Chapter – 03
“My memories… sob… they’re too painful for me. Ugh, just trying to recall them makes me dizzy…”
“……”
When I failed to answer right away, Ian watched me with narrowed eyes.
As expected, he didn’t look convinced.
Even so, I stubbornly continued my act. I treated it like the audition of a lifetime.
“Could you please not ask about that? Instead, I can provide clear proof that I was truly chosen as a Saint—”
That was when it happened.
Suddenly, a sharp pain stabbed through my head.
“Ugh…!”
I grabbed my forehead and groaned.
Strange images flashed before my eyes.
‘This is your final mission. Succeed in this, and we’ll let you go.’
A man completely covered in a black cloak smiled at me.
‘It’s not a difficult mission, right? Just do exactly as you’re told.’
My body began trembling like a leaf.
Fear froze me instantly.
‘Sneak into his bedroom. Make everyone believe you slept with him. Create the biggest scandal in the Grand Cathedral. You understand?’
The cloaked man stepped closer. My trembling worsened.
He lifted my chin and whispered:
‘Listen carefully, Number 76. You must succeed.’
“…Hah!”
I gasped like someone pulled out of deep water.
After blinking several times, my vision returned to normal.
The cloaked man was gone.
Instead, Ian was staring at me with surprised eyes.
“Haa… haa…”
I breathed heavily.
The moment I saw that man, an instinctive terror had seized me.
I had never felt anything like that before.
‘What was that just now?’
A dream? A hallucination?
No… it felt too real.
‘The original owner of this body’s memory?’
Number 76.
The man definitely called me Number 76.
Was that this body’s original name?
‘A number as a name… that’s like…’
A real slave.
The aftereffects of the vision made my head throb.
I pressed my forehead and forced myself to remember where I was.
“Ah… sorry. I suddenly got a headache.”
My voice trembled without me realizing it.
Ian, who had been silently watching me, asked:
“Did it happen because I asked about your memories?”
Lucian leaned toward Ian and whispered carefully:
“Commander. She really seems to be in pain. It doesn’t look like she’s lying.”
Ian briefly rubbed his brow as if he had a headache himself.
For the first time, fatigue showed in his otherwise perfect expression.
For a moment, I saw something human in him.
Maybe that was why his life story suddenly crossed my mind.
Ian Esteban.
A devout commander of the Holy Knights, famous across the continent.
But in truth, he was a man who had spent over a decade sharpening his blade of revenge behind that title.
His father, the former emperor, was known to have died on the battlefield fighting demi-humans.
But the truth was—
Ian’s own older brother, the current emperor, had murdered him.
After learning this, Ian quietly dreamed of revenge for years.
Eventually, after becoming a Cardinal and gaining control of the Holy Knights, he killed his brother and seized the throne, completing his long revenge.
It couldn’t have been easy.
Living while serving the brother who killed his father must have been torture.
Perhaps that hidden exhaustion had just briefly appeared in his eyes.
“I’m sorry, Saint.”
Ian wiped his face once and looked straight at me with his blue eyes.
“But I cannot trust someone whose origins are unclear. I trust you understand my position. …Lucian.”
“Yes, Commander.”
“How long will it take to prepare the Saint verification process?”
“Bishop Kenen, who oversees the verification, has gone urgently to the Holy Land. It will take about a week.”
“A week…”
Ian stared at me with mischievous eyes.
“Keeping a Saint locked up for a week would be a problem, wouldn’t it?”
“…If Lady Irene is proven to truly be a Saint during the verification next week, then yes. It would be.”
This guy really…
I bit my lip.
Ian still didn’t trust me.
Well, I never thought I could fool him with just a few minutes of acting.
‘I need to gain his trust first.’
His words about confinement definitely weren’t a joke.
Ian wouldn’t just leave me alone for a week. He was the kind of man who would use brutal methods to reach his goals.
‘At this rate… I’ll be dragged to the Holy Knights’ special torture chamber.’
I shivered.
I hate pain. I really hate it.
So I absolutely had to make Ian trust me at least a little.
‘Looks like I have no choice but to take a gamble.’
I took a quiet breath and looked straight at him.
“Ian.”
The information about where his sword was kept wasn’t something only a Saint could know.
Someone who thoroughly researched him might find that out.
But this was different.
I widened my eyes and looked directly at him.
“I know where your father is buried.”
“……”
“……”
Silence filled the room.
Ian, Lucian, and I all said nothing.
Ian’s eyes slowly widened as he stared blankly at me.
Then his lips slowly parted.
“…How.”
“……”
“How do you know that?”
Ian Esteban’s father—the former emperor and father of the current emperor Rashid—was not buried in the traditional resting place of royalty and swordmasters.
He was buried beneath Ian Esteban’s own residence.
For over ten years, Ian had secretly kept his murdered father’s remains there.
“If you’re just guessing…”
Ian spoke again, his lips slightly trembling.
“I will not tolerate it any longer.”
So he had been tolerating me until now?
I pushed aside my surprise and nodded slowly.
This wasn’t something that could be guessed.
Only Lucian and the head butler knew this.
“I also know you are protecting your father’s remains carefully. I don’t know more than that. The God Elune did not tell me more.”
If I pretended to know more, my life might be in danger for another reason.
Ian stared at me.
For a long time.
Just when cold sweat began forming on my back, he finally nodded slowly.
“If you know this much… then yes. You must truly be a Saint. Unless Lucian betrayed me.”
“Commander…!”
“I’m joking.”
Ian brushed his silver hair back. It fell like moonlight across his forehead.
When his eyes were revealed again, they had returned to their usual calm composure.
“Does God Elune whisper even such information to Saints?”
“I was surprised too. The information just suddenly flowed into my head.”
“……”
“Perhaps Elune wants you to trust me.”
I looked at him steadily.
Ian met my gaze, then smiled slightly.
“A Saint with power this strong…”
“……”
“Now it seems I might be the one begging you to join my side.”
No, please don’t.
Just imagining it is terrifying enough to make me cry.
I forced an awkward smile.
That was when—
“C-Commander! Commander!”
A frantic voice came from outside.
Ian raised one eyebrow.
“What is it?”
“You… you need to see this. The newspaper… the newspaper!”
“The newspaper? What about it? Come in.”
“Yes!”
A man practically tumbled into the room.
When he saw me, his eyes widened.
“T-that person is—”
“Get to the point.”
“C-Commander! Please look at this first!”
He handed Ian a stack of papers.
‘What’s going on?’
I peeked over.
It was a newspaper.
My eyes lit up.
‘The Empire’s Morning! I know this. The female lead used to read it… huh?’
Wait.
My eyes slowly widened.
Why was my photo on the front page?
And why was I lying on top of a ridiculously handsome man like a blanket?
“T-this photo…”
I pointed with a shaking finger.
“This is me and Ian, right?!”
I grabbed the paper.
Looking closer made it even clearer.
The photo showed me lying on a bed, and Ian pressing over me with his bare upper body.
“Isn’t this a violation of privacy?!”
I shouted.
His subordinate blinked.
“Pardon? What is… that?”
“…Please give me the newspaper.”
Ian spoke.
His voice was low.
Dangerously low.
‘He’s angry.’
I could tell just from his voice.
Ian was furious.
‘Of course he is!’
“Um… has this newspaper already been published?”
I asked a question I already knew the answer to.
“Yes. It’s already spread across the capital. They issued a special edition…”
I pressed my forehead.
There was also a huge headline:
「Ian Esteban, the first love of countless noble ladies, caught in a bedroom scandal?!」
I was going insane.
It got worse below:
「This morning, the respected Holy Knight Commander Ian Esteban was seen with a woman in his bedroom. The woman clearly bore traces of intimacy—」
“You trash journalist!”
“Huh? Trash… what?”
The paper crumpled in my hand.
It must have been taken when I screamed after waking up and Ian threatened me.
One of the servants must have snapped it.
When did they even take this?!
