Suppressing the boiling fear and helplessness, he forcibly raised the corners of his mouth.

‘You’ll wake up as usual.’

He would make it happen somehow. However, it was increasingly evident that there was no time left to choose means and methods.

He decided he would never waste that time.

“I love you.”

As Johan looked into Estelle’s indigo eyes, he pondered.
In my early years, I did experience love and precious moments, but it had been so long that I pondered what it truly meant, whether it aligned with Estelle’s perception of that emotion.

It may sound strange, but Johan wanted to be as honest as possible with Estelle. Despite deceiving everyone else in the world, there was a persistent desire to show Estelle an unfiltered version of himself.

‘Why does it matter?’

However, from that honest contemplation, Johan obtained nothing but witnessing Estelle collapsing without hearing the answer she desired.

‘You could have just said what you wanted.’

Estelle.

Every time Johan looked at Estelle, he felt confused. She disrupted plans with her mere existence, made him endure things he hadn’t done, and even made him reconsider revenge as the goal of life. She even led him to reflect on revenge from the very beginning.

‘Yet, I…’

Lifting the sleeping Estelle, Johan lightly kissed her cheek.

“When you wake up, I’ll tell you a hundred times.”

Estelle gave Johan an empty impulse, stimulated unknown emotions in him, and continued to obsess over her.

He wanted to know everything about Estelle, eradicate everything that tormented her most horrifically, and wished she couldn’t live without him.

At some point, these emotions became entirely unrelated to revenge.

But still, Johan wanted that. He wanted to be the only one left in Estelle’s world.

So, under her eyelids, Johan kissed her, wishing her eyes could contain only him, her precious hands and feet could touch only him, her ears could hear only his voice, her breath could be drawn only from him, and her heart could beat only for him.

“If you want, I can be anything. I can do anything for you.”

Johan, realizing himself as a monster, chuckled and smirked.

‘Hide the horror well.’

If he made Estelle neither surprised nor frightened, then everything horrifying about him could be concealed. This terrifying possessiveness settled near his heart like a ferocious beat. Johan embraced Estelle and stepped outside.

In the meantime, the night passed, and the morning sun poured over Estelle’s platinum hair.

Johan’s red eyes gleamed with madness. However, he, not like a madman, whispered sweetly in a languid voice.

“As you wished, I’ll love you.”

The monster, broken and mangled, had become the woman’s heart and kissed her.

“So, we’ll be together forever.”

Mirieu committed suicide in prison.

With the items provided by Viscountess Juti out of concern for Mirieu, she ended her life.

[I apologize to everyone. There’s no way left for me to repay my sins, so even in death, I want to atone for everything.] I sincerely apologize to Princess Hessenn and Diana, Queen Loyum, and our family who covered up the fact that I am an illegitimate child and took care of me as if I were their own. Lastly, I am deeply sorry to the saint who suffered due to my lies but could not live to hear my apology. I am sorry.]

The social circle that was shocked and appalled upon realizing Mirieu’s true identity suddenly fell silent. No matter how wicked Mirieu’s sins were, the details had not been fully revealed through a trial.

With a sense of hesitation that one couldn’t speak ill of the deceased, various stories emerged.

“How much greater sin must she have committed to consider death as an escape?”

“But Juti Viscountess’s daughter still has years ahead; it could be a desperate choice out of fear…”

“Yet, why hasn’t there been any news from the temple side? There are nobles here who donate to the temple, so why haven’t they provided any information? Why did the saint endorse lies that deceived the Loyum royal family?”

The temple also found itself in a more difficult situation.

“How do we handle this situation? Can we continue to remain silent as before?”

“Of course not. By punishing that morally corrupt woman, the innocent saint could avoid anger, but…”

None of this had been discussed in private, and it was the first official statement from a royal family.

‘Why did the saint do such a thing?’

‘Because she grew up in the temple, she might not have understood the ways of the world, but there’s nothing we can do about it.’

Saint Stella had been tormented by doubts about the truthfulness from the start.

As a figure directly linked to the honor of the temple and the Sacred Empire, Stella, who grew up in the temple, caused tension not only among priests but even among high-ranking clergy.

“Have the saint said anything?”

“It seems like she was greatly shocked by the fact that the person she had blessed turned out to be such a terrible person.”

Simon, the high priest, sighed while looking in the direction of the room where the saint stayed.