Chapter 22: Chapter 21

21 – Candidate for Saint – 2

For a while, Rosaria, who couldn’t bear her rage and kept grumbling, managed to calm her excitement after a considerable time. Once her head cooled down, she busied herself in earnest with her hand fan as if waves of embarrassment were washing over her.

“…Ahem, excuse me. I got too excited by myself.”

“What’s wrong with that? It was quite infuriating.”

It was understandable why Rosaria ground her teeth towards the pulpit.

Despite having to listen to their filthy words as if demanding attention on her outrageous attire, her freedom was severely restricted.

Perhaps, if the regression had repeated a bit more, she would have been destroyed much faster than Priscilla. At least Priscilla did not end up being like an animal locked in a zoo.

‘…Isn’t this supposed to be romance?’

What kind of romance would dress its character in such clothing?

“Anyway, you understand why I did that, right? I had my reasons.”

“Sure, but how do you know if one has lost chastity? It’s not like you can blatantly put them to the test, can you?”

“There is a way.”

Rosaria brushed off my question quite simply.

“It’s better to show you than to explain. Hold on a moment, I usually hide it because it draws so much attention.”

Rosaria brought her two hands together in front of her chest and muttered a brief prayer. Then, a luminous halo rose just above her head. From the halo, a faint white light leaked, brightening the surroundings.

Since her own words said that it attracted too much attention and she had to hide it, once it was out, it was impossible to ignore.@@novelbin@@

“What is that? A halo?”

“Supposedly, it’s a symbol of a saint or something. The reason Rosaria was dragged to the Vatican as a candidate for the saint was also because of this. Later… no, I can tell you. Stupidly, in the future, my place as the candidate for the saint is being taken away by that girl Aria. Even then, the halo went to her after the goddess chose Aria.”

Indeed, if such a clear evidence of a saint was present, the church would have had no choice but to take her.

“It determines chastity by popping up on its own without my will, especially when there are many people wielding divine power around. So, it was always on when I was in the Vatican. But what would happen if I went back to the Vatican and the halo didn’t come up all of a sudden? And what if I claimed that the reason was because I had been sleeping with a man?”

Hearing my nod of understanding, Rosaria approached me with an extremely desperate expression and held my hand.

“Do me a favor. I’m so tired of living like this. I detest wearing clothes even a low class prostitute would reject, being hailed as a saint in this outfit, the lecherous looks from old bastards, the stigma of a heretic, and being treated as a slave to the point where I’m practically dying. Please….”

Her bright red eyes began to moisten with tears.

“Can’t you just do it with me once, with your eyes closed?”

She moved even closer, her scent of milk filling my nostrils again.

“It’s not just good for me. It’s good for you too, isn’t it? Whatever your preference is, I’ll accommodate it. Even if it’s a bit intense, as long as I don’t die, I’ll accept it. It could cure you, so why can’t you just let it happen? I may be a little awkward since it’s my first time, but I will try really hard. Okay?”

I gently pulled her hand towards me. Rosaria looked at me with a mix of worry and anticipation in her eyes.

“I guess I could do it if you insist, but let me ask you one more thing before that.”

“…What is it this time?”

Maybe she was still feeling the rejection to her last question, Rosaria asked with an anxious tone in her voice.

“If you get stripped of your saintess title, what then? Have you thought about what you’ll do next?”

“…Huh?”

Hmm, the hand I’m holding started to shake.

“That’s right. Why do you think you were living as a slave by Aria’s side after you got branded in the original work? Why do you think Aria, who initially wanted to set you free, changed her mind? It’s clear that if you leave Aria’s side, given what you’ve been up to till now, you’ll have to face the consequences.“

“…”

“Let’s assume you lose your saintess status as planned. What’s left for you then? Do you have any savings? A place to live? Have you even thought about how you’re going to leave the papacy once they strip you of your saintess position? Do you honestly believe those rotten old men who’ve been looking at you with such eyes would just let you go quietly without a fight?”

“…”

“They definitely won’t. They can easily justify your dismissal by saying you’ve lost your virginity, which should automatically disqualify you from being a candidate for the position of the Saintess. I may not be well informed about the church’s rules, but do you believe a simple nun with a relatively powerful divine force, like you, can escape on her own? Can you go past heavily guarded layers of soldiers?”

Rosaria shook her head in silence. She seemed to admit that leaving on her own was a tough task too. If her divine power could be used in a fight, it might be a different story, but in this world, divine power is only used for healing purposes.

It’s only because the effectiveness of this healing ability is so overwhelmingly superior that its reputation is big.

“Well, I could protect you. We both are reincarnated after all. But I’m not sure whether my parents—well, if I ask them, they would likely agree, but engaging in a direct clash with the church would be a big loss for us too, don’t you think?”

Even if the Starlight Church decides to go hard on us, the Crate family won’t allow the loss to be huge. It could be much worse than ‘quite large.’

We do have a last resort in preparation for such a situation, but that’s literally the last resort—it’s a highly potent tool, too, so I’d rather save it till the very end.

“Don’t tell me you never thought about this and just decided to quit being a saintess with no plan whatsoever?”

“…”

Rosaria was unable to refute my words and let go of my hand. Her head dropped listlessly.

“…I’m sorry; I was shortsighted. You’re absolutely right.”

“There’s no reason for you to apologize. All of this is the church’s fault. So, try not to blame yourself too much.”

Even though Priscilla had to regress over a hundred times, Rosaria’s situation was far more critical, and certainly not for any good.

She thought she found a way out and rushed forward without even having any specific plans.

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“So, what should I do now? Do I have to go back there? To those perverts?”

“Do you really need to? You could just stay here at the academy.”

“Stay at the academy?”

Rosaria’s eyes widened in surprise.

“No matter who opposes it, if I insist on having you here, what can they actually do? They’ve allowed “Rosaria” to do as she pleases so far. It’d be a miracle if they don’t kick her out.”

“That’s true, but….”

“Don’t worry, I have numerous excuses for it. You can use the recent demonic incident at the Berylium forest as an excuse to stay here. With such an excellent reason, who would dare to kick you out?”

At my words, Rosaria’s eyes lit up with hope.

“Fair enough. What’s next then?”

“Initially, stay at the academy and maintain your status until Aria is chosen as a saintess. You’ll find that status useful in many ways. You must have saved a lot too, right? Time to tap into it.”

Despite its high risk, if the timing sticks to the original, there’s still more than a year left till the saintess selection episode as Aria is supposed to visit the academy next year.

For a while now, I had planned to milk every possible benefit from the Starlight Order through Rosaria. It was not that I was lacking money. Just that it was more fun to spend others’ money than my own.

Rosaria seemed quite pleased with the idea of feeding off the Order, chuckling and nodding her head in agreement.

“I quite like that. What’s next?”

“We have to dilute rumors about you. I’ve heard you’re crazy, torturing nuns while being a candidate for the Holy Maiden. But seeing you in person, you’re nothing like the rumors suggest. That way, even if you’re stripped of your candidacy, at least it won’t be like the original story.”

In the original story, Rosaria had a horde of enemies in the academy as she lacked any sort of virtue. Thus, as soon as Aria was confirmed as the Holy Maiden, she was pointed at and cursed from all sides.

But it wouldn’t be like that from now on.

“Yes, and then?”

“When you are stripped of your candidacy… don’t worry, I have thought something out.”

The last possible move, also the most powerful one.

Healing magic.

If I unleash this, it will provide ample protection for Rosaria. The higher-ups of our twisted empire and all the magicians would side with me.

Of course, I wasn’t planning to reveal it just to protect just Rosaria. I thought I’d need to reveal it eventually anyway. I just thought at that time, it would be the best to do so.

Might as well get the most use out of it.

“Fine, I’ll do as you say. No matter what.”

Rosaria nodded solemnly.

Our conversation ended there. As I was about to leave after finishing my advice on her future actions, Rosaria stopped me.

“Ah, wait a moment. Mira?”

“Why-“

Before I could finish my question, Rosaria pulled my face closer and kissed me. I could feel a soft sensation against my lips and the tangy scent of milk filled my senses.

Foreign saliva flowed into my mouth and Rosaria’s face filled my vision. A warm feeling spread from my chest.

Her tongue, protruding between our lips, thoroughly gathered my saliva and returned it to her mouth. She swallowed, a small gulp sound audible.

“Hmm…”

After what felt more than a near 10 seconds, Rosaria broke the kiss, cutting off the silver string that connected us with her finger and smiled impishly.

“I’ve marked you with my lips. You know not to abandon me now, right?”

She might not be crazy, but she certainly was not normal.

The next day, when the events that happened during the dungeon practice were officially announced, Belium Academy turned upside down.

Students were initially spreading whispers about the event that forced the practice to stop. But now everything was chaotic.

The academy declared the next day a holiday, and access to the Belium Forest was banned for two weeks. News spread that Professor Jeina had to sit still and write a reprimand due to her failure to manage the dungeon properly.

It was truly unfortunate, but it was still a reduced punishment from the original that was dismissal.

The artifact recorded the state of the dungeon just five minutes before the start of the session, and homage was paid to the hustle-bustle of rescuing students.

News also came that the Chairman had to explain the situation to the Imperial Palace. The Crown Prince gritted his teeth, his face not hiding his displeasure, the opposition was gleefully creating a ruckus.

However, the chaos eased pretty quickly.

Rosaria Leone de Mikaella, a strong Holy Maiden candidate from the Starlight Order, declared that she would stay in the academy for a while to prevent such events.

The Order fervently opposed it, of course, but a few hours later, three high priests who came to dissuade the Maiden were carried out battered and bruised.

Their persuasion failed, it seemed.

“I didn’t know beating people up could be so fun. You should have seen their faces when they got their teeth knocked out.”

Rosaria was radiant when I met her after the incident. With every wave of her arm, she passionately described how she fought them off.

“Don’t tell me you enjoyed it?”

“Hey, would I do that? Relax. It was limited only to those bastards I hate.”

Despite slightly regaining her appetite, Rosaria glanced at the person seated next to me.

“So, I just need to ask the Starlight Sect for something?”

Priscilla was sitting next to me.