How a Villain Defies Destiny Chapter 131

“Huh? Why would… Don’t tell me Selene’s divine mark has disappeared?”

 

“The exact opposite.”

 

This wasn’t some riddle.

 

Growing frustrated with Endymion’s habit of explaining things in an overly condensed, hard-to-follow way, I pressed him further.

 

“Please explain in detail.”

 

Endymion nodded lightly and offered a slightly longer sentence than before.

 

“Not Selene—you. And the divine mark didn’t disappear. It multiplied.”

 

Even after his explanation, my mind was flooded with nothing but question marks.

 

‘Is my brain just slow?’

 

There wasn’t a single difficult word in what Endymion had said, yet I still couldn’t make sense of it.

 

When I stared at him blankly, he briefly scanned the room before retrieving something from a nearby vanity.

 

“Here, see for yourself.”

 

What he handed me was an ornate, gold-framed hand mirror.

 

“What does the divine crest multiplying have to do with—”

 

I couldn’t finish my sentence.

 

The moment I took the mirror and saw my reflection, a strangely familiar pattern came into view. It was the eight-pointed star, the symbol of the goddess Astarte.

 

And it was unmistakably engraved on my forehead.

 

At the same time, the memory of her gentle voice and soothing touch flashed through my mind.

 

[This is all I can do for you. I’m sorry.]

 

‘Is this what that was?’

 

If I could turn back time or meet her again, I’d grab her by the hem of her robe and beg her to take it back.

 

While I was busy wrestling with my reflection, Endymion continued his explanation.

 

“When a second divine mark appeared on you, the Pope and the High Priest revoked the authority they had granted the princes.”

 

The reason they had given the descendants of the gods the right to choose the Saintess in the first place was simply because they had received no response from the gods themselves.

 

However, upon seeing the mark of the goddess Astarte newly appear on my forehead, they believed it was a sign from the deity revealing who the true Saint was.

 

‘Subjectively, it feels like barely an hour has passed. What on earth is going on?’

 

While absorbing the divine power that Selene possessed in order to revive Huluppu, I lost consciousness—and during that time, unforeseen events snowballed into a massive problem.

 

Enough to make my head throb.

 

‘Well, this is a real headache.’

 

Truthfully, there was a valid reason why I was so reluctant to become the Saint.

 

Even aside from getting entangled with the original story or the romance targets, the Saint was burdened with numerous duties.

 

Great power came with corresponding responsibility.

 

There were many official events to attend and piles of paperwork to handle.

 

‘Though most of it was omitted in the romance game as unimportant, according to the lore, after being officially recognized as the Saint, Selene had to visit all the nations ruled by the descendants of the seven ruling gods.’

 

Though teleportation existed to shorten travel time, the schedule was still grueling enough that Selene often complained of exhaustion.

 

‘No. I shouldn’t think that far ahead right now.’

 

I lightly shook my head, forcing myself to brush aside thoughts of the duties Selene had handled in the original story.

 

Even if the Pope and the high priests had currently designated me as a Saint, the title wouldn’t officially be mine until the formal appointment ceremony.

 

Moreover, I had a legitimate reason to delay the ceremony—the oracle of the goddess Astarte.

 

‘Well, strictly speaking, it’s just to satisfy my own curiosity, but…’

 

At any rate, it wasn’t a complete lie, so it would serve as a sufficient excuse.

 

If you tell them you received an oracle from the goddess Astarte in a dream, instructing you to seek out the dragon, they won’t hold the appointment ceremony right away.

 

‘Then, after desperately avoiding it, you’ll resolve Selene’s regression and disappear with Yves.’

 

For a plan made in such a short time, it seemed pretty decent.

 

“Hey, are you listening?”

 

“No. The shock of becoming a Saintess was so overwhelming that I got lost in thought for a moment.”

 

Since it wasn’t something I needed to hide, I honestly shared what was on my mind.

 

“Do you dislike it that much?”

 

Endymion asked again, sounding surprised.

 

‘Can’t a person just want to live a humble life?’

 

After Xenon, getting a similar question from Endymion put me in a sour mood for no reason. It seemed none of them could understand why I’d reject the special position of Saintess.

 

“I just want to live an ordinary life.”

 

“I see.”

 

Though his eyes showed no sign of being convinced, Endymion didn’t tactlessly press for reasons like Xenon had.

 

I didn’t want to dwell on the topic either, so I let out a shallow sigh and moved on.

 

“Ugh, and this divine mark doesn’t mean I’m the Saintess—it appeared for another reason.”

 

“Do you know the reason?”

 

I casually muttered it as if complaining, but unexpectedly, Yves reacted.

 

“The goddess Astarte gave me a task. I think this is like proof of that.”

 

Since I’d have to reveal this to avoid the appointment ceremony anyway, I spoke without hesitation.

 

Yves’s eyes widened.

 

“You met the goddess in person?”

 

“Yes. Well… it was only for a very short time. But I heard Selene also met Nanna once. Maybe it’s because I received her blessing.”

 

Feeling the weight of Yves and Endymion’s gazes, I hastily added Selene’s story.

 

Though Selene seemed to have only heard her voice rather than meeting her face-to-face, the important thing was that she had directly communicated with a god, so she didn’t bother mentioning the details.

 

“Both of you are amazing.”

 

Perhaps her attempt to convey that she wasn’t the only special one worked, as Yves and Endymion seemed to believe her without much suspicion.

 

“Anyway, if we explain this, do you think we can convince the high priests and the Pope?”

 

“Hmm. I think it’ll be difficult.”

 

“Why?”

 

“No matter the reason, you’re likely the first in history to receive blessings from multiple different gods at once.”

 

From the Holy Kingdom’s perspective, it would be far more advantageous to promote her as a Saint—someone beloved by multiple deities—a thoroughly leader-centric interpretation.

 

‘But wasn’t serving multiple gods at once considered heresy?’

 

Listening to Endymion’s political explanation, she suddenly recalled the rules she had learned during her training as an apprentice priest—the things a priest must never do.

 

One of them was serving multiple gods simultaneously.

 

‘This world is surprisingly open-minded, yet weirdly conservative in some ways.’

 

She distinctly remembered how, even though temples like the Pantheon housed different gods under one roof without major conflicts, religious freedom was guaranteed, and conversion was permitted, serving multiple gods at once was strictly forbidden.

 

“Um, but in this world—no, I mean, serving multiple gods at the same time is prohibited, right? Wouldn’t this actually get me branded as a heretic?”

 

Having carelessly blurted out ‘this world,’ she belatedly realized her slip-up and quickly tried to cover it.

 

“If they had suspected you of heresy, they wouldn’t have nominated you as a Saint in the first place. So don’t worry too much.”

 

“Your case is the opposite, so they’ll likely make an exception.”

 

It seemed they both assumed my awkward fumbling and stuttering stemmed from the fear of being labeled a heretic.

 

Genuinely relieved that no unnecessary misunderstandings had arisen, I opened my mouth to bring the conversation to a close.

 

“Well, that’s good to hear. Now, I’ll be going, as promised.”

 

Endymion, who had indeed seemed concerned about my condition, readily stepped aside.

 

“Understood. We’ll talk more another time.”

 

Once again, only Yves and I remained in the lavish, spacious room.

 

After watching Endymion leave, I was about to lie down when I noticed Yves lingering near the door.

 

“Yves, what are you doing over there?”

 

“…”

 

He kept his lips tightly sealed, staring only at the floor.

 

“Are you just going to stand there?”

 

“…”

 

Now that Endymion was gone, it seemed he was embarrassed by what had happened earlier.

 

‘Acting all sly before, and now he’s shy again.’

 

Not that it wasn’t endearing, of course.

 

Still, I couldn’t just leave him like that, so I gestured toward him from a distance.

 

“If you’re not planning to sleep in another room, come over here and get in bed.”

 

After a brief hesitation, Yves eventually made his way to me.

 

💫

 

The next morning.

 

After a light breakfast, Yves and I headed to the Temple of Astarte.

 

When we arrived at the spot where Huluppu had been, the adorable Fenrir—who seemed oddly out of place in the serene atmosphere—greeted us warmly.

 

[Laura! You look perfectly fine, but are you really okay? No weird sensations or anything?]

 

I had been worried that, with Huluppu still unconscious, Fenrir might be in a sensitive or irritable state.

 

Fortunately, he seemed just fine.

 

Gazing into his clear, sky-blue eyes, I spoke, “Fenrir, do you happen to know much about dragons?”