Chapter 51
Saint Amael was crying while looking at the sky.
He clawed at his chest and head.
"Please... please. I want to be happy. Please."
Sobbing and pleading, he screamed and collapsed to the floor.
He was breaking.
Writhing in pain, he was gradually dragged into darkness.
And then...
He completely disappeared.
***
The two princesses jumped up from the bed simultaneously.
Both of them were covered in cold sweat.
"What... what is this?"
Iomene stopped wiping her cold sweat and looked at the back of her hand.
Dullaneer's stigmata was glowing.
The two immediately realized this wasn't a simple dream.
"Why the Saint? How?"
Just as Almene was muttering, a memory flashed through both of their minds simultaneously.
When Iomene's mind was still not sound.
It was the memory of Amael hugging Iomene and crying.
— If you stay by my side, Iomene will only get hurt.
They remember the saint's sad eyes looking down at her as she asked him to marry her.
A sad smile came to mind, as if forcibly swallowing frustration and resentment.
— I'm sorry, Iomene.
And the moment when he hugged Iomene and cried also came to mind.
After briefly reflecting on that memory, the two princesses got up from their seats simultaneously with pale faces.
After hurriedly changing clothes, the two rushed outside.
"To the Mars Magic Tower branch. Please depart immediately!"
"As you command, Your Highnesses."
A limousine was ready like a bullet, and the two were able to arrive at the Magic Tower not long after.
The two got out of the car and entered the Magic Tower surrounded by guards, and despite the sudden visit, the Tower Master was immediately called down.
"Oh, what brings you here?"
The two carefully bowed their heads towards Tower Master Yorgen, who came down flustered with a surprised expression.
"Please forgive our rudeness for coming without prior notice. But we had to come like this because there's someone we urgently need to meet."
"Who do you wish to meet?"
"Is Erpha here? We'd like to meet with her."
"With Erpha?"
"Yes. Me, Iomene, and Miss Erpha. We'd like to talk just the three of us."
"I'll call her right away. Would you please wait in the reception room?"
"Thank you."
The two princesses went to the Magic Tower's reception room and waited quietly, and in less than 5 minutes, Erpha entered the reception room.
"Then please have your conversation."
After the Tower Master bowed politely and closed the door, only 3 women were left inside the reception room.
Erpha looked at the two princesses with an expressionless face for a moment and then greeted them politely.
"I greet Your Highnesses the Princesses. I am Erpha, a witch of the Magic Tower."
In Erpha's eyes were wariness, fear, and a strange jealousy.
The two could understand why she was making such an expression.
"Miss Erpha. We came because we wanted to talk about the Saint."
As Almene spoke first, Erpha's hands began to tremble.
"As expected. Is that why you came?"
Erpha opened her mouth with a locked voice.
"You're going to tell me to give up on the Saint, aren't you? And you two are thinking of monopolizing him, right?"
Erpha hung her head as if miserable.
"That's right. I was rejected. I was rejected in front of Princess Iomene. But even so, I will never give up. No matter what threats you make to me. I will never give him up."
At those words, Iomene stood up.
"I'm sorry, but you're misunderstanding."
"If that's not it, what reason is there for you to come find me?"
Iomene threw out a word indifferently.
"The Saint will die, Erpha."
With that one word, Erpha's mood changed.
"...What?"
Iomene pointed to the stigmata on the back of her hand.
"Lord Dullaneer showed us two this morning. The sight of the Saint unable to endure the pain, finally collapsing and breaking."
The jealousy disappeared from Erpha's eyes.
Anger too.
All competitiveness disappeared as well.
And finally, her eyes became what Iomene wanted.
She had a desperate look.
"Sit down first. The story seems like it will be a bit long."
Iomene quietly pointed to the opposite side of the reception room sofa where the two were sitting, and Erpha didn't refuse.
Erpha's eyes were trembling as she sat on the sofa.
"Please tell me in detail."
Almene explained, "It's exactly as we said. We saw the Saint suffering in pain, being consumed by darkness and disappearing. It looked like his mind had collapsed. He was begging to be made happy."
Erpha's eyes trembled.
"Why? He is the most devout apostle of God. He saved countless people and saved us, too. So why him?"
Iomene answered that question, "It's speculation, but there's one point I'm suspicious about."
"What is it?"
"The Saint may have received a revelation that he must continue to fight evil. The fact that Lord Dullaneer, the God of Evil Destruction, deliberately showed us the Saint's appearance is evidence of that. Although he serves a different god, he will be used in a way that fulfills Lord Dullaneer's will."
At Iomene's words, Erpha shook her head with a face that didn't understand.
"Evil destruction? Isn't that something Princess Iomene, the holy woman of the White Order, should do? Why the Saint?"
At those words, Iomene smiled bitterly.
"The situation must be that urgent. For 300 years, no saints, holy women, or heroes were allowed, and then the Saint of Healing and the Holy Woman of Evil Destruction were allowed to humanity almost simultaneously. It's clear that he wasn't sent down just to heal and leave, right?"
300 years ago.
That was, even before the empire was created.
They say it wasn't so difficult to find saints, holy women, and heroes back then.
It was said that the gods also gave divine words to humans more directly, and divine power, blessings, and miracles were much stronger than now.
But for 300 years, the gods of the Pantheon no longer allowed saints, holy women, and heroes to humans. Divine words also became extremely rare, and miracles and divine power were said to have weakened greatly compared to their heyday.
In contrast, evil god worshippers and demon cultists steadily built up their strength in the shadows for 300 years, growing to the point where they could now place an evil god's chosen one in the middle of the imperial palace.
Humans couldn't know exactly what was happening in heaven and hell, but it was obvious that the power of the Pantheon had weakened and the power of evil beings had strengthened.
In such a situation.
A saint appeared and saved the empire.
As Iomene said, it was clear that he wasn't sent down simply to treat the sick and leave.
"Evil destruction doesn't just mean physically beating to death like the White Order. He must have received a mission to continue saving the weak."
Almene continued the conversation, "Moreover, he's a foreseer. It wouldn't be strange if he saw a future where the world is destroyed by the hands of evil ones. Perhaps he's continuing to bear all the burden alone to prevent that future and save those who are suffering..."
The words were cut off.
All three women's faces were pale.
They hated it.
The saint disappearing and breaking.
They really hated that more than death.
Erpha tightly clasped her four trembling hands together.
"So that's why he pushed me away. He must have thought that if I stayed by his side, I would get hurt because he has to fight evil beings."
Erpha seemed to be recalling the moment when the saint coldly rejected her.
Until just now, it was a depressing memory, but now it was a memory that created anxiety and worry.
"What should we do? How can we prevent the future where he breaks?"
At those words, Almene smiled faintly.
"It's simple. He just needs someone to open his heart to."
"Considering his personality, he's the type who would rather suffer alone! No matter what, he'll never open his heart. He's the type who would rather die than have others suffer because of his mission."
It wasn't wrong.
A being who was foolishly good, didn't care for himself at all, and willingly jumped into danger to save people.
That was the Saint Amael the three of them knew.
No matter how much they tried to approach, it was clear he would try to push them away somehow, worried they would get hurt.
No matter how much they persuaded and begged, he would never open his heart.
It was obvious he would act so foolishly, even though he was inwardly suffering and breaking down more than anyone else.
Erpha didn't know how to make the saint open his heart, but Iomene and Almene were just smiling strangely, as if they knew the answer.
"Let's get him intoxicated."
Iomene spat out one sentence.
"And then we copulate."
Erpha coughed as if she swallowed her saliva wrong.
"W-what…!"
"Given the saint's personality, he'll never give his heart in an ordinary way. He'll never try to rely on anyone. So I think it's time for a somewhat extreme method."
"The saint loves you, Miss Erpha. When you were rejected by him and left. You don't know how sad a face he had as he watched your back."
Erpha was surprised at those words.
"Really... Did he really?"
"It was a look that couldn't come out unless he was in love. It's clear. So you have to do it. Go and somehow win his heart. And comfort him. Because he'll be in pain from now on too. You need to be his support so he doesn't break down."
"That's why we came. You can do it, Erpha."
Erpha was silent for a moment at the words of Princess Iomene and Almene.
After a long while, she opened her mouth, "Why are you doing this much for me? Don't you two love the saint too?"
At those words, the two princesses nodded.
"We love him. We love him to the point where our breath stops."
"To be honest, we thought several times about somehow getting rid of you and having the saint to ourselves. But we couldn't do that."
"The thought of preventing another person who was saved just like us from loving him… seemed too selfish."
"So go. Go and win the saint's heart and make him happy. That's what we want."
The conversation ended.
Iomene and Almene were smiling with sad faces, and Erpha was staring at the two princesses.
Erpha seemed to be thinking about something.
After pondering and pondering for a long time, she finally smiled self-deprecatingly.
"You're both fools. To try to hand over the man you love to a rival."
Iomene smiled bitterly.
"We both thought it was a foolish thing to do as we came here."
"Don't worry. I'm no less of a fool than you two."
This time, the two princesses were surprised at those words. Erpha shrugged at their expressions.
"Three is better than one, right? Besides, you're telling me to go with a bottle of alcohol and make the saint drink? I'm a woman who's lived half her life in hiding. There's no way I could do such a thing skillfully. I guarantee you two doing it would be much better."
The two princesses looked at Erpha carefully.
"Will you really be okay with this, Erpha?"
Erpha nodded.
"It's exactly as you two said. It's too selfish to claim that someone can love and someone can't when we were all saved together, isn't it? I don't think that's right."
At those words, smiles appeared on the faces of Iomene and Almene.
"We'll somehow make him drink. And then we'll call you, Erpha."
"Please do that. But one thing. I can't yield on this. The first experience is mine."
Almene and Iomene licked their lips as if regretful at those words.
"Alright. We'll accept that."
"We'll just warm him up. But after that, it's us."
Erpha nodded.
That was how it was decided.
***
Since she was someone who came and went every day, no one stopped her when she entered the temple of the magic tower and headed to the saint’s room.
Erpha carefully entered the saint’s room, stepping past the guards, court mages, and priests and knights of the White Order.
The court mage must have installed soundproofing magic in advance, so when she entered, she heard a sound that was not heard at all from outside.
"Wait, Iomene. If you put it in suddenly like that... Ah…♥ Uh♥"
"Since the sensations are shared, it feels like doing it with two Saints. How interesting."
The twin sisters were lying on either side of the saint and moaning.
The two raised their flushed faces when they saw Erpha come inside.
The two princesses looked at Erpa and smiled brightly.
“We haven’t done it yet as promised.”
“I only touched his fingers and arms. Is this okay?”
Erpha nodded to the two and approached the bed.
She saw the saint sleeping soundly.
His eyes were slightly swollen, as if he had shed tears.
She felt pity for him.
Erpa quietly climbed onto the saint’s body.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry for doing this.”
This foolishly kind and good man probably woke up the next day worrying about the three people rather than get angry after checking the situation.
Since he was such a foolishly good man, he would not show anyone the mission he had shouldered, and in the end...
He would end up ruined like in the two princesses' dreams.
She didn't expect much.
It was clear that he would continue to save people in the future.
The process would be painful and difficult.
So she wanted to give him a happy experience, even if it was just for a little while.
Erpha hoped that after he woke up, he would open his heart through this incident.
She wanted him to be happy in her arms, even if it was just for a little while.
She wished he would cry and act childish, saying that the burden he was carrying was heavy.
It would be painful and difficult.
Erpha carefully lowered his face and kissed the saint.
“After today, you can criticize me and get angry. It’s okay to react however you want, but please… don’t break.”
Her four arms moved slowly and delicately, taking off the witch’s costume that was wrapped around her.
“I love you, Saint.”
The night deepened.