The redness on Theresa's face still hadn't faded, but she had already fallen unconscious. It was quite remarkable that she had even been able to last to this point. Of course, the magic potion that Onean had given her was a vital factor behind her ability to keep up with Erwin to the very end. No matter how resolute her willpower was, there was no way that she would've been able to endure such a merciless assault otherwise.

Onean laid a hand onto the sermon platform, and a layer of ice instantly spread over the entire surface. Even Theresa's entire body had been covered by a layer of frost. Onean had done this with the objective of slowing down Theresa's circulation so that the poison wouldn't be able to spread through her body so easily.

However, she quickly discovered that Theresa's body was no longer purely that of a human, and she didn't possess normal blood circulation like humans did. Having said that, the low temperatures still contributed to preventing the spread of the poison.

After that, Onean pulled out a jar of brown medicinal powder before sprinkling it over Theresa's body. All of the fine crystals immediately adhered to her fair and delicate skin upon contact.

Immediately thereafter, the fine crystals bulged to form a series of small orbs. These orbs then connected with one another to form a series of purple vines that began to grow rapidly as if they had been instilled with immense life force. In the blink of an eye, the vines had bound Theresa's entire body to the sermon platform. Upon closer inspection, one would notice that tiny thorns had appeared all over the vines, much like the thorns one would find on rose stems. These thorns sliced gashes into Theresa's exposed skin, and even in her unconscious state, she couldn't help but furrow her brows in pain. Meanwhile, Christine was looking after Erwin when she looked up to see what was happening to Theresa, and her mouth immediately gaped open in shock at the sight that greeted her.

As opposed to blood, there was some type of substance that resembled water that was flowing throughout Theresa's body. Hence, what came out of those gashes was a bright blue liquid, except the liquid was tinged with hints of dark green poison.

Upon absorbing Theresa's "blood", the vines were filled with even greater vitality, and a series of beautiful flower buds began to emerge from them.

"What kind of spell is this? Those flowers are so beautiful," Christine couldn't help but exclaim in amazement at the sight of those bright red flowers.

"They do look good, but they feed off human blood," Onean replied in a cold voice, and Christine didn't dare to say anything further upon hearing this.

Strangely enough, after those flowers came into full bloom, Theresa's complexion improved drastically, but her lips were looking a little paler than before. As it turned out, not only had the thorns on the vines sliced open her skin to absorb her blood, they had also sucked out a lot of the poison in her body.

A short while later, she awakened from her unconscious state.

"How is he?" Even though she was in terrible physical condition herself, the first thing that sprang into Theresa's mind upon awakening was Erwin's condition.

"He still hasn't woken up yet. He lost a lot of blood and has severely overexerted himself physically, so he's most likely not going to wake up anytime soon," Onean said.

A wry smile appeared on Theresa's face upon hearing the words "severely overexerted". "You're a princess, aren't you? Why does it sound like you're jealous of me? Could it be that you've never been with a man before?"

Theresa swept the thorny vines all over her body aside, then sat up straight with a mocking smile on her face, looking directly at Onean with a provocative expression.

"I certainly wouldn't be able to moan like you did," Onean said with a disdainful expression as she turned her face to the side.

A deep blush appeared on Theresa's face upon hearing Onean's insults, and she protested, "If you hadn't screwed me over with that magic potion, I wouldn't have sounded like that!"

"I was worried that you'd pass out," Onean said in an indifferent voice.

At the same time, something had just occurred to her. Thinking back, it seemed like Theresa had been very resistant to the whole process. In fact, it wasn't inaccurate to say that she looked as if she were being tortured prior to drinking the magic potion that Onean had given her. Even prior to this, Onean had sensed that Theresa seemed to have some reservations when it came to being intimate with men, and she concluded that there had to be a story behind this. After all, Theresa's feelings for Erwin were very obvious, so she shouldn't have been so reluctant to be physically intimate with him.

"I didn't think that these poria blood vines would be used on me," Theresa mused as she looked at the vines around her. "You already had all of this planned when you asked me to fetch these ingredients for you, didn't you?"

"I didn't force you into anything. Also..." Onean paused momentarily before continuing, "I was originally planning to use the vines on myself."

Theresa cast her gaze toward Onean, and she knew that when it came to love for Erwin, Onean's feelings were perhaps even purer and more intense than her own. At the same time, she was also quite glad that she was the one who had endured this, thereby allowing Onean to deal with those magic potions. If it weren't for her exceptional expertise, both she and Erwin would've most likely already been dead by now.

"I have to admit that you really did a brilliant job. I'd say you could be a match for that legendary miracle doctor. In fact, I don't he's at your level when it comes to making aphrodisiacs," Theresa said as she turned to Onean with an amused expression.

"Who's this miracle doctor?"

"Legend has it that really far up north, there's a miracle doctor who can save anyone's life, regardless of how severe their injuries or ailments are."

"You're telling me that he can save anyone from the brink of death?" Onean asked with a skeptical expression.

"That's what the legends suggest. However..."

"What is it?"

"The problem is that this miracle doctor is extremely greedy, so he refuses to offer his services unless several carts full of Loonies are brought to him each time."

"That sounds like a tall tale that's only circulating among the nobility or the extremely wealthy. Speaking of my aphrodisiac, you looked like you were thoroughly enjoying yourself after you drank it, why are you using that against me now?"

"Hmph, given how skilled you are at making aphrodisiacs, I bet you had to have tried them on many of the people around you, right?" Theresa asked with a sly smile. "If that's the case, then why have you still not done the deed with him yet?"

Right as the two women were bickering with one another, Erwin finally woke up.

Christine was listening to the war of words in an absentminded manner, and she was the first one to react. "Brother Erwin, you're awake!"

Erwin swept his gaze around the Great Hansen Hall with an incredulous look on his face.

His head felt as if it were filled with lead, and his lungs were on fire. His chest was also feeling extremely stuffy, as if there were a massive rock weighing down onto it, almost rendering him unable to breathe. In fact, if he were to breathe even a little too freely, excruciating pain would immediately spear through the wound on his chest.

"Ow..." His voice was so feeble that it was barely audible.

Onean and Theresa immediately gathered around Erwin to inspect his condition. However, Theresa was also quite feeble from her ordeal, and as soon as she took a step toward Erwin, she immediately stumbled over her own feet. Thankfully, Onean was there to catch her. Otherwise, she would've already fallen to the ground.

"Is the assassin dead?" Erwin asked as he turned to Onean.

Onean couldn't hear what he was saying, but she could read his lips, and she replied, "We were too busy saving your life to put an end to those two assassins. However, the one wielding the arcuballista had his left arm crippled by me, so he won't be able to come after you again anytime soon."

Erwin was quite relieved to hear this, and a pleased smile appeared on his face. However, he then quickly realized that Onean had just said "two assassins", and he was stunned to discover that there was more than one person after his life.

After that, he cast his gaze toward Theresa, but she was unwilling to meet his gaze for some reason and had turned her face toward another direction.

Erwin had some recollection of what had just happened, but everything had seemed like a dream to him. It was like an abstract oil painting with only blurry outlines and colors, with no clear details to be seen. However, everything really did happen.

Under normal circumstances, he would've definitely teased Theresa for being so shy and embarrassed, but he didn't dare to do that with Onean present. In addition to that, he knew that Theresa was very averse to physical intimacy with the opposite sex, so it would've been very insensitive to make fun of her for that.

What was supposed to have been a leisurely tour of the city had concluded with Erwin massively taking advantage of Theresa, and even for someone as shameless as him, he didn't know how to face her. There was a great deal of guilt in his heart, but he didn't know if offering her words of consolation would only make her feel worse.

"I did this of my own volition, so don't think too much about it," Theresa said in a quiet voice.

Even though Erwin was unconscious during the conversation that had taken place between the three women, he had a feeling that this was the case. He knew that no matter how domineering Onean was, there was no way that she would've forced Theresa to do something like this against her will. Hence, she naturally would've had to have done this of her own volition. However, that only made him feel even more apologetic toward her. Thinking about what she had just done for him, he couldn't help but ask himself whether he was deserving of someone like her.

Onean could naturally tell what Erwin was thinking, and she jibed, "I wonder how many good deeds you did in your previous life for you to have so many women so devoted to you in this life."

The awkward atmosphere was significantly alleviated by her joking words.

"Exactly! Why are you always getting yourself involved with women everywhere you go?" Christine grumbled with a displeased pout, quickly jumping onto the bandwagon to criticize Erwin.

A wry smile appeared on his face as he thought to himself, I don't know about doing any good deeds, but I definitely must've committed many sins in my past life.

He then swept his gaze around the peaceful cathedral and looked at all of the surrounding statues of different descriptions. He couldn't help but wonder if the deities of the Holy World Church were going to strike him with divine retribution for the blasphemous deed they had just committed on the sermon platform. However, he wasn't struck down by any bolts of lightning, nor did the sky fall on him, so it seemed that deities were only beings that existed in fantasy, after all.

"By the way, who were those two assassins? Did you manage to identify them?" Onean asked as she turned to Theresa.

"I've already spoken with Erwin about that middle-aged man," Theresa said as she gestured toward Erwin, but didn't dare to establish eye contact with him. "That man's name is Renjay Min, and he's one of the best archers in all of the Fulway Empire. As for that little girl with him, I don't know who she is, but she reminds me of someone..."

Theresa's brows began to furrow slightly as she spoke, and her gaze unconsciously swept over Christine for an instant. However, just this brief glance was enough to spark a revelation within her, and she immediately cast her gaze toward Christine as her eyes widened with alarm.

"Who is it? Who did she remind you of?" Onean asked as she cast a puzzled gaze toward Theresa. However, at this point, Theresa had already regained her composure and put on a neutral expression that didn't betray any emotions.

"No one. I was thinking about someone else," Theresa replied with a shake of her head, but her gaze was still flashing occasionally toward Christine.