I turned slightly in response to Alois’s smooth flattery. Maybe because of all the ornaments on my head, my body felt heavy.
The accessories clinked together with a rattling sound.
With a sigh, I removed one of the ornaments.
“Ah…! L-Lady Saintess!”
“I think it looks better without this one.”
“B-but…”
The maid fidgeted as she tried to stop me but eventually lowered her head in resignation. She looked so genuinely disappointed that I felt a little sorry.
“Don’t worry. Even without one more ornament, your beauty will not be hidden, Lady Emilone.”
Alois said, inspecting the accessory I had removed. At his words, the maid’s face turned bright red. I clicked my tongue.
“Stop joking around.”
“I’m not joking. I’ve never lied in front of you.”
Alois reached toward my hair again. Watching him closely, I saw him remove another ornament that had been holding my hair in place.
“And I think it’ll look better with one more removed.”
“If you say so…”
My hair, which had been pinned up, fell gently down my back. Alois watched my soft, curly pink hair with satisfaction.
“What do I do…If everyone falls for Your Holiness like this, I’ll be in trouble.”
Alois raised his hand and dismissed all the attendants from the room.
Once we were truly alone, I leaned back into the chair.
As I sank into the plush seat and looked up at him, Alois immediately knelt down.
The head I had to tilt up to look at suddenly dropped low.
Resting my chin on my hand, I looked at the Alois who had lowered himself before me.
He must have something he wanted to say, judging by how he dismissed everyone but why wasn’t he speaking?
“If there’s something you want to say, just say it.”
I quietly looked down at Alois, who remained silently at my feet.
“There’s something I must apologize for.”
Alois’s voice dropped even lower.
I’d been calmly seated in the chair, but his words made my face crumple like paper.
“Apologize?”
That wasn’t a word I expected to hear from Alois.
When I asked again, he nodded. I couldn’t see his face.
“Last night, after you fell asleep…I went to see my father.”
I was usually a light sleeper. Thanks to that, I couldn’t sleep deeply if someone was nearby.
But last night was different. I had been injured, and emotionally exhausted because of my anger toward the king.
So it made sense that I didn’t noticed Alois moving about.
“And what did you talk about?”
Did he do something that warranted an apology?
I tapped the armrest lightly with my index finger out of tension.
But then Alois lifted his head, and I saw the smirk on his lips and realized that I was worrying for nothing.
“Well, my father and I…”
Alois said something quite surprising.
***
Dozens of people followed behind me. Normally, I would’ve sent them all away…
But today, I just endured it.
“Are you all sent by King Eseah?”
“Yes, Lady Saintess.”
They were all sincere towards me. I had to turn my head away when I saw their eyes filled with nothing but goodwill and admiration.
“Where are my kids?”
“…Huh?”
“My people from the temple, I mean. I doubt they would stay still after hearing I got hurt.”
The attendants trailing behind me looked confused at my question.
They exchanged puzzled looks among themselves before one cautiously answered.
“Lady Saintess…I apologize but I haven’t heard anything about the priests.”
I wasn’t surprised. That conceited king must have blocked them.
It would be stupid for a king that was already wary of me to let my people into his palace..
‘Well…you could say this is his indirect way of declaring war.’
If a country didn’t have a good relationship with the temple, it was obvious where they would end.
Human greed was endless and the demons that fed on such emotions were just as endless.
“How foolish.”
“Pardon?”
“Nothing, ignore me.”
Then again, this was a man who wouldn’t relinquish power even if it meant turning his own son into a puppet.
There was no way he’d surrender the throne that easily.
Of course…
‘I do wonder how much longer he can stay on that throne.’
I had a king.
The king I had chosen for myself was nothing like the one clinging to his last desperate struggle.
“Open the door.”
I stood in front of the audience chamber and nodded.
The moment the doors opened, and my eyes met those of King Eseah, I had to stop the sneer that almost left my lips.
An unconcealed, murderous intent surged toward me.
The King of Eseah had the qualities of a king. He was a smart man, and he carved his path forward according to his beliefs.
But the problem was…
“King Eseah. What’s so urgent that you summoned me so early in the morning?”
Indeed, the problem was that the king I followed, Alois, was far superior to him.
He must have already received reports but the King of Eseah looked me up and down, seemingly in disbelief.
I know he saw my wounds yesterday. Wounds that could have been fatal to an ordinary person.
He couldn’t seem to understand how I had already recovered.
“I apologize for the rudeness, but I wished to talk with you.”
I sat across from him. My pure white garments had not a single stain of blood.
He still didn’t seem to believe that my wound had healed completely in less than half a day.
“Good. There’s something I’d like to discuss with you as well.”
A different kind of murderous intent shot towards me.
While the king blared his hostility, obviously not intending to hide it, I slipped my hand into my sleeve.
“But before that.”
I pulled out a small vial and swiftly removed the cork.
The moment I took out the bottle, the king shot up and reached toward me but he was a step too late.
A thick, sleep-inducing scent filled the room.
“Let’s put our uninvited guests to sleep, then we can start.”
There was no way something like a sleep-inducing scent would affect me.
Even the King of Eseah wasn’t fazed by the scent because of his resistance to drugs.
Just as I expected, a couple of figures fell from the roof with a loud thud.
“Ordinary guards, perhaps?…I doubt it. You’re not sure what the punishment might be if you harm a Saintess, so you went with this…”
I approached the fallen figures and flooded them with divine power. Because they landed so brutally that their bones were twisted.
After confirming their pulses were steady, I turned to the King.
“These people…are they from the Heretical Faction?”
The only faction that stood against the divine.
Practicers of dark magic, those who had forsaken everything.
They were ones who gained power through human sacrifice, slipping beyond even the reach of God’s judgment.
“How amusing. Judging by your expression, I must be right.”
The sleeping scent in the room had divine power in it. Those aligned with the Heretical Faction couldn’t withstand it.
“King of Eseah. Don’t make such a terrifying face.”
His expression was so fierce like he wanted to eat me alive. I straightened my back and rolled my eyes as if troubled.
“You can’t beat me in this game…”
From the very moment he lost his composure and attacked me, the King of Eseah had already lost.
And the one who pushed him into attacking me was none other than Alois.
『While you were asleep, I went to my father and told him all our plans.』
I thought back to what Alois said to me. Slowly, I approached the King of Eseah.
“As long as I remain by Alois’s side…”
I looked the King up and down, at his excellent figure which made me remember where Alois inherited his figure.
As if I were evaluating him.
『Like that, I pushed him into the abyss. I made understand this is his last chance.』
Alois knew what mattered most to the king.
His title.
His throne.
He must have concluded that he should strike first before Alois, backed by my support, took his place.
“Unfortunately, you are destined to lose this game.”
『My father will definitely attack Your Holiness. This is the perfect opportunity to drag the ‘current king’ into the abyss.』
The king realized there was nowhere to retreat and attacked me first. He chose to betray the divine than lose his position.
The presence of the Heretical Faction in this very room was proof in of itself.
“And the winners are us.”
The biggest mistake King Eseah made in defending his throne was keeping Alois alive until now.
“You didn’t even know what kind of person Alois was. That’s why you lost.”
He never even tried to understand his own son.
Watching the collapsing king, I moved to stand before him.
I crouched down too and sat in front of him.
I rested my chin on my elbows and let my weight rest on my knees. Then I spoke as if I was in trouble.
“I have no intention of forgiving the Heretical Faction. I will let the world know you tried to harm me.”
“Y-You—.”
The king trembled all over.
This was the ‘perfect opportunity’ that Alois was talking about.
To brand him as the king who attacked a Saint.
There was no way the people or the temple-friendly nobles would stand by and watch.
“But before that, I’ll give you a chance. If you step down from the throne yourself, I’ll pretend none of this ever happened.”
I whispered the sweet temptation.
“I don’t want my companion’s father to be a criminal either.”
And I reminded him of his place.
That now, he was simply a man who had dared to harm the representative of God.
King Eseah trembled. When he lowered his head, I sighed and got up.
Right at that moment, he lifted his head. And the moment I saw his eyes, I frowned.
“How dare you—.”
Before those rebellious eyes finished speaking, a swarm of black hands shot out from thin air and grabbed hold of my entire body.
“Haa…”
A cold and filthy sensations covered my body.
The black hands that rose from the floor clutched my ankles and refused to let go.
I had a feeling he was banking on something, but I didn’t know he was hiding such a trump card.
He must think so little of me.
I clenched my teeth.
*.*.*
- Emilone’s Temptation Labyrinth – Chapter 139 - October 3, 2025
- Honey, I’m Going on Strike – Chapter 33 - October 3, 2025
- Honey, I’m Going on Strike – Chapter 32 - September 30, 2025