Chapter 208
Chapter 208
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 208
Chapter Title: The Lying Wolf's Identity is Exposed
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In the study, a small campfire crackled softly.
A light drizzle tapped gently against the window.
"Ugh... No matter how much I pinch my cheeks, nothing comes out..."
A woman with blindingly white hair.
The lady dressed as a saintess grimaced while fondling her own cheek.
'They look like twins.'
The first time she saw her, Pine Granasia doubted her own eyes.
To think there was someone so identical to herself. It felt a bit malicious.
A strange sensation, as if she'd been copied. Even when she created a clone, it hadn't felt like this.
A place where others' emotions turned into a labyrinth.
Was that why a saintess could exist here?
For a fleeting moment, jealousy welled up.
Her body was like a fully ripened fruit. The soft curves of her feminine form captured the gaze.
The confident smile on her face was so infuriating that Pine grabbed her cheek and pulled.
The thought that she hadn't been able to claim the Black Knight's heart from the start.
Pine's hand trembled as she gripped harder.
'...That's why I get anxious every time Licht looks at another woman.'
Pretending not to know anything, she'd been bewitched.
There were few men who wouldn't fall for a body like that.
Though she'd given in to the saintess's urging and sat at the table,
she wasn't in the mood for tea and chit-chat.
"Who the hell are you...?"
"Well, if I said I was your long-lost twin sister from childhood... would you believe me?"
Even before the princess of the Granasia Empire, she showed no sign of intimidation. Crossing her arms and resting them on her chest was a rather aggressive posture.
"No, I wouldn't. That's a lie. What the hell happened in the future... for me to become a saintess?"
Pine glared at the saintess sitting across from her and continued. A clear sign of wariness.
Her wolf tail stood straight up and shook violently.
"Hehe, straight to the point, huh? How about we talk about something else first."
But her opponent was no novice.
Just moments ago, the Nameless Saintess had retaliated by tugging on Pine's wolf ears after her cheeks were pinched.
"How much do you know about my knight?"
"...Don't call Licht by that name."
Her molars ground together with a crunch.
The pet name they used for each other. Come to think of it, Licht before he lost his memories had called her 'Saintess' too.
"We've known each other for 15 years. It doesn't matter how I call him."
Her 'hehe' laugh sounded less like a wolf and more like a fox.
"Not a hero or a warrior, but a noble Black Knight."
The saintess didn't flinch even as the empire's princess glared daggers at her.
Maybe because she was essentially herself.
Even her voice was similar, making Pine feel one step behind.
"And a perverted doggy too."
"Oh? He doesn't even glance at other women, so why call him perverted?"
Pine countered sharply to keep up,
but the saintess, sucking on a candy without a care, looked utterly triumphant.
'The side of the Black Knight you see isn't everything,' those words only fueled Pine's anger.
It was frustrating how she kept poking at aspects Pine didn't know.
"No one can tell me my knight isn't a faithful man better than I can."
"True. If he weren't, he would've crossed the line back when we bathed together in the north."
She brought up the memory from the snowy hot spring.
No matter what, she must have been the only one to see Lee Soo-hyun's half-naked body.
Muscles sculpted like a masterpiece by a master artisan, stirring a woman's heart.
His face was handsome enough, but his true value lay in his pure and warm heart.
A man whose substance far outweighed his appearance.
"...What did you say?"
Now it was one to one.
The saintess reached to stroke the wolf ears atop her head. She tried to play it cool, but her face had gone pale.
'That's something she didn't want to hear.'
Pine had half-expected it. From what she'd heard of the Black Knight's story, it was a long, unrequited love.
They probably hadn't even done couple things. Otherwise, her reaction wouldn't be this.
"H-How far did you go with our knight...? My past self is more shameless..!"
"...Hehe, I win."
The saintess, now biting her nails, finally resembled Pine Granasia.
The Platinum Wolf with intense possessiveness, hating to lose anything to others.
That she was an unfortunate future self was starting to feel believable.
"Licht... is precious to me."
"Your knight is a good man. Too good for someone like me."
They ate the same candy, drank the same black tea, and shared similar stories.
The way their faces softened only when talking about Lee Soo-hyun was like looking in a mirror.
"He helped me get my mom back and gave me the strength to live again."
"...Same here. Even as a half-baked saintess who couldn't use her holy power well, he always supported me."
A sense of kinship eased her guard as she continued the conversation.
Though they'd lived different lives, meeting that one man had changed everything for both—that much was the same.
"He said it's okay not to be strong, okay to be weak."
"Yes. Even though I'm the weakest saintess, he always put me first."
Pine and the Nameless Saintess smiled softly, thinking of the Black Knight.
"Even as a princess... he saw the real me, not my status or wealth."
"Even as a saintess, he never scolded me for failing to heal him."
Two women sharing eerily similar stories.
Despite their different titles of saintess and princess, the Black Knight had given them the same words.
Salvation.
Something simple with mere words, yet a fortune few ever received.
For some, a gem unobtainable in a lifetime,
for others, a mirage of eternal regret for what was lost.
'Soo-hyun said this is my unfortunate future...'
Lee Soo-hyun had spoken of the saintess and Pine Granasia as separate beings.
But the women facing each other now were spitting images.
It wasn't something to carelessly label an 'unfortunate future.'
Had she not met the Black Knight, that would have been the tragedy.
A life of struggling to escape, with no one to pull her out.
From that dark, sticky abyss, Lee Soo-hyun had reached out without hesitation.
"Can I just call you Saintess?"
"Yes, since I'm the Nameless Saintess. If you need a special title... 'Nameless Saintess' will do."
In truth, there was little difference between a saintess and a princess.
Clothes didn't make a different person.
"I'm Pine Granasia, princess of the Granasia Empire."
"Hehe, what an honor."
The two women, who had started talking without proper introductions, had bonded over the one existence: the Black Knight.
Kinship? Or simply comfort with one's own self?
"..."
No, it was relief that she wasn't a rival.
She'd realized they had nothing with Lee Soo-hyun. Not even held hands, probably.
'I still have a chance.'
Even if the saintess held more memories with Soo-hyun,
the one by his side now was Princess Pine Granasia.
She judged she had plenty of room to catch up to the lead wolf.
"...Licht really isn't possessed, right?"
"Yes, if you're referring to Mr. Lee Soo-hyun, it's not possession."
Pine, gauging her intentions, tossed out a question to confirm the info.
The Nameless Saintess hadn't used the name 'Licht' until now.
"Hehe, so it was me. I figured you'd catch on."
She'd even provoked her about how much she knew of Soo-hyun to draw out her true feelings.
Knowing it wasn't a fight, she'd share the unknowns.
"...Honestly, it feels like you're showing off, and it pisses me off."
If she acted like it, she was. The saintess before her was Pine Granasia, after all.
"You wanted to know my identity, right, Princess?"
"...I heard it's an unfortunate future."
"Close enough. I lost everything to the demon kings without ever meeting Soo-hyun."
The saintess set down her teacup with a clink.
Her downcast eyes and slow words carried a quiet sorrow.
"Fate's cruel joke, I suppose. I ended up inheriting the saintess position after Sister Shar."
"..."
That meant death.
There was no precedent for taking over an existing saintess's role.
It contrasted with how Lee Soo-hyun had saved Sharutineth Saintmarriage in the academy basement.
"Maybe I started using polite speech because I didn't want to forget, didn't want to lose everything."
She spoke calmly, but the loneliness behind her smile was palpable.
"I ended up crying like a mess. Is the study too dry..?"
"Right now... your powers are released, so you remember..?"
"...Yes. You know well."
She was like a solitary wolf. An unacknowledged unfortunate future. Pine wiped the saintess's tears and listened intently.
"I'm your unconfirmed future."
A blank slate of a saintess, stripped of everything by the Hero Cult's demon kings.
Even as a future self, she exuded a completely different aura, believable as another person.
"If you and your knight try to change the future..."
She snapped her fingers and continued.
Her pure white saintess robes transformed into sparkling glass armor.
"...I'll change into something like this too."
"..."
A manarose adorned one side of her head.
Now she truly looked like 'the future Princess Pine Granasia.'
"Polite speech... suits you better. You're starting to resemble Soo-hyun."
Unlike before, it felt like gazing into a mirror.
A more mature version, unlike her just-come-of-age self.
What had become of her future self and Licht?
"Licht now drank a memory-loss potion. How on earth..?"
"He just fell asleep for a bit. To erase the memories completely."
Pine had been devising ways to restore Lee Soo-hyun, who sacrificed his memories for Pantos's trial.
"Is there... a way?"
"You already know. Better than anyone, in fact."
But instead of an answer, came a question.
What did she mean? If they just left the trial, a memory-less Black Knight might greet her.
Even imagining it squeezed her heart like a vise.
"I don't know..."
Pine confessed her struggles to her future self.
"The answer is simple, Pine Granasia. No, past me."
Back in saintess robes, she gazed slowly at her younger self and began.
"A magic that turns what you hate into love, and love into hate."
Their golden wolf eyes met.
"A sword art that lets you understand and cherish everything about the other."
The saintess clasped the teary Pine's hand in a praying pose.
"A spirit art that pains your heart and makes it soar."
She revealed the sensations tormenting Pine all along.
The chill piercing one side of her chest.
"The world calls that divinity... love."
She awakened in her younger self the definition of love that Lee Soo-hyun had taught her.
For even the nameless, the magic of love could be wielded.
"...Do you understand now, dear hero?"
Pine Granasia nodded silently, recalling the Black Knight's plea to make him fall for her again.