A cascade of stone dust poured from the shuddering staircase. Leon lunged inside just as four knights combined their strength to heave the door shut before the deadly fragments could rush in. The impact thundered through the chamber.
“Sir Berg!”
Having barely escaped with his life, Leon doubled over and coughed violently, crimson blood spattering across the stone floor where he knelt.
He was reaching his limit. Anyone could see it. The scarlet blood was a warning signal from a body forced beyond its natural lifespan.
Philip strode purposefully between the knights, his face etched with disapproval.
“Who gave you permission to act without consultation? Those of us who arrived earlier were fully prepared. Your sacrifice was completely unnecessary.”
“Rich words coming from you,” Leon snarled, wiping his mouth. “You’re the bastard who sent me on death missions countless times.”
Philip’s eyebrow twitched with irritation. “I didn’t do that today. You should have exercised more restraint in your condition.”
Leon Berg had used up every miracle at his disposal. His innate blessing of immense holy power was gone, as was the sacred cross necklace that had previously saved his life. Knowing this full well, he had recklessly hurled himself into mortal danger. He was acting like a man who had lost his reason to live.
Philip clutched his throbbing temples and asked with a weary sigh, “Is this self-destructive behavior because of her?”
Leon offered no response. But at the mere mention of Veronica, the sardonic smile vanished from his lips.
After a heavy silence, Philip rephrased his question. “Would it ease your suffering if I told you that I forced her to leave?”
“No.”
This time, an unequivocal denial cut through the air. Leon slowly rose to his feet.
Brushing stone dust from his disheveled hair with a careless sweep, he said, “It’s not your fault, but mine. Everything related to her is my responsibility—down to her every impulsive decision.”
His voice was low and unnervingly calm. Philip, who hadn’t grasped Leon’s meaning before, suddenly met his elevated gaze and flinched involuntarily. Beneath the dark hair falling over his forehead, Leon’s eyes gleamed with an obsessive possessiveness that bordered on madness.
Not your fault, but mine. So that’s what he meant.
It was painfully clear that Leon wanted to monopolize even the sin and responsibility related to her for himself alone. No one else was permitted to exert any influence over her. This was an obsession that transcended mere jealousy.
He’s lost his mind completely. Philip’s brow furrowed as he beheld the face of a man whose very soul had shattered. He had thought Leon was holding himself together since he’d been cracking his usual sardonic jokes during battle, but perhaps that façade itself had been evidence of how deeply his sanity had fractured.
“Even if you die, she won’t come back,” Philip said, feeling a reluctant tug of sympathy.
Instead of answering, Leon turned away to end the conversation. His breathing remained ragged, and fresh blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
He would have been a far happier man if he hadn’t been born a son of God. Philip thought it a cruel twist of fate that such a man had been blessed with the greatest holy power in history.