“Anyway, there’s no need for me and Lilith to continue our hunting partnership like we talked about before. Now that Serista has become a Saintess, there’s no reason for Lilith and me to train together.”

“Well, that’s great. At least now I don’t have to worry about you stealing Lilith from me, even for a moment.”

“I told you, I never had any intention of stealing her in the first place…”

It was a rather anticlimactic resolution, but at least the plan to make Serista a Saintess had succeeded. Whether that really counted as a solution, I wasn’t entirely sure, but whatever. The point was that the only reason I’d held onto the powers of the Saintess was in case Serista couldn’t awaken on her own. Now that she had, I no longer needed to be a backup.

I was free to keep the powers if I wanted to or give them up whenever I felt like it. In fact, I had more freedom than Serista, who had to remain a Saintess as part of the hero’s party.

'Honestly, it’s more of a hassle to keep these powers. It’d be better to get rid of them before they cause misunderstandings in the storyline.'

Keeping the powers could lead to me being mistaken for a Saintess by some high-ranking priest or targeted by demons who thought I was one. Those were events I absolutely wanted to avoid.

I’d already fought hard to avoid getting involved in the main story, and there was no reason to hold on to the Saintess’s power and risk being dragged into trouble. After all, gaining the Saintess’s title had been difficult, but giving it up could be done anytime I wanted.

All I had to do was tear the symbol of purity that still marked my body…

'Wait, no. That’s not right.'

It might not be as simple as I thought. For someone like me, who had the soul of a unicorn in my past life, losing my purity wasn’t something to be taken lightly.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

It wasn’t that I was particularly attached to the “symbol of purity” I still had. If anything, I’d thought about getting rid of it more than once.

“Anyway, there’s something else we need to discuss. I received a revelation from the Goddess that something is going to happen in the northern forest in three days…”

But when it came to how I would lose that purity, I had to be careful. How I did it would determine whether my body would remain an “honored virgin” or just become another “worn-out tramp.”

I’d already decided on the method long ago. As a unicorn in my past life, there was only one “ideal” way to lose my purity.

‘Yep. If I’m going to do it, I’ll have to ask Ethan.’

Using my fingers or a tool to get rid of the mark? That was completely unacceptable to someone like me, who had been a unicorn. The loss of a heroine’s purity should only happen during her first encounter with the protagonist. Even if it wasn’t with another man, this principle had to be upheld.

If anyone thought this made me seem like a pervert, so be it. One of my favorite parts of the relationship between a protagonist and a heroine was when she lost her purity to him.

I loved the scene where the heroine was consoled by the protagonist during her first experience, or where she didn’t feel much pain because of their love, but it was still her first time with him. The important thing was that the heroine gave her purity to the protagonist, showing how fully she loved him.

‘Though, there’s a reason I’m so fixated on this…’

The reason I became a unicorn among unicorns who obsessed over purity was because of a certain heroine from a novel I read in my previous life.

The novel itself was a pretty typical harem story. So typical, in fact, that I don’t even remember the title anymore.

The protagonist had relationships with multiple women, but every one of them was a virgin when they got together, making it the perfect story for someone like me. There was one heroine who didn’t feel pain during her first experience, and when the protagonist asked why, she said it was because she’d torn it while riding a bicycle. The protagonist accepted that excuse without question.

Later, during a flashback, it was revealed that the heroine wasn’t a virgin after all, and the bicycle excuse was a lie—she’d had a previous boyfriend. I almost coughed up blood when I read that part.

‘Ugh, damn it. Just thinking about it makes me mad all over again.’

After reading that scene, I went to 12 different forums and wrote bad reviews of the novel. I wanted to make sure no one else suffered the same fate I did.

I even kept mentioning the novel on big forums until it was forced to go on indefinite hiatus. Maybe I went too far, but it was self-defense. The author had said there would be no non-virgin heroines, and then pulled that kind of drift on me.

That incident only made my “purity complex” as a unicorn even worse.

After that, no matter how much a story claimed, “This heroine is pure,” if I didn’t see the loss of her purity in a scene, I’d immediately drop the story.

That’s how I ended up loving Luminor Academy, after discovering the virgin route. But in other cases, I’d quit the story without hesitation if it didn’t meet my standards.

And that mindset hadn’t changed just because I now had the body of a woman.

A woman’s first experience had to be with the protagonist. The man who took her purity had to be the same one she shared her first kiss with, and a virgin heroine should never show her body to any man except her family and the protagonist.

The protagonist of this world was dummy, but that only applied to him and the members of the hero’s party. If I were a heroine in a novel or game, then the protagonist had to be Ethan.

That was the only way I could maintain the “virgin heroine” qualifications I held in such high regard.

‘I’m not necessarily expecting to marry Ethan…’

I knew that because of family and status, it was unlikely that Ethan and I could end up together. But even if we couldn’t marry, I still wanted to be the kind of heroine who remained devoted to one man. That was my ideal form of purity.

A heroine who, despite her status, loved only one man her entire life, gave her first kiss and experience to him, and remained chaste after they were separated, living a life of single-minded devotion.

Yeah, that was pretty good. And for that dream to come true, Ethan had to be the one to take my first time.

And the sooner it happened, the better.

“...Lilith.”

‘The Witch’s Forest isn’t the best place for a first experience. There are too many people, and no soundproof rooms. We should either return to the Blackwood estate or go back to the academy dorms…’

“…Lilith? Hey…”

‘But maybe it’s better to do it sooner to avoid future complications? In that case, we could do it while we’re on watch. Lara and Lizzy won’t notice anything since they’re busy with their trial. But if someone overhears us, that would definitely ruin the whole “virgin heroine” thing.’

“...Hey, are you done?”

‘Maybe we could sneak off into the forest right after watch duty. There won’t be anyone around for a while, so we won’t get caught. I should carry some bug-repellent just in case… But if I drag Ethan into the forest like that, he might think I’m some kind of crazed pervert. How do I set this up without making him think I’m a weirdo?’

• Tap.

“Lilith?”

“Eek!?”

Someone suddenly grabbed my shoulders, startling me out of my thoughts.

Thankfully, it was just Ethan, and I relaxed.

“Ed? What are you doing?”

“I should be the one asking that. I’ve been calling you for a while, but you didn’t answer.”

“Y-you called me?”

“Yeah. The meeting’s over. The hero’s party and the others have already left the room, including Lady Blaze.”

“…Oh.”

Right, the meeting. I’d completely spaced out, thinking about what to do with my purity. This was all Serista’s fault for bringing up her awakening as a Saintess.

“Was there anything important I missed during the meeting? I kind of zoned out after hearing that Serista became a Saintess…”

“The hero mentioned something about a prophecy, but I listened to it all, so don’t worry. I’ll explain what’s relevant to you later.”

“…I’m sorry, Ed. I got lost in my thoughts…”

“It’s fine. It’s understandable. You’ve got a lot on your mind.”

“……”

Wait, what? How does he know what’s on my mind?

Did I accidentally say something out loud? How could he possibly know I was thinking about how to lose my virginity…?

“You’ve always acted like you didn’t care about being a Saintess, but now that Serista’s one, you’re feeling a bit conflicted, right? You’re wondering what your role as a Saintess means now.”

“Oh…”

“Don’t worry. Whether you’re a Saintess or not, you’ll always be Lilith to me. I liked you before you were a Saintess, and that won’t change just because you might lose that title. So whatever you decide to do about being a Saintess, it doesn’t really matter to me.”

“…Ah, thank you, Ed. That means a lot.”

Since Ethan thought I was worried about my role as a Saintess, I could only awkwardly smile and nod.

It was much better for him to misunderstand me this way than for him to find out I’d been obsessing over how to lose my virginity.