T/N: This chapter had a crazy amount of words. Phew!
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With a lazy smile, I placed my hand over the back of hers.
“It’s been a while. How have you been?”
“Oh, I’ve been wonderful! But Your Holiness is becoming more and more beautiful every day…I’m starting to worry you’ll steal all my men from me.”
“I doubt anyone can compare to your beauty, Ronella. Although I am perplexed to find you here so far from the Empire, I’ll hope for you that the love from your cherished men remains unchanged.”
She began to giggle, like she had heard the funniest thing.
“Oh, such nonsense! The moment Your Holiness appeared, the brainwashing magic I’d spent years casting began to unravel.”
“Well, that’s such a shame. I’m not sure how many were in love with you, but I guess congratulations are in order if they’ve stopped.”
“Congratulations, you say. Because of you falling out of the sky one day, the love I spent years cultivating just disappeared.”
From the other side, the man crawled over pitifully and clung to Ronella’s ankle.
“La…Lady Ronella… Please… please…”
If he had attacked me his full strength, it might’ve been a tough fight, but since he’d been so focused on showing off his ‘god,’ he’d let his guard down. And that made it easy to create this situation.
“Oh my.”
She looked at the man clinging to her foot with a face full of distaste, then promptly shoved him away.
I watched as he easily tumbled back then Ronella waved her hand, drawing my attention back to her.
“Don’t mind that little pest. He was useful, but now… not so much.”
“Isn’t he one of your followers?”
“He is. But I’m tired of him now.”
She glanced back at the man and her expression became incredibly gentle as she asked in an innocent voice.
“Are you going to kill him?”
“…”
“It’s fine if you do. I still have plenty of pawns.”
“Ronella Nestro.”
“Yes, you called?”
She answered like it was the most natural thing while her prickling gaze traced the outline of my face.
But this woman was not the beloved daughter of the Empire’s Nestro ducal house. She was not Ronella Nestro.
“Why are you answering?”
“…Pardon?”
“You are not Ronella Nestro.”
“…”
Ronella’s gaze turned sharp. Seeing the look in her eyes that seemed to ask, ‘what do you mean’, I let out a faint laugh.
“Are you even human to begin with?”
“Lady Emilone.”
“Yes, I bear the name Emilone, a name gifted to me by God. But you?”
The faint sound of grinding teeth reached my ears.
“You’re just someone pretending to be Princess Ronella Nestro, not actually Ronella, isn’t that right?”
Seeing her face change, the smile on my face became even brighter.
***
The first thing I found strange about Ronella was the blind devotion people had toward her.
Everyone loved her. But there was no reason behind it. She was calculating and played joyfully within the stage she’d set for herself.
She tested me, seduced both men and women, discarded them, and moved her pieces around like they were nothing more than pawns.
And I used to wonder—
“Why would someone like you not try to use me…?”
“So, just because of that, you began to suspect who I really am?”
“Actually, more than anything, it was your brother, Veron Nestro, who came to me one night and told me not to concern myself with you anymore.”
Ronella covered her face with both hands, as if to hide her twisted expression.
“Wouldn’t that be more than enough to raise suspicion?”
Honestly, I had only felt suspicious back then and I was never able to be certain. I figured there was no need to share that part and considered shaking her up a bit more when a soft breath slipped from her lips.
“Is that so? As expected of you, Lady Saintess… You’re always beyond my expectations.”
She withdrew her hand and returned to wearing the face of ‘Ronella’ once again. With her hands behind her back, she skipped cheerfully toward the tea table.
“Would you like to chat and have some tea with me?”
“Hm…”
“Of course, do get rid of that man over there already. He’s so noisy, I don’t think I can even enjoy the tea.”
“How harsh.”
“So, you say but this man, more than any other dark mage, has spent years killing and abducting over a thousand people to become stronger. Surely, as the Saintess, you would never forgive such a thing, yes?”
She had me right in the palm of her hand. Resting her chin on her hand, she fluttered her lashes sweetly, as if asking me to do as I please.
As if daring me.
“Forgiveness, huh… That’s an interesting choice of words.”
I no longer called her Ronella. I felt I shouldn’t.
“Forgiveness is something only the one who was wronged can give. No one else.”
For me to forgive others so easily, just because I’m a Saintess…that was a really interesting thing to say.
“But I am given the authority to punish. As the price for many sacrifices and the effort I’ve made to protect others, I’ve also been granted the ‘power’ to protect.”
The man turned over, trembling. I wasn’t sure if it was safe to touch him so I wrapped my hand in divine power and laid it against his cheek.
“Lady Saintess… sp-spare me—kuhk.”
“Be grateful I’m letting you go like this. And for forgiveness…beg it from the lives you’ve taken.”
I gently stroked his chin and released my divine power as vast as the sea.
But something about the way Ronella looked at me with interest rubbed me the wrong way.
“You’re quite merciless for a Saintess.”
“Mercy should be shown with discretion.”
His body began to disintegrate from the spot my hand had touched, dissolving like ash. As the dark fog disappeared into the air, I slowly closed my eyes and then opened them again.
“After ignoring the underworld all this time, I wonder what wind has brought you here…Come, Saintess. Let’s enjoy some tea together.”
Wearing a bright smile, she poured tea into an empty cup. Shaking off the discomfort, I took a seat across from her.
“Allow me to correct you, I did not ignore it. It’s only been a little over two years since I came to this world. I was simply unaware.”
“Ignorance cannot excuse everything. You neglected the most important duty a Saintess must uphold.”
She hummed, popped a cookie into her mouth. She had the same face, same tone, same voice as the Ronella Nestro I knew but today, something was different.
That probing way she spoke, the way she looked at me, it almost reminded me of Alois.
“People are so funny. They always choose the wrong target to blame. Instead of condemning the one who committed the wrong, they scold those who failed to stop them.”
“That’s how humans are. They’d rather go after an easier target than criticize the one truly at fault.”
The humming stopped. Her fake cheer on her face faded completely, and her vivid red lips parted.
“I’ll let you choose between two options now.”
“Hm…Let’s hear them first, shall we?”
I took a bite of the cookie in front of me. Naturally, something like poison wouldn’t work on me, but who knows what’s in this… still, I popped it in my mouth and chewed thoroughly.
As I savored the sweet buttery aroma and smiled with my eyes, she returned the smile.
“I didn’t think you’d accept so easily.”
“I only said I’d listen. Doesn’t mean I’ll necessarily choose any of your options.”
I brushed the cookie crumbs from my hand and tilted my chin slightly, as if to say, Go on.
At that, she held up two fingers, then folded one down.
“The first option, is that you die here for me.”
“Too bad, rejected. That’s not happening.”
“Come now. Don’t you know what I am, Lady Emilone?”
She returned to the cute, cheerful voice of Ronella, blinking innocently, then she folded down the second finger.
“Well, the second option, is that you sit here and listen to my story.”
“…Your story?”
“Yes! I have this little hope, that the great Saintess might extend her mercy even to someone as insignificant as me.”
She clasped her hands together and looked at me with an expectant expression.
I looked down at the teacup, watching the liquid gently sloshing around inside.
“Compared to the first, the second option is definitely more appealing.”
“I knew Your Holiness would say that.”
There was only ever one choice to begin with. Gazing at her, I gave her a nod, inviting her to speak.
“Why don’t you go ahead then? Tell me your story.”
“It probably won’t be that interesting…”
“If it’s boring, I’ll cut you off and drown you in divine power.”
She burst into giggles, seemingly taken aback. A clear, pearly laughter echoed through the air.
“So even the Lady Saintess knows how to make threats.”
“Who knows…If divine power doesn’t affect you, then it’s not really a threat, is it?”
In other words, she definitely was not an ordinary being. Otherwise, the mention of divine power would not be a threat.
“Didn’t you already anticipate this? If someone like me, who is being worshipped by dark mages is just ordinary, it wouldn’t make any sense.”
I never thought of her as ordinary in the first place.
Even though I sat here calmly, my stomach was churning so I picked up the teacup. I had to feign calm and act like I was unaffected but this whole situation was a bit much for me.
“Why don’t you go ahead and share that story now?”
“Should I? I suppose…I did start rambling a bit.”
She gave a quiet grin. Then, slowly, she began to speak. And the words that left her lips were far too heavy to be described as ‘interesting’.
“Lady Saintess, to start, I have to tell you about myself …I am a demon.”
“…”
“Hahaha! You look like you didn’t expect that. I look just like a regular human, don’t I? I can talk, I can learn, I have emotions; Who would ever think I’m a demon?”
She shed the mask of Ronella.
Leaning back, she laced her fingers together and stretched with a long sigh, then she closed her eyes with a satisfied expression.
“But as you can imagine, I’m not just an ordinary demon so that level of divine power won’t kill me. You’ll have to flood me with as much divine power as my time alive, probably?”
“…Your time alive?”
“How long do you think it takes for a mere demon to learn to speak, stand like a human, convey emotions, and even act as a noble like I do? A few years? Decades…? Who knows. I feel like I’ve been alive for a few hundred years already.”
I swallowed and eventually, I lowered my head, pressing my fingers against my temple. Depending on whether what she said was true or not, my view of this entire situation would shift.
If what she said was true…then this might be a little dangerous.
“Is it hard to believe I’m a demon?”
“Because it’s absurd.”
She suddenly closed the distance between us, and her sharp eyes peered into me with Princess Ronella’s innocent face.
“Just like you said, I’m not ‘Ronella.’ I was never human to begin with, so there’s no way I could’ve been born from the perfectly normal human Duke and Duchess of Nestro.”
She spread her arms wide, then she placed her hand firmly on the center of my chest.
“The real Ronella Nestro died when she was five years old. I’m merely here in her stead.”
“…Hah.”
I thought back to Veron Nestro, who had come to me one night and threatened me. I muttered his name under my breath as I clenched my fist.
“Veron Nestro.”
Thoughts of being calm and unmoved had long since left my mind.
As soon as I mentioned his name, she widened her eyes and clapped her hands together with an ‘Ahh’.
“Veron, that guys knows everything.”
“What are you—”
“At a young age, I entered the body of the deceased princess of the Nestro family…and what do you know? Veron immediately realized. Thanks to that, I couldn’t even brainwash him.”
Everything she said sounded unreal. ‘Ronella’ spoke of the past, like she was recounting someone else’s story.
“But you see, the ducal couple were so overwhelmed with the joy of their daughter’s survival that they were so easy to brainwash. So, I brainwashed them both. They must be happy, knowing that their daughter isn’t dead.”
“In the fake happiness you created, you mean.”
She smiled, not responding to that.
“Of course, Veron was an annoyance to me. So, I added one more enchantment. If someone were to learn my identity because of Veron…”
I recalled the figure who came to harass me late at night. I never imagined this was the reason.
“If they were to learn that I am not Ronella Nestro…then the Duke and Duchess of Nestro would meet their death.”
I stared at her for a while and in the end, I had to close my eyes and let out a long, heavy sigh.
“You see, Veron Nestro is someone who loves his parent oh so terribly.”
Advanced chapters available on Patreon.
- Emilone’s Temptation Labyrinth – Chapter 118 - July 15, 2025
- Honey, I’m Going on Strike – Chapter 3 - July 15, 2025
- Honey, I’m Going on Strike – Chapter 2 - July 14, 2025