Chapter 586: Let the Heavens Count My Sins

She reached for the box and carefully pulled it closer before opening the lid.

Edmond’s face remained exactly the same as it had been the night before, preserved by the magic placed upon the box.

Rose gently brushed his black hair away from his forehead and stared at him for a long moment.

She had no intention of leaving him behind. Ever since the Cardinal had given the wooden box to her, Rose had carried it everywhere she went.

She carried Edmond with her whenever she climbed the thousand steps to the Holy Temple in the morning, and she brought him back down with her every night.

She knew some people found it disturbing, while others whispered that grief had driven her mad, but Rose never cared about what they thought.

Edmond had promised that he would never leave her alone.

Since he could no longer keep that promise himself, Rose would keep him beside her instead.

She closed the lid and held the wooden box securely against her chest before getting out of bed. "You should come with me today too."

Rose changed her clothes and left the room with the wooden box in her arms.

The two holy maidens standing outside immediately turned toward her. They were used to seeing Rose carrying the box by now, so neither of them reacted to it.

"Lady Rose," one of them greeted her. "It is almost time for your morning visit to the temple. We have prepared—"

"Call everyone here," Rose interrupted.

The holy maiden blinked in confusion. "Everyone?"

"Everyone who lives and works in this residence."

The holy maiden hesitated. "May I ask why?"

Rose looked directly into her eyes and something strange immediately stirred inside her.

She had felt the Moon Goddess’s blessing ever since she woke up, but this was the first time she had deliberately reached for it.

There were no spells she needed to chant and no complicated movements she needed to perform. She simply looked at the woman and wanted her to obey.

The confusion disappeared from the holy maiden’s face and she said in a low voice, "Yes, Lady Rose."

She immediately turned and walked away.

Rose watched her leave before looking down at the wooden box in her arms. "So this is what she gave me."

It didn’t take long before everyone staying in the residence gathered in the courtyard. The holy maidens stood together near the front, while servants, guards, and several members of the Temple gathered behind them.

Rose stood before them in silence before her gaze slowly moved from one person to another.

These people had watched her suffer for months. They had seen the wounds on her feet after she climbed a thousand steps barefoot every morning and night. They had watched the Cardinal punish her and continued carrying out his orders as though her suffering was simply another part of their daily lives.

Perhaps some of them had pitied her.

Perhaps some of them had simply been too afraid of the Cardinal to help.

Rose no longer cared.

If the heavens were truly going to weigh every terrible thing she did from this day forward, then she would give them plenty to count.

Rose tightened one arm around the wooden box before looking at everyone in front of her. "Kill yourselves."

Everyone immediately stared at her.

For a moment, no one moved. Some of them looked shocked, while others glanced at each other as though wondering whether Rose had finally lost her mind.

Rose had already expected that, so she took a slow breath and allowed the strange power inside her to rise. "I command you."

The moment those words left her lips, the confusion disappeared from their faces. Their bodies became still, and one by one, their eyes lost their focus as the Moon Goddess’s blessing took hold of their minds.

Rose could feel their resistance disappear. Then, without another word, they began to obey.

Rose watched in silence as the peaceful courtyard turned into a graveyard.

The same people who had walked these halls every morning, who had carried baskets of fresh clothes and trays of warm food, and who had greeted each other beneath the morning sun were now taking their own lives because of a few words from her lips.

One after another, their bodies fell.

The sound was strangely ordinary. There was no thunder from the heavens and no voice of a God demanding that Rose stop.

The sky did not darken, and the earth did not shake beneath her feet. Morning continued to arrive as it always did, bathing the courtyard in soft golden light while death silently filled the place beneath it.

Each death became another weight placed upon her soul, another debt waiting for her after this life ended.

Rose wondered how heavy her soul would become by the time she was finished.

She lowered her gaze toward the wooden box in her arms and gently ran her fingers across its surface. "Edmond," she whispered, "I wonder if you would hate me if you could see me now."

There was no answer. Of course there wasn’t.

Rose’s eyes burned, but she refused to cry again. After all, she had already spent enough tears mourning the dead.

When the final body fell, silence returned to the courtyard. It was almost beautiful in its cruelty.

Birds continued singing from the trees beyond the walls, and the morning breeze moved gently through Rose’s hair as though the world had noticed nothing unusual.

Perhaps that was the cruelest thing about death. No matter how precious someone had been to you, the sun would still rise the next morning as though their absence meant nothing.

She finally took a deep breath and began climbing the thousand steps toward the Temple standing at the top.

Inside, several priests were praying in their private prayer chambers. Usually, they would become so focused that they wouldn’t hear anything happening outside the rooms, including the sounds of people dying nearby.

Rose finally stopped when she stood directly in front of the statues of the fifteen Gods.

She smiled coldly at them. "Today, I didn’t come here to curse you." She added, "I came here to kill you."