After the Procedure, the Imperial Family Returned to the Palace with Joyful Faces.
The empress held her daughters tightly the entire way, abandoning all formality as she smothered them with kisses, while the emperor firmly clasped both princesses’ hands.
Even after they returned to the palace, the four of them remained together, unable to part.
"My beloved daughters. My dear Ione, Alne."
At the emperor’s unreserved display of affection, the two princesses smiled brightly.
"I love hearing those words."
"Please say it often to Ione, Father. She must have been so lonely."
"A hundred tis. A thousand tis, I’ll say it as much as she wants. I love you, Ione. I love you."
Ione gazed quietly at her aging father—before leaning into his embrace.
This was the man who had ordered her suffering for sixteen years.
But now, with Alne’s mories as part of her own, she understood.
She understood just how much the emperor had suffered during all that ti.
She also understood what it ant for the ruler of an empire to choose her over the empire itself.
Carefully, Ione nestled between her father and mother, indulging in all the affection she had never been able to before.
"I want to eat dessert."
"You can have any dessert you want. As much as you’d like."
"I want to walk barefoot in the garden."
"As much as you please! You may roam any garden in the palace whenever you wish!"
"Tell you love every day from now on."
"I will. Ione, whatever you want, your father will grant it."
Holding her tightly, the emperor spoke with tear-filled eyes.
"Anything."
At those words, Ione silently looked at Alne.
Alne’s expression briefly turned red, but then she gave a small nod.
Receiving her other half’s approval, Ione turned to her father with a bright smile.
"Father, there’s sothing I really want."
Her tone—casual, completely unfitting for a princess.
Her words—utterly devoid of the dignity expected of royalty.
Yet the emperor didn’t mind at all.
"What is it, Ione? Tell anything."
"A husband. Can I choose my own?"
Expressionless and innocent, she spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
And, of course, the emperor—
"Of course, my dear."
—laughed and granted her wish.
****
Ione and Alne Had Left.
From now on, they would live noble lives as imperial princesses and saintesses.
That was for the best.
Now, I could prepare to leave quietly on my own.
There was still so ti left before Archmage Jörgen finished tuning my psychic amplifier.
That remaining ti would be the last monts I spent as a saint.
In the anti, I dedicated myself to acts of charity, healing the sick and wounded who ca seeking aid—hoping, however futilely, that the goddess might forgive .
As promised, Jörgen would occasionally visit during his work breaks, observing my healing process with curiosity before returning to his adjustnts.
"How much longer do you think it’ll take, Tower Master?"
"I’ll try to finish within five days. I’d like to do it faster, but this thing’s an incredibly delicate antique."
Five days.
That was enough.
For five days, I searched for a city to disappear into—one where the church’s influence was weak but security was still decent.
Erfa never ca to see again.
She had been rejected to her face, after all. Why would she?
Thinking of her made my chest ache—but this was for the best.
If she hated , she wouldn’t miss after I was gone.
Now, I could truly leave without regrets.
Truly…
I was about to leave.
But—
"Your Holiness! We’re here!"
"Your Holiness! We missed you!!"
One morning—
The twin princesses ambushed .
They had co without the emperor, without the empress, and with only the bare minimum of guards.
"Your Highnesses, is your health well?"
Now that their minds had recovered, I should probably stop talking to them like they were excitable puppies.
I carefully addressed them, but Alne and Ione only giggled.
Quietly, they approached —
And then, at the exact sa ti, dove into my arms.
"When it’s just us, call us by our nas."
"Yeah, what’s with ‘Your Highness’ this and that? Just use our nas."
They looked up at , mischief in their expressions.
"Ione. Alne."
I complied with their request.
"I’m glad you’ve recovered. I hope you’ll have nothing but happiness from now on."
Hearing that, the two of them clung to even tighter.
But I carefully pushed them away.
"I’m busy today. I don’t think I can spend ti with you. Shouldn’t you both be occupied? Why did you co here?"
At that, Ione silently reached into her bag and pulled out a bottle of alcohol.
"Let’s have a birthday party! Your Holiness!"
"We wanted you to celebrate our birthday with us."
…A birthday party? What?
"The day you saved was our 19th birthday. Since it was also our coming-of-age day, I figured alcohol would be perfect. Don’t you think so, Your Holiness?"
It was sothing worth celebrating.
But in five days, I would be gone.
What was the point of making mories now?
Once I disappeared, I had no intention of returning as a saint.
Sweet mories with people I would never see again would only make things harder.
I intended to refuse them.
As coldly and distantly as possible.
"I told you, I’m busy today. Please return to the palace. A birthday party would be much grander there… and…"
No.
I made the mistake of looking into Ione’s eyes.
Tears welled up in them, her expression full of sorrow.
I suddenly felt like the worst piece of trash alive.
"Really? You really won’t?"
"The procedure was so hard on us, Your Holiness."
"It’s nothing big. We just wanted to drink and talk with you. That’s all. It won’t take long. We won’t keep you for long."
"Ione has never had a birthday party in her entire life. This is her first one. Your Holiness… Even so, is it really not possible?"
Like they had planned it in advance, they pressed strategically from all sides.
Goddammit.
This isn’t good…
I couldn’t ignore those words.
Sixteen years, and not once had she ever celebrated her birthday.
And I knew.
I knew just how lonely she had been, trapped in the secluded palace.
A child who had lived in isolation and suffering her entire life was finally asking to celebrate her birthday with her.
Doubt.
Turmoil.
Conflict.
And in the end—
The words that ca out of my mouth were:
"Just for today. But after this, don’t co looking for again."
Imdiately, their faces lit up.
"Your Holiness, I love you!!"
"I’m so happy!!"
They threw themselves into my arms again, and I could only let out a bitter smile.
"If we had a party in the palace, it could’ve been much grander. The emperor and empress would’ve made it incredibly extravagant. I didn’t even prepare a present."
At that, Ione shook her head.
"Your Holiness’s existence itself is a gift to . And besides, in ti, Alne and I will be forced to attend more banquets than we could ever want."
"Ione is right. I’d rather have a quiet party with just the three of us. It feels more special this way."
Well.
What could I do?
It was their birthday.
It should be done their way.
"Alright. We’ll do it your way."
And so—
The drinking began.
Ione and Alne had co fully prepared.
They set up snacks, glasses—everything in an instant.
Soon, the three of us were sipping from glasses filled with a high-quality, rather strong liquor.
"This stuff is pretty strong."
"It burns going down."
"I think my head’s getting a little dizzy. Haha!"
Even as they said that, Alne and Ione looked completely unfazed.
anwhile, I could feel the alcohol creeping up on —my face was definitely getting red.
I hadn’t expected it, but these two were ridiculously strong drinkers.
"Your Holiness, we want to know more about you."
As we sat together, refilling and emptying our glasses several tis in a relaxed atmosphere, Alne suddenly spoke in a soft, whisper-like voice, as if she were doing so kind of ASMR.
They wanted to know about ?
What was there to know?
I was really nothing special.
"Jericho Amayel. The talentless youngest son of a prophet family who couldn’t make a single prophecy. One day, I randomly went to the slums and started healing sick people, and sohow I ended up here. A lucky, miserable bastard. That’s . Nothing more, nothing less."
"I’m curious. Your Holiness, don’t you find it exhausting to heal and help people? I think I’d hate doing sothing like that."
Ione, in her distinct casual speech, asked bluntly.
Exhausting?
No.
It wasn’t exhausting.
If anything, it was fulfilling.
Seeing people recover, watching their happiness—it wasn’t hard.
What was painful was not knowing why the goddess had decided to send to hell.
"It’s not tiring. What’s tiring is having to stay in a place I don’t want to be."
"Then, Your Holiness, where is it that you want to be?"
That was Alne’s voice.
Their voices were identical, but their speech patterns made it easy to tell them apart.
Where did I want to be?
"A peaceful place."
A place where I didn’t have to worry about being dragged to hell.
A place where I didn’t have to live in constant fear that the mont people learned my secret, they would turn on faster than anyone else.
That’s where I wanted to be.
"But isn’t it peaceful here?"
"It’s not peaceful for ."
At so point, we had already gone through a considerable amount of alcohol.
The drunkenness was setting in.
I could have flushed the intoxication out with my body modification skills, but I didn’t.
For the first ti in a long while, I was drinking alcohol.
For the first ti in a long while, I had people genuinely listening to .
And for the first ti since coming here, I had to face the reality that I was about to leave behind a woman I loved.
All of it—
The tension, the resentnt—
It felt montarily soothed.
"You still have sothing left to do, don’t you?"
"Yeah. I do, Ione. Sothing I have to do, no matter what."
Quitting my role as a saint, disappearing completely, and living like a ghost.
That was my goal.
"The witch with four arms… Her na was Erfa, right? Is she your lover, Your Holiness? Ione’s mories showed you two kissing."
A topic fitting for 19-year-old girls—the conversation naturally turned to romance.
At Alne’s question, I let out a bitter chuckle.
"No. Erfa and I aren’t lovers."
"Then why did you kiss her?"
Ione’s voice carried a hint of emotion.
Why?
"Because I’m a coward."
"Your Holiness isn’t a coward!"
A mix of formal and informal speech—
Alne protested imdiately.
But she was wrong.
Alne—
I was the biggest coward in the world.
"No, Alne. I am a coward. I’m so much of a coward that I couldn’t even accept the feelings of a woman I like. Instead, I toyed with her emotions and then tried to leave."
I liked Erfa.
I wanted to be with her.
I wanted to be happy with her for a long, long ti.
But I couldn’t.
Because if she stayed with , she would eventually et a tragic end.
"I have to leave soon."
Was it the alcohol?
Or was it because, for the first ti, soone was actually listening to ?
My thoughts spilled out.
"I have to go far away. How could I accept Erfa’s feelings knowing that? If I did, how much would she suffer after I was gone? That’s why I had to push her away. But I didn’t want to hurt her. So… So I kissed her. I didn’t want her to feel abandoned. But that’s a contradiction, isn’t it?"
It was.
Even I could see what a pathetic contradiction it was.
If I had really wanted to avoid hurting her, I should have never kissed her in the first place.
I should have been cruel, heartless—made her hate .
But I couldn’t.
I was a fool.
A hopelessly indecisive fool.
"I see."
"So that’s what happened."
At their quiet responses, I let out a bitter laugh.
"I’m trash. A cowardly, pathetic piece of trash. I don’t even deserve to be near Erfa."
Tears welled up in my eyes.
The two princesses moved closer and embraced .
Just as I had comforted Ione before, they now patted my back.
"You’re leaving to fight the evil left in this world, aren’t you? You’re a seer, so you must have foreseen the misfortunes to co."
"It must be terrifying to go out and fight demon worshippers and devils. But it’s okay to rest for now, Your Holiness. You can sleep peacefully tonight."
…What?
I wasn’t leaving to fight demons.
I was running away.
Hiding, so I wouldn’t be dragged to hell.
But—
My tongue was sluggish.
The warmth of their comfort, the way they held , made feel like everything I had bottled up inside was finally breaking free.
Before I realized it, I was crying in their arms.
The terror of hell.
The fear of being murdered by those who once revered .
But in their embrace, those fears felt just a little lighter.
I cried for a long ti.
Maybe it was the alcohol.
Maybe it was the first genuine comfort I’d received since my reincarnation.
But after my emotions had poured out—
A deep exhaustion settled over .
"Co on, Your Holiness. This way."
"We’ll help you."
Their hands guided toward the bed.
"Don’t worry, Your Holiness."
"You helped us. Now it’s our turn to help you."
"You can leave whenever you need to. Do what you must."
"And don’t worry about Erfa. We’ll take care of her."
…What?
What were they saying?
I couldn’t understand.
My mind, dulled by alcohol, only registered the warmth and comfort surrounding .
Their voices felt distant, as if drifting down from the heavens.
"We love you, Your Holiness."
"And… we’re sorry. We planned this from the start. The Dulaney Stigma—it’s useful. It lets us dispel the effects of alcohol. So Alne and I kept it on ourselves the whole ti."
"If we didn’t do this, we knew you would never accept our feelings."
"We’re sorry. But this is your fault too, Your Holiness. You took our hearts and then tried to leave. That was wrong. You’re the one in the wrong."
Sothing soft, warm, and undeniably pleasant began touching my body.
I was so tired.
Maybe they had just tucked in?
"Wait, Ione. If you suddenly put it in like that—ah♥… ngh♥"
"Since our senses are shared, it feels like doing it with two of you. How strange."
Too tired.
I had been through too much.
Goddess—
I’ve spent all this ti healing people.
I was planning to give up being a saint and disappear quietly.
So just for now—
Just for a little while—
Let sleep.
That was my last thought—
Before everything faded to black.
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