I Became the Villainess in an Anticlimactic Novel - Chapter 13

At some point in time, the three musketeers who had been running towards us had finally arrived on the first floor.

“Gosh, what should we do?! Our saintess’s beautiful face has shrunk to half its original size!!”

“Huhuhu…! That’s why I told you not to overwork yourself!”

“Oho, then I wonder just who was the one who had said that the appearance of our saintess working was dashing?”

The three musketeers were just as lively as usual today.

At some point in time, the three musketeers who had been running towards us had finally arrived on the first floor.

“Gosh, what should we do?! Our saintess’s beautiful face has shrunk to half its original size!!”

“Huhuhu…! That’s why I told you not to overwork yourself!”

“Oho, then I wonder just who was the one who had said that the appearance of our saintess working was dashing?”

The three musketeers were just as lively as usual today.

“Saintess, please come over here! I’ve already prepared a chair and table.”

“I’ve already wiped it to the point it’s shining. After all, our beloved saintess shouldn’t come into contact with even a speck of dust.”

“The food will be out soon. Something that’s warm that’ll relieve your fatigue!”

Although I hadn’t even said a single word, they all moved in different directions for me. 

I desperately wanted to hide at the sight of them, who seemed blind to the fact I was embarrassed by the people around us looking at us, but Lecht sat me down on the chair they had prepared for me as if it were natural. 

Then, Lecht settled down in the chair next to me. 

“Water, milk and juice, have all been prepared for you to drink. Of course, the rice flour drink you drank last time is also here.”

“Rice flour…? Oh, the multigrain shake…”

“What do you want?”

“U-Um, there are so many options…”

When I hesitated, Lecht beckoned toward Tanma who was next to me.

“Bring it all out.”

Gasp.

“Yes, I understand.”

“Huh?”

Lecht, who shows excessive care as if it were natural, and also Tanma, who follows his orders as if it were natural. 

These men… even though you pretend you’re not, inwardly, you’re no different from those hardcore fans, the three musketeers, right…? Is the appearance of the saintess of the moon god that incredible?

It would’ve been rather ungrateful of me to tell them not to do so, so as soon as my eyes flicked back and forth, a variety of food and drinks came out. It was such a generous sight it seemed as if the table legs would bend under its weight. 

Did they want me to eat all of this by myself…? You’re sure this isn’t actually a buffet instead?

“You all must be hungry, right? Sit down. Let’s eat together.”

“Were you worrying about the stomachs of our lowly selves?! To think that the next saintess is such a nice person! We’ve succeeded now!”

“Hic, hic, hic… I can’t believe I’m sitting at the same table as the saintess…! To think that this sort of honor would be bestowed on me whilst I was still alive…!”

No, I was actually suggesting to eat it together since there was to much, but I didn’t know that you’d actually interpret it that way.”

“I did it since it’d be a waste if there was a lot leftover.”

If I just leave the story as it is, it felt as if the story would swerve off in a strange direction and people might begin to praise me, so I just spoke honestly instead. 

However, hardcore fans weren’t hardcore fans for no reason.

“How wise, to even think about food wastage!”

“Huhuuuu, she’s even someone who cares about the environment… Our saintess is the best…”

Sigh… Let’s just not talk at all.

“Uwahhhhh, I’m going to trust god diligently and donate a lot from now on…”

“Aren’t you already a priest…”

“I’m already doomed. I covet the beautiful appearance of the saintess so much that I’ll fall into the depths of hell due to excessive greed anyways.”

“Pardon? What sort of reason to go to hell is that?”

“Okay, let’s go to hell together. I’ll go happily.”

“Huhuuu, the rye bread is so tasty… the saintess is so pretty…”

“Pfft.”

I eventually burst into laughter listening to their continuous stream of words.

“Hahaha! What’s with you all? Ahahaha!”

Saying that you’d go to hell for seeing my face too much, and saying that you’d go to that same hell happily. Although I’m sure the rye bread was delicious, was it possible for one to cry because I was too pretty?

They were all just nonsensical words, yet they all had one thing in common. 

The fact that they liked me.

It’d be a lie for me to say that I wasn’t burdened by their blind liking toward me. 

However, there wouldn’t be many people in the world who could hate and reject someone who liked them. Especially if it was such a pure show of affection like this.

“I’ll keep a firm hold of your priests so you don’t fall into hell, so stop crying and eat.”

I laid out a lot of rye bread, which was the local specialty here, in front of them.

“Eat well and help me out. We need to gather our strength in order for us to put the village in order.”

I decided to accept their blind faith and unconditional love. 

Let’s first put aside my worries over whether I should accept being a saintess or not, and what I should do with fleeing the country. Whether or not I’m the saintess, I would enjoy their lavishing of affection on me first. 

That’s not something that’s too hard for me to do, right?

“Yes, saintess!”

“I’ll follow you!”

“Thank you for the food!”

Watching them boldly stuffing food into their mouths, I was able to continue eating with a happy heart.

***

The sound of Meliara’s laughter resonating was so refreshing it was even able to pass through the closed window. There was a man who was watching her outside of the window near the alley.

‘Was she someone who knew how to laugh like that?’

Linden’s expression was complicated as he leaned on the other side of the alleyway, looking at her.

The first time he had met Meliara was at the temple. 

His first impression of her had been, ‘she really is pretty’. 

Although he had known that she was a beauty through the rumors, she really was very pretty. 

However, it hadn’t been very pleasing to see her yelling at Saintess Olivia, and seeing her cling to his older brother, the Crown Prince, had been rather disgusting.

The only reason he had approached her was because she was the Princess of Darchez, and was also his brother’s fiancee. 

Since he had thought that as long as he used her properly, he’d be able to suck out the sweetest juice1.

The woman he gradually got to know more of was no less of a miserable person than he was. She severely lacked affection. 

Thus, she was a woman who would open her heart to me with just a few whispers of sweet words and wide smiles. 

Thanks to that, he was able to extract some information on the crown prince as well as the resources of the nobles who stood in the Duke’s faction.

Though of course, she later noticed what he was doing and tried to keep her distance. Since there was no need for her to be hated by the Duke over helping the Prince of Misfortune.

Nevertheless, she was a woman who couldn’t heartlessly cut him off. Because even the false affection he had given her was like a much-needed rainfall in a drought in her heart.

‘I thought I had her all figured out.’

However, ever since he had reunited with her in the capital, she had changed. 

He had thought she had come to meet him since she had personally come to the inn that he owned, but…

“Y-Yeah, how have you been?”

The smile on her embarrassed face seemed as if she didn’t know she’d meet him. He had wanted to tease the innocent expression he had seen for the first time.

“Call me Linden.”

“You know, just like how I’m your only friend, you’re my only friend as well.”

He thought she’d push him away like always while saying, “Please don’t be like this”. 

However, he heard something surprising instead.

“If Your Highness ever needs comfort someday, please come and find me. Although I can’t say anything particularly cool, I can still lend a listening ear to you.”

It was a refreshing surprise.

Was she someone who could afford this sort of mindset? 

No, the woman he had clearly known obviously wasn’t like that. She was a woman who was always urgently trying to attract even the slightest bit of visible affection to herself. She was a woman who couldn’t afford to be considerate and understanding to the emotions of those around her.

“Alright, Linden.”

…She wasn’t a woman who knew how to smile so beautifully.

“I’ll show you as much as you want. I can show you until my divine power runs out.”

She wasn’t a woman who knew how to make a sacrifice for others. 

Linden bowed his head and looked down at his palm.

“Did you think I couldn’t even do this for you?”

There was no way she could be this warm. It was obviously not possible.

“If it’s hard, complain.”

“Hic…! Huhuheung…”

Seeing her sobbing over a few words of comfort which was like nothing, Linden felt his heart breaking. 

Just how many things had she bottled up and held onto tightly inside? 

Instead of changing after her engagement got broken off, perhaps she had always been like that. 

Perhaps she had lived hiding her true self due to the crushing pressure of being the crown prince’s fiancee as well as holding the position of a princess. 

And now that she had been freed from it, maybe her true character was being revealed.

“Haa.”

Linden closed his eyes and instinctively leaned his head against the wall. 

The warm lights she had made that evening probably wouldn’t be forgotten any time soon for a long time. 

In any case, perhaps he had fallen into a deep pit of emotions that he couldn’t escape from now.

What had started off as simply being her companion in order to find out why Grand Duke Arvis had showed an interest in her had now developed into a burden too large for him to handle. 

It was a burden that burst out of his heart, one that he couldn’t get rid of on his own.

“Your Highness.”

Linden, who was taking a deep breath, opened his eyes at the voice of his subordinate calling out to him. 

When his eyes flitted over, he saw the special agent he had sent to bring news from the capital.

“What of the news I told you to investigate?”

“It’s exactly as you’ve expected.”

Linden turned his head around to fully face him. 

“A few days ago, the saintess of the sun god, Olivia, disappeared from the temple and was discovered not too far from here, collapsed, exactly like you said.”

That beautiful face furrowed their eyebrows and frowned.

“The temple seems to have been working on something discretely, but… this doesn’t seem to have been the first time they’ve done exactly as you’ve thought.”

It was the moment the Pandora’s box, which shouldn’t be opened if you were a believer of the sun god, was opened.

***

Last night, while Meliara was still asleep, Lecht and Linden both stood in front of her room.

“If you have something to say, then say it.”

Lecht was the first to break the silence, perhaps because Linden’s constant glancing irritated him. 

His voice was so sharp it felt as if a sword had just brushed past, completely different from when he was dealing with Meliara.

Linden asked boldly, not feeling too particularly hurt by it.

“I know the Grand Duke isn’t interested in ‘this side’.”

When it comes to ‘this side’, it naturally referred to politics. And when it comes to Grand Duke Arvis, he was famous for ignoring all exchanges of power.

“I have no interest.”

“Then to Meliara, why did you…”

A few weeks ago, Linden thought Meliara would no longer be worth investing in as soon as he heard that the engagement between Meliara and the Crown Prince had been broken off. 

When she had even come to his own lodging that he owned, he thought to just deal with it appropriately and shake her off, since it seemed as if she were trying to cling onto her last straw. 

Though of course, he had been a little shocked by the change in temperament which was different to what he had thought when he met her.

However, wasn’t the Grand Duke Arvis, who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, showing an interest in her now?

So he followed them.

If he could use Meliara to bring Grand Duke Arvis into politics, then that would signal the sound of the tide overturning all of the Crown Prince’s supporters at once.

Of course, all those numerous calculations he had made had already started to fade away the moment he faced Meliara’s divine power, but Linden tried not to forget the initial purpose of this trip.

“I’m curious as to why the Grand Duke is paying so much attention to Meliara.”

“I have something I want to confirm.”

“Are you talking about whether she’s the saintess?”

When faced by the pinpointing of Linden’s question, Lecht’s gaze shifted slightly toward Linden.

His gaze passed over him lightly before resting on the door once again.

“That has nothing to do with you.”

“It does. Meliara is my most precious friend.”

There was a bite in Linden’s voice. It resembled a provocation along the lines of, ‘I’m a friend, but what are you?’.

“As long as you continue to show an interest in Meliara, I have a duty of protecting her to keep her safe.”

“Protect?”

Lecht murmured softly at Linden’s resolute words. 

As if he was truly insignificant, he snorted quietly before turning his head to face Linden.

At that moment, Linden felt as if he was facing a large amount of darkness. The sort of dark quagmire that you could never hope to get out of once you step foot into it.

“Then you should’ve first erased that unpleasant energy in your body before coming.”

“…it’s only a difference in beliefs.”

Linden, who had been going strong, faltered when he thought that him being a Solarism believer was the reason why he couldn’t become friends with her, who was destined to become the saintess of Lunarism.

“Beliefs? And just what exactly is that belief? The sun god? Or that ‘saintess’?”

“Of course it’s the sun god.”

“…do you perhaps, not know?”

He wanted to believe it was a nonsensical question, but Lecht threw in a small comment.

“The ‘blessing’ in your body isn’t from the power of the sun god.”

[1] 단물만 빼먹다 is an idiom that describes gaining a lot using your own/other’s position without making any effort yourself.