I Reject the villain’s ending.

Episode 40.

After entering the exchange, where I had become a VIP after two months, I cashed in what I had taken from the warlocks and went onto the streets, where people approached me with bright expressions.

“Saintess-!”

“Wow. It’s the Saint!”

“Hello, Saint!”

“Hello, Guardian, I see you didn’t come with Long Yong today. Yongyong brought some apples for you.”

One by one, the people on the street greeted us, their faces full of life, smiling broadly.

People who had fainted at the sight of me riding a dragon just two months ago were approaching me, talking to me, making small talk, and expressing their admiration.

I’ve been running, jumping, and rolling to catch warlocks to improve my reputation.

My efforts have finally paid off.

I smirked and looked back at Iros.

He was, as always, a step behind me, looking at me with a bland gaze that hid affection.

“What do you think? I’ve done pretty well, haven’t I?”

“Honestly, I didn’t think you’d come this far in two months, but you’ve done well.”

I’ve been called a wicked witch, a blood-crazed saint, God’s only mistake, and now I’m the people’s favorite.

I was overwhelmed that the things I had worked so hard to survive in the blackness of my foreseeable future had succeeded so spectacularly.

“Hoo hoo hoo, then let’s go back, home.”

“You’re finally going home? I feel like I’ve been a runaway for a long time.”

“It was more of an overnight stay than a runaway.”

“We’re probably the only humans who stay away for two months at a time.”

“Ahhhhhh.”

Iros walked over to Sierra, who was reminiscing about the temple with a smile.

“Let’s go home, Pink.”

“Yes. Saint.”

* * *

We walked on the petals that the people had scattered in front of us, and then, with the dragon riding on top, we returned to the temple after a long journey of more than two months.

The people in the temple still screamed and ran away when they saw Yongyong, so we landed without worrying about hitting anyone while parking.

As Yong Yong jumped off the back of the car, he heard the sound of fast, steady footsteps running towards him, and a voice rang out.

“Saint, Protector!”

“Mei, it’s been a long time. How are you?”

“Ugh. Tomorrow is the first day of the Wisdom Trials, and I was so upset when I realized you weren’t coming.”

“Oooooh, did you?”

Mei cried as she ran into my arms, stroking my brown hair and hugging me tightly, and Iros grabbed my shoulder from behind, pulling me away from her.

I blink, sandwiched between Mei, who stares at Iros like a child robbed of candy, and Iros, who seems relaxed.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been in this position, and I’m not sure I’m surprised.

“Huh?”

“Don’t pretend to be so intimate with the Saint, Mei.”

“You’ve had her all to yourself for two months! That’s not fair!”

“Monopoly? She’s not an object, it’s just that you two have been together for two months.”

“Yikes, that’s what it is.”

The elongated Iros and the petite, squirrelly Mei exchanged invisible sparks as they jostled for position.

It was refreshing to see Iros, who I’d always thought of as solemn, teasing Mei with his mischievous, cheeky face.

‘Haha. But why do I see sparks flying between them?

I laughed, holding up my hand to calm the hot air between them, realizing that if I didn’t stop them soon, I didn’t know how long this tension would last.

“Come on, come on, let’s go inside. You’re not going to pull over as soon as you get here, are you, May?”

“Oh, no. I almost had you stopped the whole time! Come inside, I’ll get you a nice snack and tea.”

“I look forward to it.”

Mei ran off, her orange eyes shining, and we slowly followed her to her room.

We stretched out on the overstuffed sofa, just as we had before we left, and ate the desserts Mei had piled on the table and sipped tea to catch our breath.

Mei, carrying the beeswax-sealed letters, said.

“I’ve heard a lot about the Saint while I was at the temple, and bam, it was in the newspapers.”

“‘Saint saves empire. Nemesis of Warlocks?'”

I shook my head at the trashy headline and took a bite of my macaroon as Mei eagerly unfolded the newspaper and explained.

I nodded meekly and listened.

“The saint and her guardian are being praised for traveling across the empire, defeating warlocks, and building soup kitchens, clinics, and nurseries in the slums.”

“I’ve come of age. In the old days, if a saint killed someone again, or went on a rampage, it would be front-page news.”

“Hmph! That’s because people don’t know her. How kind and caring and good she is!”

“Kuk-kuk, yes. Thank you.”

Perhaps Mei will never accept that I was a bloody evil woman.

It’s a testament to how much she follows and trusts me, so I’m pretty grateful, even if she doesn’t show it.

“Hmm, let’s see. There’s a letter from Jozef…….”

“What does it say?”

“He’s finished his research on the magic circle, so come and see him. He’s a genius after all. He’s good at meeting deadlines.”

And the next letter was from…….

“The imperial palace?”

It was a letter from the imperial palace. It even bore the emperor’s seal.

To the Imperial Palace]

Inside a dazzlingly white and tidy room, a handsome man with gorgeous red hair was sitting at a wide desk, holding a newspaper open and looking down at it.

The blue-haired man who was watching his behavior sighed and asked.

“Are you looking at that newspaper again?”

“Hoo-hoo. Isn’t it funny?”

“I don’t understand why you’re so interested in a newspaper that only the common people read.”

The man sighed heavily and looked back at the newspaper.

“And I don’t understand even more why you’re interested in the news of ‘that’ saint.”

“Why, she’s not exactly the center of attention these days.”

At the smirking remark, the blue-haired man fixed his cold eyes behind his silver glasses on the red-haired man and opened his mouth.

“That doesn’t make him any less of an interest to His Highness the Crown Prince, though. How is it possible that a blood-crazed holy woman, a warlock, would go around defeating warlocks for the good of her people?”

“That’s what the papers say.”

“Ha. Something a passing dog would laugh at.”

The red-haired man called the Crown Prince, Friich Ronsel Cyanin Lugar, laughed, his lips curving in a graceful line.

His captain’s red hair, a little past his shoulders, swept down his angular, manly jawline.

“Yes. She’s been traveling around the areas where warlocks appear, saving the people, ridding them of evil, setting up soup kitchens and healing centers.”

“She must have bought the newspaper, the temple is quite wealthy, if not as wealthy as the imperial family.”

“A mere purchase of a newspaper does not turn a man’s reputation among the people inside out in a matter of months.”

“So you think she’s acting like the newspapers say she is, out of the goodness of her heart, for the good of the people, like a real saint?”

Freehi smirked at his lieutenant, Lysen, who was frowning at him.

“Well, I don’t know. There are two possibilities. Either she has changed, or it’s a rumor.”

“You’re saying you don’t know, after all.”

“I don’t know yet. I’m going to find out.”

“What?”

The crown prince grinned like a boy.

A cold sweat broke out on Lysen’s neck at the foreboding.

“Your Highness, on second thought, I think it would be best if you didn’t know, yes.”

“Risen, if you’re going to draw a sword, you might as well slice a radish.”

“I don’t need to slice radishes. Please.”

The crown prince picked up the newspaper, stood up, flicked on his robe, and walked toward the door.

The smirk still tugged at the corners of his mouth.

“I’m going to see my mother. It would be unseemly not to pay tribute to a saint who has done so much for the people.”

“You’re thinking of inviting a saint to the palace?! Your Majesty, stop there, Your Majesty!”

Lysen scrambled to his feet and hurried after Freeh.

Freeh went to the emperor’s inner circle and proposed inviting the saint.

well-established opinion, so his eager suggestion was dismissed as lightly as a fruit fly.

And so the invitation was sent to the temple.

* * *

The invitation in my hand that I wanted to tear to shreds.

Damn it, there’s only one emperor in the entire Cyanine Empire who uses a pure white lion as a seal.

I looked down at the invitation from the imperial palace with a grimace.

“Holy shit.”

“……?”

“……?”

Iros and Mei shook their heads at my automatic swear word.

Their innocent faces showed that they thought it would be a good thing to be invited by the imperial family, not a bad thing to say ‘damn’.

But I had a different idea.

“I can’t believe this is coming from the palace, I’m sure I’m going to run into some royalty.”

As I grabbed my hair, the plot of Crazy Saint flashed through my mind.

[The evil Sierra killed all the imperial family except the second prince].

I did. I killed everyone with even a trace of imperial blood in their veins to realize my one goal: the destruction of the empire.

In the process, the emperor, empress, and crown prince died the most miserable and unjust deaths.

And the palace will be crawling with their remains.

‘I haven’t killed them yet, but I know the details, the future, and it’s annoying because I feel like I’ve already killed them once.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a good reason to decline the invitation, and it has the Emperor’s seal of approval.

The deadline was just in time: two days later.

The imperial court must have already known my schedule because they chose a day with no work or events.

“Pfft. I’ll have to go, say hello, and get back as quickly as I can without running into anyone.

With a firm resolve, I picked up the next envelope.

On the front of the envelope, the words ‘Guardian Shield, Dian’ were written in a very honest way.

picked up the next envelope.

The words ‘Guardian Shield, Diane’ were scrawled across the front of the envelope, honestly and unblemished.

My eyes widened.

“Diane? From Diane?”

For the past two months, he’d been writing to me from time to time, telling me that they still hadn’t found Eldrakis’s body and asking for a little more time.

This time, unlike the last, the letter was thin.

I tore open the envelope with a paper-knife, and to my surprise, there was only one letter inside.