Part 2, Chapter 15
Part 2, Chapter 15
Translation: godsn
Dianzel's face twisted in shock.
He abruptly lifted the carpet. With that motion, several sheets of paper that had been hidden beneath fluttered into the air. Though few in number, their contents were anything but insignificant.
"These are the movement routes of the Agema forces from the plains to the royal castle."
The air in the Cottage House grew even more frigid.
Military movement routes were classified information that could completely overturn the tide of war. The revelation that even King Pelleus's itinerary had been exposed sent a sharp tension through the Agema knights.
Rachel's face turned deathly pale.
What was this absurd map doing here all of a sudden?
"I-I don't know anything about this! I've never seen these before! I have no idea how they got here—"
At that moment, Neril, who had been silently observing the situation, pointed out:
"Miss Rachel's hometown is the Orphio Mountains."
Only then did the Valdinans recall—that region lay on the border between Valdina and Kazen, territory once ruled by Kazen.
The implication was clear.
The Saintess's ambiguous origins that Valdina couldn't verify. And Kazen, who watched Valdina more closely than anyone.
"Ah. Now everything makes perfect sense."
Starting with Siseo's mocking exclamation, those gathered began suspecting that the Saintess was acting under Kazen's orders to frame Valdina.
"Your Highness, did you anticipate this?"
Neril turned to Medeia in bewilderment as she asked.
At that question, they all remembered.
How unusually cold the Princess's reaction had been upon hearing of Rachel's origins.
'She already knew! She foresaw this would happen.'
"Your Highness, truly—"
Dianzel began to voice his admiration for Medeia's almost prophetic insight, then swallowed his words.
The priests of the Holy Kingdom were present here. If he drew attention to Medeia's near-clairvoyant perceptiveness in front of them, his liege would never forgive him.
"N-no, it's not me. I'm innocent... Please believe me......"
Meanwhile, Medeia—who had been quietly observing the entire situation—turned her gaze toward Rachel, who was at a complete loss.
The usual composure in Rachel's eyes had shattered, replaced by utter confusion and horror.
'Rachel, this is Valdina. You should have known.'
Even if you intercept my Amurric chess piece, the entire game board has been in my hands from the start.
In her past life, during her confrontation with Empress Rachel in Kazen, Medeia had been utterly defeated.
The outcome was painfully obvious when an unrecognized princess from a defeated nation challenged an empress in a contest of power.
But this time was different.
Valdina was her homeland, her territory.
Through eyes she had planted long ago, Medeia had already discerned Rachel's schemes.
When Rachel buried the dead mouse. When she used Anji to steal Medeia's dagger.
"High Priest, this is quite suspicious. Could it be that the Holy Kingdom planned this from the beginning?"
"What nonsense! We never requested this, and meeting the Saintess for the first time, how could we—"
Paolo too was breaking out in cold sweat, his face alternating between red and pale as he struggled with this unbelievable truth.
Medeia walked gracefully toward Rachel. The elegant sway of her dress, her measured pace—neither too slow nor too fast—was no different from when she had been accused of being the curse's perpetrator moments ago.
"Of course, I imagine you had your reasons. However, if you wish to bear the esteemed title of Saintess, you must exercise greater care in both speech and minor actions from now on."
Medeia's words, almost forgiving in tone, only served to fully alienate Rachel as an outsider.
"......"
The Agema knights' sharp gazes bore into Rachel as she bit down hard on the inside of her cheek. All her life-and-death efforts had been rendered meaningless—the Agema now regarded her with wariness.
Every action Rachel took after their trust was broken now seemed suspicious.
Medeia turned her body.
"High Priest. I won't even demand an apology for this discourtesy. However, the Holy Kingdom must clearly state its official position regarding today's events."
Her composed voice showed no trace of the anger she must have felt toward Paolo, who had been berating her until now.
That only made it more cutting. The Princess's words meant she would officially record the disgraceful spectacle he and the Saintess had displayed today.
How far would his authority within the Holy Kingdom fall now? And what of the Saintess, who should have been praised for the dignity of the Goddess's Representative?
Paolo felt as though his chest were burning.
"Y-Your Highness, this old man spoke out of turn—"
"Do not worry. I trust His Majesty will provide sufficient explanation in place of the High Priest."
Under Medeia's relentless threats, Paolo's vision darkened.
And so, the Saintess and the Holy Knights were forced to flee Valdina in disgrace.
Not a single soul in Valdina came to see them off.
Paolo had no time to curse their arrogant farewells, overwhelmed as he was by shame and dread for what was to come.
"Saintess, why did you act so rashly? If you wished to do something, you should have waited until we arrived."
The reprimanding tone, as if scolding a foolish child, nearly made Rachel explode in fury.
Did they expect her to foresee that the situation would flip and she would be the one framed instead?
The fake dagger and map—was that all Medeia's doing, that wretched girl?
But Rachel couldn't even turn to glare at Medeia to confirm her suspicions.
The Agema were now staring at her as if she were a Ghoul from the plains—deadly and hostile.
Pelleus had outright turned his back, shielding his sister completely from Rachel's gaze, as if determined not to let even a sliver of her sight reach his sibling.
All the effort Rachel had poured into winning them over for the past six months had crumbled to nothing.
Far from stealing Medeia's family and home, she had turned the entire Royal Palace against her. Rachel wanted to scream in the face of her rising fury.
Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to swallow her rage, eyes glistening with unshed tears.
She couldn't forget—right now, the only one who could salvage this disaster was the old High Priest standing before her.
"I'm sorry. I was foolish."
At her fragile appearance, Paolo recalled that the Saintess had been just a young girl wandering the plains before her awakening.
Yes, she's too young and inexperienced to grasp the delicate power dynamics between the continent's nations. From now on, we must guide her properly.
Innocent and beautiful, but with ears too soft—easily swayed by the whispers of wicked schemers.
"We will stake our lives to escort the Saintess safely to the Holy Temple."
Even the Holy Knights' commander prostrated himself before Rachel, pressing his lips to the tip of her shoe.
This was a ritual that should have been performed the moment they laid eyes on her. Though delayed by the sudden chain of events, their archaic posture remained unchanged.
However, the boundless reverence and overwhelming devotion they had felt upon entering Valdina's borders had long since faded.
As they left the palace, the thin walls of the carriage did little to muffle the murmurs of the common folk outside.
"Just because she's the Saintess, she thinks she's above everyone? Struggled all her life, and now that she's climbed to the top, she's forgotten her place?"
"How dare she scheme against Her Highness the Princess! Those Holy Kingdom bastards are all the same! Can't even tell right from wrong, for all their priestly airs!"
Word of what had transpired in the Cottage House had already spread throughout Valdina's capital.
The people of Valdina did not hold back their fury.
"Hey, now, they're still the Holy Knights..."
"And that's why we're only cursing them with words! Be grateful we're not dumping sewage on their carriage like we did with Claudio's lot!"
When had the Holy Knights ever been so openly humiliated? They had only come to retrieve the Saintess.
How could they have predicted that in that brief time, the Saintess would fall for Kazen's pawn and stage such a farcical act?
The Holy Knights' commander swallowed a sigh and cast a glance at the Saintess inside the carriage.
"Saintess, remember this. The moment this carriage departs, you are no longer Kazenian, no longer of this continent—you are solely the vessel of the Goddess. You must abandon your nationality, your memories, and your people."
"......"
"Saintess."