Chapter 23

Ludwig had returned safely, but he was in a terrible state. When I saw the wounds on his arms and body, I shrank back.

“I’m sorry, Saintess. I’m still lacking…” Luciana led Ludwig into a room, and he immediately got on his knees with his injured body.

“You idiot!” This had all happened because Elder Marxen had taken Ludwig with him! I was pissed off when I heard what he did, but when I remembered that he had died, I calmed down. “Are you just injured? Or is there anything else?”

Luciana replied to my question, “We already used detoxification magic to counter the poison inside him. We’re lucky that it was a poison that could be neutralized by magic.”

“What in the world happened?”

Ludwig shook his head to show he didn’t know. “Elder Marxen told me to patrol the area alone, so I left. But I was attacked by an unidentified assailant.”

I tilted my head. “What? I thought he was killed by a beast.” Ludwig’s expression grew rigid. It seemed he didn’t know what happened. I had a feeling something was off. If it had been an unidentified assailant, then someone was trying to get at Ludwig.

“Saintess, this is…” Ludwig gave me something with his battered body. It was a small badge, and I immediately recognized what it was.

“…” There was no way I could mistake the pattern depicting a rising star. It was the symbol of the Vios senate. I gripped onto the badge tightly and said, “So Elder Marxen was trying to kill you.” I felt like someone had thrown cold water on me. Elder Marxen didn’t want to lose his divine power, so he had tried to kill Ludwig to keep his promise. My blood grew cold.

“My goodness.” I knew that the people of the Holy Empire didn’t view outsiders as humans, but I never imagined I would see something like this with my own eyes. ‘I almost lost Ludwig here.’ I got dizzy.

“I’m sorry, Saintess. I’m still weak…”

“If you’re that sorry, recover quickly.” As I said that, a bright light exploded out of my fingertips. The healing light enveloped Ludwig and immediately healed him.

Ludwig’s eyes trembled as he looked at me. “To think the saintess herself would heal me.”

“And take this.” I returned the holy sword I had taken from him.

“Saintess…

“I can’t take this until I’ve become a person worthy of holding the holy sword.”

“Don’t talk nonsense,” I said. Ludwing was lucky he had survived this incident. No one knew what would happen next time. He needed to have good equipment to raise his chances of survival. “Ludwig.”

“Yes, Saintess.”

“Let’s get stronger.” Ludwig’s expression shook, and he looked at me with his blue eyes. I continued, “But if you meet a strong opponent who you can’t beat, it’s okay to run away.” It was possible that he would be too embarrassed to flee, but I thought differently. “The most important thing is to stay alive.”

The Ludwig in front of me and the Ludwig I had seen in my dreams overlapped. I recalled his bloody body that had protected Priscilla until the end. His huge, sturdy back had endured everything. Since I had brought him with me, I could never lose him. “You can never die. Understand?”

His teary, blue eyes looked at mine. His Adam’s apple moved, and he managed to let out a small voice. “I will! I will get stronger so that something like this never happens again.”

“Good!” My expression changed, and I smiled at him. Ludwig’s hand gripped onto the holy sword so tightly that I could see the bones in his hand. I didn’t exactly know what he was thinking, but I got the gist of it. I told Ludwig to rest well, then left with Luciana.

“Elder Marxen…” I wasn’t sad to hear that he had passed away. I actually thought it was a good thing that someone like him was dead. “It’s weird.”

Usually, villains like him didn’t die that easily. ‘Was he really attacked by a beast?’ “Did… Daddy do something?” I rolled my eyes after thinking for a bit. I made my decision. No, my dad would never do something like that. It was karma.

* * *

I was having a hard time seducing the male lead. There was one reason. ‘Kais!’ I went to look for him whenever I had free time, but he never fell for it. He was amazing! He was like an iron wall.

“Hi, Kais. You again look handsome today. I’m looking forward to seeing you in ten years.”

“…”

“What’re you doing?”

“…”

“Did you know? My daddy’s amazing. First of all, he’s good-looking.”

“…”

“He’s also extremely strong. He could probably conquer the world.”

“…”

Kais never responded to me, but I kept chattering on like a broken radio. It was a kind of brainwashing.

“Good morning, Kais!”

It had been days since I was coming over to him, but I had yet to receive a greeting. Well, I did understand why it was like this. Harel was still unconscious, and I could tell Kais was getting worried.

I was going to brainwash him again today, but I decided to visit Luciana instead. “Luci, did the doctors and the priests come?”

“Yes. They told us to watch over him.”

“Until when will we have to watch over him?” If this went on, Kais would probably die before Harel. Kais sat next to Harel every day. He didn’t even eat either. “Has he been like that today too?”

Luciana nodded.

“Hm.” I didn’t like it. He was still a growing boy, so he needed to eat well! It worried me about his physical and mental condition. His mental wall was like a cracker right now. It could crumble under the slightest pressure.

‘Those are delicious.’

I couldn’t let this continue! “Go eat!” I grabbed his arm and pulled it, but he was too strong. Although he was young, the scary atmosphere around him was just as strong as Miltiades’s. However, in my eyes, Kais was still a child!

“I’ll watch over Harel,” I said.

“…”

“You can’t trust me?” He made an expression as if he couldn’t. “That’s upsetting. Who saved Harel again?”

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His dangerous atmosphere subsided a bit. ‘There we go.’ I proudly looked at him, and Kais looked back at me in disgust. I patted his head. “It’s okay. It’s not your fault that he got hurt.” When I said this, Kais’s expression changed. I had said those words because I thought he was blaming himself. It seemed like I was correct. “I’ll protect Harel. Go and eat something. You need to be healthy to greet him when he wakes up.”

It looked like Kais wanted to say something. I waited for him, but he just glared. Whenever we made eye contact, I unknowingly praised him. “Your eyes are so pretty.”

Kais’s eyes shook.

“Do you wanna marry me in the future?” I jokingly said it to him, but Kais flung off my arm. When he moved, I saw a geometric shape above his collarbone. ‘… A subjugation seal!’ Subjugation seals were proof of one being a slave.

While I was staring at the subjugation seal, Kais left the room. He had only eaten one meal the previous day, and I was worried he would do the same today.

“Arrogant kid. The saintess has been looking over him like this…”

It seemed like other people were upset at Kais’s actions. I was fine, though. In fact, it was fun to seduce someone who didn’t respond well.

“Saintess.”

“Yeah?”

“I was curious about something. Why are you taking care of them so much?”

‘Why?’ “Because they’re in the same situation as me?”

Luciana’s expression grew frozen.

‘They were fated to become sacrifices in this scary world. Like me.’ That was the only reason, but it seemed Luciana took it a different way.

“I see. The saintess… Was also like them…”

I didn’t know what Luciana was thinking, but she grew solemn. So I explained, “Luciana, it’s not what you’re thinking.”

“Yes, I know.”

“No, I mean it.”

“It’s fine, Saintess. You don’t need to hide anything from me.”

‘It really wasn’t!’ If I kept denying it, I knew her misunderstanding would only grow. ‘Well, whatever.’ I left Luciana and went to Harel.

“Harel.” He was still sleeping. Unlike Kais, Harel was soft and pretty. The only difference between the two of them was Harel’s silver hair. ‘They said his silver hair was the result of my miracle.’ I poked his soft cheek and started thinking. ‘Why isn’t he waking up?’

“Wake up soon.” When I said that, a white light came out of my finger and exploded into gold. “…?” ‘Can this also be considered a prayer?’

Luciana and I were both shocked that I had done something. As we remained confused, a holy golden light blew around. Harel opened his eyes. He blinked a few times, then opened his mouth. “… Miss Angel?”

‘Well, all’s well that ends well, right?’