Chapter 9
To her surprise, the document contained a meticulous record of what Elize had thought about the three men—from the day Essit had presented this temple to her up until now.
And when she reached the very end of the document, she could not say a word, as though she had been struck hard in the back of the head.
“Lady Elize must be so happy, receiving the love of the finest men in the empire!”
“No, it’s nothing like that. They’re simply kind to me.”
“Oh, come on. Just tell me honestly. Which one do you like the most?”
“Hmm, honestly, I…”
At that moment, the conversations she had shared with Bell flashed through Elize’s mind.
“The kind and gentle Sir Gellina…”
At the very end of the document, Leonhardt’s name had been marked with a star in red ink.
If they wanted to successfully kill the Saintess and burn her at the stake, they would have needed a means of covering her eyes and ears. And one of the easiest ways to blind a woman to the truth was romance.
Bell had merely been Essit’s tool, used to probe and discover Elize’s feelings.
“I…”
Since Bell had been hired by Essit, Elize had naturally suspected that she was connected to them in some way.
But she had assumed that Bell merely knew the truth about what was going on.
Unfortunately, it seemed that Bell, too, was a traitor who had deceived her.
Seeing a document before her eyes that meticulously recorded every conversation she had shared with Bell and every action she had taken was an indescribable shock.
It felt as though the world itself had collapsed, crushing her beneath its weight. Her hands and feet trembled involuntarily.
“I… Bell, I…”
For two years, Elize had never suspected Bell and had even confided her innermost thoughts to her because she believed that, after living together for so long, they had become something like family.
Having grown up as an orphan and been treated worse than an animal, Elize had always harbored a vague longing for and admiration of family.
That was why, when she met Leonhardt, and later Ian and Essit, she had thought of them as dependable older brothers.
And Bell had been like a cute little sister.
She loved the way Bell constantly chattered adorably, and she had grown genuinely attached to her, sharing all kinds of feelings with her—sometimes as a friend, sometimes as family.
But apparently, all those times Bell had approached her and chattered away had only been so she could hand this information over to Essit.
“L-Lady Elize!”
“If I had a younger sister, I thought… this must be what it feels like.”
“I-I felt the same way! I couldn’t help it about the document! His Majesty the Emperor ordered me to do it. How could I possibly disobey his command?”
“Bell…”
At her excuses, Elize merely closed and opened her eyes with a sorrowful expression.
A single tear rolled down her pale cheek.
Her tear-filled gaze shifted toward the mirror behind Bell.
Reflected clearly in that mirror was Bell, holding a dagger behind her back.
Elize clenched her teeth and tapped the back of one hand with her fingers.
Then she pushed Bell aside and lifted the carpet.
Beneath it was a hidden compartment, perfectly suited for concealing something.
“How careless.”
Then again, if they were talking about carelessness, perhaps she was the most foolish of all for having never suspected such a scheme.
Blaming herself for her own naivety, Elize began pulling out all the documents hidden inside the secret compartment.
And the moment she picked up one of them and looked at it, her pupils shook violently as though struck by an earthquake.
“Th-the documents…!”
Bell’s voice trembled.
“You’re mistaken! I’m not His Majesty the Emperor’s spy…”
Eventually, Bell chased after Elize and blocked her path.
Elize’s eyes fell upon the carpet beneath Bell’s feet.
She clenched her teeth, tapped the back of her other hand with her fingers, then pushed Bell aside and lifted the carpet.
Beneath it was a hidden compartment, perfectly suited for concealing something.
“How careless.”
No. If she were talking about carelessness, then she herself was the most careless of all for having failed to suspect anything until now.
Blaming herself for her naivety, Elize began pulling out every document inside the secret compartment.
Then, the moment she picked up one particular document and read it, her pupils shook violently.
“L-Lady Elize!”
Bell’s panicked voice followed her.
But Elize ignored her.
She quickly left the room and headed straight for Bell’s quarters.
“Lady Elize!”
Bell called after her desperately.
But Elize did not stop.
Finally, she entered Bell’s room.
As the Saintess and head of the temple, Elize had no reason whatsoever to visit a maid’s quarters. Naturally, this was her first time here.
Her narrowed eyes swept across the room.
The quarters were filled with furniture that looked far too luxurious for an ordinary maid working at the temple.
“Please, it’s a misunderstanding! I’m not His Majesty the Emperor’s spy!”
Bell finally caught up and hurriedly stepped in front of Elize.
Elize’s gaze shifted to the carpet Bell was standing on.
She clenched her teeth and tapped the back of her hand with her finger.
Then she pushed Bell aside and lifted the carpet.
Beneath it was a secret compartment, perfectly suited for hiding something.
“How sloppy.”
But if she were to blame someone for being careless, it was herself for having never suspected this kind of scheme.
Berating herself for her innocence, Elize began pulling out all the documents hidden inside.
And the moment she picked up one of them and looked at it, her pupils trembled as though an earthquake had struck.
To her astonishment, the document contained a meticulous record of how Elize had viewed the three men from the day Essit had given her this temple up until the present.
And when she reached the very end, she could not utter a single word, as though she had been struck hard in the back of the head.
“Lady Elize must be so happy. She has the love of the finest men in the empire!”
“No, it’s nothing like that. They’re all just being kind to me.”
“Come on, just tell me honestly. Which one do you like best?”
“Hmm… honestly, I…”
The conversations she had shared with Bell flashed through Elize’s mind.
“The kind and gentle Sir Gellina…”
At the end of the document, Leonhardt’s name had been marked with a star in red ink.
To successfully kill the Saintess and burn her at the stake, they would have needed a way to blind her to the truth.
And one of the easiest ways to blind a woman was romance.
Bell had merely been Essit’s tool, used to probe Elize’s feelings.
“I…”
Of course, Elize had suspected that Bell was connected to them in some way, since she had been hired by Essit.
But she had assumed that Bell merely knew the truth.
Unfortunately, it seemed that Bell, too, was a traitor who had deceived her.
Seeing a document before her eyes that recorded every conversation they had shared and every action she had taken was an indescribable shock.
It felt as though the world had collapsed, crushing her beneath its weight.
Her hands and feet trembled.
“I… Bell, I…”
The reason Elize had never suspected Bell and had confided even her innermost thoughts to her was because, after two years together, she had believed they had become something like family.
Having grown up as an orphan and been treated worse than an animal, Elize had always carried a vague longing and yearning for a family.
So when she met Leonhardt, Ian, and Essit, she had thought of them as dependable older brothers.
And Bell had been like a cute younger sister.
She had found Bell’s constant cheerful chatter adorable and had grown deeply attached to her, sharing all sorts of emotions with her—sometimes like friends, sometimes like family.
But apparently, every word Bell had spoken to her and every conversation they had shared had merely been for the purpose of giving Essit this information.
“L-Lady Elize!”
“If I had a younger sister, I thought… this must be what it would feel like.”
“I-I felt the same way! I had no choice about the document! His Majesty the Emperor ordered me to do it! How could I possibly disobey him?”
“Bell…”
As Bell continued making excuses, Elize merely closed and opened her eyes with a sorrowful expression.
A single tear rolled down her pale cheek.
Her tear-filled gaze shifted toward the mirror behind Bell.
In that mirror, she could clearly see Bell holding a dagger behind her back.
“If you really had no choice, then why are you holding that dagger?”
“Gasp…!”
“Were you planning to kill me…?”
A sob escaped Elize before she could stop it.
The reality she had desperately wanted to deny felt even more cruel now that it was right before her eyes.
“…I’m not going to kill you.”
Having given up on making excuses, Bell brought the dagger forward and tightened her grip.
“Things may have gone wrong, but it can’t be helped. Lady Elize must die through a sacred ritual.”
Bell also burst into tears.
Yet her eyes gleamed with an almost feral intensity.
“A sacred ritual?”
Elize deliberately raised her voice as though she knew nothing.
“The truth is… I lied when I said I needed to support my family. My mother, father, and younger sibling were all killed by monsters.”
Bell began explaining her circumstances through her tears.
“By… monsters?”
“I was only ten years old. What could a girl who had lost both her parents and her sibling and become an orphan possibly have done…?”
Her hand holding the dagger trembled.
Remembering her horrific past, Bell’s teeth chattered as she continued.
“I hated monsters… I hated them so much that, if I had the power, I would have killed every last one of them!”
Without realizing it, Bell raised her voice.
Overcome with emotion, she eventually began laughing and sobbing like someone who had lost her mind.
“But they said that if only Lady Elize dies, everything will be fine… They said that simply touching the protective barrier would kill them…!”
She let out a hollow laugh, then began laughing so hard that her shoulders shook.
“T-Then no one else has to die! Those cruel monsters will all die!”
A hint of madness crept into Bell’s bloodshot eyes.
“You’re the Saintess…”
“So what if I am?”
“You possess the only power of its kind on the entire continent. Isn’t it only natural for you to sacrifice yourself for everyone else…?”
Elize stared blankly at her smiling face, as though Bell had lost her mind.
She almost laughed, too.
“Until I turned eighteen, I had nothing. I had never possessed anything. I was too busy simply surviving like an object without emotions… But I thought that, finally, I had gained a few things…”
A bitter, despondent smile appeared on her heavy expression.
“But I still had nothing after all.”
Her slowly blinking eyes shifted from the documents in her hands to Bell.
“A lover. An older brother. A younger sister.”
But Bell, unaware that Elize’s circumstances were not so different from her own, merely held her dagger at the ready in growing anxiety.
“What are you going to do if I don’t want to sacrifice myself? What if I want to keep living, even if I have to cling desperately to this pitiful life of mine?”
“Then you don’t deserve to be the Saintess.”
Her divine power had suddenly manifested, and it had been only two years since that power had made her the Saintess.
And now they were telling her that if she refused to sacrifice herself, she would lose the right to be one.
“Ha…!”
It was such a ridiculous conclusion that Elize couldn’t help but let out a scornful laugh.
“Then perhaps I should quit being a Saintess like that.”
Elize gritted her teeth and raised her voice.
“No one in this world wants to die. Especially not because someone else decides they should!”
“Then you’re just going to let everyone else die? You wicked woman, no different from that demon Damian…!”
Bell’s attitude suddenly changed as though she had flipped over her palm.
A wicked woman.
Elize actually found herself laughing at how quickly her status had fallen from Saintess to villain.
“A wicked woman. If becoming a Saintess means dying in a way I never wanted, then I’d rather be one.”
“You wicked…!”
What an amusing turn of events.
The woman who had been worshiped as a Saintess was now, at this very moment, being called a villain by Bell.
Ah, so perhaps to someone else, I had also…
“Die, Elize!”
…been the villain.
Indeed, perhaps that name suited her far better.
With that realization came an even deeper sense of guilt toward Damian.
And it was at that very moment, just as Bell’s dagger was about to strike Elize—
“Gasp…!”
Bell’s wrist was seized swiftly and precisely.
The strength gripping her wrist was so powerful that she could no longer resist, and the dagger slipped from her hand.
With a sharp clang, it fell to the floor.
Bell stared at Elize, unable to hide the trembling in her pupils.
“Sorry, Bell.”
She might not have been strong enough to defeat Leonhardt, the captain of the Imperial Guard…
“I grew up rough.”
But subduing one woman smaller than herself was hardly a challenge.
Elize tilted her head from side to side and clenched her fists.
Before the terrified Bell, who had been overwhelmed by the unexpected turn of events, the quiet crack of bones echoed through the room like a final requiem.
