Chapter 36 - Say My Name

Miltiades’s expression crumbled. He stared at me as if he didn’t know what to feel, then covered his face. “Ha!” His low sigh was mixed with complicated emotions. The arm hugging me grew stronger, and I also hugged him tightly.

‘I’m so happy.’ No matter what I did, he stayed still. I didn’t know if he would do the same in the future. I was selfishly deceiving him by saying it was for his sake, but I hoped he knew.

It was the happiness, love, and peace he had never felt before.

‘I want you to be happy.’ These feelings were real, and I hoped that he would forgive me once he found out the truth. I was going to make him happy because I was happy to meet him. I didn’t care about becoming a villain as long as I could make Miltiades happy.

His hesitant hand pulled me closer. I smiled when I felt the willingness in his hand to never let me go. “Daddy, I’m curious about something.”

“What is it?”

“The guards in front of my room changed.”

Miltiades’s body grew rigid.

“Did you change them?” I asked him with an earnest expression while blinking, but he looked away.

I kept staring at him, and he eventually broke his silence. “…I gave them a vacation.”

“I see!” I nodded and saw him become relieved. “Hehe. I’ll have to greet them once they’re back!” ‘Is it just me or did his arm flinch?’

After a day, the guards were back. I didn’t know what they had gone through, but all of them bowed to me whenever they saw me. It was burdensome. 

* * *

My body quickly recovered after the Holy Vios Empire’s healers replenished my divine power. However, something was weird. ‘Why is an elder here?’

“Hoho. The Holy Father and the other elders are happy for your miracle.”

“…”

“It hasn’t been long since you’ve been in the world, yet you’ve already saved so many people. This is definitely the work of God.” Elder Maxen kept complimenting me.

“How expected from the saintess.” Luciana agreed from the side.

“Of course.”

This body was quite great. If I were a normal child, then I would’ve been happy. I couldn’t be excited in front of the elder. ‘They just needed to send a healer, so why did an elder come?’ It was obvious that he wasn’t here just because he was free. There was no way one of the twelve elders had so much time on his hands.

‘I can tell you’re trying to find a way to use me.’ There was no way I would fail to spot his dark desires hidden underneath his smile.

How did the Temple treat Priscilla? As a free potion, a divinity express. They told Priscilla that she needed to pay them back for raising her. On top of that, they overworked her to the point where she had cut into her own life to heal even those who weren’t in serious pain.

‘Priscilla was the one used for propaganda, and she was always attacked whenever something went wrong!’ I knew I was going to be used, so I stuck myself next to Luciana and pretended to be sick.

“I’m tired.” This was the best thing I could do in this situation. “I’m exhausted. I’m tired, Luci.”

Luciana became upset as I started whining, and she looked at Elder Marxen. The elder laughed a bit but belatedly realized what was going on as we stared at him. “Hoho, this old man couldn’t read the room. Please rest well, Saintess.”

“Okay. Bye.” ‘Get lost.’

“Luciana, take care of the saintess.” Elder Marxen uselessly nagged at Luciana and regretfully looked at me. “I hope you get well soon.”

I nodded to show him that I had heard him, and he finally left.

“Why is that elder grandpa here?” I asked Luciana as soon as he was gone.

“I heard His Majesty asked for a healer from the Holy Empire because you weren’t waking up.”

“What? Dad asked for help?” The unexpected answer I got shocked me. “Dad asked… for me?” ‘Really?!’

I blinked a few times before breaking out in laughter. I couldn’t lower my cheekbones no matter how hard I tried. I didn’t even need the moon tonight. My cheeks were up high anyway! I kept laughing. 

Luciana looked at me as if I had gone crazy. “Saintess, why are you suddenly laughing?”

“Dad… loves me…!” That was the only reason. “Ah, why is everything he does so cute? Really, I can’t deal with how cute he is. Well, there’s nothing I can do. I’ll have to live with him forever. Ah, he can’t do anything without me!”

As I shook my head, I heard Luciana sigh at my absurdity. I think she whispered ‘I feel bad for His Majesty.’