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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: A Glimpse of Ruin
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“Is there anything difficult or troubling you?”
Nocturne put on a benevolent expression.
I answered robotically.
“There’s nothing.”
“Oh dear. It seems you can’t speak freely with His Grace watching.”
Nocturne glanced at Menelik.
It was a silent pressure for him to leave.
I gently gripped the hem of Menelik’s clothes.
“No. There’s really nothing.”
To reassure me, Menelik didn’t even flinch.
*Hey, you can still breathe!*
“...Hmph.”
Hearing my curt reply, which left no room for discussion, Nocturne cautiously watched Menelik.
It seemed he was weighing whether it was worth provoking Menelik further, considering I wasn’t the second snake.
After a moment of deliberation, Nocturne held out his hand.
“If you don’t mind, may I bless the Young Lady myself?”
A beat too late, I realized what he wanted and placed my hand in his.
A soft, white halo of light bloomed from Nocturne’s hand.
It transferred to my hand with unsettling slowness.
Once it fully settled, it felt like needles pricking my skin as it seeped in.
*Control your expression... keep a straight face...*
As expected, Nocturne, seemingly noticing no unusual reaction, spoke leisurely.
“May God’s protection be with you, Young Lady.”
“Th-thank you.”
I feigned being moved, bowing my head and biting my lip.
*I-It must be almost over! Just hold on a little longer!*
Every second was an ordeal. It wasn’t so much painful as it was nauseating.
In the novel, they said seeing divine power warmed your heart and made all your worries disappear, but for me, it was the exact opposite.
The memory of the pink-haired statue even surfaced, and irritation welled up inside me.
After what felt like an eternity, Nocturne finally let go of my hand.
I looked down uneasily at my hand, where the remnants of divine power lingered.
*A blessing? This feels more like a curse.*
*I want to scrub it off with soap...*
“I do hope an opportunity arises for me to meet with the Young Lady privately in the near future.”
Nocturne spoke the empty words and left with the high priests.
*Phew, I somehow got through it.*
As I slowly let out a sigh of relief, Menelik called my name.
“Cheria, your hand.”
*Huh?*
I tilted my head and held up the hand that had received the divine power.
“The other one.”
I was still clutching Menelik’s clothes.
“Oh! I’m so sorry! Your clothes are all wrinkled...!”
“Are you all right?”
His voice was laced with concern.
I blinked, looking up at him.
My sister and Nocturne had both concluded that I was an ordinary person.
In the novel, both of them had blind faith in their abilities, so they were unlikely to reverse their judgment.
But Menelik was different.
He interacted with me constantly and didn’t have blind faith in his own power.
He was someone who knew he could be wrong.
Therefore, by watching me from my side, he could easily notice that something was off.
I must look incredibly suspicious right now.
Divine power was a light that healed people, yet I was as drained as if I’d been tortured.
“I’m, I’m fi—”
The words caught in my throat.
I had thought it was just a peculiar constitution, but after seeing the statue and absorbing the divine power, I knew for sure.
This wasn’t just a simple aversion to divine power.
I loathed it.
So much so that suppressing the feeling made my body ache.
I had merely managed to hide it from my sister and the Pope, but there was no way this was normal.
*Fine, let’s say it’s possible.*
*But why?*
*What... what on earth is the reason...*
“Ugh, actually, I’m not okay at all! Is there really something wrong with me? I hate the divine power so much—it’s repulsive and disgusting and just... everything about it makes my body ache. Can a normal person even feel this way? Shouldn’t I turn myself in now before I cause trouble for the ducal family?!”
In the end, my composure shattered, and I spewed out whatever came to mind.
“Well, I can’t say I’ve ever heard of it... Heh.”
Menelik laughed, his shoulders shaking.
His attitude suggested he had already figured out that I had an adverse reaction to divine power.
*This guy! I’m being completely serious here!*
Seeing my face, on the verge of tears from frustration, Menelik finally began to soothe me.
“Turn yourself in to whom? Besides, the Saintess didn’t seem to want you standing in her way.”
“Well, I’d have to turn myself in to His Holiness, of course... and my sister... my sister...”
Suddenly, Menelik’s hand touched the corner of my eye.
It felt wonderfully cool against my feverish skin.
“By the way, that bastard Nocturne was the first one to demand Winter and Kivrin be burned at the stake. When I lost my mind and went after him, he used the other priests as a shield.”
“...I’m not turning myself in.”
He, who had cooled my eyes, smiled with satisfaction.
“Good. Let’s go back now.”
I gave him a bewildered look.
“Th-that’s it?”
“You said you’re not turning yourself in, right? Is there any reason to stay longer in a place teeming with that repulsive, disgusting divine power?”
He had a point, but I couldn’t help feeling like I was being swept along.
*I thought I just revealed a pretty huge secret... Was I wrong...?*
He prompted me as I hesitated.
“We’d better hurry if you want to have that ice cream you missed out on this morning.”
“Gasp! Let’s go right now!”
*Yeah, I guess I was wrong.*
Won over by the promise of food, I quickly gathered my things.
* * *
At the same time, Muria was lounging about.
While her maids meticulously tended to her fingernails and toenails, she contemplated how to use the gems she had received from Menelik.
It was a perfect moment.
But a strange sensation crept up from the tips of her toes, and her closed eyelids flew open of their own accord.
“...Ah, it’s starting again.”
Muria soon surrendered to the uncomfortable yet familiar premonition.
And then, the future unfolded.
Beneath a night sky filled with stars, dark violet waves rippled.
As they gently rose and fell, they scattered countless specks of light, like a carpet woven from starlight.
It was a devastatingly captivating sight.
But Muria could not admire it with pure wonder.
Submerged within that captivating beauty was an immense number of corpses.
As if a great storm had already passed, the world was filled with nothing but the sound of the waves.
Everyone was dead, gone. There was nowhere to set foot, only stars and water.
Muria burned every detail of the landscape, bathed in a tranquil radiance, into her retinas.
How long had it been? A small boat glided before Muria.
There was only one person on board.
If her face hadn’t been familiar, Muria would never have been certain it was the same person she knew.
The light of the water and the stars clung to her deathly pale skin as if in adoration.
Even to the narcissistic Muria, she was devastatingly beautiful.
In that space where all was ruined, only her eyelashes trembled before her eyelids lifted.
Her eyes, now the color of deep wine, appeared like a corrupted source of light.
When she tilted her head, her purple hair, like the embodiment of dawn, swayed gently.
It was a beauty so chilling it could stop one’s thoughts.
It felt like witnessing a picturesque apocalypse painted by a god.
Muria blinked, trying to clear her disoriented vision.
In that moment, her sister, looking bored, dipped a hand into the ocean, creating small ripples.
As the darkly glittering water wet the back of her sister’s hand and dripped off, something like snake scales mixed with it.
*...What the fuck. You said she wasn’t a snake?*
Muria forgot this was merely a vision and took a step back.
At that moment, the impossible happened.
Her sister looked up and stared directly in her direction.
As if to prove she was no mere illusion, she even spoke, her voice as sweet as a tropical fruit wine.
[Did you come to see me because you were worried?]
*What bullshit,* Muria thought. She had never once in her life worried about another person.
And yet, her sister smiled beautifully.
[Such a good sister.]
*...*
Muria felt a sense of humiliation as she returned to reality.
If she hadn’t felt the premonition, she would have dismissed it as a bizarre dream.
This was the third time Muria had seen the future.
The first time, she saw herself being revered as the Saintess. The second, she saw the Crown Prince confessing his love to her.
In all of them, Muria herself was the protagonist.
But the future she saw this time was different.
The only living being there was her sister, which meant the protagonist was also her sister.
“...But seriously, how can she be so relaxed after killing everyone and being left all alone?”
“Pardon?”
The maid looked bewildered by Muria’s muttering.
Muria casually ignored her and asked.
“Where is my sister?”
“I was told she is about to depart.”
It was a truly ridiculous situation.
It meant that Nocturne, too, had concluded that her sister was an ordinary person.
In other words, not even Nocturne had been able to see through her.
