Chapter 4 Part 7
Subtly emphasizing Hyle’s existence, I smiled gently while fixing Abel’s disheveled uniform myself.
His sensitive reactions, flinching wherever my hands touched, were quite amusing.
“Rosiel, I-“
Just as Abel’s lips parted again, suddenly a guard approached and whispered something in his ear.
Abel, who seemed to have more to say to me, frowned and quickly left after saying “I’ll be back.”
“He’s definitely… different from before.”
This Abel is different from the Abel I met in my previous life.
Perhaps, as Hyle said, Abel might really have feelings for me…
* * *
“Hmm, it should be time now.”
As time passed, the party atmosphere grew more festive, and true to being a spring celebration, the entire venue was filled with fragrant flower scents.
It was about time for the Cardinal to appear.
“Ah…!”
At that moment, a short scream erupted from the center of the hall.
Quickly looking up, thinking the Cardinal had finally appeared, I saw a woman with waist-length blonde hair gently swaying as she walked to the center.
Her brilliant purple dress, which instantly captured everyone’s attention, sparkled countless times as it rippled like waves, harmonizing with her blonde hair.
This was the moment Hertiana Brissel, the female protagonist of “For Hertiana,” finally made her appearance.
True to being the female lead, from the moment she appeared, everyone’s attention was instantly focused on her.
“I-I’m sorry.”
“Oh my, are you hurt? It was my carelessness.”
It seemed Tia and Abel had bumped into each other.
I wondered how they would become entangled since Tia appeared earlier than in the original story, and this is how they meet.
Since their meeting was no longer a problem for me, I could watch the two protagonists’ encounter with a relaxed and comfortable gaze.
In the original story, Fergio kidnapped Tia because Abel loved her instead of me.
But this time, since I rejected Abel first, Fergio had lost his reason to kidnap Tia.
Although I couldn’t break off the engagement before Tia and Abel met, I had used Hyle as a countermeasure, so I had sufficient reason to be at ease.
Of course, there was still the issue that I needed Abel to break off the engagement so I could treat my heart by Hyle’s side… but for now, I’d avoided death by involvement with Tia, so there was no need to be hasty.
Tia and Abel made quite a well-matched pair even from a distance.
Looking at them reminded me of a saying:
‘What is meant to happen will inevitably happen.’
Unfortunately, I didn’t particularly like that saying.
If it were true, I would inevitably die when my heart stopped.
Still, I had hope that in this life at least, Hertiana could be happy rather than unfortunate.
With no villainess like me to torment her and no kidnapping by Fergio, things could only progress smoothly.
Now Abel, struck by love at first sight for the beautiful Tia with her dazzling blonde hair, would gently extend his hand and ask for a dance.
Then Tia would place her small white hand on his and shyly nod.
This was truly a historic moment of witnessing the starting point of a sweet romance.
It felt just like being a spectator at a movie filming.
“Eh… what?”
What’s this, why are they just passing by?
Where’s the dance invitation? The shy nod!? This isn’t right!
The male and female leads finally meet officially, and nothing happens?
While Tia, a country girl who just arrived, might not know Abel, it made no sense for Abel not to know Tia.
As Crown Prince, he was sensitive to the Grand Temple’s movements and would have heard plenty about Tia’s appearance as a saint candidate.
Given Abel’s personality, after I prevented their meeting last time, he would have investigated privately.
How could this be?
The title of saint candidate would be quite attractive to Abel both politically and publicly, so why…
In the original story, Abel refused to let go of Tia after falling for her at first sight.
Not only that, he wouldn’t let her out of his sight for even a moment.
Even though Tia appeared earlier than in the original… seeing the two protagonists ignore each other like this left me rather perplexed.
What I knew was the original story’s progression, not this novel’s development that had twisted from the very beginning.
At this rate, I couldn’t rashly predict the future development…
“In a moment, we will have His Eminence the Cardinal’s congratulatory address. We would appreciate the distinguished guests’ attention.”
Just then, the voice of a high priest announcing the Cardinal’s appearance came from the platform.
Finally, I’ll see that precious face.
Was the masked man I was looking for really the same person as the Cardinal?
If so, I had many questions for him.
How did he, merely a Cardinal and not the Pope, know so much about me, why couldn’t I leave this novel’s world even though I’d seen the ending, and so on.
At last, the Cardinal appeared wearing long, pure white robes.
However, he wore an opaque veil over his head, making his face invisible.
Because of this, I couldn’t even see if his hair was purple.
Regrettably, all elements that could have identified him as the masked man were hidden by the veil.
No, this was actually fortunate.
After all, I came here to find answers to all my questions.
While removing that damned veil, let’s uncover the secrets in His Eminence the Cardinal’s mind.
This would naturally reveal why Abel and Tia were acting differently from the original story.
The Cardinal’s speech was long, as expected.
Thanks to this, I caught the appropriate timing and gathered dark power at my fingertips to cast the black magic I had prepared.
But…
Could they be watching me now?
From a gloomy corner of the party venue where I stood in darkness, Tia, standing in the light under the large, magnificent chandelier, was watching me.
Among the crowd of people, I had a strong sense that Tia’s sky-blue eyes were firmly fixed on me.
But her gaze disappeared instantly among the moving people.
That momentary eye contact gave me the strange feeling that Tia had been searching for me for quite a while.
Even though Tia couldn’t possibly know “Rosiel” rather than “El,” that brief moment raised a chilling sensation of having my identity discovered.
“…That can’t be.”
Anyway, that wasn’t important right now.
Shaking off thoughts of Tia, I directed dark power toward the Cardinal.
Having unintentionally used such large-scale black magic, my lifespan would obviously be shortened further.
But since Hyle promised to save me, let’s try believing in that.
The matter between the Cardinal and Tia, and the relationship with Abel – I had mountains of things to uncover.
“Let’s see what the truth is.”
* * *
“…Ugh, what? Where is this…”
The black magic I cast was a forbidden spell that transferred the caster’s consciousness directly into the target’s mind to examine their memories firsthand.
Since the required magical power increased drastically with the target’s mental strength, entering the Cardinal’s mind was quite a serious decision for me.
“It worked.”
Fortunately, the magic seemed to have taken effect properly.
Fragments of the Cardinal’s memories unfolded vividly before my eyes.
While quickly scanning through memories to find the information I wanted, my hand touched something suspicious.
‘Your Holiness, there has been a new oracle.’
Your Holiness? That means the Pope, doesn’t it?
Unfortunately, the Pope’s appearance wasn’t visible in the memory.
However, I could feel his presence nearby through the pressure he emanated.
‘Xenoph, the contents of this oracle must not be disclosed to anyone. Even if it’s His Majesty the Emperor.’
‘But Your Holiness, the saint candidate selection was carried out according to the previous oracle. How can the oracle be reversed now?’
I accidentally learned the Cardinal’s name, something only known to those in the temple.
Xenoph… I should remember that.
But what’s this about the oracle being reversed? What does this mean?
‘The previous oracle only stated that the saint would soon appear, there was nothing about the candidate.’
The Pope’s returning voice was plain to the point of being bland.
Beyond the gentle response, there existed no emotion whatsoever.
‘Your Holiness! What do you mean “the oracle has another owner”? Doesn’t that mean Hertiana isn’t the real saint! Then who is the true saint?’
Xenoph’s voice, rising in frustration, resonated throughout the temple interior.
The buzzing voice spread like an echo and gradually faded.
And I had to process once again the shocking words I had just heard.
Hertiana… isn’t the saint?
