The air was thick with tension.
The survivors of the camp sat opposite the noble knights, Holy Order, and mages... glaring, seething with rage.
If not for Legion's intervention earlier, blood would have already been spilled.
This expedition was never meant to subjugate the monsters threatening the North before the harsh winter.
It was to subjugate the Holy Beast of the North.
And they... the commoners... were the sacrifice.
From the very moment they enlisted, their fate had already been sealed.
None of them were meant to go back home.
If not for the Holy Beast's presence, the tension would have already erupted into a riot.
Even now, the wounded refused the healers of the Holy Order.
Why accept treatment from the very people who had planned to sacrifice them?
So instead...
Delphine took on the burden alone.
But because she was only one person, Seiryu stepped in.
"Prioritize the worst cases first," he suggested.
And she did.
"She is a Saintess," the whispers spread among the non-fighters.
"The Holy Beast confirmed it."
"She's Legion's younger sister," another murmured.
"Saintess, please rest."
It was Cecilion.
He had taken it upon himself to guard Delphine while she healed the worst of the injured.
Though Seiryu stood nearby, unmoving, Cecilion felt it was his responsibility to protect the young woman who was saving so many lives.
Delphine winced.
The people wouldn't stop calling her a Saintess.
And no matter how many times she denied it... they refused to listen.
Not after Seiryu himself confirmed it.
"Do not worry about me, Sir Knight," Delphine addressed him while continuing to heal the man in front of her.
"I can still manage."
Now that she had been constantly using her Saintess Ability, she noticed something.
Her MP was being consumed... unlike her Nightmare ability.
But strangely, it would immediately start refilling.
At first, she didn't know why.
Until she noticed Seiryu watching her.
Then... he winked.
He was the one replenishing her MP.
But he never maxed it out completely.
He always left it just 5 MP short.
"Delphine, are you sure you're okay?"
Captain Hugo spoke next, his voice gruff yet concerned.
He and his team were the ones bringing the critically injured to her.
He looked exhausted... but grateful.
"If you need to rest, do it."
Delphine smiled at the older man.
"I'll rest when we're sure there are no more critical cases," she reassured him.
Then her eyes narrowed slightly.
"You look worse than I do, Captain."
Hugo chuckled, reaching out and messing up her hair like he used to when she was younger.
"Captain," she groaned, swatting his hand away.
"I remember you always kept your hair in a bun," Hugo mused.
"Now it's down. Looks good on you."
His grin widened.
"You actually look like a Saintess now."
Delphine rolled her eyes.
"Her Highness told me to wear my hair down."
She sighed.
"She said I look like a strict principal when I tie it up."
Hugo laughed.
"She's right."
Then, his expression turned serious.
"Speaking of the Empress… how is she?"
Delphine's smile faded.
Her face turned somber.
"We've seen her weak before… but never this weak."
She hesitated.
"She was already feeling unwell when Legion teleported to the palace to inform us about the situation."
Delphine's fingers tightened slightly over the wounded man she was healing.
"And even though she hates teleporting because it makes her dizzy... "
Her voice softened.
"She still came."
"Didn't you try healing her?"
It was Dorian who asked this time.
He had grown up with Delphine and Legion before joining the Adventurers' Guild.
Delphine lowered her gaze.
"I did."
Her voice was quiet.
"I tried multiple times."
Her lips pressed into a thin line.
"But no matter how many times I tried…"
A heavy pause.
"It never worked."
"Will she ever be okay?" Faelan asked, worry evident in his voice.
Delphine smiled softly.
"Yes. Only Legion can make her feel better," she said with certainty. "And by now, I'm sure he is already healing the Empress."
"How?" Conn asked, unable to stop himself. "Does Legion have healing abilities like you?"
Delphine shook her head.
"No. But it was the Empress herself who told us before... Legion can heal her."
That was all she said before returning her focus to the injured, ensuring no more lives would be lost.
Across the camp, Saintess Xul seethed with rage.
It wasn't just because they had failed to subjugate the Holy Beast.
It wasn't even because of the Empress's arrival... a woman who looked nothing like the weak, fat and cowardly girl the court once dismissed.
No.
She was furious because of Delphine.
Because all eyes were now on her.
"Did you see how she restored that man's hand?"
The murmurs spread among the Holy Knights.
There was no denying it.
Delphine had demonstrated healing abilities far beyond their own.
Even the High Priest of the Holy Church of Solmara in Pyrrathis could only restore one limb per year before his MP was completely drained.
But Delphine...
She had restored limb after limb in a matter of minutes.
And she wasn't even exhausted.
Meanwhile, their Saintess Xul could only heal wounds.
"It makes sense, though," a Holy Knight murmured. "She is the sister of the Celestial Knight. It's only natural she possesses power like his."
"Exactly," another knight agreed. "Why didn't the Holy Church know about them sooner? If we had, we could have brought them into our Order. Our congregation would have been revered! We wouldn't be laughed at by the other kingdoms' churches!"
The Holy Knight Commanders shared the same thoughts, their confusion deepening.
Even Lady Layla felt it.
There was no doubt now.
Delphine's magic was holy.
If such a powerful Saintess had existed all this time...
Why hadn't the Holy Church found her?
"And we never would have known about them if the Celestial Knight hadn't joined this expedition," a priest muttered.
"I heard from the commoners," another added, "that he only joined the expedition to reach the Frozen Sea because the Empress ordered him to collect Frozen Sea Ice."
Then a mage spoke, voice filled with suspicion.
"The Empress."
Silence fell.
"How did she know the chant to subjugate the Holy Beast?"
Everyone stilled at the question.
"The Holy Church in every kingdom believed that the Holy Beasts are weak to blood. But it turns out... we never needed that much blood."
Another mage spoke up, tone grim.
"I saw it. When she slit her palm, it was only a drop before she chanted."
A heavy silence settled over the group.
Lady Layla clenched her fists.
Their sacrifice...
Those lives were lost for nothing.
But worse... they had lied to those people.
They had promised them home.
They had made them believe they were fighting for the kingdom.
If only Lady Layla had known.
No... if only she had asked questions.
If only they had realized there was someone who already knew the truth.
Yet no one... not the Holy Order, not the nobles, not even Lady Layla herself... had thought that the forgotten Empress, the woman confined to the Empress Palace, knew something they didn't.
Because to Lady Layla, the Empress was nothing but a means to an end.
She had only ever seen Ceres as the bargaining chip that kept Vaelundis providing food to Aquilonis.
She had been nothing more than a food trade agreement.
While guilt gnawed at Lady Layla, Duke Aurelian burned with anger.
Not because they had failed to subjugate the Holy Beast.
Not because a powerful Saintess had been hiding in his kingdom all along.
But because...
Inside that golden canopy...
The Empress was alone with Legion.
Yes, Legion was a Celestial Knight.
But at the end of the day...
He was still a commoner.
At first, when Xul told him about the Empress and Legion, he had dismissed it.
At that time, in his mind, the Empress was still the fat, timid girl he had rejected on their wedding day.
He had even assumed that Legion's loyalty as a knight was the only reason he agreed to be the Empress's lover.
But now...
After seeing her with his own eyes…
He understood.
It wasn't the Knight's Oath that bound Legion to her.
And Aurelian knew... even if Legion weren't bound by an oath, he would still crawl into the Empress's bed at every opportunity she gave him.
Because Aurelian would.
The realization sent white-hot fury through his veins.
The overwhelming need to claim her clawed at him.
The thought of her being touched by another man made his skin crawl with rage.
It made him sick.
It made him insane.
And the worst part?
He had no right to feel this way.
But still... he wanted her.
And the longer Legion was inside that canopy with her, the deeper Aurelian's madness grew.
It hadn't even been thirty minutes...
Yet his anger was already threatening to consume him.
He didn't care if the commoners in the expedition hated him.
He didn't care if they despised him for what he had done.
He had made the hard choices for the survival of the kingdom.
And even if the majority condemned him for it...
It had been the right decision at the time.
The tension in the air was so thick it could suffocate.
Everyone was trapped in their own thoughts...
Until Seiryu moved.
The Holy Beast, who had been sitting cross-legged in front of the golden canopy, stood up.
Then... he stepped aside.
And at that moment... the canopy opened.
The entire camp fell silent.
The first to step out was Legion.
Behind him... his hand holding someone else's...
A woman stepped into the light.
And at that moment... the entire world seemed to pause.
She was breathtaking.
Those who saw her for the first time held their breath.
Even those who had seen her earlier during the ritual…
Couldn't stop themselves from staring.
Delphine was the first to move.
She stood up and walked toward her.
"Your Highness," she greeted with a warm smile.
"Do you feel better now?"
Ceres returned the smile.
"I do."
A wave of whispers surged through the crowd.
"Cecilion... " Renee whispered, her voice unsteady.
"You've seen the Empress before, right?"
His eyes flickered to the goddess-like woman standing before them.
"You said she was… fat."
But Cecilion couldn't answer.
He was just as speechless as everyone else.
The woman he saw two years ago...
The weak, terrified girl who had been nothing more than a discarded bride...
Was gone.
In her place stood a woman so ethereal, so powerful, so striking...
That for the first time...
Everyone thought the same thing.
She wasn't just an Empress.
She was divine.