ALL NOVEL 2: The Worst Fate
“When the First Prince called me smelly, I thought, ‘You’ve got to be kidding,’ but people do change.”
I remember it was three years ago. Back when I was still in my home country, the Kingdom of Giranga.
There was a Stampede near the borderlands, causing significant damage. The medicine prepared by the nearby apothecary wasn’t enough, so the saints from the royal capital church were dispatched.
The alchemical saint used potions to cleanse wounds before using holy power to seal them. Using holy power from the start could leave foreign substances in the body.
However, the alchemical saint’s potions were special, leaving no trace of foreign substances.
The downside was that the recipe was unique and only she could make it.
Not only this generation’s alchemical saint but previous ones also had original recipes that were hard to pass on to the next generation.
Still, only the alchemical saint could make the potion. We could assist her, though.
The Industrial Saint and I ran around helping her. We stayed near the cauldron for three days and nights. It was inevitable that the smell of medicine clung to us.
Just as we received word that the treatment was complete and I thought I could finally sleep, I met the prince.
He was my fiancé at the time, and he bluntly told me, “You smell,” which drew the ire of the saints and priests. It’s a nostalgic memory now.
If I had spent my life with a man like him, I would have gone mad.
But until recently, it was certain I would marry him.
I received the expectations of the Queen and thought there was no escape.
My worst fate changed half a year ago.
While I was diligently recording at the church, the prince and my sister came. She clung to his arm, clearly showing their relationship.
But this was nothing new. Since the Queen returned to the duchy due to pregnancy, the two of them had become more blatant in showing off their relationship.
I am the prince’s fiancée. Even if there is no romantic feeling and my favorability is negative, I have a duty to warn them. Each time they would give me a creepy smile, likely intending to provoke me.
I thought it was the same that day. I sighed deeply and paused my work.
“Rana. I need to talk to you.”
“As you can see, I am currently working.”
There were other saints and priests around. It was clearly within working hours.
But the two had no intention of listening to my words.
“The prince took the trouble to come here, so you should listen gratefully.”
My sister, spoiled since childhood, was known for her selfishness even in high society.
Recently, she has become even more arrogant. Spending more time with the arrogant prince made her believe she was important too.
Although I had taken various measures, neither my sister nor my parents realized their mistakes. They began coming to the church without effect.
I didn’t want to trouble the Queen needlessly, but it might be time to ask for help.
As I was thinking this, the prince said something unexpected.
“Our engagement is annulled.”
“Excuse me?”
“Here are the documents approving the annulment between you and the prince.”
Why? I hadn’t heard anything about this.
I took the documents my sister handed over and read through them.
Indeed, they stated the annulment of my engagement with the prince, and for some reason, my family was offering my sister as compensation.
Although it was written as a family annulment, it didn’t mention what my family or I had done.
Despite this half-baked document, it had both my father’s and the King’s signatures.
“This is impossible…”
My marriage to the Prince was decided by the former King and Queen.
The current King fears these two above all else. Since he got a mistress pregnant before marrying the Queen, he cannot stand up to her.
The child from that time is the First Prince before me. Although the mistress became a concubine before giving birth, most recognize the First Prince as an illegitimate child.
Although the throne will go to the Queen’s child, the Second Prince, the First Prince might still make a mistake.
That’s why I was chosen at the age of six to be one of the three Great Saints. Alongside my education as a saint, I received training to be a princess, absorbing all necessary information.
The days of striving for a man I disliked were hell, but the former King and Queen fairly evaluated me. My parents doted on my sister and ignored me, but the two of them acknowledged my efforts.
Moreover, I enjoyed working as a saint. I especially liked talking with the Alchemical Saint and the Industrial Saint, who were chosen around the same age as me. Their discussions about the world stimulated me greatly.
That’s how I managed to keep going until now.
But why…? It’s not the annulment that saddens me. It’s why I was discarded. What mistake did I make?
I wanted to know the ‘reason’ not written in the documents.
“You are to marry the Third Prince of the Kingdom of Bistonia in a week.”
“Any saint will do for them. It’s such a savage thing to say. But it suits a sister whose holy power is waning perfectly.”
As my sister said this while rubbing her belly, I understood everything.
The Prince had done the same thing the King did before.
Perhaps because of this precedent, he showed his hand at the perfect moment.
The former King had passed away, the Queen would not return for a while, and both the King and the concubine were involved in the previous incident. My parents happily agreed.
Furthermore, the ‘Saint of Food’ was not highly regarded by the nobility. They likely thought of it as merely swapping daughters within the same family.
The Prime Minister, who should have stopped this, disliked me. He always looked down on the First Prince, and by extension, me, his fiancée.
However, since another influential noble’s daughter was chosen as the Second Prince’s fiancée, his gaze towards me became more resentful.
He probably disliked that I was trusted by the Queen as well.
It was likely the Prime Minister who suggested to the King to send me to Bistonia.
I knew that our country had been having disputes with the Kingdom of Bistonia for some time. Many of our nobles despise beastmen, and we’ve clashed with the beastman country of Bistonia multiple times. Though it was usually our country’s fault, we managed to reconcile each time.
But this time, they were demanding a saint. In other words, a human. It probably also had the implication of a hostage. They were certainly very angry.
The Prime Minister and the King must have been troubled.
And then, at the perfect timing, my sister’s pregnancy was discovered.
A daughter of a ducal house, one of the three Great Saints, and the former fiancée of the Prince—it was a perfect gift of apology to the other side.
Even though my holy power was weakening each year, and I wasn’t cherished by my family or the Prince, I was still a saint. Though holy power wasn’t necessary for the work of the Saint of Food.