A few agonizing weeks passed in a blur.

Inside a fast-moving carriage, Kaisi stared out the window with anxious, tired eyes. The journey had been long and exhausting. She had barely slept a wink during the entire trip, her mind constantly plagued by worries about her husband and her sweet son, Rian.

Finally, the carriage passed through the grand gates of the central capital city of the Empire. The capital was bustling with life, filled with merchants, nobles, and towering structures, but Kaisi paid no attention to any of it. Her sole focus was the massive, towering white structure situated at the very center of the city: The Holy Church.

As the carriage halted at the front steps, Kaisi quickly got out. She walked briskly up the white marble stairs and entered the grand halls of the Church.

Inside, the atmosphere was peaceful and solemn. Priests and priestesses dressed in clean white robes walked to and fro, carrying holy texts and artifacts. Kaisi didn’t give them a single glance. She walked straight past them, her face set with a determined expression, heading directly toward the inner sanctum.

As she reached the massive, golden double doors that led to the higher authorities, two guards immediately stepped forward and crossed their heavy halberds, blocking her path.

These were not ordinary guards. They were Paladins—battle-hardened priests who had shed blood in the name of the Church. Their heavy silver armor clanked, and their eyes were sharp and unyielding.

"Halt! State your name and your purpose for approaching the inner sanctum," one of the guards demanded in a deep, rough voice.

"I am Kaisi, the Lady of the renowned noble territory," she answered firmly, keeping her chin high.

"I am here to report a highly urgent matter regarding a Divine Awakening. I need to speak with a Bishop immediately."

The guards narrowed their eyes. A Divine Awakening was not a matter to be taken lightly.

"Wait here," the guard said.

He turned around, pushed open one of the heavy golden doors, and went inside to check if she could be granted permission. Kaisi stood outside, tapping her foot anxiously. The seconds felt like hours. Her heart pounded in her chest.

Finally, the heavy door creaked open again. The guard stepped out and nodded respectfully.

"You may enter. Bishop Velkrath will see you now."

Kaisi took a deep breath, gathered her courage, and stepped inside.

The inner office was incredibly luxurious, decorated with gold trimmings, red carpets, and statues. Sitting behind a massive wooden desk was Velkrath, one of the leading Bishops of the Church.

Bishops held a comparatively higher rank than regular priests, and the difference in their power was immense. Just standing in the same room as Velkrath, Kaisi could feel a heavy, oppressive aura pressing down on her. He was several times stronger than any priest she had ever met.

Velkrath looked up from his paperwork and offered a warm, polite smile.

"Welcome, Lady Kaisi. Please, have a seat."

He gestured to a plush, expensive couch situated in the middle of the room. Kaisi walked over and sat down stiffly. A servant immediately appeared, placing a steaming cup of tea on the table in front of her, but she ignored it.

"Bishop Velkrath, I will not waste your time," Kaisi began, gripping the fabric of her dress.

"I have traveled for weeks to bring you important news from my territory. It is about my son, Rian. A few weeks ago, during his birthday, he—"

"He Awakened the Divine power," Velkrath interrupted smoothly, his smile never wavering.

Kaisi froze. Her eyes widened in absolute shock. The words died in her throat.

"H-How... How do you know that?" she stammered, feeling a sudden spike of fear.

"No one was allowed to leave the mansion. The news was completely sealed."

Velkrath let out a soft chuckle and leaned back in his chair.

"My dear Lady Kaisi, human mouths can be sealed, but the Heavens cannot be silenced. Archbishop Karl, the supreme leader who runs our Holy Church, was deep in prayer on the exact night of your son’s birthday. He received a direct, glorious vision from the Heavens."

Velkrath’s eyes gleamed with fanatic reverence.

"The Archbishop saw that a child of pure light had been born into the world. A boy who possesses the path of Eternal Happiness. The Archbishop foresaw that your son, Rian, is going to be the next Saint of our generation."

Kaisi felt increasingly confused and terrified. Her breathing hitched. If the Church already knew her son was a Saint, they would undoubtedly try to take him away. She prepared herself to fight, to argue, to do whatever it took to protect her child.

"Bishop... you cannot take him,"

"He is only six years old. He needs his mother and his father. He is the heir to our family!"

Velkrath raised a hand calmly, gesturing for her to relax.

"Peace, Lady Kaisi. You misunderstand our intentions. We are not going to take your son."

Kaisi blinked, completely stunned.

"You... you aren’t?"

"No," Velkrath replied gently.

"A Saint of Happiness cannot be caged. If we forcefully take him from his loving family, it would taint his pure heart. The Heavens have blessed your household. We have decided that he will remain with you and his father. We only ask that you raise him well and allow the Church to send tutors to guide his divine magic when he is a bit older."

A massive, overwhelming wave of relief crashed over Kaisi. She felt like a heavy boulder had been lifted off her chest. Tears of joy pricked the corners of her eyes.

"Thank you... Thank you, Bishop Velkrath. I swear to you, we will protect him and raise him perfectly."

"I know you will," Velkrath smiled.

"Now, considering the importance of the young Saint, we cannot have his mother traveling on the dangerous roads for another few weeks. I will grant you special permission to use the Church’s private teleportation gate to return home immediately."

Kaisi bowed her head in deep gratitude.

In the Holy Church, teleportation from the outside was strictly forbidden to prevent enemy attacks. However, it was allowed if the Church initiated the teleportation from the inside out.

Led by a priest, Kaisi was brought to a massive underground chamber filled with glowing magical runes. She stepped onto the center of the teleportation array. She closed her eyes, a bright smile on her face. She was finally going home. She was going to see her husband and hug her sweet little boy.

*FLASH!*

A blinding white light consumed her vision. A split second later, the spatial pressure vanished, and her boots touched solid stone.

She opened her eyes. She had been successfully teleported directly in front of the grand gates of her mansion.

"Mark! Rian! I’m home!" she called out happily.

But there was no answer.

The grand mansion was completely silent. The towering front gates were wide open. There were no guards standing watch at the entrance. The wind blew through the empty courtyard, carrying a chilling, eerie stillness.

And then, it hit her.

A disgusting, metallic smell assaulted her nose. It was thick, heavy, and foul. It smelled like raw copper and rotting meat.

"What... what is that smell?" she whispered, her smile completely vanishing.

Her heart started to pound nervously against her ribs. She quickened her pace, rushing through the courtyard and up the front steps of the mansion. The main doors were slightly ajar.

Kaisi pushed the heavy wooden doors open and stepped into the grand hallway.

Instantly, her beautiful face turned as pale as a ghost. The blood drained from her entire body. Her legs grew weak, and she had to lean against the doorframe just to keep from collapsing.

Bodies lay scattered everywhere.

The grand hallway, where just weeks ago they had celebrated Rian’s birthday, was now a literal slaughterhouse. The floor was completely painted in thick, pooling blood.

She saw the old butler, a man who had served their family for decades, lying near the staircase with his throat violently slashed. She saw the young maids sprawled across the carpets, their eyes wide open in frozen terror. Heavily armored guards, the ones meant to protect the house, lay in pools of their own blood, their limbs twisted in unnatural angles.

"No... No... This can’t be real..." Kaisi muttered, her voice trembling uncontrollably.

Panic completely took over her mind. She didn’t care about the smell anymore. She didn’t care about the blood soaking into her shoes. She just wanted to make sure the people she cared about the most were alright.

"MARK! RIAN!"

She ran inside, her boots slipping and sliding on the slick, blood-covered floor. She sprinted up the grand staircase, nearly tripping over the corpse of another guard.

She ran straight to Rian’s room. She kicked the door open with desperate force.

"Rian?!"

The room was empty. The bed was unmade. His favorite toys were scattered across the floor, covered in splatters of blood. The window was shattered. But there was no sign of her son. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"Oh God, please no. Please, Heavens, protect my baby," she sobbed, tears streaming down her pale cheeks.

She ran down the corridor. She checked the master bedroom. Empty. She checked the guest rooms. Empty. She checked the library and the study. Everywhere she went, she found nothing but more dead servants and endless pools of blood.

She ran back downstairs to the kitchen. She remembered jokingly telling Rian that she would put guards in the kitchen to stop him from eating chocolate. When she burst through the kitchen doors, she found the cooks dead on the floor.

"RIAN!? MARK!"

She searched the entire massive mansion. She screamed their names until her throat was raw and bleeding. But after a long, agonizing search, she couldn’t find her husband or her son anywhere.

Just as she was about to fall to her knees in pure despair, her eyes caught something near the back of the ground floor.

It was a trail of blood. But these weren’t just random splatters from a fight. It was a thick, continuous line of dark red drops, as if something heavily bleeding had been dragged across the floor.

The trail led directly toward a concealed door in the wall.

It was the entrance to the underground basement—the secret lab where her husband had been working obsessively for the past several months.

Kaisi stood there, her body trembling violently. A deep, primal sense of dread clawed at her stomach. She slowly stepped forward and pushed the concealed door open. It creaked loudly in the silent mansion.

She began to walk down the dark, narrow stone steps.

*TAP...* *TAP...* *TAP...*

With every step she took, the disgusting smell grew exponentially worse. It was no longer just the smell of blood; it was the sickening stench of harsh chemicals, preservatives, and rotting flesh.

Kaisi covered her nose and mouth with her hand, gagging as she descended deeper into the darkness.

Finally, she reached the bottom of the stairs and arrived in the lab.

The room was dimly lit by the eerie glow of magical lamps and bubbling liquids. As Kaisi’s eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, she looked around the room, and her breath hitched in horror.

Massive glass containers lined the walls of the laboratory. Inside the containers, submerged in a foul, glowing green liquid, lay several dried, dissected body parts. There were human arms, torsos, and internal organs floating morbidly in the tubes. She recognized the tattered clothes floating in the liquid—they belonged to the guards and servants upstairs.

In the very center of the lab, a massive magical array was drawn on the floor in fresh blood. The array was actively gathering pure divine energy, condensing it until it started to form into a glowing, golden liquid state.

Kaisi walked forward, her mind completely shattered by the horrific scene. She didn’t understand. Why was her husband’s lab filled with the butchered bodies of their own people? What kind of demonic research was he doing?

Her trembling gaze slowly turned toward the final glass container, which was placed directly at the center of the magic array. It was larger than the rest, filled with that pure, golden, liquid divine energy.

Something was floating inside it.

Kaisi walked closer, her eyes wide, her heart completely stopping in her chest.

Floating perfectly still inside the golden liquid, suspended by a dozen magical wires hooked into its flesh, was her sweet, innocent boy.

It was Rian’s head.

Just his severed head.

His golden eyes were wide open, devoid of life, staring blankly out through the glass.

Kaisi fell to her knees. Her hands grasped the sides of her face, tearing at her own hair. Her mind snapped completely, shattering into a million irreversible pieces.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"