I Reject the villain’s ending.

Episode 8

‘’Anyway, I’m so grateful that I fell for it.’.

Even a scumbag like me is his master, and he stays by his side, telling him the right things to do.

Even though he gives his body and trembles,, but he doesn’t leave my side.

‘Pink.’

‘Yes.’

‘You choose. Something for me to wear.’

‘I don’t know much about clothes.’

‘I know. But pick something. For me.’

At that word, ‘for me,’ Iros hesitated for a moment, then nodded and followed Mei into the pile of dresses.

He watched them go, and when they were out of sight, he leaned back on the couch in the dressing room and picked a grape.

It would take me a while to find something to wear in the dressing room, which was as big as two rooms combined.

‘In the meantime, I’ll try to organize my thoughts.’

Something I’ve always wondered, about but never said out loud.

‘Who killed me.’

His eyes turned cold.

In all the novels I’d read in my past life, I’d read my entire life story, but none of them had included death and resurrection in the middle.

And my death was rather unnatural.

If it was poison or a cancerous attack, Iros would not have known, and I am too young and healthy to have died of natural causes.

I’m also a saint, capable of self-healing.

Which leaves the question.

‘Curse or black magic.’

Curse, black magic, or some other trick of the trade, but it’s the only way to kill a holy woman with so much divine power.

It’s been over five hundred years since it was sealed, so there are bound to be demons and warlocks out there, and there’s bound to be one or two who want to kill her.

‘At least no one would kill a holy woman of the Biata religion who gave me a big liver.’

A saint with such pure divine power is not easy to kill. The difference in power between her and an ordinary warlock or a demonic nabob is obvious.

‘I don’t know why the story is going differently from the novel, but we’ll have to deal with this before Pink dies at our hands.’

I don’t know why the story changed, but I don’t want to die so quickly.

My goal is to live long and lean.

‘I’m tired, so I’m going to go out hunting warlocks for the first time in a long time, and make a name for myself.’

If I have the chance to leave the temple, I’ll take it. It’s better than being a couch potato.

Improving my image, getting rid of the things that are out to get me.

Just in time, Mei and Iros had picked out dresses for me to wear today. I greeted them with a wide smile.

‘Saint, how do you like these? The Guardian picked them out for you!’

‘Nice, very nice. I like it.’

The saintly, dignified garments were perfect for a battle dress for a visit to the old man of the temple.

The two of them put on their chosen outfits and headed to the Great Prayer Hall to attend the prayer meeting.

The corridor to the prayer hall still gleamed with pure white marble and golden ornaments.

The temples of the New Kingdom are stunningly ornate, but the Great Hall of the Cyanine Empire is even more so.

As I turned down the corridor and opened the curtains embroidered with gold thread, the priests preparing to pray turned their heads in unison.

Instantly the center of dozens of stares, I smirked and said, out of habit.

‘Look what I see.’

‘Hee hee!’

‘Ah. Not this. Good lunch, everyone.’

I said, then quickly changed my tune and laughed as I waved goodbye in my usual gruff voice.

But what scared them more was that they couldn’t breathe and froze into ice statues.

‘Pink, do I look scary to you?’

‘I suppose it depends on the person.’

‘Saint, I’m not scared of you at all, you’re just beautiful.’

At Mei’s cheerful words, Iros looked down at her and gave her a puzzled look, while the surrounding ice statues looked at her in awe.

Iros looked at Mei as well and then spoke with the expression of a petty servant flattering a king.

‘You’re good at flattery, it seems you’ve had a lot of socializing.’

‘It’s not flattery, I’m serious. Don’t you think your guardian is pretty?’

‘That’s…….’

My eyes met briefly with Iros, who stared at me in silence at Mei’s words.

‘……?’

‘…….’

But Iros immediately looked away and fell silent.

I see. I’m not pretty, huh?

I snorted and stomped off to find my seat. It was the only hard wooden chair with a cushion, so it was easy to find.

Even if Iros doesn’t think I’m pretty, at least I’ve got a cushion so my arse won’t be exhausted.

‘I see the high priests aren’t here yet, am I early?’

‘They started on time, so I guess we’re a little early.’

Iros casually stood behind me, and Mei went to the seats set aside for the public and sat down.

The Great Prayer Hall was divided into two sections, one for the Saints, High Priestesses, and Guardians, and the other for the priests and congregation.

‘I suppose Shield and Wisdom will be coming today?’

After demons and fiends invaded Middle-earth and caused many casualties, the temple appointed three independent guardians for the Sword, Shield, and Wisdom.

The three guardians are chosen to protect the saints and the shrine after careful tests of strength, character, and wisdom.

I wondered about the two Guardians who had dragged me down and beheaded me with Iros, the Sword.

They were still nameless and I’d never met them, only known from novels, not even a passing acquaintance, so it was good to know them for later.

‘Guardians usually attend prayer meetings, so that’s probably it.’

‘You don’t often attend prayer meetings.’

‘That’s because the saint doesn’t attend many prayer meetings.’

‘That’s true.’

Because he was always by my side, Iros often missed prayer meetings or left early.

His day was like mine.

I realized that Iros was rarely away from my side.

A moment later, the curtains parted at another entrance, revealing the High Priestesses and senior priests.

They came with solemn, stern faces, chatting in Moorish, but when they spotted me, they stopped in their tracks.

Except for one, the High Priest.

‘It’s been a long time, Saint.’

The high priest, a burly man with grey hair tied loosely back, approached and bowed low. He was still strong for his age.

The original Sierra was a runaway human with a humanity that would have made a septuagenarian grandfather cringe, but I, Kim Sowon, was a normal Confucian girl in the Confucian nation of Korea.

‘It’s been a long time, Diego, no, a long time.’

She smiled and bowed her head slightly like a little princess.

As if expecting me to ignore the greeting as usual, the High Priestess stopped moving and slowly raised her head.

‘I hear you’ve come back from the dead, so something must have changed in your mind.’

I rolled my eyes and laughed at the way he spoke of my respect.

‘That’s what happens when you die and come back to life. But more than that, Diego is the High Priest and he never visited me after I woke up. I was a little upset.’

‘I apologize. This old man has a lot of work to do on your behalf.’

What can I say to a vicar who says, nonchalantly, ‘I’ve been busy doing your work for you?

It would have been even weirder if he had come with a basket of fruit to visit her in her illness since we had only exchanged a few words.

‘By the way, I thought you were not averse to prayer. I did not expect you to come.’

‘Well, I thought it would be a bit unbecoming of a saint to never pray to her gods, so I thought I’d join in more often.’

The tip of the High Priest’s left eyebrow twitched at my provocative comment. I had disturbed him, he smiled and added, ‘Sincerely.

‘Sincerely.’

‘Yes, sir.’

The High Priestess returned to her seat as soon as he finished speaking, and I watched her for a moment before breaking eye contact and muttering softly.

‘You’re still a nasty human being.’

‘You mean High Commissioner Diego?’

‘Yep. He’s strangely unpleasant to look at.’

But I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because he hates me.

I know instinctively when someone doesn’t like me because I was called an illegitimate child when I was at the count’s house.

‘But a saint came back from the dead and didn’t show her face.

Everyone said they were afraid of me, but they still came to the entrance with healthy food or gifts, but Diego didn’t do any of that.

I don’t know if it’s because he died once or if he just cares a little bit about the world around him, but the little things bothered me.

Later, when I became the black curtain for the emperor, he rose and rebelled even in the temple, so I can’t rest easy.

‘But I’m still a wicked woman, at least when I was the Black Veil, ruling the country and killing people, so it’s unlikely that the High Priest would try to kill a saint in the temple.

Furthermore, the reason for my death is most likely related to a warlock or a curse, so there’s no way the High Priestess, who is far from them, would have anything to do with my death.

As I pondered this, I heard a burst of noise from the entrance and saw a crowd of people craning their necks.

Through the crowd of greeters, a large man with brown hair green eyes, and glasses entered the room.

Handsome men who looked nothing like Iros. The uncommon faces were not those of passersby one and two.

It was a flash of recognition, a tingle.

‘The brown hair is Shield, and the long green hair is Wisdom, right?’

‘That’s right.’

‘I recognize her.’

They had such distinctive features that one could tell that one of them looked like he was going to use his body, while the other looked like he was going to read a book.

‘They’re both handsome.’

‘…….’

‘Aren’t guardians chosen by their faces?’

‘…….’

‘Pink, why aren’t you talking?’

When I didn’t get an answer, I glanced up to see Iros staring down at me with the cold disdain of someone looking at rubbish.

His lips twitched in confusion before he finally turned his head away and sighed deeply.

‘I thought you were a good girl, but you’ve fallen for a man again…….’

It was almost like a mother lamenting over her daughter who was out of control.