Holy Night: My Husband is Definitely a Paladin - Chapter 155
At the mention of Princess Cecilia, Irene immediately turned her head.
âThe princess? Did something happen to her?â
She had been wondering how the princess was doing.
The woman who had lost her pair in the dungeon, yet had shown more obsession toward Michael than grief when theyâd met, to an almost repulsive degree. Still, Irene felt a human sympathy for her loss.
âDonât even get me started. After returning from the distortion dungeon, the princessâs circle completely disbanded.â
âDisbanded?â
The princessâs circle was one that boasted absolute power within the fortress. At times, it seemed to wield more authority than the Alliance of Kingdoms itself. And now, to think it had been disbanded.
âWas it because of what happened in the distortion dungeon?â
âThat was certainly the beginning of the problem. According to the final report, there were a total of 82 casualties in the princessâs raid. Sixty-one knights and twenty-one purifiers.â
âEighty-two? That many? Didnât we only count around fifty bodies ourselves?â
âThere were casualties in another part of the raid group that we didnât see.â
The princessâs circle had around 300 members. For 82 to have perishedâŚ
âWhat about the injured?â
âAs far as I know, about a hundred were injured, including the princess.â
That meant more than half were either dead or injured and unfit for combat.
âIn my previous life, the highest number of deaths in the fortress had been around ten.â
Now, there were around 180 casualties. It was a staggering number just to hear.
âWith over half their numbers lost, the survivors were also deeply traumatized.â
Cynthia recalled the day theyâd returned from the distortion dungeon as she explained to Irene.
* * *
The area in front of the dungeon entrance had become complete chaos as people ran out. No one had even managed to keep track of their own pairs.
A terror had seized them all, that if they hesitated even slightly, they would be left to wander another world forever.
After the last person came out, the distortion dungeon began to flicker and fade, covering the entire mountain range.
It had been barely holding onto this world, but for some unknown reason, it seemed to have chosen a swifter dissolution than expected.
Relief at survival was short-lived, as everyone soon realized who hadnât made it out.
Michael, who had been holding off the monsters and sending others ahead, and Irene, who had been by his sideâthey were nowhere to be seen.
After that, the fortress turned into a house of mourning.
They didnât even have to go to the trouble of confirming who was dead. Those who hadnât returned were all declared deceased.
Thus, Michael and Irene were also listed as deceased.
âTheyâre not dead! They just couldnât make it out! If we wait until the dungeon reappears, a rescue team canâŚâ
âReyna!â
When their names appeared on the list of the dead, Reyna tore up the paper, shouting that it couldnât be true, and protested fiercely to the fortress staff.
Felix, alarmed, tried to hold her back. Normally, she would have calmed down after hearing him out, but not this time.
Thanks to Reynaâs outburst, their names were moved to the list of the missing. Along with a few others whose bodies hadnât been recovered.
But everyone knew that, in reality, there wasnât much difference between missing and dead.
The quarters quickly fell silent, with only the groans and sobs of the wounded filling the air.
Meanwhile, bodies of those confirmed dead in the distortion dungeon began to reappear at the site where the dungeon had once been.
It seemed as if the distortion dungeon was rejecting pieces of this world, or perhaps slowly relinquishing what it could no longer hold onto.
In any case, those whose bodies returned, even partially, were given funerals, and their personal belongings were returned to their families.
The princessâs circle announced a temporary suspension of dungeon raids in honor of the fallen.
Of course, that was only part of the reason. The drastic reduction in capable knights played a large role.
Above all, the knight who should have been at the center of it allâthe princessâs knightâhad died.
