The Silent Quarters
The archives of the fortress were silent.
During the dungeon period, this place always overflowed with corpses and wails. But today, only one corpse and complete silence remained.
Michael gazed down at Irene lying in the coffin.
Her once fair skin had lost all color, making her appear like a mere sketch on paper.
That was why Michael could not believe she was actually lying here dead.
‘She died alone in a dungeon.’
It was simply impossible.
Irene had never entered a dungeon in her life.
Whenever she should have been rewarded, Michael had always kept her strictly away from dungeon raids.
It was only natural. How dangerous the inside of a dungeon truly was.
Even seasoned knights risked their lives with the slightest lapse in caution.
Because of that, Michael could never understand why other knights brought their paired purifiers into the dungeons.
Why would he, whose life had been trained in battle, deliberately pull someone he cared about into such peril?
If he feared corruption by demonic energy, he could simply practice harder and eliminate monsters faster.
Bringing another person’s life into danger for his own survival felt unbearable to him.
That was why he always kept Irene safely outside the dungeons.
He only wanted her far from any danger.
Occasionally Irene would speak of wanting to join a dungeon raid with him.
Michael had always refused, insisting it was too dangerous. Yet he had once caught her secretly preparing to enter a lower-class dungeon with another paired team.
‘Why would she bow so low before other pairs just for the sake of being left behind?’
Michael had rushed over at once and demanded to know what she was doing. Irene had avoided his eyes and explained she wanted to familiarize herself with the interior in case of an emergency.
Her words were not entirely wrong. But the moment he heard them, Michael’s chest tightened unbearably.
They had already become a pair.
Even if the Kingdom Alliance changed continental law next year, Michael had no intention of abandoning her.
That was why demands—direct and indirect—had flooded him this year for him to choose Irene as his pair again.
But he had never once considered taking a new partner.
Continental law called pairs a temporary marriage, yet to Michael it meant nothing more. Even without physical intimacy, leaving behind someone who had briefly become his companion to search for another was unthinkable.
‘That would be absurd.’
So even next year he intended to continue pairing with Irene.
That way she could remain safely without any real danger.
Moreover, he knew she received far fewer rewards than other purifiers.
At first he had thought she simply didn’t care about money. Yet one day he had seen her in the fortress quietly questioning a staff member.
“There’s something missing from the reward of Sir Michael that was registered at the time. About fifty gold is short. Could you please double-check?”
Her small, timid voice had sounded almost apologetic.
The fortress staff member waved her away irritably.
“That’s impossible. At only fifty gold you’re wasting someone’s time from morning until now, making me this much trouble… You’re the first low-paid purifier I’ve ever seen causing others so much hassle.”
Irene’s face flushed red from the rebuke.
Yet she refused to back down.
“Even so, if you check you’ll definitely…”
“Enough! Enough! Fine, pretend I misregistered it and take it! Oh my, Michael must have chosen a woman who’s obsessed with money to be his pair. No wonder he stays far away!”
The staff member pulled out a gold coin from his pocket and tossed it at her as if to mock her.
The sparkling coin rolled across the floor with a clinking sound.
It was obviously an insulting gesture.
What was the right thing to do in such a situation? To confront the man for his rudeness?
“Ah!”
Contrary to his expectation, Irene hurried after the rolling coin. She even threw her body forward desperately to catch one that was about to fall down the stairs.
The loud thud as she slammed into the floor startled even the staff member who had thrown the coin.
While he worried that she might hurt herself and later blame him for the incident.
“Agh…”
Irene rose with a groan, the coin still clutched tightly in her hand.
She examined it carefully, treating the coin in her palm as far more important than her own body.
“Hah… just as the rumors said.”
The staff member, relieved she would not accuse him, clicked his tongue and quickly vanished somewhere.
Michael wanted to rush over at once, help the fallen Irene to her feet, and demand an explanation for such rudeness.
But…
“Haah…”
Irene let out a heavy sigh and tucked the coin into her pocket.
Then she sat motionless for a long time, head bowed low, refusing to move.
Was she crying? There was no sound of sobbing and no trembling of her shoulders.
Alone in the long empty corridor for what felt like hours, Irene finally rose slowly and brushed the dust from her clothes.
“It’s a relief no one saw me like this.”
Michael froze at her quiet mutter.
He could never have spoken the words aloud in front of someone who had seen everything.
Irene straightened her appearance and walked slowly down the opposite corridor, vanishing from sight.
Only after a long while did Michael finally step back into the hall.
Since then, whenever he gathered dungeon rewards, Michael deliberately collected metals and small gems whose value he guessed might be worth something.
He then handed them separately to the staff member waiting outside the dungeon for the distribution.
“These are items promised to my pair. Please divide them as her share.”
Honestly, it was something he should not have done.
The world was still full of people who needed the Temple’s help.
The naked, starving, and sick.
Yet he knew he had to send even more money for their sake…
Michael remembered the way she had thrown herself forward to pick up the coin.
Even if it meant deceiving the eyes of the gods, he wanted to give her an even larger share.
So she would never have to bow her head before such people again.
As Michael sat before Irene’s corpse and recalled the past, the fortress staff member approached him.
“Sir Michael.”
Even after the announcement of his disgrace, the fortress staff members still treated him with utmost respect.
Michael found their attitude displeasing.
Why were they so polite to him, yet so rude to his pair?
The staff member, sensing the question in Michael’s silence, opened his mouth cautiously.
“I’m sorry, but may I ask you to accept Irene Rodiam’s belongings? Her family will come to claim them, but before that we must clear the purifiers’ quarters…”
The word “belongings” twisted Michael’s expression.
The staff member, misunderstanding his reaction, added hastily.
“Of course I know you will find it bothersome, but according to continental law, your pair has priority over the belongings!”
During the dungeon extermination period, paired teams submitted release documents to the fortress and left.
But since Michael had been visiting the Temple, he had not yet written those documents.
In fact, he had no intention of doing so.
Therefore the two of them were still considered paired.
“If you find it bothersome, simply sign a proxy document entrusting everything to us. We can tidy it up appropriately! The family will come, but there’s nothing valuable anyway…”
“Where?”
“Where?”
“Where can I receive her items?”
Michael’s voice trembled badly, for he could not even bring himself to say the word “belongings.”
* * *
Michael hurried straight to the purifiers’ quarters after hearing the staff member.
The quarters, mostly abandoned by the purifiers, were so quiet they felt eerily desolate.
“I came to look for Miss Irene Rodiam’s things.”
The maids welcomed him with joy, explaining they had been troubled about those very belongings.
They then guided him inside.
And after a long while.
“This is the room of Purifier Irene Rodiam.”
The moment Michael heard the maids’ words, he fell completely silent.
A window no larger than his palm. And a small bed as thin and hard as the Temple’s own.
A narrow room that looked so poverty-stricken it was almost a luxury to call it shabby.
This had been Irene’s home for a whole year in this fortress.