Chapter 23
Of course, it wasn’t because she thought such experiments were wrong.
“If something like that exists, you should use it on me first!”
“It’s still not safe. Would I let my precious daughter go through an untested experiment?”
“Then when will it be proven safe? When can you use it on me?”
“In… three…”
“Three, two, one. Time’s up. Right now, then?”
“Three months… or maybe longer…”
“What is that supposed to mean?!”
Sepina shouted angrily.
The Pope pretended to be troubled as he answered,
“Still, we have a few talented people working on it. Some of them are unusual, but they’re brilliant scientists… They might solve it in less than three months.”
“I need holy power right now!”
Sepina was truly upset.
‘It was almost going to be mine.’
Ever since she first saw Edward at a social gathering when she was ten years old…
That man had become the biggest goal of her life.
‘Everything special should belong to me.’
To keep her mother quiet, the Pope had arranged for her to remarry a noble.
Because of that, Sepina had grown up spoiled.
Although she was only the daughter of a baron…
She had always been treated like a princess at home.
Everything good had always belonged to her.
The only thing she hated…
Was her title.
‘Why am I only a baron’s daughter?’
Sepina could never be satisfied.
She deserved a much higher position.
My real father is the Pope.
Even though it was a secret…
She was the daughter of someone much greater.
Being nothing more than a baron’s daughter…
Wasn’t enough.
Then she met the only Dragon Incarnation on the continent.
The golden-haired boy was different from everyone else.
The moment she saw him, she thought,
‘Nothing in this world could ever be more special than him.’
Edward had everything.
Wealth.
A noble title.
Good looks.
Everything was perfect.
Unlike other boys, he didn’t fall for her just because she smiled at him.
‘The more valuable something is, the harder it is to get.’
That only made her want him more.
He seemed worthy of someone like her.
And because she couldn’t have him easily…
He became even more precious.
In the end, Sepina decided to make a sacrifice.
She entered the Temple…
A place she found incredibly boring…
And became the Saint.
Because as the Saint…
She could meet the Dragon Incarnation under the excuse of performing purification.
At that time, the Pope also needed a way to control Edward.
So he gladly made Sepina the Saint.
For Sepina…
Those years were difficult.
She liked receiving far more attention than she had as a baron’s daughter.
She also loved being the one and only Saint.
But pretending to be kind to everyone…
Even though it didn’t match her personality…
Made her face twitch dozens of times every day.
Whenever people told her that, as the Saint, she had to live simply…
And wear cheaper jewelry…
She wanted to scream.
‘Do they know how much I’ve sacrificed?’
Sepina believed no one loved Edward…
Or wanted him…
More than she did.
That was why she couldn’t forgive him for never recognizing her sacrifices.
Still…
She had one advantage.
Even someone as perfect as Edward…
Needed regular purification from his human partner.
Otherwise…
He could leave for the Demon Realm at any time.
‘And purification requires physical contact.’
This couldn’t have been arranged any better.
Her father had always told her,
“If two people keep touching each other, their hearts will naturally become close. That’s how your mother and I fell in love.”
Of course…
Instead of leaving the Temple and marrying her mother…
He had married her off to another noble and secretly continued seeing her.
But Sepina understood it in her own way.
‘Honestly… even I think Mother wasn’t important enough for Father to give up everything for her.’
She loved her mother because she was her mother.
But even she knew…
Her mother wasn’t the kind of woman worth sacrificing a high position for.
Instead of asking for something greater from the Pope…
She had been satisfied with marrying an ordinary baron.
She lacked ambition.
If only Mother had demanded to marry a Duke… or even the Emperor… then I…
‘Well… objectively speaking, Mother wasn’t nearly as valuable as Edward.’
Anyway…
Now she only needed to focus on Edward.
“We’ll stop here.”
“What? But Duke…”
“I’m busy, unlike you, Miss Sepina.”
Edward had always pushed her away coldly.
He even acted as though he disliked holding her hand.
‘I’m his only person capable of purifying him.’
Everyone in the Empire already believed Edward and she would soon get married.
Yet…
Their relationship remained unclear.
He felt like he belonged to her…
Yet he never truly did.
It was driving Sepina mad.
If I could just have him once…
After that…
She wouldn’t even care what happened.
If Edward later died while hunting monsters…
She could simply remarry another outstanding man.
No…
As the beloved Saint admired by everyone…
Maybe she wouldn’t even have to marry.
Maybe she could simply live surrounded by many handsome men.
And besides…
Her father was researching holy power transplantation.
‘If that succeeds…’
If she truly became a real Saint…
One day…
She could become a woman even greater than the Pope himself.
‘…But I can’t even get past the first step!’
She had to marry Edward first before anything else could happen.
Sepina began complaining again.
“When are you going to get the Holy Mark? You said you’d send him a marriage proposal!”
“Hmm.”
“Once we have the Holy Mark, he won’t be able to refuse us. This time we’ll definitely make the marriage happen—”
“Speaking of marriage, Sepina.”
The Pope smiled gently, trying to calm her.
In truth…
He had already thought of another plan.
In fact…
Edward’s recent actions had made it even easier to carry out.
“I just received an express magic messenger bird.”
Unlike ordinary messenger birds…
An express magical messenger bird could deliver a letter anywhere in the Empire within a single day.
The Pope pulled out a letter and waved it.
On the envelope…
The name Count Moro was written.
Since Sepina had never heard of him…
He was obviously just some insignificant noble living far away from the capital.
“So what if it’s some countryside noble?”
Sepina answered impatiently.
“This noble heard something interesting.”
“…”
“If everything goes well…”
“We may be able to arrange the marriage even without the Holy Mark.”
“What? How…?”
The Pope lowered his head and whispered something into Sepina’s ear.
As she listened…
Her eyes widened.
A slow smile spread across her beautiful lips.
* * *
Flap. Flap.
Edward’s golden wings spread through the sky.
Under the sunlight…
They scattered shining light in every direction.
Meanwhile…
Tepe and Gorgo followed from the ground.
They had already prepared teleportation scrolls so they could meet Edward once he reached the destination.
“…Wow.”
Maybe because this was already her second time…
Lucy felt more curiosity than fear.
She hugged Edward tightly and bravely looked down.
Then she spoke honestly.
‘He’s really amazing.’
Below them…
The vast Duchy of Tesseron stretched as far as she could see.
Huge city walls stood everywhere.
Massive cities.
Busy markets filled with people.
Large ports where countless goods were constantly being loaded and unloaded.
It was nothing like the cold, lifeless northern land she had imagined.
Bits of information slowly surfaced in Lucy’s memory.
‘I remember hearing that the only ice-free port in the north belongs to Tesseron.’
She had also heard that the Duchy was always wealthy because of its many mines…
Especially its magic stone mines…
And that great port.
Since the harbor never froze during winter…
Trade continued all year.
They didn’t even need to rely on the Empire’s other sea routes.
They could trade freely.
Not only with other Imperial territories…
But also with the northern kingdoms.
Maybe that was why…
‘It’s much livelier than I imagined.’
The Duchy of Tesseron was full of life.
If not for the enormous walls built to keep monsters away…
She might have believed this was the Imperial Capital itself.
‘Although… I never actually saw the capital from above. I spent my whole life locked in prison.’
She remembered hearing that this was one of the reasons the Emperor became so anxious.
Edward didn’t need to rely on either the Emperor or the capital.
The Dragon Incarnation had almost no weaknesses.
That was why the Emperor constantly tried to control him by every possible method.
‘Well… that’s their problem.’
Complicated political matters had nothing to do with Lucy.
Just seeing so many people walking freely…
Made her happy.
Even in the final memories of her previous life…
She had never seen such a peaceful sight.
She was so absorbed in looking down at the city that—
A quiet laugh came from above her.
“You certainly have an easy life.”
