Emilone’s Temptation Labyrinth – Chapter 20

–

Tessie and Floren never stopped shedding endless tears. The fact that this happened just because of herbal candy made my head hurt.

Seeing the expression on the crown prince’s face, I figured we were done here and managed to get myself to my feet despite the sudden wave of exhaustion that hit me.

He ought to have fully understood.

My body felt incredibly heavy and slugging, yet he was gripping my shoulders tightly.

I’ve thought this before, but this young master was quite heavy-handed. It might be appropriate for his position as the crown prince but his attitude towards me was not right.

I didn’t know if his courtesy with me was the same courtesy that he showed to other young noble ladies. It was as if he didn’t see me as the Saintess.

His grip gradually tightened, causing me pain and I frowned.

“Your Highness, that hurts.”

“…Dammit.”

In the end, what was his purpose here today?

“I’m sorry, Lady Emilone. I will send you a letter!”

The crown prince walked past me without saying another word. The princess hurriedly followed after him. The perceptive knights also followed after him.

Right then, the two servants stopped in front of me and tactfully bid me farewell silently. After receiving their farewells, I somewhat sobered up.

–

A few days later, I got a nosebleed in the evening.

“Lady Emilone!”

Jessie and Reneben were more shocked than I was and ran all over the place. Although I knew the reason for my nosebleed, I decided to keep my mouth shut this time.

Even if my vitality had greatly increased, it was pushing it to work without sleep for quite a few days.

While covering my nose with a handkerchief, I made the two of them sit down because they were overreacting. After giving Reneben the book that I brought from the library for him, I left the office.

Having to set up an orphanage and lower taxes gave me a headache.

With the priests helping nobles once again, we were able to increase our funds with the compensation we received.

And since there was a goal that I wanted to pursue, I started training my physical strength. I started learning how to wield a sword from the paladins.

After staying up all night for about a week, my body was naturally overloaded…

I stopped the flowing blood with a cloth and turned on the tap. I covered my nose till the blood stopped rushing, then I dipped the blood-stained handkerchief in cold water.

It seems even a body blessed by god will end up like this when pushed past the limit.

Come to think of it, I wonder why God didn’t give me the ability to heal myself. I could treat others, but I couldn’t actually heal myself.

While I was washing away the traces of dried blood, a group of priests entered the temple. I noticed the messy demon blood on their bodies and exhaustion on their faces.

I suppose they returned a little later than usual today.

I leaned against the window as I watched them come in.

The priests were amazing people. They were willing to do such work even without any reward. I guess that’s why they are priests. People chosen by God.

Those who were honest and kind and instinctively loved to help people.

They were frustrating fools who would try to protect everyone even if the world turned their back on them.

The priests that I loved were in reality, those kinds of people.

The type to sacrifice the lesser for the greater good.

But they were also fools who desired to embrace those very lesser until the very end.

But I like the priests despite their flaws. They were full of good intentions so how could I hate them?

Even though they always looked drained or exhausted, they were always delighted by a simple thank you and never gave up like me. That’s why I wanted the priests to enjoy their rights a little bit more.

That was also why I was working hard to make sure the nobles could no longer treat us as they pleased. I wanted them to not just offer praise and consideration on the outside but also cherish the priests as much I cherished them.

Without these powers, we would only be ordinary human beings and I didn’t want them to go overboard and regard us as tools for destroying the demons.

When I returned to the office, Reneben, who was concentrating hard on the book I gave him, rushed over.

“Do you feel better?”

“I’m good. That aside, do you like the book?”

Reneben fidgeted and nodded while Jessie hobbled over and softly said what was on her mind.

“…Lord Priest said it’s a book from Lady Saintess, so he didn’t show it to me. Can I read it after Lord Priest is done?”

“I don’t see why not. You can read it.”

I was about to get back to work but Reneben boldly blocked me and shook his head.

“Lady Emilone, you should get some rest. I will handle what’s left so I think you should take a break.”

He was younger than me but bigger than me, so he felt like big puppy. Next to him was Jessie, who was chirping ‘Yes, yes’ like a chick.

I patted them both on the back and kicked them out the door.

“I’m going to sleep right now. Reneben and Jessie, both of you should do the same.”

“Lady Emilone, I want to help…”

“Reneben, go back and go to sleep.”

When I said it a second time, Reneben couldn’t protest any further and grew dispirited.

I went back, hoping to finish my work quickly, and while Jessie tried to stand firm and refuse till the end, she eventually left with no choice but to obey my order.

Alone in the office, I made the light brighter and opened the window to drive the sleep from my eyes.

Perhaps everyone had gone to sleep because the temple was quiet.

“…”

I hated seeing any harm on the people under my care. Because they would try to justify it as normal since they were working so hard.

I knew how hard it was to deal with demons.

Regardless of how destructive a demon was, you had to thrust your hand into them and infuse their body with divine power and you felt every ounce of their suffering and pain.

Imagine how difficult that was.

A rustling breeze swept past the window.

As I leaned back in my chair and titled my head back, my pink hair fluttered in the wind.

The weather was cold, and the wind was chilly, but I liked this temperature.

I tilted my head back as far as I could and closed my eyes. As I opened my eyes, I caught a figure by the window.

Still in the same position, I stared at person on the window. Because of the darkness, I couldn’t see the other party very well.

And right then, their face was exposed under the moonlight, revealing the face of a man that I had seen a couple time already.

“Ducal Prince Nestro.”

Seriously, the princess suddenly barged in earlier and her brother does the same…was it in the genes of the Nestro Ducal family?

Even if you consider the fact that he was a magician, who makes an appearance through the window?

It was quite dangerous.

And that aside…I naturally wasn’t happy with Veron since he just arbitrarily entered the Saintess’s office.

I stared at him coldly.

“…I wasn’t planning on getting caught.”

His silver hair fluttered in the wind just like mine. The color wasn’t quite grey but an odd color, similar to his blue eyes which gazed at me without a single hint of falsehood.

The gentle breeze had stopped at some point. The curtains stood still, further highlighting the man standing at the window.

Although I didn’t know how long he’d been there, he nonchalantly tilted his head slightly.

Then he asked me in a doubtful tone, “Can you see invisibility magic?”

When he spoke, I stopped leaning backwards and straightened my posture. Since he wasn’t going to be courteous, I wasn’t going to offer any smiles either, since I wasn’t feeling like it.

I slowly looked him over.

He seemed to hesitate for a moment, then floated slightly in the air.

I promptly took off my shoes and went inside.

“Before you misunderstand, I would like to add that I didn’t come to the temple with any bad intentions.”

The moment he stepped foot into my office, the window flew shut. Even though it looked harsh, the closure was soft. The window snapped shut, blocking out the wind.

With only two of is in the room, Veron offered an explanation that wasn’t really an explanation. Then he seemed to realize that was a meaningless excuse and shut his mouth while rubbing his neck.

“Regardless of what reason you had, Ducal Prince, it does not change the fact that you broke into the temple.”

Was my expression serious? I traced the outline of my face with my hand and tilted my head slightly, imitating Veron. Only then did he finally straighten his head.

His silver hair swayed gently.

I stared at Prince Veron, sounding like I had half-given up. The other party was the Princess’s elder brother.

It was hard to treat him badly, but I had to do it when necessary.

Veron remained silent but he kept looking at me.

Unlike me who couldn’t figure out what to say in this situation, he looked unconcerned. Because he was looking at me with no emotion in his eyes, I forgot what I wanted to say.

“So, Ducal Prince, what brings you to the temple?”

The Ducal Prince slowly stopped leaning on the window and circled the air with his finger.

“…The smell was getting worse.”

There was a ripple on his face for the first time.

When he frowned, I scolded myself for once again appreciating his looks. The Ducal Prince was as slender as Reneben, but he wasn’t as skinny as the other magicians who looked like they had never seen the light of day.

My eyes scanned him as he gradually approached, noticing that he had a good amount of muscle and there were calluses on his hand, like he had held a sword before.

Both his status and appearance had a perfect score. It was kind of a wonder that he wasn’t married yet.

Unlike my country where people got married in their 30s, the people in this world got engaged in their teens and it was normal to get married in your late teens or early twenties.

Prince Veron was already 25 years old. In another year or two, his age could be mentioned as a flaw in the social circle.

It also didn’t seem like there was someone he was engaged to.

Since he was a handsome man who was the spitting image of the princess, his popularity was unbelievable. I couldn’t know since I’d never checked but I could imagine how popular he was even without seeing it with my own eyes.

The Ducal Prince walked up to me and stopped right in front of me.

At this point, I should mention that even if my body is split in two, as long as I am attached early, I won’t die.

Even if I was stabbed in the heart or stopped breathing, with enough treatment and rest, I would survive in the end.

Translator’s Corner:

**TWO chapters today! One for this week, one for last week.

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