He crossed his legs and looked at me with a crooked posture. What rude behavior was I supposed to have done when I had never even met her? I couldn’t accept false accusations, so I had to clearly convey my thoughts.

“I don’t know what others have told you, but I am innocent.”

“Tsk. How annoying.”

The crown prince seemed uninterested in the facts. He appeared to be one-sidedly taking sides just to remove me from the saintess position.

Honestly, when it came to bullying, wasn’t he worse? Subtle disregard and contempt. Such behavior could be called bullying toward me.

Angry, I no longer wanted to endure it. Since I had come here to say what I couldn’t say before anyway, I thought I should speak my mind.

“Your Highness is the one who hasn’t treated me as a saintess. Isn’t accepting a greeting at least basic courtesy?”

“Now you’re finally showing your true colors. How dare you try to lecture me. You can’t even properly fulfill your role as a saintess, yet you have so much to say.”

“I know my holy power has decreased. But I continue to work hard for the empire’s people.”

“Work hard?”

The crown prince clicked his tongue while looking at me incredulously.

“What results did your hard work achieve? A brief shower? Can that put out forest fires? Or did it solve the drought?”

“Haven’t I worked for the empire for the past three years?”

“I acknowledge that effort.”

“Then give me compensation for it.”

“Compensation? Ha. Haven’t we been paying you monthly? Are you saying that money isn’t enough?”

The crown prince looked at me with contemptuous eyes. How could he say that after giving me such a measly salary?

“Yes. It’s far from enough. So I plan to receive full compensation for my work and voluntarily step down from the saintess position.”

“You want to take all the compensation and then run away now that your holy power is gone? I’ve been hearing lately that you’re a fake saintess, and it seems to be true.”

A fake saintess? It seems such rumors have been circulating without my knowledge. No wonder people’s gazes toward me weren’t kind.

My holy power was simply decreasing, yet I had to hear that I was a fake saintess. Even though I’m the villainess in the original story, isn’t this too much?

“That’s not true.”

“Not true? Ha. If you’re real, then tell me right now how to break the imperial family’s curse. If you do that, I’ll believe you’re genuine.”

The Alpha Empire’s imperial family bore a cursed fate for incurring divine wrath. The method to break this curse would be revealed by God through a savior, according to an oracle.

So the imperial family had been asking me about breaking the curse all this time, but I couldn’t tell them about it.

God had been showing me the people of the empire or telling me how to solve famines, but never revealed anything about breaking the curse.

I didn’t know why God remained silent about this. It could be because I was a fake saintess like they said, or perhaps God’s anger toward the Alpha Empire hadn’t yet subsided.

If I had read the original story, I would have known how to break the curse, but since I hadn’t read it, I could only feel regretful and frustrated.

When I couldn’t give any answer, the crown prince seemed convinced I was a fake saintess.

“Someone who doesn’t even know how to reflect calls herself a saintess. Don’t tell me you planned to step down from the saintess position and become my concubine to live comfortably?”

“I have no such intentions.”

“Really? Then make sure you keep that word. I’m breaking our engagement right here and now. Someone who tries to run away without properly fulfilling her role as a saintess no longer qualifies to be my fiancée.”

The crown prince immediately declared the engagement broken, seemingly having waited for my answer.

They forced the engagement on me at their whim, and now they’re breaking it at their whim again.

They used me to their heart’s content when they needed me, and now that they don’t need me anymore, they’re throwing me away.

Fraud, abuse…

Since I hadn’t shown any signs of struggling for the past three years, they must have seen me as a pushover. I was astounded by their behavior of trying to abandon me while pinning the fake saintess label on me.

However, I didn’t argue back because I had expected this too. Now all that remained was being kicked out.

When the crown prince pulled a cord, the high priest and attendants immediately entered the office, having apparently been waiting outside.

“From today, I’m stripping you of your saintess position.”

As expected, the high priest pulled me down from the saintess position. In this situation, I would be kicked out without any compensation, but I no longer felt like demanding compensation from them.

It was infuriating that they hadn’t given me any reward all this time, yet the moment they no longer needed me, they made all sorts of excuses to kick me out.

Rather than getting entangled with them, it would be much better to be kicked out in rags and start a new life.

Were they going to exile me to another empire? Since I still had some holy power left, I thought I could somehow survive using that power.

So I waited for them to say they would exile me overseas.

“From now on, you’re demoted from saintess to maid. I hope you’ll work hard for the empire by assisting the newly arrived saintess. Lady Stella.”

But completely different words than I expected flowed from the priest’s mouth.

“Excuse me?”

They want me to assist the saintess now? They’re not letting me go?

I thought they would kick me out with some decent money after three years of hard work. I thought my life would become free from then on.

I was completely blindsided… They called me fake. But why are they telling me to assist the saintess?

“The imperial family is grateful for your contributions so far. So in recognition of those merits, you’ll be assigned the role of assisting the saintess.”

What kind of nonsense was this? If they recognized my merits, they should reward me, but instead of rewards, they were demoting me.

“Please just exile me from the Alpha Empire instead!”

Demoting me from saintess to saintess assistant was a harsher punishment than overseas exile. So I protested to avoid that situation, but the response was firm.

“How can we treat someone who isn’t a criminal that way?”

The high priest made an expression like he had heard something ridiculous. I usually respected his merciful attitude, but at this moment it felt terrible.

“The empire is too unstable to depend on one person alone. So we welcomed a new saintess, and we’re giving you the honor of assisting her.”

He insisted that becoming a maid who assists the saintess was an honorable position and showed an attitude that nothing was wrong.

“I don’t need to do that.”

“This is the saintess’s grace. She has forgiven your wrongdoings. So forget the past and assist the saintess well.”

What kind of situation was this?

None of the imperial family seemed interested in the cause of my holy power draining away. To them, I was just a washed-up saintess, while the newly arrived saintess was the one who would save the empire.

My three years of hard work seemed forgotten in their minds, making me feel wronged. After finally letting me live a human life, what was this situation?

My achievements in saving the empire seemed to have completely disappeared from their minds simply because the newly arrived saintess was the protagonist. I never knew living as an extra would be this miserable.

If this was how it would be, I’d rather they treat me like a criminal!

“At this rate, my holy power might completely disappear. So I’m not suitable for that position.”

Though it was absurd, I tried to refuse their order with the most polite attitude possible. How could I meekly accept being used for the rest of my life?

“You don’t need to feel burdened. You just need to help the saintess to the extent of your abilities.”

Please!

I looked at the crown prince and sent him pleading eyes to exile me, but he turned away from me. He just gestured for them to take me away, acting like it was no longer his concern.

Despite my protests and struggles, I had to be led out of the office by the attendants’ hands.

How did this happen? Why was the story flowing differently from the original novel? Originally Stella was a villainess, but because I didn’t act badly, was the future changing?

If I had known this would happen, I should have acted badly instead…

“You need to go through procedures as the saintess’s maid. It’s a formal procedure, so it won’t take very long.”

They forcibly took me to the prayer room. Then they forced me to kneel and sit on the floor.

“I’m sorry, Saintess. I must follow the imperial family’s orders.”

The high priest’s expression as he looked at me seemed sad. What procedures did I need to go through when I was just going to assist the saintess?

“Thank you for working hard for the empire all this time. I hope you’ll continue to assist the saintess and be of great help to the empire.”

When he signaled to the priests beside him, they all began reciting prayers together.

All strength left my body and I collapsed onto the floor. No one helped support me.

“Ahhh!”

Suddenly, a sharp pain pierced through my entire body. My body felt like it was burning, and I gradually lost strength. Two attendants grabbed my swaying form.

Seeing that they were perfectly fine, it seemed I was the only one feeling pain.

“From now on, you will work as the saintess’s maid for life. Escaping these bonds is impossible.”

The high priest spoke words like a curse to me, and I continued feeling pain as I slowly lost consciousness.