The three men called the Heroes of the Continent never mixed like oil and water, but they shared one absolute truth.

That was that everything had to be explained clearly and definitively to Jella.

They needed to make it clear right here so she wouldn’t misunderstand. That they didn’t like that woman.

“It’s a misunderstanding.”

“It’s absolutely not what you’re thinking.”

“Let me explain everything.”

Just as they were trying to explain while holding onto Jella.

Crash!

Suddenly, the altar piled in the square collapsed with a loud noise.

Jella, who had been looking bewildered at the three men holding her, turned to look at the collapsed altar at the sound.

And the middle-aged actor who had been hiding near the altar since earlier, hired by Niel, rolled his eyes around in confusion.

‘W-what should I do? They told me to rush out and save His Majesty when the altar collapses.’

The Emperor was standing far from the altar, and it didn’t look dangerous at all no matter how you looked at it.

But he wasn’t sure if he could make that judgment about the deal with the Emperor on his own.

Above all, there was a lot of money riding on this deal.

Finally, after deliberating, he rushed toward the Emperor shouting.

“Y-Your Majesty! A-are you alright! Th-this place seems dangerous, so I’ll s-save you!”

At that ridiculous acting, Niel’s eyes hardened.

“Cough!”

Yupheon, who had still been holding onto Jella’s hem, started coughing.

“Ah, why now… cough!”

Blood came out with each of his coughs.

“Ah, Your Holiness! Are you alright? Gasp, these symptoms are from the new plague spreading in the Holy Kingdom!”

Seeing this, some middle-aged man appeared with a medicine bottle, making a fuss.

“T-t-take this medicine! Then the blood will stop and the illness will…”

But suddenly, the man’s eyes met with the actor who had been doing the poor acting for Niel, and he was startled.

Both men were handsome middle-aged men with black hair and red eyes.

Screeeech!

Just then, a sharp scream was heard.

A winged monster flew through the sky and rushed at Cail.

“Dangerous!”

A swordsman who appeared shouted while taking down the monster.

“I-I saved Lord Cail!”

As fate would have it, this one too was a handsome middle-aged man with black hair and red eyes.

And if there was one more thing these men had in common, it was that they all strangely resembled ‘Jella Irene’, the underworld pharmacist.

Everyone was dumbfounded at what was happening.

“What’s going on?”

“It seems those men saved the heroes?”

“But why do they look so alike? Are they family?”

And while people were whispering.

“Looking again, they also look like that lady who saved the Saint earlier… Huh? Where did she go?”

Jella had disappeared during the chaos.

The expressions of the three men left behind quickly turned sour.

“……”

“……”

“…cough.”

While the three men stared at each other with cold eyes, only the intermittent sound of Yupheon coughing up blood could be heard.

***

Yupheon, having changed out of his blood-stained clothes, sat by the window with a pale complexion.

Dark shadows fell under his eyes as he looked out the window.

“Your Holiness, I’ve brought the antidote.”

Damian said as he set down the tray he was carrying on the table.

“You should take another one in an hour. I don’t think consuming poison was a good method after…”

Swoosh.

Damian stopped mid-sentence when met with a steady stare.

Yupheon’s atmosphere was subtly different from usual. Too quiet.

He wasn’t angry, nor was he irritated.

Somehow feeling like he shouldn’t disturb him, Damian quickly bowed and left.

“Th-then rest well, Your Holiness!”

Left alone in the room, Yupheon turned his gaze back to the window.

“……”

Unlike his outwardly calm and peaceful appearance, he was uncharacteristically restless.

His heart had been anxiously churning since earlier.

He knew the cause of this anxiety.

“…Jella.”

He murmured, slowly closing and opening his eyes.

He had been thinking about Jella all this time.

He kept thinking about her expressionless face and demeanor he’d seen in the square earlier.

Though she seemed fine at first glance, he kept thinking about her slightly curved lips.

Yupheon knew that was the expression she made when she felt a little upset.

He had seen her make that expression before.

At age six, when she discovered the marks of abuse on his body after he came out of the underground punishment room.

At age seven, when she overheard foolish apprentice priests gossiping about her as ‘the witch who ate her parents’ after they had run away from lessons together.

At age eight, when she had to part with the priests of the Grand Temple to return to the Empire.

At age twelve, when her favorite Holy Kingdom special buttercream macarons were discontinued.

At age fifteen, when she received news that Beatrice, the puppy they raised in the Grand Temple’s backyard, had gone to puppy heaven.

And at age eighteen, when Saint Yuria appeared.

At that time, Yupheon was being discussed as the next Pope due to his immense holy power.

However, he had no desire to become Pope at all.

Above all, becoming Pope meant he couldn’t marry.

This was a fatal issue for him, as he still hadn’t given up his dream of marrying Jella.

Around that time, news of the Saint’s appearance came, and Yupheon volunteered to visit the Shunaibel Empire.

Of course, the Saint was just an excuse, and he visited to meet Jella.

If not for her, he would have no reason to travel such a distance just to meet some Saint.

Upon arriving at the Shunaibel Imperial Palace, he immediately looked for Jella.

But then a strange woman approached him, acting familiar.

“You’re Yupheon, right?”

“…?”

“Ah, I’m Yuria. Can I call you Yuphe?”

As Yuria introduced herself while looking straight into his eyes, he sensed a strange energy from her.

‘Hm?’

While Yupheon blinked slowly, the energy dissipated instantly.

‘Did I sense wrong?’

As he stood there bewildered, Yuria suddenly linked arms with him and pressed herself against him.

“Won’t you come to the garden with me, Yuphe?”

Despite meeting for the first time, she acted as if she had no doubt he would reject her.

‘Is she crazy?’

Just as Yupheon was frowning and about to push her away.

-Follow her.

Suddenly, a voice echoed in his head.

“I want to take a walk with Yuphe, just the two of us.”

-With her, alone, tenderly, and intimately.

Each time Yuria opened her mouth to whisper, an unknown voice whispered along in Yupheon’s mind.

“Mmm, alright.”

Yupheon nodded compliantly and moved to the garden with her.

“You’re the Saint?”

“Everyone calls me that.”

Yuria answered with a shy smile.

“Actually, God spoke to me. Told me to meet Yuphe.”

“Me? Why?”

Under a large tree, Yuria stopped and turned to look at Yupheon.

Then she placed her hand on his chest and leaned in intimately.

“Want to know?”

She lifted her head slightly and met his eyes.

-Kiss her.

Once again, the voice echoed in his head.

‘This is…’

By the third time, it became clear. Yupheon realized the identity of the voice he had been vaguely sensing.

‘God Arne…?’

Yupheon’s eyes hardened slightly.

Yuria had a shy yet expectant face like a woman waiting for a kiss.

It was an inappropriate attitude for someone who had just met and exchanged names moments ago, but she showed no doubt that she would be rejected.

And rightfully so.

The energy emanating from her now was Enchantment, the strongest power of the main god Arne.

“Yuphe…”

Yuria called him in an affectionate voice, as if addressing a long-time lover while stroking his chest.

-Embrace her quickly. Hold her in your arms and kiss her.

It was a seductive voice that could sway even Cardinal-level priests, and perhaps even his father, Pope Johannes.

If he had been an ordinary man, he might have knelt and licked her feet at her single word.

Yupheon’s lips curved into a crooked smile.

“You know, Saint.”

He leaned down toward Yuria and whispered in a gentle voice.

“You should watch that mouth of yours. If you don’t want it torn.”

“Wh-what…?”

For a moment, Yuria looked up at him, dumbfounded.

“Only one person is allowed to call me Yuphe.”

Yupheon smiled softly while brushing Yuria’s hair.

“It’s not a name for trash like you to use carelessly, you b*tch.”

He said sweetly with the most gentle and kind face in the world.

T/N: Haha Yupheon. You are the best. ଘ(✿˵•́ ᴗ •̀˵)