Chapter 11

Chapter 11

The Sanctuary was dead silent.

I heard someone suck in a breath.

Someone cursed under their breath.

And a chair scraped against the floor.

Lian looked at me.

There was finally anger in his eyes.

Good.

I liked him like this.

It was much more pleasing to the eye than that look he had when he was orchestrating my life and death.

The Dean said, “Evelyn, watch your words.”

“I am watching them.”

I stood at the witness stand, my palms covered in sweat.

My legs were weak, too.

But my voice didn’t tremble.

“Three years ago, I wasn’t being manipulated by Lian. I knew I was lying.”

The gallery erupted into chaos again.

The Dean struck the floor with his Silver Staff.

“Continue.”

He thought I was going to destroy myself.

He didn’t know that I was already broken.

Broken things aren’t afraid of being dropped again.

I said, “I lied because I wanted to protect Lian.”

Lian said in a low voice, “Evelyn.”

I ignored him.

“I saw him in the North Tower Basement. I also saw Damian stop him from opening the Holy Ark. But I told the Inquisition that I didn’t.”

The Dean asked, “So you admit your testimony from three years ago is invalid?”

“I admit it.”

“Admit that Damian’s charge as a heretic might not hold?”

“Not ‘might not’,” I said. “It does not hold.”

Someone stood up: “What proof do you have?”

I pulled that photograph from my sleeve.

A guard’s expression changed, and he lunged forward to snatch it.

I was faster than him.

I held the photo high.

“Damian left this behind.”

The photo was passed to the Inquisitors’ bench.

Several Inquisitors leaned in to look.

Their expressions changed bit by bit.

The Dean didn’t look.

He only stared at me.

“A photograph of unknown origin proves nothing.”

“Then let Lian prove it.”

I turned to him.

Lian’s lips were pressed tightly together.

I knew he hated me for forcing him.

But he needed a taste of this, too.

Being dragged into the truth.

With no way out.

I asked, “Lian, after the Holy Lamp shattered three years ago, what did you see?”

Lian was silent.

The Dean said, “He already admitted just now that it was all fabricated.”

“I am asking him,” I said.

I looked at Lian.

“What did you see?”

His iron chains clinked softly.

A long time later, he said, “Red light.”

The Sanctuary exploded into an uproar.

The Dean’s face turned livid.

I continued asking, “Where did the red light come from?”

Lian looked at me.

“The Underground Incinerator.”

“What was burning in the incinerator?”

“Evidence from old cases.”

Every word was like a stone thrown into water.

The ripples expanded, never to be taken back.

The Dean said angrily, “Enough!”

“Not enough.”

I turned to everyone.

“Damian was not a heretic. He discovered the academy was destroying evidence of old cases, and was killed by Edmond. Lian killed Edmond, and the academy covered it up for him, then used his crime to control him, making him the new Saint.”

I spoke too fast.

My chest hurt.

It felt like every word was barbed.

The Dean stood up.

“Evelyn, you are slandering the century-old foundation of Saint Mercy Academy.”

I smiled.

“If a century-old foundation is afraid of a single truth, then it deserves to collapse.”

The guards rushed forward.

Lian suddenly broke free from a guard.

The iron chains dug into his wrists.

Blood instantly flowed down.

He stepped in front of me to shield me.

This action made the entire Sanctuary quiet for a moment.

He looked at the Dean.

“Let her finish.”

The Dean said darkly, “Who do you think you can still order around?”

Lian said, “I can’t.”

He looked back at me.

In his eyes, there was anger, but also a certain softness that was almost like surrender.

“But she can.”