The Saintess

I'm fucked. I'm sooo fucked. 

The only Saintess of this world. 

Someone honored by everyone in this world. The one without whom the completion of the main plot was impossible. 

And now, at night, she stood in front of Damien's room, separated only by the thin surface of the door from him. 

No, no, no matter how crazy Damian was, he couldn't do it to her, could he?

...Could he? 

Feeling like he could lose his mind right now, he was beginning to think it would be better to just pretend he wasn't here and wait for her to leave....

But before he realized, his traitorous hands were already on the doorknob, confidently opening it and exposing the figure behind it. 

White hair with a slight tinge of pink, pure white robes with a couple gold religious patterns... and a blindfold that made it hard to tell what she was thinking. 

Everything was exactly as he remembered from the game. 

"Saintess."

"...Damien."

Her height was a full head shorter than his, and her body seemed fragile against his large build... but of the two of them, he was the first to break out in a cold sweat. 

The only Saintess of this world.

The weight of that title was undeniable. If you compared her to Damian, who wasn't even in the first line of succession in his family, they were like heaven and earth. 

"I'm not in the mood today, you can leave."

Well, whatever Damien had done, I wasn't going to pay for it. 

He felt like every second he was around her was shortening his life exponentially. 

A slightly surprised expression appeared on Saintess' face. 

Perhaps the original Damian behaved differently...? No matter. All I wanted now was to get rid of that guillotine above my neck.

So having expressed his will, he closed the door at once. 

Or rather, he was going to do it, but her foot got in the way of the door. 

"Damien, you're bleeding."

A pure voice, just like the one he'd heard before.

Although he couldn't see her eyes, he was sure she was looking at his hand, which had recently been cut by a mirror shard. 

"It's nothing, just forget it…" 

Contrary to his words, her hand touched his still bleeding fingers. 

...! 

Something he had never felt or sensed in his life had penetrated his very essence. 

The warm energy gently enveloped his fingers, returning them to their pristine appearance in a matter of moments. 

Clenching his now fully healthy fist a couple of times, he realized once more. 

It was a completely different world from the one he lived in.

"...Thank you." 

Damien gave her thanks, but it didn't change his desire to close the door as soon as possible.

There was no way he should have messed with Saintess. Especially not when he decided to stay away from the chaos of the main plot. 

Otherwise, it won't be limited to just his fingers – his head will be flying off his shoulders faster than he realize it. 

But despite all that, Saintess' foot once again prevented him from closing the door. 

It seems today she was eager to get inside at all costs. 

I frowned slightly. What else did she want? 

Making the most dismissive face possible, Damien waved her off. 

"I'm really not in the mood to play with you right now. Come back tomorrow."

Of course, I won't be here tomorrow. 

"Damien."

When he was about to leave, the Saintess smiled radiantly for the first time.

"Down." 

As soon as her words reached him, his world turned upside down and before he knew it, he found himself lying on the floor. 

"Ah... huh?" 

My head was blank. What had just happened? 

At the same time, the Saintess squatted down, extending her hand and placed it on his head. 

Pat pat. 

"Good boy, Damien. That's exactly how good dogs should behave."

"...What the fuck?"

When he said the first thing that came to his mind, Saintess only shook her head, showing a guilty smile. 

"Good dogs don't swear at their owners. To think I put so much effort into raising you and you still respond to me like that."

Saintess? My thoughts were in complete chaos. 

As if not paying attention to this she rose with a slight sigh and sat on top of me. 

"Did you know that, Damien? People say that if a dog bites you, you should put it down. But that's not how I see it. I think even a wild dog like you can be a better person." 

In her pure voice as always, the Saintess said without changing the expression on her face.

This crazy bitch. 

Damien gritted his teeth, but a warm smile only appeared on Saintess' face as she stroked his head again. 

"Don't worry, Damien, I won't abandon you. Who else but me would accept someone like you? Be grateful to me." 

"..."

"Answer me, Damian." 

"...Yes."

Again. I did something almost without realizing it. 

It was like my body's natural reaction to her words.... 

A force something similar to what had stopped his hand before he could strike himself with the shard earlier. 

But unlike that time, this feeling was weaker. 

Whether the reason was because Damien's original soul had been replaced by mine or something else... 

"By the way, Damien, did you get what I asked for yet?" 

I could have resisted it. 

"Answer me, Damian—"

A quiet shriek followed as he quickly turned his body around, dramatically changing their positions. 

"D-damian? W-what are you doing?"

Damien had her pinned to the floor now, giving her no room to move. 

"G-get off me, Damian!"

Damian frowned slightly at his body's urging to obey… but that was all it was. 

Just as I thought, I can fight it. 

It only worked last time because he was completely unprepared for it. 

Was it because of their contact? Her face turned bright red. 

"D-damien? I said get off me!" 

She immediately started wriggling, trying to break free of his grip. 

But how could he let her do that? 

They weren't in the same weight class from the beginning. 

Soon even her blindfold was rumpled from her efforts, and her chest heaved unceasingly, but all was in vain. 

"Huff…G-get away from me…huff…Damien...!"

"What are you gonna do to me if I don't?" 

"I-it's your mistress's order! Let me go now!" 

"Hmm… I don't want to?" 

Probably realizing the unnaturalness of his behavior, Saintess stopped wriggling and froze, staring at his instead. 

"How are you...? The seal... t-the Seal couldn't have failed."

Seal? Was there anything like that on Damien's body?

He wasn't entirely sure what Saintess was talking about, so he decided to place a bet. 

It wasn't anything great, just the idea that the best solution in such situations was to make the opponent find the answer themselves.

"You know, that was a pretty fun game. To think you'd go this far with this."

Trying to speak as vaguely as possible, Damien smirked, exposing his teeth.

...!

Saintess' body visibly trembled for the first time and she violently shook her head.

"No, that can't be, the seal...!"

Saintess tried to protest, but.... 

"Why would I lie to you?"

"..."

The Saintess fell silent, staring at him intently.

Her disheveled white hair lay on the floor as her chest heaved with ragged breaths.

There was no telling how much time passed in this state before she opened her mouth again. 

"Uhm… Damien... if you've really been playing along with me a-all this time….. so you enjoyed it...?" 

"..."

How did she even come to this conclusion? 

The corner of his mouth twitched.

But if I want to avoid a repeat of this situation in the future, I have to push further. 

Bringing his face closer to the distance where their breaths mingled, he smiled predatorily. 

"Fine, isn't it time we moved on to more adult games?"

As soon as his hands started moving,

Thud! 

"I s-should get going now! Have a good night, Damian...!"

Almost completely shoving him off of her, she quickly ran out the door. 

"Uggh... where does she get this strength in her?" 

Still lying on the floor, Damien glanced at the fleeing Saintess, who had already disappeared beyond his sight. 

He was in no condition to go after her right now. 

His body now ached even more than before. 

Was this a consequence of the resistance to the so-called 'seal'? 

"And what is that, anyway? I never heard of it in the original story."

Although the Saintess problem is temporarily resolved now, he'll have to deal with it eventually. 

"And the Saintess herself...what the hell is that?"

The Saintess I knew wasn't like that. 

She had the highest resistance to corruption, so even in the worst of times, she remained the voice of reason for the protagonist. 

But soon Damien was laughing low. 

"Haha... how silly."

Was it worth comparing what I had only seen in the game to the current world? Now it was reality. 

He repeated it to himself once more, imprinting it in his mind.

"I should let go of the pleasant idea that everything will be exactly as I remember it."

Damien slowly got up off the floor. 

Either way, it's the outcome he wanted. He got rid of her, albeit in a pretty crazy way. 

And while it was a success, it also made him realize clearly. 

I still need power. Something that can turn this world around in my favor. 

Damien closed the door and went back into the bathroom with the broken mirror – for some reason he felt more secure here.

Clearing his throat, he began.