CH 185

“Pardon?”

“I’m planning on backstabbing the group a bit.”

“Miss?”

They both looked a little confused, so I kindly added, “If I do it alone, people will think I was threatened by the Emperor, so you will be my witness, Ravis. You brought your priest clothes, right?”

“I did, but witness to what….?”

With a confident smile, I began pulling on the clothes.

“I’m going to be a Saintess from now on!”

In that moment, their expressions were a sight to behold. I was smiling on the outside, but all I had were tears on the inside.

Yes, I expected something like this would happen one day. I was going to die in shame.

“A Saintess?”

“You said you wouldn’t go to the temple,” Ravis pointed out.

“That’s why I have to be a Saintess,” I told him.

“You have a plan?”

I thought for a moment. Ridrian was in a battle, so I might not be able to reach him with a demonic tool. It’d be good if we could discuss beforehand, but since the situation was dire, there was hardly a choice.

“I’ll send a message to His Majesty first. Tell him not to kill peasants as much as possible.”

“But why? Why are you trying to keep the peasants alive?”

“So we’ll have a reason.”

“A reason?”

“Yes: usually, people like those who help them in hard times.”

“That’s true, but…”

They both still looked confused.

I was planning on backstabbing the temple and their silly dream. They were making things worse, which I found a bit annoying. Was I supposed to just stand back and watch?

Normally, I would’ve let it happen the way it did. I had no right to let it happen the way it did, and no right to be proactive, but I was also scared. There was a lot of responsibility attached to proactiveness.

Even so…

I wanted to protect him. I believed in Ridrian, but if I left it alone, it would get worse. I couldn’t just stand back and watch my normal life with my loved one be ruined.

“I’ll start once this battle ends. You just watch.”

The temple’s reaction would be golden. I smiled at the sight of the two troubled faces staring back at me.

***

It was obvious, but the battle that happened all night was an overwhelming victory by the Ivant army led by Emperor Ridrian.

As the sun rose, Ridrian stood before the army with an annoyed look on his face. He was clean, as though he hadn’t even been part of the battle, and Kraman stared at him in amazement.

The Lucretian army had set up a bunch of traps as they were weak, so the soldiers had had some trouble. Ridrian stood staring for a while, then said something.

I miss her.

Then he gave control of the army to Kraman, marched into the middle of the enemy’s army, and swiftly decapitated the general. Immediately, what will the Lucretian army had left vanished, and they surrendered on the spot.

His strength is still the same.

Amazed, Kraman went to report to Ridrian.

The Ivant army had experienced at least one invasion war per year since the Emperor came into power, so it wasn’t anything special. But this battle was especially weird.

Normally, it was the default setting to kill the entire enemy’s army, but this time they’d been instructed to capture as many of them as possible. As the order had been sent out in the middle of the battlefield, not many had been captured, but enough had been taken hostage.

“Your Majesty, we put all the prisoners in one place.”

“How many?”

“Around three hundred.”

Ridrian frowned as it was bigger than he thought. He looked annoyed. “It seems they have too much strength.”

Capturing was harder than killing. And this was after the order had been given in the middle of the battle. It seemed they were too strong for their own good.

“And Viscount Lesprey is here.”

“What?”

The Emperor’s face lit up for the first time since arriving at the battlefield. Kraman was flustered for a bit, but Raven looked calm as he seemed to expect the reaction. Even then, Raven’s surprise at the news didn’t go unnoticed.

“That’s a surprise.”

Iona didn’t like seeing people get hurt and killed. Most women were like that, but Iona especially was more like that. She hated the sight of blood and slaughter.

For her to come to a battlefield filled with blood and pain, something must be up. Raven lifted an eyebrow with interest.

Ridrian frowned. “She only just woke up. Why didn’t Ravis try to stop her?”

One side of the army got rowdy. Ridrian power-walked in that direction. There were many in the group, soldiers and generals alike, and all were so busy watching they didn’t even notice the Emperor’s arrival.

Kraman growled. “These guys…”

The Emperor didn’t care much, but he couldn’t believe this was the reaction being shown at the arrival of the ultimate power of the nation. He started to yell at his soldiers to show respect, but just then a cry reached his ears.

“It’s a miracle! A miracle!”

“A Saintess indeed! All glory to the Emperor!”

Ridrian couldn’t believe his ears. A Saintess?

Why were they praising the Emperor? Ridrian’s eyes widened suddenly as they landed on Iona, and he realized why.

She was healing the wounded with her divine power.