Chapter 3 - Incompetent 'Hollow Saint' (3) (無能な『空っぽ聖女』　３)

(M-Me, as the emperor's bride...?)

I initially thought it was definitely some kind of mistake, but it seemed to be the truth after looking at Marielle's conviction.

I never heard any of such a thing. That being said, it also wouldn't surprise me if Lady Sylvia didn't tell me anything.

(Me becoming the empress of the empire... T-That's absolutely impossible! Impossible, too absurd!)

Certainly, I had a lot of escorts guiding me this entire time, and they certainly treated me with respect for some reason. But I reasoned that it was simply because I was considered a precious saint.

(T-This is definitely bad! I should tell her the truth now and return to the kingdom...)

Half in a panic, I buried my head in my hands as I questioned myself on what should I do next. And then it happened.

"Ahhh! Oww..."

The carriage suddenly stopped. The moment my body slammed into the wall due to the impact, the scream of the driver filled the air.

"W-Who are you all! Arghhh!!!"

Immediately after that was the sound of swords clashing against each other and an angry voice, causing my shoulders to twitch in surprise.

It's clear that this wasn't simply an accident. My aching body stiffened at the apparent emergency.

"Lady Tiana, are you okay!?"

"Y-Yes. I'm fine. Rather than that, what just..."

Marielle immediately supported me and helped me stand up.

Turning my gaze to the window of the stopping carriage, I found my answer with a large number of equipped men appearing one after another from the forest and attacking the escort knights.

(No way... Why...)

My head went black again, and it took me some time to understand that we were under attack.

The empire's knights should be quite skillful, yet at the present, they were being pushed down by the overwhelming number of opponents. Not to say, some of the men could use magic.

"Lady Tiana, come here!"

In the midst of it, the door of the carriage opened and a knight reached his hand out to me. Clearly, he wanted to make sure that at least I would survive.

"Rather than me, everyone should..."

"Argh...!"

But soon the knight groaned and collapsed at the entrance of the carriage. He was struck from behind, and a puddle of blood spread across the ground.

"Hiii..."

"Saint, here you are! My bad, but you'll have to die here."

When I looked up, I saw a grinning stranger with a big sword in his hand, forcing goosebumps down my entire body.

"Ah, ahh..."

Marielle tried to protect me, but she was easily thrown away by the man. I could move not even my fingertips due to the fright, and the man, unforgiving, grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the carriage.

"Lady Tiana!"

The knights around me tried to rush toward me, but the many, many men prevented them to get closer. Weird. It didn't make sense for us to be suddenly ambushed by this amount of people.

"Why..."

"I've been ordered to absolutely kill you here."

The man spat out as he looked down at me who was rolled to the ground.

(Are they doing this just to kill me...?)

No matter how much I thought about it, I didn't understand why they would kill me now with such a large number of people.

"But hey, I didn't expect you to be this pretty. Will you let me have some fun after you die, hmm?"

Intense nausea welled up at the gaze that scanned my whole body and the disgusting words. The cold tip of the sword touched my neck. It alarmed me of my undoubtedly incoming "death".

There were times when I felt that it was too painful to leave, that my existence held no value.

Yet now, when I was on the brink of my death, I really didn't want to die.

(It's definitely because I had so much fun these past few days.)

It made me wish to touch many things, meet and talk with various people, and see more of the outside world.

With my trembling hand, I tightly grasped the tip of the sword digging into my neck.

"I don't want to die in a place like this...!"

And the moment I screamed out loud for the first time in my life, pain ran through my head as if I had been hit full force there. It was so intense that I couldn't bear to open my eyes.

Immediately after that, strange memories flowed into my head.

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