Chapter 2
“Saintess, are you all right?”
Unable to tell whether it had been reality or a dream, Elise blinked rapidly.
She immediately sat up.
Pushing her sweat-soaked platinum-blond hair back, Elise slowly looked around.
The room was just as she remembered it, with its white marble interior and sacred objects filling every corner.
Even Bell, the maid who had entered with a basin of water at her usual waking time, was exactly as she had been.
“Why are you sweating so much? Shall I call a physician?”
When Bell asked with a puzzled expression, Elise met the maid’s eyes with a deathly pale face.
“…Bell, what month and day is it?”
“My goodness, Saintess. It’s the ninth day of the Sixteenth Month.”
Even though the answer was completely ordinary, Elise’s mouth slowly fell open in shock.
The ninth day of the Sixteenth Month meant that it was exactly three months before she was burned at the stake.
“…That can’t be.”
She felt along the wound on her side where Leonhardt had stabbed her. Naturally, there wasn’t even the slightest trace of an injury beneath her thin gown.
“Saintess, are you really all right? You don’t look well.”
Bell asked again and again.
It was merely a question born of concern, so why did Elise feel suspicious?
With her brows slightly furrowed, Elise raised her head.
It had been far too vivid to simply dismiss it as a dream.
What if… that was a prophetic dream?
Her face grew even paler.
Those with powerful holy powers sometimes saw the future in the form of prophetic dreams.
But Elise had never had one before.
I need to find out more about prophetic dreams.
Her eyes narrowed thoughtfully.
“I… had a strange dream.”
Assuming for the moment that the dream she had seen today was real, the first thing she needed to determine was whom she could trust and whom she absolutely could not.
She deliberately let out a deep sigh.
“Haaah…”
“What kind of dream was it?”
“It was a dream where everyone betrayed me. It was a nightmare.”
Elise then pressed her throbbing temples and gulped down the cold water that had been sitting on the bedside table.
Through the glass, she watched Bell’s expression change.
Her eyes narrowed.
Her pupils rolled slightly as though she were thinking about something.
Bell, too, seemed suspicious somehow.
“Who betrayed you, Saintess?”
At the question, which seemed to carry a very specific intention, Elise placed the glass down with a sharp clack and smiled calmly.
“No one in particular. You know those messy, nonsensical dreams? Ah, I do remember one person—the crown prince of the Devlin Empire.”
“Gasp! You mean that wicked man?”
Wicked man?
When had Damian become known as a villain and a madman?
“So that person must have betrayed you, then? I heard he killed our knights at the border again this time!”
“He… did.”
Elise stammered without realizing it.
Looking back now, it had always been the knights of the Ariaton Empire who crossed into Devlin territory first.
“And yet, he apparently sent a reply saying that he would attend the Ariaton Spring Festival this year. There must be a reason everyone calls him a madman, don’t you think?”
Bell rattled off information that an ordinary maid would have had little reason to know.
Why hadn’t Elise noticed anything strange about her in the past?
She simply smiled as though it were nothing important and played along with Bell.
“I suppose so. Anyway, it was a strange dream.”
“Oh dear. Perhaps you’ve become weak because you’ve been using so much holy power lately. I’ll go ask them to prepare some restorative medicine for you. You have to provide ‘holy water’ today as well, don’t you?”
At those words, Elise’s shoulders trembled.
Holy water.
Ironically, that was what her blood was called.
Because it was several times more powerful than the holy power Elise could use herself, Esit and Ian often asked her to provide holy water.
Even though they knew perfectly well how much pain it caused her.
“Bell?”
“Yes?”
Bell was busily arranging Elise’s meal on the table and answered without even turning around.
Staring at the back of her head, Elise cautiously tested her.
“Could you ask Esit if I may take the day off today?”
“…What?”
Bell’s voice rose sharply, and her head whipped around.
As though she had realized that her reaction had been unusual, she quickly composed herself, and the corners of her lips soon formed a gentle smile.
“Do you mean… that you can’t provide the holy water today, Saintess?”
Her tone had become strangely stiff.
Elise immediately put all her effort into acting.
“I feel so… terribly sick. Really, terribly.”
She emphasized the last word before collapsing dramatically onto the bed.
Until now, she had never once refused to injure herself.
She had believed that she owed something to the three people who had rescued her from the depths of hell.
At the sudden memory of her past, Elise’s expression darkened.
Seeing this, Bell tilted her head slightly.
“Oh, you really must be feeling unwell. You certainly don’t look well. Hmm…”
She trailed off awkwardly before forcing a smile.
“I’ll tell them for now. Although I’m sure they’ll be surprised since you’ve never done anything like this before, Saintess…”
“I’m sorry for putting you in such an awkward position, Bell.”
“Yes. For now, please get some rest.”
Bell carefully tucked the blankets around Elise, who had deliberately lain down on the bed, before slowly leaving the room.
The moment the door closed, Bell’s eyes became razor-sharp.
Elise quickly changed into a dress and concealed an old robe beneath the hem of her skirt.
If I want to find out what’s really going on, I need to move now.
With suspicion weighing on her, she quietly left the room.
The temple where Elise lived had been built especially for her by Esit.
Even the people who came to clean and cook were only permitted to enter at specific times, so no outsiders other than Bell could enter.
Thanks to that, Elise was able to leave without attracting anyone’s attention.
As she walked out of the temple, Elise remembered the day she had first met the three men who had brought her here.
What is this…?
She had done anything if it paid money.
When she had been raised in an orphanage and treated like something less than human, holy power had suddenly manifested within her one day.
The first person to seek Elise out had been Leonhardt.
“I have come to meet the Saintess who will save the Ariaton Empire.”
He had immediately washed her, dressed her in clean clothes, and brought her before Esit and Ian.
“She’s… from the streets? I didn’t expect much, but…”
“…Greetings. I am Esit, Emperor of the Ariaton Empire.”
While Elise stood there in bewilderment, Leonhardt knelt on one knee before her.
“From this day forward, the three of us will always be the knights who protect the Saintess.”
“Knights? But I’m a mage.”
“Don’t nitpick every little thing. If you do that, I’m an emperor, after all.”
As Elise watched the three men bickering with one another, her mouth slowly opened at the name she had been given.
Saintess.
Shamefully, she had never lived a life worthy of such a name.
She had needed to bow her head to the strong in order to survive, and even when she felt guilty, she had no choice but to do whatever was demanded of her.
Her platinum lashes trembled, and her eyes gradually reddened.
Soon, tears rolled down her cheeks.
“If I do that…”
“Hmm?”
At her words, all three men’s eyes turned toward her.
“Can I live… like a human being?”
At Elise’s question, the three men exchanged slightly surprised glances.
“With this power, can I save people?”
Leonhardt slowly approached her.
Then he carefully took Elise’s hand.
Her hand was extremely rough.
The texture alone seemed to tell the story of the life she had lived.
“Of course. You may even be able to prevent great disasters from occurring in the future. With your power, Saintess.”
“…I’ll do it. I’ll work hard.”
Determined to atone for her past life and repay the three people who had made her a Saintess, Elise had never once complained about how difficult things were.
After briefly glancing behind her, Elise immediately pulled the robe she had hidden beneath her dress over her head.
The temple had been built very close to the imperial palace, so the distance to the palace where Esit lived was easily walkable.
But Elise had no intention of walking there.
The palace should be receiving its grocery delivery soon.
She took out a small gold watch and checked the time.
Then, with the robe pulled all the way over her head, she hid behind a tree.
Since her face itself served as proof of her identity, there would have been no problem with her entering the imperial palace openly.
However, if she did that, Esit and Leonhardt would immediately realize that she had entered the palace.
If she wanted to discover their true intentions, she needed to sneak in secretly.
She hid behind the tree and waited.
Soon, exactly at ten o’clock, she heard the sound of a wagon approaching from the imperial palace.
“Come on, everyone! Move the supplies!”
The men soon climbed down from the wagon and began carrying the cargo inside.
While everyone entered the temple to unload the supplies, Elise slipped into the empty wagon and hid.
She held her breath and waited for quite some time.
Eventually, she heard the men returning, and the wagon began rattling down the road.
Because the distance was not far, the wagon soon arrived at the imperial palace stables.
After confirming that all the men’s voices had faded into the distance, Elise quietly climbed out.
Today is one week before the Spring Festival begins. Then…
She brushed the dust from her clothes and pulled the robe tighter around herself.
Then she immediately headed toward the emperor’s conference room.
Since it was one week before the Ariaton Spring Festival, Esit would surely be discussing matters concerning the festival with Leonhardt and Ian.
They won’t only be talking about the festival.
Wrinkling her nose slightly, she quickened her pace.
She had to sneak into the conference room before anyone discovered her identity.
Elise moved swiftly, feeling her heart pounding hard in her chest.
Eventually, she arrived in front of the empty conference room.
She lightly pressed her pendant against the round device beside the entrance, then pulled it away.
The pendant, which represented her status as the Saintess, had been given to her by Esit when he confessed his feelings to her, along with permission to freely enter anywhere in the imperial palace.
I doubt he ever imagined I’d use it for something like this.
With a flash of light, the door clicked open.
Elise had never once left the temple without telling Bell, and the only people who could enter this conference room were the three men and herself with her pendant.
So they would undoubtedly be speaking comfortably without suspecting anything.
Now I just have to wait.
The unnecessarily spacious conference room had more than enough places for a small woman to hide.
She found a suitable spot, curled herself up, and concealed herself.
How much time had passed?
“All right, come in.”
“Why do we have to hold meetings every day over something as trivial as the Spring Festival?”
“Do you not understand how important the Ariaton Spring Festival is? For the prosperity and peace of the imperial citizens—”
“That is enough, Sir Leonhardt.”
Esit cut Leonhardt off without hesitation.
He forced down the corners of his mouth, which were trying to curl upward, before continuing.
“Actually, if we truly want to act for the good of the imperial citizens, there is one more matter we should discuss.”
Elise, who had been secretly watching them, narrowed her eyes intelligently.
Then came the words that left her utterly horrified.
“The great Saintess of the Ariaton Empire.”
Both corners of Esit’s mouth lifted in satisfaction.
“Elise’s execution by fire.”
It was the expression he wore whenever he was genuinely pleased.
So it really wasn’t just a dream…!
Feeling goosebumps spread across her entire body, Elise clapped a hand over her mouth.
