Wasn’t This a Night Game

Please, Hear My Prayer

“Iomene… how was my daughter?”

The moment I left the detached palace, I was practically kidnapped and dragged before the Emperor.

The Emperor and Empress were both staring at me with utterly intense expressions.

What am I supposed to do with this.

*Your daughter’s got so many self-inflicted wounds, it’s insane. She’s skinny as a zombie,* in front of *them*?

Can’t exactly say that, can I?

“Extracting the shard of the Evil God and completely healing her mind will likely take some time. I will need to visit the Princess frequently in the future. I have completed the basic treatment for now.”

“They said you entered… without protective gear. Weren’t you harmed by the curse?”

“Nothing of the sort. You needn’t worry yourself so.”

My detached demeanor seemed to fill the Emperor and Empress with awe.

“Oh, Goddess of Grace. We thank you for sending us a Saint. Truly… thank you.”

“I am no Saint, Your Majesty. Simply a human, Amael. You may call me by my name.”

Just like old Yodel told me, I’ll keep hammering it home whenever I get the chance.

I’m not a Saint!!

Not!

But of course, they don’t seem convinced.

“Please, I beg you. If you can just help me bear a daughter, I’ll pay any price. So…”

“I will do all that I can.”

“Ah! Saint-nim!…”

The Empress, unable to bear it any longer, collapses before me, weeping.

I hurriedly tried to help her up, but the Emperor, who should be lending a hand, just stood by, watching this whole scene, tears streaming down his own face.

Ah.

I don’t know anymore.

I’m probably going back to Korea after getting cursed anyway, so let’s just leave it for a bit.

Besides, these are parents who’ve suffered for such a long time.

They probably spent the last sixteen years wondering if killing their daughter would have been a kinder decision.

What harm could come from comforting them for a little while?

“Do not grieve. For I am here.”

Here is one who will receive your daughter’s curse in your stead, one whose soul will be shattered.

“Saintess!!… Saintess!”

I cautiously supported the Empress, who was now wailing, and helped her to her feet.

Right.

Either way, soon I’ll get hit with the curse and return to Korea.

Until then, I’ll play the Saintess to my heart’s content.

I received all the Emperor and Empress’s tears, then exited the Imperial Palace.

*

I returned to the Magic Tower Sanctuary.

Soon now, I’ll be struck by the curse and sent back to Korea.

Probably, once I’m back in Korea, I won’t be able to use these ero-game skills anymore.

Because that’s a desolate world, devoid of skills and magic.

So, before I leave, I tended to as many sick people as I could, over and over.

Skills I won’t be able to use anyway.

Might as well use them to their fullest before I go.

Perhaps because the treatment center had opened…

The number of critically ill patients I had to treat wasn’t that great.

After treating people until about evening…

Just as I was wondering if I should get something to eat, my stomach rumbling…

“Saint!”

Erpa came searching for me.

Lately, she’s been sneaking into the temple to see me whenever she has a free moment.

Feels like she’s completely head-over-heels since that kiss thing.

“U-Um, I made this lunch box myself today. Would you, maybe, like to try some?”

She pushes the lunch box towards me.

Ooh.

A lunch box made by a girl herself!

Not bad, not bad at all.

We ate together in my room prepared in the temple.

The meal was quite delicious, seems like she put in a lot of effort.

“How is it? Is it good?”

She asked that question probably dozens of times while I ate, as if she was anxious.

Each time, I just smiled and nodded.

Honestly, who cares about the taste?

The fact that such a pretty girl cooked for me is what’s more important, isn’t it?

After the meal.

We traded meaningless small talk.

How we spent the day.

What things happened.

I always thought I was bad at talking to women, but when the woman comes on strong, the conversation just flows.

Thinking about it, it’s dogshit.

To leave this place where there’s a woman who’s so warm to me, and then after a little while, have to go back to Korea, where women won’t even want to talk to me.

The thought of going back there and living again as just one more squid… it chokes my chest.

But what can I do?

It’s better than going to hell, isn’t it?

“It’s gotten so late. You must be exhausted from taking care of the sick all day… You should rest. Saint.”

Erfa says this, shaking her two right hands like a child.

“Yes. You should hurry and rest too, Erfa. Have a good night.”

Even with my reply, she didn’t leave.

Her four hands were fidgeting, like she wanted something.

Her face was red.

“Um… maybe… that is…”

“Yes?”

“Before you leave… could you… kiss me?”

Even for a complete virgin like me, if I didn’t get it after this, there’s something wrong with my head.

This woman loves me.

And not just a little bit. She must be head-over-heels.

If only I hadn’t heard the prophecy about the Goddess herself coming down to personally screw me over…

Maybe I would have accepted her love.

If a beauty like this says she likes me, refusing her makes me a eunuch.

Me, getting to rub-a-dub with a girl this pretty? Absolutely not hateful.

Rather, totally good.

But what would happen if I accept her love?

Soon I’ll get hit with the curse and it’s straight back to Korea for me.

My soul itself gets yoinked to a different dimension, she’d probably be left all alone.

Thinking about that, I absolutely can’t accept her love.

But I can’t just stay here either, right?

If I give up the trip to Korea and choose to stay here, it’d be great right now, but what about later?

When the whole world realizes my swindle and tries to kill me.

How would Erpa react, I wonder.

She’d probably fight the world for me.

Throwing away her position, her honor, everything, and fighting for me until she eventually dies.

Miserably, horribly.

That’s how she’d die.

Of course, she might not die.

She’s a very powerful witch, after all.

Instead, the world would be destroyed, I guess.

Only the form and motive are different, but like the prophecy of destruction I saw, she’d end up destroying the world.

In a world that has been burnt away.

Just the two of us, stranded.

Was this truly a happy ending?

My fist clenches tight.

I must refuse.

Not for myself, but for her.

I must wound her feelings.

The same situation as the emperor and empress who had to abuse their own child to save her life.

The moment that thought takes hold.

I had to stop pushing her away.

I witnessed just how broken Princess Iomeane became.

Even if ultimately, it was to save the child, if the process itself is so agonizingly painful.

What good is the result, no matter how good it is?

I didn’t want to make that choice.

I moved closer to Erpa.

I wrapped my hand around her waist and kissed her lips.

I can hear Erpa’s heart pounding all the way here.

I pulled away from her.

And stroked her hair as she gave a smile that seemed to melt.

“Can you promise me just one thing?”

“Yes. Yes. Holy One. Anything…”

Erpa answers me with a voice like she’s flying in a dream. I smile at her and say:

“Love yourself more than you love me.”

“Huh?”

“I want you to live a long, healthy, beautiful life. I shouldn’t come before you in your priorities. Understand? No matter what happens to me, you have to live your own life.”

This was my best.

Erpa was staring at me like she couldn’t understand.

I smiled at her.

She’ll understand with time.

“I understand. Whatever the Saint says…”

Erpa says it carefully like that.

“It’s late. Go home safely.”

At my words, Erpa gives a blissful smile and rushes at me again, showering me with kisses.

Her kisses, playful but thick with affection, make me feel a little sad.

Fucking hell.

I’ll never experience this again when I go back to Korea.

I have a woman who likes me this much, so why do I have to leave?

Fucking b*tch of a goddess.

It’s not like I wanted to be called a Saint!

I even made the Lilia Order fucking rich!

Free treatment for the sick, improved housing, job creation, I really did everything!!

“Why the hell do I have to fall into Hell?!”

I want to live that isekai harem smut fantasy, too!

I even got the skills perfectly suited for a harem smut novel, damn it.

Why…?

Whatever.

Let’s just think about avoiding this trip to Hell.

“I’ll come by again when I have time! Let’s even go on a date next time! Saint-nim!”

To her excited voice, I just nodded.

Please, love yourself more than you love me.

That’s the honest truth.

Because you need to be able to endure even after I disappear.

Erpa disappears from the room.

In the empty room.

I was letting out deep, heavy sighs.

I’ll be going back to Korea before long, but I’m not exactly overjoyed about it.

*

Back in the lab, Erpa cupped her flushed face with her four hands and slowly slid to the floor.

I kissed him.

And it was with my own will, I kissed him so aggressively.

A first in my entire life.

I never knew… never thought I’d fall so deep for a man.

Truly, never in my dreams.

But I was so… happy.

To love… I never knew it could feel like this.

That the Saint would accept her love… it filled her to bursting.

With no one to tell, she collapsed onto the floor, writhing with joy for a good long while. Then, carefully, she drew a scroll from within her robes.

A scroll etched with magic, magic for… preventing.

Her heart thumped, looking down at it.

“Crazy. Erpa. You’re crazy!”

She had no experience with men, of course.

No.

Not just none, but because of the ugliness that scarred her left side, she’d never even held a hand.

So, how could she, like some practiced woman, boldly suggest they lay together?

All her courage had drained away with that aggressive kiss she’d given him earlier.

But…

‘Soon. Someday. I must.’

She carefully folded the prevention scroll and tucked it back inside her robes.

In one corner of her laboratory, a small statue of the Graceful Goddess and a holy book were kept.

She went to them, placed her hand upon the holy book, and cautiously prayed to the Goddess.

“Goddess. It’s me again. I offer my prayer today, too. Thank you for sending the Saint. Thank you for making me so happy, every single day. Your grace… truly, every single day feels like a miracle.”

So much had already been given.

Life had returned, her career blossomed, it wouldn’t be an overstatement to say everything she wanted had come to pass.

But humans are greedy.

And so, she thought to ask for one thing more.

“Just one more favor. You absolutely. Absolutely must grant it.”

Her voice, so fervent.

Four hands clasped, offering a prayer.

“As much as I love you, Saint. Please let the Saint also love me. One day, let him see me as a woman and hold me. Let him love me for the rest of my days. And above all…”

Erpha grinned slyly.

“Don’t leave my side, but stay with me for a long, long time. I beg you. Goddess. Hear my prayer.”

She made the sign of the cross and rose from her place. That day, strangely, the statue of the Graceful Goddess seemed to smile more brightly at her.

Erpha smiled back, a mirroring.

For reasons unknown, the thought that the Goddess would grant her prayer settled within her.