Chapter 102

Lehan’s hand finally reached Edelis.

“E-Edelis!”

Fortunately, her hand was still warm and he could feel her pulse. She wasn’t dead. If he had the priests treat her, there might be a chance she could survive. If she was just alive, that was all he could ask for. Lehan gripped his sword again and held it to the Saintess’s neck.

“All priests, prepare to treat Edelis.”

“…”

“If you don’t, your Saintess will soon be joining God.”

Sir Ferrin, who had belatedly grasped the situation, tried to move the Saintess to get Edelis treated.

“Take your hands off the Saintess!”

“Shut up, unless you want your head on a pike in the square today.”

Lehan’s chilling words made the priests flinch, and in that time, Sir Ferrin shoved the Saintess’s body to the side of Edelis. As he did, the sword the Saintess had been holding, hidden by the wide sleeves of her priestess robes, became visible. The moment Lehan saw the red bloodstains on the sword, he gritted his teeth.

‘Because of that, all because of that!’

It wasn’t too late. He felt an urge to behead that wicked woman right then and there. With that thought, Lehan raised his sword high to strike the Saintess down.

“Keirhan! Stop!”

Frache immediately grabbed Lehan’s arm to stop him. Other Imperial Knights also helped Frache to restrain the Emperor. They judged that killing the Saintess in this situation would be the worst possible move. They understood the Emperor’s rage and his desire to kill the Saintess, but they had no choice but to stop him.

“Stop what? I should have killed her before. I should have listened to Edelis… If I had, if I had!”

“I said stop! If you kill the Saintess here, do you think the priests will treat Her Majesty?!”

“They’ll treat her if they don’t want to die.”

“Calm down, Keirhan!”

Lehan growled and took a step back from the knights. He vowed to wipe the Holy Empire off the map if they couldn’t save Edelis.

“It seems the Saintess of the Holy Empire… wields a sword to kill people, doesn’t she?”

“Th-that… it was unavoidable for the Saintess herself to punish one who defied God’s will.”

A Holy Knight tried to retort to Ferrin’s mocking words as he removed the sword from the Saintess’s hand. But the Holy Knight’s feeble excuse was cut short. Lehan, who had no patience for his pathetic defense, immediately beheaded him. He thought that killing one Holy Knight who dared to tarnish Edelis’s honor wouldn’t make a big difference in her treatment.

“Is there anyone else who dares to defend this attack on the Empress, of all people, in the Imperial Palace?”

“…”

Any priest devout enough to defend the Saintess in this situation had long since been stripped of their divine power by the Saintess and cast out of the temple. Those who remained were the ones who knew the Saintess was stealing divine power and had kept to themselves. They didn’t want to step forward this time either, but they had been forced to come by Lorenz, who was all but the next Pope.

“Your, Your Majesty! Look at this!”

When they completely pulled the Saintess away from Edelis, they saw the person who had been lying underneath her. It was someone no one expected.

“…Berman Pasis?”

As Ferrin and Frache tried to move Berman away from Edelis, he coughed and spat out blood. On closer inspection, blood was seeping through his pitch-black robe.

“Berman! Are you conscious?!”

Sir Ferrin slapped his cheek and called out to him. Berman, who had struggled to regain consciousness, coughed and spat up blood.

“Cough!”

“W-what in the world happened?”

He couldn’t understand why Berman Pasis was suddenly here. And the Saintess had clearly attacked Edelis, so why was blood flowing from his body? It was completely a mystery. After they moved Berman, Edelis, wearing a blood-soaked dress, was unconscious. Lehan frantically knelt beside her and examined her, but he couldn’t see any injuries through her dress.

“Ugh…”

“Are you conscious? Are you not hurt anywhere?”

“What? I suddenly fell backward with a thud.”

Edelis remembered that just before she fell, Berman Pasis had pushed her.

“I’ll have the priests treat you right away, even if I have to behead them. Where are you hurt?!”

Lehan looked everywhere with worried eyes. Edelis, who belatedly examined herself, understood why he was so worried. The large amount of blood on her clothes was splattered everywhere, making it impossible to tell where she was hurt. Edelis also touched different parts of her body. Her clothes were covered in a lot of blood, but she didn’t feel any pain anywhere. Edelis shook her head, but Lehan kept saying it couldn’t be. If not, he was being stubborn, insisting she get treated by the priests anyway.

“Cough!”

Berman coughed and spat up blood. Only then did Edelis see Berman behind Lehan. And as soon as she saw him, she knew immediately who the owner of the large amount of blood on her clothes was.

‘When the Saintess attacked me, Berman Pasis pushed me and got hurt instead…!’

Lehan only had eyes for Edelis, so he didn’t even notice Berman’s condition. But Edelis and the others immediately realized that he was in critical condition. And that he had sacrificed his life for Edelis.

“I’m fine. But Berman…”

“Is the Empress… alive?”

Berman called out to her, and Edelis immediately got up and went to him. The muscles she had used to fight the Saintess’s sword were still sore, but it wasn’t enough to stop her from moving toward the man who was dying for her.

“I’m fine! What happened? Why you…”

You clearly attacked me, you wanted to kill me. You said you were just pretending to save me to gain my trust, so why are you doing this? You don’t need to gain my trust anymore. Edelis couldn’t bring herself to say the words and instead felt sorry for Berman, who was hurt in her place.

“I didn’t want to let the Saintess get what she wanted…”

Every time Berman spoke, more blood seeped from his wound. Edelis urgently tried to stop the bleeding with her hand, but it only stained her hand red and the blood didn’t stop.

“Stop, it’s okay, you can stop talking. There are many priests here, you’ll be treated.”

“…I’m glad, that you’re not hurt.”

Berman was a man who had harmed people according to the Saintess’s will and eventually tried to kill Edelis. But now that he belatedly realized he had been used by the Saintess, he wanted to get his revenge on her. So he wanted to kill the Saintess, but his body, which had been tortured by the Baron, was now too weak to even hold a pen, let alone a sword. That’s why he stopped the one thing she wanted most: the death of the Empress. Berman, who had smiled faintly, coughed once more and spat up a lot of blood. Seeing this, Edelis shouted at the priests around her.

“What are you priests doing?! Don’t you dare not treat him immediately!”

“I’m fine.”

Ariella’s death was actually a suicide, and the Saintess had no power to let him meet her. So his revenge on the Emperor was an illusion, and since he succeeded in getting revenge on the Saintess, he had no goal in life. He saw no reason to continue living a life without a purpose in a ruined body. Besides, all that was left for him was the label of ‘Empress kidnapper and murderer.’

“There’s no one who’s fine with dying, you have to live. Live and then we’ll talk. I’ll listen.”

“Hah!”

“I said what are you priests doing!”

Even with Edelis’s shouting, the priests were just looking at each other. None of them stepped forward, and they just watched as Berman was dying. Then, a priest on whom Edelis’s gaze lingered for a long time opened his mouth, seeing Lehan’s eyes that seemed to be saying he would kill him if he didn’t answer immediately.

“Th-that… our divine power…”

“…is gone.”

“What? That can’t be…”

Then Lehan, who recalled the Pope, looked for the Saintess. The Pope, who had no intention of cooperating with the Saintess, had lost his divine power overnight and been cast out of the temple. Lehan had been relieved when he saw that Edelis was safe and Ferrin had disarmed the Saintess. But wasn’t it true that it’s not over until it’s over? The Saintess had pretended to be unconscious, and as soon as everyone’s attention shifted away from her and toward Edelis, she had stolen the divine power from the people there. She had used a lot of divine power in the fight, so it wasn’t as much as she had hoped for, but she was not in a position to be picky. And now, the Saintess moved her hand to the book she had hidden and began to imbue it with divine power. The Saintess, who had been caught just before she could finish, clicked her tongue.

“Tsk, but it’s already too late!”

A pure white divine power spread around the Saintess. And Lehan was struck with the same unpleasant headache he had experienced when his memories returned. The Saintess thought it was okay to lose all of her divine power. She didn’t want to see Edelis live happily like this. It was impossible to use divine power to kill Edelis, but she could still make her feel despair again. She didn’t need much. If only she could make Keirhan feel the same hatred he felt just before killing Edelis!

“We’re starting over, starting over! As long as you’re gone, Edelis, as long as you’re gone!”

“Ugh!”

But Lehan was not going to be defeated by a mere headache. The Saintess had dared to put Edelis in danger and manipulate his memory as the Emperor. A mere Saintess trying to control the empire, he couldn’t let her live. Before the pain got any worse, Lehan lunged at the Saintess and brought his sword down.

“Aaaaaaah!”

The Saintess, who couldn’t move because she was pouring out divine power, had to endure Lehan’s attack without a fight. The moment he heard the Saintess’s scream, her divine power vanished instantly, and Lehan’s splitting headache began to clear.

“…W-what in the world…”

When the Saintess used a large amount of divine power, a bright light suddenly erupted and blinded everyone. After the bright light disappeared and their vision returned, they saw the Saintess’s arm, which was holding the book, severed by Lehan’s sword. An amount of blood that was incomparable to the blood Berman had spilled earlier drenched the floor. The Saintess who tried to kill the Empress, the Emperor who was ready to kill them at any time. The battle was already hopeless. The Holy Knights and the priests were simply preparing to accept their death. Besides, even if they survived now, it was clear that they would be cast out of the temple and become homeless wanderers. The Holy Knights could become knights or mercenaries somewhere, but the possibility was low since they had lived in the temple their entire lives. Yet, the Saintess could not give up. But now, instead of putting divine power into the book, she was treating her arm. If she couldn’t use Keirhan to kill Edelis, she would treat her arm and try to kill Edelis herself.

“Ugh, ugh.”