it feel to be backed into corner? I bet you weren't expecting me to do this, right?" – Said Natalia, as she caressed Gustav's cheek with her fingers.

"You... why...?"

"Why I'm doing this? Because you did the same thing to her. You see, Leonora is afraid of men, but you still dragged her to the confession room*. She must've been scared, but I bet you didn't even care."

"She's... afraid...?"

"Yes, she is–"

Natalia then stared deeply into Gustav's eyes, before continuing.

"–Although the person herself is unaware of it, Leonora is the shining gem of this academy... but it wasn't always like that. I know you heard some rumors about her... however, that's not even close to the truth. The life she was leading before coming here, was a rather sad one. She was kept captive for a long time... and the people who did that to her... they used her as a disposable tool. They didn't even give her proper food to eat. She was only allowed to dress in rags, even during winter. And her rights as a person were revoked... just because she is the child of that disaster."

Natalia revealed Leonora's past to Gustav. Her past was even more shocking than the rumors. It was almost unbelievable that such a young girl could've been through so much.

"She... what...?" – Said Gustav, in a shocked tone.

"Lord Harkenberg is trying to conceal Leonora's past to protect her honor... and I'm helping him in the best way I can. Most of the information that we leaked about her are mass produced lies. If you're really a seasoned warrior, then you should've noticed her thin body, despite being born into such a prestigious noble family, and her broken language. There's no way such an easily frightened girl would do all that on purpose."

Afraid of men.

Thin body.

Broken language.

Easily frightened.

Those words echoed in Gustav's head. When he tried to threaten Leonora into giving him that magic crest*, she was indeed trembling. But then, out of nowhere, she started to laugh. That's why he didn't believe those rumors–