Chapter 1

Translator: Nox

Ch#1

The Retired Saintess Raises Your House Price Episode 1

Episode 1

After two years at the job, I thought I'd established myself pretty well as an editor.

I could confidently say I was seasoned from proofreading countless regression, possession, and reincarnation romance fantasies.

So, this won't do.

The male lead, devastated by losing the female lead, repeatedly regresses to win her back and eventually goes mad, cursing the world, burning the entire empire to the ground, and then killing himself? No way.

Author, this isn't romance fantasy or even power fantasy.

This novel isn't just a letdown after a strong start—it's a strong start with no tail at all.

The ending? There is none. Just none.

I almost wrote an email saying, 'Author, is this your way of screwing me over for something I did wrong?' but deleted it. Instead, I gently suggested that the story progression felt a bit contrived and sent that.

But the author replied that if it couldn't be published as is, they wanted to cancel the contract.

Ah.

Ah......

Haa......

Blood pressure rising.

'What's the point of publishing a novel that's neither romance nor anything else?'

A sigh escaped me naturally.

I was drafting an email coaxing the author and suggesting one more review of the manuscript.

The problem was that I was doing this while crossing the street.

(Don't look at your phone when crossing the road)

Too focused on typing the email, I didn't notice the light turn red.

A truck barreled toward me with a deafening roar, and by some miracle, I barely dodged it.

"......Phew, that was close to death."

Then I got hit by a Damas van in the second lane.

Damn it.

'If I was gonna get hit, a truck would've been better—blue Damas has no style at all.'

I lost consciousness and opened my eyes to... not an unfamiliar ceiling, but a bright blue sky.

Then someone grabbed my collar and yanked me up.

"Shuana! Get up! It's your turn for cleaning duty today!"

"What? Who?"

"Who else? You, Shuana! You! Are you gonna snap out of it or not?!"

Under the woman's fierce tug on my hair, I started cleaning in a daze without even looking around.

'Am I dreaming or something?'

At first, with a lax mindset, I cleaned when told to clean, ate when told to eat, and slept when told to sleep.

But even after days passed, there was no sign of waking from the dream.

The place I was staying seemed to be a temple dedicated to a god.

From the large and small statues everywhere, the people wandering around in white clothes with identical patterns, and various clues, it was either a temple or some cult.

There was a small book on the nightstand by the bed in my room. I didn't bother opening it since I couldn't read the writing.

Eril, the girl sharing the room, didn't seem very interested in it either. She treated it like mere decor.

'For a temple, the faith seems a bit lacking. It's like a dormitory.'

I spent the day doing odd jobs as Eril dragged me around everywhere.

"Hey, don't you pray here or anything?"

Eril raised an eyebrow mockingly at my question.

"What prayer from the likes of you? Shut up and chop the onions."

Under Eril's sharp glare, I ducked my head and went back to chopping onions.

Everyone here called each other saintess, but somehow I felt more like a maid than a saintess.

Maybe I'm having an unusually vivid dream because I got hit by a car while working as a romance fantasy editor.

'When I get back, I need a vacation. Wait, I got hit on the way home from work, so is this not covered as industrial accident? It happened while working though?!'

Quite an important issue.

After finishing the onions, while cleaning the kitchen backyard as Eril ordered, pondering how to claim it as an industrial accident, I heard chattering saintesses behind me—ones shirking their duties, no doubt.

Some things never change no matter where you go. I miss you, Assistant Manager Park.

Then a familiar name caught my ear.

"Hey, girls. Lord Raphael Winters, right? I heard he got the count title this time."

"Yeah, and he got Kincreed Territory too."

Wait, stop.

A chill ran down my spine the moment that familiar name hit.

My grip tightened on the broom without me realizing.

"What did you just say? Who? Say it again."

The young saintess scowled, annoyed at my sudden intrusion.

"Shuana, you've been talking so rudely the past few days......"

"Say it again! Who's Winters? What land?"

Not even a Confucian country, and they're on about manners.

The saintesses gave me dirty looks but explained as if granting a favor.

"Lord Raphael Winters. He returned after great feats in the war, so His Majesty granted him a title and territory."

"......Territory?"

"Kincreed Territory. The land cursed by evil spirits."

"Ah, damn it."

I hurriedly pinched my cheek.

It hurt.

I slapped my right cheek with my right hand.

It hurt.

The broom slipped weakly from my hand.

The broom fell to the ground like an emperor of a fallen nation losing both country and head, and I collapsed in the same dazed shock as his consort witnessing the tyrant's death.

"......he should."

"What? Shuana, what did you just say?"

"If he picked up the sword, he should've slit a throat at least!!"

I screamed the title of 'that novel' while thrashing my limbs in agony.

"She's gone mad. What do we do?"

After the other saintesses fled the garden, I writhed in torment alone.

This wasn't just a simple dream.

It was the world of that damn novel by the author—where the male lead goes insane and turns the empire into a sea of fire.

"Slit a throat! Slit a throat!"

Author, I told you that title wouldn't work!

My rage swirled like a whirlpool in Ulleungdo Strait......

"Uwaaaah! I wanna go back!"

As I vented my fury and screamed for a while, a crowd rushed over.

"C-calm down! Shuana! Calm down!"

"Uwaaaah! Why of all things! Ugh, I said that ending wouldn't work! Uwaaah!"

"We said calm down!"

"......Yeah. I need to escape."

"Don't calm down so suddenly! It's scary!"

Unaware of the fear in the eyes surrounding me, I calmly pondered the future.

Whether this was my comatose world or inside a book, I had to survive the sea-of-fire ending.

I'd confirmed the ridiculous conclusion multiple times, so no doubt about it.

This empire was doomed.

By Raphael Winters' hand.

In just one week.

I didn't know how many regressions he had left, but after receiving the count title, he regressed a few more times, went mad, and burned the entire empire to ashes.

Once the novel ends like that, I can probably leave the book safely, right? So I need to flee the empire before it falls.

'How can someone destroy an empire in a week?'

God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh, but you, Raphael, destroy it in a week?

Hopeless bastard.

A madman even demons would yield to.

Anyway, I need to bolt before that.

I jumped up and asked the people around me.

"How do I get out of the temple?"

I'd never seen anything like an exit during my days working here, so it was an offhand question.

But everyone who heard looked at me like I'd said something outrageous.

You'd think I asked about a ghost's whereabouts.

"Hey! How do I get out?"

"You can't."

"What?"

Eril snorted derisively.

"Make some sense. You're not quitting as a saintess, so how would you leave?"

"Then if I quit being a saintess, can I leave?"

"Wh-what?!"

Apparently, saying I'd quit as a saintess shocked them more than asking how to leave.