At the same time, in the Empress’s Palace, Cecil wasn’t quietly asleep atop the spacious bed… but was knocked out instead.
Worried about Cecil’s body, Estian made sure to pick the least painful area for him to strike, so as to knock her out.
Moreover, before leaving the room, he undressed her, rolling her up in a blanket just so that she could be comfortable while passing out.
Unexpectedly, a cluster of small green lights started materializing above Cecil.
The lights grew and grew, before coalescing into human shape. However, its appearance wasn’t quite human.
Long green hair, with eyes, lips, and fingernails in matching colors. On top of that, their clothes were also green.
Like a small doll coated in emerald paint, the figure surveyed the room, before approaching the cracked Ald of Woods.
It muttered sorrowfully.
[My house… Even though I still have around 248 years of installments left…]
After wiping its snot with the back of its hand, it turned its head to look at Cecil, who was lying down while quietly knocked out.
It flew to Cecil’s front, stretched out its hand, and spoke.
[Hark, o lowly existence.]
* * *
Feeling as if someone was calling for her, Cecil looked around her surroundings. However, all she could see was darkness. In the place devoid of any light, to the point where she couldn’t even see her own hands, she had a realization.
‘Is this a dream?’
Though she thought that, the voice calling for her sounded so vivid.
[O lowly, abominable existence.]
She heard the voice from the darkness again. Cecil could detect something from that voice.
‘Are they angry?’
Compared to their first call to her, the voice sounded shakier, as if they were tearing up somehow.
‘Are they really calling for me? Actually, who is that anyway? Why do they sound so angry?’
As Cecil thought this, she heard the voice again.
[Hey you lowly, heinous, and violent human! If you’re getting called out this much then wake up already! How long are you gonna sleep!]
The voice shouted and with a flicking sound, Cecil’s body suddenly flew.
“Kyaaa!”
When she opened her eyes, her body was suspended in midair. Then Cecil fell to the ground, rolling until she crashed into the wall.
‘I was rolling on the ground, but why doesn’t it hurt?’
Cecil thought this, before glancing at the blanket spread out in front of her. ‘Ah, I was sleeping while rolled up in a… Wait no, didn’t I pass out?’
She was sure her last memory was the Emperor asking, ‘Do you plan to keep on crying?’ As soon as she answered with ‘Yes, I plan on crying at least once every day from now on, hic hic’, the Emperor nodded understandingly and approached her.
Her memories ended once she’d felt something strike the back of her neck.
“His Imperial Majesty is too much…”
‘To think he would knock me out just because he dislikes the sound of crying.’ Cecil teared up as she rubbed the stinging back of her neck.
At that moment, Cecil caught sight of something strange. Some distance away, there a ball of light floated in the air.
It didn’t matter who saw it, it was definitely not human. The figure opened its mouth.
[Give me money.]
“…Pardon?”
Even though she was preparing herself to be moved by the mysterious divinity, she heard a threat that seemed more suited to a mugger on the streets instead.
[I said, give me money.]
“…What do you mean?”
What was it saying so unexpectedly? Why was an unknown existence suddenly asking her for money?
“First of all, who are you? And why are you asking me for mo— Ow!”
Something immediately flew forward to smack Cecil’s forehead with a loud sound. The Ald of Woods was what had struck her on her forehead before rolling on the ground.
[If you have a conscience— No, if you have even the slightest bit of a conscience left, you wouldn’t suddenly feign ignorance over this, would you?]
‘How can I not know? I’ve even cried so hard and passed out because of this.’
The broken jewel and the green figure appearing in the air.
Finally, Cecil instinctively realized that the green figure was the existence that dwelled inside the Ald of Woods, feared by the Elf King himself.
As she stepped backward, she remembered what the figure had said.
It didn’t say ‘I’ll kill you’… But ‘give me your money’?
Manoca—the city possessing the greatest luxuries, pleasures, and desires in the entire continent—was located in the Empire’s borders.
A large commotion was taking place within Manoca’s largest casino, Casino Bethia.
“All in.”
At the center of the hall, a woman seated at the casino table said this relaxedly as she pushed all the chips in front of her onto one number.
“Ohh!”
“All in!”
The people surrounding her table clapped and cheered at her words, while the dealer and the hotel manager standing behind him simultaneously paled to an ashen pallor.
The reason for that was because the chips currently stacked on the table held an amount that, up until now, was unprecedented in Manoca.
‘To think she would use the platinum chip that was created as a token symbol!’
The manager broke into a cold sweat as he glanced between the table and the white gold chip stacked on top of the others. That woman would always put everything she had onto one number.
‘If she gets it right again this time…’
If her lone number in the roulette was correct, she would win thirty five times her original amount.
They didn’t have to look at the sum of her chips to know.
If that woman got the number right again, the casino would go bankrupt.
Casino Bethia, with its boasted history and customs, would fall within a single night in the hands of an unidentified woman who suddenly appeared.
Ignorant of the manager’s circumstances, the other people just conversed excitedly behind the woman.
“Amazing! How many rounds has it been now?”
“Dunno. I heard she’s been continuously winning after taking a seat!”
“Judging by the manager’s face, it doesn’t seem like it’s rigged… Just who is that woman?”
The Saintess smiled indolently as she listened to the people behind her and lifted a glass of champagne in front of her.
‘Who else. I’m the most noble existence in the world, the one closest to God, who’s received God’s love.’
While thinking this, she studied her hand. A blue light, unable to be seen by others, swirled around her hand for a few moments before dissipating.
The blessed light.
With her holy powers, the Saintess could use the light to steer the game into any direction she fancied.
Which meant controlling the marbles in the casino roulette was absolutely possible.
The dealer rang the bell, formally announcing the dwindling time that remained for the players to make their final bets.
It had been a while since this table’s games was monopolized by the woman. While waiting for the bell to ring once more to announce the last betting, the Saintess noticed a burning gaze directed at her as she sipped the champagne.
Unknowingly, a neatly dressed man on her right had been quietly staring at her. She quickly scanned the man as she thought.
‘Face, 8 points; body, 8 points; style, 9 points; and an additional 5 points for his decadent charm. With a total of 30 points, he passes.’
Stamping the seal of approval on her mental grading list, she batted her eyelashes softly at him.
She lifted her glass in an attempt to lure him in. As such, the man approached the Saintess and spoke.
“This is my first time seeing you here.”
‘Well, obviously that’s because I’ve been living in the Holy Nation up until the day before yesterday.’ The Saintess called for a waiter to get her another glass of champagne before replying to the man.
“I don’t like being probed like that.”
That was a line spoken by the protagonist of a spy movie she’d often watch before entering the book. It seemed like she religiously watched it because she knew this day would arrive.
“My, I would like to apologize wholeheartedly if my curiosity towards your beauty has offended you. Will you grant me that honor?”
‘Look at him.’
This man possessed a smoother tongue than she expected. The Saintess slowly raised her hand, and he softly placed a kiss on the back of it before stepping back once more.
She inclined her head, bidding the man to come closer again as she whispered into his ear.
“I like my bed warm. You understand, don’t you? Room 1801, at 10.”
‘The devotees back in the Holy Nation would faint if they heard that, but who cares. They’re not here anyways.’
After he had heard her whispers, he went back with a satisfied expression. As the Saintess watched his leaving back, she ordered stronger alcohol from a passing waiter.
If she wanted to spend a hot night, she needed to warm up her body first.
‘This life is not that bad?’
Despite having just arrived this morning, becoming the queen of the casino was a piece of cake. People would cling to her as long as she had money.
‘There’s nothing really urgent.’
Estian was already married anyways, so she could afford to be a bit late in going to him.
‘Also, wouldn’t it be fair for a man to comfort and ease the sorrow created by another man?
In addition, splitting your grievances with another would lighten your mind. If there are more to share it with, than the load will obviously be even lighter.’
The Saintess counted how many men approached her today. ‘Seven men total. It’s the perfect number.’ She wiped her drool and looked at the table.
The number she had betted on was 7.
‘As expected, isn’t this number the best for gambling?’
The dealer’s voice signaled the start of the game as he threw the marble onto the table. He spun the roulette, the rolling marble creating a sound. The people’s eyes swiftly shifted around when they saw the bouncing marbles.
‘Should I use my powers now?’
The Saintess slipped her hand into her pocket. Just like what she had always done, as long as she used her holy power, this would be the finale. However, the moment the blue light whirled on her fingertips—
“Cough!”
The Saintess suddenly coughed blood and collapsed.
“What happened!”
“Someone collapsed!”
Everyone panicked at the sudden incident, starting an uproar as they urgently tried to search for a doctor. The Saintess murmured as she looked at her trembling body.
“H-How did this happen…”
‘Was my drink spiked with poison? But it shouldn’t have been effective?
By default, a Saintess was naturally unaffected by poisons. So then how…’
“…!”
She suddenly remembered the conditions she had previously written for the Saintess.
< Will suffer damage if she uses the holy power for personal gain or desire. >
The roulette stopped. Checking its surface, the dealer then embraced the manager in joy and cried out.
“18! 18! 18!”
The numbers most representative* of her feelings resounded through the hall.
*T/N: 18 sounds like fuck in Korean
“Please leave now!”
“Please never come back again!”
The dealer, manager, and guards enthusiastically bid her adieu when, as if being thrown out, she was guided off of the hotel’s premises.
The people associated with the hotel, who felt like they just survived after narrowly escaping death, cheered as they embraced each other, and proceeded to disappear back inside.
The Saintess raised her middle finger at the hotel before she started trudging away.
“Why did I include such a condition…”
The Saintess bit her lips, upset at the conditions she had written herself. ‘If I knew it would be like this, I should’ve put something like ‘throws up money every time she coughs’.’
‘Or maybe ‘can create lumps of gold with holy power’. No, wouldn’t that just end with blood being spit up?’
Either way, it was useless for her to be upset about it now. As she walked off, the Saintess caught sight of a woman coming out of another hotel. Just from a glance, she could tell that it was a noble lady.
“My goodness, Lady Irène! Even so, you can’t depart at this time!”
“What are you saying, Nanny! For His Imperial Majesty’s bride to be such a wicked lady, it just won’t do! As His Imperial Majesty’s childhood friend, I can’t accept it!”
‘His Imperial Majesty’s childhood friend? Irène?’
The Saintess’s eyes widened at the name.
She was one of the few people who knew of Estian’s past. Estian’s self-proclaimed childhood friend.
In the novel she had written, where she was supposed to possess Cecil, this was the name of the ‘real villainess’ that tormented her.
“I need to leave for the capital at once! Then, I have to open His Imperial Majesty’s eyes! So hurry and prepare the ca… Who are you?”
The Saintess clutched Irène’s skirt. With an edge in her eyes, she politely knelt down on one knee and spoke.
“Young Lady, aren’t you in need of a maid who would obediently crawl for you and is able to keep a secret when needed?”
This was precisely the kind of person she knew Irène needed at that moment.