Emilone’s Temptation Labyrinth – Chapter 74

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“What?”

“I’m wondering how you can smile like that… I could never smile at a king like him. In that sense, you…”

“Unlike you, my status isn’t that mighty compared to what I’m trying to do. So…”

“So, at the very least, you have to know how to hide your emotions, right?”

The silent smile on his face irritated me a little so I turned my head and looked out the window.

“Though it seems Your Holiness saw right through me from the very beginning…”

His words caught me off guard, and my eyes widened in surprise.

“How did you know?”

“How could I not?”

“…”

“If I couldn’t notice something like that, managing the cards I’ve placed in royal courts across various kingdoms would be impossible, let alone winning people’s hearts.”

I felt sorry for Reneben who always seemed to be shocked when Alois was around, so I hugged him and puffed out my cheek.

“You don’t need to boast about yourself in such a roundabout way.”

Alois’ expression turned awkward, and he lowered his eyes.

“Compared to Lady Emilone, I am too far behind.”

“You sure know how to talk.”

My eyes swept over Alois who was wearing a slightly darker uniform, perhaps out of consideration for Reneben and I who were draped in white priest robes.

“That look in your eyes.”

“…?”

“You looked at me like that when we first met so how could I not know?”

What look? I thought as I casually raised a hand over my eyes.

“Do you remember how I first caught your attention, Lady Emilone?”

“You used that marquis whose name I can’t even remember.”

At the time, Alois looked like such a beautiful man that I hadn’t doubted for a second that he was a victim. I only thought he was being targeted by the vulgar marquis.

“Of course, that’s part of it. But before that…didn’t you notice a sweet scent?”

My body stiffened. I stared at him, silently questioning, and he nodded as if to confirm my suspicions.

“It was a fragrance I released. A very faint scent that only Lady Saintess could detect.”

“Why?”

“Because I wanted you to notice me.”

I couldn’t help but feel taken aback by what he was saying after all this time. It was true that I had noticed Alois because of the floral scent. But to think even that had been a calculated action…

“I still remember Lady Emilone’s gaze back then.”

“What kind of gaze?”

“Full of disdain.”

“Isn’t that a given?”

“But you also weren’t interested in me. That’s why I thought I failed and decided to approach you again in another way.”

“…”

Reneben, who was learning this for the first time, clenched his fists tightly.

I knew Alois had used the marquis to draw my attention, but Reneben did not.

“I thought that since you’re the Saintess, being an innocent victim would be enough.”

“Unfortunately, that would have never drawn my interest.”

“Which is why I chose to play a clever foreign prince trying to use you, rather an innocent victim.”

I paused and my shoulders instinctively rose.

“It seems you didn’t consider that possibility.”

“…”

I thought I had uncovered Alois’s true personality.

“Thank you for finding me interesting.”

“…Ha.”

Who would have thought it was all planned? I had been fooled, completely unaware.

“I perfectly believed that I figured out your true nature.”

“In some ways…”

He trailed off. In a roundabout way, he was saying I did.

“…Alright. It’s not like there’s anything I can say to that.”

I uttered and turned to fiddle with the latch on the window. As the window opened, the cool air rushed in.

“I like that you’re like this and that’s why I chose you.”

To use and be used. Wanting to exploit and to be exploited. From the start, that was our dynamic and nature of our relationship.

“Someone clever yet safe. Someone who wouldn’t betray you yet someone Lady Emilone wouldn’t feel guilty about using. Someone with the right ambition and status.”

“…”

“All of that describes me.”

Alois smiled faintly. Rather than his feigned kind smile, this dangerous smile that seemed to be teetering on the edge, struck me even more.

“It’s everything you want.”

“…”

“And it’s also exactly who I am.”

“It does appeal to me.”

“It’s the perfect condition to have to stand by your side.”

I lifted my gaze, slowly looking out the window and I nodded. For some reason, I felt a weight lift from my chest.

But then it came.

A sudden, ominous sensation crawling up my body from the cool breeze. My nose twitched, and a side of my heart began to pound uncontrollably.

The title ‘Saintess’ wasn’t just given because I had exceptional physical abilities or boundless divine power.

Beyond that…I could hear oracle of divine words, and experience great pain on behalf of others.

Right now, my heart was racing like it was about to explode.

It was no different for the High Priest, Reneben, who gripped his knees tightly as he broke out in cold sweat.

“…Are you alright?”

Alois asked calmly, as if he had already expected this. But neither Reneben nor I had the presence of mind to respond.

My heart throbbed with unbearable pain.

“…What is this?”

“You said you wouldn’t regret this.”

“…”

“And you said you were prepared.”

I bit my lips hard and turned my head away.

“…I smell blood, the stench of filth, traces of terrible wounds, cries of agony.”

I could feel it all.

I wanted to cover my ears, clamp my mouth shut, hold my breath and block everything out.

My mind flew to the records in the temple—the chronicles of the Saints who had come before me. I remember reading about the first Saintess, who had suffered each time she visited labor camps or mines filled with enslaved workers.

…Until now, my heart would only race slightly when passing through slums or crowded streets, so I had never experienced such pain.

“I may not be able to feel what both of you are experiencing.”

“…”

“But if you’re already like this before even seeing anything…this will be quite difficult.”

I lifted my gaze from the floor and looked at Alois.

His face was blank and void of emotion, like he couldn’t feel anything.

In contrast, I felt like the once-clear sky was being covered in darkness.

“Seriously…Hah, disgusting. Very disgusting.”

It felt like stepping barefoot in mud soaked with filth.

“Tell the coachman to go faster. I…right now, every second is precious.”

What is the title of Saintess for? What is the title of High Priest for?

To think they are bound to a prosperous empire, with its vast lands and people enjoying the highest standards of living, and they never even think of looking elsewhere.

I gripped the curtain by the window harshly.

“…I want King of Vermont to taste this very feeling, this sensation of your life hanging by a thread.”

The sensation of living only because you couldn’t die…

I clenched my jaw, vowing to myself that I would make him feel this exact same feeling.

Reneben was trembling so much that he looked pitiful, and I felt like I shouldn’t have brought him along.

“How are you holding up, Reneben? Do you want to go back?”

I forced myself to appear calm and spoke casually. However, Reneben was also the High Priest.

The people of the temple were not so weak that they would retreat because of something like this.

“…No way.”

“Right, of course you wouldn’t.”

“There’s no way I’m turning back.”

Those who serve the divine are infinitely generous to the weak, eager to share what they had. But to the strong…they know themselves and they might seem fragile, but inside, they were stronger than anyone else.

“…Your Highness,” Reneben spoke up.

“…?”

“This pain… I feel like I’m about to die. What could possibly cause this much pain?”

Reneben’s eyes quivered as he asked.

I wanted to ask too, but the words caught in my throat, refusing to come out.

“…The scale is too vast for me to interfere. Because every citizen of the Vermont Kingdom is affected.”

“…”

“I judged that I had no way to save everyone. Even trying to help a few would risk exposing my presence, and then everything would fall apart.”

I lowered my eyes calmly and I felt Alois’s gaze on me.

“It was around then that Your Holiness revealed your existence to the world.”

I felt my breath growing ragged, and I closed my lips tightly to stifle my labored breaths.

Ah…it hurts.

To think that every Saint before me has endured this…

“Lady Emilone, Lord Reneben.”

Alois’ voice reverberated softly. My head buzzed, making it sound like it was coming from underwater.

“It appears we have arrived. I will ask you one last time. Shall I open this door?”

If I turned my head just a little more, in fact, if I looked to the side just a little more, I could look out the open window. But I didn’t have the courage to do it.

But still…

“My, don’t underestimate me so much, Alois.”

Even in this state, I apparently still had the energy to bluff.

“Do you think I’ll say I want to go back?”

“I don’t plan to say anything about going back either,” Reneben affirmed.

I extended my hand and slowly opened the carriage door. Without waiting for assistance, I stepped out.

The moment my foot hit the ground, a suffocating wave of darkness engulfed my entire body. My vision turned black, agonizing wails dug into my ears, and my body felt like it was rotting away.

I couldn’t afford to falter. My knees threatened to give away, but I stubbornly ran a hand through my hair and let out a hollow laugh.

“…When I return to the palace, all of them are dead.”

The metallic scent of blood and the groans of pain.

…Countless eyes fell on me.

“…The hell is this.”

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