I Became the Villainess in an Anticlimactic Novel

You guys aren’t cultists, so what’s going on?

The epidemic is overwhelming already, but has the situation now even caused madness as well? But I heard that there was no cure for lunacy though!

“Everyone, please shut up. Isn’t she unable to speak because of you guys?”

Then, someone who finally spoke words that I could agree with appeared.

Unlike them, who had rushed out of the portal senselessly, the owner of the voice walked gracefully out of the portal.

She came up to me and took off the hood of the black robe she was wearing.

The face that was exposed, along with her curly purple hair, had exquisite patterns that covered more than half of her face.

Just when I was thinking that the elaborate and intricate patterns that seemed to be tattooed on her seemed to suit her copper-coloured skin, she knelt down on one knee in front of me.

“My apologies for startling you. These guys have a good heart, but are unfortunately not proficient at expressing themselves.”

“No, it’s alright.”

Even though I had been slightly concerned over whether they were crazy or not.

“But, who are you…”

“I see that I’m quite late to introduce myself.”

She continued in her dignified tone.

“I am Lydia, the high priest of the Lunarists, who serves the Moon God.”

She pressed a hand to the left of her chest and bowed her head toward me.”

“Ah…! It’s nice to meet you!”

I quickly bowed my head in return.

“I’m very grateful that you came. Huh? We had not even sent out a letter yet, so how did you know?”

“So the one who sent out that distress signal was you, as expected.”

“The distress signal… Are you perhaps talking about the whistle? If you’re talking about that, then I did indeed call for you…”

However, it was when I was about to tell them that the owner of the whistle was in fact Lecht, not me.

“Oh…! As expected!”

“Heup, so this day has finally come…!”

All of a sudden, the three hooded men and women started to kick up a fuss again.

“Silence everyone.”

Lydia scolded them instead of me, who had been left startled by them.

As they all shut up once again, Lydia reached out to me.

“Could I check your hand, just for a moment?”

“Of course…”

I readily stretched out my hand toward her. My hand was once again covered by hers. Moments later, an indescribable warmth permeated my hand from where she had touched.

“This feeling is…”

It felt similar to the sensation I had felt when I healed the child. Except this time, the wind didn’t escape from my body, but entered it instead. It felt as if a rainbow had entered my heart, and spread to each and every remote corner of my body. My whole body had become lethargic and relaxed, as if I was taking a bath.

After a few minutes of silence, Lydia finally put down my hand with a satisfied smile. She looked at me as she continued to wipe off the drops of perspiration on her forehead with the back of her hand.

“Of course, we’ll need confirm a lot more things, and it’ll be a long process before we make a decision, but this, I think I can tell you with certainty, even now.”

“What is it?”

“A depth that is immeasurable and beyond what I can fathom, even with my divine power. The purity of your power that was transmitted through the power of God’s whistle.”

“Pardon?”

I tilted my head slightly, not understanding what she was trying to say as she simply spoke with an even gentler smile on her face.

“Lunar’s servant, Lydia, greets the next saintess in advance.”

“Pardon?”

…Did I hear it wrong?

“You are Lunarism’s next saintess.”

“…What?”

What sort of pounding on the paper window while sleeping1 nonsense is this?

LYDIA IS SO FINEEEEE

There was a moment of silence.

“I’m only asking because I think I heard wrong. But did you just say, ‘the next saintess’?”

“Yes.”

So I didn’t hear it wrong.

“So… is that saintess the saintess that I think you’re talking about?”

“What sort of saintess do you think ‘that saintess’ is?”

“So… the one who is divine and holy, loved by all believers of that religion, with a halo that illuminates them from behind, leads the priests onto the right path with an open heart, and is overflowing with divine power, which if used, will demonstrate mysterious abilities. Is it that one?”

Lydia laughed at my unpleasant explanation and said.

“I don’t think you’ll need to worry particularly about being divine and holy, since your existence itself already makes that a fact. The same goes for the halo.”

No, that part isn’t what’s the point here…

Even though I was the one who said it, it was still a bit embarrassing. A halo? Really?

“Although leading a priest is correct, it isn’t a requirement. As a saintess, just going your own way will be enough. We will simply follow after you on our own.”

…But what if I was thinking of defecting?

“The amount of divine power you possess is enough to cover the whole of this world, so you’re right about that part.”

So what if I can cover the whole world with that?

“Now, if we’re talking about mysterious abilities, then… the power you show will be more than that of our priests combined, so you’re also right about that.”

“Ha…?”

The only sounds that came out from my slightly parted lips were stupid ones.

“But didn’t the high priest of Solarism say that this body didn’t have the vessel for any divine power at all?”

I weeded out this strange point.

This body had no such ability. Because of this lack of ability, she was subsequently abused by the Duke. When I thought of his evil deeds, I regretted it to the point that I wished I had at least hit his chin before leaving.

Lydia clapped her hands at my question and spoke.

“Don’t tell me, that bastard, no… that guy, he’s met a saintess before, yet he said that and kept his mouth shut from us? Oh my… hohohoho.”

The shape of those eyes that were like crescent moons, and that mouth that resembled an arc, were clearly all gentle. However, I felt an unknown fear at the sound of her laughter and the look in her eyes.

“Hohoho, did that senile geezer say that? Ohohoho!”

“…”

It was obviously me who was in the middle of complaining, but when I saw Lydia like that, my mouth automatically shut by itself. It felt as if I’d be ripped apart calmly if I even said one word out of line.

“Well, he wasn’t wrong.”

Lydia, whose laughter had already subsided, said.

I tilted my head.

“But isn’t that contradicting to what you just said? To have such a large amount of divine power, enough to cover the whole world, yet have no divine power at all…”

What sort of ‘refreshing fine dust2’ nonsense is this?

“Was it a deception?”

“Since your lunar divine power is infinite, of course there’s no vessel or place for you to hold any solar divine power.”

“What…?”

It felt as if my head had just been hit with something refreshing.

“So that geezer… the high priest of Solarism, was saying that you had no ability as a ‘saintess of Solarism’?”

“Ah…”

Then, was it true that Meliara really had abilities, but the Solar faith simply kept their mouth shut since it wasn’t their ability, but that of the Lunar faith’s? That is, she was eventually harmed in the end, by the political divide between religions?

“Haa.”

A sigh flowed out of my mouth.

Seriously, what sort of unfair life was this?”

“Seriously, isn’t life too harsh?”

She would’ve lived a much better life, if only she had known that she had the divine power of the Moon God.

She wouldn’t have had to act so tyrannical over the female lead in the original novel for no reason. She would’ve been loved by the people as the Lunarism saintess without having to be obsessed over the original novel’s male lead, the Crown Prince.

However, her abilities as ‘the saintess of the Moon God’ which was able to solve all those problems at once, was buried by the silence of the high priest of the Sun God.

“No matter how bad the relationship is between the Solar and Lunar religions, couldn’t you at least say one sentence, like, ‘rather than us, you might have the power of the Lunar faith instead’?”

It felt as if my heart was boiling and had overflowed. I couldn’t tell whether it was anger or resentment. I didn’t know, but I could only tell that, either way, there were various mixed emotions that were swirling around in my heart.

I grinded my teeth so hard that my jaw hurt. I thought that if I didn’t do at least that, then this feeling would only fester inside of me.

At that time, a warm heat touched my jawline.

“?”

It was a rough feeling, like there were calluses, but the emotions conveyed were so soft that it felt as if the strength put into my chin had naturally disappeared by itself.

As I turned my head in the direction of the hand, I saw Lecht, who had suddenly approached me at some point in time, who was standing right next to me and looking down at me.

“You’ll get hurt.”

“…?”

“You get hurt so easily.”

I had to think for a moment about what he was talking about.

So, right now, are you doing that because you’re worried that my teeth while get hurt? No, I know I’ve been grinding my teeth, but you’re telling me that you’re worried about that…?

What the hell happened to my image after my motion sickness for you to treat me as if I’m a soap bubble that could burst at even the slightest touch?

“Is the high priest of the Solar religion the problem? Will your anxiety disappear if I dispose of him?”

“Dispose…?”

Why does that word feel sort of scary…? It’s as if he’ll be dragged somewhere and disappear quietly…

“I’ll get him away from your sight.”

The moment Lecht said that, I suddenly recalled Lecht and Linden’s first meeting.

Someone who was powerful enough to make Linden, who was an archmage, take a step back in retreat.

Besides, didn’t he say that he was one of the Emperor’s people?

“No!”

If such a person touched the high priest, then it would only mean war.

“Isn’t he someone whose face I won’t have to see anyway?”

I didn’t even know exactly what he looked like.

“Although we had a sort of bad relationship in the past, it’s easier to treat each other as if we have nothing to do with each other now.”

My intuition strongly suggested that I had to stop Lecht.

I grabbed his hand tightly and said firmly.

“It’s fine. Really.”

Lecht looked at me without any reaction, even though I had exaggerated it a little bit. It was as if he knew I was trying to force him to stop.

Just as I was wracking my brains, trying to think of how I was meant to convince this man who was too kind, Lydia spoke up.

“In regards to that part, we were planning on lodging a formal protest against the Solar religion anyway.”

“Really?”

“Those tadpoles seem to have forgotten who it’s thanks to that they themselves are able to be in that position today in the first place. Hohohoho!”

“…?”

The sound of her ‘hohoho’ laughter was so calm and creepy, to the point where I was worried about whether I would have to stop the people on this side from fighting too.

However, there seemed to be no reason for me to stop them from fighting when they were fighting against a religion… no, but is there? If I’m really the saintess, then this problem is related to me too, right?

After thinking deeply for a while, I finally asked.

“But how can you be so sure that I’m the saintess?”

What did she say earlier? Was it the amount of power and purity was in my divine power? Was that what determined who was the saintess?

“There are a variety of reasons. In the future, we plan to go through various verification procedures to accumulate more certainty.”

“So, like what?”

Lydia yanked at the string around her neck. At the end of it, was something that was similar to Lecht’s whistle.

“Do you want to try blowing into it?”

I did what she told me to do.

The bright ‘phwiiiiit—’ sound from earlier sounded out.

Before I could even take the whistle out of my mouth, the hawk that I had seen earlier had already sat on my shoulder.

“Could you please give it back to me?”

At Lydia’s request for the whistle, I returned the whistle and stroked the hawk’s neck.

Lydia took the whistle into her mouth and blew it.

There was a ‘phwaeeek—’ sound that was sort of similar to the sound before, but was somewhat a little different.

Although it was the same instrument, the sound that I had made when I played it sounded like one of a skilled performer, whilst Lydia’s was one of whom that had just started out.

“The sound… seems somewhat different?”

“The purer and cleaner the divine power is, the clearer the sound is once it touches God’s power.”

This was rather hard for me to refute. Since even I had thought that the sound I had made was rather pretty.

“But isn’t it too early to conclude that I’m the saintess, just from that?”

“Well, it’s hard to explain in words, but for those like me, who have been measuring the depth and purity of the divine power of others for a whole lifetime, can’t help but understand it naturally. As the saintess, you will naturally be able to feel it as time passes.”

I was in a stalemate in the end. Since I apparently had a lot of divine power, and it was also clear as well.

“Then, when someone with more divine power, which is even purer than mine, appears, then does that person become the saintess?”

“That’s not the case. A saintess is the only child who is directly ordained by God. There are times when no saintess appears for centuries, but there can never be two children of the same god in the same time period.”

So how do you know that I’m the only one then?

I needed certainty. Since this way, the moment they find out that I’m not the saintess they revere, they’ll immediately throw me away.

I hated that. When you need me, I’ll be raised as preciously as gold and jade, but the moment you know that I’m not, the attitude will immediately do a 180. Rather than being disappointed, they would’ve thought that they had been cheated, even if I left.

“If I’m the saintess, then how come you only appeared now? Why is my ability only now being revealed?”

When I spit those words out, my tone was a little harsh. However, Lydia explained gently, as if she understood.

“The ability to channel divine power is not revealed from birth. Of course, a vessel, a bowl to be filled with divine power, is born with you, but it takes time for it to manifest itself as an ability.”

“…”

I nodded, as if indicating that she should continue explaining, as she smiled and added.

“The only odd one here is me, who distinguished myself at four years old, however, the rest of the priests here, all revealed the abilities at around twelve to sixteen years old. Sometimes, people’s abilities even manifest, only at their middle-ages.”

“Oh…”

“The divine power of Lunarism is one that originates from the soul. Since that power comes out with the body as a medium, the moment the soul and the body unite as one, only then is the power manifested.”

Although the explanation was rather long, only one part caught my attention.

“The power comes from your soul?”

“Yes.”

My momentary flinch may have been noticed by them.

‘Then… the owner of this power isn’t this body, but me instead?’

My mind quickly became complicated. I thought that Meliara’s power had been handed over to me the moment I possessed her body, but it wasn’t that, and instead, was a power that had always originally belonged to me from the very beginning?

All kinds of hypotheses and facts were tangled in my head, only adding to the confusion.

As I pressed at my confused temples, Lydia asked.

“Have you perhaps seen any marks on your body recently?”

“Marks?”

“When that power begins to manifest, those signs are often revealed together.

Lydia pointed at her face and said.

“So that’s what it was…”

“Although they don’t appear on everyone who has manifested their abilities, the stronger the power is, the more intense the markings seem to come out. It can be seen as evidence of the body fully embracing the power of the soul.”

“But I don’t have that though.”

Meliara’s body was clean and devoid of markings.

‘There were spots like that in my past life, but this body has no flaws, let alone patterns like th…at, wait.’

I suddenly recalled my body from my previous life. One hand instinctively headed toward my left shoulder blade. Although I couldn’t see anything with my clothes on, I still turned my head to stare at my shoulder.

‘Come to think of it, I had it in my past life. Something like a mark.’

Although it couldn’t be said to be the same as Lydia’s, it was awfully similar to hers. Although it was a marking I had existed ever since I was young, it was oddly pretty, so the aunties that would help to scrub my back at the bathhouse would always ask me where I had gotten my tattoos done.

‘If it’s a power that originates from the soul… does that mean that I also had such a power in my previous life too?’

Then the marking… don’t tell me…!

‘It’s common for them to appear late.’

“J-Just a moment!”

I hurriedly ran into the lodging that wasn’t too far away. Although I could hear Kelber chasing after me, I had no time to pay attention to that and ran straight to my room on the second floor.

As soon as I opened the door and came in, I immediately took off my shirt. I was in such a hurry that I almost ripped my clothes off.

I closed the bathroom door with a loud bang and stood in front of the mirror in only my underwear.

“Heup.”

I turned my back to the mirror to check.

“It’s really there…”

There was the marking on my body which had never once been mentioned in the original novel. The marking that was very similar to the one I had on my body in my previous life, was no engraved on this body in the exact same place.

It was as if my soul had put a stamp on this body, saying, ‘this body is mine now.’

I felt as if I had just been hit really hard on the head.

“This is really… my power?”

In any case… it seemed like I really was the saintess of the Moon God.

[1] 자다가 봉창 두드린다 is a proverb that refers to when someone does something that others cannot understand/to suddenly do or say something out of context. this stems from a legend where a man and a woman knocked on one another’s paper windows to secretly indicate that they wanted to snu snu. however, knocking on one’s own paper window had strange and ridiculous things occurring.

[2] 상쾌한 미세먼지 couldn’t find anything online but i’m assuming it’s referring to something contradictory since fine dust can’t possibly be ‘refreshing’.