Chapter – 01
Bang, bang!
It felt like someone was hammering directly into my head.
“Ugh…”
I gasped and opened my eyes. The headache was unbearable.
What did I even do last night? Oh, right. I went to Soyeon’s birthday party, didn’t I?
Yeah, that must be it. I got excited and even drank some expensive liquor I don’t normally touch.
God… is this my punishment now?
My head felt like it was about to split open. This was the worst hangover I had ever experienced.
Water. I needed water. Struggling, I forced my eyes open.
Huh?
But what I saw wasn’t the childish floral wallpaper of Soyeon’s house.
Nor was it the plain white ceiling of my own room.
“W-who…?”
Instead, there was the bare shoulder of an unfamiliar man right in front of me.
Gasp.
I clamped my hand over my mouth. A living, breathing, completely naked man’s shoulder and chest filled my vision.
Broad shoulders. Deep collarbones beneath them. Muscles shifting beneath smooth skin.
What exactly was I looking at?
And why was the owner of these perfect deltoids in my bed?
What the hell did I do last night?!
At that moment, the most perfect deltoid I had ever seen flexed again.
At the same time, a cold voice pierced my ears.
“…What are you?”
Startled, I lifted my head—and froze.
Gasp.
Eyes as blue as a winter sky were staring straight at me.
Before I knew it, my lips moved.
“…Hello?”
“Hello?”
The mysterious handsome man immediately frowned.
The next moment, my vision flipped upward.
Shing.
I didn’t even have time to react to the chilling sound. Something cold pressed against my neck.
“Are you joking? What are you doing in my bed?”
The man growled lowly.
W-wait. This thing under my neck… that’s a dagger, right? A real knife?
“P-please… calm down.”
“Listen. I’m not in the mood for games. State your identity. Now.”
The cold blade pressed deeper into my throat.
This was insane. My head was still pounding from the hangover, my vision still blurry from sleep.
And completely unfitting for this life-threatening situation, the face of the man pinning me down was unrealistically beautiful.
What the hell is going on?!
Was I dreaming?
Yeah. That must be it.
This had to be a dream. There was no way something this bizarre could be real. I muttered weakly.
“What a weird dream… haha… ha…”
The handsome man’s face twisted again.
“Looks like you want to die.”
The flat side of the dagger pressed against my Adam’s apple.
Ghk.
I gasped. The pain choking my airway felt far too real.
As if this were reality.
“I won’t repeat myself, intruder. Tell me who sent you. Otherwise—”
The blade reflected in his blue eyes gleamed.
Instinctively, I realized.
This was real. I didn’t know what was happening, but my life was genuinely in danger.
Realizing this, I shut my eyes tightly.
A video I once watched about how to react when facing a criminal flashed through my mind.
It said the first thing an ordinary person should do isn’t some cheap self-defense move.
The first thing you should do is—
“KYAAAAAA!!!”
Scream loudly for help.
My piercing scream made the man flinch.
Now! Just as I tried to roll away—
“Ian-nim! Are you alright?!”
Bang! The door burst open.
Huh?
I turned in shock. I did scream for help, but I didn’t expect anyone to arrive this fast.
The person who opened the door froze like a statue upon seeing us. Only the handsome man on top of me cursed under his breath.
“Damn it.”
“Ian-nim!”
“What happened?!”
“Is it an intruder?!”
In an instant, several people rushed in holding swords.
They too froze when they saw us.
A half-naked man showing off his impressive muscles.
And me, trapped beneath him.
Their eyes shook violently.
“I-Ian-nim… this is…”
“Not… an intruder…?”
“S-sorry, Ian-nim! We’ll withdraw!”
“Wait!”
The man urgently shouted and got up. At the same time, the blanket covering us slipped down.
“This is not what it looks like! Wait—”
“Eek!”
The onlookers’ eyes widened in horror.
I slowly looked down too.
My appearance, previously hidden by the blanket, was fully revealed. The alluring purple silk slip I had supposedly slept in—
What is this?!
I’ve never worn this!
I panicked at the revealing nightgown I had never seen before. And that wasn’t all. On the exposed skin beyond the tiny fabric—
There were reddish marks everywhere…
“Aaaah! What is all this?!”
“W-we’ll take our leave!”
“Sorry, Ian-nim!”
They covered their eyes and hurried out. Soon the door slammed shut.
In the silence, I heard teeth grinding.
“So this was your goal.”
“What? No, wait. Do you know what’s going on—”
“You’re quite clever. Who sent you?”
The man glared at me with blazing blue eyes.
“Who taught you to humiliate me like this? Me, Ian Esteban.”
Ian Esteban.
The moment I heard his full name, I frowned. It sounded far too familiar.
The strange dream I had last night came back to me. I had kept dreaming about the plot of a romance novel I had just finished: The Saintess Doesn’t Know Love.
It was a sweet romance between a saintess heroine and a knight hero, with a cute and peaceful tone—at least until the final boss turned dark.
And Ian Esteban was definitely…
The final boss.
The man who would later lead a rebellion, seize the throne, and become a tyrant after being consumed by a curse.
“L-let’s calm down first.”
Now genuinely afraid, I forced an awkward smile as cold sweat ran down my back.
No way. There’s no way this man is that Ian Esteban.
I must still be dreaming. That had to be it.
“Commander! It’s me!”
Someone knocked urgently. Ian groaned.
“Come in.”
“What on earth happened?! The men who just left said you spent the night with a woman— Huh?!”
The young man who rushed in stared at me with wide eyes.
“C-Commander… you really brought a woman…?”
“No! Damn it, of course not!”
Ian snarled.
Running a hand through his hair, he said:
“Someone put this woman in my bed. This must be exactly what they wanted.”
The young man’s mouth fell open before he pressed a hand to his forehead.
“How devious…! If we can’t correct this rumor quickly, it will affect your appointment as Cardinal!”
“The Cardinal must remain pure… damn it.”
Ian glared at me again. Goosebumps spread down my spine.
“You’d better confess. Who sent you?”
This was driving me crazy. I bit my lip.
Everything felt unreal, but the killing intent coming from him was terrifyingly real.
Am I actually going to die like this?
Ian clicked his tongue while looking at my frozen face.
“Lucian. Bring me my sword.”
“Yes, Commander.”
Lucian.
At that name, I swallowed hard.
Lucian was Ian Esteban’s most loyal subordinate in the novel.
Even his dark blue hair matched the description perfectly.
More and more evidence that I hadn’t misheard.
Meanwhile, Ian slowly drew the sword Lucian handed him.
The cold tip of the blade lifted my chin.
“Talk.”
Ian whispered like a devil.
“If you want to live.”
He means it!
My instincts screamed it. That killing intent was real.
Think. Think! I had to find a way to stop him from killing me!
With desperate survival instinct, I opened my mouth.
If this really was the world of The Saintess Doesn’t Know Love, then the only way I could survive was—
“Wait! I’m a saintess!”
“…What?”
I squeezed my eyes shut and shouted.
When I slowly opened them again, Ian and Lucian were staring at me blankly.
I took a deep breath and shouted again.
“I’m a saintess who was just summoned by God and dropped into the cathedral!”
Just like the title suggests, saintesses existed in the novel.
A saintess chosen by God could suddenly receive a divine calling and be summoned into the cathedral.
Though “summoned” really meant suddenly dropping somewhere inside—hallway, bathroom, anywhere.
But once summoned, they were treated with the utmost respect as divine messengers.
If this really is Ian, then this must be inside the cathedral!
For a desperate lie, it almost sounded believable.
I looked at him with a sliver of hope.
His blue eyes stared back with deep suspicion.
“Don’t lie.”
“……”
Did he see through me?
“I’ve never heard of a saintess appearing wearing nothing but a scrap of cloth.”
Well… my outfit was a problem…
I looked down. The silk slip I was wearing was still devastatingly revealing.
I swore I had never spent money on something this scandalous.
Where the hell did these clothes even come from?!
