I disliked the eerie chill of a large, empty building and quickened my pace.
I needed to return to the Duke’s residence as soon as possible.

I walked briskly, almost irreverently considering the solemnity of the Imperial Palace. Even after walking quite a distance from the laboratory, the exit was still far away.

It was then that I sensed someone’s presence.
“…!”
I held my breath and stopped in my tracks.

“Duchess, so this is where you were.”
It was a familiar voice, a beautiful voice like a bird singing.

“I didn’t expect to see you again so soon.”
The Saintess was walking toward me with a smile.

I, too, hadn’t expected her to appear here.
“Saintess…? Why are you here?”
“During the festival period, I stay in the annex. It’s customary for the Saintess or the High Priest to use the annex when staying in the capital.”
“Oh.”
So the Saintess was one of the occasional guests who used the annex.

“Now that we’ve met here, with no one else around, are you going to refuse my invitation again today?”
“Are you saying you’d like to invite me again?”
“That’s right.”

Persistent overtures rarely end well. Either hidden intentions will be revealed, or they’ll turn into obsessive persistence.

“I wouldn’t mind having tea with you, Saintess, but can I set a condition?”
“A condition?”

From the start, my goal had been to bring the Saintess and the Crown Prince together, igniting the Crown Prince’s love. The Saintess showing interest in me wasn’t part of my plan at all.

“My condition is that my husband and the Crown Prince must join us.”
A faint laugh escaped her pretty lips, like air leaking out.

“Neither of them seems likely to support me, so that’s a burdensome condition for me.”
Neither of them is on her side? How frustrating. The Crown Prince is on your side no matter what!

At this point in the story, the Saintess didn’t know how much the Crown Prince loved her.
Right now, the person the Saintess relied on within the temple wasn’t the Crown Prince but the secondary male lead, Grego. The same Grego who would soon die at Kyron’s hands—Kyron’s second half-brother.

Since she rejected my condition, it actually worked out well. You’re not the only one who knows how to refuse things. I can refuse too.

“If it’s too burdensome, then I suppose we’ll have to wait for another opportunity…”

Before I could finish speaking, my body lost its balance.
I thought I was falling, but that wasn’t it.

“I… as the Saintess of the Empire… have a duty to protect divine power.”
My body was being pulled toward the Saintess by some inexplicable force.

It felt like a strong wind was pushing me from behind.
It was the power of the Saintess.

I already had a weak and fragile body, and now, with the Saintess using her transcendental power to pull me in, I had no way to resist.
All I could do was shout at the top of my lungs.

“Isn’t there anyone around?! Somebody, come here!”
“They won’t come. I’ve already sent everyone away.”

I glanced toward the direction of the physician’s laboratory. The Saintess, realizing my intent, quickly crushed my hope.

“The laboratory is far from here, so they probably can’t hear you.”
‘Does anyone know why she’s acting like this?’

Isn’t this the kind of line a villain would say? Why is the Saintess, the heroine, saying it?!

By then, I had already been dragged close to the Saintess.
“It will only take a moment, Duchess.”
“For what? What are you going to do?”
“I am the Saintess. I only act for the Empire and the temple.”
“That doesn’t sound like it’s for my benefit.”
“Please cooperate. I can sense something I’m looking for within you.”

What is she talking about?

At that moment, the Saintess’s eyes filled with power, and I felt something surge up from deep within me.

“Ugh…!”
I instinctively realized that the Saintess was extracting “something she was looking for” from within me.

What on earth is she doing?

The Saintess, gripping my arm, stared at me with intense focus. Her silver hair swayed as if caught in a storm.
Something was being forcibly drawn out from within me.

I closed my eyes.
In that instant, the silver-haired man I had seen in my dream surfaced in my mind. The man who had disappeared after spouting nonsense.

I felt like I was seeing that man before me again, but I snapped my eyes open.
“…I told you, stop it!”

I shook off the Saintess’s hand that was gripping my arm.
Perhaps no one had ever treated her so roughly before in her life. She was a sacred figure, the very source of divine power.

Her eyes wavered with shock. But soon, the shock seemed to turn into humiliation.

“Are you mocking me?”
Mocking her? The Saintess interpreted my act of self-defense as an attack against her.

“You dare push me, the Saintess?”
“I was only defending myself…”

Before I could finish my sentence, something surged uncontrollably from within me again.
The Saintess, with her eyes wide open, continued to glare at me. She was still trying to extract something from me, whatever it was.

“I will take the divine power… the divine power from you!”
The Saintess shouted.

Divine power? From me? Why?

“That way, as the Saintess, I can protect the temple…”

The same old Saintess and temple nonsense.
I wanted to grab her and shake her, telling her to wake up—it’s all going to collapse soon anyway. But my body was growing weaker, sliding downward. It was definitely because of the Saintess’s actions.

“Stop… stop it…”
My feeble voice had no effect on the Saintess. She was out of control.

“Do I seem unworthy of my role?”
Why was she showing a face I’d never seen in the original story?

But as I listened to her words, I began to understand why she was acting this way.
It was easy to imagine how much gaslighting she had endured from the priests.

“I must protect the temple, even if it’s just me. For that, I can’t let my power weaken…”
She spoke as if casting a spell on herself, as if her words could bolster her courage.

I had seen how the priests treated her before. There was no respect or reverence for the Saintess—she was merely a tool to generate income.

And yet, in the original story, she had pride and a sense of duty as the Saintess. She believed she was the only one who could restore the corrupt temple to its former glory.

She would be devastated as the temple’s barriers were breached and its relics destroyed one by one.
That’s just the kind of person she was. But why did it have to be me she was targeting now?!

By then, I had already collapsed to the ground, sprawled out. My mind was hazy. I could no longer see the Saintess clearly.
The only thing I could feel was the sensation of something being forcibly drawn out from within me.

It was then.
“Ah, no, Duchess!”
Was this my savior?

A glimmer of hope sparked within me as I weakly turned my head toward the voice.
The Emperor’s physician was running toward us with a face full of shock. Why do people like him always show up after the chaos is over?

“S-Saintess!”
The physician spotted the Saintess as well.

The Saintess stopped what she was doing at the sudden appearance of a third party. The fiery sensation within me subsided.

“Duchess! Are you alright? What on earth happened here?!”
The physician hurriedly tried to help me up, flustered.

But before I could answer, the last bit of strength left my body, and I lost consciousness.

End of Volume 2