"Wh-what on earth do you mean...?"
Saintess Chloe was frozen solid, barely able to breathe.
But Emperor Darcor acted as if she weren't even there.
With elegant hand movements, he slid a piece of steak into his mouth.
Chew. Chew.
Red, sticky juices seeped from the corners of Darcor's mouth.
They overlapped eerily with the dark red blood spat by the assassin whose neck he'd snapped.
"Hic... I-I was just out for a walk because I couldn't sleep..."
Chloe forced her trembling lips apart and spouted excuses.
Cold sweat poured down like rain, soaking the back of her priestly robes.
"Hmm, a walk."
Darcor swallowed the meat and wiped his mouth.
His gleaming red eyes had already pierced straight through her.
"Well, sure. The treetops are better for strolling than the ground. Cooler breeze, plenty to see."
"..."
"Right?"
It was a killing blow of confirmation.
'He knew everything...'
The fact that she'd watched the entire slaughter from the tree.
Terror-stricken, Chloe's pupils shook violently like an earthquake.
"..."
In the suffocating silence, the surrounding maids and servants glanced back and forth between them with puzzled looks.
The emperor and the saintess.
They sensed the unnatural tension in the air between them.
'Am I going to die like this?'
The moment Chloe squeezed her eyes shut.
"Puhaha! Just kidding, kidding."
Darcor's hearty laughter shattered the quiet.
He gave the stiff Chloe a concerned look.
"Our saintess is just too innocent. Can't even take a joke like that.
Do you think I'm gonna eat you alive or something?"
"...Eh?"
Darcor leisurely swirled his wine glass.
"You were probably up all night doing a vigil prayer for the people. Right there in the garden at dawn."
He lightly tilted the glass toward Chloe and grinned with bloodshot eyes.
"Right, Saintess?"
To survive, Chloe nodded on instinct.
She shook her head so hard it nearly snapped off.
"Ah, yes! Th-that's right. Exactly that!"
She blurted out anything with her quivering voice.
"F-for the suffering people of the empire! I went to offer a vigil prayer, dedicating myself.
I-I did it in secret on purpose... Your grace humbles me."
The high-and-mighty saintess's total surrender.
'Oh ho, pretty quick on the uptake, huh?'
Darcor lifted the corner of his mouth, clearly pleased with her attitude.
I thought she was just a shallow material girl, but she knows how to play the social game.
With a satisfied expression, he speared the last piece of meat on his plate.
"Good. I hope your compassionate heart for the people never changes, Saintess."
Gulp.
Finally, the longest meal of Chloe's twenty years came to an end.
All she wanted was to escape this place as fast as possible.
'I have to run. Back to the church. The palace is too dangerous.'
As she started to rise from her seat.
"Before you go."
Darcor wiped his mouth with a napkin and spoke indifferently.
"One more treatment. I have a feeling it'll work today."
"Yes? B-but yesterday..."
"Yesterday, you were low on energy. Today you've eaten a hearty meal, so it'll be different."
Darcor stood and beckoned her with a hand.
"To the office. We have things to discuss. Just us."
'Just us...? He's gonna kill me!'
The worst scenarios played out in her head.
A sealed office.
No witnesses.
Her own body tossed aside with a snapped neck, just like the assassin last night.
Obviously planning to dispose of her quietly.
"I-I have urgent business..."
"Saintess."
Darcor's voice dropped low and grave.
"I'm asking politely."
His red eyes flashed with bloody menace.
Eyes that brooked no refusal.
Chloe barely kept her buckling legs under her and bowed her head.
"Haha... Of course nothing's more urgent than Your Majesty. Just kidding."
She staggered after Darcor on wobbly legs.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Deep inside the emperor's office.
Thick curtains covered every window, leaving the audience chamber dim even in broad daylight.
A space utterly cut off from the outside world.
Darcor lounged crookedly on the sofa, one leg crossed over the other.
He nodded his chin at the saintess.
"Do it. Treatment."
Chloe swallowed dryly
and reached out a trembling hand toward the emperor's forehead.
"Wi-with the light of the great god..."
She tried to chant the spell, but her voice cracked on its own.
Shake, shake.
Her hand was completely out of control.
She couldn't even touch his forehead—could only flail around nearby.
"Whoa there."
"Hand shaking too much? You'll poke my eye out."
"S-sorry. I'm just not in condition today..."
"Those condition excuses never get old, huh."
Darcor's eyes went ice-cold.
Grab.
He snatched her wrist in an instant.
"Eek!"
A grip like her bones would shatter.
Chloe swallowed a scream and twisted her body,
but the captured wrist didn't budge an inch.
Still holding her wrist, Darcor smoothly leaned his upper body forward.
"Saintess, enough with the clumsy lies."
All trace of playfulness vanished from his voice.
"What'll happen if you can't make it to heaven like this? No good for a servant of god to lie like it's breathing."
"..."
Whoosh!
Darcor yanked her wrist roughly,
and Chloe's body came flying toward him helplessly.
The distance was barely a handspan.
Close enough for their hot breaths to brush each other's skin.
"Y-Your Majesty..."
Chloe struggled, but it was useless.
Darcor gently but firmly lifted her chin.
Flaming red eyes.
Exactly the same glare that had flashed in the darkness last night.
"Saintess. Look me straight in the eyes."
Chloe's pupils quaked like an earthquake.
There was nowhere left to run.
"You saw it, right? Last night."
Darcor whispered low.
"I-I saw nothing... really, nothing! I didn't see Your Majesty kill anyone... Ack!"
Chloe hurriedly clamped her mouth shut, but the cat was already out of the bag.
'I'm screwed.'
Having learned the emperor's secret, there was no way she'd leave alive.
Chloe squeezed her eyes shut.
First, the silencing.
Then, the neck snap.
'God, please... just make it painless...'
As she bit her lip until it bled, bracing for the end.
For some reason, the expected pain never came.
"...?"
Chloe cautiously lifted her trembling eyelids.
And froze at the sight before her.
Last night's murderer. Emperor Darcor was smiling.
A boyish grin full of mischief.
"You saw, huh. Lying little saintess."
Darcor chuckled and pressed his index finger to his lips.
Then slowly, clearly zipped them shut.
Ziiip.
"This is our little secret."
He even mouthed the sound while mimicking a zipper.
"But if you go blabbing... you might end up in heaven a bit early?"
'He's... not gonna kill me?'
She was alive.
He wouldn't kill her.
Realizing that, her legs nearly gave out.
Relief washed over her, quickly chased by confusion.
'Why let me live? Because I'm the saintess? Or some other reason?'
Darcor inwardly clicked his tongue at the bewildered prey.
'Such a scaredy-cat. Well, profiting off her beats killing her.'
The Chloe from the original novel was a supreme materialist and a villainess.
Which made handling her simple.
"But if you keep that mouth shut tight."
Darcor leaned back on the sofa and said leisurely.
"I'll slip you some generous pocket money on the sly from the church. You work so hard on those prayers,
gotta have allowance to keep up appearances, right?"
"P-pocket money?"
"Saintess, you lose your mind over the capital's luxury boutiques' new arrivals."
Chloe's ears perked up at the offhand remark.
"Here's an advance: enough to buy everything you want from this season."
"Ehhh?!"
Her fear-clouded, dazed eyes lit up with life.
New bags. Limited-edition dresses. Jewelry.
Magic words flashed through her mind, wiping away all terror.
"R-really? I can buy it all?"
"Sure. You ever seen an emperor lie?"
One corner of Darcor's mouth quirked up.
"But loose lips? Might have to sew 'em shut. You get that, right?"
"Y-yes! I'll keep it in mind!"
Chloe nodded with a resolute expression.
Hard to believe this was the same woman trembling moments ago.
'As expected from our materialistic saintess. Easy to handle.'
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The audience chamber door opened, and Chloe stepped out.
Her gait was strangely confident compared to when she'd entered.
Though her legs were still shaky.
The priests waiting in the corridor swarmed her.
"Saintess, are you all right? You look pale!"
"Shall we prepare to depart? The carriage is ready."
Chloe's steps halted at their questions.
'Depart...?'
If she boarded the carriage now, she could escape the terrifying emperor and return to the safety of the church.
'This is our little secret.'
But the emperor's intimate whisper lingered in her ears.
It terrified her. Yet it thrilled her too.
'And I'm the only one in the empire who knows the emperor's true face, right?'
Chloe shook her head firmly.
"No."
Her voice carried a note of grim determination.
"His Majesty's condition is worse than I thought. I need to stay by his side and offer more prayers."
"But the church..."
"Hey now. This is all God's will! I'll stay in the palace a while longer. Unpack my things."
Chloe issued the order firmly and headed to her quarters.
Her steps felt oddly buoyant.
A bizarre cocktail of fear, greed, and an inexplicable thrill.
At the office window.
Darcor swirled his wine glass, gazing down at Chloe's receding figure.
"Simple ones really are the easiest to handle."
The moment a pesky watchdog turned into a loyal pawn.
Now he could block the church's meddling too.
"Well then... time to get to the real work."