Chapter 08
“Please help me disappear completely from this world—as if Saintess Irene never existed. So that no one, not even you, Ian, can find me.”
“……”
“If you agree, I’ll gladly become your fiancée. For one year.”
One year. It was the perfect length of time.
I had done the calculations while walking down the hallway. Exactly ten months from now, Ian would complete his plan.
He would lead the entire Holy Knights to attack the imperial palace.
By then, as Emperor, Ian would no longer need a fake fiancée like me.
Ian must’ve thought that far as well.
But strangely, he didn’t give an immediate answer.
“That’s… a rather unusual request. Will you tell me your reason?”
“No.”
I answered firmly.
In a negotiation like this, I had to stay strong to make the deal happen.
I clenched my teeth and looked straight at Ian.
After a moment of silent eye contact, Ian finally answered with a strange expression.
“All right.”
“Really?”
“I don’t fully understand your condition… but if that’s what you truly want.”
“Great! Then we have a deal!”
I smiled and held out my hand.
Ian just stared at my hand in silence.
What now? Do they not do handshakes in this world? But I’ve seen people do it before…
Just as I was about to awkwardly pull my hand back, his large hand suddenly grabbed mine.
His touch was warm, despite his cold appearance.
Satisfied, I shook our joined hands up and down.
“Then, I’ll be counting on you. When will the contract stone be ready?”
“I’ll have it brought right away. Lucian.”
“Yes, Commander.”
Soon, Lucian returned with a deep purple magic stone.
I recognized it instantly.
‘The Immutable Contract Stone.’
A contract made with this stone had to be kept—no matter what.
If you broke it, the price was your soul.
Your soul would be dragged into the void, leaving your body like a walking corpse.
That steep penalty made the contract extremely trustworthy.
Naturally, the Immutable Contract Stone was one of the most valuable stones out there—worth more than a house, probably.
Just bringing that stone showed how serious Ian was about keeping the deal.
“Are you really okay with this contract?”
“Of course.”
I lifted the corners of my mouth confidently.
“Are you sure you’ll be able to keep your promises, Ian?”
“Of course.”
Ian chuckled slightly.
“All right then. Let’s make the contract. You’ll follow the three conditions I gave earlier. And I will—”
“Be my fake wife for one year.”
Then Ian added something as if it suddenly came to mind.
“No cheating.”
…Why is he so hung up on that?
It was strange, but I nodded anyway.
“Okay. That’s part of the deal too. We’re all set, right?”
We both placed our palms on the contract stone.
A dark blue light rose from it and wrapped around our bodies.
‘Good thing this doesn’t require me to write down my real name.’
As that holy energy glowed around us, I found myself thinking such silly things.
****
Later…
“Are you sure about this, Commander?”
Lucian followed behind Ian, clearly worried.
“Even if her terms weren’t too extreme, using the Immutable Contract Stone…”
“We had to put a firm leash on her.”
Ian frowned slightly, remembering Irene’s face as she confidently reached out for a handshake.
Out of everything that happened today, she was by far the strangest.
Ian thought back to when he had first opened his eyes that morning.
The first thing that hit him was the scent—something odd tickled his nose.
The smell of someone else’s skin… and a faint bath product scent.
Something was off.
Then a strange voice echoed.
“Wh-who…?”
It was a voice shaking like a deer about to be hunted.
His heart instantly went cold. Someone had somehow gotten into his arms.
‘Who are you?’
As he asked, his right hand was already ready to grab the person’s throat at any moment.
The intruder looked up with wide green eyes, lips trembling.
“…Hello?”
Hello?
The moment she said that ridiculous greeting, all the tension left his hand.
Who breaks into someone’s bed and says hello like that?
Was this a dream?
Was this even real?
If that dumb thought hadn’t crossed his mind, Ian would’ve easily taken her down right then.
But he didn’t.
And that hesitation was his mistake.
‘If I had taken her down then, things would’ve been much easier.’
Ian hated unexpected situations.
But he also knew that sometimes, random coincidences created useful opportunities.
That woman was one of those unexpected variables.
‘Please help me disappear.’
…A very strange variable.
‘Make it so that Saintess Irene no longer exists in this world.’
Ian shook his head to stop the pointless memories.
Now wasn’t the time for daydreams—he needed to deal with this variable.
‘A Saintess, huh?’
He didn’t fully trust her claim.
But he couldn’t deny it either. The “proof” she had shown wasn’t something a fraud could’ve faked.
“The powers of Saintesses really are impressive. She even knew such secret things,” Lucian said seriously.
“Yes, it was surprising.”
“Her divine ability must be unusually strong this time.”
It had to be—because if not, they were in trouble.
Ian’s plans couldn’t be exposed, not to anyone. Not even to a Saintess.
“It has to be,” Ian agreed.
Once Irene found out that the former emperor’s body was hidden beneath his mansion, Ian had no choice but to bring her onto his side—or remove her.
“By the way, Commander, did you notice? When she came back earlier, I thought I smelled faint traces of magic in the air.”
“You caught that too?”
It was faint, but real. Someone had used magic near her—or she had.
‘She didn’t seem like someone who could use magic, though.’
And when she returned to the office, her face had been pale, like she was being chased.
Ian tapped his fingers against the desk.
She wasn’t as innocent as she seemed. She was hiding something.
‘Let’s figure it out slowly.’
If he pushed too hard, she might faint. She seemed easily startled.
“Lucian.”
“Yes, Commander?”
“Prepare the grandest engagement ceremony the Empire has ever seen.”
For now, Ian decided to turn his fake bride into the most dazzling woman in the Empire.
‘So much for the “pure, untouchable commander” title.’
But with every loss came a gain.
‘A man who gives up everything, even his lifelong celibacy, for love’—that image would surely work well with the public.
****
Meanwhile…
“Ughhhhh.”
I collapsed face-first onto the bed.
The fluffy blankets embraced me like a cloud.
I rolled around, half out of my mind from the softness.
No matter how much I rolled, the bed never seemed to end.
Well, that made sense.
I was the first Saintess to appear in fifteen years.
‘…Ugh.’
The weight of that hit me all over again.
I stopped rolling and picked up a book Lucian had brought me.
He seemed especially bothered by my story about being a runaway slave.
When I mentioned I had learned to read before being sold, he looked visibly relieved.
He then borrowed beginner-friendly books for me—like “History of the Empire” and “Empire Atlas”.
‘He’s such a considerate guy.’
How did someone that kind end up working for someone as scary as Ian?
Anyway, I started flipping through the books Lucian gave me.
Even though I had read the original novel, I still didn’t know everything about this world.
“Okay, first up… ‘The History of Saintesses.’”
The table of contents showed records of past Saintesses and their miracles.
I flipped to the most recent one.
“Saintess Cordelia.”
She was the second daughter of Count Bernadette and chosen as a Saintess at age seven.
Born into nobility and became a Saintess? She must’ve saved a lot of lives in her past life.
“Her ability is… flower blooming?”
Flowers? I tilted my head. That seemed kind of… simple.
But then I saw the explanation: the flowers she bloomed could be brewed into tea that restored vitality.
“Oh… that’s actually amazing.”
Very useful indeed.
The Saintess before her, Lorelei, had the power to heal wounds completely—as long as the injury happened within the last ten minutes.
Still, that was incredible.
“All of them… really lived up to the name ‘Saintess.’”
I felt a cold sweat.
People would expect Saintess Irene to have some amazing power too.
‘I am great at finding bugs…’
Before waking up in this crazy world, I had been a college student majoring in computer science.
I wasn’t the best coder, but when it came to bug detection? I was the best among my peers.
‘But how do I use that here?’
“Ughhhh.”
I groaned into the pillow.
Faking being a Saintess saved my life, sure—but the real problem came after that.
‘I managed to outsmart Ian using the novel’s info…’
But could I really keep up this act for a whole year?
