Chapter 61

“Well… What do you think, Prince? Why do you think I came here?”

Estelle, with a bewitching smile, slightly raised the corner of her mouth as if challenging him to guess.

As if daring him to try.

It’s unclear whether the saint knows how her current expression comes across to others.

But for any ordinary man, it would be a lethal weapon of charm, capable of ensnaring them instantly.

“……I’m not really interested in quiz games… *cough*.”

“……”

However, it wasn’t particularly effective on me.

Not that there’s anything wrong with my… *ahem* functions.

I, too, just described Estelle as incredibly beautiful, the kind of woman who would captivate any ordinary man.

Yet, I chose not to play along with her teasing.

“……Because she’s our poor Crown Prince’s woman.”

The fact that she holds the title of the Empire’s only saint and is destined to become the heroine of Mikhail, the protagonist, made it clear.

I had no interest in the cliché trope of stealing someone else’s lover, common in possession stories.

Especially when I hadn’t even won the heart of the person I liked yet. Where would I find the time to look elsewhere?

Trying to make my fiancée realize her feelings was already a Herculean task. There was no room in my mind to care about anyone else.

“……Tch.”

Hearing my disinterested response, the saint clicked her tongue in disappointment.

“……”

From what I remember, Estelle wasn’t like this in the original story.

Raised in the Church from a young age, she was supposed to be humble, reserved, yet more compassionate and just than anyone else.

At this point, finding similarities between the original story and this reality was easier than spotting the differences.

*Throb—*

“Ugh… *cough*.”

As soon as I tried to recall the original story, the now-familiar headache struck.

The intensity wasn’t any different from usual, but combined with my already poor physical condition, the pain felt magnified.

“Cure.”

Estelle, who had been watching me, softly chanted a spell.

And then, with a clarity that even a first-timer would recognize as sacred power, a warm energy flowed from her fingertips.

“……Thank you.”

The headache that had been tormenting me vanished as if washed away.

Truly, a saint is a saint.

During the last Imperial banquet, I had been unconscious and couldn’t fully feel the sacred power.

But this time, the warm energy emanating from Estelle’s fingertips was unmistakable.

“This is just first aid. To fully recover, you need to rest properly.”

Seeing my expression ease, Estelle warned me not to let my guard down.

“Understood.”

“I heard from the servants that you caught a cold from staying up all night training. That’s also forbidden.”

It reminded me of the scolding my mother gave before leaving my room.

But as the saying goes, a patient must never ignore a doctor’s orders.

“……Understood.”

I nodded, feeling as though I now had two mothers, which was… unsettling.

“By the way, do you have any chronic illness?”

Estelle brought up the next topic after seeing me nod earnestly.

“Before coming here, I briefly checked your records. You’ve received a significant amount of sacred power treatment.”

“Me… you say?”

“……What’s with that completely clueless expression?”

Estelle looked at me as if she’d seen a madman.

I wondered if someone with the title of saint should even make such an expression.

“……Yes. I didn’t know.”

Right now, there was a more pressing issue at hand.

As I had suspected, ‘Albert Zernias’ was a patient who regularly required sacred power treatments.

For some reason, he was far from being in good health.

“How could you not know about receiving so many sacred power treatments?”

Estelle asked with pure astonishment, as if she’d just discovered fire for the first time.

Her expression was so intense that it felt like a crime not to answer.

“……Good question.”

“……”

But I had no answer to give.

In most possession stories, the possessor inherits the memories of the body’s original owner.

But I had no such memories, and ‘Albert Zernias’ didn’t even exist in the original story.

There was no way I could answer that question.

“Wasn’t it written in the documents you briefly checked?”

Instead, I turned the question back to the saint.

Whatever Estelle had glanced at earlier, there must have been something written there.

“Just… personal illness, it said.”

But according to Estelle, even the documents prepared by the priest sent to the Count’s mansion didn’t specify the reason.

If that was true, it meant even the Church’s priests, who are supposed to keep meticulous records, hadn’t documented it properly.

What on earth was going on?

There were records of sacred power treatments, but no mention of what illness or reason necessitated them.

Could there be anything more contradictory?

“……”

This unreal reality was giving me a headache.

“Are you okay?”

Seeing me grimace in pain, the saint immediately reacted, moving closer to me.

Estelle, being a saint, probably wanted to heal me upon seeing my discomfort.

But it was just a passing headache, and though the room wasn’t small, being alone with her made me uneasy.

“……It’s nothing…”

I tried to wave her off, saying it was nothing serious.

*Creak—*

“……You, why didn’t you tell me you caught a cold… Oh.”

“……”

Before I could finish, my fiancée, who shouldn’t even be here, opened the door without knocking.

***

“We’ve arrived.”

“……Good work.”

It had been a while since I last visited Count Zernias’ mansion.

The last time was before the Imperial banquet, so she could feel how much time had passed.

“……Isn’t that Princess Valencia?”

The butler’s voice greeted her as soon as she entered the mansion’s main gate.

Having welcomed her once before, the butler recognized her immediately.

“What brings you here… Oh.”

The butler, who had been speaking slowly as if unsure, soon nodded in understanding.

“You’ve come to visit the young master. Let me guide you.”

“……I’m not here to visit…”

“Pardon?”

The butler asked again, as if he hadn’t heard properly.

Here, she had to repeat herself so the butler could hear clearly.

She wasn’t here to visit.

She had come to confront her fiancé about why he hadn’t told her he had caught a cold.

Not out of concern, but out of anger.

That was the only thought in her mind.

“……Guide…”

“Ah, I’ll guide you. Please follow me.”

But the words that came out of her mouth weren’t of denial, but a request for guidance.

It wasn’t that the princess of the Grand Duchy was shy around the butler of her fiancé’s family.

As her infuriating fiancé would say, she lacked social skills but wasn’t timid.

She herself didn’t understand.

Why couldn’t she bring herself to deny it?

Why couldn’t she shake her head and say no?

Why couldn’t she act as she wanted?

She couldn’t figure it out.

Lately, she felt like she was becoming stranger and stranger, and all she could do was follow the butler.

After walking for a while.

“Princess, this is the young master’s room.”

“……Thank you.”

Since the Zernias mansion was smaller than the Valencia mansion, it didn’t take long to reach her fiancé’s room.

“I’ll return to my duties now. Please take care of our young master.”

Having completed his task, the butler turned and headed back to his original post.

Now, she was just one step away from reaching her fiancé, who was said to be suffering from a severe cold.

Originally, her plan was to go in and confront her infuriating fiancé.

Why hadn’t he told her about his cold, even though he had sent her a letter saying he couldn’t see her due to personal reasons?

She had planned to storm in and demand answers.

But…

“……”

Strangely, she couldn’t bring herself to turn the doorknob.

Was she afraid of facing her fiancé in his sick state?

But having come this far, she couldn’t just turn back.

*Creak—*

“……You, why didn’t you tell me you caught a cold…”

Steeling herself, she opened the door and spoke the words she had prepared.

But the scene that greeted her inside the room was…

“……”

“……”

Not her fiancé suffering from a severe cold, but her perfectly healthy fiancé and the saint, who had no reason to be there, standing close together.

“……Ha.”

Rebecca’s heart, which had been fluttering strangely just moments ago, turned cold.

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