Starting With an SSS-Rank Goddess Summon!

Chapter 428: Welcome To Blessed Land, Aurelia [II / Bonus Chapter]

Silas did not lash out.

He did not draw a weapon, nor did he order his guards to bind her in chains for daring to raise her voice lie she expected.

Through her mana perception, Aurelia felt the subtle shift in his aura... the soft warm curve of his lips as a genuine reassuring smile formed on his face.

He stepped forward, closing the distance between them, and extended his right hand toward her in an open unthreatening gesture.

”My name is Silas Graves,” he introduced himself softly, his voice cutting through the falling snow with crystal clarity. ”I am the Lord of this territory. This place is known as the Blessed Land.”

Silas paused, letting the words settle into the quiet courtyard before continuing with unwavering candor.

”I won’t lie to you and pretend otherwise... yes, I activated that summoning ticket because my domain needs powerful allies to stand against the dangers of this realm but in the Blessed Land, we don’t treat our people like disposable tools, and we don’t feed off each other’s misery. Here, everyone who stands under my banner is family.”

Silas looked down at her frail, trembling form, his blue eyes softening with deep sorrow as he took in the pale scars visible at her neckline.

”And to be completely honest with you... I really can’t bear to see you like this. Look at you. You’re shivering, you’re exhausted, you’re starving, and you’re sitting naked out in the freezing snow. You don’t owe me a single thing. You don’t need to bleed for me, and you don’t need to barter your soul away just to earn the right to breathe.”

He lowered his hand slightly, keeping it steady in the air between them and waiting patiently for her.

”Right now, you need a warm meal, a safe bed, and time to heal. If you can find it in yourself to trust me... take my hand. I promise you, I will make it worth your while.”

Aurelia froze.

Her mind spun into a chaotic, agonizing tempest of conflicting emotions.

’Trust him...?’

The word echoed in the dark recesses of her mind like a poisonous curse.

The last time she had trusted a man... the last time she had believed a savior’s hollow promises under the night sky.

He had locked her in an iron cage, fed upon her agony for six years, and led the entire kingdom to celebrate her execution on a wooden scaffold.

Trust was a weakness. Trust was the knife that had slit her throat ten thousand times over.

’...And yet...’

She was blind and she was stripped of her levels. She was alone in an unfamiliar world, shivering beneath a fur cloak.

What choice did she truly have?

This man had pierced through the boundaries of the Great Void. He had shattered the cosmic chains that held her soul in purgatory.

He was the one the ancient Saintess had spoken of... the Savior the old woman had blabbed on and on about for centuries before fading into dust.

Aurelia swallowed the lump of raw emotion in her throat. Slowly, with fingers that shook uncontrollably, she reached out from beneath the thick folds of the fur mantle.

Her scarred, delicate fingertips brushed against his palm and then, Silas’s warm calloused fingers closed gently around her hand.

VUUUM!

A radiant wave of pure warmth surged up through her fingers, washing through her frozen meridians and melting the bitter chill that had gripped her soul for hundreds of years.

It was a warmth untainted by greed, malice, or hunger. It was simply the steady heat of a protector.

Tears finally welled up in the corners of Aurelia’s unseeing, milky-white eyes, spilling over her pale cheeks for the first time in centuries.

Silas gave her trembling hand a gentle, reassuring squeeze, his voice ringing with absolute certainty under the falling snow:

”Welcome to the Blessed Land, Aurelia.”

The biting chill of the evening draft swept across the elevated marble dais of the Archway, swirling the fine dusting of snow around their boots.

Aurelia tried to rise from her kneeling position, but her emaciated legs, weakened by centuries of stasis and malnutrition, buckled violently beneath her.

Her center of gravity gave out, and a small choked gasp escaped her lips as her slender frame pitched forward toward the hard stone.

Before her knees could strike the marble, a strong calloused hand shot out, catching her securely around her waist and hauling her gently back against a broad chest.

Aurelia’s breath hitched in her throat.

Her bare shoulders pressed into the thick fabric of Silas’s robes, the heavy fur-lined mantle he had draped over her enveloping her in an unbroken cocoon of warmth.

Standing three paces back on the dais, both Eluned and Morwenna stiffened.

The World-Tree Goddess’s luminous emerald eyes narrowed into razor-thin slits, her pristine teeth gritting so tightly that the muscles in her jaw visibly flexed.

Beside her, Morwenna’s stormy gray eyes flared with a volatile spark, her fingers twitching against the leather wrap of Tidebringer’s hilt.

The territorial instinct to rip the new woman away from their Lord flared instantly between them like dry kindling catching a spark.

Yet, as both women took in the horrific, mosaic-like network of raised silver scars along the girl’s collarbones, her hollow cheeks, and the milky-white opacity of her unseeing eyes, the jealous venom died in their throats.

Neither of them moved... They were terrors, but they were not blind fools... They could see that the broken creature in their Lord’s arms was hanging on to reality by a thread.

Silas didn’t release his hold on Aurelia’s waist, keeping his footing solid as he turned his head toward the two women.

”Eluned, Morwenna,” Silas spoke, his voice calm and remarkably gentle, lacking even a shred of harsh command. ”I need your help right now. Head down to the Haven, find Kaelia, and have her prepare a massive tray of warm, nutrient-dense broth, fresh bread, and whatever restorative meats she has ready. Tell her it’s an emergency for a newly summoned sister.”

Eluned blinked, her expression softening into solemn compliance as she gave a crisp nod. ”Understood, Hubby.”

”Aye, Captain,” Morwenna grunted, rolling her shoulders. ”We’ll have the cook whip up an entire feast in five minutes flat.”

The two mythic powerhouses spun on their heels, practically sprinting down the marble steps side-by-side.

Even in their urgent departure, their mutual disdain couldn’t be entirely suppressed.

”Get your heavy sea-boots out of my side, pirate,” Eluned hissed in an undertone, gliding an inch above the flagstones. ”You’re kicking up slush like an uncivilized beast.”

”Shut your leafy trap, tree-bitch, or I’ll trip you into the aqueduct before we reach the pantry,” Morwenna snarled right back, though neither broke their rapid stride toward the Culinary Haven.

Silas let out a soft amused breath through his nose, shaking his head as their bickering faded into the distance.

He adjusted his arm beneath Aurelia’s shoulders, taking the majority of her weight so her bare feet barely had to push against the cold stones.

”Lean on me,” Silas murmured into her ear. ”I’ve got you.”

Aurelia swallowed hard, nodding mutely. She pulled the fur mantle tighter around her front, letting herself be guided down the steps and onto the main paved boulevard of the territory.

As they walked through the quiet central courtyard, the crisp night air hummed with invigorating mana.

Aurelia expanded her internal spiritual perception, letting microscopic ripples of mana map out the surrounding environment.

Her mind spun with overwhelming disbelief.

There was no sulfurous choking stench of demonic miasma hanging in the air and there was no cold toxic vacuum of the Great Void suffocating her lungs either.

The atmosphere of this domain was astonishingly pure, dense with rich earth mana, vibrant life-force currents, and the protective glow of defensive arrays woven into the fortress walls.

’It feels... so peaceful,’ Aurelia thought, her battered heart fluttering with a fragile hesitant warmth. ’How can a territory in this world be this serene? How long has it been since I walked beneath stars that didn’t burn with malice...?’

A patrol of three Shieldmaidens clad in light mythril armor jogged down the intersecting pathway, their spears held at high port.

When the women caught sight of Silas supporting the naked, scarred, platinum-haired woman wrapped in his personal mantle, they immediately halted.

Seeing the grave, protective expression on their Lord’s face, the guards did not shout or raise their weapons in alarm.

They stood at rigid attention, offering crisp respectful salutes with their fists pressed to their chest plates.

”Lord Graves,” the lead shieldmaiden acknowledged in a low disciplined murmur.

”At ease, girls,” Silas replied with a warm, reassuring smile. ”Keep the northern perimeter tight. We’ll have a new rotation up before dawn.”

”Yes, my Lord!”

The patrol resumed their march without pressing or prying, their footsteps rhythmic and steady against the flagstones.

Aurelia absorbed the interaction with wide unseeing eyes.

’They didn’t flinch...’ she noted internally, her thoughts running in dizzying circles. ’They didn’t demand to know if I was a demon... They saw my scars, they saw me in his arms, and they simply trusted him and the way he spoke to them... it wasn’t the arrogant bark of a High Inquisitor or the manic shouting of Cassian. He treats them like people.’

A small defensive shudder coiled in her stomach.

’Is he truly this kind? Or is this an elaborate facade? Does he play the gentle ruler under the open sky, only to reveal the monster once the heavy iron gates slam shut behind us...?’

They arrived at the grand double doors of the Keep.

Silas pushed the heavy timber open with his shoulder, guiding her inside into the warm illuminated foyer.

The interior was vast, built from solid reinforced granite and polished dark timber, with crystal mana-lamps casting a warm, golden glow across the corridors.

Waiting near the base of the grand spiraling staircase, holding a wooden clipboard and adjusting her spectacles, was Kadi.

The sandy-haired Second Secretary looked up, her amber eyes widening slightly as she took in the sight of Silas supporting the fragile scarred woman.

”Kadi,” Silas greeted, stopping at the landing. ”Did you manage to prepare that guest suite on the second floor like I asked before I headed to the Archway?”

”Everything is fully prepared, Lord Silas,” Kadi answered crisply, stepping forward with professional efficiency. ”I personally aired out the room, laid fresh down-feather mattresses, and reinforced the thermal power on the hearth. Follow me, please.”

Kadi turned, leading the way up the broad, carpeted stairs.

As they climbed, Aurelia’s heightened senses caught the distinct scents lingering in the grand Keep.

The air was rich with the exotic fragrance of multiple powerful women and walking ahead of them was this brown-robed secretary, whose earth mana was remarkably powerful.

’Every single woman living in this fortress is immensely powerful for their level,’ Aurelia realized with her breath turning shallow. ’They are all his subordinates... his Heroes. And they live here freely with no chains and no suppression collars. Could a man who surrounds himself with such fierce, unbroken warriors truly be a tyrant in the dark?’

They reached the second-floor landing, where Kadi pushed open a thick oak door, revealing an expansive luxurious bedchamber.

A large stone fireplace crackled with warm, dancing orange flames, casting a comforting glow over a massive four-poster bed piled high with plush silk pillows and heavy fur quilts.

A polished cedar wardrobe stood against one wall, and an adjacent door led into a private bathing chamber.

”Thank you, Kadi,” Silas said warmly.

He carefully led Aurelia across the soft woolen rug, gently easing her down onto the edge of the plush mattress.

He knelt slightly before her, making sure the heavy mantle was still wrapped securely around her trembling shoulders.

”This is your room, Aurelia,” Silas spoke softly, gesturing around the space. ”It’s completely yours. No one enters without your permission. Can you see how it looks?”

Aurelia lowered her head, her platinum hair spilling over her face as she gave a small, self-deprecating shake of her head.

”No, my Lord,” she rasped, her voice barely above a whisper. ”I am blind. The nerves in my eyes were burned away by the Argent Flame years ago.”

Silas blinked, a look of deep empathetic sorrow flashing across his handsome features.

”Oh... I’m sorry. Don’t worry about that right now. When Eluned gets back up here with your food, I’ll have her look at your eyes. Her life-force magic can regenerate almost anything.”

Aurelia wanted to laugh.

A bitter, hollow chuckle rose in her chest.

’Regenerate the Argent Flame’s damage? The Argent Flame is an eternal law of transmutation. Nothing is more absolute than the fire that defies death... How could someone possibly heal what the divine flame destroyed?’

Yet, as she felt the gentle warmth of Silas’s hand resting near her knee, she couldn’t bring herself to mock him.

Instead, her lips trembled, and fresh clear tears began to leak uncontrollably from her unseeing milky-white eyes, tracing hot paths down her scarred cheeks.

Silas’s brow furrowed in concern.

”Hey... why are you crying? Is something hurting? Did I touch a wound?”

’Why does he have to be so damn nice...?’ Aurelia wept silently, her fingers gripping the edge of the mattress until her knuckles turned white. ’If someone like him existed in this universe... why wasn’t he the first person I met? Why did I have to spend so many years drowning in blood and centuries rotting in the void before someone spoke to me with kindness?’

Even now, the scarred walls around her heart fought desperately against the warmth, refusing to believe that such pure benevolence was real.

”I am not in pain, my Lord,” Aurelia managed to choke out, wiping her face with the rough fur sleeve. ”I am just... happy. It has been a very long time since someone offered me a bed.”