Chapter 79: She Won’t Die

“Miss Pereti, we’ve arrived.”

Dragged into the room with one person holding each arm, the heavy wooden door slammed shut behind her with a loud bang, the impact making the air tremble slightly.

“What are you standing around for? Didn’t you see my hands were tied? Hurry up and take off my blindfold,” Pereti complained, her tone somehow making it feel like they were the ones at her mercy.

“Dunn” had no idea what she was planning, but quickly removed the blindfold and the rope around her wrists.

“Phew, finally I can see again.”

She rolled her stiff wrists, glanced around the room, then walked straight to a green sofa nearby and sat down as if she owned the place. Crossing her legs leisurely, she sank into the soft cushions.

“Your carriage quality is terrible. Bumpy the whole way—my head still hurts. Honestly, you’d be better off just stealing a few from the nobles someday. Change the decorations and no one would recognize them.”

She looked completely at home.

Three green sofas surrounded a low table just above knee height—clearly expensive furniture, the kind whose softness alone revealed its value. Light filled every corner of the room. Pereti lifted a hand, gathering light elements in her palm—it was real light.

Nothing about this place matched the idea of a “kidnapping,” much less the base of the Gluttony Church in Falisa.

The moment her blindfold had come off, she had already noticed a girl sitting on the sofa to the right—someone who looked familiar.

“Sorry for making delicate little you suffer all the way here, Pereti. Must’ve been quite unpleasant, huh?” The girl’s voice, tinged with amusement, broke the silence.

“You are… Vinika?”

Pereti recognized her—the shop assistant who had once sold cakes and handed her a business card.

“Seems your memory is even better than I expected, Miss Pereti.”

“Cut the nonsense. Why did you bring me here?”

Pereti continued scanning the room.

With lighting this good, it would be easy to expose the place—yet these cultists had remained hidden for so long and even dared to bring her here openly. That meant something deeper was at play.

Lierna?

The name flashed through her mind. In her impression, only Lierna could pull off something like this.

A High Priestess of Gluttony… and that was only a priestess. She couldn’t even imagine how powerful their leader must be.

The Gluttony Church was far stronger than she had assumed.

“By the way, now that we’re here, are you still planning to keep using someone else’s face?”

“You seem completely unconcerned, Miss Pereti. Do you have some hidden trump card?” “Dunn” smiled, though it looked fake to her.

“I’m not telling you.” Pereti deliberately dragged out her words, her tone teasing.

“Well then, fine. My task was only to bring you here. ‘Dunn’ still has work to do today—I can’t stay long.”

After saying that, “Dunn” opened the door and left. Even at the end, Pereti still didn’t know what he really looked like.

“Alright, now it’s just the two of us. Let’s get straight to the point.”

Pereti waved her hand, dispersing the light gathered in her palm.

The fact that they dared not restrain her at all meant only one thing—their strength far exceeded hers.

Resisting would only make things worse.

“Smart. You weigh benefits very clearly… though that’s exactly what I don’t like.”

“Lierna already warned you so directly—why did you still step into this mess? Wouldn’t it have been better to just leave with your little sister?”

“You’ve got something wrong. I’m only forced to stay with them. I have reasons I can’t leave.”

“Reasons? Let’s hear them.”

“Sorry. That’s personal.” Pereti turned her head away.

“Personal?”

Vinika raised an eyebrow, suddenly stepping forward. With a flick of her foot, a silver spear appeared out of nowhere, its tip pressing precisely against Pereti’s forehead. The cold metal made her pupils contract—but she didn’t move.

“Still personal?”

“I already said it’s private. You can’t just tell strangers everything. Besides, you won’t actually stab me.”

Vinika’s expression darkened. She muttered, “Smooth talker,” and withdrew the spear.

“As expected—you don’t dare kill me,” Pereti concluded, growing even more relaxed.

The Gluttony Church knew she was a witch. From their interactions, they had clearly shown restraint—even deliberately avoiding harming her. It seemed they didn’t want unnecessary trouble with a witch.

“Not killing you doesn’t mean I can’t hurt you…”

Vinika pulled out an opened letter from a drawer. The stamp looked very similar to the one on the letter Pereti had sent that morning.

“Hey, hey—intercepting my mail? That letter’s important, you know.”

“Important—I know. Every line in it screams that. A request for help, signed ‘Hood’… not a name in our intelligence. Who is she?”

“No comment.” Pereti tilted her chin up, wearing an infuriating expression.

Vinika unconsciously tightened her grip, crumpling the letter.

“I know you didn’t send just one. You used other channels too. But I’m curious…”

“Is this really worth it?”

Vinika stood and slowly walked toward her.

“Your hatred for those nobles is real. You despise them—so why help them? Can you answer that?”

“Of course. Josuna is my sister. No matter what, I’ll protect her. That’s all.”

“For one person… you’re willing to save hundreds, thousands of people you utterly despise?”

“Of course.”

“Heh. Then you’ve miscalculated.”

Vinika let out a cold laugh.

“Most of the food consumed by nobles in this city has already been laced with a low-dose chronic poison. The Church’s methods can’t detect it, and there’s no cure. Even if your help arrives, it won’t save Josuna. As the Church’s candidate saintess—she must die.”

“She won’t die.”

Pereti looked at her, her gaze unwavering.

“I’ll bring you her corpse.”

“I said—you can’t.”

“Then I’ll be watching,” Vinika snorted in dissatisfaction.

She pressed a hand against Pereti’s shoulder and gave a light push.

Pereti’s body tilted backward uncontrollably. A violent sense of weightlessness surged through her and in the next instant, darkness swallowed her world whole.