Chapter 6

“……”

What my true power was.

This man, Lothar, really knew how to hit people where it hurt without even trying.

The way he looked at me with genuine curiosity made me want to poke both his eyes with my fingers.

Now then, let’s go back three months.

At the time, the revelation given to the archbishop was this:

“The Saintess shall awaken.”

“The blessing of God has descended upon the woman who has reached her twentieth birthday this year.”

That was the only clue the goddess Pellmira gave.

With the Imperial Family’s cooperation, the temple searched for every woman who had turned twenty.

From the highest places of society, the Imperial Palace itself, to the very bottom, including brothels in the slums.

And eventually, they found Elise.

Elise, who had been kicked out of the orphanage after becoming an adult, possessed nothing useful except a pretty face.

In other words, I was before possession.

That girl had been just about to marry an old nobleman as his third wife.

The priest who discovered Elise immediately fell to his knees and shouted,

“We have found the Saintess!”

Only priests capable of sensing divine power understood her true value.

The overwhelming current of holy power overflowing from Elise’s body.

That divine power must have appeared when she turned twenty.

That alone was proof that Elise had been chosen by the goddess.

…Well, all of that did happen.

But here’s the problem.

A very serious problem.

“Now then, Saintess. Please show us a miracle.”

“…Pardon?”

“A miracle through your overflowing divine power!”

“Uh… well… how?”

“?”

“?”

A Saintess who only knew how to waste enormous divine power.

That was me.

Throughout the empire’s history, saintesses had all used divine power differently.

Some possessed healing abilities rivaling legendary physicians.

Others could purify corrupted land instantly.

If not that, they were at least good at giving blessings.

But me?

“Ugh… ngh… nnngh…”

“Saintess. Divine power is not released just because you strain like you’re trying to take a dump.”

Who told me that during my first life again?

Now that I think about it, it was probably that bastard Wolfgang.

Anyway, I couldn’t do anything beyond serving as a vessel holding absurd amounts of divine power.

The helplessness I felt after realizing that…

Honestly, my past self had been more talented.

At least back then, I—

“…Forget it.”

That was both the temple’s secret and my greatest humiliation.

Lothar and I were already in the same boat, but I still didn’t want to tell him that honestly.

Why?

Because it was embarrassing.

So I answered shortly.

“It’s a secret.”

“I see.”

Lothar nodded as though he respected my wishes.

He backed off more easily than expected, which surprised me a little.

“But what does your regression have to do with Graufels?”

Ah, right.

That was the important part.

It seemed the Empire’s Second Prince was actually very patient.

He’d quietly listened to my endless rambling about regression without interrupting once.

I turned my gaze toward the carriage window.

At some point, we had entered a snow-covered forest.

That meant we were getting close to the northern border region.

Pulling my eyes away from the bleak scenery, I spoke.

“Lothar. Do you think your maternal family, House Stauffen, betrayed you in every timeline?”

Lothar’s eyes wavered slightly.

Then he asked back,

“They didn’t?”

As the temperature continued dropping, I wrapped a blanket around my shoulders and answered.

“In the previous timelines, House Stauffen stayed on your side. And they were exterminated alongside you. Understand?”

“Yes.”

Honestly, it sounded like the kind of story no sane person could hear calmly.

But Lothar’s face remained quieter than expected as he listened.

Thankfully, it didn’t look like he was about to finally lose patience and strangle me.

“I’m the one who told Marquis Stauffen to betray you.”

Whoooosh.

A fierce gust of wind swept past outside the carriage window.

Breaking the brief silence, Lothar asked,

“Why?”

“So Stauffen could survive and help you attempt a second rebellion later.”

The truth behind the betrayal was cruel but simple.

The Stauffen family had produced brilliant generals for generations.

Lothar’s unrealistic strength also came from that bloodline.

For the sake of the future, they were a card that absolutely had to be preserved.

The coming battles would only become more difficult.

But that was my reasoning and House Stauffen’s reasoning.

If Lothar, who’d been betrayed by his only aunt, couldn’t understand that, then there was nothing I could do.

He’d been abandoned without warning and dragged away to suffer endless torture.

I expected him to question me much more.

But silence filled the carriage again.

So much silence that all I could hear was the nervous shaking of my own leg.

Thankfully, Lothar spoke before I could yell at him to say something already.

“Does my aunt, the Marquis of Stauffen, know about your regressions too?”

“No.”

Aside from Lothar, only one other person knew about this.

Wolfgang, who was outside.

There was a reason for that.

“Then how did you persuade the Marquis?”

“Hmm.”

How should I soften this explanation?

I thought about it for a single second before giving up.

“By explaining that no matter what he did, the current version of you had a near-zero chance of defeating Maximilian?”

“……”

A cold sense of defeat briefly crossed Lothar’s face.

Then—

“Halt!”

A Holy Knight shouted from outside the carriage.

Soon after, the sounds of hooves and carriage wheels stopped all at once.

Hearing the knock that followed, I almost kicked the door open again.

But after Lothar had already damaged it once, it seemed smarter not to make things worse.

“Open it.”

The moment the door carefully opened, I came face to face with Wolfgang.

After quickly checking my condition, he asked,

“He didn’t hit you, right?”

“As if he would.”

I couldn’t tell if he was worried about me or mocking me.

Probably the second one.

Wolfgang shrugged and got to the point.

“The sun’s setting soon, and the snowstorm is getting too severe to continue marching safely. How about we rest in the village for the night?”

“Sounds good. My ass was just about ready to split into four pieces anyway.”

Wolfgang let out a short laugh at my answer and naturally held out his hand.

I was about to take it without thinking and step down from the carriage when—

“I’ll decline such excessive consideration.”

A deep, heavy voice interrupted as a large body stepped between Wolfgang and me.

For a moment, it felt like a wall had appeared in front of me.

“It’s not as though I married a husband just for decoration.”

The next words sounded strangely sarcastic enough that I doubted my ears.

He’d acted like an emotionless machine this whole time, and suddenly this?

Now that I looked closely, Lothar hadn’t even glanced at Wolfgang after stepping out of the carriage.

He simply held out his hand toward me and asked,

“Or would you rather not be escorted by an incompetent prince?”

“W-What are you talking about?”

His sudden self-deprecation startled me so much I stuttered.

Apparently our conversation before leaving the carriage had stuck deeply in his mind.

Avoiding Wolfgang’s strange expression, I quickly grabbed Lothar’s hand.

Despite the pointed remark, Lothar escorted me perfectly.

Only after helping me down did he finally turn toward Wolfgang and say,

“I’ll handle Elise’s escort myself. So there’s no need for you to concern yourself with it anymore. Ever again.”

Why?

Why did that sound like a declaration of war?

Wolfgang blinked at Lothar’s words.

I wondered how he’d react, but soon he simply bowed with a faint smile.

“Understood, Your Highness.”

Whew.

That was an appropriate response.

Knowing his personality, I’d worried he might continue the power struggle.

Still, he’s not an idiot.

The problem was Lothar.

Ever since the temple, he’d seemed oddly wary of Wolfgang.

Apparently I hadn’t imagined it.

But why?

Clicking my tongue inwardly, I turned to follow the knights moving ahead.

But—

“Come with me.”

I couldn’t.

Because Lothar had grabbed my hand.

His palm completely swallowed the back of my hand.

I stared at the strange sight before lifting my head.

Lothar walked forward with his usual indifferent expression.

His sharp nose really was ridiculously handsome.

No, that wasn’t the point.

“What is it?”

Sensing my gaze, Lothar asked.

Walking beside him, I lowered my voice.

“Hey. Did Wolfgang’s family cheat you out of money or something?”

“……”

No answer came immediately.

Wait.

Was that actually true?

To be fair, Wolfgang did seem like the type to earn grudges.

Wasn’t he basically a nepotism hire who became Commander of the Holy Knights at a ridiculously young age thanks to the Archbishop’s influence?

On top of that, he constantly irritated people with unserious attitudes and pointless jokes.

And despite being a Holy Knight, rumors involving women followed him endlessly, probably because of that pretty face of his.

Still, I couldn’t figure out how Lothar and Wolfgang would’ve crossed paths when—

“No man gladly tolerates someone harboring feelings for the woman who became his wife.”

…Huh?