Chapter 05
Ian shrugged. I trembled with frustration at his smugness.
Maybe I looked too pitiful, because Lucian quickly added an explanation.
“As you probably already know, Saintess, at this point no one will believe the truth. The captain’s… purity is already lost.”
Lost?!
What do you mean it’s just “gone”?
Isn’t that something important in this world?!
Can you really let your boss’s important virtue just float away like that?
I was too shocked to even snap back and just stumbled over my words.
“Still… Are you really going to admit we… actually spent the night together?”
“To be specific, we’ll say that we were in love from the beginning,” Ian replied in a calm, lazy voice.
The way he spoke was relaxed, but what he said was absolutely shocking.
“Because of my position as the Holy Knight Commander, I kept my feelings hidden. But one morning, the person I longed for appeared in my bed. Thinking it was a dream, we gave in to each other, only to realize later—it wasn’t a dream.”
Ian’s voice grew softer and slower.
Ugh.
As the story went on, goosebumps spread all over me.
Ian saw my horrified expression and gave a gentle smile.
“And that’s how you, the Saintess, not only appeared but corrupted me and claimed me as your own.”
“I didn’t want to claim you…”
I muttered under my breath, barely audible.
“Pardon?”
“Nothing. Never mind.”
“Good. Then let’s continue.”
He went on smoothly.
Up until that moment, I thought the worst of it was over.
But Ian, once again, proved me wrong.
“Let’s announce our engagement. We’ll get married—for one year.”
“What?”
I blinked in shock, then quickly came to my senses.
“Absolutely not! No way! I can’t agree to marriage, or even to dating!”
“So you want to make me look like a man who not only lost his purity but also sleeps around with random women?”
Ian growled. I stared at him, stunned.
He sighed lightly, then changed his tone to something gentler.
“As I said, we’ll say it’s a love match. That we’ve been in love all along.”
“…And what if I say no?”
At that, Ian gave me a saintly smile—just like an angel.
“What do you think will happen?”
“…You’ll kill me?”
“Kill you? Never. How could I harm the woman I fell in love with?”
He smiled sweetly and said,
“Wife.”
“Don’t call me that!”
I nearly jumped in shock.
“Captain, I understand your plan. I really do. Honestly, it’s a smart one.”
Yes, Ian’s plan was aggressive—enough to make my head spin—but it was, unfortunately, the most realistic option right now.
‘If we try to say nothing happened now, even an ant walking by wouldn’t believe us.’
In that case, using the scandal to our advantage might be the best move.
A fated love story between the Holy Knight Commander and the Saintess? People would eat it up.
For Ian, this might really be the best course of action.
But not for me.
“But I can’t get engaged to you, Captain.”
Ian raised one eyebrow.
“Why not?”
Why not?
Because if I marry you, it’ll be way harder to escape later!
‘Well… I might have already blown my chance at escaping by mentioning the late emperor’s remains…’
Still, there’s a huge difference between being just a “Saintess who knows the secret” and being “the Saintess who knows the secret and the Commander’s fiancée.”
The level of surveillance (or “guarding”) would be completely different.
But of course, I couldn’t say all that out loud.
So I thought quickly and said,
“I’m in love with someone else.”
“…Is that true?”
Ian frowned, then tilted his head thoughtfully.
“Is it the person who left those marks on your neck?”
Marks? Oh, right. That red mark on my neck when I woke up in his bed.
I was surprised. I thought he had no idea and believed it was just a bug bite.
“Lucian told me what that kind of mark means.”
Ian’s voice sounded stiff and awkward, like he was talking about something completely foreign to him.
‘Yup. Definitely a virgin.’
Showing off that trait in such a weird moment…
Suddenly, I felt awkward looking at him.
“I… I see.”
“Answer me. Were you with your boyfriend when you fell into my bed?”
“I… guess so?”
Truthfully, I had no idea why there were marks on my body.
Well, I could guess.
Whoever planned this probably faked it to make the photo look more scandalous.
But I couldn’t say that, so I made up an imaginary boyfriend.
“Are you two close? Deeply in love?”
“Um… not really.”
“Then break up with him.”
“What? No, that’s not possible.”
“But you just said it’s not serious.”
“Still! We’re officially dating!”
Click. Ian clucked his tongue. I quickly added more before he could say anything else about dating.
“Actually… we are deeply in love. Very much so.”
“Then let’s do this instead,” Ian said, his brows furrowed like he was annoyed.
“If you break up with your boyfriend and help me carry out this plan, I’ll reward you generously.”
“…Reward?”
I should’ve rejected it immediately, but the capitalist in me couldn’t help but ask.
“Anything you want.”
Anything?
That sounded dangerous.
I gave Ian a suspicious look.
Clearly, he didn’t know how badly the genie from the lamp got exploited for saying things like that without limits.
“If you need an example, how about… ten million Mars?”
How much is that?!
I racked my brain.
There was a line in the novel “The Saintess Doesn’t Know Love” where the main character bought a nice two-story house in the capital for one million Mars.
Wait a second. If a two-story house costs one million Mars, then ten million would be…
Like owning ten houses in Seoul!
My mind started working fast.
It hadn’t even been a few hours since I arrived in this world, and I hadn’t realized how important money would be.
I had no bank account here. No piggy bank filled with coins.
I was completely broke.
If I was going to survive here—with no family, no connections—I needed money.
At least until I figured out how to get back to my world.
I didn’t need ten houses, but enough money to live comfortably for a year without working sounded perfect.
And more importantly…
‘Listen carefully, 76. You must succeed in this mission.’
The voice that whispered in my mind hours ago came back to me again.
Just remembering that low, eerie whisper gave me chills.
‘I need to find out who that voice belongs to.’
I was pretty sure that whoever it was… was still watching me.
The article had gone public, so the scandal had definitely played out the way they wanted.
But would they let me go just because of that?
‘I doubt it.’
If I ran now, both Ian and the owner of that voice would probably chase me down.
After sorting through all these thoughts, I slowly looked up at Ian.
“There’s a time limit, right? One year?”
“Of course. I have no intention of keeping up a fake marriage for longer than that.”
“Then… Please give me some time to think.”
That’s what I finally said.
I needed time to organize my thoughts.
This proposal was too risky to accept right away.
My brain was overloaded with all the information I’d taken in over the past few hours since falling into Ian’s bed. I hadn’t had a single moment to breathe.
Ian paused briefly, then surprisingly nodded.
“Alright. I’ll give you time.”
“Thank you.”
“When you’re ready, tell a servant to summon me or Lucian.”
I nodded.
Ian gave me a faint smile.
“Then I’ll see you again soon… wife.”
“Don’t call me that!”
Ian chuckled, amused by my outburst, then turned to Lucian and told him to prepare a room for me.
****
As I followed Lucian down the hallway, people we passed kept stopping and staring.
“Is that her?”
“That’s got to be her. Same hair color, same face as the photo.”
“And she’s walking with Sir Lucian. No doubt about it.”
“She’s the Captain’s woman…”
The whispers made me want to jump out of my skin.
After turning a corner, Lucian whispered to me quietly.
“There are many eyes watching. If you accept the Captain’s proposal, this is something you’ll have to get used to.”
“……”
“Still, most people in the temple are kind. The real danger is…”
He trailed off.
But I didn’t need him to finish.
‘The nobles… and the royal family.’
Especially the royal family.
Knowing what I knew about the emperor’s true nature…
The palace felt like a den of lions.
