1 The Saint is Adored

There was a girl without a name.

She didn't have parents or a home.

She stole bread from street stalls and ate food waste in the alleys.

It was the only life she had ever known.

She never considered whether what she did was right or wrong.

She never considered whether she was miserable or content.

She only thought of how to survive, how to feel as little pain as possible.

Her first memory was when she discovered she could use magic to fend off the older kids from stealing from her or beating her. She thinks she was 4 years old at that time.

From then on, the smaller or weaker kids latched on to her for protection.

That was her first memory of 'affection'.

The kids told her,

"We only have you".

When she protected them, they told her,

"You're the most important person to us."

That was when she began to think,

'I'm here to protect others. Everyone loves me when I do that'.

One day those kids convinced her to use her magic to steal from shoppers in the commercial district.

They told her,

"You're the only one who can do this. We're counting on you."

She felt the weight of their words.

She took responsibility for their empty stomachs and their inability to support themselves.

'Everyone is relying on me.'

The now 8-year old girl was caught trying to steal from an aristocrat in disguise.

He demanded that she was punished in front of every one.

As she was beat in front of all the onlookers, she simultaneously tried to use magic to heal her wounds.

One of the passerby's was a man from the temple. After they finished punishing the young girl, the man grabbed her and took her to the temple.

"The priests will take care of you from now on."

They locked her in a room that had nothing by a hard bed. In time, the girl realized from her training she could use Holy Magic. The priests told her she was the most skilled they had ever seen.

The girl was hesitant at first but the priests smiled at her kindly and even gave her a name.

From that day on, she was named Aurora.

The priests told her it meant that she was a bright light that reached everyone.

Her magic ability only improved with age. She studied every moment she was awake and even sacrificed sleep. She continued that lifestyle for 2 years until she turned 11 years old.

Upon her 11th birthday, the priests held a grand ceremony and appointed her as their Saint without ever asking for her opinion.

She became a star amongst the nobility.

They told her that she was pretty and talented despite being of common birth.

The priests advertised that anyone could come to the temple at anytime to have Holy Magic applied to their body or to have their possessions blessed by the Saint.

Of course, the priests asked for a 'donation'.

They need money to maintain the golden sculptures that honor their worship. They need money to raise the precious Saint. They need money to maintain 'relationships' with the imperial family.

The Saint was given 'presents' with small fractions of those 'donations'. The temple would dress her up for appearances sake as she worked her long 18 hour days as a mere 11 year old.

Every day, the priests would compliment her abilities.

Every day, the people who came for blessings and healing would tell her she was an angel.

Every day, she was told,

"You're the only person who can do this."

"You were born with this power, so it's your responsibility to wield it to your fullest ability."

"Every moment you rest, people will die."

For 5 years she continued that lifestyle.

On days off, she would be decorated and displayed to receive the adoration of the commoners snd nobility.

After work, she would study until she passed out on the cold desk.

Her work days were 18 hours, as her body regenerated magic power, she could cough up blood.

Aurora was always tired and in pain but she wanted to work hard for the people that held her dear.

All the nobles she met showered her with words of affection and praise.

The priests had given her a roof over her head and had shown her how she could be useful.

She spent all day using Holy Magic for the benefit of others.

She studied late at night so that she could be even more useful to her important people.

When she was 16, because of the close relationship between the temple and the royal family, a union was suggested.

The royal family told Aurora that as thanks for supporting the church and royal family, they would permit her to marry the Crown Prince. She would become a princess and one day she would become the mother of the country.

The priests told her it was an amazing opportunity.

"Will everyone be happy if I marry him?"

"Yes, princess. Everyone at the temple and in the Royal Family will be overjoyed. You can also find the ultimate happiness as a woman if you marry such a wonderful groom."

The man answered as if it was already decided.

Aurora didn't feel as though marrying would bring her any happiness as the old men had told her, but she looked forward to a future when everyone adored her and recognized her hard work.

She agreed without having the chance to imagine any other future.

During their engagement, there was an increase in monster and demon attacks in the capital.

Countless people were injured even within the city walls. The priests decided to be generous and even take commoner's petty offerings for healing after the noble's injuries were taken care of. All Aurora had to do was increase her time working and they would still earn a lot of money.

They praised Aurora, they told her she was the most skilled in magic and that everyone was depending on her.

Aurora slept less and less. She had 4 hours to sleep between healing and even that time was plagued by nightmares of blood and death.

Every day she saw hundreds of people bleeding out, crying to her for help.

She wasn't a god. There were people beyond saving that died in her arms. There were times she had to let people die so she would have enough magic to save those who were more likely to survive.

The people she couldn't save haunted her dreams.

The people's cries of pain rang in her ears.

The look of hope that turned to despair was plastered to the insides of her eyelids.

She could hear the voices of those who blame her and stared at her with contempt and disappointment when she couldn't save their loved ones.

When she saved someone, they would say

'Thank the gods for the princess.'

When she wasn't able to save someone, the blame was hers to bear alone.

She got weaker day by day until finally, the King ordered the Saint to go with the crown prince and some knights to subdue the monster that was instigating the attacks.

The Crown Prince had been entrusted with a holy sword relic. He triumphantly paraded in a gold float, flaunting the holy sword as he left the city walls.

Aurora, his fiancé, stood solemnly behind him as she looked down on everyone who was counting on her. While using Holy Magic 20 hours a day she could spare none to heal her exhaustion.

She was in the weakest condition she had been in since she had lived on the streets.

But she must go with the Crown Prince to support him as he gathers glory, saving his kingdom.

The 26 year old prince was 10 years her senior and her fiancé, but he asked her to swear fealty to protect him as her 'hero' in the upcoming battle. He told her it was her duty as the future mother of the kingdom to protect the sun of the empire from behind.

Aurora knew that everyone was counting on her to fulfill her role as both a Saint and the future princess. She readily agreed, also hoping to gain the affection of her future husband.

After months of attacks, they knew where the monster's lair was.

The knights charged ahead and killed any obstacles. Aurora, healed them from behind as blood splattered in every direction.

The 'hero' insisted to protect the party's rear.

As a result, when they finally found the monster they were looking for, his sword was still as clean as it had been in the royal vault.

With over half the knights dead, the Hero and Saint marched ahead, past the fallen bodies to meet that monster.

But when Aurora looked up towards that monster, she saw what looked to be a boy of no more than 18 years.

She didn't mean to speak to him but,

"Y- you're the monster?"

"Even if I'm like this, I'm still part human, you know?"

The boy had a mystifying appearance.

His hair was a navy blue that seemed to shine even in that dark place and his eyes were a captivating array of red tones.

But those eyes didn't reflect any light in them. The boy's words didn't have any emotion in them and he looked at us all with indifference.

Aurora thought,

"Wasn't the monster attack supposed to be due to his hatred or perverse satisfaction in making humans suffer?"

She couldn't make sense of the situation.

The prince unsheathed the holy sword. He had learned swordsmanship with a basic sword, so his arms trembled underneath the weight of the holy sword. He swung the sword around recklessly while the navy-haired boy looked at him dully as he dodged. He lazily lifted up his hand. He looked exactly like a human but Aurora noticed when his hand turned into a sharp claw and it aimed at the prince's body.

She raced to the prince's side, for less than a second, she looked into his eyes. In that brief moment, she saw a look of relief in his eyes. His expression looked the same as when everyone at the temple told her they were relying on her.

She saw the red-eyed boy's hand in mid air moving towards them.

The prince stepped back and let her replace him in front of the boy with red eyes.

In that moment, her eyes widened as she felt a burning hole in her stomach and looked into her fiancé's eyes. She turned her head to see the face of the one who had pierced her stomach.

She coughed more than 5 times the amount of blood she had yesterday.

She thought bitterly that she wouldn't normally make such a mistake if she hadn't been so exhausted. Such an attack was something she should have been able to defend against. She built up every ounce of magic in her body, grabbed the boy who still had a hand inside of her guts, and released the full amount of her Saint-level Holy Magic.

Because of her Holy Magic, she had known the boy had demon blood running in his veins the moment she saw him. Even though he was part human, the Saint-Level Holy Magic burned him everywhere it touched. Aurora didn't even need a weapon to hurt him. Her hands that had the strongest concentration of Holy Magic burned into the demon boy's skin as if it were magma. With his right hand in her stomach, he was unable to quickly counter and protect the right side of his body. As a result, the muscles and tendons connecting his right arm to his torso were completely burnt off and severed. He had numerous holes and scorch marks over the rest of his body from her wild running Holy Magic as well.

Aurora looked behind her where the prince was standing.

"Wes-"

She tried to call her fiancé's name for the first time in her life but a swarm of flying monsters came from behind her in the same moment.

The prince dropped the holy sword and went running out the entryway. The surviving knights ran after him yelling 'It's dangerous, your Highness!'

She was left all alone with the man who would soon become her murderer.

He had pulled his hand out of her stomach as she attacked him.

He had blood gushing from his body from where his arm was separated from his body and from where the countless holes burnt in his body by the Holy Magic were.

She looked into his red eyes.

They were slightly clearer than before.

Aurora couldn't believe that he was still alive.

Even though she only had one hand sized wound in her stomach, she could tell it wave a grave injury.

The two who had killed each other both fell to the cold ground.

The Saint began to laugh.

Her laughs came intermittently between coughing and spitting up blood but she had already forgotten about the pain.

Now, in her final moments, she was feeling a tidal wave of emotions. They were emotions she dared not ever feel before. She thought things that she had subconsciously buried over and over again.

'Ah, I was being used this whole time. Would anyone have still loved me if I didn't obey their every word?'

'Did anyone ever care if I was happy?'

She couldn't remember a time in her life she had been happy. She always thought of other's happiness as her own.

'Did I misinterpret everyone's kindness towards me? Did they not really love me?'

She thought if she worked hard everyone would cherish her.

'But in the end, my fiancé, my prince, my hero, he let me sacrifice myself.'

As a whirlwind of anger and despair came over her, she saw eyes of sympathy directed towards her for the first fine in her life.

"We both...should have made better choices, huh?"

The demon choked on his own blood as he laughed with what seemed like self-deprecation.

"Do you regret what you've done?"

The Saint asked the 'man' who had spawned chaos in the country.

"It's only in death I have clarity, aren't you the same, miss?"

Aurora stared into his red eyes. There were giant pools of red blood engulfing the two of them, but his eyes seemed to shine even brighter.

The Saint scoffed.

"To think I'd be relating with the demon I was sent to kill after he killed me."

The boy's red eyes wavered for only a moment.

"Perhaps I do wish things had been different. Maybe we wouldn't have been enemies."

Aurora touched one of his many wounds she had created.

"You hurt so many people."

"I know"

"Why?"

He scoffed before choking out a large puddle of blood which splattered on Aurora's body.

"Was it revenge? I can't remember anymore."

He finally spoke after emptying his mouth of most the blood he had thrown up.

"This is probably pointless but-"

He dipped his remaining hand into the pool of blood that had combined his demon blood with the Saint's.

"What are you-"

He traced his bloody fingers over Aurora's skin, despite looking as if he would drop dead any moment, he drew precise looking patterns everywhere and anywhere her bare skin was exposed.

She was too exhausted to resist.

"Even though I'm the monster here, even I'm scared by your mana recuperation rate... Hey, from one .....creature marred by regret to ...another...Your wish, what-"

His fingers that had began to tuck back Aurora's hair with went limp and his body fell on her lap.

Aurora held the body of the first person she had ever killed as she grimaced from pain.

"...hey I saved the country didn't I? But there's no one here to congratulate me. They only one here is this demon...."

'Had he been trying to ask me what I wish?'

With the boy's lifeless body still on her lap, she leaned back into a puddle of their shared blood.

It was warm.

She couldn't remember the last time someone held her like this, or when she had felt such a warm feeling.

She also couldn't remember ever feeling such a strong feeling of regret until this moment.

She began to mumble as her vision went black.

"I wish I could have put myself first.... I wish that I could go back before I was... shackled down by others...I wish....I would have been selfish when I wanted...only been kind when it suited me... I wish...I could be like a villainess in those books...strong...willful....ind-...."

The Saint's sacrifice was complete.