The Tragedy of The Villainess

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***

"……!"

Lina woke up and screamed. In an instant, the surroundings became noisy, but there was no time to take a closer look. It hurt as if her whole body had been beaten.

"Ah, Saintess!"

"The Saintess is awake!"

"How are you feeling?"

Coughing like a drowned person, Lina was finally brought back to her senses by the warm medicine and the sincere care of the waiting doctor. She crouched down in pain and struggled to open her mouth.

"I'm back…?"

"Yes, Saintess. You're back. You're back again."

"Hahaaaaaaa…l" (crying sound)

Tears burst out without a break. Lina cried and asked.

"What about High Priest Amos?"

"……."

High Priest Amos, who was killed by the demons on the Tshugan Plains several months ago. When Lina mentioned that name, the atmosphere instantly sank. The priests could not continue speaking.

"Saintess…."

Priest Jubelud, one of the nine priests, sat before Lina with a reverent expression and met her gaze. He took Lina's hand and said.

High Priest Amos has returned to the arms of God."

Lina curled up and wept.

"Even after I returned to the world, I dreamed of High Priest Amos…"

"Saintess…."

Lina couldn't stop crying. It was that horrible and miserable sight of High Priest Amos' body being cut in half. The memories of the nightmare tormented Lina constantly.

"Stern!"

It was a voice she would never forget.

Lina was wracked with guilt. She made a tearful vow to pray a lifelong memorial prayer for High Priest Amos. While she was endlessly sorry, she was also a little resentful. Lina's tears trickled down and soaked the covers.

"There's nothing special about Stern. He sacrificed himself for me….."

"Saintess."

Priest Jubelud replied in a firm tone.

"Stern is one of the most important beings in the Great Temple. It is the natural duty of a priest to give his all for Stern. So don't say that."

Eventually, Lina broke down and cried like a child. Her body was all bandaged up, as the side effects of the strong divine power still remained in her body.

Priest Jubelud spoke to Lina, trying to stabilize her sacred power as much as possible.

"Saintess, do you remember what happened at the lake?"

"No… I don't remember much… Did I fall into the lake?"

"Yes. It must have been God's will that the demon subjugation was underway at the time. It's a place where high sacred power gathers at once, so it might have attracted the Saintess."

Water was the source of life and birth. The huge moon disappeared after spitting Lina out into the lake that shone as brightly as the sun.

If there hadn't been anyone even remotely nearby, Lina could have drowned.

Hearing this, Lina asked with tearful eyes.

"What about Kalis? Did Kalis save me?"

"No. Marquis Haneton was in the central barracks at that time."

"Ah… then who saved me?"

Lina asked in a cautious voice.

"Is it Seria?"

"Stern?"

When Seria's name was unexpectedly mentioned, Priest Jubelud was inwardly perplexed, but he shook his head without showing any sign of it.

It was the ordinary knight of the imperial palace who saved Lina.

"I'm glad."

A large number of priests were dispatched to the Glick Empire's regular demon subjugation. Thanks to that, they were able to get a report on the situation at the time from the priests.

It was said that Grand Duke Lesche Berg was passing by the lake.

However, instead of going towards the lake, Grand Duke Berg had returned completely.

If only Grand Duke Berg's return had been a little later….

'It could have been the Grand Duke who rescued the Saintess.'

It wasn't a high probability, but it wasn't an impossible probability to begin with either.

The problem was that there was an unprecedented incident where Stern's fiancé, Marquis Kalis Haneton, had even married the Saintess. As a result, the priests were nervous about these situations.

For the priests, it was fortunate that Grand Duke Berg had left before they did.

Lina looked depressed.

"I miss Kalis."

"Yes. You must have been surprised and wanted to see a familiar face. But the Saintess' health is not very good, so we notified him using magic. Marquis Haneton will be arriving in a day or two."

Priest Jubelud paused for a moment then continued with difficulty.

"Saintess. There is something you should know before Marquis Haneton arrives."

Priest Jubelud had come to Lina for a reason. He was usually well known for his calm personality and warm compassion.

So it had just been decided in an emergency meeting of the priests that he would be the best person to tell Lina "the news".

"It will be difficult, but please do not be frightened."

Lina was scared by the heavy atmosphere.

"…What is it?

Priest Jubelud looked as if he didn't know how to start. The look in his eyes was seemingly even complicated. He held Lina's wrist lightly. Then he laid his hand carefully on top of Lina's stomach.

"The Saintess is carrying a child."

***

"…A child?"

Kalis couldn't believe his ears, but the priest, who'd been running for hours without a break just to tell him these words, exhaled slowly.

"..Since when? How long has Lina been pregnant?"

The words were utterly unbelievable. Kalis was, in any case, the husband of the Saintess recognized by the Great Temple.

Now this was a situation where everyone would only suspect him.

The moment he thought of that much, Kalis couldn't help but look flustered.

"We've never slept together!"

It was true. Kalis had never had more than a passing contact with Lina.

In the meantime, Lina went to a place called the World, and she might have had a lover there. However, Lina never mentioned that she had a lover.

Of course, she might have had a lover while she was gone. ….

"Marquis Haneton. Please take a moment to calm down. Please calm down."

Kalis' eyes, who hurriedly snatched the Bible from the priest, shook aimlessly.

"This is…"

He was also the head of the 17 families and knew about the miracles described in the Bible.

"Marquis Haneton has also read the Bible, so you know."

"Yes, I know. I know, but…!"

Kalis's voice trailed off.

"Does this make sense?"

"The one who will be most shocked will be the Saintess. It's not like we're shocked or anything."

"……."

A vast volume of the Bible recorded special cases that were created only by the union of divine forces. It was a story that appeared many times. The last child of divine power that appeared was a thousand years ago…

"Whose divine power is it? Are you saying she's carrying a child of God? Because Lina is a Saint…."

"No."

"If not, then it's a person. Who is it?"

Lina said that the world she originally lived in had no divine power. This meant that it was someone from this world.

"Marquis Haneton."

Kalis listened with a frustrated face.

"Among the holy objects stored in the Great Temple, there are many whose very existence is kept secret."

With such holy objects, the tremendous divine power possessed by Lina could be properly measured. It was thanks to them that the descent of the Saintess was clearly indicated.

And these important relics show even more detailed results than they thought.

It was on the Tshugan plains that the sacred forces were combined in earnest.

Due to the detailed results shown by the relics, both priests and holy knights were removed from the candidate list. Those who remained were very limited.

Kalis asked in a trembling voice.

"So… it's my child then?"

"You're one of the candidates."

"A candidate….?"

"The Marquis also possesses divine power as the head of the 17 families of the Glick Empire. But the problem is that the Marquis is not the only target."

Kalis's face slowly began to harden.

"In the Tshugan Plains, there was another head of the seventeen families."

Karis could only intuit the name that would follow.

"…No way."

"It's Grand Duke Lesche Berg."

"……!"

"And, theoretically, there's another person."

Kalis's face sank like a deep sea. But there were no other leaders of the seventeen families on the Tshugan plains at the time.

The Priest continued to speak slowly, looking at Kalis's confused face.

"Seria Stern was there too."

***

"Grand Duchess, are you done cleaning up?"

Looking around the Laurel Manor, Seria turned around. Alliot was smiling, as usual.

"Yes. I'm done."

"I'm sorry, His Highness should have come to the manor instead of me. Still, he will arrive tomorrow."

Seria nodded.

This was the Laurel Manor. As befits the season of late spring, it was getting hotter and my clothes were getting lighter. Right now she was wearing a light dress with see-through sleeves, and it showed her white amrs.

She was surprised to see a bruise a few days ago.

She learned yesterday that if she used her divine power to the limit, she would get bruises all over her body. Thanks to this, it was possible to predict the timing not to faint. She was taking it easy, thinking it was like an alarm function where Tuban would give her back the blue diamond he took.

Which, by the way, it looked a lot like how Lina got her bruises.

"Let's go home."

"Yes, Grand Duchess."

"Let's go, Miss."

Abigail followed closely behind Seria. She glanced alternately at Abigail and Alliot as she pretended to change her parasol's position.

'What is it? Did the two have a fight?'

She was sensitive to the mood among people. Thanks to this, Seria noticed that the mood of the two knights following her had bottomed out.

Of course, the two of them had never been that close to each other to begin with. The last few days had been much more chilling.

'Why are they doing that?'

It was a kind of escapism that brought them to the manor during this warm and beautiful social season.

"Grand Duchess, sir Abigail Orrien had caused an accident. May I report it?"

Seria remembered Linon's stern voice.

"She destroyed all the Howard's Knights."