Chapter 41

“So I just need to sign here?”

Finally!

“Yes, that’s right!”

Overjoyed, I even forgot my numb legs and kindly pointed out where to sign—here, and here.

“You’ve made the right choice. I’m sure you’ll meet someone kinder, prettier, healthier, and better than me!”

But Esadien didn’t move.

“…?”

At first, I thought he was looking for a pen.

But as he kept patting down pocket after pocket—at least four of them—with no sign of progress, my patience finally ran out.

“What are you doing? I said sign it!”

Still, he didn’t budge.

When I finally looked up—

“What in the world are you—?”

Esadien’s stupidly beautiful face was suddenly way too close.

Smack.

With a sound I could barely believe, something warm and soft landed on my forehead.

“Wh-what—what are you doing?!”

I jumped back in shock, but Esadien only looked at me with red-rimmed eyes and a soft smile.

At this point, I was seriously starting to wonder if he’d gone mad.

“It’s just… It’s been so long since I’ve seen you smile. You were so beautiful, I couldn’t help myself.”

Did I smile?

No—wait—that’s not the issue!

“That’s harassment!”

“You kissed me without warning, too.”

“Oh, are you really bringing up the past now?”

“Minuelle, what I meant was…”

Esadien’s voice turned unbearably gentle as he took back the annulment papers.

If this had been before, I probably would’ve swooned—but now, suspecting his sanity, the sound of it gave me chills like cold silk brushing bare skin.

“You are the only one who ever had the right to kiss me.”

Ugh. I don’t need that kind of right!

I instinctively backed away, but my back soon hit a massive tree trunk, and Esadien casually closed the distance again.

“Minuelle.”

I raised a hand to cover my forehead and shouted:

“I reject that right! Just sign the paper already!”

“…Sorry.”

Riiip.

With a calm apology, he tore the annulment in half—then in half again—until the shredded pieces scattered like snowflakes.

His previous smile had vanished, replaced by his usual impassive face as he committed the act.

“Wh-what are you doing?! Why would you tear that up?”

“I already told you, Minuelle. I won’t accept it. No matter how many times you send it.”

Esadien calmly studied my shocked expression.

Or rather, his eyes were so intense, I couldn’t even tell if he was studying me or trying to devour me.

“I will never sign that document. So, Minuelle…”

His gaze lowered until he was looking up at me—from one knee.

“So please… don’t throw me away.”

Is this a dream?

I pinched the back of my hand. It hurt.

I pinched it again, but it still hurt.

This… this can’t be real.

As I continued denying reality and pinching myself, his soft confession reached me.

“The truth is, Minuelle… I was jealous.”

“J-jealous?”

“Of Priest Ramande. Of Theo. I envied how they could be beside you. That’s why I said awful things without realizing it.”

At some point, my pinching had stopped.

The stinging pain in my hand wasn’t a dream.

So this situation… really is reality. Which means…

I tightly clasped my trembling hands.

Esadien… has truly gone mad.

He got angry, then smiled, then said weird things, then tore up the annulment, and now he was on his knees?

An ominous feeling crept over me: I’d really gotten involved with the wrong person.

“Minuelle.”

Esadien reached out to me again.

I yelped and yanked my dress away.

“N-no!”

With a body this flimsy, I could barely win against a child, let alone a madman—especially one as massive as Esadien!

So I ran.

I barely remembered how I made it home.

The first person I saw was my father, and I gasped as I shouted at him: “His Highness has lost his mind!”

That was all my strength had left.

The world spun into darkness as I collapsed, and I faintly felt my panicked father catching me in his arms.

* * *

After I collapsed, not just my family but even the Imperial Palace was thrown into chaos.

“They say the Third Prince is normal.”

While stroking my hair as I lay half-forced into rest, Ramande delivered the news.

“Apparently, doctors and priests from several temples went to check.”

“That’s what they’re calling normal? That?”

I couldn’t believe it.

If everyone was saying he was in his right mind, then it must mean Esadien had gone so far off the rails that he looped back around to “normal.”

Like how turning 180 degrees is the opposite, but turning 360 brings you right back to where you started.

“Ha… Ramande, I really don’t think I can live here anymore.”

“Why? Is the heartbreak that bad?”

“I’m not in the mood for jokes. Esadien tore up the annulment papers right in front of me.”

“He tore them?”

Ramande’s expression finally turned a little more serious.

Sensing the moment, I launched into a full account of Esadien’s crimes.

“You wouldn’t believe it. He said no matter how many times I send the annulment, he’s never going to sign it… declared it like a war cry…”

“And?”

“And then he got on his knees and begged me not to leave him.”

“….”

Ramande turned away and ran a hand through his hair.

From where I lay, I couldn’t see well, but I could tell from the way his lips moved—he was definitely cursing under his breath.

‘Better not mention the kiss on the forehead.’

If he found out, he might actually storm the Prince’s palace.

I quietly pulled the blanket up to my nose.

“…I’m sorry, Minuelle.”

Finally a little calmer, Ramande placed a hand on my cheek and apologized.

The divine power flowing through his touch cooled the fever I hadn’t even realized had risen.

“I should’ve gone with you.”

“What are you talking about? You were sent on a training dispatch. It’s not like you just sat around doing nothing.”

He’d been so composed. Who would’ve guessed he’d lose it like that? I didn’t even know.

But Ramande only looked more serious.

“No more dispatches. I’ll stay by your side from now on.”

“That’s not necessary. It’s not like His Highness would come to our house every day or follow me when I go out…”

“You didn’t know? After you sent the annulment, he came by every single day.”

“What?”

Startled, I tried to sit up—but Ramande lightly pushed me back down with a tap of his index finger.

“Your parents even ordered the staff not to open the gates.”

“Ugh…”

“That’s why I have to go out with you, at the very least.”

Ramande gently rubbed my forehead with his finger.

He couldn’t possibly know—but every time his fingertip brushed the spot Esadien had kissed, my heart fluttered for no reason.

“If you’re going to stick to me like glue, how are you going to go on dates, huh?”

“Dates? Where’s that coming from all of a sudden?”

“You like someone, Ramande.”

I still clearly remembered how he’d gotten all flustered not long ago, when I said it was only natural that first love doesn’t work out.

It was clear Ramande had reached the same memory.

“Oh. That?”

“Right? So…”

“Who do you think it is?”

“Huh? Is it someone I know?”

I sat up again. This time, Ramande didn’t stop me—he helped, placing a supportive hand on my shoulder.

“Maybe. But Minuelle,”

“Yeah?”

“What would you do if I ended up marrying her?”

“M… marrying?”

“Yeah. Marriage.”

Which meant… he was talking about giving up the priesthood.

Priests could manifest divine power in exchange for devoting their entire life to Plendena.

If someone destined for the priesthood were to meet their soulmate, Plendena—being the god of love—would allow them to leave that path generously.

But in return, their divine power would be completely stripped away.

‘Ramande has a vessel large enough to become a high-ranking priest…’

Almost as if he’d read my thoughts, Ramande let out a soft chuckle and rested his forehead against mine.

“Forget it. Without divine power, how could I stay by your side?”

I remembered all those feverish nights.

So many times, Ramande had stayed right at my bedside, like a guardian angel.

‘I’m sorry, Ramande. You couldn’t even sleep because of me…’

‘Please don’t worry about someone like me, my lady. Just get well soon.’

Whenever I looked up at him through blurred vision, surrounded by faint light, I sometimes really thought he might be an angel sent by Plendena.

Even now, just like then, Ramande never showed a hint of dislike as he quietly poured his divine power into me.

Divine power or not, Ramande was already my benefactor. Someone truly precious to me.

“It’s okay.”

“…What?”

“It’s okay, Ramande.”

He had lived as a priest since childhood.

If he was even thinking of giving up that path, then he must really care about that person. I could understand, at least a little.

“Even if you lose your divine power, nothing between us will change.”

…Of course, that’s assuming she would be okay with it.

Who could she be? If I just knew, I’d do my best to become friends!

“…Absolutely nothing?”

I poured as much sincerity as I could into my voice—and into the hand I held tightly in his—and gave a firm answer.

“Of course not!”

Ramande’s lips slowly curved into a smile.

“I really did luck out… having a friend like you.”

But that smile, for some reason… looked just a little sad.

* * *

“They seem to be after the power of the spirits,” the High Priest said, frowning—something rarely seen.

It was a bright weekend afternoon.  

After the service ended, I was walking through the temple grounds with the High Priest, basking in the warm sunlight of early autumn.

“They say the cult had access to some degree of spirit power from the very beginning.”

To create fire, you normally need some kind of friction or a source to transfer it from.  

But the flames that erupted from the cult were as if they came from thin air—completely unprompted.

It wasn’t magic either—no trace of mana could be felt.

‘So I was right, after all.’

“They’ll come for the spirit stones next, won’t they?”

“If they already know greater power exists, there’s no way they’ll settle for something small.”

There’s no way they’d ignore the fragment inside me either.

Which meant I really did have to leave Roquate.

It’s true of any large city, but the capital especially was packed with people.  

If a great fire were to break out here, it would be absolute hell on earth.

“The more troubling thing is,” the High Priest continued, “that the number of people joining the cult is slowly growing.”

“Why would they do that? All the cult does is destroy.”

To pledge yourself to a group that had burned down your own home just recently—  

I simply couldn’t understand it.