"If I die, so will Acerus! The Crown Prince of humanity will die!"
"It doesn't matter."
Lara smiled. Her red eyes reflected the frightened Valac.
"I'm not from Tarragon. I'm sure you know."
Valac shouted.
"Lies! You're lying!"
Ash was flying little by little from Valac's body. If he held out a little longer, not only the human body, but also his soul would have disappeared.
What the hell is this crazy saintess? Why did God choose this flipping wicked woman as a saintess? Where is Acerus? If Acerus is here, he would stop her!
Acerus appeared in front of the confused Valac's sight.
"Acerus! Acerus!"
Valac pointed to Lara and yelled at the top of his lungs.
"Hurry up and kill this woman! Kill this crazy saintess and get rid of her! Or you will die too! We're going to die!"
"I don't want to."
"Wh…What?"
"I'd rather die in the hands of the saintess than be your dog."
"You son of a b*tch!"
"I'm a son of a man!"
Fwoosh.
The giant of fire burst into laughter. The flames danced, it wrapped around Valac's convulsing body like a snake and opened its red mouth to swallow his soul.
"Obey me."
Lara said for the last time. It was the only calm voice in the room full of confusion and madness.
The amount of ash scattered from Valac's body increased. Now, not only his skin but also his entire body was collapsing. Fingers disappeared from his burnt hands and black ash flew away.
The giant of fire faithfully listened to Lara's request. As God had assured, it was a fire that could burn down demons.
Finally, the demon Valac knelt down.
"I…I will obey you."
"Swear on your name and soul."
"I swear on my name and soul that I will obey you!"
Valac put his forehead on the floor and fell down under Lara's feet. Then, he crawled on all fours and kissed the tip of her toes. It was a humiliating oath.
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
When Lara woke up in the morning, the spring rain was drizzling down, moistening the land of Dandelion that had been frozen throughout the winter.
Lara got out of bed. She blankly recalled what happened last night.
Valac answered anything she asked. He was frightened of Lara's heartlessness. He was also horrified by how she did not even bat an eyelid, and instead, smiled even when he threatened her with Acerus' death.
The giant of fire from God also played a part, but what terrified Valac the most was the uncertain fear he had that the saintess seemed to be crueler than a demon.
Lara threatened Valac to get as much information as she wanted. After leaving him to Acerus, she returned to her abode to fall asleep.
"I have changed a lot."
"What has changed?"
"I can't believe I could get into a deep sleep even when Valac did such things with Prince Sidhar's face…"
"Milady, what happened?"
"Nothing."
Lara came out of the blanket. Konny put a gown on her body and said.
"Did you know? On a night when the moon is fickle to change, the beasts, soaked in madness, will go hunting. When it comes to beasts, what's more dangerous than a full moon is the wet moon that calls for rain. It's in the book of ghost's lore that Master Sebastian lent me. "
"I see. No wonder."
Lara nodded her head with a half-asleep face.
"What's wrong?"
"There were a lot of people out of their minds last night."
Demian, who was excited to be in a battle after a long time, Lara, who tortured and threatened a demon, Acerus, who still took Lara's side even at the risk of death, and the demon, who kissed the saintess' foot–they were all out of their minds.
"It was because the moon was up."
When Demian said it, it was heart fluttering and romantic, but when she said it with her own mouth, it sounded like a curse. Lara smiled lightly.
27. Our Saintess is Not That Kind of Saintess.
Demian arrived at the eastern border. Be it during battles big and small, he never lost, and the news soon reached the ears of the citizens of Dandelion. There was also news of the Barbarians, whom he led, defeating the demon worshippers who were looting private houses several times while moving to the east, consequently becoming heroes.
"Did you hear that? The Barbarians keep winning."
"I heard he killed the vicious black sorcerers that use livestock and humans as sacrifices with a single strike."
"As expected of the Barbarians."
"I heard all the demon worshippers who have private houses were kicked out of the eastern border. The Eastern Union guys are in a hurry!"
The citizens of Dandelion were delighted and bragged as if the Barbarian's victory were Tarragon's victory. Even though they knew the Barbarians hated the Empire, they still acted like that. They instinctively found it easier to turn a blind eye to the uncomfortable truth than to expose it.
Spring was in full swing. Flowers overflowed on all the streets of Dandelion. Children from poor families picked baskets of flowers and sold them on the street. And people were sneezing because of the yellow pollen.
One day, Ximena noticed that Eunice had been followed by someone for a while. Though the slow-witted Eunice did not know anything, she still told that fact to Lara.
"Followed?"
Screech.
Lara scratched the plate with a knife. Unpleasantness was reflected at the end of her pointed eyes.
Ximena hit her chest, saying she was frustrated, and told Eunice.
"You bish, I told you to end it quickly. Who else do you think would stalk you? It must be the Imperial family!"
"Why would the great Emperor put a tail on a mere outskirt-living young noblewoman like me…"
"Is there only the Emperor in the Imperial family? Why would it be called the Imperial family? Because it's a family! I'm sure there are a lot of uptight old folks handling these things!"
The longer Ximena nagged, the more annoyed Eunice's face gradually grew.
"I mean, it's not like I said I'm going to marry the Crown Prince, and it's not like I'm pregnant or anything… I heard that there are dozens of women who have been dating Acerus so far. Why are they being so crazy only to me?"
"Because it's better to deal with it before it happens than to respond to it after it happened."
The last sentence came from Lara's mouth. When Lara calmly pointed out after having been quiet all along, Eunice pouted and grumbled.
"I'm actually going to stop seeing him now. I think Lady Isadora has noticed."
"My mother?"
Lara feigned ignorance and asked her, Eunice quickly nodded in response.
"I'm not scared of anyone else, I'm only scared of Lady Isadora. I'm going to call it quits before I get in trouble."
Isadora was actually not someone who would scold Eunice for such a reason but Lara just decided to shut up. Eunice grumbled about there having been no one as compatible as Acerus so far so it was a shame.
"Oh, then, was it the Imperial family that had been investigating me?"
"Of course!"
"The sophisticated Tarragon Imperial family elders won't faint because of me, right?"
"Geez, no way."
Ximena waved her hands in dismissal. Lara also nodded and added.
"Eunice, if you're going to break up with him, don't mind such a thing. Whatever they think of you, it doesn't matter."
"Yeah. What's the big deal about drinking, dating, betting, and hanging out in the arena? Who wants to be the Crown Princess anyway? I'm going to enjoy my life in my own way. Why can't they just let me live my life?"
Eunice kept grumbling.
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
Eunice was not lying when she said she would break up with Acerus. She met him a few days later to say goodbye to him. It was a short and neat breakup. No one knew how Acerus reacted to breaking up because Eunice did not tell them.
However, she said that he asked her what the reason was. So Eunice said honestly.
"I told him that his family is not good enough for him to be my partner."
"Don't people usually say something like 'I'm too insignificant to be your partner.' or 'I have a complicated past.'?"
"Is it my fault that we broke up? No, it's his fault!"
"I'm a little disappointed."
Ximena muttered.
"I can't believe it's such a clean goodbye."
As if forgetting that she was the one who told Eunice to end it, Ximena looked more disappointed than Eunice was. Even though she knew it was a relationship that would not come true, they were still a pretty good couple.
In truth, Acerus was not in a very good condition. Lara was told by his aide that Acerus was constantly working during the day and only fell asleep at night after getting drunk with strong liquor. He would also get angry at the wall or visit Valac randomly to vent his anger.
Acerus had met many women, but it was the first time he broke down helplessly after getting dumped. Even his aide was amazed.
Even so, Acerus could not even defy the Emperor or persuade Eunice, he was so busy that he could not afford to do so. As soon as the wound he had suffered from Lilith roughly healed, the Emperor ordered him to resolve the dispute with the Eastern Union.
Dozens of carrier pigeons flew into Acerus' castle in a day. The Eastern Union was barking at the Empire like a crazy dog.
They criticized Tarragon for secretly sending the Barbarians to threaten the East and how the country called the best Empire on the continent would wage war in such a violent way.
The demon worshippers kicked out by Demian were turning the Eastern part of the continent into a wasteland. It was a strange situation. The fights were done by Barbarians but Tarragon was the one getting criticized and the damage was suffered by the Eastern Union.
"Lara, how's the temple?"
"Could be better."
"I heard the number of priests has increased."
"It's amazing."
After all the corrupt priests were dismissed, there was only a very small number of people who survived the Temple of Glory. However, as time passed, more and more people were able to use divine power and the empty temple was gradually regaining vitality.
It was less than a tenth of the number compared to the past, but, albeit weak, all of them were able to borrow God's power. Lara was just happy that there were more workers that she could order around.