The Saintess and Aileen

The moment of joy at meeting Aileen lasted only briefly. The Saintess, now visibly flustered, glanced around before speaking. Even so, her hand never let go of Aileen's, clinging tightly as if savoring the warmth.

"……I felt it."

"Aileen?"

"That the two of us coexisting is impossible. In the end, one side will inevitably be crushed by the other's memories, experiences, and emotions and disappear."

"………I see."

That was why Aileen Teddybear had been on the verge of vanishing. Compared to the Saintess, her own memories and experiences were pitifully faint. The countless generations of accumulated memories belonging to the Saintess were more than enough to overwhelm a girl who had only just become an adult.

She had held on as long as she could. She had hidden the fact that she was fading, afraid her sister might worry. ……Even so, she had ultimately been discovered at the Great Lake.

"Is this… a dream?"

"…No."

"B-but…… Aileen is…."

"I was disappearing. No matter how hard I tried to hold onto my memories, I couldn't even recall them, and I was shrinking…."

Aileen looked up at the sky. Or rather, could it even be called the sky? Only then did the Saintess realize that the area around them had grown dark. They seemed to be floating in midair, or perhaps standing on something invisible. In the darkness, only the Saintess and Aileen glowed, while strange ornaments floating in that sky shone with the same light.

In this impossibly fantastical, dreamlike world, the Saintess followed Aileen's gaze upward.

"………Ah."

Stars. The constellation of twins floated in that sky above them. Two girls holding hands. A picture made of countless stars. It was shining down on both Aileen and the Saintess.

"When I saw that constellation, I remembered."

"……I see."

"Memories, experiences, pain, joy… suddenly everything came back to life. I'm okay now."

"………Now?"

The Saintess had been about to sigh in relief at Aileen's return, but the endlessly ominous words made her turn her head. Meeting the Saintess's desperate eyes, Aileen smiled with a troubled expression.

"For now, coexistence is possible. But as time passes, I'll disappear again."

"T-that's…"

"You felt it too. One body cannot host two personalities in eternal coexistence."

"……."

She had only learned after hearing the words of a saint that this was the curse of the Saintess class. But both the Saintess and Aileen instinctively understood. One of them was fated to disappear.

"Still, the grace period has lengthened, so I'm happy. I get to spend more time with you."

"……N-no. Namgung Min! There's Namgung Min!"

"Oppa?"

"This time too, Namgung Min helped us. So if it seems like I'm about to disappear again…… that person……."

Can we ask that person for help? Really?

The Saintess remembered that moment clearly. The sight of him breaking down after reading fortunes again and again. Blood flowing from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. His whole body trembling, unable to even force a smile. She was the Saintess. Her very reason for existing was to believe in and serve a god.

'You want me to push him back into that kind of pain just because I feel like it?'

That… that kind of thing… I……

"……I'll beg."

"…Huh?"

"He told me. If it's something truly desperate, something you'd stake your very life on…… don't give up. Whether you kneel and beg, plead, offer anything in return, struggle with everything you have."

"…………."

"I don't want Aileen to disappear. I'm truly desperate."

"………."

"So I'll beg. Even knowing he'll suffer, I'll beg and beg again, so……."

"Let's do it together."

"……Aileen?"

"This is for me too. You can't be the only one begging. Whatever Oppa wants, we'll give it to him. Whatever he desires, we'll make it happen."

Aileen took the Saintess's hand once more. Just as the Saintess did, Aileen didn't want to lose this warmth. Even if it was selfish, they would beg together. They would ask, bow their heads, plead. And they would offer anything in return.

"……Yes. Let's do that."

For her own god, or for the brother who helped her. The two girls clasped hands tightly.

"……Did it somehow work?"

After activating the special skill Hydromancy, Aileen had closed her eyes as if falling asleep and wouldn't wake. I wondered if something had gone wrong, but a quick use of Observation let me breathe easy.

'The tiny spark grew bigger.'

Ever since learning there were two personalities—the Saintess and Aileen—whenever I observed the Saintess closely with Observation, I could see a faint spark-like light. That was probably Aileen's personality. And it was still growing even now.

Even though her head was bowed with eyes closed, the Saintess kept both hands cupped, holding the water steady.

"………."

I stared at the water in her palms where the stars had risen, then slowly withdrew my finger. Just what kind of effect did Hydromancy have that made something like this possible?

I tried to open my status window, but the Hydromancy skill had already vanished. It hadn't been lying when it said the skill was only temporary. Still, the fact that the activated Hydromancy remained was some small comfort.

'A special skill, huh.'

Even after forcing myself to play Romance Academy over twenty times, this was the first time I'd seen it. Was it exclusive to the Fortune Teller class? Or were there hidden conditions?

I glared at the glass teapot in my other hand.

'What exactly counts as acting like a fortune teller?'

The class quest had said that giving up was the duty of a fortune teller, yet the moment I pushed through to the very end, the artifact unlocked itself saying I had acted 'like a proper fortune teller.' Which one was right?

The other conditions were problematic too.

'The stars being visible makes sense since it's astrology-based divination, but what ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠does "not believing" mean?'

Since I never believed in fortune telling to begin with, did that condition get fulfilled automatically? Or was regular divination different from hydromancy?

Hydromancy—divination using reflections in water. It's a nearly extinct practice in modern times, mostly used in the past by priests and astronomers. A primitive form of fortune telling where one gazes at animal entrails, constellations, or the position of the sun reflected in water like a mirror.

Whether you believe in it or not is another matter entirely. The way water fills when you act like a fortune teller, and all the other conditions too. It all just gave me a worse headache.

'……Ugh, this actually hurts.'

Throb.

Come to think of it, I'd bled quite a lot, hadn't I? Thanks to Cleanliness I hadn't noticed, but I'd lost a significant amount of blood and my entire body was still wracked with sharp pain. On top of that, the headache was severe, and dizziness blurred my vision.

'……Screw it.'

I tried to resist, but simply steeling my mind wasn't going to make the dizziness or headache vanish. I simply relaxed my body and accepted the darkness closing over my eyes. It would probably be better to just pass out once. The Saintess was here, and both the Saint and Charles Teddybear were right outside the door, so there shouldn't be any—

Thud.

"……."

How ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠long had it been since she closed her eyes while holding Aileen's hand? At some point, the Saintess had returned to reality. Not that dark space, but her own messy room. The moment she opened her eyes, she frantically looked around.

"Namgung Min!………Ah."

Her own personal god. The one who had saved her sister and endured every kind of pain for her sake. He was slumped weakly in the chair, fast asleep.

His condition was terrible, something even Cleanliness couldn't fully hide, but the faint sound of his breathing proved he wasn't dead. The Saintess let out a sigh of relief, then crawled across the bed after pushing aside the blanket and approached him.

While she was staring at his peaceful sleeping face in a daze, a voice echoed from within.

[Can you hear me?]

"……Yes. I can hear you clearly, just like before."

[That's a relief. But the person in front of us… is that Oppa?]

"………Yeah."

[Oh my god…….]

Namgung Min's condition was so bad that even Aileen, who now shared the Saintess's vision, gasped. The only reason his body was slowly recovering was thanks to the Saintess using her class skill. Aileen stared intently at his gradually regaining color in his cheeks and murmured.

[……I want to touch him.]

"E-Eileen!?"

[What? If I want to touch him, I want to touch him.]

Perhaps because she had spent her entire life confined indoors except for her childhood, Aileen approached everything with aggressive enthusiasm, as if trying to make up for her previously powerless existence.

"B-but touching his cheek without permission is……!"

[What's the problem? He's your personal god, isn't he? Isn't it natural for a saintess to touch her god?]

"H-huh?"

[If you won't do it, then I will.]

Sister. That was what Aileen called the Saintess. Aileen, who wanted to touch the cheek of the brother she felt an attraction toward, urged her on.

[Let's switch bodies.]

"Uh, um, what?"

[You're surprisingly shy, Sister……?]

She had thought the Saintess was embarrassed about touching his cheek. But she soon realized the Saintess's eyes were slowly drifting elsewhere. Only then did Aileen understand, sharing the vision and looking at what the Saintess was staring at.

[S-Sister? Are you serious?]

"……Haa…… haa…."

[Sister? Aren't you a saintess!?]

Aileen tried to stop her in a panic, but the Saintess's gaze remained fixed as she slowly reached out. What she was focusing on was…… Namgung Min's finger. The very finger he had dipped into the water she had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠gathered in her palms.

Even knowing he was asleep, she grasped his hand with both of hers, lifted it, and brought only that finger close to her face.

[……Were you a sex saintess instead of a holy saintess?]

Lick.

As if she couldn't even hear Aileen's words, the Saintess focused solely on the finger and carefully extended her tongue to lick it. An utterly irrational, perverted act. She knew it herself, yet she simply couldn't stop.

'Namgung Min's finger…… the finger he dipped for my sake…… the finger that saved me…….'

She craved it, craved it, craved it. Thanks to Cleanliness, the saliva on his finger disappeared instantly. Paradoxically, that only made it feel like she was licking an eternally clean finger, amplifying her sense of sacrilege.

'Why? Why am I doing this?'

Her actions were so extreme she questioned herself. Her mind screamed that it was wrong, but her body, having tasted the finger of the one she revered, refused to stop. Half out of her mind as she devoured the finger, her body gradually grew hotter. Her entire body burned until she finally released the finger and tried to catch her breath.

Haa, haa.

'My body…… is so hot….'

Awe, reverence, worship, respect, service, obedience, submission, happiness. All kinds of emotions swirled inside her. She had always felt joy whenever she saw Namgung Min, but now it felt like fireworks were exploding in her head.

And it seemed she wasn't the only one.

[I feel it…… I feel it…… the emotions…… the love……… Aah, ah, Oppa……!!]

Since the Saintess and Aileen shared one body, even though they were separate personalities, they were intimately connected. That didn't mean they shared thoughts and feelings, but whether it was because of something Namgung Min had done or because the Saintess's emotions were simply that intense, Aileen empathized with them and experienced them together.

"……Should we?"

[Let's. We have to repay him anyway, right?]

"Repay him……."

[With our bodies…….]

Endless pleasure, the instinct to devour, the heat boiling throughout her body. Just as the Saintess and Aileen decided to surrender themselves to it all and approached Namgung Min once more—

"……Have you lost your mind?"

"………Of all the times."

"Don't talk nonsense. The sinner comrade is clearly in a state of complete exhaustion. If you jump him now, he'll actually die from ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠overexertion."

"………."

[He's…… right about that.]

The Saint, sitting in the corner of the room with an indifferent expression as he watched the Saintess and Namgung Min. His perfectly reasonable words made both the Saintess and Aileen obediently withdraw. The heat subsided, and their excitement and ecstasy calmed. Yet their feelings toward Namgung Min remained unchanged. If anything, having been forced to stop only made them grow even stronger.

Originally the Saintess had worshipped Namgung Min as a god, while Aileen had felt separate affection for him. But now an emotion that surpassed even that dominated their entire beings.

This was unmistakably—

"Love."

[It's love.]

"……Sigh, after the tycoon and the psychic, now even the saintess……."

Leaving the Saintess lost in her ecstatic emotions behind, the Saint looked at Namgung Min with truly pitiful eyes. He sincerely hoped this sin-laden sinner comrade wouldn't end up torn into several pieces. The Saint let out a deep sigh, genuinely worried for him.

In many ways, the long night was growing deeper.