Let’s fasten the time to after Ann had regained her consciousness and went to have a proper audience with the heroine-the saintess, Laura.

They were in an audience room again.

Sitting on one side of the sofa were Laura and Kiehl, with Miles standing next to them.

Sitting on the opposite side of that sofa were Ann and Allen, with Faye standing next to them. For some reason, Birdie didn’t move to Ann’s side after she had regained her consciousness. Perhaps she was already comfortably perched to Faye’s shoulders.

 

Laura, the heroine, now didn’t hide her sullen face and her guarding look towards Ann. It was clear that the heroine’s affection point towards Ann was now in the negative. Even a dense person could tell. In response to that, Ann was obviously feeling very awkward and exuded the aura ‘I don’t want to be here!!’

Meanwhile, Allen and Kiehl were exchanging glances as if they were communicating via eye stares. They seemed to notice the obviously awkward atmosphere.

Finally, after telepathically communicating, Kiehl coughed.

 

“Ahem… so, you’ve just witnessed one of the examples of her old soul taking over. As you can see, the old soul is vile and dangerous. The person sitting in front of you right now is the stray soul that happened to enter her body after she hit her head and was at the brink of the death. We wish to keep this new soul and exorcise the old soul if possible,” Kiehl finally explained the details to Laura.

Before this, Laura only knew that she had to exorcise a bad soul from a poor woman that was Kiehl’s best friend’s wife, but…

Laura blinked several times hearing Kiehl’s explanation, but she was still suspicious of Ann, so she asked, “…How are you so sure it’s not her acting in order to deceive us?”

“I can attest to it,” Allen quickly responded.

His tone and expression seemed like they wouldn’t tolerate any objection.

 

Understanding that, Laura tapped her fingers on her forehead as she took in a deep breath before speaking again.

“Hmm… Alright then. There’s no other way to prove this, other than to actually try it out. Why don’t you prepare the exorcism rite for us? Let’s do it soon,” Laura decided.

“Eh, so soon?!” Ann hadn’t prepared her heart yet!

“Yes. Don’t you want to be free of this soon? I personally don’t want to bother with this for too long,” Laura said.

“R-right… Are you sure the preparation can be done quickly?” Ann asked.

“Yes,” Laura just answered curtly.

Ann felt so nervous. She didn’t think she’d be going through the exorcism this soon!

But it was true that the sooner she got over this problem, the happier she’d be.

 

“You heard the saintess. Prepare everything at once, at the Tempest Temple now!” Prince Kiehl quickly raised his voice, and the standby guards immediately left to relay the order.

“Are you alright?” Allen asked in concern, seeing the nervous Ann.

Ann weakly smiled, “I’ll be alright. It’s better if we get over this soon, anyway. So I can finally be with you without worries.”

Hearing Ann’s words, Allen’s expression softened, “Mhm. I hope it will go smoothly.”

 

The preparation for the exorcism ritual didn’t take too long.

When they received the news that everything was prepared, Prince Kiehl immediately ordered the carriage to be prepared as well.

So, Prince Kiehl, Laura, Allen, Ann, Miles, Faye, Birdie, and the prince’s other guards marched towards the Tempest Temple that was located not too far from the royal castle at once.

 

“Welcome, Your Highness, Crown Prince Kiehl. May you reach the Sanctum,” an old priest welcomed the party by greeting the crown prince first.

“Welcome, Saintess of the Sanctum. May the goddess smile upon you always,” the old priest greeted Laura next.

Then, he asked, “And they are…?”

“I believe we should talk about that inside, as it’s going to take quite a while,” Prince Kiehl smiled amicably.

“Oh my, where are my manners? Please do come inside,” the old priest guided the party to the audience room first.

 

There, the old priest and other priests and priestesses that would take part in the exorcism ritual were introduced to the party members and briefed upon what they wanted to do, leaving the part of Anne’s identity.

“This… Milady, are you alright?”

Hearing that Ann was possessed by the spirit of a heinous criminal, the old priest asked in concern.

“I’m fine… Thank you, High Priest Goldwyn,” Ann said.

“Alright then. We should probably start soon and free her from her torment,” Laura said as she stood.

“You’re right, Saintess. Let us go at once,” High Priest Goldwyn waved his hand and the rest of the priests and priestesses left for the exorcism room.

 

The exorcism room.

The room was built in the innermost area of the temple, having a serene and divine aura to it.

There were four pillars supporting the ancient-looking room. A small pond with a very clear water was inside the room. Next to it was some kind of magical circle, the altar, and several candles lighting the way.

The priests and priestesses were already there, in their positions.

Meanwhile, Laura was seen in the middle of the altar, wearing her high priestess uniform with a thin veil covering her head.

Wearing an all-white dress, Ann entered the room alone, escorted by the high priestess.

She turned around to look at Allen and Faye, who would be waiting outside. Even Birdie wasn’t allowed in with her.

Prince Kiehl, Miles, and the other guards were also outside.

 

“I’ll be going,” Ann said to Allen.

“Be careful,” Allen said.

Then, Ann walked until she was in the middle of the magical circle or some kind of formation that was engraved in the middle of the room, between the lake and the altar.

She had been instructed to just sit down and close her eyes, so she did so.

The closest priestess to her quickly put a white blindfold over her eyes.

 

This is scary…

Ann gulped as the exorcism ritual started.

 

The priests and priestesses could be heard singing a peculiar ancient song, while Laura seemed to be the leader of this song as she could be heard moving around, waving some kind of wand.

Laura walked to the lake as she danced and sprinkled the water to Ann.

“…And may the evil be exorcised from this body!!”

 

As Laura’s shouting could be heard, Ann’s body shivered.

She started feeling heat and some kind of pain rising in her body.

“Urgh…”

 

Unable to withstand the pain, heat, and the heavy sensation taking over her body, Ann felt her consciousness drifting slowly…

And everything became pitch black.

Not even a sound could be heard.

 

When she opened her eyes, she could only see darkness.

To her left, right… everywhere was pitch dark.

“Hello? Anyone there?” Ann asked in hesitation.

Where am I?

I was having the exorcism ritual just now, so where is this place and how did the exorcism go?

 

Wondering about it, Ann could only try to walk in what seemed to be a never-ending darkness.

Suddenly, there was light at one side, so Ann quickly ran after it to find out what was going on.

When she reached towards the source of light and saw what it was, Ann could only fall in her disbelief.

 

“No way…!! This… Why?!”

For what was waiting for her was simply a very big game window box, with the writing of [GAME OVER].

 

~the end