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Chapter 09
“Saintess, what are you doing?”
At Siana’s question, I answered with my eyes closed, sitting in the chair.
“Meditating?”
Siana smiled and offered words of encouragement.
After that, she seemed to quietly go about her tasks, trying not to disturb me.
Yes, I was meditating right now.
To suppress the desires that kept surging up inside me.
‘…I want to see His Majesty and the princess’s faces.’
His Majesty’s words that he trusted me were practically the same as placing me under confinement.
This wasn’t just my imagination.
As proof, during the two days I’d been stuck inside the Prodinta Palace, no one came to see me.
This morning, the third day, Prime Minister Ebon did stop by briefly under the pretext of checking on my well-being.
“His Majesty said, ‘You seem to be doing well, so I feel at ease.’”
“Did he say how long I need to keep doing well?”
“He did not.”
Ugh.
It seemed there wasn’t even a set date for when my confinement would be lifted.
‘In just two more days, the princess will be leaving…!’
The Bonia Kingdom delegation would stay in Zendal for one week.
My plan to admire the princess’s beauty from afar during that time had gone up in smoke.
The banquet was the last time I’d seen the princess.
The next day, a pile of gifts she’d sent arrived at the Prodinta Palace, but she herself did not come.
To me, the princess herself was the real gift.
Anyway.
To think that His Majesty and the princess were both within a twenty-minute walk, yet I couldn’t leave the Prodinta Palace.
‘This is torture.’
Even while telling myself it was all my own fault, His Majesty’s face kept drifting into my mind like withdrawal symptoms.
The princess’s face did too, but not being able to see His Majesty’s face—one I’d seen every day—was even more painful.
‘A life of one His Majesty per day was a blessed, holy life.’
So I’d asked Prime Minister Ebon if he could at least bring me a portrait of His Majesty and a spare uniform.
He’d backed away and disappeared at remarkable speed.
Sob. Captain Henkel might have agreed.
Still, there was one consolation getting me through this agony.
‘Success in His Majesty and the princess’s romance!’
If the two of them were outside right now, diligently letting their romantic feelings bloom…
And if I let my imagination run even further, all the way to their marriage in the future!
His Majesty, being the emperor, would remain in the imperial palace, and the princess might come to Zendal.
Then what’s one week?
It would be one His Majesty per day, one princess per day, all year round.
“Hehehe.”
Oops. I laughed out loud without realizing it.
With Siana in the room and all.
Feeling embarrassed, I slowly opened my eyes—and, as expected, Siana was looking at me.
“Did something pleasant come to mind during your meditation?”
“Umm…”
Her eyes clearly asked what that pleasant thing was, but if I said it out loud, I’d die of embarrassment on the spot.
I needed to change the subject.
“Siana, did you see Princess Sharl? She was incredibly beautiful.”
“Yes. Though you’re more beautiful, Saintess.”
“…The princess’s beauty is on a different level, you know? Maybe you didn’t get a good look? Ah, and her dancing is amazing too. She’s like a fairy.”
“I liked your dancing better, Saintess.”
“Siana, were you at the ball?”
“Of course.”
“I didn’t see you?”
“I was watching from the back.”
Even if she didn’t see my face properly.
If she saw my dance, she must have seen the princess’s dance too.
“Siana.”
I held up three fingers toward her and waved them vigorously.
“How many is this?”
She must have developed vision problems.
If I had divine power, I could probably fix bad eyesight instantly.
I should talk to His Majesty about it—
“Huh?”
“Is something wrong?”
“Wait a moment.”
I stood up from the chair and crossed the room, softening my footsteps.
Rustle.
I hadn’t imagined it.
Beyond the closed window, from the balcony, I’d heard something move.
This was the third floor.
‘An intruder?’
There had been several occasions where someone targeting the “Saintess” had infiltrated even the imperial palace.
Each time, His Majesty would somehow appear and take care of the intruder.
‘But if an intruder appears now, there’s no guarantee His Majesty will come. He hasn’t shown his face even once in three days!’
Suddenly, I felt wronged.
If he tries to put me under confinement again later, I’ll make him promise to grant any wish I ask for.
Being put through hellish training is better than not seeing his face.
I paused near the balcony door and listened carefully to the outside.
No sound from the balcony. No sound from the outer wall of the Prodinta Palace either.
‘Holding their breath and hiding?’
I picked up the teapot from the table.
It was the only thing nearby that could serve as a weapon.
Perhaps sensing the tension, Siana also approached cautiously.
I turned the doorknob.
“……”
‘No one’s here.’
I stepped out onto the balcony. It was empty.
Yet I was sure I’d heard footsteps.
“I’ll call the guards.”
After searching every corner of the balcony, Siana returned and said that.
But now, there were no suspicious sounds at all.
“No, Siana. I must have misheard.”
The gold coin that had been spinning atop the tea table gradually slowed, then toppled onto its side.
On the upper face of the fallen coin was engraved the profile of a handsome man.
Alrend Khan Leodius, Emperor of Zendal.
“So even if you desire her that much, I won’t hand the Saintess over.”
Sharl, resting her chin on her hand with her elbow on the table, recalled the emperor’s words.
“So you wear such a gentlemanly face.”
Yet inside, he was full of greed.
Though she herself was no different.
Sharl was certain the emperor was the same kind of person as her.
Someone who would stop at nothing to obtain what they wanted.
Outwardly, Sharl was a patriotic princess who loved her homeland—but that was merely an image she had carefully crafted since childhood to protect her position.
“Even after coming all the way to Zendal’s imperial palace, I can’t get a proper chance to meet the Saintess.”
Sharl flipped the gold coin over.
Not seeing the emperor’s face on it made her feel slightly better.
“So the Saintess stayed in her own palace all day today as well?”
At Sharl’s question, the man standing behind her nodded.
The masked man appeared tall and well-built.
He wore a circular mask that covered his entire face except for the eye area.
The heavy-looking mask was characteristic of the Bonia royal guard unit.
It symbolized killing personal emotions and living solely for the mission.
Sharl disliked those masks.
A mask that hid the other person’s expression—what was so good about wearing such a thing?
“Take that mask off when it’s just the two of us. It’s suffocating.”
“……I’m here as your guard.”
A calm voice flowed from behind the mask.
Sharl looked at him with a dissatisfied expression, then turned her head away.
Her short hair swayed with the motion.
“Forget it. It was my mistake to expect anything from you.”
“What are you going to do about the Saintess?”
“Now you speak first. Did concern for the Saintess finally loosen your tongue?”
The man had observed the Saintess under Sharl’s orders.
He’d done so because he had no choice but to obey royal commands.
“The king told us to return without touching Zendal.”
The true purpose of the Bonia delegation was to confirm the Saintess’s existence.
But to the man, it seemed Sharl was planning something beyond that purpose.
“Sharl, you’re not thinking of doing something else, are you?”
“Why ask that? Are you curious about what I might do?”
Sharl climbed onto the chair.
Her eye level rose above that of the man standing behind it.
The man lifted his head accordingly.
That damned mask.
Sharl frowned.
Her delicate hand slipped into the man’s thick brown hair.
Then, with a click, the clasp securing the mask strap came undone.
“If you want to know that badly, you should be my beloved Delkan, not just my guard.”
As the mask came away in Sharl’s hand, the man’s face was revealed.
He was strikingly handsome.
He resembled Sharl somewhat, yet his stronger features gave off a different aura.
Delkan’s gray eyes looked straight up at Sharl.
Only then did Sharl smile in satisfaction as she looked at her half-brother.
Delkan’s lips moved, his voice tinged with concern.
“What are you going to do to the Saintess?”
Placing the mask against her own face, Sharl replied,
“I’m going to take her to the Bonia Kingdom.”
“That’s impossible.”
Delkan’s tone was calm but firm.
He knew his half-sister’s temperament well.
“There are things you can get by being greedy, and things you can’t.”
Sharl was intelligent.
That was why she knew how to satisfy her desires without exposing herself.
Until now, her actions had been things that could be brushed aside with one or two scapegoats—but this time, the target she coveted was on a completely different scale.
“Sharl.”
“……”
With the mask resting on her face, silently looking down at him, Delkan called his half-sister again.
“Sharl.”
“…You’re so serious. Who said I’m taking her right now?”
Sharl tossed the mask aside. Her brows were drawn together in slight irritation at Delkan’s opposition.
The royal guard’s mask fell to the floor and rolled away.
“Even if not this time.”
Delkan warned her in a low voice.
As a mere illegitimate child, he had no authority to command a princess of royal blood. Persuading her was the best he could do.
“If you kidnap the Saintess, it’ll start a war.”
“Zendal can’t attack Bonia. There’s the Oditria Pact.”
The emperor might start a war anyway.
Sharl swallowed the rest of her thought and gently stroked Delkan’s hair.
“Don’t you feel the desire too?”
The first Saintess, summoned by the Bonia Kingdom.
A book recording the history of the Saintess was kept deep within the Bonia royal palace, accessible only to a few royals.
And within it was a single line:
[Pure Bonian blood yearns for the Saintess.]
Pure Bonian blood.
Bonia valued bloodlines, and the closer one was to royalty, the purer and stronger that blood was.
The moment Sharl saw the Saintess, she knew that line was not a fabrication.
The blood of the Bonia royal family within her body burned hot.
And surely she wasn’t the only one who felt it.
Among those present, there was one more person who carried royal Bonian blood.
“You feel the same way, don’t you, Delkan?”
“……”
For the first time, Delkan’s steady gaze dropped away from Sharl and fell downward.
Sharl whispered to him, as though singing a sweet song.
“Who could possibly refuse someone so precious?”
