“You were following me.”

At Ellin’s calm question, Arkan nodded his head with a surprised expression on his face.

And again, he put on a cold, chilling expression like a blade and replied.

“Because I saw you eavesdropping like a rat.”

Apparently, knowing that she had seen the scene, he had followed after her. Since it would be difficult to hide if she was killed near the Saint’s residence, so he waited until she came to a remote area herself to kill her. In addition, if she screams, Ellin would be decapitated at the same moment. 

This had made it clear that the Emperor, Arkan, was behind Liliana. For some reason, he made her the fake Saint and brought her into the temple. No, it was ridiculous to say the reason…

It was because Emperor Arkan hated the Temple.

“Even if I told you that I wouldn’t disclose this to anyone, you wouldn’t believe me, right?”

Arkan did not respond to Ellin’s calm words.

Even though the blade of the knife was piercing her throat, Ellin only gazed at it with indifferent eyes. Arkan, who once had been desperately shouting that he wanted her heart so much, became a complete stranger at this moment and was threatening her life.

‘That’s a relief.’

She felt that way for some reason.

With Maynard and Erich, it was somehow sad to be strangers with them. However, she was relieved when Arkan did not recognize her. She had never felt so peaceful. It was natural because the Black Emperor, Arkan, lost his life because of her. Once again, Ellin wondered if she was a saint or if she was a demon that killed people. How many people have died because they had relationships with her?
[ T/N: Just for clarification, but ‘black’ in this case is referred to as ‘evil.’ ]

Arkan, whom she had not seen in a long time, was living like this and looking at her.

…What was the feeling she had for him?

Ellin did not know until she died, either. Still, what is certain is that it is happiness and relief that she could feel right now.

Nonetheless, she could not just die like this.

Since she was a saint, Ellin knew the safeguards in the temple. She could see the tree tied with a blue ribbon with a safety device on her, perhaps because God was protecting her.

“How did you know that the Emperor was behind this? Just by listening to the conversation.”

Arkan seemed to have something to ask. As Ellin thought about what she should do, she stepped back away from him and answered.

“It was a guess. The person who could get the magic stone must be a very rich person.”

“Just from that?”

“For a commoner like me, the richest person is the Emperor.”

She roughly made up her answer.

“A commoner?”

Repeating her words back, he glanced at her clothes with a convinced look.

Immediately, his face was as if he had lost interest in her. As soon as she saw that expression, Ellin thought that she would survive, but she was wrong. It was because the following moment, she could feel a sharp pain in her neck and her blood flowing.

This relentless man would kill her mercilessly.

Ellin staggered and reached for a tree, pretending to lose her balance. There was a safety device that could summon paladins that only insiders knew about. When she touched the tree tied with the blue ribbon, the signal was given to the paladins unconditionally. This was what she had learned from Maynard when she was the Saint.

“Who is it?!”

Fortunately, the tension was relieved as Maynard’s voice was heard at that moment, perhaps because the paladins were already nearby. Whilst, Arkan clicked his tongue and glared at her.

Ellin gazed at him and opened her mouth.

“I promise I won’t say anything. I swear by your eyes.”

He widened his eyes.

The Normatians took pride in their red eyes, which contained the blood of God, and even swore by their eyes when they swore. Of course, Arkan had the identity of a Nicaean in this country, so even though Ellin had no intention of revealing that, she wanted him to believe her words.

It was not long before the knights approached after Arkan put away his sword.

Ellin quickly untied her braided hair and covered the wound on her neck. Observing her, Arkan furrowed his eyebrows at her swift process.

“Why are you here again?”

As Maynard spoke in a dissatisfied voice, as soon as he saw Ellin’s face, she flinched.

“Your Majesty, what are you doing here? I heard you’re having dinner with the Pope, but…”

“The Pope wasn’t feeling well today, so he and the Saint returned first. I left after and decided to look around the temple, though I lost my way and found this woman so I was just talking to her.”

“….”

Ellin nodded her head as if he was right.

Seeing her reaction, Maynard stared at her with a cool expression as if angry. He then glanced at the tree where Ellin was near, thinking that she must have sent the signal by mistake.

“Why are you walking around here at this hour? You, too, should be at the dining hall.”

“The commoners are instructed to stay here because they were told they might be rude to His Majesty. I was walking around feeling frustrated and met this person. To be honest, I didn’t know he was His Majesty.”

As Ellin spoke, pretending that she did not understand, Arkan raised his eyebrows. 

Similarly, Maynard was astonished to hear her words. Not only were they still nervous because the Emperor, who was hostile to the temple, visited, the signal suddenly came so they hastily moved, but it was such a pointless situation.

“That’s ludicrous. All Angelias have to do is follow the Saint. If you say things like that, are you implying that the Saint discriminates against based on status?”

“I was short in thought.”

In the midst of all of this, Maynard criticized her for saying things about the ‘commoner’ in front of the Emperor and undermining the appraisal of the Saint. Just a moment ago, she almost got killed by Arkan, so Ellin felt disappointed because of his behavior.

“Sir Maynard, are you blaming me?”

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