Emilone’s Temptation Labyrinth – Chapter 21

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With divine power, I had the ability to save people but at the same time, I also had the power to deliver punishment.

Even if the Ducal Prince was this close to me, he was not a big threat. If I wanted to, I could erase him from this world with a simple gesture of my hand.

That was the definition of divine punishment.

Because of this power, I was little confident.

Who could dare to hurt me? Who had the ability to harm me? God gave me this power. In other words, no one in this world could beat me.

Of course, I’d never used this power before, and even when I tried to use it on demons, it failed every time, so I didn’t have much faith in it.

Even so I was sure that when I really needed this power, it would come in handy.

I stared at Ducal Prince Nestro, not avoiding his gaze. A light flashed in his eyes.

The prince grabbed my neck with one hand while clenching and un-clenching his other hand. Till the very end, he was calm while I was agitated.

“It feels like the smell is getting worse…”

Who knew what it was about this Ducal family, but it seems neither child was afraid of God.

Veron grabbed my collar and looked into my eyes, and I looked up back at him.

There was no way he didn’t know how rude his behavior was.

I lowered my red eyes and tried to figure out what was going on. Should I ask him to stop this instant? I was sure that Prince Nestro would obediently let go if I asked him to remove his hand.

“And I think it is because of you, Saintess.”

I grabbed his wrist and removed his hand from my neck. In an instant, the warmth disappeared, and cold air hit my neck.

“Saintess, would you like to sign a contract with me?”

I gripped the prince’s wrist as tight as I could. It was kind of a revenge, but he spoke as if he couldn’t feel anything. While doing so, I applied more strength than I intended to and made a scratch on his wrist.

My sensitive sense of smell immediately detected the scent of blood.

“Please do not contact my sister.”

I lifted my gaze from his wrist.

“Why?”

The prince slowly lifted his wrist which now had a small cut and scanned the wound with his eyes.

I felt like I was taking a cold bath in the middle of winter. When I looked into his icy eyes for a moment, a chill ran down my spine.

“It is my duty as an older brother to take responsibility for my beloved younger sister.”

I found it hard to understand what he was saying. He says I shouldn’t contact his sister then follows with ‘it is my duty to take responsibility for my beloved sister’. What does that have to do with each other?

I was lost in my imagination for a moment that I almost looked at Veron with sparkly eyes.

That was impossible.

I still remember how tense the atmosphere was when the Ducal Prince and Princess met. I didn’t know what he was up to, but I couldn’t just step back.

I gently pulled Veron’s wrist towards me and placed my lips on the wound that I caused.

The prince tried to tear his hand away at my sudden gesture, but I held his hand tighter, and when I moved away, I could see the tiny wound healing.

“You mentioned a contract.”

I said to Veron while propping my butt on the back of a chair.

“What will you do for me if I don’t contact the princess?”

There was definitely something between the Ducal Prince and Princess. A story that I couldn’t easily decipher.

The Ducal Prince lifted his wrist which I had healed with a kiss again. To me, his hand was at my eye-level while for Veron, his hand was at his mouth. Once again, he moved his raised hand and touched it with his lips.

The Ducal Prince muttered something that I couldn’t hear then he closed his eyes.

“I will protect you.”

…Huh?

“When Your Holiness is in danger, I can protect you.”

Unfortunately, I can protect myself, Lord Nestro.

Just like the princess, the Ducal Prince was someone on my watchlist so establishing a connection with him might not be a bad idea.

With that belated thought, I quickly changed my stance and replied in agreement.

At my consent, the Ducal Prince remained silent for a while, then he mentioned the princess’ name.

“About Ronella…”

“What about the princess?”

“…You only need to refrain from contacting her. I’m not forbidding you from meeting her.”

The prince’s eyes dimmed again.

His face returned to its characteristically expressionless state. He calmly turned and went back to the window he came through.

He opened the window directly and threw himself into the air.

Caught by surprise, I ran over before I realized it. As I grabbed the windowsill and looked up, I found the Ducal Prince looking at me.

“Whenever you need me…you can call me.”

His tone made it seem like an obligatory statement but his eyes looked reliable.

As I was wondering how to respond, I decided to copy him and hide my emotions as much as possible, before curling my lips.

“If you put it like that, I might call you at any time of the day. Goodbye to you, Mr. Uninvited Night Guest.”

My displeasure at his invasion of the temple was still not gone so I said each word with a little spite and watched him disappear.

It was only when he was out of the temple’s domain and out of sight that I slammed the windows shut and pulled the curtains.

It felt like the room was finally quiet after sending the Ducal Prince away.

After that, I muttered to myself for no reason.

“How troublesome…I wonder what is going on.”

To check what was left to do, I pulled my pink hair into a slightly heavy bun and pressed it down with a hand.

“It feels like the calm before the storm.”

Like the stillness before something happens.

Of course, I don’t want to be swept up in the storm. But that might be an impossible wish.

I put my face down, letting my cheeks slide on the cold table and picked up a pen.

My annoyance kept rising and I let out a groan, feeling conflicted.

But I knew that if I just went to sleep now, my work would multiply with interest. That, I absolutely didn’t want.

It was only after I finally finished my work and let my body droop like slime that I felt like the lump in my chest was draining away.

“Wow…”

But tomorrow…no, it was already dawn so today.

The nobles were going to gather together this afternoon. Just like meetings held at the Imperial palace, they planned to do something similar at the temple.
And the organizer was me.

It was already giving me a headache.

I nibbled on the closed fountain pen and shook my head back and forth. Tomorrow, the princess wouldn’t be there either.

I rummaged through documents to re-confirm who was attending. I thought I could finally rest but there was still a mountain of work to do.

As Reneben said, the participants of this meeting were the same people who attended meetings at the Imperial palace.

I carelessly held the paper edge with my lips and blew, making it flutter.

“Hmm…so I’m the protagonist.”

Ronella wasn’t coming anyway. I was to be the center of attention in her stead.

That silly thought was so funny to me that I covered my mouth and laughed.

What can we do, Princess? You have to work hard so you don’t lose your position as protagonist.

However, I had no intention of stealing the protagonist role; I was only going to borrow it for a day and return it.

I almost burst into laughter because I was thinking a bit like a villain.

I am still the Saintess, all things considered so how can I be the villain?

I wonder if the God who sent me here knew what I was thinking.

He might be lamenting to himself that he chose the wrong person as saintess. I smiled slyly, thinking that that would be very nice.

* * *

I wanted to sleep for a few hours then get up but at that point, I no longer wanted to get up.

It was so comfortable and boring as a saintess that I started wondering why I planned on escaping.

Actually, after looking at the pile of documents, I thought of escaping for a different reason.

While I was making stupid jokes to myself and hugging the body sized pillow, Reneben and Jessie were restless.

Reneben in particular, couldn’t even raise his head, seemingly embarrassed about coming in while I was sleeping.

“Saintess, you have to get up.”

“…Alright. Both of you wait a little bit.”

I replied in a sleepy voice.

Feeling pity for these two kids, I finally decided to rise. As I slowly propped myself up, Jessie quickly came over and offered me a cup of cold water.

I quickly drank the cold water, glancing at the papers piled on the small table in my room as well as in my office. Cold water was the best way to wake up.

However, I didn’t realize that Jessie had caringly put ice in the water. When I drank the cold water too quickly, I was greeted with a sharp headache.

Thanks to that…I was definitely awake now.

I grabbed my throbbing head and rose to my feet. Then I felt soft carpet under the bed caressing my feet.

I must have been so tired last night because I didn’t realize there was a new carpet.

It was so soft that I felt like I wouldn’t mind sleeping on it instead of the bed.

Jessie went back to the office first, and after kicking the carpet for a while, my screaming head relaxed, and I moved.

I was worried that I was going to go back to sleep but Reneben came up to me with a much brighter face and placed a shawl on my shoulder.

Nobles had many luxuries but one of them was fragrance on their clothing. It was the trend these days to spray the perfume you like on your clothing.

When I turned to Reneben after detecting a fragrance on from the shawl, he mumbled his words.

“I thought you liked the Titus fragrance, so I prepared it for you. Is it okay?”

Is that even a question?

Even if it was a smell I didn’t like, I would have been happy with it since Reneben went out his way to prepare it.

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Emilone’s Temptation Labyrinth – Chapter 21

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