Since there are no heroes, the hero party is disbanded
Since there are no heroes, the hero party is disbanded.
“Your Highness is different.”
I picked up where I’d left off. I suppose I need to clear up this misunderstanding.
“Vincent told me that while he hates the Empire, Your Highness is different.”
“Is that so….”
The princess looked at me with a wavering gaze.
“You said you’d change the Empire from within, didn’t you? Vincent also thinks it might be possible if it’s Your Highness.”
She hadn’t said it quite like that, but since she didn’t correct me, my guess must have been right.
“I’ll try to believe, just like Vincent. I’ll put my faith in you, Your Highness—not in the Empire.”
Her expression—which had been blank, or rather, which she had been trying to keep blank—twisted.
“Your Highness, please change the empire so that no other child like Vincent—a child in pain—will ever appear again.”
The Princess looks at Vincent and plucks up the courage to ask.
“You said you couldn’t trust me, didn’t you?”
“Now I think of you as one of the few precious people I can trust.”
“I thought you were wearing that pained expression all this time because of me.”
“You’re all people I’m grateful for. To me, who knew nothing but my master, you became an older sister, a younger sister, and a friend.”
Vincent blushes slightly, perhaps feeling embarrassed to say it.
“Saying I was suffering because of you—what nonsense. Thanks to all of you, the journey to defeat the Demon King wasn’t all that painful.”
“Was… that so….”
With tears welling in her eyes, the princess choked back her sobs.
“I’m so… glad… I’m really… so glad…”
Seeing her finally let her tears fall, I could tell she’d been through a lot of emotional turmoil.
Vincent flinched at the sight of her breaking down in tears.
He’s probably too worried about how I’ll react to comfort her.
Seeing him hesitate even when I gave him a hint, I stepped in to embrace the princess, who had slumped down and begun to cry, and patted her on the back.
“You’ve been through a lot. No one here will judge you for crying. Let it all out.”
As I embraced her, Vincent also approached hesitantly and stroked the princess’s hair; I pulled his arm so that he, too, could hold her.
Perhaps empathizing with her plight, Princess Estelle and Her Holiness Chiara also sniffled and joined in.
Her Highness the Princess shattered the mask she had forced upon herself and wept uncontrollably like a child in everyone’s arms.
Only after Her Highness the Princess had barely managed to calm herself and stop crying were we able to break free from our embrace.
As a result, the clothes Vincent had given me were soaked through.
Perhaps feeling ashamed of having cried like a child without any dignity, Her Highness blushed as if sulking and slipped away.
“Oh, really! After bringing that up, how am I supposed to handle this if you both just run away!?”
Even Princess Estelle, as if something had triggered a trauma, fled into her room.
Now only Princess Kiara remained.
Seeing that she was trying to slip away, I grabbed her and decided to hear what they had intended to tell me.
“Could we talk about this later?”
Princess Kiara’s glance, as she cautiously sized me up, was clearly avoiding me.
Oh dear. Was it too much of a shock for her?
“Seong-ha, I’m not a scary person. I was a bit harsh earlier, wasn’t I? I’m sorry.”
To persuade her, I placed the honey cookies I’d received from Vincent into Kiara Seong-ha’s hand.
“I was taught to be careful of people who give out things like this.”
Seeing her sneakily take the honey cookies even as she said that, a warm feeling washed over me.
If she and Vincent were to get married, it would surely be a honey-sweet union.
As both a mentor and a mother figure, I feel ready to cheer them on.
“Where did Ms. Emily leave off?”
“She said she couldn’t accept the proposal I made yesterday…”
“Sigh… So we’re back to square one.”
When I first met Seong-ha, her aura was so sacred that I wondered if she was even human, but the more I see her, the more her human charm shines through.
Now, just as Vincent said, she even feels like a younger sister to me.
Or is she more like a young niece to me?
Unaware of my thoughts, Kiara Seong-ha was gleefully badmouthing the women who had dumped work on her and left.
“What’s this? You’re always calling me ‘big sister’ or ‘princess,’ but in the end, you just dump everything on me! You even made me talk to the Hero—seriously!”
After grumbling for a while, Kiara Seong-ha snapped out of it with a “Hah!” and recited a short prayer.
A halo of light surrounded her, and she absorbed it in a way that looked undeniably blessed to anyone watching.
“Where were you… in your story?”
Having finished her prayer, Kiara Seongha had returned to the sacred saint I’d first encountered.
So this was the source of that sacred aura!
I felt the urge to protest, but I held back.
“I’d like to hear why you said you couldn’t accept the proposal I made, Your Holiness.”
Caught off guard by her completely transformed demeanor, I, too, was taken aback and could only ask with due formality.
“That’s right. Why can’t you accept it, is that it?”
She let out a brief sigh before continuing.
“Ms. Adela told us to seduce the Hero, but in truth, we came here to confess our feelings to him one last time.”
“Confess your feelings?”
Is it just my imagination, or is there a hint of reproach in Seong-ha’s tone?
“Well, the Hero rejected all three of our marriage proposals. He said he already has someone he loves?”
Her sacred image shatters once again.
Startled once more, she repeats a short prayer.
“I suppose I’ve reached my limit. Seeing how the Sacred Law keeps breaking like this…”
“Could you tell me what that prayer is?”
“…I suppose it’s okay to tell you…. My time as a saint will be over soon anyway.”
“My time as a saint”? What on earth does that mean?
“I used to be quite a tomboy. I got scolded harshly at the convent for not being pious enough.”
Well, for a nun, acting in a manner befitting that role might be difficult for a young girl.
“I guess I was especially bad at it, because I was often told my talent was being wasted.”
When I imagined Her Holiness Chiara as a mischievous little girl, she was so cute it made me laugh.
“After I was chosen as a saint, they gave me a prayer to help me behave in a manner befitting a saint.”
Huh?
“Thanks to that, I might have managed to fulfill my role as a saint without any major mishaps.”
Seongguk—what a terrifying place.
To make a young girl recite a prayer designed to correct her character over and over again…
“You don’t have to recite that prayer in front of me. No, please don’t recite it.”
“But… is that okay?”
“Of course.”
Learning the secret behind the saint’s pious and devout demeanor sent chills down my spine.
It’s called Seongguk, but its actions are no different from those of a cult of evil.
“Then I’ll continue.”
The saint removed her hand from the symbol hanging around her neck and continued.
“We promised that if the Hero rejects us one last time—this time—we’d bless the one we love and let them go.”
“Huh? Then what I said yesterday was….”
“I don’t know what you were thinking when you said that, but yesterday, you rejected all of us.”
Vincent, you bastard!
“I also saw the two of you flaunting your love in the middle of the night.”
…Huh…?
“A-all three of you…?”
“Yes. You were moaning so loudly I couldn’t sleep.”
I already knew it, but hearing it confirmed directly from Her Holiness’s own mouth made me feel like I was going out of my mind.
“So, thanks to that, you felt defeated and had no choice but to take care of yourself?”
What on earth are you talking about?
“Taking care of yourself?”
She looks at me with an expression that says I’ve gone too far.
“Did you really have to hear it from my own mouth? I said I ‘masturbated’ as a loser.”
It felt like a word that shouldn’t have come out of her mouth had slipped out.
“Seong-ha, do you… actually know what that word you just said means…?”
“Oh my, do you think I’d use it without knowing what it means?”
My head spins so much I start to stagger.
“Oh dear, since I’m so interested in this sort of thing… I’m sorry. I’ll correct it.”
I barely manage to grab Seong-ha, who’s about to clasp the symbol in her hand and recite a prayer.
“You… don’t need to do that.”
“Is that so? Heh, Ms. Adela, you’re reacting exactly the same way as the Hero.”
Exactly the same? So you’re telling me that it wasn’t Princess Estelle who taught Vincent those vulgar words all this time—it was you, Your Holiness Chiara?!
“She said my true self is better. She told me not to recite prayers like that.”
Vincent, what kind of battles have you been fighting, exactly…?
Suddenly, a surge of compassion for my only disciple wells up inside me.
“By the way, Ms. Adela. May I ask you just one thing?”
The Saint, who had been staring intently at me, poses her question.
“Go ahead…”
“Hero, does that thing really feel that good?”
“Huh?!”
I was at a loss for words.
“At first glance, it looked so big that I thought it wouldn’t fit, and forcing it in seemed like it would be painful, but you seemed to be enjoying it, Ms. Adela.”
What on earth is this saint talking about?!
Seeing that I couldn’t hide my look of shock, she must have realized her slip of the tongue and apologized.
“I’m sorry. I’m a bit crude, aren’t I? Hehe.”
This time, before I could stop her, she began reciting a prayer.
Having put on her mask of a devout saint once again, she never showed her true self again.
“I’m sorry. I showed you all sorts of sides of myself, took advantage of you, and presumptuously coveted you, Hero.”
“No, that’s…”
“I’m sure the Hero showed us that on purpose, too. To tell us to give up on him.”
“That’s not… He’s not the kind of person who would be that heartless…”
Having apparently said everything she wanted to say, the Saint left me speechless and went straight back to her assigned room to pack her things.
It seems a conversation with Vincent is absolutely essential if I’m going to resolve this situation.