I Can Hear the Saint’s Inner Thoughts

19 – You Are My (Fake) Boyfriend (3)

Why didn’t I realize it sooner?

Even though I knew Victoria’s condition was serious, I mistakenly thought it was enough to just stop her from using miracles.

‘What kind of continent’s greatest mage am I… You pathetic idiot.’

No, maybe I’d hoped from the start that it wouldn’t be.

I cursed at myself inwardly, searching again for a way to save Victoria.

I rummaged through every scroll, potion, magical tool, and artifact I had, desperately trying to remove the flowers blooming on her body.

‘Damn it, it’s no use. Is it impossible with these ordinary things…’

Victoria, fast asleep, hadn’t changed at all. When I used my magic-seeing eyes again, I saw that the roots had already spread to several of her organs.

‘…I thought we had more time.’

Only after reading Victoria’s thoughts did I realize the severity of the situation, and I spent the night agonizing over her condition.

I hadn’t even considered that someone with a death sentence would join the great undertaking of defeating the Demon King, and Victoria Everhart was a universally recognized and devout saint.

Because of that, I’d hastily concluded that she wouldn’t die as long as she didn’t use more miracles.

Maybe I’d been turning a blind eye to reality, unable to accept that the person before me was about to die.

“…….”

Thud, I leaned back against the chair, staring at the ceiling, fighting off the drowsiness washing over me. What the hell should I do?

Since Victoria was fast asleep, drunk as a skunk, I could stay up all night without anyone knowing.

“…I guess I have to go to the Holy Kingdom’s forbidden archive.”

Ultimately, this was the last answer left. The solution given by my teacher, Charlotte Snowrain, the Blue Tower Master.

In the Holy Kingdom of Aurelium’s forbidden archive, which held records of past saints, there might be a way to heal Victoria.

“After all, I’ve heard that a saint is always someone who has to sacrifice something.”

The love stories of heroes and saints that wandering poets sing. Sometimes, the narrators changed, and different protagonists appeared.

There was a saint who lost her voice and brought light to the world, or a saint who didn’t have a name and couldn’t leave her existence even on a gravestone.

I’d thought of those old stories as just silly jokes, but now they were the only clues I had to save Victoria.

“Don’t tell me, that sudden proposal to be in a fake relationship with me was also…”

My thoughts suddenly connected, and I entertained the possibility.

If she knew she didn’t have long to live, maybe she’d wanted to have a lover for the first and last time.

“…Ha. It’s not always a good thing to hear people’s thoughts.”

Even if it were just a one-month fake relationship.

“Why the hell did you have to like a guy like me….”

Images flashed through my mind—the time I had to steady her when she lost her balance walking, or how she always needed me to stand on her right side because she’d lost sight in one eye.

My heart grew heavy as lead, and I reached for the liquor and cigarettes again. My hands trembled as I lit a magic leaf, chugging beer straight from the bottle.

Only then did the shaking in my hands subside. If I go to the Holy Kingdom to save Victoria now, it will interfere with the schedule to defeat the Four Heavenly Kings.

Succubus Queen, Bellamora Lictis.

A vile enemy, orchestrating people’s lives like plays, projecting them into dreams to manipulate their targets.

To end our contract relationship with Victoria, and even to subjugate the Demon King, she was our most troublesome foe, so we invested a year into trying to kill her.

“If I just got permission from Kyle and the others… it might not be impossible.”

I tapped the table with one hand, starting to calculate. Space-warping magic was on the complex side.

You had to know the spatial coordinates of both the starting point and destination, and opening a gate in the middle of enemy territory like this was practically suicide.

If demons or devils spilled through the opening, the continent, barely stabilized by our efforts, could be engulfed in flames once more.

“While I go to the Holy Kingdom to search the forbidden archives, you guys just have to protect the open spatial gate…”

It sounded ridiculously easy to say, but there was one critical problem.

The biggest reason we were able to move safely through the Demon Realm, in the heart of enemy territory. The gate that was forced open by twisting space, wouldn’t have any recognition-suppression magic on it.

Anyone would be able to see the bizarre distortion. That would paint a target on our backs for every devil and demon.

“…Will they really give me permission?”

Worried, unable to sleep, I ended up staying awake all night.

* * *

“So, to save Victoria, you need to go to the Holy Kingdom of Aurelium? And keep it a secret from everyone else?”

The next day, the red-haired Hero Kyle was wearing a knowing smile as he listened to my proposal. He had crossed his legs and was resting his chin in his hand, making it clear he was displeased.

That was because I had asked him to postpone our plan to subdue the Succubus Queen, one of the four Demon King Generals.

“…Yeah, the flower growing on Victoria’s body is strangling her more and more. It feels like we don’t have much time.”

I explained the situation to the Hero as thoroughly as I could. Leaving out the part about hearing Victoria’s thoughts, I explained the results based on objective reasoning and evidence.

“Wouldn’t it be fine if she just didn’t use the miracle? The old geezers in the Holy See wouldn’t be crazy enough to send a soon-to-be-dead Saint into Demon King subjugation.”

Kyle stared at me as if something didn’t quite add up. If Victoria was in such a dangerous state, the higher-ups would have stopped her long ago.

“I thought so too… But it doesn’t seem to be the case.”

“Then maybe the newly enthroned Pope deliberately sent Victoria to her death.”

As if he had grasped a new thread, Kyle’s eyes widened as he revealed a new fact to me.

“There’s a rumor going around that the previous Pope, who took Victoria in, was poisoned due to succession issues. If the current Pope sent Victoria to the Demon Realm on purpose, that changes things, doesn’t it?”

Usually, the most perceptive and considerate person in our party, was now pointing out a subtle detail I had been overlooking.

“You’re making statements that would get you called a heretic in the Holy Kingdom. Even as a hero, you wouldn’t escape the death penalty.”

“Hah, I didn’t like that bald, pot-bellied guy from the first time I saw him. Isn’t he the one who gave your girlfriend, Victoria, those lecherous and sticky stares to begin with?”

Kyle referred to what happened before we left the continent for the Demon Realm. The moment when Victoria was trying to say her final farewell to the people of the Holy Kingdom.

The current Pope, Porcus III, had pretended to fall in order to try and tear off Victoria’s clothes, and I had managed to stop him at the last second.

“He was a real b*stard.”

I thought of the Pope, with his pig-like face, stammering out excuses. How could a person be so disgusting?

If he hadn’t been the Pope, I would have pulverized that face, such was the depravity of his character.

“Maybe that’s when Victoria started liking you,” Kyle said.

“…Huh? What are you talking about?”

Kyle chuckled, finding my reaction amusing. I didn’t understand the hero’s expression, so I asked again.

“I’ve kinda noticed it for a while, you know. That you two have feelings for each other.”

I was struck by a chill-inducing statement from Kyle. I had never once thought of Victoria as anything more than a colleague.

“…You talk a good game.”

At first, I denied it. Protecting Victoria from a thug was just what a teammate should do. I couldn’t understand Kyle saying it meant there were feelings involved.

“You confessed first, didn’t you, Astal? How long are you two going to keep fighting? Seeing as you’re going all the way to the Holy Kingdom, you must really like her, right?”

I then realized that everything was going according to Victoria’s plan, and I had no choice but to shut my mouth and keep the truth buried.

“……”

Sometimes keeping silent is better than making excuses, and this was that exact moment.

If I’d made up stories here, the lies might contradict each other later and expose our fake relationship.

“Anyway, I’ve got a new perspective on you, Astal.”

Then, Kyle chuckled and patted my shoulder. He nodded, as if to say, “Don’t worry about it.”

“I thought you would hate or despise Victoria because of her insults. You know… she’s particularly like that with only you, right?”

Kyle was criticizing Victoria’s usual attitude. She wasn’t as harsh with our other teammates.

“They say mages are a strange bunch, but I didn’t think Astal would be like that too.”

“…What’s so strange about me?”

“I never thought you were into the kind of relationship where you’d put up with a constant stream of abuse.”

Kyle gave me a knowing look, even nodding as he held my gaze. A bad feeling washed over me.

“I had no idea you were into being insulted. Well, if you like each other, it’s probably not a problem… and Victoria seems to be into that kind of thing too….”

“Absolutely not. Do you know how much Victoria torments me? Yesterday, she teased me with dirty talk.”

I shot the hero a disgusted look and glared at him, and Kyle tilted his head, noticing something was off.

“Really? Doesn’t that mean you two have a good relationship? Victoria and I only have everyday conversations.”

“……”

I had nothing to say, so I shut up. Aside from me, the only person who talked to Victoria much was Anima, and she was a woman.

“I guess I’m just the youngest in the Dragon Slayer family. Maybe my very blood makes her dislike me. It’s a little unfair, but what can I do?”

With those final words, Kyle stood up. He gathered his holy sword and cloak, preparing to leave.

“…Guess we gotta help our Saintess’s boyfriend score some points. As a comrade and friend, of course.”

“You mean to say…”

“What are you just standing there for? Hurry up and get the space-warp gate ready. We gotta get this over with quick.”

Hero Kyle was putting off subjugating the Four Heavenly Kings and planning to send me to the Holy Kingdom.