2

On the seventh morning, a crowd gathered outside the clinic.

Mrs. Thompson knelt on the ground holding a child—her son, little Thomas, whom Alice had cured three days ago.

But now, the child had no breath.

"It was you! You killed my son!" Mrs. Thompson wailed.

Bishop Marcus appeared behind the crowd. "Let the Church bring justice!"

He held up a small vial. "This is poison found in your clinic!"

I recognized that bottle—it was mandrake extract Alice used for anesthesia, which had been locked in the pharmacy.

"Someone tampered with our pharmacy."

"The evidence is irrefutable, and you still deny it?" Marcus waved his hand. "Arrest the witch Alice Rose!"

More than a dozen Church guards emerged from the crowd, holding iron chains.

Golden light flashed in my eyes.

"Kevin!" Alice grabbed my hand. "Don't act! If you kill for me, we'll truly become criminals."

I looked at her. My wife, that woman so kind it hurt, still believed the world would give her justice.

I forcibly suppressed the power about to explode.

The guards locked iron chains around Alice's wrists.

"Kevin..." She looked back at me, eyes full of tears.

A guard passing by sneered, "Coward, can't even protect your own wife."

My fists clenched tight. Another crack appeared in the seal on my chest, and a drop of golden blood slid down.

---

I went to find the mayor.

"Mayor, this is obviously a frame-up!"

The mayor sighed. "Kevin, I want to help you... but all the evidence is in the Church's hands. There's nothing I can do."

I went to find those Alice had saved.

"Please, stand up and speak the truth!"

"Sorry Kevin, we have families to feed too."

"The Church said anyone who testifies for you is a heretic."

Door after door closed in my face.

The only one willing to stand up was old John.

"I can testify! I saw Church people enter your pharmacy that night!"

That night, old John died at home. The Church called it natural causes.

But when I saw the bloodstains at his door, I knew the truth. The crack in the seal on my chest widened further.