Interlude: A Foolish Man Named Alexei
TO put it plainly, Alexei had lost everything. He had borne the blame for the false accusation of Sai Cutrettola, former governor of the Cutrettola territory and Wagtail Priestess, and that felony knocked him from the post of Holy Knight Commander. After a period of detention, he was given the role of Saint Guard Commander. The title itself sounded grand, but in truth, he was merely a chaperone intended to keep an eye on the Saint.
Of late, Saint Lilly had been secluding herself in the newly established sanctuary built specifically for her, where she indulged in a slovenly life. That day, like any other day, she lay half naked in bed as she attended to a boy—a young priest she had abducted from somewhere—then transformed him into an unseemly sight unbearable to look at before tossing the boy to Alexei like trash.
“I’m tired of this one. Give me a new one.”
“…Lilly. Stop it already. All the boys you force here are the children or brothers of aristocrats. You need to realize the significant implications of your debauchery.”
“What’s with you? You learned the taste of that word through me, but you’re going to preach to me now?”
The only covering Lilly wore was her strawberry blonde hair as she approached Alexei, her bare feet tapping on the ground. She leaned forward to intertwine their bodies until there was no space to speak of between the pair.
Whenever he looked at her ruby eyes and dazzling smile, Alexei’s heart and mind surrendered even though he knew it was wrong. He didn’t even have the heart to shake her off. All he could do was obey the woman’s every whim.
He draped clothes over the young priest, who was sitting with vacant eyes on the ground, before chasing the boy out.
The sun was still high in the sky outside, and an autumn breeze ruffled Alexei’s golden hair. Alexei watched the boy scramble to get away from the sanctuary until he was no longer in sight. He sighed.
It was already common knowledge among a select group of influential people that Saint Lilly could bend the will of others to her whim and destroy their rationality. But no one could stop her because she was the legendary Saint upon which Centoria had staked its honor to summon. To criticize her was, by extension, to criticize the royal family, parliament, judiciary, and church combined.
It was already a sensitive period—the public was growing increasingly doubtful of the government due to the lengthening conflict with Meridiona, and if they ever found out that the fabled Saint was a wicked, thoughtless woman who cared only about fulfilling her desires of the flesh, Centoria might collapse entirely.
The nation was indeed that fragile. And unbeknownst to Alexei, the Orient Empire, reputed since ancient times to be a barren, impoverished country, had amassed a wealth of foreign currency due to its medicine industry. And by undertaking agrarian reforms that didn’t rely on magic, the empire was growing increasingly powerful.
Occidenia, an agricultural country that enjoyed far more temperate weather than Centoria, was an ally of the latter. But if they ever chose to turn their hostility on Centoria, the kingdom would not survive unscathed.
Lastly, Meridiona had been assumed to be an undeveloped land dotted with small tribes, but in recent years, a man who proclaimed himself the Meridionan king had become a guiding star for the tribes’ unification, creating the foundation of a cohesive nation. And so, the war only dragged on.
The Saint’s role was significant, and for good reason. In a country of mages, the woman’s immense mana pool could solve many problems. Yet she hadn’t bothered to learn the techniques to control her magic and instead invested all her time into tempting others to tragedy. At first, everyone had been oblivious to her power, but people were bound to notice after several months of an alarming rise in the number of members of the royal court who self-destructed.
As Alexei had. Afterward, he was interrogated by the Order, by the people he knew, by his family. They asked, “Is it Lilly’s fault that you treated your fiancée Sai Cutrettola so horribly and wrongly accused her of those crimes?”
Alas.
✦ ✦ ✦
🐦🐦🐦
“WELCOME back, Alexei.”
The woman imprisoned in the “sanctuary” was still barely clothed as she smiled at the man who entered. Alexei’s chest felt tight as he sprinted toward her. He pounced on her, pushed her onto the bed, buried his face in her chest.
The woman giggled. “Hee-hee, what’s wrong, Alexei?”
If only, he thought numbly, if only this emotion in my heart was the result of her witchcraft.
“…I love you, Lilly,” he whispered.
He loved her soft, ample breasts, the sweetness of her skin, her strawberry blonde hair, her delicate fingertips, her—
“Aw, are you sure you can say such words to me?”
Alexei had abandoned everything for his love—his family, his pride, his future—and Lilly simply laughed without a care, transforming his sentiment into seafoam as she wound her arms around him.
Alexei had embraced her, confessed to her hundreds, thousands of times, yet never once had it reached Lilly’s heart.