Chapter 2 - Incompetent 'Hollow Saint' (2) (無能な『空っぽ聖女』　２)

Three days had passed since then. Guards always stood by outside my room, as if they thought I might escape somehow.

(It's finally the day... No matter how much I begged, they only beat me up. No one would listen to me.)

I desperately held back my tears, mentally crushed by anxiety and sadness.

I waited alone once I was done cleaning my room, and a knocking sound echoed before long.

"Miss Tiana. The preparation is finished."

"...Yes."

I wholeheartedly thanked the small room where I had spent fifteen of my years. I then left the room with a small bag containing all of my belongings and an old rod, making my way to the gate.

I was originally born into a viscount family, and my parents were still alive and well. However, they considered me a disgrace once they found out that I was incompetent and wouldn't allow me to go home.

No one came to see me off outside the temple. Even the empire messenger couldn't hide the puzzled look on his face. And he was terribly surprised that my baggage was very small.

(He's probably wondering if I'm really a saint...)

Normally, a saint wouldn't receive this kind of treatment, for they were more precious than anything else.

"May we depart now?"

"Y-Yes. Please."

In the midst of my surprise at the comfort of the luxurious carriage I experienced for the first time, I turned my gaze to the woman sitting in front of me.

I briefly greeted her earlier; Marielle, who was apparently assigned to be my personal maid.

Marielle was very polite and courteous, her graceful manners suggesting that she was born of noble birth.

(W-Why would someone like me have a noble as my personal maid... Once they find out that I can't do anything after giving me such a high treatment, I...)

In addition, more than ten escort knights were guarding outside. They told me that they were there to protect me, and it made me dizzy. Just thinking about the future caused my stomach to hurt with fear. I held my stomach, face down.

Marielle called me out with a worried face. "Lady Tiana, are you okay?"

"Ah, yes... I was thinking about something... I'm terribly sorry..."

"Please don't apologize. And you don't have to be that courteous with me, Lady Tiana."

Out of habit, I couldn't help myself from apologizing, but I was greeted with Marielle's troubled smile when I raised my face. After all, she's such a kind and wonderful person. To accompany someone like me would be a waste of talent.

"I can imagine that leaving your country alone must be very lonely and unsettling. I will do my best to make Lady Tiana as comfortable as possible, so please feel free to ask me anything."

"...Thank you, very much."

My heart ached with guilt. I'm not someone who deserves to be treated with such care, and yet...

After that, Marielle carefully explained to me the empire and the journey plan.

"It should take about four days in total to reach Reavis Empire. We are heading to the Kulikov Kingdom in this carriage for two days. Then we will teleport to the Troshin Kingdom with the gate, before heading back to the empire by carriage."

Using a teleport magic circle called 'gate', the travel time would be considerably shortened. I had read about it in books, and this would be the first time I'd actually seen or used it.

Moving my gaze outside the window, the view outside the window had changed to a scenery I had never seen before.

"Wow...!"

The beautiful gardens and buildings that spread all over the place took my breath away.

The useless me couldn't travel around the country to do my work as a saint, and I naturally seldom went outside the temple. Everything was new and sparkling in my eyes, rendering my heart to leap in excitement.

(...Will they allow me to play a little bit for the last time before we reach the Reavis Empire?)

I couldn't picture myself being able to relax and look at the scenery outside like this after arriving in the empire. It's also possible that they would return me to Fallon Kingdom right away. Once that happened, I would receive even worse treatment than ever.

"Lady Tiana, I see that you like nature quite a lot."

"...Yes, I like it very much."

I told myself that I still had a few more days, frantically searing the passing scenery into my memory.

◇◇◇

Two days had passed since I left the country. To describe the journey, it was basically traveling by carriage all day long. Marielle and the knights took consideration of my body and took frequent breaks.

The lodgings we stayed at along the way were all great places.  I was only allowed to eat leftover food at the temple, hence why anything we ate was so delicious that I could feel all my tension puffing away.

"Lady Tiana, please have a taste of this fruit. I heard that this is the specialty product in this area."

"T-Thank you very much. Wow, it's delicious...! It's really, really tasty."

"That's good. We still have some here if you want more."

We got off the carriage every break and I had a great time looking at and eating various things with Marielle.

(I know I shouldn't be acting like this right now, but it's so fun...)

Even the kind Marielle would surely feel betrayed once she found out that I had almost no magic power. I could feel my conscience pricking when I think of deceiving such kind people.

We got back into the carriage and moved through the forest. When we almost arrived at the Kurikov Kingdom where the gate was located, Marielle put one hand on her cheek and stared at me, sighing. "Lady Tiana is really pretty. I've never seen someone this beautiful before."

"Eh? I... that..."

I couldn't accept her words since it was exaggerations by any means, and yet Marie didn't yield.

"Hehe, I believe the people of the empire will be happy with Lady Tiana becoming the empress."

"...Empress?"

"Yes. Lady Tiana is coming to our country as the bride of Emperor Felix, right?"

My mind went black at her unbelievable words.

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