Chapter 39
Chapter 39
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: I'll Save People My Own Way
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Gabrielle, waiting for Ted's response, was a bit flustered too. She hadn't anticipated him reacting this way. Naturally, she'd assumed he'd serve alongside Acid as her support.
The unexpectedly sharp, icy expression on his face was one she'd swear she'd never seen before.
It was when Gabrielle's lips trembled in flustered silence that Ted struck first.
"Knowing that, why did you specifically choose me to escort you to the tea party that day and linger there so long? To keep me from meeting Acid?"
She was caught completely off guard.
Gabrielle wiped her parched lips with the back of her hand and mumbled.
"So, I didn't really... That kid Acid, I didn't think he was important. If I'd known he was a healer, I might've thought differently, but anyway. Protecting me at my tea party was more important, right?"
Ted's face grew even colder as he watched Gabrielle hem and haw.
He was starting to see more and more of the saintess's ugly side.
"Whether Acid is a healer or not, he's my precious little brother."
"Even if he's a beggar?"
"Yes. It doesn't matter what he is."
A sharp spark of anger flickered across Gabrielle's face.
"More than me?"
He had no more time to waste on Gabrielle.
Ted's gaze turned as cold as thin ice.
"Do I really have to say it out loud?"
"That's..."
"I've never once thought of you, Lady Gabrielle, as my lord."
Until now, he'd overlooked it, thinking her just a young girl, but now he'd completely closed off his heart.
Gabrielle gritted her teeth, her face stricken with shock.
"You're lying. How dare you say that to me...!"
"It's the truth. If you truly saw me as your knight, you wouldn't have acted so selfishly."
In that moment gazing at Gabrielle, Ted's mind flashed to Sien's innocent face.
The face of that wise child who had found Acid for him, bestowed immeasurable grace upon him, and even given him the choice.
And...
True to his resolve to serve Sien, Ted spoke.
"I'm leaving the temple now."
"No...!"
Gabrielle's face went deathly pale, as if realizing something had gone terribly wrong.
"I'm leaving the temple to join Acid."
"Ted!"
Gabrielle screamed like a cornered animal.
"If you go like this, I'll never see you again!"
Ted gave her a cold smile in response.
"That would truly be an honor."
Bang.
The door slammed shut with a resounding thud.
It was a complete severance.
***
After Ted left with his face as cold as chilled steel, Gabrielle was left alone in the room.
She bit her nails until blood welled up, then suddenly stopped.
She couldn't afford to be this weak.
Like Melodya, the strong woman from the streets who had raised her...
She was the third daughter of a fallen noble house, an insignificant Gabrielle, and that woman had reached out to her. She had told her she possessed holy power.
"Go to the Senoa Temple, Gabrielle."
"Huh...?"
"Get the temple's people under your control. Like a future saintess."
"F-Future saintess?"
In that instant, as inferiority complex swirled in Gabrielle's mind, what flashed through were...
Glamorous debutantes.
Splendid carriages of every kind.
Knights from elegant noble houses, and people all looking only at her.
"In our empire, if you become a saintess, you can have everything. Even the flower of high society won't be out of reach."
Melodya had told her to wait at the Senoa Temple.
She said that ruling the Senoa Temple would make the world call to Gabrielle. That the entire world was arranged for her.
Soon Melodya would become saintess, and Gabrielle could follow as the next one...
So why had things turned out like this?
Gabrielle bit her lip hard, recalling Melodya's words.
"You need to win Ted's heart. Act like a lovable girl."
"Y-Yes..."
"You must never try to subdue a holy knight by force. They only show their true power when their heart is open."
But the holy knight's heart was set to open to Sien Mirmod, that damned brat.
Ted, whom Melodya had insisted she must claim, was planning to leave the temple.
According to papal policy, a holy knight undergoing secularization could leave the temple immediately, even with a deliberation period.
Even if she used some scheme to force him to stay, the words "they only show their true power when their heart is open" gnawed at her.
How had things come to this? She'd thought the path to saintess was a smooth highway.
"...This is ridiculous."
The things that should have been hers were crumbling one by one.
And finally, Melodya's words bubbled up in Gabrielle's mind.
"That won't happen, but if trouble arises, call me. I'll save you."
She remembered Melodya smiling pale as snow.
She had gone somewhere holding the Pope's hand, but Gabrielle could still send a letter.
Yes. Lady Melodya couldn't be wrong.
She was a precious daughter of god.
Unlike that stupid, dense child Sien.
That kid was just lucky, but Gabrielle intended to carve out the world herself.
At last, Gabrielle began to write the letter.
***
After lunch that day, I yawned.
Since I was disrupting the original story's events, it was about time to reorganize the timeline of [Melodya's Life].
If things hadn't changed much, Melodya in [Melodya's Life] would be building her faction right now to become saintess.
Her power was growing to the point of overwhelming the Pope.
And... she fell in love with the crown prince, joined hands with him, and massacred the Mirmod family.
'Looking at this, Saintess Melodya doesn't seem like such a good person.'
Maybe I was just thinking from the Mirmod family's perspective.
It was a minor detail, but the villainous Mirmod family's misdeeds were described in relative detail. The attitude was that the Mirmods absolutely had to be destroyed, and Melodya's massacre of the villain family was taken as a given.
'But surely there are many in this family who haven't done wrong, like Dad or the muscle maid sisters... They're good people. No need to wipe them all out.'
Maybe because I was empathizing as a victim, but no matter how I thought about it, Melodya's actions didn't seem righteous.
'I'm not living like the original. I'll save my people my own way.'
I let out a soft sigh and ticked off Melodya's actions.
Right now, she was probably outside the empire in the Eastern Continent, promoting the temple's good deeds with the Pope while sweeping up precious talents and magic tools from the East. Among those talents was someone who could steal others' power.
If I ever had to oppose Melodya, that power-stealer would be a huge variable.
'When Ted gets here later, I should have him look into the temple and saintess in detail. Their forces too.'
Now that it was confirmed Dad was a Mirmod, I had to be cautious in dealing with the original protagonist.
I'd need to plan thoroughly for when I faced them later.
'For now, time for a nap...'
I clutched my weary head and let out a deep sigh.
When I let my mind wander, my thoughts turned childish again.
Today was the same. Especially with how I kept nodding off.
But right then.
The muscle maid sisters knocked twice and entered.
"Lady Sien!"
"I'm sleeepy..."
Sleepy as I was, my speech was even more slurred, trailing off. Unless it was really important news, I just wanted to lie down and sleep today.
But then, the maid gripped my soft hand like she was clutching Snow White's and spoke.
"Holy Knight Ted has arrived."
"What?"
Ted's name snapped my eyes wide open.
It was superhuman, overriding my body's inferior reflexes.
***
At the same time, Acid heard the news of Ted's arrival too.
After agonizing whether to go down and meet his brother, Acid finally decided amid the maids' whispers.
'I can see Sien again while meeting Brother.'
Unaware of his own motivations, he was following her like a baby bird eyeing its mother.
'...I'll be cool and distant with Brother.'
Maybe because they hadn't had a proper talk yet. His anger at his brother for not finding him hadn't fully faded.
Of course, he knew in his head that his brother wouldn't have abandoned him.
He'd seen the desperation on his face when they first met.
'But even on the day of the holy power test, Brother wasn't there...'
With his complicated feelings, Acid descended the landing and reached the drawing room where Sien and his brother were.
The drawing room door was slightly ajar.
The burly maids guarding it nodded at Acid and mouthed.
'Hey, kid, go on in.'
Emboldened by their casual words, Acid peeked through the door.
And he faced a rather odd scene.
His brother, Ted, was kneeling on one knee like a proper knight, holding someone's hand.
It might have looked a bit comical since the one standing before him wasn't an elegant lady but a tiny cotton-candy-like girl...
Maybe because he was in his holy knight's garb.
His brother's oath looked utterly solemn.
And a deep, low voice flowed from Ted's lips.
"I wish to swear my knight's oath to Lady Sien right now."
It was definitely his brother.
He'd been getting over his resentment, bit by bit...
But the moment his brother said he'd swear a knight's oath to Sien, his heart felt like it would freeze.
'Brother swearing a knight's oath to Sien...'
A knight's oath.
Every knight has just one lady in his lifetime.
His brother Ted's lady becoming Sien meant... someone to protect Sien had appeared.
Sien, whom he wanted to protect himself.
Acid, standing at the doorway, let his shoulders slump quietly.
Unlike him, still not grown up and ignorant of healing... his brother was a perfect adult, in a position to swear an oath to Sien.
It was good for Sien. The little girl could survive the wicked Mathias Mirmod. He should congratulate her.
But strangely...
Why did it hurt so much that Sien had so many people to protect her even without him?
Right then.
Today too, Sien spotted him first, standing quietly at the doorway.
"Huh? Baby?"
And she welcomed him as if it were the most natural thing, beaming brightly.
"Come hewe!"
Acid obeyed Sien's command as if his earlier hesitation had been a lie. Ted was still holding Sien's hand even then.
His eyelashes lowered, as if the oath was imminent.
"M-Me too."
Seeing that, a hot spark ignited in Acid's eyes.
"I want to do it too."
He didn't even stutter.
Sien tilted her head in confusion.
"Hm? Do what?"
Her face said, What do you want to do?
Acid scraped together his inner courage and opened his mouth.
"I want to swear my oath of loyalty too!"