Chapter 168
Chapter 168
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 168
Chapter Title: 48-2. The Ballroom Under the Moonlight.
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The audience began murmuring after witnessing Pine's actions.
"That guy's the princess's... dance partner?"
"Unexpected. I don't think I've seen him since we were kids."
Half of them were surprised and puzzled. And occasionally, some people recognized my face.
"Ah, no way... the one who caught the Demon King this time...?"
"I saw him at the academy too. That's the guy."
Ugh, there are even classmates here. Pine, why on earth did you pull something like this?
"Pine, isn't this a bit too much...? There's no need to make such a public announcement..."
I whispered softly to her.
Emperor Locke must have been too busy to attend, but this was formally a social ball for the upper nobility.
At this rate, Pine was in danger. People might approach me just to get to her.
"...Why? You're my knight, aren't you?"
She proudly tugged at the black choker I'd given her, flashing it with a triumphant expression.
True enough. But what if rumors started flying that we were dating at the academy?
"Licht, if tough times lie ahead, just tell me."
Despite my concerns, Pine clasped both my hands and struck a praying pose.
The princess, with her soft tail and fluffy wolf ears.
"I'll be the first one to believe in you."
These were words I'd heard from her many times before.
"...."
My vision stung. Pine's silver hair, sparkling under the chandelier lights, seemed to overlap with someone else.
Gazing at that gentle smile made me terrified that death would come for her once more.
"Licht...?"
In pledge to her, I knelt once and rose again.
"...Pine, give me a moment. I need to step out somewhere."
If I didn't complete the Grand Route, it was a bad end guaranteed.
'With the sage's vision of the future and the persisting penalty, it's clear it won't let us live happily just like that.'
If this game world were as easygoing as it seemed, Pine—the former Nameless Saintess—never would have met such misfortune.
I headed back down to the first floor, making for where Asha was. The woman bore an impressive seal shaped like a phoenix forged from gold.
"Long time no see, Duchess."
The living sun. Asha Aureus.
I spotted her secretly watching her son and called out to her.
Asha Aureus carried pain from the war.
Even with the phoenix spirit—rumored to be among the strongest—she'd failed to protect the one she loved most.
After Demon Kings killed her husband, she'd lived in constant regret.
What if she'd been stronger? What if she'd never fallen in love?
Regrets like these—they're all too common.
"Long time no see, Nex."
To spare her child the same wound, she'd taken precautions.
"House Head, I heard you weren't attending this ball."
"Hello... Lady Asha Aureus."
And so Asha sat there, uncomfortable as thorns beneath her.
Asha had ended up seated with Nex and Sharutineth. On the Black Knight's advice, the others had tactfully stepped away.
'That girl... the Second Saintess...'
Even shrouded in her black habit and purple rosary, a vampire's foul reputation wouldn't simply vanish.
Her crimson irises and pointed ears.
The fangs peeking from her mouth laid bare her traits.
"So the light god humans worship... really elevated an ain to saintess."
Out came Asha's barbed words. Knowing the first saintess had been human, it was only natural for her.
How the hell did a fool like that end up revered as the next saintess?
"Am I seeing things? Or have balls grown so lax they invite just anyone now? Nex."
Asha's displeased expression made her want to bolt from her seat right then.
But the man wearing a golden wolf brooch prevented that.
The Aureus family had symbols melted from gold—like their phoenix—but this was on another level.
A mark for VIPs among VIPs. It signified a partner to the empire's wielder of absolute power.
And when she'd seen the princess arrive wearing a choker too, Asha couldn't hide her shock.
'Something originally requested of a spouse or lover—a sign among ancient inrang tribes of utter trust...'
Close enough to entrust even one's tail. It was also why Asha had no choice but to soften her speech toward Licht in the north.
If Emperor Locke had been here, he'd have lost it and tried to cut Licht down.
"...Um, Lady Asha. I've heard so much about you."
"Nex spoke of me? Ha, ridiculous. Must be lies."
Sharutineth timidly tried to defuse the tension.
"A key player in the Demon God War victory alongside His Majesty... the living sun herself, Lady Asha."
The vampire saintess barely managed the words without meeting eyes, but she wasn't entirely wrong.
"I heard Nex has admired you since he was little, House Head."
"Shar..."
Before despairing over her unresponsive spirit, young Nex had indeed looked up to her.
A little flattered, she sipped her black tea.
"So, what exactly did you call me here for? Nex?"
Her expression more relaxed than before, she made an effort to face her son.
"Please grant engagement to Sharutineth here... House Head."
Clasping hands firmly on the table, the pair voiced their resolve.
The profligate count and the vampire saintess.
Asha beheld with her own eyes this relationship that could be called forbidden love.
"...Why should I?"
Whoosh, golden flames rippled behind Asha.
"Aren't you taking your position as eldest son too lightly? I'm wondering, Nex."
A sweltering heat spread around them, as if the ballroom might burst into flames at any moment.
"House Head..!!"
Nex immediately summoned his purple phoenix, shielding Sharutineth with its wings.
"Um, Lady Asha... but we... love each other..."
Asha furrowed her brow at the vampire saintess, still speaking from behind the wings.
"This generation's saintess is all talk. To think she's just some loose woman gunning for our family matriarch's seat."
It infuriated her that her son had fallen for such honeyed words.
Of all people, this vampire saintess. Asha had heard she was an orphan, abandoned at the church steps and picked up by the archbishop.
Unaware Licht was listening nearby, Asha began unleashing her venom.
"Love, love—you say. Do you know how easily it withers?"
Crack, a fissure ran through her teacup. Someone began overlapping repeatedly in Asha's vision.
"Even if I backed you and permitted the marriage, do you think you could overcome the gulf in status?"
A lord-servant bond that began with master and maid.
The purple-haired man who restored her graying locks strand by strand to their original color.
"An ain saintess getting married? Will humans burn the archbishop's church over it?"
Much like what she'd done to earn society's recognition for Nex's father—the man she'd loved.
"...If that's all, I refuse. Nex."
Knowing full well how destructively it could end, she kept trying to crush their resolve.
"House Head, please just reconsider once. Isn't it possible for someone like you?"
"Lady Asha..."
For Asha, haunted by memories of her now-gone husband, granting it was impossible.
"I refuse. You may leave now."
It was then. Creak, as Asha shoved back her chair to depart, a presence halted her.
"...What's so wrong with an ain saintess?"
A boy with eyes fiercer than anyone's.
He ground his teeth, yet his tone was icy cold rather than raging.
"L-Licht, sir. This is a family matter between parent and child. Please don't interfere."
Licht, helmeted as the Black Knight, approached while radiating a ferocious killing intent.
"Frey Aureus. You know the name?"
The name that dropped from his lips hit like a thunderbolt.
Nex's father's name. One that all records in the world had surely erased.
"...I don't know that name."
"I told you before. I can access hidden information."
Unsure why he was so enraged, Asha stuck to denial.
"Want me to say more? Duchess. Your mansion has a study. Arrange the books in a certain order and..."
Back when Frey was her servant, he'd read to her on sleepless nights, anxious over her unresponsive spirit.
"...Enough! What do you want, exactly? Licht, sir."
A secret room revealed by arranging books to spell 'Frey' precisely.
A hidden space behind the study, preserving intact memories of her husband. Asha was aghast as Licht nailed it exactly.
"I want their engagement. Asha."
"I refuse. Cut off my head instead."
But she couldn't yield either. In the end, building a harem to empower her spirit was the better path.
That way, no tragedy like her beloved's death would befall him.
"...."
Though she'd once asked this young man to see Nex's true self, even she had lines she wouldn't cross.
"...Nex senior. Let's talk for a moment."
"Got it. Junior."
Speechless, Licht led the purple-haired man out of the ballroom briefly.
"Um, Nex...?"
"Ha, this got annoying... Alone with a vampire? The first saintess would weep."
Leaving Asha and Sharutineth stranded at the table, the two men took time to devise a plan to persuade the duchess.