A saintess? She's just a bad woman.

Page 101

"You're so stubborn!"

……

"Oh!"

"Guwoo..."

Then, Santa Karina was slapped away again. She was told to leave again.

The owner of the forbidden library was not welcoming to her at all, and locked the door again, beginning to cast a "transfer spell".

However, Santa Karina did not give up, nor did she compromise. She simply opened the door again and again, barging in as an uninvited guest.

until……

"Saint Karina! You're such an idiot! A hopeless idiot! Why did you even come here?! I don't welcome you here at all, and I never want to see you again!"

Faced with Saint Karina's repeated challenges, Abner, who spoke harshly, looked at her as if she were a hopeless fool. Her blue eyes were filled with excitement, her lips trembled, and she gripped the black book tightly.

"You... my chance to speak with you is over. You trampled on that chance yourself... Why can't you understand?!"

"I just don't know. As long as you're not really rejecting me, I'll come here no matter how many times."

"I truly refuse you!"

Overwhelmed with anger and utterly surprised, Abner was speechless and dumbfounded.

She genuinely didn't grasp the meaning behind Saint Karina's words.

She knew about Abner's actions and thoughts, yet she still came here, highlighting the contradiction between the two.

“If you really don’t want to see my face, then stay in the Forbidden Library, Abner.”

"What are you saying... Abner hasn't even left the Forbidden Library! You're the one who pushed the door open and ran in, and you're saying this..."

"No, that's not right. If you really wanted to stay here alone, how could I have come here so many times in such a short period of time? Your rejection is just superficial."

"Ah, woo."

The tongue-tied Abner couldn't find a way to refuse; her usually eloquent tongue and debating skills were completely useless at this moment.

She was like a child being scolded by her parents or elders, at a loss for words.

Magic is not omnipotent, as mentioned before. However, it is close to being omnipotent.

If Abner truly rejected others and isolated the Forbidden Library from the outside world, Saint Karina would not have been able to enter the Forbidden Library so easily.

The reason he didn't do it, or couldn't do it, was because Abner's heart was wavering.

"──"

After being accused by Saint Karina, Abner began to doubt his own heart.

Even without it being explicitly stated, she has now lost the support of the promise and is teetering on the brink of collapse.

It was precisely because Abner did not truly reject Saint Karina that the doors of the "Forbidden Library" were opened to her.

No one knows the answer.

But—if only she could enter Abner's heart, just her personally. Saint Karina longed for this, and hoped for it.

"You...you're not! My 'the one'!"

Unable to bear the chaos and confusion, Abner almost cried out to Saint Karina while clutching the black book.

“You said it yourself, you’re not ‘that person’! You said it yourself! You said it. If you were ‘that person’… even if you’re lying, as long as you admit it, I would believe you. Even if I know it’s a lie, I can only believe it.”

“Abner…”

"But you insisted that it wasn't true. Not only that, you called me an idiot. Yes, that's it. You're right. I am an idiot, a complete fool, and I still can't forget the verbal agreement from over a decade ago... So! No matter what anyone says, I'm going to end it here!"

As Abner screamed in despair, a gust of wind appeared around her, enveloping her like a cage.

Magical currents billowed through the girl's skirt and long hair, and an atmosphere of sorrow filled the entire forbidden library. Witnessing this, Saint Karina held her breath and stepped forward.

With a firm belief in myself, I am not afraid of getting hurt by encountering the whirlwind formed by magic.

"And me!"

"──"

“I am not ‘the one’ for you. I can tell you countless times that the princess on her white horse you are waiting for will not come. No matter how long you wait here, she will never come.”

The repeated negativity spread despair in Abner's eyes.

However, if it ends here, it will be the same as before. I need to tell her what happens next.

"But!"

"──"

"I want to be with you, Abner."

“──!”

"I want to stay by your side, so that you, with your gentle nature, will not be sad."

"Ah...woo, gulp...!"

Abner's expression was contorted.

The expanding magic lost its spearhead, and the wind began to dance wildly, as if it wanted to harm itself.

Anger, sadness, and something else made her wrinkle her face. Like a drowning person grasping at a straw, she opened the black leather book on her lap; the wind turned the pages, revealing blank pages. Endless blankness.

The empty book, displaying nothing, was like the void in her heart that could never be filled, forcing Abner to make a choice.

Take a deep breath. Say what you didn't finish saying when you parted ways.

—Then, let's finish saying what we want to say this time.

"Abner. -- Help me."

"……What?"

Saint Karina said this with her head held high and her chest puffed out.

Her earnest expression left Abner utterly astonished.

She had countless imaginings about what Saint Karina would say.

Facing the inevitable end, Abner had simulated many times what Saint Karina would say to him, and then eliminated them one by one.

—I want to save you. I don't want you to be alone. I need you.

She must have been looking forward to those feminine words, which were her expectations of "that person".

However, if the intention was to express genuine feelings, then those words were too much of a stretch for Saint Karina.

"I've thought a lot about how cool it is to say, 'I want to pull you out of your loneliness.'... But all those words were just temporary excuses. I want to tell you the truth. How I see you, and what I want to say to you."

Faced with the speechless Abner, Saint Karina laid bare her true feelings.

She leaves even this simple matter of how she will accept it to the other party.

"You are strong, smart and cute... You can do anything if you're willing to do it, there's nothing that can stump you."

"──"

"Your personal abilities are strong enough to survive. That's for sure. Otherwise, you wouldn't have been able to fight alone for so long in the palace, where there are brothers and dangers everywhere, and gradually strengthen your own power, making everyone else either fear, respect or trust you. So, the idea of ​​helping you or becoming your ally doesn't resonate with you at all."

"──"

"But even if you are strong, smart and cute, you are still afraid of living alone. You must be sad and lonely. So, no one will blame you for clinging to the existence of 'that person'."

"You...you just...rejected my feelings without my consent...now you understand what I mean...!"

Abner glared at Saint Karina with gritted teeth and a look of near-hatred.

But her trembling emotions couldn't completely transform into hatred. She clung tightly to her lingering, agitated feelings, conveying her emotions through words.

But Santa Karina shook her head at her.

“I know. You are very kind. If someone has a nightmare, you will hold that person's hand and try to help them fall asleep peacefully. If someone encounters a difficult situation that seems insurmountable, you will lend a helping hand to clear a path. No matter how annoying or disliked the other person is, you will feel sad if you lose someone you are close to.”

"You really do have that... self-important tone..."

"Indeed, it was just my arrogance. However, I don't want you to continue being all alone, awkward and self-destructive. All I can do is hold on to you tightly."

Saint Karina stretched out her right hand in front of Abner, who was staring wide-eyed.

These hands are fair and slender, worthy of holding a beautiful young girl's hand.

"Abner, help me."

"──"

"Please help me, I'm so lonely I can't live without you."

What a shameful and indecent threat this is!

She uses the threat of saying she can't live without you to force the other person to hold her hand.

Because they don't know what they can do for the other person, they tell the other person what they can do for them, and use this as a reason to force the other person to live.

"Cunning...so cunning."

This threat, which disregarded his image, made Abner so excited that he could hardly contain himself, and his lips trembled uncontrollably.

"That kind of talk... only now... it's too cunning. Besides, you're not 'that person'... and you just rejected me...!"

Hesitant and unsure of what to say, driven by emotion and indecisive, Abner was extremely frustrated.

His eyes were glued to the hand reaching out to him; he could only hold the book tightly in his arms.

Tears streamed down her cheeks.

"For the past ten years or so, Abner has been all alone...! He's spent that time in solitude, and now, even if I were to hold your hand...! At this point! Who would cling to something like that...!"

190. The Kiss of the Contract

“I can’t even imagine the loneliness you’ve endured. I can’t presume to know. Let alone a decade or two, how many decades do I have left in a hundred years? I haven’t even lived a quarter of my life. I can’t fully understand what you’re afraid of.”

"If that's the case! If that's the case... what you're saying won't solve the problem at all...!"

"But I can hold your hand tomorrow."

"──"

"Tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and the day after that. I'm not sure how many years we'll hold hands, but I can spend the days to come with you. Although we may not be able to be together forever, I will cherish and value you in the days to come and in the days to come."

"──"

"So, Abner, choose me."

Saint Karina has made her choice.

Furthermore, they told Abner the options, and then it was up to her to choose.

Should one remain true to their mother's words, or break their promise to her, abandon their desire for "that person," and take Saint Karina's hand?

“You, you…you’re not ‘that person’…”

"I am not. Don't compare me to other women you imagine. I am who I am. Forget all the unrequited love you've had for someone you don't even know the face or the voice of for the past ten years."

"──"

Instead of fearing the inevitable moment of separation, let's live in every tomorrow that is bound to come.

“…woo, gu.”

"So—choose me, Abner."

Repeat what you have said until the other person has listened.

Because I can understand the girl's wavering feelings.

In order to replace her feelings of guilt and remorse for breaking the agreement with Saint Karina's selfishness and willfulness.

—To prevent this girl from crying alone again.

"You're going to die soon..."

"I don't know how long I will live, and I also have my own limitations."

However, Santa Karina was certain that as long as Abner didn't continue his reckless behavior, this crisis wouldn't take her life.