CH 172

Bang! Bang! Bang! The saintess blinked open her eyes and groaned in pain. As soon as she came to, she felt a splitting pain battering her head. It was only worsened by the loud pounding at the door.

“What are you doing! Get up! Are you still sleeping!”

The source of the banging and shouting was Irene, which made the saintess reflexively crawl toward the door. She knew that she wouldn’t hear the end of it if the door wasn’t opened immediately, so even though she appeared like a ghoul returning from hell, she crawled over to the door with great difficulty to open it.

“Milady, what is… the matter…”

“Ugh! You reek of alcohol! No wonder I didn’t see you around. Just how much did you drink yesterday!”

How much did she drink? It wasn’t something she could confidently answer, though it was most definitely more than what could be counted with her fingers and toes—she was certain of that.

“Well, that aside, hurry and pack your things.”

“Pardon? What do you mean?”

“We’re departing for Aluna after having lunch. Oh, I’ll be going after tending to some matters, so you’ll be going first.”

“Aluna?”

“Yes, Lake City Aluna! So get ready quickly! If you forget even one single piece of my clothing, you’ll regret it!” With those words, Irene hurried away, leaving the saintess alone to her thoughts.

‘Isn’t that the city where all sorts of events popped up in the story?’ Aluna was none other than the beautiful backdrop that the saintess had poured her all into, setting the stage for many fun and exciting events. Brushing her thoughts aside, the saintess decided to crawl back into her bed now that her stormy lady was gone.

“Aluna Baluna, none of that matters right now. I wish I had some hangover soup,” she muttered, snuggling into the blankets once more. But that’s when she noticed a rustling sound. Fumbling about, her hand touched a piece of paper. “What’s this?”

Under her bed covers was a note that read: You will pay for stealing my first time.

It was enough to make her sober up instantly in a blink of an eye.

* * *

Far away in Aluna, the caretakers of a certain villa were astonished by the sudden arrival of a letter.

“His Majesty is coming!”

“Together with the rumored empress to boot!”

“Tomorrow!” a third cried.

The third exclamation was the most terrifying. Tomorrow? Up until now, Estian hadn’t visited the villa once since his coronation, and only a minimal number of caretakers had been kept on staff. In other words… ‘A cushy job!’ That was the honest thought of the attendants at Aluna Villa. Not only were they paid the same salary as the workers in the imperial palace, they also received a stipend for working in a remote location. Moreover, the emperor never visited and it seemed like he never would!

As a result, the attendants had grown accustomed to a slack work ethic. It was the natural result of having no one watching over them and no one to serve. However, it was all coming to an end.

“Wash all the curtains!”

“Replace the carpets!”

“Dust off all the statues!”

“The bedding! Where did you put the new bedding that arrived this year!”

It was a mad scramble—if the emperor arrived and saw things were not prepared properly… They all shuddered as the same thought crossed their minds, ‘Our heads will roll!’ It hadn’t been that long since the emperor wiped off Etia from the map of the continent. The man could annihilate a country, so destroying one measly villa would be easy as pie. The attendants were staking their lives on cleaning.

As the saying goes—where there’s a will, there’s a way. They barely managed to somehow restore the villa, which in actuality was the size of an average palace, to its original glory within just one day. Now they waited, gripped with tension, as they watched a coach roll into the villa grounds.