Chapter 170
Chapter 170
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 170
Chapter Title: Ballroom Under the Moonlight
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Sharutineth was already well acquainted with the golden-haired woman standing before her.
Nex's birth mother. The Living Sun.
One of the Ten Heroes who had shone in the Demon God War.
"...I'm sorry for the rude introduction, ma'am."
"You knew that and still did it."
Asha sipped her black tea without even meeting her eyes.
"How long have you known Nex?"
Asha broached the main topic first, casually. The person in question had already left the room.
"Probably around three years ago..."
She had met Nex a few years before enrolling at the academy, in the courtyard of the social club.
"His spirit awakening must be because of you too. And it reaching adulthood recently."
As if it all made sense now, Asha lightly adjusted her hair.
"Yes... Nex saved me when the Hero Cult kidnapped me..."
"...Ha."
Asha's eyes wavered the moment she heard "Hero Cult."
She had lost the person she loved.
"You fell for Nex over something like that? Do you not understand what the position of Second Saintess means?"
Her gaze, which she had deliberately avoided, now fixed on Sharutineth as she spoke.
"I know it well, ma'am."
Sharutineth gripped the hem of her black nun's habit with both hands and smoothed it down as she replied.
"It's the sole position granted in this world by the God of Light."
The purple rosary hanging around Sharutineth's neck glimmered.
"Even so, I have no intention of giving up my happiness, ma'am."
With her red eyes and fangs, Sharutineth maintained her dignified posture.
"...For Nex's sake, I'd even step down from being the Saintess."
She boldly continued, shoulders back and chest thrust forward.
"Such a greedy girl."
But despite her resolve, Asha remained aloof.
"Frankly, I understand everything else."
It was like looking at her younger self—she ground her teeth.
Her foolish younger self, full of naive dreams that the world would accept her love.
"Status doesn't matter. I've been through that myself."
Asha gazed steadily at the princess before speaking.
"Silencing a few mouths is as easy as what Locke did."
Pine, watching Licht anxiously from afar, wagging her wolf tail restlessly.
No need to look—she had a rough road ahead. Of all people, she'd gotten tangled with a wolfkin male overflowing with possessiveness when it came to his mate.
"But you have too many problems."
"..."
The vampire's innate red eyes and pointed ears. It was a memory Asha could never forget, even if she tried.
"Do you know how the First Saintess died, Sharutineth?"
"Yes. Betrayed by a vampire..."
The tragedy from the war.
"That's right. That's why there are so many who resent you sitting in her seat."
She had been the kindest, tending to the sick first and healing the people—yet she died because of a demi-human.
"If a demi-human Saintess goes as far as marriage, don't expect a warm welcome anywhere."
The empire still bore the war's unhealed scars, like poorly stitched leather.
In such a place, a Saintess marrying was as unacceptable as Licht's earlier qualms.
"Break it off with Nex, Saintess Sharutineth. I apologize for my harsh words earlier."
Asha apologized to Sharutineth. Coldness and rudeness were different things.
With Nex there before, her emotions had run high, but now she tried to calm herself.
"...No. I need Nex."
Sharutineth shook her head, voicing her refusal.
After all this, she should have given up. Why not?
"Lady Asha... I was born a vampire... and abandoned in front of the Archbishop's cathedral."
A fact Asha already knew. Sharutineth spoke of her life like a confession.
She had grown up in Beatrice's cathedral from childhood.
"I spent my time fighting the urge to suck people's blood, striving to live by God's teachings."
The traits of her kind. She had tried to overcome even them with piety.
"...Church members sometimes scorned and gossiped about me, but I endured."
Sharutineth clutched the violet rosary Nex had gifted her.
"But before meeting Nex... I had always doubted that I was truly the Saintess."
A color like someone else's hue.
When kidnapped by the Hero Cult, the eyes of the man she loved—filled with tears—were similar.
"Because my body rejects divine power."
Darkness and light attributes. Opposites naturally repelled each other.
"...Like this."
Divine power enveloped her fist, and she gritted her teeth against the pain of her skin peeling away.
"My goodness. So you've endured this with sheer willpower until now...?"
Asha's eyes widened. She hadn't expected it to be this severe.
"Yes, because of Nex."
The Saintess before her now showed no change in expression despite the agony burning through her body.
Her serene, compassionate smile even resembled the First Saintess, whose hair turned white when using divine power.
"His sincerity always gave me strength."
Sharutineth spoke in a gentle tone.
"When I felt empty about my role as Saintess, Nex encouraged me."
His ardent courtship had lifted her low self-esteem back to the surface.
"...He was the first to tell me I was truly the Saintess."
A casual remark from their first meeting had saved her.
People can be saved by such ordinary words.
A commonplace miracle. One that could be called love's magic.
"..."
The two women facing each other now were mirror images.
Lives saved by a loved one after losing parents.
Love that transcended status.
Even if it ended in ruin, they charged ahead.
"...I understand. Let's wait for Nex to return, Sharutineth."
Like a phoenix that burned to ash yet rose again.
Asha leaned forward and nodded.
No matter how much more she persuaded here, it would be futile—she knew that now.
—Crash.
At that moment, the silence shattered with the sound of someone breaking a glass.
When I entered the ballroom following Nex, I saw a bizarre scene.
Several women in lavish gowns. Sharutineth surrounded by the other young ladies.
"Who are those...?"
From my game knowledge, they were the members of Nex's harem as I remembered.
Why were they like that? Looking like they wanted to devour Sharutineth.
Asha watched the situation silently, arms crossed. Her eyes blazed with anger.
"Marrying that wastrel because of a wench like this... I..."
"Ridiculous. The Second Saintess, engaged?"
Several women sneered at Sharutineth.
The ballroom buzzed with murmurs. It was chaos at a glance.
Damn, things had gone wrong. Something must have happened while Nex was away.
"I need to stop this..."
"I'll handle it, junior."
Nex blocked me with his arm as I tried to rush in. A gesture saying it was his to resolve, so don't worry.
"What happened, Lady Aqua?"
The glass thrown toward Asha and Sharutineth came from a woman who looked strikingly like Sharutineth.
"Nex, was breaking our engagement all because of this vampire?"
Long black hair. They resembled sisters, believable at first glance.
"You want to hog the Saintess title and all the glory too...? We should excommunicate a Saintess like this...!"
But their personalities were polar opposites.
Even after escaping the head's control, she hadn't learned a thing.
Lady Aqua remained exactly as Nex remembered her.
Splash. Another lady, rejected by Nex, threw wine at Sharutineth.
"...Nex!"
He shielded her with his body. His purple hair stained red.
Nex looked like blood was flowing from him. Red liquid dripped from his suit, plop plop.
"I'm sorry, Shar."
Yet he kept his composure. Justifiable anger aside, he acted the gentleman.
"If I'd met you sooner, I wouldn't have pretended to be a wastrel."
Even as the rejected ladies glared in contempt, he forced a reassuring smile.
"...Ma'am."
"Why call me that? Not 'house head' like usual?"
He turned to Asha behind him, flashing a foxy smile.
"Because Frey Aureus is my father."
"...How did you..."
Asha's eyes went wide at his words.
"Obvious, right? Who else does this signature smile resemble?"
Yeah, I told him. Parents should talk to their kids if they're going to be parents.
"Ma'am, I know vampires can't live under the sun."
Nex knelt on one knee before Asha.
"Living with someone as intensely solar as me would surely turn her to ash."
Even as the ladies spat venom nearby, he didn't stop.
"That's the noble way, Nex."
Asha eyed him coldly. The air froze; I swallowed hard.
"...But a phoenix rises from the ashes."
Snap. Nex flicked his fingers, silencing the jeering ladies with phoenix power sealing their mouths.
"If Shar being a vampire is the issue, then I'll renounce the Aureus name."
Nex tore off the golden phoenix insignia from his clothes.
"So, please formally approve my engagement to Sharutineth, ma'am."
He straightened his wine-soaked attire.
Boldly displaying the empty space over his heart on the black tailcoat.
"..."
Silence fell briefly.
I hadn't expected this. Someone cast a soundproof spell or something.
If a vampire Saintess marrying nobility was the problem, renouncing nobility himself was a bombshell.
It was just like what Frey said to Asha. That line appeared at the end of the DLC epilogue.
'A phoenix is reborn through love...'
The words that comforted Asha, terrified of marriage due to status differences.
"...You're the spitting image of your father, Nex."
Asha spoke upon hearing it, sighing longer than usual, her expression softening.
"Very well. I approve the marriage."
"Thank you, ma'am."
Nex turned to leave upon her reply. He no longer had standing in the ballroom.
"Instead, I approve her as the lady of the Aureus house."
The words caught him as he turned.
"One doesn't throw the phoenix name around lightly, Nex Aureus."
A parent's belated recognition, seeing herself reflected in her child.