CH 35

‘This sort of life isn’t bad either.’

It was utterly simple to become the queen of the casino she arrived at in the morning. She was overflowing with cash and full of attraction. ‘No need to be in a hurry.’

She felt it would be fine to be a little late in taking back Estian since he had married already, and the best way to deal with the sorrowful heart of losing a man was being comforted by another, was it not? Besides, the saying goes that sharing sadness makes it easier to bear. It was a given then, that the more people there were to share it, the easier it would become.

The saintess made a list of the men who had approached her today. Seven in total. She felt the number to be just right. She wiped away the saliva by her mouth and looked at the gaming table. The number she had bet on was 7. She thought that if one was going to bet, 7 was the best number.

The dealer announced the start of the game and the roulette ball began to spin rapidly, making noise over the board as it went. The eyes of those watching flicked from side to side, tracking the ball as it started to bounce around.

‘Shall I use a bit of my power?’

The saintess put her hand in her pocket. Just as she had always done up until this point, she merely needed to use holy power again. But the moment her fingertips glowed with a blue light…

“Kaugh!” She coughed blood all of a sudden and fell down.

“What’s going on?”

“Someone’s collapsed!”

Everyone was surprised by the sudden happening, and a commotion followed in the hasty search for a doctor. The saintess mumbled to herself, looking at her trembling body. “Wha-what’s happening to…”

Was the alcohol I took earlier poisoned? But shouldn’t that be useless to me? According to her character setting, the saintess was immune to poisons. Then what on earth…?

“…!” Suddenly, her mind recalled the memory of a particular setting she wrote long ago regarding the saintess.

“Holy power will lash out upon being used for personal benefits or desires.”

Meanwhile, the roulette came to a stop. The dealer confirmed the roulette board and brought the manager into a squeezing hug, yelling from joy.

“18! 18! 18!” He cried out the number representing her feelings.

* * *

“Please be on your way already!”

“I hope you’ll never come again!”

The saintess was practically dragged out of the hotel, enthusiastically seen out by the dealer, manager, and guards. The hotel staff embraced one another in the delight of returning alive from the edge of death as they disappeared back into the hotel. After raising the middle finger toward the hotel, the saintess began to move with plodding steps.

“Why did I put a setting like that in…” She complained and bit her lips, aggrieved at being undone by her own designs. If she had known things would turn out like this, she would have instead put in a setting of vomiting money every time she coughed, or maybe a setting of holy power enabling the creation of chunks of gold. 

In any case, it was no use feeling grief now. It was then—as she was plodding along, she saw a woman coming out of another hotel. Anyone would recognize her as a young lady of nobility.

“Goodness gracious, Lady Irene! How can you think of going at this time!”

“What are you saying, Nanny! The woman His Majesty married turning out to be such a villainess? It’s unacceptable! As a childhood friend of His Majesty, I will not tolerate it!”

His Majesty’s childhood friend? Irene? The name made the saintess turn wide-eyed. Irene. One of the few people who knew of Estian’s past. A woman who claimed herself to be Estian’s childhood friend. In this ‘novel’ the saintess wrote, Irene was the name of the ‘real villain’ that bullies Cecile, who was possessed by the female lead.

“I’m heading for the capital this instant! And I have to open His Majesty’s eyes! So get a coach alrea-… What’s with you?”

The saintess grabbed Irene by her skirt and, seeing the latter react with a glare, respectfully knelt down on one knee and began to speak. “Milady, do you happen to require a maidservant who’ll obey without question and can carry out secret tasks when needed?”

The saintess knew that this was the sort of person Irene needed right now.