Chapter 54

‘I’m going to die…’

Beatrice’s etiquette lessons had continued even after the sun had long since set.

‘She said she’s coming back tomorrow, too.’

I struggled to manage my despair as I applied a sheet mask and collapsed onto the bed. For the record, the sheet mask only happened because Emily had pestered me so much I didn’t have a choice.

Ding!

‘The stream is starting.’

A large window floated before my eyes, showing illustrations of Arianne and Mina. They were standing at the entrance of the protagonist’s house.

“Excuse me…”

The guest ringing the doorbell in the dead of night was Arianne.

“Sir Arianne? What brings you here at this hour? This is quite scandalous!”

“Mina. That’s enough rudeness. I called her here.”

“Pardon?”

“Sir Arianne. Come on in.”

The protagonist appeared with a slow gait and beckoned Arianne inside. Behind the scene of the two entering the room together, an illustration of Mina biting her nails flashed by…

-At this rate, we’re heading straight for a Yandere ending.

-Better manage that affection level carefully, lol.

I wondered if a Bad Ending would trigger where Mina shows up with a knife before the protagonist can even reach an ending with anyone.

“So, that’s how it is.”

Unaware of the threat looming over them, the protagonist was explaining the letter I had sent to Arianne.

“What? The Saintess sent a letter like that? This isn’t a matter the two of us can handle alone. We should announce this publicly…”

“It seems the Saintess is reluctant to have the revelation widely known.”

“But why?”

-We don’t know either.

-They said there’s a debate going on within the Church.

It was a natural question, but a useless one since no one could give an answer. The protagonist gave a vague response to brush it off.

Ding!

-1111

-33333

Oh boy. Anyone could see these were affection-based choices. I really shouldn’t have let the choice resulting from the letter land on Arianne. There was nothing I could do now. I had to interfere so that Mo Je-won would pick a choice that lowered her affection. First off, the answer was likely number 1.

‘Arianne’s the type who likes being relied on.’

The choice that would likely cause the biggest drop in affection was number 3, but even Mo Je-won would see that was a terrible option, so it wouldn’t be easy to persuade him. I should try to lead him toward number 2, which was just confusing enough.

‘It’ll sound plausible if I say Arianne is weak against puppy-dog eyes, right?’

I was about to send it quickly…

“You’re the only person I can trust. Please, Arianne. Go to the Marquisate with me.”

Before I could even type, Mo Je-won picked the correct answer with a confident gesture!

“Ah~ easy peasy. I’ve totally got the hang of this now~.”

Dammit. Why was he suddenly getting good at this?!

“Ahem! To think I’m the only one… and here you are, so popular. Well, I suppose I have no choice then.”

-She’s loving it.

-Good pick.

“Did the Saintess’s revelation mention specifically when and where the attack would happen?”

“…Only that it would be after the medal ceremony.”

“I see…”

Sorry. I don’t know the specifics either.

“Understood. It’s fine. We just have to seek as much cooperation as possible and stop it.”

The good mood from picking the right choice hadn’t worn off yet. Arianne was looking at things as positively as possible.

“But wait, how are we supposed to go to the Marquisate? To request a visit without any justification…”

“If it’s Edelina, she’ll welcome us even without a reason.”

“N-Now that you mention it, you were quite close with Lady Edelina.”

“Yeah. We’re childhood friends.”

As soon as the protagonist spoke, a heavy shadow fell over Arianne’s face.

“So, the Vice-Commander is going this far for the sake of Lady Edelina…”

Ding!

“Whoa~ I have a feeling that if I don’t pick the right answer here, this journey is going to get very painful.”

-Absolutely.

-Better choose wisely.

“Number one will definitely trigger jealousy, right?”

-Isn’t that obvious?

-Yep, yep, yep.

‘I’ll just leave this be since I’m not sure about it either.’

‘I can’t control everything anyway…’

Now that I was separated from the protagonist, it was impossible to make every choice go wrong.

‘Let’s just hurry up and regroup with him.’

“Should I go for the safe bet with number three?”

-Yeah, go for the safe one.

It was a bit disappointing that he didn’t even consider number two.

“True. As expected, you’re very righteous, Vice-Commander.”

Arianne replied while looking down at the ground. Her reaction was completely lackluster. It looked like number two had been the right answer.

“Ack, it must have been number two!”

-Lol, did it look too much like he was making excuses?

He kept ignoring the Saintess’s influence… I felt a secret sense of satisfaction seeing him fail.

“I don’t know when the attack will happen, but since it’s quite a distance to the Marquisate, we should leave as soon as possible.”

“Right. We can head out immediately after the medal ceremony. Oh, I should probably request my leave in advance.”

“Sounds good.”

After the conversation ended, the screen showed the protagonist seeing Arianne off. While there was a break in the dialogue, Mo Je-won asked a random question.

“By the way, what’s this medal ceremony?”

-Seems like an event exclusive to the Saintess route.

-So much has changed that I don’t even know anymore.

It made sense that they were confused. The medal ceremony was a formal event held at the Imperial Capital to honor the heroes who resolved the anomaly in Lanta Village and the demonic contamination in the County. They said a grand commemorative banquet would follow as well. It was an intermission event that specifically occurred only on the Saintess route. Well, it was only natural since the Saintess route was the only way to resolve the demonic contamination in the first place. Frederick, Arianne, Ilian, Kalat, and the protagonist were all scheduled to attend.

…Don’t you feel like someone’s missing? That’s right. It was me.

‘I’m the main character behind all those incidents, yet I’m the only one not going.’

To be precise, I couldn’t go. I did receive an invitation, but…

‘The Pope was so adamant about opposing it.’

He claimed it was because the Saintess, who should be equal to or above the Emperor in status, couldn’t possibly attend an event where the Emperor rewards his subordinates.

“Hmm? A medal ceremony? We cannot reveal the Saintess at such a low-level banquet.”

Furthermore, since the official appointment ceremony hadn’t happened yet, he seemed reluctant to expose the Saintess to the public. This meant that while the protagonist enjoyed the banquet accompanied by overflowing praise, I was supposed to stay behind and listen to Beatrice’s lessons…

‘I can’t let that happen.’

Yeah, I had absolutely no intention of doing that. It wasn’t that I hated Beatrice’s lessons—not at all—it was just that I had to regroup with the protagonist as soon as possible.

‘I have to fulfill my duty in this dating sim.’

I couldn’t just leave the protagonist and Arianne alone together, either.

‘Why does my thought process feel like it’s becoming more and more like Mina’s?’

But for the sake of avoiding a Game Over, this was the right path…

“Are you ready?”

Two weeks had passed since the first lesson. The “readiness” Beatrice referred to was the etiquette I had learned during that time.

‘How to walk gracefully, how to sit, hand gestures, facial expressions, how to greet people, speech patterns, conversational attitude, and even table manners.’

Today was the review and demonstration of it all. I had practiced bloodily every day under Emily’s assistance for this moment. I answered with confidence.

“Of course.”

“Good. Then let’s go through them one by one. First, walking.”

Beatrice smiled brightly and flicked her cane, seemingly pleased with my spirited response. Her eyes told me to show her what I had.

‘Fine. This is what I’ve been waiting for.’

Phew. I took a deep breath and stepped forward. I kept my back and waist straight and stepped out smoothly with my toes. My strides were smaller than usual. I made sure not to drag my feet.

“Now, try sitting.”

I sat on the chair with my knees pressed together and slightly angled. I placed my hands naturally on my lap with a nonchalant touch.

“Not bad. Now, the greeting~.”

I waved my hand with just the right amount of lightness and kept my smile from being excessive. I only lifted the corners of my mouth ever so slightly.

“…….”

Beatrice chose her words for a moment before speaking.

“Your gestures are very good. Except for the fact that you still put too much weight on your toes when you walk. Relax more. Just like this.”

Watching Beatrice walk with such light, airy steps, I realized what I was doing wrong. Of course, knowing it didn’t mean I could replicate it.

“But well, that’s minor. How could you reach the level of a noble who’s been trained since birth with only two weeks of lessons?”

…! Does that mean I’m graduating?

“Of course, there is just one disappointing thing. Your movements have improved significantly, but…”

Improved, but?

“Your expression is a bit…”

I tried to smile a bit more benevolently.

“That’s not it, so stop smiling.”

Her cold reaction made me feel a bit awkward. Beatrice seriously racked her brain, agonizing over how to improve me. She looked so despairing that I actually started to feel sorry for her.

“This… what should I… dammit, he… requested so… specifically…”

Judging by the fragments of words I could hear, it seemed someone had given Beatrice a special mission to “fix” me.

‘It’s probably the Pope.’

If she couldn’t turn me into a proper person before the appointment ceremony, people would surely start questioning my qualifications as a Saintess. It might even give the Orthodox Faction an excuse to insist that I wasn’t the real Saintess.

‘To be honest, and this is just my humble opinion, I don’t think they could kick me out of the Saintess position just for that.’

I wondered if all of this was truly necessary. What was a Saintess? Was she not a Savior? I was confident I could prove myself through my actions.

“Um, Lady Beatrice. I have an idea…”

Emily, who had been watching the lesson from the sidelines, spoke up cautiously. Beatrice, whose hair was all disheveled like a mad scientist as she stared at the floor, slowly lifted her head.

“What is it…?”

“You’re worried about getting stuck on her facial expressions when there’s still so much left to cover, right?”

“Yeah… Honestly, the Saintess’s impression is the most important thing, but I can’t exactly ask her to stay expressionless. I have to move on to other things too. And a person’s impression isn’t something that can be fixed easily. In the first place, expecting the Saintess to master perfect etiquette in just a month and a half was wrong to begin with…”

As soon as Emily nudged her, Beatrice let out all her pent-up frustrations without even stopping for a breath.

“I also think the Saintess’s smile can be a bit… misunderstood by those who see it.”

…Emily? I thought you were on my side. If Emily had a status window, my affection level for her would have dropped by about 5.

“So, why don’t we just cover it up instead?”

…!!!

“Cover it?”

“By wearing a veil! From what I’ve seen, it seems the Saintess gets so conscious of her movements that she forgets to manage her expression!”

Was that so? Maybe it was?

“If we hide her expression with a veil, the Saintess can focus more on her movements, and we can also go for a ‘mysterious’ concept at the same time!”

“Are you… a genius?”

While I was reflecting on my actions and wondering if that was really the case, Beatrice snapped her fingers as if to say, ‘That’s it!’ Then she turned to me and added.

“Now the number of things the Saintess needs to worry about has decreased significantly. You should be happy.”

Beatrice carefully folded her fingers as she began to list the things left to do.

“Let’s see. We still need to fix your habit of rolling your shoulders, and we still have greetings that vary by status and dining etiquette left. And then…”

…Are you sure the list actually decreased?