After finishing her conversation with God, Lara, who had been standing in front of the statue, turned her back without hesitation and walked toward Demian.
"Did you hear it all?"
"Yeah."
"Your Imperial Highness, did you hear it?"
"Yes, saintess."
Acerus was about to shed tears. When he was about to open his mouth to bring out the praise he had prepared in advance, Demian grabbed Lara's hand and pulled her.
"You came all the way here from Hautean. He should let you rest."
"Oh… Oh no, I was not thinking straight. Saintess, please take a rest until your fatigue is relieved."
"I'm fine."
"I am not."
Despite Lara's insistence, Demian clearly objected. What's more, the problem was that even Acerus agreed with him.
"I will take the Sidhar demon or whatever with me. For now, I'm going to treat him as the Prince of Hautean. I will still lock him up though. So don't worry, he won't be released."
"Yes, please."
Lara lightly bowed her head to Acerus. Even though it was fine just a few moments ago, as soon as she finished her conversation with God, her body was ridden with rapid fatigue. It seemed that she had loosened up. Lara slowly blinked her heavy eyelids. She thought she should sleep until tomorrow afternoon after going back to the hotel.
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
Acerus returned to the palace without calming his excitement. He promised Lara that he would hold a grand welcome party that could even make Dandelion excited someday, but Lara immediately refused.
It was already dawn when she came back to the hotel.
"I'm so sleepy…"
Lara was about to collapse. Before going to the temple, she took a long bath in hot water and even enjoyed her dinner. It was impossible to endure any further after that.
Demian held her in his arms. Lara hung from his neck and drooped down. As she became sleepier, her words became slower.
"Hurry up and go…to your comrades."
"Yeah."
"I'm sure they have been waiting for a long time."
"Knowing that guys are waiting for me, I'm not happy at all."
"Go. Everything here will be fine."
"Ha… Yeah."
"You can bring them all. I'm rich. I will…feed them all."
"They eat so much that they're practically mooching off you though."
Lara laughed, then let out a sigh. Then she fell asleep with a smiling face. Her chest went up and down evenly. A steam of breath came out of her slightly parted lips.
Demian stood still in front of her bed with Lara still in his arms. The eyes that looked sharp and chic when they were opened were tempting and lovely when they were closed. His dry mouth was now watering. After looking at her sleeping face for a long time, he approached the bed with a long breath.
'Lara.'
Demian put Lara on the bed and kissed her lips gently. He had a lot on his mind. He could not believe that the only woman who managed to keep him in this world was God's vicegerent. She was also the saintess whom the God of Fate cherished so much at that.
What in the world is about to happen?
For Demian who thought demons and gods were useless, he was not pleased at all with Lara getting near to them.
After looking at Lara for a while in the dark room, he went outside only after the dawn sky had slightly brightened.
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
As soon as the next day came, Acerus' aide and knights visited Lara's hotel. They treated Prince Sidhar politely but at the same time moderately ignoring him. It seemed that only the aide knew that he was the demon Valac.
"The priests will come out of the temple and take a look. How many people know about the demon's pattern on his body?"
The aide asked. Lara replied that all of her party knew.
"We could lock him up in the Temple of Glory but then the knights will have to carry weapons into the temple so we decided to just hide him in the Crown Prince's palace."
Actually, they did that because they could not trust the temple. But the aide and Lara feigned ignorance about that part and exchanged conversations.
"We will also contact the Royal Palace of Hautean. Sa…Lady Lara, you have come a long way, so you should at least go sightseeing in Dandelion."
"Thank you."
"You don't have to thank me!"
After having been talking in a businesslike manner, the aide suddenly became surprised and waved his hands politely.
"Don't say that. I'm just doing what I'm supposed to."
"Pardon?"
"You can contact us whenever you need anything. Of course, it doesn't seem necessary at all because your mother is the Thousand Gold Isadora…"
The aide gave a vague smile. He felt like he was sitting on thorns. There was more than one person who glared at him from afar.
First of all, why is that small maid looking at me with such scary eyes? Why is the manager glancing at me persistently? Also, why do all the mercenaries look so scary?
"He's from the Imperial Palace?"
"Is he the Crown Prince's lackey?"
"I dare you to say nonsense to my lady."
They all have fierce eyes that made the aide, who had encountered many bad-tempered knights when he worked by Acerus' side, scared out of his wits.
'Moreover…'
The one that affected the aide the most was what Acerus told had told him before leaving
"It seems that my dear Demian has a crush on the saintess."
"What?"
"It's real. I'm sure. I swear on my wonderful chest muscles."
"I guess…the world is about to be destroyed."
"It's a love that won't come true anyway. Can't you at least watch your tongue? You cold-hearted bastard."
"I can't believe that scary human has a crush… A one-sided love of that inhumane human… it feels like all the world's cute one-sided love that I know of is being insulted."
"Instead, his desperation will eat at him to his death."
"Pardon?"
"That crazy guy will only live for the saintess now. He would not care about God. Whether the world is being destroyed or not, or even if the demon appears and rips my head, he will only look at the saintess."
"He loves her that much? Is his love that deep?"
"I already know that he is extraordinary… But of all the women in the world, why does it have to be the saintess? I'm shocked too. I'm feeling depressed today, so don't talk to me."
It was true that the Crown Prince had often said crazy things but what he said then was real. The aide was well aware of how much Acerus cared for Demian. Persisting on the fact that Demian was his savior, years had passed since the Prince asked the slave to be his friend and stuck by his side like a leech.
What will happen when a man who knows nothing but fighting finds love? No. what if a man who has nothing in the world thinks that he should at least have something in the world. Of all things, that something happens to be the saintess who had miraculously appeared in the world, and his competitor is the almighty God.
"Lady Lara."
"Yes?"
"We are all nice people."
The aide smiled, looking friendly."
"Pardon?"
"So please take good care of us."
Lara was flustered. Crown Prince Acerus was also a burdensome man and she thought that even his aide resembled him in that aspect.
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
It snowed all night. Due to the sudden cold weather, the snow did not melt and only piled up. The large snowflakes that Konny admired had covered the world and turned it into a vast snowfield.
"Milady, I'm going outside with Valentine. Do you want to go with us?"
Konny appeared in a thick coat and asked her. As she looked like a squirrel preparing for winter, a smile formed on Lara's face.
"You two can go together. I don't think Valentine wants to go with me."
"No! We don't have money."
"Am I your sponsor?"
"I heard the prices in Dandelion are high. Valentine needs a lot of things to prepare for his business…"
After coming to the largest and most developed city in the largest and strongest country on the continent, Konny thought that it would be a little unfair for Lara to be stuck in her room without even looking around.
Lara got up and asked.
"Valentine, is it okay if I come with you?"
Valentine's face became stiff because he was still nervous when he saw Lara. but he nodded without hesitation.
"I heard…yesterday. The store is ready. Thank you, milady."
"It's nothing compared to what Valentine has done for me."
"No. It, it's not about that."
Valentine shook his slouchy body around. It seemed that he was acting awkwardly. Lara just stared at him, not knowing what he was trying to say that made him act like that.
"Valentine?"