BSLFS 01

Chapter 1

“I’m marrying Hannah. Leila, a lowborn girl with no parents or name, could never be queen. — I’m breaking off our engagement!!”

My fiancé, Crown Prince Aidan, suddenly barged into the Great Temple’s prayer chamber and pointed sharply at me as he declared this.

Standing beside him was a young lady — Lady Hannah, if I recall correctly, the daughter of a duke.

I think I’d seen her once before at some kind of church ceremony.
She wore a beautiful dress back then, and I remember thinking, Wow, she’s so cute… it really suits her.
After all, I always had to wear the plain white robes of a saint — I never got to dress up like that.

Today again, Lady Hannah was wearing a lovely orange dress that perfectly matched her golden hair.
How nice…

“Hey, you! Are you even listening?”

I must have been staring too dreamily, because Lady Hannah suddenly snapped at me.

“Ah, um… you said you’re breaking off the engagement? Understood.”

I nodded earnestly.
And, well, what Aidan-sama said wasn’t exactly wrong.

I don’t know who my parents are.
When I was old enough to remember anything, I was already living here — in the Great Temple of the Kingdom of Kiara.
Apparently, my parents had abandoned me here because they couldn’t raise me.

The ones who raised me were the Archbishop and the Sisters.
They told me that since I had strong magical power, I should be grateful for being allowed to live and use that power to pray for the good of the kingdom.
So, imitating the Archbishop, I prayed every day… and before I knew it, people had started calling me a Saint.
Eventually, the Archbishop arranged my engagement to the Crown Prince, Aidan-sama.

Well, since I owed them for raising me, I didn’t really object.
But honestly, me becoming a queen? That’s way too much to ask.

“What do you mean ‘understood’? If you say it so easily, it’ll sound like I’m stealing him from you!”

Lady Hannah’s face twisted in anger.
…I wonder why she’s mad?

“Aidan-sama! This girl— she bullied me! When I came to the temple, she pushed me down the stairs and—!”

Huh? I don’t recall that at all.

“You did what!? Leila!!!”

“I-I didn’t! I have no memory of that!”

I shook my head frantically.
But Aidan-sama seemed to only hear what Hannah said.

“So the poor are rotten to the core, huh? How could someone like you ever serve as a saint!”

Aidan-sama pulled Hannah into his arms and pointed at me again.

“And what good has your so-called ‘prayer’ ever done for this country anyway, you money-draining parasite!!”

“Ugh…” I couldn’t respond.
It’s true that ever since I was little, I’ve prayed every day like I was told, but… I never actually felt like anything happened because of it.

Still, I kept praying from morning till night, every day without fail.
I wasn’t allowed to eat meat, wasn’t allowed to own anything for myself — all because I was a Saint.
I worked so hard to follow all those rules, and now he’s denying everything I’ve done…
That’s honestly too cruel!!!

Aidan-sama pointed at me again.

“So I was right! A useless, rotten-hearted Saint like you has no place here! Get out of my kingdom!!”

I looked up suddenly.

“…Leave the kingdom? Are you saying I can really do that?”

“‘Eh?’”

Both of them looked at each other, startled by my unexpected reply.