Chapter 12

Chapter 12

The trial was suspended.

Not because of the Dean’s mercy.

It was because students in the Sanctuary had started asking questions.

The North Tower students stood up first.

Then a few young Deacons.

Finally, even the Scribe from the South Tower put down his pen.

No one dared to say the academy was guilty.

But they started asking where the archives were.

That was enough.

Once someone asked, Saint Mercy Academy could no longer pretend that the divine will had never fractured.

Lian and I were escorted away separately.

Passing through the side corridor, he suddenly stopped.

The guards yanked him hard.

But he looked at me.

“Why didn’t you leave?”

I sneered: “You still want to interfere?”

“You could have gotten away.”

“With your life?”

He did not speak.

I took a step closer.

The guard warily blocked the space between us.

I looked at him past the man.

“Lian, do you still think even now that as long as you sacrifice yourself, it counts as making it up to me?”

His Adam’s apple bobbed.

“It’s not compensation.”

“Then what is it?”

“I don’t know.”

This was the first time he had said he didn’t know.

Someone as smart as Lian.

Always knew how to lay out a plan, how to make trade-offs, how to weigh human hearts on the edge of a blade.

Yet he said he didn’t know.

Suddenly, I couldn’t bring myself to keep scolding him.

The guard pushed him away.

His back quickly disappeared at the end of the corridor.

I was taken back to the Confession Room.

This time, there wasn’t just one guard outside the door.

There were six.

The Dean was scared.

Scared of me.

And scared of those who had started asking questions.

In the evening, Sister Martha came again.

She brought medicine and an old shawl.

“It’s chaos outside,” she whispered.

I asked, “What about Lian?”

She glanced at me.

“Locked in the Underground Dungeon.”

My hand paused.

That was where Damian died.

Sister Martha said, “The Dean wants to transfer him during the night. He might not be allowed to appear in court again.”

I understood what she meant.

Transfer.

Could also mean making someone disappear.

I put the medicine down.

“How do I get to the Underground Dungeon?”

Sister Martha closed her eyes.

“Evelyn.”

“Since you told me, you knew I would go.”

She was silent for a long time, then took a copper key from her sleeve.

“You only have half an hour.”

“That’s enough.”

“It’s not enough,” she said. “What you owe each other, half a lifetime wouldn’t be enough.”

The Underground Dungeon was colder than I remembered.

Water seeped from the walls.

The torches were about to go out.

Lian sat in the innermost cell.

His wrists were suspended.

His black prison uniform was soaked with a patch of blood.

I stood outside the iron door, suddenly unable to move my feet.

He looked up and saw me, and his first sentence was, “Are you hurt?”

I almost laughed out loud.

“Don’t you think it’s absurd to ask this right now?”

“I do.”

“Then why ask?”

“I couldn’t help it.”

I inserted the key into the keyhole.

My hands trembled twice before I got it open.

After going in, I supported him.

He was weaker than he looked; half his weight leaned against me.

But he still tried to pull away.

“Don’t touch the blood.”

“Shut up.”

He actually shut up.

I unfastened the iron clasps on his wrists for him.

The wounds were deep.

When I saw them, my heart felt like it had been wrung.

“Does it hurt?”

“It’s fine.”

“Tell the truth.”

He looked at me.

“It hurts.”

I lowered my head, tore the shawl, and bandaged his wrists.

“Three years ago, you killed Edmond, was it for Damian?”

Lian said, “And for myself.”

“Why?”

“Because he told me to shut up.”

“Just like that?”

“He said that if I dared to reveal the truth, the next person to face trial would be you.”

My fingers paused.

Lian laughed very lightly.

“You see, we are the same.”

To protect each other, we told the worst lies.

And made the worst choices.

I tied the cloth strips tightly.

He inhaled sharply in pain.

I said, “It’s not the same.”

“How is it not the same?”

I looked up at him.

“Today, I did not shut up for you.”