The Saintess's Awakening and the Falling Peel
“Are you awake?”
Lilliana greeted me with a smile so radiant it was almost blinding. She sat demurely on the chair beside my bed, deftly peeling an apple.
Scrape, scrape.
The red apple peel curled away in steady rhythm, dangling precariously toward the floor as if it might snap at any moment.
The scene was so serene it felt utterly unreal. I blinked dumbly.
“Lilliana...?”
Why the hell are you here? No, wait—why the hell am I here?
My last memory was the cold floor of the underground auditorium. I remembered spewing blood and telling Leoness to run.
Shouldn't I be in a prison cell by now?
“Yes, milady. I'm right here.”
As if she'd been waiting for that, Lilliana set down the apple and rose gracefully, approaching me.
I opened my mouth to get a read on the situation, but all that came out was a raspy croak.
“W-Water... water, please...”
She reacted instantly to my cracked voice, grabbing the pitcher from the bedside table and pouring a glass.
“Here you go. Drink slowly.”
She gently propped up my upper body and held the glass to my lips. I gulped it down desperately, instinctively.
The cool liquid sliding down my throat finally made me feel alive.
“Puha...”
After draining the glass and catching my breath, the room came into focus.
This was the academy's infirmary. Not just any room—the VIP suite reserved for nobles.
Plush bed, luxurious furniture, fine artwork on the walls, and an ornate vase of flowers by the window.
Worlds away from that dank underground prison.
The VIP suite? The top-tier healing facility only for royalty and high nobles.
“How's your body feeling? Any pain anywhere?”
Lilliana touched my forehead with worried eyes. Her touch was soft and warm.
More importantly, why is she touching me so casually?
By my memory, her favorability toward me was a solid -100.
Well, not that I'm complaining.
I was flustered by the sudden intimacy, but deep down, it didn't feel bad. If anything, I worried she might hear my heart pounding.
“I'm okay... just a bit dizzy.”
I tried to push myself up, bracing my arms.
Full-body fatigue and pain restrict movement.
“Ugh!”
Pain crushed me from head to toe, flopping me back onto the bed.
“Ah...”
A groan escaped my lips.
“Don't push yourself! You've been out for a full day.”
Lilliana pouted, pressing my shoulders down to keep me lying flat.
“A whole day?”
That long? What the hell happened in the meantime?
I clutched my throbbing head, piecing together my fragmented memories.
Blowing up the prison wall to escape. Leaping off the cliff into the lake. Giving Leoness mouth-to-mouth... skipping that.
Smashing Homungrnir. And finally, collapsing while vomiting black blood.
I remember up to there.
After that? Total blackout.
No matter how I racked my brain, there was no reason I should be in this luxury suite instead of a cell.
Adrian's mercy? As if.
That jerk was dying to kill me.
“Wh-What happened to me? I collapsed, right? Did the crown prince bring me here?”
Lilliana shook her head at my question.
“No. I healed you.”
She blushed shyly.
“Huh?”
“When you collapsed... I prayed without thinking, and light came from my hands...”
She held out both palms. A faint white glow flickered at her fingertips.
“I think... I awakened as a saintess.”
“Ah...”
A sigh slipped out.
Of course. That explained the halo-like glow behind her head.
The saintess awakening event had triggered early.
Raising light affinity is easy, but awakening as a saintess is tough even if you know the conditions.
It usually happened in dire crises. Like right before the demon army overran the academy, or when the hero party faced total annihilation.
It required that humanity-saving vibe. But this time, the trigger was me? Felt weird.
“Thanks to that, I could use my authority for the VIP suite... I wanted to put you in the best place, milady.”
Nice.
A saintess's privileges rivaled royalty's. No one could refuse.
“Thank you, Lilliana. You saved my life. For real.”
“No, milady. I'm just glad you're safe.”
She clasped my hand tightly in both of hers. Her eyes welled up, glistening like tears might spill any second.
“I really... thought I'd never see you again.”
Her words rang true. Even though I'd only possessed this body recently, my struggles hadn't been in vain.
Lilliana's compassionate nature let her embrace even a villain like me. Her vast heart was moving.
At least I'm alive. That's what matters.
I gripped her hand back with a wry smile.
Mountains of problems loomed, but just for a moment, I wanted to savor this peace.
Warm sunlight, soft bed, and Lilliana before me.
What ending could be more perfect?
But.
A nagging unease lingered in the corner of my mind.
The person who'd been with me.
The one who'd shared life and death with me.
She'd been holding me until the very last moment.
“By the way, Lilliana.”
“Yes?”
“What about Leoness? What happened to her?”
The air in the room shifted the instant I asked.
Like summer snow falling suddenly.
The bright smile on Lilliana's face faded slowly, ever so slowly.
Her grip on my hand tightened. Painfully so.
“Leoness... you say?”
Her head tilted as she repeated it sweetly, but it sounded dry somehow.
An inexplicable dread made me swallow hard.
“Y-Yeah... the silver-haired princess. We were together since the prison...”
I forced casualness, acting like it was no big deal.
“Is she okay? Not hurt or anything?”
Lilliana didn't answer.
She just stared blankly at the half-peeled apple on the table.
The precariously dangling peel had snapped off, fallen to the floor.
The sharp blade of the fruit knife gleamed in the sunlight from the window.
“Lilliana?”
“...Prison.”
A small mutter after a long pause.
“Huh?”
She slowly turned to look at me. Her eyes weren't smiling.
“They sent her back to prison.”
“What?”
Why the hell is she back in prison?
She'd pushed herself as hard as I did; her body's probably wrecked.
“Back to prison? Her injuries? Did she get treated?”
As I pressed urgently, Lilliana's brow furrowed slightly.
“Milady.”
She cut me off.
“Why are you worried about her?”
“Huh?”
“That woman... she deceived you, milady.”
“Deceived me?”
First I'd heard of it. Deceive who?
“Yes. She took you hostage and threatened you. Said she'd kill you. Right in front of me...”
Lilliana shuddered as if the mere thought horrified her.
Ah.
Now it clicked why I was in this room.
That idiot princess had taken the fall for my crimes too.
And everyone bought it.
“Lilliana, that's a misunderstanding—”
“It's not a misunderstanding.”
Her voice hardened.
Her clasped hands now gripped my wrist tightly.
“She just used you, milady. As a shield. Discarded you when you were no longer useful.”
“No. We never lied to each other. She deliberately—”
“To save you? No!”
Lilliana raised her voice suddenly.
Startled, I looked at her; she clapped a hand over her mouth, surprised herself.
Then, calmly—but in a voice several times darker—she continued.
“It wasn't to save you, milady. You almost died because of her. Vomiting all that blood... Do you know how scared I was?”
Her eyes dulled, turning inky black.
“I can never forgive the woman who did that to you. But now she's locked in that lightless underground solitary cell. She'll never come near you again.”
Never see the light again...?
Hold up.
Leoness and I share life force and lifespan via Equivalent Exchange.
What happens if she dies here?
Tip: In shared life force and lifespan state, if one party dies, the other dies as well.
Oh shit. Big trouble.
I had to save her, no matter what.
Cold sweat beaded as I opened my mouth.
“L-Lilliana, listen to me. Leoness is—”
“Apple.”
Lilliana shoved a slice into my mouth.
“Mmph?!”
“Delicious, right? I peeled it extra pretty.”
She beamed, blocking any further words.
One realization hit me now, of all times.
Something...
Something was seriously wrong.