Is this a dream? Am I dreaming right now?

Otherwise, there’s no way this person would say something like that to me.

I couldn’t say anything for a while due to the unrealistic confession. As my silence lengthened, he seemed to become increasingly restless. Watching his face turn ashen, I reluctantly opened my mouth.

“So, what you mean is…”

I tried to organize my thoughts, but the more I tried, the more my mind went blank. To regain my composure, I shook my head a couple of times and slowly reviewed what he had said.

To summarize as much as possible, Peidos Carmel likes me. So, he doesn’t want me to get married this season and wants me to compete with Prim as a candidate for Great Saint.

However, it was unclear how far the implication of marriage extended, or if there was even such an implication. Was that a proposal just now? Or was it simply a confession?

Before that, there’s something I must clarify.

“What if I don’t become the Great Saint?”

“……”

Peidos Carmel is the male protagonist, even before he is my unrequited love. The fact that he confessed to me now doesn’t change that.

You’re not someone I’m allowed to have anyway. Just like the position of Great Saint, if it’s an expectation that will ultimately shatter cruelly, I didn’t want to plant the seed in the first place.

“If the person you have to protect isn’t me…”

I thought it would be conditional. As he said, he is a man who shouldn’t have anyone he wants to protect more than the Great Saint.

So it was a kind of plea for him to cut it off cleanly and not raise my expectations any further. If he’s someone I can only have by becoming the Great Saint, I wanted to give up that expectation early on.

“It doesn’t matter.”

But Peidos answered without hesitation, with a more determined expression than ever.

“As long as your feelings are the same as mine, I’ll do my best for you.”

Suddenly feeling warmth transmitted to me, I looked down at my arm and saw a large hand holding mine. Letting out a faint sigh, Peidos spoke in a voice that had lost some of its confidence compared to earlier.

“I know. That you have no great ambition for life in the temple.”

“……”

“Even so, is it too much to ask for you to take on the challenge?”

At that moment, my casually raised gaze caught sight of a black-haired man. I didn’t know when he had been there, but he was quietly watching me with two whiskey glasses in hand.

Even after making eye contact, Keene showed no particular reaction. Rather, it was me who became overly sensitive. Discovering him caused my thoughts to freeze, leaving me no time to respond to the person holding my hand.

As if I were a person with everything frozen except my mouth, I just repeatedly opened and closed my lips. At that moment, Peidos suddenly knelt on one knee.

“Sir!”

Startled, I tried to stop him, but Peidos didn’t care. He lifted my hand and gently pressed his forehead to the back of it.

“Miss Duna.”

It wasn’t an apologetic gesture. So it was even more unbelievable.

This was just like…

“I have a mission to protect the Holy Kingdom and cannot devote myself to a family.”

“……”

“As a husband and father, I might not be the best match. However, I value righteousness and I am confident that I will not change my current feelings of caring for and worrying about you.”

With the most sincere eyes, he looked up at me and said,

“I want to develop our relationship into a more intimate form. To make you happy.”

“……”

“Miss Duna, will you marry me?”

With his direct proposal, there was no escape. Even I let out an inexplicable gasp.

I moved my dazed eyes to look beyond the garden at the man standing there. Keene was still standing in the same spot, watching me with a serious face.

“I…”

Unable to delay my answer any longer, I struggled to part my lips. At that moment, the man standing across from me suddenly moved his feet. Ignoring my chaotic thoughts, I tightly closed my eyes.

.

.

.

chapter c. Decalcomania

“You’re here?”

A thin, hoarse voice echoed in the room. Prim set down the tray she had brought on the nightstand and poured tea from the teapot.

Chelin, who had raised her upper body from the bed, took the teacup. The tea, brewed with camo for its calming effect and pentil used as a painkiller, was very bitter, but she drank it all without any complaints.

“How are you feeling?”

At the low, indifferent question, a deflated sound followed. Chelin, untangling her long hair, looked at Prim with a smile and asked,

“Are you really asking out of curiosity?”

“……Anyway, we’re in the same boat.”

Prim replied as she collected the cup Chelin had casually set down.

Chelin watched the pink-haired woman tidying up the teacup and twitched her lips. This strange relationship had lasted for nearly six years. She was filled with a renewed sense of sentiment.

Their relationship began coincidentally with blackmail. Six years ago, the woman in front of her, who had somehow discovered the secret Chelin wanted to take to her grave, came to use it as leverage.

[Let me succeed you.]

The girl, who boldly revealed she had bribed a novitiate to learn the Great Saint’s schedule during her mandatory service, showed even greater ambition afterward. Despite her disheveled appearance from waiting day and night outside the temple for six days, she didn’t lose any confidence.

[You want me to help you succeed me? Why should I do that?]

[Because I know you killed Ren Lione.]

[…….]

Moreover, she knew an extremely dangerous secret.

At first, Chelin treated her as a madwoman and feigned ignorance. Unexpectedly, the girl retreated quietly, but the unease she brought didn’t easily fade.

What if she reveals it to everyone? What if the Pope, my soft-hearted parents, the entire Holy Kingdom, and most of all, my husband, find out…

With each passing night, the fear grew. The girl had even left her address, as if anticipating all this.

On the fifth night, Chelin, sneaking out of the temple unnoticed, went to find the mysterious girl. It was to silence her, but the plan went awry.

[Why, are you going to kill me too?]

[……You!]

[You can’t kill me with your skills. I told you, I’m destined to become the Great Saint.]

At that time, Primis could perform high-level magic even at a young age. Later, she was so surprised to learn that it was the result of self-study.

On the other hand, she had reached the limit of the holy power she could use. That was the limitation of the spell.

[I don’t intend to become your enemy. I went to propose that we get on the same boat.]

[Get on the same boat?]

[You will gracefully step down, burying that ugly secret deep, and I will become the Great Saint after you.]

An ugly secret, huh. Chelin let out a small laugh.

Is there anyone who is evil from the start? At least when she comforted a friend who was weeping over the loss of a younger sibling, she was sincere.

But jealousy quickly turned into a murderous intent. The ambition built up over a long time beside a friend who had ascended to the position of Great Saint with excellent holy power eventually caused her to lose her balance when evil impulses pushed her.

Sometimes she thought, maybe it’s all Ren’s fault. If only she hadn’t obtained that dark mage’s book.

[Chelin, maybe it’s possible with dark magic. They say there’s a spell to turn back time. If we turn back time, Ron can be revived.]

[Are you crazy? Do you want to be executed?]

The dark mage’s book that Ren secretly obtained was the beginning. The spell to turn back time didn’t tempt her at all, but the spell mentioned in passing was engraved in her mind the moment she read it.

[A necklace that can absorb holy power?]

The moment she read the record of an ancient sorcerer who pretended to be a priest with that necklace and was executed, both her rationality and emotions were swept away by a fierce storm and lost their place.

She always thought, if only she, not Ren, had been born with extraordinary holy power capable of purifying the vast land. If only she had been the one to receive the glory of the Great Saint and the protection of the man she had a crush on.

Ren wasn’t the only one who lost discernment. But at the time, it seemed quite plausible.

Ren, addicted to hope, would attempt dark magic no matter how much she was dissuaded. If she intervened and used the spell then, no one would know. The magic Ren was trying to implement had a very high chance of failing anyway.

So, this wasn’t murder. Taking holy power from someone who was going to die anyway was no different from obtaining leather from a cow slaughtered for food.

But at the last moment, Ren changed her mind. She found an animal to use as a substitute instead of a person, and even severed the connection with the Guardian who inherited the biological magic to avoid affecting him.

[Going to the future might be possible, but returning to the past is a far-fetched story. This magic has no chance of success.]

She couldn’t have hated her friend who regained rationality at the critical moment more. Chelin, who stayed under the pretext of intervening when it looked dangerous, couldn’t contain her anger in the end.

The result of giving in to cruel impulses was nothing short of horrific.

[Ho, holy power……. At least I need to absorb the holy power…….]

Ironically, that was what she thought while her close friend was still barely breathing.

When did it start? When was she dragged down to such a low point?

[Sedrigo, Ren doesn’t like you.]

[It’s okay. Because I like her.]

Was it when she first realized the feeling of love and found out that the man she loved only chased after her friend?

[You have outstanding talent. I look forward to your future.]

[Thank you!]

Or was it when she watched the compliments she longed for bypass her and reach Ren instead?

A self-mocking laugh slipped out. Yes, what’s the use of debating that now?

To cover up the mistake of that day, she had to falsely accuse her friend to ruin her reputation, and she lost her holy power due to the side effects of the spell.

At first, she could endure it. No, it was rather good. It was like living a dream.

Ren’s amount of holy power was so immense that it instantly elevated her to the position of Great Saint. Not only did she gain the honor and power of the temple she had longed for, but she was also able to take the man she had long harbored feelings for as her Guardian and eventually her husband.

It was a perfect life. Until she realized that the stolen holy power was running out.

There was no time to cry and wail. To maintain the title of Great Saint and the brilliant life that had just opened up, she had to quickly find the next sacrifice.

She wandered around, staining her hands with blood, searching for Stellas who had not yet entered the temple. It was difficult at first, but after the second and third times, she gradually became numb to it.

She was just a girl with a bit too much jealousy. How did she become a monster with no path to repentance?

She couldn’t even remember the last time she had a good night’s sleep. At that moment, her husband Sedrigo was injured, giving her an excuse to announce her retirement.

And now, after staging a poisoning incident with wolven’s poison, thinking that she would no longer be caught, she felt more at ease than ever.

Chelin let out a relieved smile and exhaled a long breath. She picked up the neatly arranged teacup and made a gesture asking for tea, causing Primis to frown once before reluctantly pouring the tea.

“How much holy power do you have left?”

“A little? But I don’t plan to use it anymore. There’s no need to. Right?”

As she said that and was about to drink the tea, Primis suddenly stopped her. With a chilling gaze, she glared at her and spoke as if chewing her words.

“That was when I was the sole candidate according to the plan. Now we have to kill Duna Valorem as well.”