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Chapter 28
What did she mean by using hair dye?!
It meant that no longer would an unspecified crowd recognize me as “Saintess!” just by looking at my hair.
So I started walking around the imperial palace more than before.
Unlike in the past, when I only went around the Emperor’s chambers, the Prodinta Palace, and the chapel like a hamster wheel, I gained a certain degree of freedom to actually look around the palace.
And while doing so, I happened to run into Delcan Mondria a few times.
“Hey, do you remember me?”
“Hi, where are you headed?”
“That looks heavy. Want me to carry it for you?”
Every time Delcan saw me, he came over wagging his tail like an overjoyed puppy who didn’t know what to do with himself.
If a retriever with maxed-out friendliness were reincarnated as a human, would it look like this?
How would I know?
It’s not like I’ve ever had a dog in my life that wagged its tail and ran up to me…!
Anyway, by the time those chance encounters had happened about four times, we had become close enough to listen to each other’s worries.
“Talk more casually, Liri. We’re friends now.”
He suggested we drop formalities regardless of status, so we did.
Who could push away a handsome man who also approaches you with friendliness?
At least, I can’t. Sob.
He kept asking my name, so I ended up making up the alias “Liri.”
“You’re going with your superior? The head chef?”
“Yeah. If you’re okay with it, Liri.”
Delcan thought I was Heli’s assistant.
So when I only said it was a ring that had to be returned to someone higher up, he probably assumed it was for Heli.
But the owner of the ring is His Majesty.
There’s no way I can take Delcan along.
Just think about it.
Going before His Majesty and saying—
[Your Majesty, I can’t return the ring myself, but my friend came along to apologize with me. Who is this friend, you ask? Haha. He’s a knight from the Kingdom of Bonia……]
[Together? Interesting.]
Forget his gentle emperor act—Delcan might end up doing dog-training drills with me under joint responsibility.
Ah, no—before that, I’d probably get exposed as the Saintess.
‘Should I tell Delcan that I’m the Saintess?’
But sometimes, friendships only last because you don’t know who the other person really is.
There was no reason Delcan and I couldn’t be that kind of friendship.
More than anything, I don’t have a single friend here. Sob.
Of course, there are plenty of good people around, but a friend you can be completely casual with feels different.
“No, I should handle it myself.”
“Really…?”
Delcan’s invisible tail drooped straight down.
Khk. His Majesty used to do that kind of thing too—though it was acting.
‘Anyway.’
No matter how I looked at him, Delcan was a natural.
He didn’t even realize how handsome he was, and he had no walls up toward others, so he easily captivated people—
Which was probably why he could say things like “Let’s be friends” even while thinking I was just a maid.
Terrifying, Delcan Mondria.
That face, paired with an uncalculatingly kind personality.
“Delcan, be careful of people.”
“Huh?”
“Don’t smile at just anyone you pass on the street. And even if strangers offer you food, don’t be nice to them.”
I’m only not falling for you right now because I have His Majesty.
Otherwise, friends or not, it’d be over.
“You could even end up causing a love-triangle fight in the street.”
“What are you talking about, Liri?”
Delcan smiled awkwardly and shifted his gaze.
But I was genuinely worried about him.
With that shōjo-manga-protagonist face, being kind to absolutely everyone…
It really wouldn’t be strange if someone started a fight claiming Delcan was their man.
If it were His Majesty, he’d just go on his way whether people stabbed each other or not.
But Delcan would probably try to reconcile the people fighting over him.
Characters like that always end up with either a ‘everyone lives together’ ending or a ‘everyone dies together’ ending…!
“You’re the second most dangerous person I know.”
“Who’s the first?”
Who else but His Majesty, of course.
If Delcan was a big-dog type, His Majesty was pure pheromones.
Dangerous just from the atmosphere alone.
Kh. This is the kind of thing I can’t even brag about anywhere.
Such a waste. Truly.
“Do I know them too?”
Delcan kept asking.
The point was, You’re too handsome, so be careful of people.
But it seemed Delcan had gotten curious about who the first person was.
Gasp. Did he figure out it was His Majesty?
“Why?”
“I’m just curious. Being Liri’s first—it’s enviable.”
“Wow.”
Despite dropping such a massive line, Delcan’s face was utterly calm.
Look at those innocent eyes.
That— that…!
“Hey, Delcan. You seriously.”
I must never let him meet His Majesty.
Before he’s my friend, Delcan is a bewitching man who charms everyone regardless of age or gender.
“I can’t introduce you to the first one, you know…?”
Don’t aim for him, you dangerous man.
His Majesty must never experience heartbreak again!
In Zendal, there was a legend passed down about an Empress.
It was from an era before the Kingdom of Babernon summoned the second Saintess.
She led the holy troops and returned victorious from every war she participated in—a symbol of triumph.
On the ring finger of that Empress’s left hand, there was always a ring.
‘The Ring of Protection.’
An artifact said to have protected the Empress on battlefields where all kinds of holy attacks flew about.
History recorded that not a single wound was left on the victorious Empress’s body.
As time passed, the Empress met her end, and the ring’s whereabouts also became unknown.
Several later Emperors tried to find the Ring of Protection, but all failed.
And so the ring seemed to disappear into history.
If not for what happened a few days ago.
Alrend entered the Emperor’s treasury with Ru to look for an item he needed.
After finding it and calling Ru to leave—
“Meow, meoow.”
“Ru, what is that?”
In a corner of the treasury, Ru was flapping its wings excitedly while rolling something around.
“A ring case?”
“Meooow!”
Ru got upset when Alrend took away the toy it had been playing with.
Ignoring Ru’s reaction, Alrend examined the case.
A plain wooden box in the shape of a cube, crudely carved with the black eagle—the symbol of Seikan.
A strong seal prevented the lid from being opened, but that posed no problem for Alrend.
When he opened the case, a strange light filled his pale blue eyes.
Unlike the plainness of the case, the ring inside shone brilliantly, displaying a dazzling presence.
There were no records describing the Ring of Protection’s appearance, but Alrend was certain that what he held now was that ring.
On the inside of the lid, a sentence was engraved in the ancient language of Harten, the Empress’s homeland.
[Here lies the will of Isabella Avellier. O bearer of will, the ring shall protect you for all eternity.]
The name of the very first Empress.
And the immense holy power felt from the ring’s largest gem.
The colorless holy stone symbolized protection.
‘So this is where you were.’
Alrend took the ring and left the treasury.
And on his way back, he happened to spot a familiar face.
“……”
For a moment, he doubted his own eyes.
A woman with long brown hair, dressed as a maid.
The person walking toward the palace’s kitchen building was unmistakably the Saintess.
Wondering what she was plotting this time, he looked into it—
It seemed she was entering a cooking competition with Head Chef Heli Montblanc.
Something was bound to happen at this rate.
Not that she would cause trouble on purpose, but regardless of her will, incidents large and small never ceased around the Saintess.
Still, he couldn’t exactly stop her from doing something she was earnest about.
At the very least, it felt like he should give her something for peace of mind.
That was why he gave her the Empress’s ring.
“I’ll definitely return it!”
He had expected that kind of reaction to some extent, but it was true that he felt slightly hurt that she seemed so unwilling to accept his gift.
He had even called it a token of thanks—surely it wasn’t something to resist accepting that fiercely.
And giving her the ring wasn’t solely because of the competition.
“Aaaargh!”
A man’s scream filled the damp, pitch-dark underground prison.
It was the deepest prison in the imperial palace, located three levels below the one where Chobi had once been held.
“……”
Alrend stopped reminiscing and turned his gaze into the cell.
A man, battered by all kinds of torture and interrogation, was bound to a chair, his limbs trembling violently.
He was an assassin Alrend had caught two nights ago while attempting to infiltrate the Prodinta Palace.
‘As long as there are holes, rats keep sneaking in without end.’
The barrier at the Nisephorel Temple, where Alrend once stayed, had never allowed a single intruder through—a fortress of iron walls.
The biggest reason was the stability of Hazel’s holy power supplying the barrier,
But the strict control over entry and exit at the Nisephorel Temple also could not be ignored.
A closed space where only those granted permission could enter.
The imperial palace, however, could not be like that.
The palace’s barrier was maintained daily by six priests, each supplying a portion of the required holy power.
But the barrier existed only to respond to unpredictable external attacks.
Controlling the entrances used by countless people inevitably relied heavily on manpower.
As a result, rats like this sometimes slipped in among the crowds.
“Speak. Who sent you? Were you ordered to infiltrate and assassinate the Saintess?”
“Heh… hehehe……”
At Henkel’s interrogation, the man grinned vacantly and drooled.
“It seems he’s become an idiot.”
“I’m sorry.”
For two days, they hadn’t obtained a single piece of satisfactory information.
Ashamed, Henkel bowed his head.
“It’s not your fault. They must have tampered with his mind in preparation for capture.”
The quality was poor.
From the look of it, the method was to forbid information leakage if the assassin failed the mission, then destroy the mind after a certain period.
Thanks to that, they had wasted two days.
As for the assassin—if his mind had been destroyed immediately, he wouldn’t have had to feel the pain of torture, but there was no need to consider a rat’s circumstances.
“It’s a good thing. I was planning not to touch his mind since it couldn’t be restored anyway, but they broke it first for us.”
Alrend entered the cell and spread his hand over the assassin’s head.
The holy power surging from his hand turned a deep purplish hue and seeped into the assassin’s body.
The assassin convulsed briefly, then threw his head back and let out a grotesque chuckle.
As if he liked the holy power that had just entered him.
When the eerie laughter subsided, Alrend asked,
“Who assigned you this mission?”
From the assassin’s gaping mouth, a cracked voice spilled out one syllable at a time.
“Der… a… chi….”
Grand Duke Derachi.
Henkel immediately turned his head to check Alrend’s expression.
“……”
Alrend’s right eyebrow lifted noticeably.
