A Fairy Tale Story
Seris blinked, her face a picture of pure bewilderment.
“It’s exactly as I said. No matter what you do, if you can use divine power, then it doesn’t matter how you go about it, right?”
“Even so, how could I possibly…”
“It’s not a problem. You’d be saving the weak.”
“…That’s true, but. I’m scared.”
“Of the goddess’s wrath?”
“No. I’m terrified that—just maybe—she might take my divine power away. I still have things I must do. There are so many people who need my help.”
Seris’s voice trembled.
“It might be overconfidence on my part. There are plenty of others who wouldn’t ignore the weak. Even so, I believe I have to do everything I possibly can…”
“Then I’ll take responsibility.”
“Huh?”
Seris stared back at me, dazed. I gave her a crooked grin.
“If you ever lose your power, I’ll take responsibility for you. Just like you said before—until the empire is stable, I’ll save the weak to the limit of my strength.”
It was a gamble.
If Seris really lost every ounce of her power like I’d just hypothesized, the whole thing would fall apart.
Even so, it was worth the risk. I had firsthand experience of how magnificent a saintess’s divine power could be. I knew in my bones how valuable it was to keep Seris all to myself.
It’s not that difficult a task anyway.
Stepping forward to protect the weak when the empire fell into chaos? With my strength, it wouldn’t be hard at all. On top of that, it would polish my image in a very favorable direction. Even if the gamble failed, I still had an escape route.
“…”
Seris hung her head.
“Seris?”
“…You said it yourself. That you’d take responsibility.”
The mask had come off. Seris murmured the words, fidgeting with her hands in plain view, opening and closing her fingers as if silently asking me to take them.
“Ethan. You said you’d take responsibility, didn’t you?”
She lifted her gaze and met my eyes. Even though her pure white skin was now flooded with crimson, she didn’t look away. Slowly, carefully, she spoke.
“S-so… hold my hand.”
“Are you serious?”
“You said you’d take responsibility. I’m begging you.”
Her voice was barely louder than an ant’s footsteps.
Well, we’ve already done far more than this.
I had never held her hand before, but I had held far more intimate parts of her. I took her hand as if it were nothing. Her fingertips twitched violently.
“Hng…”
The moment I enveloped her hand in mine, a soft moan slipped from her lips. Her fingers were slender, delicate, and so cold they almost burned.
“Are you all right?”
“I-I-I’m f-fine… hic.”
Seris kept hiccupping through shaky breaths as her knees gave out.
“Th-this… is what warmth feels like.”
Even while collapsing, she still made sure to share her little review.
“I’m not sure if it’s okay for it to be me. I thought you wanted to feel this with someone precious.”
“It’s okay because it’s you, Ethan.”
“That’s nice to hear.”
“I said it because I wanted you to feel good. I’m happy thanks to you.”
“So you’ve decided to drop the honorifics completely?”
I pulled the swaying Seris back to her feet. She steadied herself and answered.
“I won’t use them when it’s just the two of us.”
“Once you quit being the saintess, keep talking like this. It suits you way better.”
“…Are you seducing me or what?”
“I am seducing you.”
“Huh? Ah…?”
“I’m kidding.”
I lifted the corners of my mouth into a smile. The way she stood there with her mouth hanging open in a perfect “be” shape was so ridiculous I couldn’t help it.
“A-anyway, my divine power is still perfectly fine.”
Seris awkwardly changed the subject. I let her. I was curious too.
“Any problems?”
“None, except my heart is beating way too fast.”
“That’s because of me, isn’t it?”
“Shut up.”
“Your mouth’s gotten pretty dirty.”
“It’s not dirty. I was just holding back before.”
After clearing her throat, Seris laid out her plan.
“I’ve decided to turn my back on the Holy Empire. As for the goddess… I’m still not sure, but I don’t have the confidence to believe in her purely anymore.”
Seris had always looked at the Holy Empire with distaste. Now she had abandoned it completely. Still, she couldn’t let go all at once.
“Right. Turning away from them is one thing, but we can’t afford to be openly hostile right now.”
“My position as saintess is still useful.”
“Exactly. Like you said, Ethan, I need to remain the saintess in the eyes of the people.”
As long as the Holy Empire didn’t cross the line first, we had no reason to bare our teeth. There were far too many ways it could backfire.
“But we can’t dance to their tune either. That would defeat the purpose.”
“Precisely. We have to walk a very fine line. When I thought about how to do that, I realized there was a way.”
Seris cleared her throat, clenched both fists for a second, then threw her arms wide open with a bright smile.
“It’s the so-called ‘What can you even do?’ strategy!”
“That’s a terrible name.”
“I got the idea from what you said earlier about my power being amazing, remember?”
“Ah.”
She’d plagiarized me. I’d spent a full fifteen seconds in deep deliberation to come up with that name. To have it stolen in a single instant… I suddenly felt betrayed by the world.
“Stop talking nonsense and listen properly.”
Seris laid out the details of the plan.
The Holy Empire only appeared to move arbitrarily. That was a misunderstanding. They lived and died by justification. That was simply how religion worked. They invoked the name of a goddess to forcibly create moral grounds, then acted on them. In other words, if they couldn’t manufacture justification even by using the goddess, the Holy Empire would have no choice but to tread carefully.
“Everyone knows that as long as the saintess title isn’t revoked, the one closest to the goddess is the saintess herself.”
Seris intended to use that fact.
The Holy Empire’s favorite way to create justification was to brand their enemies as heretics. But that was difficult to apply to a saintess. Claiming that the person closest to the goddess was a heretic would invite a catastrophic backlash. Therefore, the Holy Empire couldn’t carelessly run their mouths about the saintess.
“Even if I mess up, the public will usually take my side.”
“That’s true. Your image right now is already quite favorable.”
“Right. So let’s make use of it.”
Seris grinned wickedly.
“Let’s go stop a rebellion.”
“A rebellion?”
“Yes. The justification is more than enough. I’m going to stop a rebellion in order to save people. My escort—you—simply followed me and ended up stopping the rebellion by coincidence.”
Hmm. Perfect. Seris nodded, looking extremely pleased with herself.
“It’ll give the Holy Empire a massive headache. They won’t be able to tell whether I’m doing this knowingly or if I’m genuinely throwing a tantrum just to save people.”
“In reality it’s both.”
“That’s for you to know, Ethan. I really do want to save people, but I’m also going there to interfere with the Holy Empire.”
“And their permission?”
“Of course I’ll ask. They won’t give it, though.”
“So you’re planning to go anyway?”
My question made Seris’s eyes sparkle.
“There’s no justification to stop a saintess who says she’s going to save people. Asking for permission is simply a minimum courtesy.”
She wasn’t wrong. Even if the Holy Empire nurtured seeds of doubt about the saintess, they couldn’t turn that into certainty with this alone.
“It’s a good plan. But it’s already late, so let’s begin tomorrow. We’ll need to bring Linea too.”
I wanted to rush out immediately, but proper condition management came first. Things were going to get busy starting tomorrow.
The very next day, we received a reply from the Holy Empire.
‘We permit the dispatch for the suppression of the rebellion.’
Betrayed by Rachel. Forced into a one-against-three fight against the prince and his closest aide.
That was when Ethan appeared like a sudden gust of wind and saved me. Afterward he demanded, “What are you talking about? Hand over the points,” and took eighty percent of what I had.
What’s going to happen to me?
Isana leaned her back against the damp stone wall of the underground prison. A sigh escaped her lips before she could stop it.
That man finally caused an incident.
He was her blood relative and the head of House Sivtant. But she had never once thought of him as a father.
She had planned to kill him one day and seize the family for herself—until the head of house caused this mess.
He’ll probably die.
The head would die. No matter how powerful a duke’s family might be, their opponent was the empire itself. Victory was impossible.
Why would he make a choice like that…?
She despised the man on a personal level, but she had always acknowledged that his ability as a family head was quite outstanding. So why was he driving himself straight into death’s arms?
Had he wished for the family’s quiet euthanasia? That same man who was obsessed with the family and threw everything else away?
This isn’t helping at all.
Isana clutched her throbbing head. The stale air in the underground prison only made the headache worse.
Staggering to her feet, she stared at the iron bars and fell into thought.
If it comes to it, I’ll have to escape.
Although she had been imprisoned, she still had freedom of movement. She had not yet been officially branded a traitor. The people who had brought her here hadn’t laid a single finger on her. They had shown her the utmost respect and tried to engage her in conversation.
Of course, Isana’s own cooperative attitude had played a large part in creating that atmosphere. Because she hadn’t resisted, they hadn’t touched her. Because she had walked into the underground prison of her own accord, they hadn’t even put mana-suppressing cuffs on her.
The problem is what comes after the rebellion ends.
The family would be annihilated and Isana would be reduced to a commoner. Just that was repulsive enough. The prince who already viewed her with hostility would never let this opportunity slip. He would open a trial and steer her straight toward execution.
It’s really, really annoying.
Isana sank to the floor. She closed her eyes and rested her head against the wall.
Then, suddenly, she remembered what had happened during the special training session.
The moment she was betrayed by Rachel. The desperate one-versus-three fight against the prince and his henchman. How Ethan had appeared like the wind and saved her. And how, right after, he had taken most of her points while calling her nonsense.
Back then she had been too busy cursing him for being stingy. So why was she remembering it now? Why was she imagining a future where Ethan would throw everything away and come rescue her again?
…There’s no way.
The same Ethan who had always looked at her with annoyance would abandon everything to save her? That was the kind of story that only appeared in fairy tales.
Isana shook her head from side to side.
Completely unaware that the corners of her mouth were curving into a gentle arc.