episode_0220

Title: The Holy Maiden of Prophecy

After receiving Serista’s blessing and finally awakening as the Holy Maiden, I clasped my hands together and checked my information window. I could see that my title had changed from ‘Edan’s Exclusive Maid’ to ‘The Holy Maiden of Prophecy’.

As I confirmed my newly changed title, my first thought wasn’t relief at successfully awakening as the Holy Maiden, but rather a question about why I was given the title ‘The Holy Maiden of Prophecy’.

‘Why am I the Holy Maiden of Prophecy instead of the Maiden of Destiny?’

Based on the information I obtained from clearing the 24th round of the Luminaire Academy, the correct title for the Holy Maiden, according to the original plot, should have been ‘Maiden of Destiny’. This discrepancy left me puzzled.

A prophecy warrior summoned from another world, the Maiden of Destiny with the power to change the future.

This combination was supposed to be an IF storyline that would have occurred if Lillis had not deviated from the Luminaire Academy. I couldn’t understand why, all of a sudden, I had become the Maiden of Prophecy, just like the warrior. It was a moment of confusion.

‘Anyway, becoming the Holy Maiden allows me to wield divine power and defeat MacHart, so it’s not a big issue…’

The important thing was that I could now handle sacred power and thus be able to defeat MacHart. It wasn’t a significant problem. Of course, I couldn’t help but be concerned about this unusual phenomenon, but it was unavoidable.

If I had awakened as the ‘Indomitable Maiden’ from the original game, I would have just accepted it as being the same as the original game. However, the Holy Maiden of Prophecy was a title that didn’t even appear in the game.

‘With Seraphine seeing a different future in her visions, are ‘I’ and the ‘Lillis’ in the game being treated as separate entities?’

I wanted to talk with Serista about sacred power and the Holy Maiden, but unfortunately, I didn’t have the time to do so. After receiving Serista’s blessing and becoming the Holy Maiden, I had to quickly follow the discharge procedures instead of returning to my hospital room on the third floor of the church.

‘If I go back to the hospital room filled with this divine energy, it will be obvious to everyone that I have become the Holy Maiden.’

I didn’t want to publicize the fact that I had become the Holy Maiden within and around the academy. Everyone was asleep, so I needed to get away from the church as quickly as possible. And until the day of the operation, I had to avoid encountering anyone who could handle sacred power.

Luckily, it was vacation time, so there were few students left in the theological department at the academy. Most of the remaining students would likely be deep in sleep at this hour. As an educational institution based on religion, the theological department dormitories were strictly regulated, with early rising and early bedtime almost enforced.

Of course, there wouldn’t be any theological students attending the upcoming ‘Unholy Noble Gathering’. Such events were the last place devout students should be.

“I will take care of the discharge procedures now, but I will inform the other priests that you left early in the morning. Many people would find it strange if they knew that Lillis left in the middle of the night.”

“Understood, Holy Maiden Serista.”

Thanks to Serista’s authority as the High Priestess of the academy church, it wasn’t difficult to go through the discharge procedures.

“And about being the Holy Maiden. Now, you are Lillis, not me.”

“That may be true, but publicly, you are known as the Holy Maiden, Serista. And I believe that you, Serista, can also become a Holy Maiden.”

And I will make sure that happens.

I was convinced that Serista, who smiled and brushed off my words with a “thank you,” would soon become a true saint after receiving the power of this saint from me. Once she became a saint, handling any crisis would become much easier, almost to the point where it wouldn’t be a crisis at all.

From the moment I was reincarnated into this world, I had been contemplating for a long time about the fact that I was a saint and that the game would be cleared soon. For multiple reasons, my heart was filled with a strange sense of excitement.

“I need to organize the items I used for the ritual and go inside… I’m sorry I can’t see you off.”

“No, and since I received the ritual from you, it should be my duty to help you. I feel truly sorry for not being able to help.”

“No, it’s okay. This is my job in the first place.”

Although Serista spoke as if lowering herself in a place where she should have confidence, I couldn’t afford to figure out the true nature of the strange sense of discomfort in her words at the moment.

Putting aside the slightly uneasy feeling, I absentmindedly looked up at the sky and made my way back to the Swordsmanship Dormitory, where the night sky on the first day of becoming a saint seemed to sparkle even more than usual.

***

The Swordsmanship Dormitory where I returned after receiving the saint’s ritual from Serista.

Luckily, I managed to sneak in without being caught by the dormitory supervisor and safely entered the two-person room where Ethan and I stayed. I knocked three times to signal that only the person inside could hear me.

“It would be great if Isabelle is still awake.”

That way, Isabelle, not Ethan, would open the door. For some reason, returning to the dormitory at this hour made me feel strangely nervous, maybe because of the secret outing with Agnes last time.

Of course, this time, I hadn’t done anything wrong, so I faced Ethan confidently when I met him. …Probably.

“Did I do something wrong…?” Maybe I hadn’t mentioned being a saint until now? But that was something I shouldn’t casually talk about, so Ethan probably understood. Or maybe I could use the excuse that I didn’t know I was a saint until Serista recently told me.

Ethan had mentioned that it was dangerous to be out late at night, but most students had already returned home. The most dangerous guy, MacHart, would probably be at the palace now.

There was no problem with leaving the hospital early when there was still time left for my admission. The sacred power had already started flowing through my body since awakening as a saint, and I could feel the sensation of my damaged wounds regenerating on their own.

“Yeah, I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Confident that Ethan wouldn’t scold me like last time, I waited for the door to open. A black-haired man opened the door from the inside and walked out, looking a bit surprised to see me returning to the dormitory in the middle of the night.

“…Lilith?”

“I woke you up, I apologize, Lord Ethan.”

“That’s fine… But why are you suddenly returning to the dormitory at this hour? Weren’t you at the church?”

“I completed the discharge process as my injury from the evaluation match has fully healed.”

“At this hour…? And Serista allowed that…?”

Ethan’s gaze seemed to be filled with suspicion as if he was considering the possibility that the person in front of him might not be Lilith. In fact, I had warned Ethan separately, so this reaction was unavoidable. Especially since there were demons who could change their appearance, it was necessary to doubt everything during this sensitive time.

“If you’re really doubting whether I’m Edan’s maid, Lilith, you can test me.”

“I’m sorry, can I ask a few questions then?”

“Yes.”

“What was the biggest crisis between me and Lilith?”

“If you’re talking about the crisis between me and Edan, it would be when young Edan played a prank on me that went too far, and I was genuinely angry with him.”

“…Can you be more specific to make sure?”

“Young Edan pranked me by sticking a pin on me, and I retaliated by choking him with the cloth I had in my hand.”

“When I didn’t have table manners in my childhood, how did Lilith or I discipline me?”

“Do you want me to repeat exactly what was said at that time?”

“…Just give me a similar version.”

“I don’t remember the exact words, but I think I told you to stick the piece of meat covered in saliva and fingerprints in your mouth.”

“When I first asked Lilith who her ideal type was, what did she answer?”

“She mentioned the type she dislikes instead of her ideal type.”

“Specifically, what type?”

“She said someone who doesn’t take care of themselves like a piglet, someone who doesn’t have table manners and chews noisily, or someone who touches their butt and pricks with pins as the worst. It may not be accurate. At that time, I probably disliked Edan the most, so I might not have told the exact characteristics he had at that time.”

“…Yeah, it’s definitely the Lilith I know.”

With those words and a bitter smile, Edan led me into the dormitory. He muttered quietly as if saying that no other maid could have acted like this.

I was worried that I would be scolded by Edan for coming home at this hour, but it was actually Edan who seemed to be scolded, not me.

…Of course, Edan at that time was just a naive child, and I, too, had judged his image based only on the negative aspects I saw in the game, so I felt a bit sorry for the Edan of that time.

“Edan, you are a wonderful and magnificent person now, so there’s no need to feel bitter about your childhood.”

“It’s okay. And thanks to the Lilith back then, I am who I am now. Even back then, I might have been in danger of losing my head for saying one wrong word, but I am still grateful to the Lilith who advised me.”

“No, it wasn’t really advice…”

Still, I was a little grateful to Edan for acknowledging that he is who he is now because of the me back then.

…I should be honest with Edan, even if no one else knows.

The fact that I became a saint because of what happened earlier, and even knowing that it was my destiny to become a saint, I had known for a long time.