Chapter 41: CH 41

Tina denied the reality as if she had gone mad, but when there was no one to defend her, she crawled towards Alberto.

“Sir Mikhael! This is different from what you said. You said you would give me the wealth and honor of Elium…”

“You dirty fake saintess!”

Alberto took a teacup from the table and, before anyone could stop him, grabbed her chin and forced it into her slightly gaping lips.

“How dare you deceive me and the Empress!”

Tea water from the cup dripped into her lips.

“Sir Mikhael!”

Kyle shouted and approached Alberto, pulled him off by force and rolled him up.

But the cup already clinked and shattered when it hit the floor. And, having already drunk it to some extent, the Fake Saintess from Thiago, Tina, grabbed her neck with two hands.

“Cough, cough…”

I furrowed my eyebrows.

Although I’m a compulsive accomplice to this fraud, it wasn’t pleasant to watch people die in front of my eyes.

The ‘white’ of White Sand flower was named not because the flower was white, but because people died within a hundred seconds. (t/n: both ‘white’ and ‘a hundred’ are called 백 (baek) in korean)

“Drag her out!”

At the Emperor’s thunderous cry, the door opened and the soldiers entered. And they started dragging out the dying fake saintess.

Alberto, whose complexion had turned red, bowed deeply to the Emperor.

“Your Imperial Majesty. I didn’t think the saintess I brought from the temple was a fake… . I deeply apologize.”

The Emperor shouted at Mikhael in an angry voice.

“Such an absurd disrespect is being committed! Besides, you’re blaming the temple for this madness?!”

The Empress was keeping her mouth shut with her tight face.

It was funny that her hand flinched every time the Emperor shouted.

“Quickly get down on your knees to the Saintess and ask for forgiveness!”

At the Emperor’s words, Alberto put on a bewildered expression, and I twisted the tip of my lips.

He grinded his teeth and knelt before me.

Since the incumbent Empress couldn’t bow down and apologize, the Emperor was planning to blame Alberto for everything.

“Please forgive me for my disrespect. Saintess.”

I leaned slightly down and made eye contact with him.

‘He’s a madman who hits people with a horse, and he just killed a woman.’

How many people are being harmed?

“Sir Mikhael.”

I raised my hand and patted him on the cheek.

In the eyes of others, it will look like it was just brought. However, since I used Ciel’s blessing, he must have felt a shock similar to being slapped on the cheek.

“…!”

I saw him widen his eyes.

I whispered to him, still smiling.

“Just now, the God of Benevolence has told me to deliver it.”

I got up again and smiled softly.

“Please be careful in the future.”

A chat window flashed in front of me.

[The God of Benevolence, Oman, nods satisfactorily.]

Well, it’s not a lie.

Then the Emperor’s trembling voice was heard.

“Today’s work is on me, not the temple.”

I bowed my head slightly to the Emperor and said,

“It must be my fault that they misunderstood because I’m weak.”

[The God of Art, Mond, pays tribute to your acting skills.]

The Emperor paused his words and opened his mouth again.

“You are indeed the spiritual leader of Elium and the people of the Empire. My…”

He immediately placed a hand on Kyle’s shoulder, who was standing next to him.

“Please keep in touch with my son in the future.”

I could see Kyle’s eyebrows wriggle at the Emperor’s words.

I smiled awkwardly and the emperor continued.

“I don’t mean to say it at a place like this, but if the Saintess is really close enough to my son to write a proposal letter, you are welcomed to the Imperial Family.”

Not knowing how to respond, Kyle broke the brief silence that followed.

“Your Imperial Majesty. The Saintess seems tired today, so I will see her off.”

The Emperor nodded his head.

“Yes. Do that. And.”

The Emperor continued with an awkward smile.

“I’ll give the Saintess royal treasures as gifts for you who came running here, so please wait a little bit.”

It seemed to be a gift to compensate for today’s disrespect.

‘The price of the White Rotunia root will be fully compensated.’

I glanced towards the Empress.

She was holding her stomach tight and staring at this side with her piercing eyes.

The dark face suited her quite well.

***

One can only escort someone to the carriage, but Kyle went all the way to get on the carriage. And he offered to take me to the temple.

He seemed to have something to say, so I didn’t dare say no.

When I was looking at the scenery passing by for a while.

“You must have something to tell me.”

His voice echoed softly inside the carriage.

Looking at the scenery of the passing streets, I answered indifferently.

“Don’t ask me how I got the Rotunia tea. It’s a trade secret.”

Outside, the sun was setting slowly before I knew it.

“I have no way to know. Whether it was your intention to deceive Reihausd.”

His piercing eyes touched me.

“Or, with what intentions, Reihausd dared to play tricks on me.”

There was a threatening force in his voice.

“If it is true that you’re a fake saintess, even that.”

“Whether I’m fake or real, the important thing is that I have been helping Your Highness from the beginning to the present.”

I shrugged and answered him.

Some of the major reasons they made Ariel the fake saintess were that she was stupid and incapable of betraying, and that she had no family to come and go with.

And because the priestesses may one day risk confessing the secret because of their special devotion.

Ariel wasn’t a conscientious, pious, and unparalleled person.

However, now no one sees me as the Ariel I used to be.

I looked at him while maintaining my composure and said in a clear voice.

“I’ll never bite you, so don’t worry.”

He twisted his lips bitterly at my words, which were claiming that I was harmless. There was a deep curiosity in her red eyes.

“Are you asking me to believe you?”

I kept my composure and smiled lightly, like a joke.

“Your Highness is free to say what you think of me, but it isn’t beneficial to have a clear enemy and focus on other things.”

Then he looked out the window again.

‘Today’s performance seems to have unintentionally drawn Kyle’s interest.’

The carriage entered the temple.

As I was about to get down with him sitting crooked behind me, his low voice rang in my ear.

“Ariel.”

I paused and turned around, and he grabbed my wrist.

His eyes, burning redder than the sunset, fluttered right in front of me. He suddenly came up to me and bowed his torso towards me.

“The offer to come to the Imperial Palace isn’t valid from today, but I plan to find you often.”

I stared at him with awkward eyes.

No… Why?

“Whether you’re fake or real.”

I stared at his shadow on the floor. A low voice pierces my ears.

“Now it’s clear that we have the same enemy.”

The thought of the Empress’s ferocious countenance made my mind complicated at the thought that this wouldn’t end here.

“To be honest, this is because of you. You wanted to live quietly, yet.”

Kyle whispered to me, who spoke like a grimace.

“You’re shameless. If you wanted to live a quiet life, you should’ve rejected the High Priest’s offer in the first place.”

I didn’t accept the offer, but I had nothing to say.

“Whoever you are, know one thing.”

His intense red eyes were staring at me.

His lips twitched again.

“All the lives of those in the same boat with me are mine.”

There was an arrogant confidence in his voice.

“No one dares to harm my person without my permission.”

Perhaps because I was surprised by the sudden approach in his eyes, my heart was racing, and my head was complicated.

It’s ‘my person’.

I must have entered Kyle’s boundary with this incident.

I said, avoiding my gaze.

“Even if Your Highness doesn’t protect me, I can protect my body well. So you don’t have to worry about it.”

It was fortunate that I was recognized as a ‘friend’, but I didn’t want to shorten my life by getting closer.

“You know it’s too late to draw a line.”

He stared at me for a long time with his blazing red eyes.

“Besides, do you know that that attitude excites me even more?”

How should I answer that?

I avoided his gaze and kept my mouth shut.

After a while, he immediately opened the door of the carriage.

“I’ll get to the temple soon.”

I turned and walked out of the carriage, then Dwayne closed the door of the carriage again.

After a while, I took a step forward. Unintentionally, my peaceful daily life was getting more and more cracked.

“Saintess, what should I do with these treasures?”

Dwayne asked me, looking at the treasure chests in the carriage that followed.

“His Imperial Majesty gave them to me personally.”

If I sell it, it will be well over 10,000 franc.

“Please move them to my room.”

“I understand.”

The sunset was getting darker and dusky.