****
Avilia sighed in relief that she was safe. She didn't realise that other than her, everyone else saw the scene already, including Gabriel.
She didn't immediately get up from the bed either as her guard was already lowered. She didn't think Gabriel was going to wake up anytime soon and felt a little lazy to get up as well. As much as she wanted to deny it, she really felt comfortable in Gabriel's embrace and wanted to stay like this a little longer.
Avilia gazed at the face of Gabriel who looked even more handsome from this close. She couldn't help but poke his cheeks lightly. "Little brat, bless your stars that you're asleep. If you had seen..."
She didn't even know what she could've done if he had seen, but she didn't think so far.
"Though I must say, you don't look half bad. At least better than everyone else I've seen before," she muttered, as if talking to herself. Since Gabriel was asleep according to her, she could finally speak without worrying.
Gabriel kept his eyes closed, still pretending to be asleep, hearing everything she said. At this point, everything was clear to him. He finally understood half the situation. It wasn't him who snuck here, but it was her. However, he still didn't know why.
Since he already had his answers, he could stop pretending. No matter what, he wasn't at fault. Moreover, he also needed his answers from her.
"Thank you for the compliment," he softly spoke. Since they were so close to each other, even as Gabriel kept his voice low, in Avilia's ears, it was like thunder. Her face turned red.
"You, you, you are awake?!" She exclaimed as she tried to get up. However, she couldn't offer any resistance. Gabriel's arm was still wrapped around her waist. She didn't let him get up.
"No, I'm just sleep talking. You can continue. I didn't see anything," Gabriel casually answered.
At this point, Avilia's entire face was flushed red in embarrassment. "Continue what?! I'm not a pervert! Stop talking nonsense! I-i was just here to make sure that no one attacked you when you were asleep!"
Gabriel didn't reply. He just opened his eyes and looked in the eyes of Avilia. Even without any words from him, Avilia felt even more embarrassed. It was clear to her that he didn't believe her. Let alone him, even she wouldn't have believed her if she was in his place.
Avilia had never felt this embarrassed in her life. Just as she was about to do something, Gabriel freed her. He didn't go too far in messing with the young lady. No matter how childish Avilia acted at times, Gabriel hadn't forgotten her real identity.
He pulled out his arm from under her waist and let her be free as he sat up.
He had slept for so long that his entire body felt lazy at this point. He stretched his arms and asked, "Tell me the truth. How did I get here and what happened after I entered the Holy Region."
Avilia also sat up. She was still embarrassed that Gabriel saw her and heard her call him handsome. However, for now, she knew it was better to forget that it ever happened.
She informed Gabriel everything that happened after he went inside the Holy Region. She also informed him about the strange earthquake and how he appeared in this room directly.
After that, she didn't forget to inform him of her side of the story as to how she stayed behind in this room to protect him and how she fell asleep, only to end up in this awkward situation with him.
"So that's how it was..."
Gabriel had no reason to doubt her. With her personality, it was clear that she wouldn't have done this intentionally. What was more intriguing to him was his sudden arrival in this room.
He knew what happened after he came to this room but what happened between the time when he was about to kill the Ninth Lord and the moment he arrived here was still blank at this point. That was a question which no one here could answer.
He wondered if that was always going to be a mystery to him...
****
After waking up, Gabriel went for a shower while Avilia left the room. Now that Gabriel was up, she didn't need to protect him. He was already strong enough for that.
Avilia stepped out of the room, finding the Head Priests waiting outside. She didn't know why, but she felt as if their gazes were different now. At least compared to before. Previously, they still looked at her with some suspicions but now that suspicion was gone to some extent.
She didn't understand why that was the case. She didn't think much of it. She just informed the Head Priests to bring another mask for Gabriel as the last one was broken.
****
Gabriel stood under the shower. Little droplets of water washed his skin which was even better now that he had received the blessing of Light.
Ever since he had started training his physique, his skin had hardened and his physical defence increased. However, now that he was blessed by Light, his skin returned to how it used to be in the past while maintaining the same level of defence and physical strength!
Gabriel cast a small barrier around the bathroom to make sure that no aura leaked out of the place. It was only after casting a barrier that he took off both his gloves. It had been long since he himself saw his Elemental Marks after all.
He wanted to see if he had actually passed the test or not as he didn't remember anything.
As he took off his gloves, he noticed that the Mark of Light which had merged with the Mark of Darkness was more overwhelming now. Each stroke of the Mark of Light was not only thicker but contained more power than before.
The Mark of Darkness was slightly underwhelming. Even though it was also stronger than an ordinary Mage of Darkness, but it wasn't comfortable to the Mark of a Holy Priest.
As for his Mark of Necromancy, it was in a different league altogether.
Since he usually wore his Gloves, he didn't notice it before. However, his Mark of Necromancy had spread out so much that it covered his entire hand, even covering his fingers! It was emitting a strength that was overwhelming the combined strength of Light and Darkness and it didn't appear to be its limit either!
Gabriel looked at the Mark of Necromancy with a frown, having some apprehensions. Why was this Mark spreading? Was it going to spread to his entire right arm slowly? What about his body? He had so many questions!
