Chapter 1
“You said you loved me……!”
Her voice, already hoarse and breaking, sounded utterly miserable.
Her pride was wounded, and she desperately wanted to keep herself from crying, but the tears flowing against her will were simply merciless.
Yet, in a situation like this, how many people could actually keep themselves from crying?
“Why are you doing this……? You can’t do this to me. The hero of the empire, the continent’s only Saintess……!”
After all, she had been betrayed by the very men she had believed loved her.
“There was no other choice, Elise. I hope you’ll gladly sacrifice yourself for the sake of the empire.”
Ian di Velotin, the man born with not only an enchanting appearance and witty personality, but also powerful magical abilities that had earned him the authority of the Archmage.
“Do not be so saddened. Our feelings of love for you have not changed.”
Esit Glory Ariaton, the Emperor of the Ariaton Empire.
“They say that only by killing you and offering you as a sacrifice can we create a protective barrier across the entire continent capable of keeping the monsters at bay.”
And finally, the hero of the Ariaton Empire, known as the ‘Golden Lion of Ariaton,’ the captain of the Guardian Corps, and……
Her lover, Leonhardt von Gellina.
These three men, who had praised her as the Saintess and whispered that they loved her, had hung her upon a cross in the middle of the square.
And now, they were preparing to burn her alive.
All because they claimed that only her death could create a protective barrier capable of safeguarding the continent.
“I am sorry, Lady Elise.”
And the one who had led the others and even driven a sword into her side was none other than Leonhardt.
An apology spilled from his lips, though she could not tell whether it was sincere or merely an act.
Most hateful of all, there were wrinkles between Leonhardt’s brows, as though he were suffering.
Elise stared at him with eyes that could not believe what she was seeing.
“You said you loved me…….”
Until yesterday, this place had been paradise to Elise.
Elise Dal Rainy, the continent’s only Saintess, blessed with holy power that allowed her to protect the empire from monsters and heal its people.
And the three men who loved her.
It was these very three men, now staring coldly at her, who had placed her in the position of Saintess, a rank higher even than the Pope.
“You said you loved me…….”
Then how could not a single one of them stop something so absurd?
Bound to the stake, her violet eyes filled with tears slowly swept over the three men.
“I love you. Even now.”
“You love me? And yet you’re telling me to sacrifice myself willingly?”
They were worse than beasts.
She glared at them with bloodshot eyes.
“Please, don’t do this. Save me…… I don’t want to die…….”
Faced with imminent death, she finally abandoned even the last shred of her pride and desperately pleaded in a barely audible voice.
But rather than showing mercy to Elise, the people in the square soon erupted into cheers, as though they were encouraging her.
“Redeemer!”
“You’re sacrificing your life for us and creating a protective barrier!”
“We can finally escape the torment of the monsters! Thank you, Saintess!”
They were the people who had come to watch Elise’s final moments.
Seeing the delighted faces of those who were cheering for her death, she couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh.
Holy power could not be used for free. Whenever she expended a large amount of holy power, she had to suffer from a high fever and excruciating pain for at least a week.
And that wasn’t all.
Her trembling eyes fell upon her battered wrists, arms, and legs.
“They said they needed the Saintess’s blood, so I gave them mine without holding anything back……!”
It was said that the Saintess’s blood contained the highest concentration of holy power.
“I was able to do that because I treasured you……! Because I trusted you!”
Whenever they desperately told her that they needed it, she would willingly injure herself and give them her blood.
Her entire body was constantly covered in wounds, but under the name of ‘Saintess,’ and with the unwavering support of those three men, she continued healing the injured and protecting the people from monsters.
But what about now?
Not a single one of the people she had healed and protected was willing to protect her.
This was the moment when the selfish true nature of the citizens she had devoted herself to protecting was finally revealed.
“I love you, Elise. I will watch over you without missing a single moment until your very last breath.”
Just before the fire was lit beneath the cross, Leonhardt tilted his head and pressed his lips against hers.
Perhaps he thought that sharing one final kiss before killing her was unbearably romantic.
But naturally, Elise did not feel the same way.
She bit down hard on Leonhardt’s lips.
“Ugh…….”
Startled by Elise’s sudden action, he hurriedly pulled his lips away.
Blood was already trickling from Leonhardt’s lips.
“How could a Saintess possibly…… bite her lover’s lips…….”
At his ridiculous expression, which seemed genuinely shocked, Elise raised one corner of her mouth.
“Even if everyone here dies because of me, I don’t want to die!”
“Elise!”
“If sacrifice is something you can do so willingly, then why don’t you do it yourselves!”
Even as tears streamed down her face, Elise suddenly began laughing loudly, almost hysterically.
“You cowardly murderers!”
She screamed at Leonhardt as he approached with a torch.
“You’re not a hero either. What kind of hero kills the lover he claims to love? You murderer!”
But his hand did not stop.
At last, flames erupted beneath the pyre.
“Aaaah!”
The fire consumed the logs soaked in oil, gradually climbing higher.
As she began to feel the heat, Elise panicked and screamed.
And just as the flames were about to reach her feet—
“A man called the hero of the empire is actually trying to burn his own lover alive?”
A mocking voice rang thunderously from the sky above.
Then, as though lightning and thunder had struck, someone came plummeting down at tremendous speed.
Everyone rubbed their startled eyes as a powerful cloud of dust swept through the square.
And the person who appeared was……
“You murderous bastard. I knew you’d stab me in the back someday.”
“You are…….”
“Hello, Elise.”
The crown prince of the Devlin Empire, a nation hostile to the Ariaton Empire, and a man infamous as the madman of the age—
Damian Feril Devlin.
He was also notorious as the villain who constantly sought opportunities to get his hands on Elise, the continent’s only Saintess.
“See? I told you.”
His gleaming green eyes flashed with a venomous intensity.
“I’m the one who loves you most in this world.”
In an instant, he extinguished the flames beneath the pyre and raised the corner of his mouth into a sly grin.
Slightly parted lips revealed fangs that were a little sharper than ordinary ones.
His fiery red hair, seemingly burning like the flames that had nearly consumed her, fluttered in the wind.
“I don’t care whether this world is destroyed or not.”
Damian completely ignored the others glaring at him and gazed solely at Elise.
“Because all I need is you.”
The words she had wanted to hear all along—from someone who was neither a hero, nor an Archmage, nor an emperor……
“Let’s watch the end of the world together, Elise.”
They came from the lips of the villain known as a madman.
He slowly reached out his hand toward Elise.
It was strange that blood was dripping from the end of his sleeve, but Elise had no reason not to take his hand.
“Save me, Damian……!”
“Of course.”
With a crooked smile, Damian lightly kissed Elise’s cheek before reaching toward the ropes binding her.
That was when it happened.
Elise’s gaze passed over Damian as he worked to untie the knots and landed on Leonhardt in the distance.
It was very faint, but he was definitely smiling.
Something felt wrong. Elise immediately shouted toward Damian.
“Damian!”
But their despicable scheme was faster than Elise’s voice.
BOOM!
With an ear-splitting explosion, a choking gas began spreading throughout the square.
“Ugh, ngh……!”
“Save…… save me……!”
The people gathered in the square began collapsing one after another, blood-red tears streaming from their eyes.
Their labored breaths gradually ceased, and before long, the square was filled with death.
The gas was none other than poison.
“Damian!”
Elise’s trembling eyes turned toward him. Damian, who had not managed to untie her completely, was coughing up blood and writhing in agony.
Something was wrong. No matter how potent the poison was, wasn’t Damian a villain whose hobby was collecting poisons?
“Damn it…….”
But then she noticed Damian’s shirt, stained red with blood.
“D-Damian…….”
The only people still standing upright in the square were Leonhardt, Esit, and Ian, who had taken antidotes in advance.
“If we can kill the crown prince of the Devlin Empire, who has been nothing but a nuisance, and obtain a protective barrier capable of safeguarding the continent at the same time, who could possibly refuse?”
“It was a somewhat underhanded method, but there was no other choice. I have to admit, I respect the effort it took for you to make it all the way here through all those soldiers.”
“Lady Elise, I…… am simply sorry.”
“You……!”
From the very beginning, he had already been wounded when he came here.
“Ugh, you filthy bastards…….”
Yet Damian groaned and somehow managed to rise to his feet.
Even in this desperate situation, it seemed he had not given up on saving her.
His hand moved sluggishly as he tried to undo the knots by any means possible.
“Damian, stop…….”
She had already been poisoned anyway. Just like the people who had fallen around them, her life would soon come to an end.
“……I didn’t want you to see me looking so unkempt.”
Looking at his shirt stained with both poisonous gas and blood, Damian joked with a smile.
“Damian…….”
“Of course, dying like this…… wouldn’t be so bad either. Dying while saving you…….”
Even as he struggled to speak through his pale face, his hands never stopped working on the knots.
Soon, he finally managed to undo the two knots binding Elise’s wrists.
At the same time, her suspended body tilted sharply.
Elise fell straight into his arms.
Unfortunately, Damian no longer had enough strength even to hold her.
Their bodies collided, and the two of them fell to the ground together.
Even as he fell, the corners of his lips remained curved upward.
“Because it would be the greatest honor of all to me.”
“Damian, in my next life…….”
Resting her face against Damian’s chest, Elise breathed heavily and forced the words out with difficulty.
“I’ll definitely…… love you.”
“That…… is the best thing I’ve heard all day.”
With those final words, the eyes of the two, which had been slowly growing dim, closed simultaneously.
She had just thought that, at least before dying, she was fortunate to have found even one person who truly cared for her.
At that very moment—
“Gasp……!”
Elise’s eyes suddenly snapped open again.
