“Do you, just like me, love the Hero, Miss Lillis?”

For a moment, my mind went blank as I stared at Celesta, who had just uttered such an absurd statement with a straight face.

This girl’s head is completely filled with flowers—head over heels in love.

Of course, I never once felt any romantic feelings toward Gyeonmwa Joshekigwat, let alone considered him as a potential partner. In fact, I hadn’t even felt a moment of attraction to him as a member of the opposite sex.

To begin with, I hadn’t spent much time with the Hero, and the number of times we had spoken alone, including the conversation yesterday, amounted to exactly two. For someone to fall in love within those two meetings, the Hero would have had to save my life at least once—preferably twice—during that time.

While it was true that we were from the same hometown and shared some common ground, making him easier to talk to than most men, he had too many drawbacks as a romantic prospect.

“I knew it… Miss Lillis, you also have feelings for the Hero, don’t you?”

“…Excuse me?”

Celesta, misinterpreting my silence as agreement, continued to weave her narrative, prompting me to quickly refute her assumptions before Gyeonmwa Joshekigwat got any strange ideas.

“That sound you hear is not my heart fluttering… Please don’t misunderstand, Saintess Celesta. I’ve never had such feelings for the Hero.”

“You don’t have to be embarrassed, Miss Lillis. The Hero is handsome and dependable; it’s only natural for any woman to be drawn to him.”

“It’s not embarrassment; it’s really a misunderstanding, Saintess Celesta. I don’t have any deep connection with the Hero, and I certainly don’t have any reason to…”

“You can be honest with me. I won’t tell anyone. And it’s not like I’ll refuse to consecrate you because of it…”

“I said no.”

“…What?”

“I said no. How many times do I have to say it for you to understand?”

“I’m sorry…”

…Why is it that when I try to be polite, people don’t listen the first time? It was only after I spoke sternly that Celesta finally closed her mouth, making me sigh involuntarily.

The premise that I had fallen for the Hero was wrong from the start. Even though quite some time had passed since I realized I had transmigrated into this world, that didn’t mean I had completely abandoned the memories of my past life.

Having played 『Luminor Academy』 obsessively, it had become a significant part of my life, so the experiences from my previous life were still ingrained in my mind.

Just because I ended up in a woman’s body didn’t mean I would suddenly fall in love with a man overnight. And considering my shallow connection with Gyeonmwa Joshekigwat, he was the last person I’d consider romantically.

In fact, if I were to consider the person I’ve spent the most time with, it would be Ethan, not the Hero. Not just among men, but among people in general, the time I’ve spent with Ethan far exceeds that with anyone else. And it’s not just the quantity of time, but the quality and intensity of those moments.

Whether it was the King Serpent hunt at the masquerade ball, the bandit attack on our way home, the battle against demons in Grimestone Village, or the Kraken hunt on the Lake of Knowledge, the moments where we fought with our lives on the line, trusting each other completely, were overwhelmingly with Ethan.

Of course, there would be times when I would need to fight alongside the Hero in the upcoming battle against McHart, but that would be the same with Ethan. And no matter how intense that experience might be, it wasn’t going to spark any romantic feelings toward Gyeonmwa Joshekigwat. On the other hand, Ethan had built enough trust that, in a very unlikely scenario, I might consider it…

“…”

Buzz, buzz!

“Miss Lillis?”

I was about to conclude that Ethan was my answer again, so I shook my head to clear my thoughts and whispered to Celesta, trying to clarify the misunderstanding.

“Let me make this very clear, Saintess Celesta: I don’t have any romantic feelings for the Hero, so you can rest assured.”

“Are you sure there’s not even a little bit?”

“There’s none.”

“But isn’t it natural for the Saintess and the Hero to be drawn to each other? Since you’re the Saintess and Gyeonmwa Joshekigwat is the Hero, isn’t it only natural that you’d feel some attraction…?”

“Where is that coming from? Please don’t say such unreasonable things.”

“But… that’s what I felt. Even though I’m a fake, I thought my feelings for the Hero came from being called the Saintess…”

“Isn’t it simply because you’ve liked the Hero from the beginning, Saintess Celesta? Don’t use a strange excuse to hide your feelings.”

“...!!”

If this were in the game, there would probably be a "pop!" effect right next to Celesta’s head as her face suddenly turned bright red.

“And besides, I’m not really interested in romantic relationships, so you don’t need to worry about me being your rival, Saintess Celesta.”

“You’re not interested in romance? …Oh, could it be that you’re in a relationship with Agnes instead of the Hero…?”

“…That’s not it either. Can’t you just think of it as me not being interested in romance at all?”

“O-Okay…”

She said that, but Celesta was now looking at me with uneasy eyes, as if she still doubted whether I had some hidden interest in women instead.

Well, Celesta is cute, so maybe in my previous life, she would have been within my range of interest. But that was when I was still in my original body. The idea of two women being romantically involved in this body just didn’t make sense to me.

Still, I didn’t want any strange misunderstandings to pile up, so I decided to give her a reasonable explanation she could accept.

“One last thing: for now, I’m in a relationship with Ethan, so you really have nothing to worry about.”

“W-What?!”

“Ethan loves me, and I’m doing my best to respond to his feelings. Though, I’m not very experienced in romance, so I’m not sure how well I’m doing.”

“I… I see… I’m sorry for the misunderstanding…”

Claiming to have someone else in mind has always been an effective way to deflect an unwanted confession. …Or rather, it seems to work just as well in a medieval fantasy setting as it did in the modern world.

Though, in Celesta’s case, she wasn’t confessing to me, but rather making an odd assumption about my relationship with Gyeonmwa Joshekigwat.

And honestly, what I told her wasn’t a lie. I had no intention of marrying anyone in this world, but if I had to choose, Ethan would be the most likely candidate.

…To be clear, he’s just the most likely candidate. That doesn’t mean I’m planning to marry him.

“By the way, the Hero is already aware of this, so I hope there won’t be any more misunderstandings.”

“Then… why did you agree to join the Hero’s party? If it wasn’t because of the Hero or someone else, why would you…”

“…I’ll leave that for you to ask the Hero himself when the time comes, Saintess Celesta.”

Since it had to do with her position as a fake Saintess, I figured it was better for Gyeonmwa Joshekigwat to explain the situation. After all, he was the one who set the condition of me joining the Hero’s party, so it was only fair that he handle the explanation. If I do end up joining the party, he’ll need to explain my presence to the other members as well, and I’m sure he’s already come up with a suitable cover story.

As we conversed, we finally reached the empty main church. Celesta cautiously put her ear to the door, and after a moment, she turned to me and nodded.

Click, creak.

“…”

“…”

Using her authority as a high priestess and the power associated with the title of Saintess, Celesta quietly unlocked and opened the door to the main church.

With the summer break just starting, most of the academy priests were on alternating vacations, so there was no one on night duty at the church tonight.

“Let’s finish this quickly while no one’s around. Miss Lillis, please come this way…”

“…Alright.”

Following Celesta, who gently pulled me by the hand, I walked into the main church. Inside, she began to perform the consecration ritual according to the teachings of the Aurelia Church.

She had me kneel on the floor, read from the church’s scriptures, sprinkled holy water over my head while covering me with a veil, and fed me a piece of bread and a glass of wine, which she’d brought from somewhere, as part of the ritual.

After nearly thirty minutes of this lengthy ritual, we finally stepped out of the main church, and I emerged as an awakened Saintess.

It was a moment that had taken over six years to arrive since I first realized I had been transmigrated into this world.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

『Name: Lillis Rosewood

Title: Prophetic Saintess』