Chapter 45
Light novel: Episode 45
Manhwa: Chapter 19
However, the thing I was most worried about didn’t happen.
“Saintess! Y-your blood…!”
Ah, right. I vomited blood just now. And quite a lot of it too.
“……”
I glanced down slightly and realized it looked worse than I thought.
It wasn’t just my entire face that was covered. My hands and even the white nightgown I was wearing were soaked bright red as well…
It was practically a crime scene. A scene that might warrant an R-rating but for entirely different reasons than before.
“Are you all right?!”
Thankfully, the kind-hearted Captain of the Holy Order didn’t suspect me.
If it had been anyone other than Seth who saw this scene first, I probably would’ve been branded a murderer on the spot.
I let out a genuine sigh of relief.
“I’m fine. I’m not hurt anywhere.”
Seth’s face, which had rushed in close, was so deathly pale with worry that I hurried to calm him down.
“I just overused my divine power a little.”
Thankfully, the clash seemed to have ended, and I wasn’t coughing up any more blood.
“Overused…”
But Seth’s real anger was only just beginning.
He glared furiously at Jeremy, who was still lying collapsed on the floor.
With an intensity even more chilling than when he caught the embezzling head chef, his expression was razor-sharp.
“Is it him? Is that the bastard who attacked the Saintess?”
His aura was so violently overwhelming that even with my mental strength buff active, it still felt terrifying.
The moment my body started to freeze at the sight of him slowly drawing his sword—
【AI System has detected fear levels exceeding safe threshold in the user.】
【To ensure smooth activity, increasing user’s mental fortitude.】
With the perfectly timed system message, I could finally breathe again.
Phew, what a well-timed mental fortitude buff update!
“Wait!”
I quickly grabbed Seth’s arm.
Seth, who had been about to strike Jeremy down on the spot, flinched in surprise and swiftly switched his sword to the other hand.
“Saintess, it’s dangerous!”
“It’s fine. It’s not dangerous. Look closely, I already disarmed him.”
It was only then that Seth seemed to notice the assassin’s clothes had been completely stripped off, and he flinched again.
I hadn’t removed the entire lower section—there were some things I didn’t want to see—but still, it was quite the humiliating state to be caught in if he tried to run away.
“I didn’t have any rope, so I tore up his clothes and used those instead.”
“A wise decision.”
Seth acknowledged my choice. But that didn’t mean he was backing down.
“Still, the threat isn’t completely gone. He should be locked up and interrogated to find out who sent him.”
He glared at Jeremy like he wanted to chew him up.
“…He put the Saintess in danger and even made you cough up blood. I want to punish him right this moment, but—”
He swallowed back the urge to say he wanted to kill him, barely managing to spit out the rest of his sentence.
“But we must follow proper procedure. We will keep him alive until we find out who is behind this.”
Wow. That’s one deadly-sounding way to show concern.
Ahem. Well, not that I dislike being worried about.
“And from now on, we’ll strengthen the Saintess’s personal guard. It seems insufficient to have only Lady Victoria as your bodyguard. We should increase the number of your escorts.”
“…Excuse me?”
Wait. I didn’t account for this development!
“I’ve already completed the restructuring of the Second Division which is responsible for escorting the Saintess, so it doesn’t make sense for Lady Victoria to be handling it alone until now.”
No, but I liked it that way…
I’m a fake Saintess with barely a sliver of divine power, not to mention all the secrets I’m hiding. Having more people constantly hanging around is just inconvenient and uncomfortable.
“No, I’m fine with how it is now. Having Monica and Lady Victoria with me is enough. I don’t want anyone more.”
I was firm in my refusal, because if I hesitated even slightly, I had a feeling he’d push it through immediately.
But perhaps because of what happened today, Seth didn’t back down so easily.
“But you’re alone at night, aren’t you? This all happened precisely because of that.”
…Ugh. I really had nothing to say to that.
“Ahem! We’ll talk about that later. Right now, we need to deal with this guy first.”
I looked down at Jeremy.
It seemed the pain had finally stopped because he had stopped thrashing around. Instead, he just lay face-down, trembling every now and then.
“Is he like this because he was struck by the Saintess’s divine power?”
Seth asked as he examined Jeremy’s pupils and pulse in detail.
“It’s something like that. In that sense, there’s something I need to find out from him too, so I’ll be taking part in the interrogation. Which means until I’m done, you can’t kill him.”
“We can handle the—”
“I’ll do it myself.”
Not taking no for an answer.
“…Understood.”
Thankfully, this time my firmness worked.
With a sigh, Seth nodded and easily hoisted the limp Jeremy over his shoulder.
Whoa… Jeremy may still be young, but as a potential male lead, he’s got a pretty sturdy frame. Yet Seth lifted him like he weighed nothing, just like a cat.
It didn’t even seem like he used his divine power either. I envy his strength.
“You must’ve been terribly shaken this late at night. Please get some rest. I will inform the High Priest of the situation.”
“Ah, thank you.”
“…It’s not something to thank me for. Rather, I should be apologizing to you, Saintess.”
Seth bit down hard on his lip.
Seeing his guilty expression, he’s clearly blaming himself for another breach in the grand temple’s security.
But this time, it really isn’t his fault.
Jeremy is someone who carries the curse of a god on his body.
Ironically, that curse tormented him, but it also made him stronger than anyone else. He literally surpassed the limits of humanity.
That’s why, except for Seth himself, the average holy knights couldn’t possibly stop him.
“Still, I’m grateful you got here in time. You’re amazing as always, Captain. I always believe in you.”
Of course, I couldn’t tell him any of this, so I simply offered him the most heartfelt comfort I could manage.
“Let’s investigate together tomorrow to figure out how this guy broke through the grand temple’s security. So for now, let’s rest up for tomorrow.”
I patted his broad back with a bright smile.
Seth gave a bitter smile and nodded.
“Have a peaceful night, Saintess. No one will disturb you again tonight, so rest without worry.”
Leaving that as his parting words, Seth exited the room with Jeremy in tow.
Only then did I breathe a sigh of relief.
“Ha… Finally wrapped up.”
What a disaster in the middle of the night.
As if the day hadn’t been long enough, I got attacked in my room and vomited blood on top of that. Now the headache was setting in.
Just as I was about to crawl into bed to get some sleep, I stopped.
“Ah, no way I can sleep like this!”
My hands, my face, my clothes—everything was soaked in blood!
The annoying aftermath made me want to scream.
In the end, it took me a few hours to completely scrub the blood off my body and clothes before I could finally lie down in bed.
What an unbelievably long day.
* * *
The news that an assassin had infiltrated spread throughout the grand temple in an instant.
There were so few people living within the temple to begin with, and it wasn’t exactly the kind of issue they could cover up, so it spread quickly.
However, rather than fear, most people were simply bewildered.
“…What’s even in here that’s worth sneaking in for?”
Why would anyone bother breaking into this poor place where anything of value has already been sold off?
But the surprise didn’t end there.
“The person who was attacked was the Saintess?!”
That foul-tempered person? Were they out of their mind? Did they want to die?!
Sure, she had changed a bit recently, but her core personality had to still be the same, right?!
Honestly, no one would’ve been surprised if the assailant had been torn apart into little pieces by the Saintess herself.
There was, however, one thing, a small thing, that had people feeling unexpectedly uneasy.
“…So, um, is the Saintess okay? She’s not hurt or anything?”
People tried to act indifferent, but they began to subtly reveal and express their concern for Ordell.
And it wasn’t just one or two. It was a decent number of people.
It was the start of a subtle change—one that Ordell herself was unaware of.
* * *
“…So late mornings really don’t exist in my life.”
8 a.m.
Exactly six hours after I fell asleep, I opened my eyes and let out a sigh.
Considering everything that happened last night, I thought I’d at least sleep in a bit today, but no such luck.
“Why is it only things like this that my body insists on sticking to?”
Since I knew sleep wouldn’t come back, I sighed and got up.
Still, I didn’t feel well enough to do a full workout, so I figured I’d settle for some light stretching.
But then—
“…Why are you here, Captain?”
After a quick wash and a change of clothes, I stepped out of my room. Only to stop dead in my tracks in surprise.
Standing in front of the door was not Victoria, but Seth.
SoundlessWind21’s Notes:
If there are any errors, whether it be grammatical, spelling, translation, or website-related issues, feel free to let me know. (´◡`) Anyway, thank you for reading!