CH 29

Ziken must have felt it too since he suddenly retreated a few steps back. However, he stepped forward again to retort, perhaps because his ego was wounded.

“What’s with you?”

The surrounding area became even noisier with whispers of, ‘What’s wrong with that person’, and, ‘Did they come with the Princess?’. Although it was a natural consequence of Ziken’s shouting, I could tell without even having to look around that all the attention in this large funeral hall was now focused on us.

“Who is interrupting the conversation between the crown prince and princess?”

It was an implication that he’d have to pay the price if he wasn’t at a high enough position.

I couldn’t hide the absurdity on my face. 

Don’t tell me, you don’t know who Lecht is…? I thought since the emperor was aware of Lecht’s identity, obviously Ziken, the crown prince would be aware of it too. Didn’t Linden recognise him in an instant as well…? Oh, I wasn’t in any position to talk since I didn’t recognise him either, but weren’t Ziken’s circumstances completely different to mine? 

As I looked at him with an expression as if he was ridiculous, I heard Lecht let out a preposterous snort.

“The fact that you don’t recognise me… It seems like the emperor hasn’t fully recognised you as the next emperor yet.”

Lecht’s soft murmur spread throughout the quiet funeral hall, creating a small stir in the crowd. Although his natural speech that lacked formalities as well as his arrogant tone were surprising, what was most surprising to them was probably what he had actually said. 

They all looked at each other with wide eyes while others hastily covered their mouths with their hands or fans. 

Ziken’s eyes widened as if something had stabbed him, his face flushing red in an instant.

“Just what sort of nonsense…!”

Ziken, whose anger had flared up again, was about to begin shouting again, but the female lead who was next to him pulled his arm sharply.

“Livi…?”

Ziken turned his head toward her, as if to ask why she stopped him. However, Olivia’s eyes weren’t on Ziken but on Lecht instead. She furrowed her eyebrows, as if she had suddenly thought of something, and opened her mouth cautiously.

“Your Excellency, the Grand Duke of Arvis…?”

Ziken’s eyes became round like saucers at the name she said as the surrounding crowd also became dead silent.

At the sound of his name, Lecht’s gaze, which had been on Ziken, slowly turned to Olivia. Olivia flinched briefly at his gaze before plucking up her courage again and taking a step closer to him.

“It is Your Excellency the Grand Duke, right?”

There were gasps here and there at the words that were spoken one more time, as if to check. 

There was no one amongst the empire’s nobles that didn’t know of Grand Duke Arvis, who was lavished with the trust and favour of the emperor. Nevertheless, this was the first public appearance of him, who was always shrouded in mystery. Their attention was focused on him.

“Do you remember me? I went to the Grand Duchy two years ago go give a ‘blessing’…!”

As this was something I wasn’t aware of, I looked up at Lecht with wide eyes. And was greeted with his face which was full of displeasure.

“Saintess of the Sun God.”

“Yes! That’s right, I’m the saintess from back then!”

Olivia exclaimed in a delighted voice upon Lecht’s recognition of her. She laughed and took a step closer to where we were standing.

“Even then, it was a pity that I could only bump into you once, so I’m really glad that I get to meet you again like this.”

“…”

“I couldn’t give you a proper blessing since I didn’t get to see your face even when I left.”

Olivia reached out her hand, her eyes seemingly dripping with regret. It looked like she was trying to grab Lecht’s hand, the one that wasn’t holding my shoulder.

“So I made up my mind to definitely do it for you when we meet again…”

However, her hands couldn’t touch Lecht.

Slap.

Since Lecht coldly swatted her hand away.

“I said there was no need for it though.”

“Oh.”

His voice was as cold as an ice rink. It was an even colder voice than the one he used to deal with Ziken.

“You seem to have forgotten, so I’ll say it one more time. The Grand Duke of Arvis serves the Moon God. Stop trying to mix anything else into a place that has already been blessed sufficiently by Lunar.”

Lecht wrapped his arm tighter around my shoulder as he said that. His warmth helped to calm my chaotic emotions that erupted upon my meeting with Ziken.

‘That’s true… the Grand Duchy, which is owned by the Demon King, serves the Moon God.’

Olivia nodded her head, as if to say it was reasonable, and let out a small sigh.

“Oh… then…”

Looking at the expression that seemed as if the world was caving in on that face that looked like a rabbit would make anyone who saw it uncomfortable. It was an appearance that stimulated a protective instinct, with a face that made one want to pat her on the back and ask her if she was really okay.

“Lunarism only has a history of 100 years and the number of priests is small, so the power of the blessing would be weaker compared to Solarism.”

Olivia continued with a worried expression.

“Although there’s no helping it if Your Excellency doesn’t believe it, I’ll still give you a blessing for a bright future.”

In other words, ‘Even if you believe in another god, I’ll gladly grant you a blessing for your peace and happiness’.

Gosh, it’s just like what a saintess should say.

“You’ll allow me to do at least that, right?”

It won’t be easy to refuse such a request when you ask with such a pure face…

“No.”

…I’ve underestimated Lecht once again. 

My bad. Lecht’s refusal was so blunt I almost laughed out loud. Nevertheless, laughing right now with this timing would look bad, so I managed to keep my lips tightly shut.

“And since when was the power of the blessing determined by how long a religion’s history was, or how many priests it had?”

Lecht made an extremely good point.

“I meant that there’d be a lower probability of God’s touch gracing that place since there were less priests. Just look at the fact that there hasn’t even been a saintess for 100 years already…”

Olivia said, as if she were genuinely concerned about the Grand Duke who believed in Lunarism. But unfortunately, it was a very misguided concern.

“What do you mean there’s no saintess?”

Lecht said, as if asking what nonsense they were spouting.

“She’s right in front of you.”

“Pardon?”

This time, it was Olivia’s turn for her eyes to widen, as if asking what he was talking about.

Then, Lecht pulled my shoulder to stand me in front of him and said.

“Here, the saintess of the Moon God is standing right in front of you.”

Olivia’s shocked eyes turned in my direction, followed by the shocked eyes of the people standing behind us.

“What do you mea…”

Olivia whispered in a voice that couldn’t seem to believe it. Our surroundings started to stir as well.

Suddenly in the spotlight, I smiled awkwardly and scratched my cheek. Then I jabbed Lecht’s stomach with my elbow.

“How could you say that here…!”

And protested quietly.

“Then did you just want me to leave it when they spouted that nonsense about not having a saintess when our saintess is right in front of them?”

Though he replied in a loud voice, contradictory to my whisper.

“But we haven’t even held the proclamation ceremony yet…”

“They never said we couldn’t reveal who the saintess was before the proclamation ceremony.”

“That’s true, but still…”

No, why does this guy only say the right thing? There’s nothing else for anyone to say…! 

I couldn’t do anything else so I just smiled awkwardly while listening to the murmuring around me.

“Princess Darchez is the saintess of the Moon God…?”

“Grand Duke Arvis said so… There’s no way that person is lying…”

“He is the Grand Duke, right…? There’s no one who actually knows anyway.”

“Saintess Olivia said he is.”

Since they couldn’t believe that I was the saintess of the Moon God, doubts about Lecht’s identity began to circulate. Eventually, the chaotic mood exploded based on the words of the crown prince.

“You’re lying!”

Ziken took a step forward, pulling Olivia back behind him.

“The High Priest of Solarism has already testified that the Princess has no divine power! Yet no she’s a saintess.”

He was confident in what he said. 

Well, that’s somewhat understandable. Since I used to think like that too. He probably didn’t know that the divine power of Solarism and Lunarism were two different things.

“Your Highness, although you’re correct in saying I have no divine power in Solarism, I am the saintess of Lunarism…”

“Don’t talk nonsense!”

I tried to explain to him, but he just cut me off and got angry again.

“It wasn’t enough for you to poison Livi, and now you’re a saintess?! You’re really a woman who knows no fear! How dare you commit such blasphemy!”

“…Your Highness, are you doubting what Grand Duke Arvis said?”

I pointed out that him claiming I wasn’t a saintess was tantamount to saying that Lecht’s words of me being the saintess was a lie. 

But Ziken’s answer to that was something I didn’t expect.

“How did you even think of deceiving Grand Duke Arvis?”

He didn’t think I was lying, but rather thought I was deceiving him instead.

Wow, to be this thoroughly filled with suspicion. It was admirable, in a sense.

“That poisonous tongue of yours may have been able to bring you this far, but it won’t deceive me! It’s impossible for a vicious woman like you to become a saintess!”

His proclamation echoed throughout the funeral hall. Everyone held their breath at the incident that had now become blasphemy. A chilling tension lingered over the hall.

Even though I knew I’d be the hated villainess who bullied the female lead in the eyes of the male lead, I didn’t know it’d be to this extent.

It was when I was about to open my mouth to say that it’d be better for him to take those words back, no matter how angry he was.

pls do not share this anywhere or the transmigration gods will transport u into boku no pico !! this translation has been stolen from mioscorner.com, pls only read there i’m begging u :kneels:

“Can you take responsibility for what you’ve just said?”

A sharp voice pierced through the atmosphere that was like thin ice, like a spear. I turned my head towards that sound.

“She’ll never be a saintess and she’s just deceiving everyone with her superficial tongue. I asked if you could take responsibility for that. Brother.”

A furious Linden was striding toward us. Behind him were also the three musketeers as well. Likewise, they also had an extremely angry expression on their faces.

The moment I, who had been completely immersed in the situation, spotted Linden, I was suddenly reminded that this was the funeral ceremony of the Head of Ezzarson.

“Linden.”

How much effort must he have put in to pretend to be calm and try not to cry, yet we ended up making the atmosphere messy with irrelevant words such as ‘to apologise or not to apologise’, or ‘whether or not you’re the saintess’.

“I’m sorry. We were too loud, weren’t we?”

“No, that doesn’t matter to me, but… I thought you’d come and see me as soon as you arrived, but you went to see my brother instead.”

Although he said it in a joking voice, he seemed to be genuinely sad, judging from his drooping shoulders and downcast eyes.

“No, that’s not it! I was going to go to you first…!”

I grabbed his hand in a hurry.

“I was on my way to you, but His Highness spoke to me and it turned out like this. Seriously.”

I made it a point in saying that he definitely occupied a higher spot in the ranking list of my heart. Obviously Linden was much more precious to me than the person who showed me such an ugly appearance.

“It’s true…!”

Thinking he was actually upset, I became anxious and started to appeal to him since he just looked at me with a tearful expression without saying anything. Then, Linden burst into laughter with a pfft.

“I know. I was just kidding.”

“What? Haa… You scared me.”

I was worried that Linden would be upset because of Ziken, so I was relieved. With my heart finally settling back into place, I let go of Linden’s hand.

I glanced at him, but he continued to smile shamelessly. Then, we burst into laughter at the same time.

Amidst our laughter, Ziken’s voice interrupted us.