The Saintess Returned to the Emperor’s Arms Chapter 118

Riella was not that great

 

The feeling of being forcibly ejected from a body he had been controlling, even experiencing it again, was just as unpleasant.

 

Still, if there was one good thing, it was that he got to touch Riella, if only for a moment.

 

That’s why he took the risk, even though he knew it was like trying to hit a rock with an egg.

 

Just for that chance.

 

He wished he could see Riella up close just once.

 

“Khak!”

 

At that moment, hot blood surged up Kyle’s throat.

 

His heart felt like it was being torn to pieces and burning.

 

His body was already severely damaged.

 

Using his power was already difficult, but being forced out while using the power damaged the body even more.

 

He had suspected this before, when he’d been thrown out after possessing the emperor’s doctor.

 

‘Isn’t it a bit expensive for the price of seeing her face up close?’

 

Kyle smiled bitterly at the blood he had vomited, then shook his head.

 

‘No, it’s not expensive at all.’

 

‘Because it was the price of seeing Riella Blinite.’

 

If anything, an even greater offering might be needed—and he’d still give it willingly.

 

“Ugh!…..Ugh!”

 

Kyle’s stomach twisted again in response to that firm resolve.

 

—Bang bang bang!

 

“Hey? Are you okay?”

 

Greta knocked on the door from outside after hearing Kyle coughing, but Kyle ignored her.

 

This time the pain was stronger than before.

 

It was as if he was determined to put an end to that miserable fate.

 

‘I can’t die yet.’

 

Kyle wiped the blood on his hands with a handkerchief and stood up.

 

He opened the drawer with great difficulty, but all the compartments where the medicine should have been were empty.

 

“Hey! I said, Are you okay?”

 

Just then, Greta knocked on the door again.

 

She had the key to the room, of course. Still, she played dumb until the very end.

 

Wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, Kyle clicked the lock open.

 

Greta, standing outside the door, looked at Kyle with a very anxious expression, unlike when she had knocked on the door urgently.

 

“You don’t look so good, Master.”

 

She didn’t even flinch at the sight of Kyle’s blood-soaked clothes.

 

On the contrary, she seemed pleased—her lips curled in satisfaction, as if she’d been waiting for that.

 

“You were looking for this, weren’t you?”

 

Greta smiled brightly and showed off the medicine she had stolen from Kyle’s drawer.

 

* * *

 

“Do you remember what happened?”

 

“Oh, no, Lady Blinite. I… I was just taking a nap in the barracks…”

 

The soldier named Ramosh was a man with brown hair and kind eyes.

 

His loyalty was so deep that he immediately banged his forehead on the dirt after seeing Riella and the Emperor.

 

‘He doesn’t seem like the type of person who would do something foolish. Then maybe,…’

 

Riella looked at the soldier with pitiful eyes.

 

It was Asion who questioned the soldier instead of Riella.

 

“Do you remember coming to the palace yesterday?”

 

“What? No, Captain. I haven’t been to the palace at all….”

 

“Then I suppose you wouldn’t remember writing a will, either.”

 

“M-My will!? I—I did that!? No! Why would I!”

 

Only then did the soldier seem to realize that he had been holding a sword, and that he had been stopped just moments before taking his own life.

 

“Arrest him for now. We’ll return to the palace and investigate further.”

 

After giving that order, Herhan extended his hand towards Riella.

 

He wasn’t happy about any of that.

 

Despite all the precautions they had taken, someone acting suspiciously appeared and approached right in front of Riella.

 

“Give me your hand, Riella.”

 

“Yes.”

 

What bothered him most was that it had taken Riella touching the man’s face to realize she was a threat.

 

With those beautiful hands.

 

And it hadn’t even been a full day since Herhan had vowed not to let anything filthy touch them.

 

‘Damn it.’

 

There was no way he could be okay with that.

 

Even on the way back to the palace, though he held tightly to Riela’s hand the entire time, the fury boiling in Herhan’s chest refused to die down.

 

* * *

 

“He claims it was sleepwalking.”

 

“Sleepwalking?”

 

“Yes. That’s what he said. Apparently, it’s happened several times recently—waking up in unfamiliar places, doing things without realizing it.”

 

Riella immediately refuted Jess’s explanation.

 

“It can’t be sleepwalking. Yesterday, he answered my questions and even avoided my hand on purpose.

And that look in his eyes….”

 

Riella continued, looking straight into Jess’s fierce eyes.

 

“They were just like that time. Like Sir Carnel.”

 

The office fell into a heavy silence.

 

Herhan, who was sitting at the head of the table, along with Jess and Asion standing behind him, all nodded in grim understanding but didn’t speak.

 

That was what had truly startled Riella the night before.

 

Because in the unfocused eyes of the soldier, she felt the same coldness she once felt from Carnel.

 

So, Riella told Asion the situation.

 

After that, Asion, who was watching the soldier, caught sight of a hastily written will and suspicious

circumstances surrounding his departure, and was able to rescue the soldier in the forest.

 

“I agree with what Lady Riella said. The circumstances are similar. Carnel also attempted suicide after his identity was revealed. Lady Riella stopped him too.”

 

“If they were brainwashed by the same enemy… then this must be their method. Once there’s a risk of being discovered, they force their targets to kill themselves.”

 

“What kind of enemy could do something like that? Is it even possible?”

 

Asion and Jess exchanged uncertain glances. Then Riella spoke up again.

 

“I think I know.”

 

“Yes?”

 

“There’s someone else who died at the exact moment their trail was about to be exposed.”

 

“Who is that…”

 

Asion tilted his head, clearly lost. Jess and Herhan, however, seemed to have already reached the same conclusion.

 

Riella answered calmly.

 

“Duke Zion.”

 

“What?!”

 

Asion was startled, then slowly went pale.

 

The more he thought about it, the more sense it made.

 

And at the same time, it was terrifying.

 

If the person who brainwashed Carnel and the soldier was the same one who controlled Duke Zion to his death…

 

“You’re saying that it was all the alliance’s doing…?”

 

After Asion finished speaking, a silence even thicker than before descended.

 

The tension was so intense that it was hard to even exhale.

 

It seemed like the solution to that mystery had been reached, but dealing with it was another matter.

 

‘Carnel has served His Majesty since before I came to the palace. So how long has the alliance been watching His Majesty…?’

 

Riella felt dizzy.

 

Yesterday, when she met eyes with the soldier at the top of the stairs, she never imagined it would lead to a battle of this scale.

 

“Oh!”

 

Then, Asion suddenly let out a loud breath as if he remembered something.

 

“W-Wait a moment!”

 

He hurriedly rummaged through the stack of documents on the table and pulled out one—Soldier Ramosh’s activity log.

 

“If it’s the alliance that was controlling Ramosh, this is a much bigger problem.”

 

“Why? What’s going on…?”

 

Riella trembled with fear.

 

Was there still more to be afraid of?

 

“This is from his recent records. He was assigned under Eric’s command and dispatched to the Kingdom. When Princess Greta fled, Ramosh was part of the search party sent into the royal palace.”

 

‘Greta.’

 

A name Riella hadn’t expected to hear here, of all places.

 

“If Ramosh had already been under the alliance’s control back then….”

 

“Then it might’ve been the alliance that smuggled Greta out,” Jess said coldly, confirming Asion’s suspicions.

 

Greta. That name, repeated again and again.

 

Up until now, she had been able to maintain my composure to some extent, but it was becoming difficult for Riella any longer.

 

“Why would the alliance save Greta…?”

 

“Not to save her—but to use her. Whatever it is, it’s not going to be good for us.”

 

Jess only realized how pale Riella had gone after he finished speaking.

 

And one more thing.

 

Since entering the office, his master has not said a single word.

 

‘What do we do?’

 

Asion, who felt the same sense of discomfort, gave Jess an awkward look.

 

Jess looked at Herhan and then quietly closed his eyes.

 

Even though he used to exchange silly jokes with his master in the morning, his master now seemed like a completely different person from back then.

 

The meeting ended here.

 

No further explanation or discussion was needed.

 

There was only one person who could pull Herhan back from the darkness that was devouring him.

 

“Your Majesty, I will go and see Carnel.”

 

“Then I will summon El Weiss. I will have him investigate the Duke Zion case again.”

 

Even as Jess and Asion backed away, Herhan didn’t move an inch until the door they had exited through was completely closed.

 

“Your Majesty.”

 

What broke through the silence and reached him was a very soft voice.

 

“Your Majesty, I am scared….”

 

Just like that little child who was trapped in a collapsed wall and cried.

 

“It’s even scarier when Your Majesty makes that face.”

 

Shivering and making noises in a desperate attempt to survive.

 

That desperate voice—that fragile figure—finally brought Herhan back to his senses.

 

When he turned his head, he saw Riella standing there, terrified, unable to even reach out to him.

 

“Ah…”

 

Herhan let out a short sigh, his heart sinking.

 

He had been so consumed by the fear of losing her, he hadn’t even seen the Riella who was right in front of him.

 

“Come here, Riella….”

 

Riella took the hand that was extended to her as she heard the soft voice return.

 

The body that was being hugged was trembling slightly.

 

Herhan tightened his grip around Riella’s waist, intending to embrace even the trembling.

 

After burying her forehead in Herhan’s warm chest for a while, Riella finally calmed down and asked.

 

“Will you protect me…?”

 

As much as she was clinging to him, Herhan was clinging to her, too.

 

“Of course.”

 

It was really strange.

 

Riella was begging to be saved—But to Herhan, her plea gave him more strength than any comfort or words of encouragement ever could.

 

* * *

 

“That medicine. Give it to me.”

 

“Oh? Just like that? No please or thank you?”

 

Greta took a teasing step back.

 

Still, the man didn’t follow. He couldn’t.

 

If he let go of the table he was leaning on, he probably couldn’t take a single step.

 

“Relax. I’m not here to fight, young master. I’m just saying—we’re allies, aren’t we? We should be sharing information.”

 

Then the man chuckled.

 

Greta was taken aback for a moment.

 

He looked like a corpse—pale as death, covered in blood. It was clear that the man was not in good condition.

 

She’d even stolen every last pill he had kept in the drawer.

 

That alone should’ve had him groveling at her feet.

 

But something about that young master felt off.

 

For someone so sickly, he didn’t seem nearly desperate enough—and that unsettled her.

 

“Are you going to die like this? You are a descendant of Enril. If you don’t have this medicine right now, you will be in serious trouble.”

 

“You know very well.”

 

“Then answer me. Who the hell are you?”

 

The man’s eyes widened at Greta’s question.

 

She thought he was finally reacting, but soon he started laughing and holding his stomach.

 

“Are you crazy?”

 

“No. It’s just funny. You say you know I’m a descendant of Enril, and then you ask who I am?”

 

“I mean, not that!”

 

Greta strangely calmed her anxious mind.

 

‘Let’s not forget, I’m the one holding the other person’s collar right now.’ she told herself.

 

“Aside from being a descendant of Enril, where do you come from and what do you do…?”

 

“Pfft. Princess, have you been obsessed with me this whole time or something? Can’t you come up with a fresher question?”

 

“What?”

 

“For example, it’s not who I am, but who I’m chasing.”

 

Greta snorted.

 

Because she already knew that.

 

It’s Riella Blinite. That damn thing.

 

“Judging by your face, it looks like you already know this one too. And yet, you still don’t get it.”

 

‘What on earth?’

 

The man kindly answered Greta’s frown.

 

“It’s not that I’m a great person, it’s that what I’m trying to get is great.”

 

There was a brief silence after the man finished speaking.

 

Then suddenly, the quiet was shattered by Greta’s burst of laughter.

 

“Pffft… Puhahahaha! Hahaha!”

 

She clapped her hands. Clutched her stomach. Banged against the wall.

 

Laughed until tears welled up in her eyes—and then wiped them away.

 

“Are you talking about Riella right now? Seriously?”

 

Greta’s laughter did not stop.

 

“She’s not all that, you know!”

 

How long had she laughed like that?

 

With no one to laugh with her, no one to stop her.

 

Her laughter eventually twisted into something much closer to a scream.

 

“Riella’s not all that…!”

 

And slowly, the laughter died down.

 

“She’s not… not that great…”

 

* * *