“Do you, just like , love the Hero, Miss Lillis?”
For a mont, my mind went blank as I stared at Celesta, who had just uttered such an absurd statent with a straight face.
This girl’s head is completely filled with flowers—head over heels in love.
Of course, I never once felt any romantic feelings toward Gyeonmwa Joshekigwat, let alone considered him as a potential partner. In fact, I hadn’t even felt a mont of attraction to him as a mber of the opposite sex.
To begin with, I hadn’t spent much ti with the Hero, and the number of tis we had spoken alone, including the conversation yesterday, amounted to exactly two. For soone to fall in love within those two etings, the Hero would have had to save my life at least once—preferably twice—during that ti.
While it was true that we were from the sa hotown and shared so common ground, making him easier to talk to than most n, he had too many drawbacks as a romantic prospect.
“I knew it… Miss Lillis, you also have feelings for the Hero, don’t you?”
“…Excuse ?”
Celesta, misinterpreting my silence as agreent, continued to weave her narrative, prompting to quickly refute her assumptions before Gyeonmwa Joshekigwat got any strange ideas.
“That sound you hear is not my heart fluttering… Please don’t misunderstand, Saintess Celesta. I’ve never had such feelings for the Hero.”
“You don’t have to be embarrassed, Miss Lillis. The Hero is handso and dependable; it’s only natural for any woman to be drawn to him.”
“It’s not embarrassnt; it’s really a misunderstanding, Saintess Celesta. I don’t have any deep connection with the Hero, and I certainly don’t have any reason to…”
“You can be honest with . I won’t tell anyone. And it’s not like I’ll refuse to consecrate you because of it…”
“I said no.”
“…What?”
“I said no. How many tis do I have to say it for you to understand?”
“I’m sorry…”
…Why is it that when I try to be polite, people don’t listen the first ti? It was only after I spoke sternly that Celesta finally closed her mouth, making sigh involuntarily.
The premise that I had fallen for the Hero was wrong from the start. Even though quite so ti had passed since I realized I had transmigrated into this world, that didn’t an I had completely abandoned the mories of my past life.
Having played 『Luminor Academy』 obsessively, it had beco a significant part of my life, so the experiences from my previous life were still ingrained in my mind.
Just because I ended up in a woman’s body didn’t an I would suddenly fall in love with a man overnight. And considering my shallow connection with Gyeonmwa Joshekigwat, he was the last person I’d consider romantically.
In fact, if I were to consider the person I’ve spent the most ti with, it would be Ethan, not the Hero. Not just among n, but among people in general, the ti I’ve spent with Ethan far exceeds that with anyone else. And it’s not just the quantity of ti, but the quality and intensity of those monts.
Whether it was the King Serpent hunt at the masquerade ball, the bandit attack on our way ho, the battle against demons in Gristone Village, or the Kraken hunt on the Lake of Knowledge, the monts where we fought with our lives on the line, trusting each other completely, were overwhelmingly with Ethan.
Of course, there would be tis when I would need to fight alongside the Hero in the upcoming battle against McHart, but that would be the sa with Ethan. And no matter how intense that experience might be, it wasn’t going to spark any romantic feelings toward Gyeonmwa Joshekigwat. On the other hand, Ethan had built enough trust that, in a very unlikely scenario, I might consider it…
“…”
Buzz, buzz!
“Miss Lillis?”
I was about to conclude that Ethan was my answer again, so I shook my head to clear my thoughts and whispered to Celesta, trying to clarify the misunderstanding.
“Let make this very clear, Saintess Celesta: I don’t have any romantic feelings for the Hero, so you can rest assured.”
“Are you sure there’s not even a little bit?”
“There’s none.”
“But isn’t it natural for the Saintess and the Hero to be drawn to each other? Since you’re the Saintess and Gyeonmwa Joshekigwat is the Hero, isn’t it only natural that you’d feel so attraction…?”
“Where is that coming from? Please don’t say such unreasonable things.”
“But… that’s what I felt. Even though I’m a fake, I thought my feelings for the Hero ca from being called the Saintess…”
“Isn’t it simply because you’ve liked the Hero from the beginning, Saintess Celesta? Don’t use a strange excuse to hide your feelings.”
“...!!”
If this were in the ga, there would probably be a "pop!" effect right next to Celesta’s head as her face suddenly turned bright red.
“And besides, I’m not really interested in romantic relationships, so you don’t need to worry about being your rival, Saintess Celesta.”
“You’re not interested in romance? …Oh, could it be that you’re in a relationship with Agnes instead of the Hero…?”
“…That’s not it either. Can’t you just think of it as not being interested in romance at all?”
“O-Okay…”
She said that, but Celesta was now looking at with uneasy eyes, as if she still doubted whether I had so hidden interest in won instead.
Well, Celesta is cute, so maybe in my previous life, she would have been within my range of interest. But that was when I was still in my original body. The idea of two won being romantically involved in this body just didn’t make sense to .
Still, I didn’t want any strange misunderstandings to pile up, so I decided to give her a reasonable explanation she could accept.
“One last thing: for now, I’m in a relationship with Ethan, so you really have nothing to worry about.”
“W-What?!”
“Ethan loves , and I’m doing my best to respond to his feelings. Though, I’m not very experienced in romance, so I’m not sure how well I’m doing.”
“I… I see… I’m sorry for the misunderstanding…”
Claiming to have soone else in mind has always been an effective way to deflect an unwanted confession. …Or rather, it seems to work just as well in a dieval fantasy setting as it did in the modern world.
Though, in Celesta’s case, she wasn’t confessing to , but rather making an odd assumption about my relationship with Gyeonmwa Joshekigwat.
And honestly, what I told her wasn’t a lie. I had no intention of marrying anyone in this world, but if I had to choose, Ethan would be the most likely candidate.
…To be clear, he’s just the most likely candidate. That doesn’t an I’m planning to marry him.
“By the way, the Hero is already aware of this, so I hope there won’t be any more misunderstandings.”
“Then… why did you agree to join the Hero’s party? If it wasn’t because of the Hero or soone else, why would you…”
“…I’ll leave that for you to ask the Hero himself when the ti cos, Saintess Celesta.”
Since it had to do with her position as a fake Saintess, I figured it was better for Gyeonmwa Joshekigwat to explain the situation. After all, he was the one who set the condition of joining the Hero’s party, so it was only fair that he handle the explanation. If I do end up joining the party, he’ll need to explain my presence to the other mbers as well, and I’m sure he’s already co up with a suitable cover story.
As we conversed, we finally reached the empty main church. Celesta cautiously put her ear to the door, and after a mont, she turned to and nodded.
Click, creak.
“…”
“…”
Using her authority as a high priestess and the power associated with the title of Saintess, Celesta quietly unlocked and opened the door to the main church.
With the sumr break just starting, most of the academy priests were on alternating vacations, so there was no one on night duty at the church tonight.
“Let’s finish this quickly while no one’s around. Miss Lillis, please co this way…”
“…Alright.”
Following Celesta, who gently pulled by the hand, I walked into the main church. Inside, she began to perform the consecration ritual according to the teachings of the Aurelia Church.
She had kneel on the floor, read from the church’s scriptures, sprinkled holy water over my head while covering with a veil, and fed a piece of bread and a glass of wine, which she’d brought from sowhere, as part of the ritual.
After nearly thirty minutes of this lengthy ritual, we finally stepped out of the main church, and I erged as an awakened Saintess.
It was a mont that had taken over six years to arrive since I first realized I had been transmigrated into this world.
⁎ ⁎ ⁎
『Na: Lillis Rosewood
Title: Prophetic Saintess』
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