episode_0219

“Um, does Lady Relise also love the hero like I do?”

Seeing Serista spout such nonsense with a straight face, I felt momentarily dumbfounded.

She must be head over heels in love, what a flower garden she must be in.

Of course, it goes without saying that I have never once harbored feelings of love, let alone the sensation of romance, like Geumyeo Josaegi Gwat.

From the start, the time I spent with the hero wasn’t that long, and we only had two conversations alone, including yesterday afternoon. To fall in love in those two instances, I would have had to have been rescued at least once, or even twice, during those two times.

Although there were some commonalities due to being from the same hometown, making it slightly easier to deal with him compared to other men, there were still many obstacles as a potential romantic interest.

“Yes, indeed… Lady Relise also harbored affection for the hero.”

“…Excuse me?”

Serista, who took my silence as affirmation and continued on her own, made me quickly deny it to avoid becoming a laughingstock to Geumyeo Josaegi Gwat later on.

“It’s not about the food I ate yesterday… Please don’t misunderstand, Lady Serista. I have never had such feelings for the hero.”

“You don’t have to be embarrassed, Lady Relise. Geumyeo Josaegi Gwat, the hero, is handsome and reliable, so it’s natural for any woman to be drawn to him.”

“I’m not embarrassed, it’s really a misunderstanding, Lady Serista. I don’t have any deep connection with the hero, and there’s even less reason for me to have… ”

“You can be honest with me, I won’t tell anyone. And just because that’s the case, it doesn’t mean I won’t show respect to Lady Relise…”

“No.”

“…Excuse me?”

“I said no. How many times do I have to say it for you to understand?”

“I-I’m sorry…”

…Why is it that even when I want to speak kindly, people don’t understand it all at once? Seeing Serista, who kept talking even after I sternly spoke up, I felt like sighing involuntarily.

The premise that I would fall in love with the hero was fundamentally flawed. Even though some time had passed since I realized that I had transmigrated, I couldn’t completely abandon the memories of my previous life.

As someone who had turned the ‘Luminor Academy’ into a life game and played it fanatically, the life I had experienced in my previous life would inevitably continue to linger in my mind as long as I was in this game world.

It was impossible to suddenly fall in love with a man overnight just because I had become a woman, and even if we consider relationships, Geumyeo Josaegi Gwat was certainly not the target.

If we look at the time spent together, the man I had known and spent the longest time with was not the hero, but Edan. Not limiting it to just men, even if we consider it in general terms, the time spent with Edan was probably longer than anyone else’s. Not only in terms of absolute length of time, but also in terms of the density of that time.

From the King Serpent’s subjugation at the masquerade ball, to the ambush by a gang of thieves on the way home, to the battle with the demons discovered in Grainstone Village, and the Kraken subjugation on the Lake of Knowledge, the moments where we entrusted our backs to each other and fought for our lives overwhelmingly outnumbered the experiences with Edan.

Of course, in the near future, I will have to fight alongside the hero, MacHeart, and I may have to entrust my back to the warrior as well. However, it’s not like I ever had the possibility of developing romantic feelings for the hero in the first place. On the contrary, if it were Edan, I might consider it due to the trust we have built up over time, but in any case…

‘……’

-Thump, thump!

“R-Release, are you there?”

Since it seemed like Edan was once again the conclusion, I shook my head to clear my thoughts and whispered to Cerista, supplementing our previous conversation.

“I’ll say it again, I don’t have any romantic feelings towards that hero, so you can rest assured.”

“But…do you not have even a little bit of feelings for him?”

“No, I don’t.”

“But aren’t heroes and priestesses supposed to be naturally drawn to each other? Since you’re a priestess and he’s a hero, you two should be naturally attracted to each other…”

“Where on earth did you get that logic from? Please refrain from saying nonsensical things.”

“But I thought that was the case…even though I’m just a fake, I thought using the title of priestess would make me attractive to the hero…”

“Maybe Cerista, you’ve always had feelings for the hero. Don’t hide your emotions behind strange excuses.”

“……!!”

Cerista’s face turned red in an instant, as if the word ‘Bang!’ would pop up next to her if this were a game.

“And besides, I’m not really interested in romance in general, so you can rest assured about the possibility of me becoming your rival.”

“You’re not interested in romance? …Oh, then, were you in a relationship with Agnes instead of the hero?”

“…No, that’s not it. Just think that I have no interest in romance at all, okay?”

“Yes, yes…”

Although she answered like that, Cerista started to look at me with a worried expression, beginning to doubt the possibility of me liking women.

Well, Cerista was cute, so if I were my past self, I might have considered her as a potential partner. But that’s only if I had my past body, and the idea of women loving each other with this body was incomprehensible even from a common sense perspective.

But I didn’t want any misunderstandings to arise, so I just threw out a suitable target that Cerista could understand.

“Lastly, let me make it clear once again, I am currently dating Edan, so you can rest assured.”

“W-What…?!”

“In fact, Edan loves me, so I am also trying to respond to his feelings seriously. Of course, I’m not sure if I’m doing my role properly due to my lack of experience in relationships.”

“I-I see…I’m sorry for misunderstanding…”

The answer that there was another person in my heart was an effective way to reject a confession, whether in the past or present. …No, since this is a medieval fantasy setting, it might be more appropriate to say ‘past or future.’

Of course, Cerista didn’t confess to me, she just made strange assumptions about my relationship with the hero.

And in reality, what I said to Cerista wasn’t entirely wrong. At the moment, I had no intention of marrying anyone in this world, but if such a target were to appear, Edan would probably be the most likely candidate.

…But it was only ‘the most likely candidate,’ not a definite decision to marry Edan. It’s just a possibility.

“By the way, Cerista, the hero you love already knows about it. So please don’t make any more strange misunderstandings.”

“Then, why did you try to join Lady Lilith’s party? If it wasn’t for the hero or someone else, what was the reason for wanting to join?”

“…Well, I would like to ask Lady Cerista to inquire directly with the hero next time.”

Since this was a story that came about because of my fake saint identity, I refrained from explaining in case unnecessary misunderstandings arose.

The condition was set by the guy who had to come into the hero’s party in the first place, so he should be the one to explain about it. If I really end up joining the hero’s party, I’ll have to explain to the other members how I came to join, so I must have already prepared a few suitable excuses.

While having such a conversation, Cerista and I finally reached the empty main hall of the church, and Cerista, who cautiously pressed her ear against the church door, looked at me and nodded quietly.

– Click, creak.

“……”

“……”

Cerista, abusing the power of a high priestess and saint, opened the empty church door and entered inside.

As the summer vacation had just begun, it was the timing for the academy’s priests to take turns for vacation, and thanks to that, there was no priest on night duty today, unlike usual.

“Ah, I’ll finish quickly when no one is around. Lilith, this way….”

“…Yes.”

Following Cerista who held my hand in the darkness, I walked inside the church and immediately proceeded with the ritual of the Aurelia Church.

I was made to kneel on the floor and read the church’s doctrine, sprinkled with holy water over my head with a cloth, fed a piece of bread and a glass of wine from an unknown source, and performed the ritual.

After the nearly 30-minute long ritual was over and I stepped outside the church, I could finally awaken with the name of the saint.

It was a day over 6 years since I realized that I was reincarnated in this world.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

『Name: Lilith Rosewood

Title: Saint of Prophecy』