The Villain Is Obsessed With His Fake Wife

The expressions of the priests darkened at Erich’s threat.

‘Maybe this is good?’

‘No matter how prosperous the country is, if there is a blatant conflict with the Blanchett family…’

The priests cringed like cornered prey under Erich’s sharp sting. At that time, Cardinal Simon appeared and answered confidently.

“Don’t worry. Where is this place? It is not an ordinary or common temple, but a temple that directly worships the saint. I will handle it without Baron Bougne’s urging.”

“Oh, Cardinal Simon!”

Cardinal Simon had been away for a while to take Estelle, who had collapsed from overexertion while treating her, to her room.

“Everyone worked hard. Now I will deal with Baron Bougne.”

The other priests looked at Cardinal Simon with respect and ran away as if they had been waiting.

Erich looked at Cardinal Simon and opened his eyes.

“Why haven’t people who say they can take care of things come up with any solutions yet?”

“Isn’t this something that can be resolved just because Baron Bougne urges it? There is a definite order to everything. Now that my divine power has been restored, I will take another look at Duchess Blanchett.”

Contrary to his leisurely answer, Cardinal Simon’s expression as he looked at Estelle did not look good.

‘Why isn’t he waking up?’

Not only the saint, but also all the priests who could use their divine power were brought in and forced to use their divine power unreasonably. However, Estelle’s condition did not improve at all.

‘I heard you got better last time with the saint’s treatment.’

She didn’t react to the saint’s divine power or the divine power of others.

‘Why is this time different?’

Honestly, it’s so bizarre that it’s hard to come to your senses.

The problem was that it was a problem that couldn’t be ignored just because it couldn’t be solved by divine power.

‘As Baron de Boulogne said, Duke Blanchett will never stay still.’

In the first place, if this matter reached the ears of His Majesty, things would become complicated. When calling Duchess Blanchett, she arbitrarily used a letter bearing His Majesty’s seal.

‘I never imagined that things would get this big.’

Erich’s eyes glaring at Cardinal Simon became increasingly fearsome.

“What are you doing now without treatment?”

“…I was holding onto my emotions. Then I will start by praying.”

Cardinal Simon quickly and devoutly began to pray.

“Benevolent God Atea. Give me grace.”

A Cardinal was the highest priest below the Holy Emperor. Simon had so much divine power that he rose to the position of cardinal at a young age. According to this temple alone, he was the person with the most divine power after the saint.

‘My divine power doesn’t work at all.’

The sacred white light from Cardinal Simon’s fingertips glowed warmly and permeated Estelle’s sleeping body.

‘There is clearly divine power involved.’

Cardinal Simon looked at Estelle carefully. Estelle, lying on the bed in the temple’s VIP room with her hands clasped and her eyes closed, was just as beautiful as they said.

‘It’s like seeing an angel in the Bible.’

In particular, perhaps because of her long white eyelashes and sparkling platinum-blonde hair, she gave off a more saintly vibe than Stella, a gorgeous beauty with blond hair.

Cardinal Simon, who unconsciously looked at Estelle’s pink lips and blushed, suddenly came to his senses.

‘This is not the time.’

Cardinal Simon recalled his days as a novice and focused again on his divine power. However, he felt a strange feeling from his divine power that was seeping into Estelle’s body.

‘Is it that divine power doesn’t work?’

He heard he had such a special constitution. But he was different from those cases. If that were the case, it would have been thrown away without any divine power at all.

‘She said she got better when the saint healed her with her divine power.’

However, Cardinal Simon’s divine power was passing through Estelle’s body and kept leaking out somewhere. It’s like pouring water into a broken pot.

‘I need to understand this better.’

Cardinal Simon concentrated even more as he held Estelle’s hand.

‘I am the Cardinal of the Holy Kingdom! There is no problem that I cannot figure out!’

Cardinal Simon closed his eyes tightly and grasped the final area where his divine power was lost. As Cardinal Simon predicted, there was a huge hole inside Estelle. It was a hole so huge and deep that he wondered how she could survive.

‘This isn’t just leaking, it’s leading somewhere-’

Cardinal Simon deliberately inserted his divine power into the hole and moved to find out its true nature.

‘Okay, let’s go.’

It was the moment he just looked through that hole. He suddenly felt cold and scared, as if he had been thrown alone into a vast darkness.

‘What on earth is this?’

Cardinal Simon forgot to concentrate and opened his eyes. However, neither Estelle, who he had been holding on to just a moment ago, nor Erich, who had been glaring at him, were visible.

Goosebumps appeared all over his body.

“Hey, how did this happen?”

Cardinal Simon was frightened and looked around with his head.

“What nonsense… Save people! Save people!”

A bizarre darkness was rising from his toes and slowly obliterating Simon’s body. He lost any sense of where he was now. He felt like his body was gradually disappearing.

As Cardinal Simon struggled, a strange, giggling sound was heard in his ears. His body was disappearing. He was completely erased.

“No, no-”

“Cardinal Simon?”

He felt a familiar touch on his shoulder. His junior priest was looking at Cardinal Simon with a worried face.

“Cardinal Simon, I apologize for calling you while you were concentrating on your treatment. But it looked so bad…”

“What?”

Simon asked his junior with a pale face, as if he were possessed by a ghost.

“Where am I now?”

“Yes? You are currently treating Duchess Blanchett…”

“I heard it would be different because he is a cardinal from the Holy Kingdom, so what is going on now? Madam doesn’t even wake up. Is it really possible to cure it?”

Simon came to his senses at Erich’s annoyed tone. His priest’s uniform was soaked with sweat.

“Sorry, Baron Boulogne. She is better than that. Did anything just happen?”

“What do you mean?”

“The darkness, the strange sound of laughter…”

The priest’s face looking at him became suspicious.

“Was the treatment too difficult? Then I…”

“No! I mean…!”

Simon, who had raised his voice without realizing it, wiped his sweat with a towel and swallowed his saliva. Simon glanced back at Estelle.

‘Are you saying that everything I just saw was an illusion?’

But how could something like an illusion occur during treatment?

Knock, knock.

A knock on the door was heard from outside the VIP room. There was a saint outside the door, smiling with a tired face.

“I feel better, so I’m going to see the Duchess again… Oh my, Cardinal Simon. How did it happen?”

The saint came up to Simon, who had tears in her eyes and a face that looked like she was about to faint. The saint took out her handkerchief from her arms and wiped away Simon’s sweat as gently as an angel.

“It’s all because of me. As a saint, I should have treated the Duchess.”

The priests around her comforted the saint.

“No. How could the saint solve all her problems?”

“If that were the case, there would be no reason for us to be there. Isn’t that right, Cardinal Simon?”

“Oh, yeah…”

Cardinal Simon, who had been nodding his head out of habit, became nervous. It felt so strange that it pierced all the way to his head.

That too, from a saint…

‘Is it my imagination?’

When they were again in the mood to praise her saintliness, Erich shook his head and broke his labor.

“Shouldn’t we see the patient quickly during that time? Everything is problematic, from beginning to end. Is the temple here the problem, or is the Holy Kingdom in shambles?”

“Don’t worry too much. I think you can wake up.”

The saintess smiled gently and held one of Estelle’s hands in both of hers.

“Before, I wasn’t prepared because it was unexpected, but now I’m prepared.”

“Prepared?”

“Ah, I came to pray to God. I ask that I’ll be able to fulfill my duties as a saint.”

Erich crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes.

‘Something is strange.’

It was also true that Cardinal Simon, who began treating her, changed into someone who looked like he was on the verge of death, as well as the fact that the saint suddenly returned calmly and leisurely.

‘I think there’s something…’

Erich spotted Cardinal Simon in agony with his eagle eyes.

‘I need to get something out of this.’

* * *

Thud! Kuung-!

The sound of her footsteps, which sounded so loud as to collapse her cave, gradually became distant.

‘It’s too close.’

Perhaps because it was created so that John could hide alone, the two of them had to put their whole bodies together to be together.

It felt like they were trapped in a small space, just the two of them. She could feel John’s solid body even through his textured clothes. His thick, long arms held her tightly as if to protect her.

‘I guess I’m crazy.’

She became aware of John’s large hand covering her lips.

‘Are you doing this right now?’

Her heart continued to pound and beat. It would probably be heard in the ears of John who was nearby.

‘But what should I do?’

Even if she didn’t know where she was right now, even if there’s a monster outside eating her, she was most conscious of John next to her right now!

‘How did you pretend to be fine before?’

No, when she thought about it, she didn’t think she was fine at all when she was with John like this before. She was quite excited back then…!

“Estelle.”

John, who had been looking outside for a while, exhaled softly and looked at her intently. His handsome face was staring at her, and his face became even hotter.

“Yes?”

“Why are you here?”

John lowered his head and hit his forehead.

‘We’re closer!’

The hand that was covering her mouth slowly went down to wrap around her shoulder, and one of his hands naturally wrapped around her waist. His back felt tingling and hot.

A strange current flowed.

“Wasn’t today the day you were supposed to go to the temple?”

“That’s it. Actually, I don’t know why I’m here either.”

She couldn’t turn her head because she was conscious of his hand wrapping around her waist.

‘Let’s just be honest.’

You need to know what to do to make a fuss, but there is nothing you can do if you don’t know anything.

Above all, she didn’t want to lie to John anymore. She lied and said she had no confidence in seeing John again.

“I met the saint in the temple, and when I came to my senses, I was here. Does John know where this is?”

“This is the imperial tomb.”

“Imperial tomb? This cave?”

“Yes. It is an altar where the imperial family makes sacrifices to the devil to maintain power from generation to generation. It’s a place that ordinary people don’t even know exists.”

John explained in a languid voice as if he were singing a song.

‘So the crown prince was here?’

Then, it looked like the cups and magic circles she saw outside just now were all related to that offering.

‘But why am I here?’

At that moment, she remembered the prince suddenly turning and shouting at her.

‘I want that sacrifice.’

Although her mind was confused, she calmly began to understand the situation.

“But how did John find out about this place?”

“I found out about the imperial family’s weaknesses. As long as I know about this place, the imperial family will not dare to confront me.”

John, who was coldly raising his eyebrows, asked her.

“More than that, you don’t even know why you came here?”

“Huh. This was the first time I knew this was the royal tomb.”

“Then what on earth…”

“Ah, but when I arrived, I fell in front of some strange magic circle. It was a magic circle with the prince dripping blood. Is it related to that magic?”

She had something in mind, so she told John. Then John’s expression became serious.

“The crown prince was dripping his blood?”

“Huh. And then he recognized me and suddenly started talking about old times…”

At that moment, she felt that John’s face hardened slightly.

‘W-what is it?’

She was startled and tried to take a step back.

“More than that, I can’t hear anything outside anymore, so can I go out?”

“You can go out.”

“It was hot, but it went well.”

She hurried out, fanning her hands. John, who followed her out of the magic space, looked at her intently and asked.

“So, what about the crown prince?”

“Huh?”

“I heard you were talking about old times. Tell me again from there.”

John smiled languidly as usual. But unlike usual, she was a little scared.

“No, I don’t have much more to say than that. Because it’s such an unremarkable story.”

“It’s nothing special, why can’t I say something?”

John tilted his head in a meaningful voice.

“Even something that seems trivial to you can be a very important clue. So, tell me everything without leaving anything out.”

“Even though it didn’t happen here, it happened before I met John?”

“Ah, it happened before you met me.”

John’s eyes softened.

“That’s funny. It is expected.”

She laughed awkwardly due to some unknown tension.

“It’s not what I expected. John too.”

She looked at John’s thoughts and tapped him on the shoulder.

“You know that nothing special happened between the Crown Prince and me. That’s it.”

It was very famous that she was treated as a poor woman who could only marry a poor man because she could not get engaged to the crown prince. There’s no way John didn’t know.

“You keep asking that, so it seems like John is jealous of the crown prince.”

“I’m jealous.”

John twisted his mouth and laughed.

“Can’t you see my face now?”

But his eyes were not smiling at all.

“I think I’m going crazy with jealousy because I’m afraid there might be something else between you and the crown prince that I don’t know about.”

“…”

“If it’s not a big deal, feel free to tell me everything. What happened with that bastard and what did you hear here?”

She rolled her eyes.

‘I feel like I’m being questioned about an ex-lover I don’t even know about.’

 

—————————————————————

Translator Note: