Chapter 01
Clang, clang!
It felt like someone was hitting my head with a hammer.
“Ugh…”
I groaned and opened my eyes. A horrible headache throbbed in my skull.
What had I been doing last night? Oh, right—hadn’t I gone to Soyeon’s birthday party?
Yes, that’s right. I’d gotten a little too excited and even drank whiskey, which I had no idea how to handle.
Oh God, am I being punished now?
It felt like my head was about to split open. This was definitely the worst hangover I’d ever had.
First things first—water. I needed water. I forced my eyes open.
Huh?
But what I saw wasn’t the childish flower-patterned wallpaper of Soyeon’s house…
Nor was it the plain white ceiling of my own home.
“W-Who…”
There, right in front of me, was a bare man’s shoulder.
What?!
I slapped my hand over my mouth in shock. A living, breathing, shirtless man was lying next to me—his shoulder and chest filling my entire view.
Beneath those broad shoulders were deep collarbones, and smooth skin stretched over defined muscles.
What… what was I looking at right now?
Why was the owner of these perfect shoulders in my bed?
What the hell did I do last night?!
Just then, those sculpted shoulders twitched again, and a cold voice whispered in my ear.
“…Who are you?”
I looked up in surprise—and gasped.
Gasp.
Piercing blue eyes, bluer than the winter sky, stared right into mine.
Without realizing it, my lips moved.
“…Hello?”
“Hello? Seriously?”
The mysterious man frowned deeply.
And in the next instant—my view flipped upside down.
Shhhk. A chilling sound cut through the air. Before I could react, I felt something cold against my neck.
“Are you trying to be funny? What are you doing in my bed?”
The man growled low, and I stiffened.
W-Wait a second. Was that a dagger against my neck? A real one?
“P-Please calm down…”
“I’m not here to play games. Identify yourself. Now.”
The blade pressed deeper against my throat.
This was insane. My head was still pounding, my vision blurry from sleep—and now I was being threatened with a knife by a ridiculously handsome stranger.
What the hell is happening?!
Was I dreaming?
Yeah, that had to be it.
This had to be a dream. I let out a weak laugh.
“What a weird dream. Haha…”
But the man’s expression darkened even more.
“Do you want to die?”
The flat side of the blade pushed harder against my neck.
I gasped, choking slightly. The pain was far too real.
Like this wasn’t a dream at all.
“Speak now. Who sent you?”
The glint of the blade reflected in the man’s icy blue eyes.
And that’s when I realized—it was real. I didn’t know how, but I was actually in danger.
I shut my eyes tight, and a random survival tip I’d seen in a self-defense video flashed through my mind.
They had said: when faced with an attacker, the first thing to do isn’t fighting back with weak self-defense. The very first thing is…
“KYAAAAAHHHHH!”
Scream for help—loud and clear!
The man flinched at my scream.
Now’s my chance! I twisted, trying to escape—
“Sir Ian! Are you all right?!”
BANG! The door flew open.
Huh?
I turned toward the door, startled.
I had screamed for help, but I didn’t expect someone to actually show up this fast.
The person who barged in froze at the sight of us. Only the man pinning me down cursed under his breath.
“Damn it.”
“Sir Ian!”
“What happened?!”
“Is that an intruder?!”
In an instant, people burst into the room with swords drawn.
But then they froze too.
There he was—shirtless and muscular—and me lying beneath him.
Everyone’s eyes trembled in shock.
“S-Sir Ian. This is…”
“She… she’s not an intruder?”
“S-Sorry, Sir Ian! We’ll leave right away!”
“Wait!”
The man quickly sat up, and the blanket covering us slid off.
“This isn’t what it looks like! Wai—”
“Eeeek!”
The people screamed in horror.
I looked down in disbelief.
The blanket had slid off and revealed what I was wearing: a seductive purple silk slip.
Wait, what?!
I would never sleep in something like this!
I was horrified. Not only was I wearing a nightgown I’d never seen before, but my skin—exposed through the tiny scrap of fabric—was covered in red marks…
“AHHHH! What is all this?!”
“We—we’ll step outside!”
“S-Sorry, Sir Ian!”
Everyone covered their eyes and backed out of the room in a panic. SLAM—the door closed.
In the silence, I heard the man grind his teeth.
“So this was the plan.”
“What? No, wait a minute. Do you even know what’s going on—”
“Clever. Who sent you?”
The man glared at me with eyes like fire.
“Ian Esteban. Who told you to mess with me like this?”
Ian… Esteban?
At the sound of his full name, my brows furrowed.
That name sounded very familiar.
Then it hit me—the strange dream I had last night. I had dreamed about the romance novel The Saintess Doesn’t Know Love, which I had just finished reading yesterday.
It was a sweet, light-hearted love story between a saintess and a knight—at least, until the final boss appeared.
And Ian Esteban was definitely…
The final boss.
The man who staged a rebellion, stole the throne, and eventually went mad under a curse, becoming a cruel tyrant.
“P-Please calm down…”
Fear finally caught up with me, and I forced an awkward smile as cold sweat dripped down my back.
There’s no way. No way this guy is that Ian Esteban.
I must still be half-asleep and hearing things.
“Sir! It’s me!”
Someone suddenly knocked at the door. Ian groaned.
“Come in.”
“What’s going on?! The others said you spent the night with a woman—Wha?!”
The young man who entered stopped dead when he saw me.
“S-Sir… You really… brought a woman to your bed…”
“No! Damn it, of course not!”
Ian growled, running a hand through his hair roughly.
“Someone put her in my bed. That’s what they wanted—this exact situation.”
The young man’s mouth dropped open. Then he covered his face with a hand like he had a headache.
“This is bad… If we don’t fix this rumor, it could ruin your appointment as cardinal!”
“Cardinals must remain celibate… Damn it.”
Ian glared at me, and a chill ran down my spine.
“You better speak. Who are you? Who sent you?”
Oh no. I bit my lip hard.
Everything about this situation felt unreal—but the murderous intent in Ian’s eyes was terrifyingly real.
What if he actually kills me?!
As I sat frozen, Ian clicked his tongue.
“Lucian. Bring me my sword.”
“Yes, sir.”
Lucian.
I swallowed hard.
Lucian was the name of Ian Esteban’s loyal right-hand man in the novel.
And with that navy blue hair… it matched exactly how Lucian was described.
It wasn’t just my imagination. The proof kept piling up.
Ian slowly took the sword from Lucian and unsheathed it.
The cold blade lifted my chin.
“Tell me who’s behind this.”
He spoke in a low, devilish voice.
“If you want to live.”
He’s serious!
I realized it instantly. That killing intent was no joke.
Think. Think! There has to be something I can say to keep from dying!
Panic kicked in, and I shouted:
“W-Wait! I’m the Saintess! I’m a Saintess!”
“…What?”
I shut my eyes and screamed it again.
Then cautiously peeked them open—both Ian and Lucian were staring at me, dumbfounded.
I sucked in a breath and shouted once more.
“I was just summoned by the divine! I was dropped into the temple as the new Saintess!”
In the world of The Saintess Doesn’t Know Love, as the title suggests, a saintess really did exist.
Chosen by the gods, she would suddenly receive a divine message and be summoned into the temple.
“Summoned” was a polite way to say it—really, she’d just drop randomly into the temple. Hallways, bathrooms, anywhere.
But once she appeared, she was treated with the highest respect as God’s messenger.
If this man really is Ian, then this must be the temple too!
It was a desperate lie, but it sounded halfway believable.
I looked up at Ian with a sliver of hope.
His icy blue eyes narrowed suspiciously.
“Don’t lie.”
“….”
Did he see through it?
“I’ve never heard of a Saintess showing up wearing nothing but a tiny piece of cloth.”
…Yeah, okay, fair.
I glanced down. The silk slip I was wearing was still far too revealing, making me blush just from looking at it.
I swear, I had never spent money on clothes this scandalous before.
Where the heck did this even come from?!
