039. What I Truly Want (3)

The next day, it rained from the morning.

It wasn’t a heavy downpour but a gentle drizzle.

Therefore, it didn’t cause significant disruptions to the schedule.

“Saintess…”

While Bella was waiting for the carriage after finishing her preparations, the Chief Priest, who had been pacing back and forth with a worried and anxious face, spoke up.

“Can’t I go instead…?”

He had been saying such things since yesterday, but Bella’s answer remained the same.

She smiled as she spoke.

“Take a rest. It must be a long-awaited vacation, isn’t it nice?”

“I’m fine without a vacation…”

“You’re busy even without this. Think of it as me taking one task off your hands.”

At Bella’s words, the Chief Priest made a sullen face.

Isn’t this just creating several times more work for me?

He silently conveyed such a response with his eyes, but Bella pretended not to notice.

“Saintess.”

Finally, the carriage arrived.

The carriage, pure white to signify it belonged to the temple, even had white horses.

The only parts that weren’t white seemed to be the wheels.

“Please, get in.”

The Holy Knight respectfully opened the door of the carriage.

With the Holy Knight’s escort, Bella stepped into the carriage.

“I’ll handle it well and return, so don’t worry.”

She spoke as if to soothe the anxious Chief Priest, then signaled for the carriage to depart.

As the carriage started, the Holy Knights followed behind.

All of them were mounted on horses.

Like the horses of the carriage, their horses were all pure white.

‘The temple only uses white horses? They must be a rare breed, but they managed to gather so many.’

Bella thought such trivial things as she looked at the following white horses through the rear window of the carriage.

‘Well. It’s a novel, so such things are possible.’

Come to think of it, this was a novel called *The Flower of the Empire*.

It meant it was a fantasy world where absurd stories could happen at any time.

‘…Though it’s excessively realistic.’

Bella reached out and touched the window.

Tap, tap.

The sound of small raindrops hitting the window was clearly audible.

Through the rain-speckled window, she could see the scenery of the capital.

Through the rear window, she saw the following Holy Knights, and through the side windows, medieval-style buildings lined up.

It was an obvious rofan (romance fantasy) world view.

The landscapes that felt so fictional were all real.

They were things that could be seen, touched, and reached in reality.

Though she had adapted to this world over time, she was greatly shocked when she first fell into it.

One night, she fell asleep and woke up in a shabby alley.

‘Bella’ was an orphan living in a northern city.

After losing her parents, she was entrusted to a relative, but that relative gambled away all her parents’ inheritance.

As if that wasn’t enough, the relative piled on debts and fled abroad.

Left alone, Bella lived on the run from debt collectors.

The beginning of *The Flower of the Empire* also starts with this incident.

While being chased by debt collectors and running through the forest, she experienced an awakening, which was the beginning of a long story.

Of course, Bella walked a different path from the original.

She spent a month adapting after waking up.

It took four days to accept that this place was reality, and three days to realize that she was ‘Bella.’

After that, she struggled to awaken her powers.

She couldn’t escape to the ‘Forest of Mist’ in the Taylor Viscounty, being pursued by debt collectors like in the original.

She struggled for two whole weeks and barely managed to awaken, then immediately moved to the ‘Forest of Snow,’ where the hunting competition would be held.

With no money at hand, the only way to get there was to walk and ask for directions.

Fortunately, it was located in the same northern region, not too far away.

If it had been farther, it would have been impossible to arrive on time even if she had walked for a whole week.

“We’ve arrived, Saintess.”

While Bella was recalling her first arrival in this world, the carriage had reached the Magic Tower.

Slowly getting off the carriage, Bella looked up at the towering Magic Tower.

The Magic Tower, built high with blue magic stones, looked solid and sharp.

“They said it has up to 100 floors.”

According to *The Flower of the Empire,* the Magic Tower had a total of 100 floors.

As in any fantasy world, in this one too, the higher the floor, the greater the skill.

Because of that, the Tower Lord used the 100th floor alone.

“We are from the temple. We had sent word in advance.”

While Bella was engrossed in the Magic Tower, one of the Holy Knights approached the entrance and spoke.

The wizards guarding the entrance checked the visitor list at the Holy Knight’s words and nodded.

“You said you were coming to meet the Tower Lord. We have confirmed it. A wizard inside will guide you.”

“Thank you.”

Although the relationship between the temple and the Magic Tower was bad, they didn’t let it show in official matters.

The wizards and Holy Knights greeted each other politely.

Bella followed the Holy Knight into the Magic Tower.

“We will guide you to the 100th floor.”

The interior of the Magic Tower was spectacular.

The center was open, allowing a view all the way up, and the floor area was vast, almost making the term ‘tower’ seem odd.

“We will use the elevator to move.”

The wizard led them to the very center of the open area.

There stood an elevator made with magic stones, magic circles, and mana stones.

Two of the five Holy Knights seemed very curious, as it was their first time in the Magic Tower, looking around with amazement.

The other three seemed indifferent, having visited a few times before.

Bella wasn’t as surprised as the newcomers because she knew that the elevator was similar in shape and function to those in her world.

She was just amazed that mana did all the work instead of electricity.

It seemed that magic had replaced all the things science had established.

“Please board.”

At the sound of a ding, the elevator arrived, and the wizard spoke briefly.

As everyone entered the elevator, the wizard pressed a button on one side.

Bella glanced at him pressing the button, then turned her gaze to the view beyond the transparent glass window of the elevator.

The elevator was made of transparent glass, like a glass elevator.

The difference was that not just four, but all six sides were transparent.

And that the glass contained mana and magic.

“Please exit.”

The ding sound rang out again.

It was so similar to the sound of an elevator alert that Bella almost laughed.

Following the wizard’s instruction, Bella exited the elevator.

She walked down the corridor following his lead.

Although the entire 100th floor belonged to the Tower Lord, Kyle, it wasn’t all one big space.

There were various rooms and places like an office, a lab, a meeting room, a bedroom, and a study.

“Tower Lord. We have visitors from the temple for the reason previously mentioned.”

The wizard stopped in front of a door after walking through the maze-like corridor for a while.

He knocked and announced, and a voice granting permission came from inside.

“You may enter.”

With that, the wizard stepped back, having finished his guide.

Bella opened the door by turning the handle.

As the door clicked open, a desk and bookshelves were revealed.

It seemed to be Kyle’s office.

“…?”

Oh.

Bella blinked, forgetting to greet as soon as she entered.

“Saintess?”

“Why is the Saintess here…?”

It was no wonder.

This was supposed to be the Magic Tower, Kyle’s space.

But someone else was there with him.

“I remember informing you that the temple would be sending a gift.”

“Well, yes, but…”

“From the temple?”

Owen Verdun.

For some reason, the male protagonist of *The Flower of the Empire* was in the office of Kyle, the sub-male lead.

When Owen asked with a puzzled face, Kyle looked at him and answered.

“The banquet was postponed, wasn’t it?”

“Oh, because of that.”

They seemed quite familiar with conversing with each other.

Bella tried to suppress her bewildered feelings and grasp the situation.

So…

Did Owen come for a visit?

To where Kyle works.

…Does this make any sense?

“But I didn’t hear that the Saintess was coming personally.”

Kyle asked the bewildered Bella.

Bella emptied her complicated thoughts and brought out the prepared response.

“Since the banquet was delayed because of me, I thought it was only proper for me to come and seek your understanding.”

“There was no need for that. Though it was an inconvenience, if you thought I would hold a grudge over this, you are mistaken.”

Kyle responded firmly to Bella’s words.

Kyle found the matter troublesome but had no intention of making a big deal out of it.

That would have been even more bothersome and inconvenient.

“It’s a personal courtesy and belief of mine.”

This was just the most plausible excuse she could come up with, wasn’t it?

Bella wanted to say that but, of course, she couldn’t.

She smiled and showed the typical gentle and kind face of the female protagonist.

“Ah.”

She had hoped for a convincing reaction from Kyle.

But the reaction came from an unexpected place.

Owen made a sound as if he realized something and smiled at Kyle.

“I should get going.”

“You’re leaving after just stating your purpose?”

“A guest has arrived.”

“She’s just here to give a gift. How can you be sure I’ll fulfill your request if you leave now?”

“You won’t? We agreed to be friends.”

“Does being friends mean you fulfill all requests?”

A conversation passed between the two.

It seemed Owen had come to ask for something.

‘…This is even stranger.’

The idea of Owen coming to Kyle’s office for a visit was odd enough, but the fact that he was making a request was even more awkward.

Requests are usually made between close and trustworthy people.

And ‘friends’?

That Owen and that Kyle.

People who should be growling at each other, people who shouldn’t even know the concept of ‘friendship,’ were saying such things.

“And… it seems the Saintess is waiting for you.”

Owen glanced at Bella.

Bella flinched at the sudden gaze.

‘What is this?’

Owen looked back and forth between Kyle and her.

Then he smiled brightly, which was rare.

“I shouldn’t intrude without tact.”

“…?”

“???”

Kyle and Bella’s faces were filled with bewilderment at Owen’s apparent misunderstanding and imagination.

Kyle seemed to not grasp what Owen was implying, but Bella soon realized what kind of misunderstanding Owen was having.

‘Oh my…’

Bella lamented inwardly, hitting her forehead in her mind.

‘How can the male lead try to pair the female lead with the sub-male lead?’

She wondered when Owen started having such a misconception.

‘Is it because I came here in person today?’

Come to think of it, this wasn’t something in the original story either.

In that case, it wasn’t hard to imagine the male lead misunderstanding due to the butterfly effect.

‘…Could it be even earlier?’

However, looking back, Owen’s changes weren’t just from today.

Since the hunting competition, or even before that.

Owen had been different from the original story.

‘The important thing is I need to clear up this misunderstanding.’

Bella sighed deeply and opened her mouth again.

“Duke Verdun. I came here solely for the reason I mentioned.”

“Yes, I understand. I know it well.”

She had intended to clear up the misunderstanding.

But for some reason, Owen’s eyes were filled with even more certainty.

‘…What is with him?’

Isn’t this out of character?

Unlike the panicked Bella, Owen remained calm and delivered the final blow.

“I hope you have a good time.”