“You said you loved me…!”
Her cracked, raspy voice sounded utterly pathetic.
She didn’t want to cry—her pride refused to let her—but the tears flowing against her will were utterly merciless.
Yet, how many people in this world could refrain from crying in a situation like this?
“Why are you doing this…? You can’t do this to me! The hero of the empire… to the only saintess on the continent…!”
After all, she had been betrayed by the very men she thought were in love with her.
“It can’t be helped, Elise. I hope you will sacrifice yourself for the empire with a joyful heart.”
Ian di Velotin—a man gifted not only with captivating looks and a witty personality, but also with immense magic power, granting him the authority of the Tower Master.
“Do not be so sad. Our love for you has never changed.”
Eshit Glory Ariaton, the Emperor of the Ariaton Empire.
“They say that by killing you and offering you as a sacrifice, a protective barrier can be created across the entire continent to block the monsters.”
And lastly, the hero of the Ariaton Empire known as the ‘Golden Lion of Ariaton,’ the captain of the Imperial Guard, and…
Her lover, Leonhardt von Gelina.
These three men, who had revered her as a saintess and whispered their love for her, had bound her to a cross in the middle of the plaza.
And now, they were preparing to burn her at the stake.
All under the pretext that her death was required to build a protective barrier to save the continent.
“I am sorry, Lady Elise.”
And the one leading the charge—the one who plunged a sword into her side—was none other than Leonhardt.
Between his lips flowed an apology, though whether it was genuine or hypocritical, she couldn’t tell.
Despicably, a furrow of simulated agony creased the space between Leonhardt’s brows.
Elise stared at him with eyes filled with utter disbelief.
“You said you loved me…”
Until yesterday, this place had been a paradise for Elise.
Elise de Lainey—the sole saintess possessing holy power capable of protecting the empire from monsters and healing the sick.
And the three men who loved her.
The ones who had elevated her to the position of Saintess, a status higher even than that of the Pope, were the very three men currently gazing down at her with icy detachment.
“You said you loved me…”
How could not a single one of them step in to stop such an absurd atrocity?
Tied to the pyre, her purple eyes, welling with tears, slowly swept across the three men.
“I love you. Even now.”
“You love me? And yet, you tell me to sacrifice myself with a joyful heart?”
Worse than beasts.
She glared at them with bloodshot eyes.
“Please, don’t do this… save me… I don’t want to die…!”
Facing her impending death, she finally discarded the last remnant of her pride and pleaded in a barely audible whisper.
Yet, as if to mock her, cheers suddenly erupted across the square from the crowd.
“O Savior!”
“To think you would sacrifice your body for us to create a protective barrier!”
“We can finally escape the torment of the monsters! Thank you, Saintess!”
They were the people who had gathered to watch Elise’s end.
Seeing the spectators shout for her death with ecstatic faces, a hollow laugh escaped her lips despite herself.
Holy power was not something that came without a price. Every time she used a vast amount of it, she had to endure wracking pain and high fevers for at least a week.
Was that all?
Her trembling eyes shifted downward to her scarred wrists, arms, and legs.
“When you said you needed the Saintess’s blood, I gave you my blood without hesitation…!”
It was said that the blood of a saintess contained the most concentrated holy power.
“I only did it because I cherished you all…! Because I trusted you!”
Whenever they begged for it, she had cut herself and willingly offered her blood.
Though her body was never free of wounds, under the title of ‘Saintess’ and backed by the solid support of these three men, she had tirelessly healed the injured and protected them from monsters.
But look at her now.
Among all the people she had healed and saved, not a single one stood up to protect her.
It was the moment the selfish, bare faces of the imperial citizens she had devoted her body to save were finally laid bare.
“I love you, Elise. I will watch over you until your very last moment, without missing a single second.”
Just before lighting the fire beneath the cross, Leonhardt tilted his head and pressed his lips against hers.
Perhaps he thought sharing a final kiss before killing her was the height of romance.
Naturally, to Elise, it was anything but.
She bit down hard on Leonhardt’s lips.
“Ugh…!”
Startled by her sudden action, he hastily pulled back.
Blood was already dripping from Leonhardt’s lips.
“How could a saintess do such a thing to her lover’s lips…?”
At the sight of his pathetic, ridiculous expression—looking genuinely shocked—the corners of her mouth twisted upward in a sneer.
“Even if everyone here dies because of me, I don’t want to die!”
“Elise!”
“If sacrifice is something that should be done with a joyful heart, why don’t you do it yourselves!”
Even as tears streamed down her face, Elise was suddenly laughing out loud, her laughter ringing sharp and wild.
“You cowardly murderers!”
She screamed at Leonhardt as he approached with the burning torch.
“You’re no hero. Where in the world is there a hero who slays his own lover? You murderer!”
Yet, his hand did not pause.
Finally, with a loud roar, the fire ignited beneath the pyre.
“Aaagh!”
The flames began to rise, consuming the oil-soaked firewood.
Terrified by the creeping heat, Elise screamed in horror.
Just as the flames were about to reach the tips of her feet—
“A guy called the hero of the empire, trying to burn his own lover at the stake himself?”
A voice laced with mockery echoed thunderously from above the sky.
Soon, someone descended at terrifying speed, crashing down like a bolt of lightning.
As a fierce gust of dust whipped up, everyone rubbed their startled eyes.
The person who emerged was…
“You murderous bastard. I knew you’d stab her in the back sooner or later.”
“You are…”
“Hello, Elise.”
It was Demian Feryll Devlun—the Crown Prince of the Devlun Empire, an enemy state to the Ariaton Empire, and a man widely denounced as an unprecedented lunatic.
He was also notorious as the villain who was constantly targeting Elise, the sole saintess of the continent.
“See, I told you.”
His venomous green eyes gleamed with a sharp, brilliant light.
“The one who loves you most in this world is me.”
Having snuffed out the fire on the pyre in an instant, he let his lips curl up into a smirk.
Through his slightly parted lips, canine teeth sharper than normal were revealed.
His crimson hair, burning like the very flames that had almost consumed her, fluttered in the wind.
“I couldn’t care less whether this world falls to ruin or not.”
Demian completely ignored the presence of the others glaring at him, keeping his focus locked solely on Elise.
“Because all I need is you.”
The words she had longed to hear all this time came not from the hero, the Tower Master, or the emperor…
“Let’s face the end together, Elise.”
To think they would spill from the mouth of a villain called a lunatic.
He slowly reached out a hand toward Elise.
Though it was strange that dark red blood was dripping from his sleeve, she had no reason not to take that hand.
“Save me, Demian…!”
“Of course.”
With a smirk, Demian gently kissed Elise on the cheek and moved his hands toward the ropes binding her.
It was at that moment.
Elise’s gaze drifted past Demian, who was trying to untie the knots, and landed on Leonhardt in the distance.
Though faint, he was unmistakably smiling.
Something felt dangerously wrong. She shouted at Demian instantly:
“Demian!”
However, their insidious trap moved faster than Elise’s voice.
BOOM!
With a deafening explosion, a foul, acrid gas began to spread across the square.
“Ugh, argh…!”
“S-Save me…!”
One by one, the people gathered in the square collapsed, crying tears of blood.
Their ragged breaths gradually ceased, and before long, the square was swallowed by death.
The gas was none other than deadly poison.
“Demian!”
Elise’s trembling eyes darted back to him. Having failed to untie her knots in time, Demian was coughing up blood, writhing in agony.
Something was off. No matter how potent the poison was, wasn’t he a villain whose hobby was collecting poisons?
“Damn it…”
At that moment, however, Demian’s blood-soaked red shirt caught her eye.
“De-Demian…”
The only ones left standing tall and straight in this place were Leonhardt, Eshit, and Ian, who had taken the antidote in advance.
“Who could refuse a chance to eliminate the troublesome Crown Prince of the Devlun Empire and secure the protective barrier to save the continent all at once?”
“It’s a bit cowardly, but it can’t be helped. To think he penetrated all those troops to get here… I’ll give him credit for his sincerity.”
“Lady Elise… I am simply sorry to you.”
“You monsters…!”
He had been injured from the very moment he arrived here.
“Ugh, you filthy bastards…”
Yet Demian, groaning through the pain, forced himself back up.
Even in such extreme circumstances, it seemed he had not given up on saving her.
His hands moved slowly, trying desperately to undo the knots.
“Demian, stop… please…”
She was already poisoned anyway. Her life would end soon, just like the people who had collapsed around them.
“…I didn’t want you to see me looking so unkempt.”
Looking down at his shirt drenched in poison gas and bloodstains, Demian cracked a joke with a weak laugh.
“Demian…”
“Of course… dying like this isn’t bad either, if I die trying to save you…”
Though he stammered out the words with a pale, deathly face, his hands never stopped picking at the knots.
Finally, he managed to loosen the two knots binding Elise’s wrists.
At that exact moment, her suspended body tilted sharply.
Elise fell forward, collapsing straight into his embrace.
Unfortunately, Demian no longer had the strength left to hold her up.
Their bodies tangled together, and both tumbled onto the hard ground.
Even as he fell, the corners of his mouth remained turned upward.
“Because to me, it’s the ultimate honor.”
“Demian, in my next life…”
Leaning her face against Demian’s chest, Elise gasped for air, forcing the words out through her fading strength.
“I will… make sure to love you.”
“That’s… the best thing I’ve heard all day.”
With those final words, their slowly flickering eyes closed simultaneously.
Just as she felt a flicker of relief—knowing she had found at least one person who truly cared for her before she died—
Gasps!
Elise’s eyes snapped wide open.
