Chapter 16: False Pope
“Mom was ours first. We wanted to share everything with her from the start. But she didn’t appreciate it and tried to push us away… So don’t blame us~”
Asteris didn’t argue. She reached out, gently stroking Delucia’s cheek.
“She won’t give up,” she whispered. “She’ll try to get rid of us.”
Delucia’s pupils contracted. Her shadow’s edge sharpened, scratching tiny cracks in the wall like a blade.
“Then let her try,” she said softly, her voice honey-sweet but laced with ice.
“Let’s see… who disappears first.”
Asteris was silent, then nodded.
“We won’t be separated.”
She hooked her fingertips into Delucia’s shadow, whispering a vow.
“Never.”
Delucia smiled, her hexagram pupils glinting strangely in the dark.
“Of course, sister.”
“From now on, Mom will be with us forever, merged as one…”
Their shadows blended in the moonlight, indistinguishable.
Duoluosa stood before the bathroom mirror, fingertips grazing its cool surface.
Water dripped from her blonde hair, splashing faintly in the sink.
As she turned, ripples spread across the mirror.
“Had enough playing house?”
The thirteen-year-old false Pope, Claudius, appeared in the reflection.
His golden pupils gleamed coldly in the dim bathroom.
Duoluosa’s breath caught, her fingers gripping the towel rack.
“I… haven’t forgotten.”
Her voice trembled more than she expected.
Claudius tilted his head, an inverted cross embroidered on his black robe’s collar.
“One month and seventeen days.”
His fingertips traced frost on the mirror.
“You have less than two weeks left for the Sanctuary’s deadline.”
Duoluosa’s blue eyes narrowed.
She’d been so wrapped in Liang Lai’s warmth that she’d nearly forgotten the damp, cold Underground Sanctuary and its terrifying days and nights.
“The Crystal Tiara’s roots need ‘Shadow Tears’ for nourishment.”
Claudius’s voice slithered into her ears like a snake.
“Bring them to the abandoned church’s basement in the North District by midnight tomorrow.”
The mirror frosted over.
“Or what do you think Liang Lai would make of a traitorous adopted daughter?”
The mirror shattered with a crack.
Duoluosa stumbled back.
A shard grazed her ankle, blood dripping onto the tiles, blurred by rising steam.
She’d escaped, forced into this mission.
She couldn’t stay in either world.
She despised Pope Alphonse VII and feared the false Pope, Claudius.
She could betray Claudius and stay with the Third Saintess forever.
This was a perfect refuge.
Claudius wouldn’t dare send men to seize her just for desertion.
But if Liang Lai knew she’d risked her life for Claudius, would she still protect her?
That Claudius… was worse than Alphonse VII.
Someone as kind as Liang Lai would surely despise her…
The next evening, Duoluosa slipped out of the Garden of Purity while Liang Lai took the twins to the temple for prayers.
The Vatican’s northern district reeked of decay in the twilight.
Crumbling spires cast warped shadows in the setting sun.
She wrapped her cloak tightly, darting into a dark alley from memory.
Shadow Tears, it was said, could only be collected where shadows met direct moonlight.
Duoluosa crouched by a vine-covered low wall, her crystal vial faintly warm in her hand.
As the last sunlight vanished, silver-black viscous liquid oozed from the wall’s cracks.
“Got you.”
A mocking voice sounded behind her.
Duoluosa spun, nearly dropping the vial.
Three black-robed figures with inverted cross emblems emerged from the shadows.
The leader toyed with a serrated dagger.
“Master Claudius was right. The little traitor would come.”
The man’s scarred face twisted into a grin.
“But it’s not the vial he wants…”
“A traitor betrays once, then keeps betraying…!”
Ice crystals formed at Duoluosa’s fingertips, but the men were faster.
A dark shadow flashed, seizing her wrist.
The crystals shattered with a crack.
Pain seared, and the scent of blood filled the air—hers or theirs, she couldn’t tell.
She’d neglected her crystallization and blood ink training, too consumed by her fixation.
Outnumbered, she was outmatched.
Was this her end?
“Let her go!”
A cold female voice sliced through the night.
Duoluosa looked up, incredulous.
Liang Lai’s purple pupils had turned fully golden, the second pair beneath her eyelids blazing.
The black-robed men screamed.
Their shadows came alive, crawling up their bodies like pitch, pouring into their faces.
In three heartbeats, only twisted statues remained, coated in crystallized black shadows.
Liang Lai was grateful for her body’s strength and her diligence since arriving in this world.
Had she remained as naive as her early days, she couldn’t have saved this child.
“Little Duo!”
Liang Lai staggered, collapsing to her knees, her golden pupils fading.
Duoluosa was pulled into her arms.
The familiar scent of cornflowers mixed with blood.
Liang Lai’s hands shook, warm tears dripping onto Duoluosa’s neck.
“I’ve been looking for you for four hours,” her voice broke.
“I thought… I thought…”
Duoluosa’s lies danced on her tongue.
She could say she got lost in the library or was buying Liang Lai a birthday gift.
But seeing the tears on Liang Lai’s eyelashes, her prepared words turned to sobs.
“I’m sorry, I just… wanted to be alone…”
Liang Lai cupped her face.
In the moonlight, Duoluosa saw her own wretched reflection in Liang Lai’s purple eyes.
“It’s because of Asteris and them, isn’t it?”
Liang Lai’s voice was a soft sigh.
“I’ve neglected you too much these past days.”
Duoluosa froze.
She hadn’t expected Liang Lai to interpret it this way.
Nor had she expected this misunderstanding to hurt so deeply.
Liang Lai removed her holy robe, wrapping it around Duoluosa.
Her fingertips paused on the bruise on Duoluosa’s wrist.