Chapter 133: I Just Want to See This World’s Happy Ending  

Since the day the saintess disappeared, the square in front of the imperial palace had been packed with tens of thousands of people. They were protesting, demanding the saintess be found and calling for punishment against the Beast Kingdom.  

In the Emperor’s office, appeals from citizens and nobles alike, urging the destruction of the Beast Kingdom, piled up like mountains.  

However, the King of the Beast Kingdom responded confidently to the Empire’s accusations, firmly denying any involvement in the saintess’s kidnapping. He declared that if the Beast Kingdom’s innocence was proven, the Empire would have to pay the price. The Empire reluctantly agreed.  

And then, the Crown Prince was caught at the scene of the kidnapping and imprisonment.  

The tables had turned.  

For now, the world remained quiet about me.  

The imperial family was preoccupied with how to handle the Crown Prince, and Xavier was concerned about me.  

I, too, couldn’t bear to show my parents the state I was in. I was granted a few days of respite.  

When I returned to the mansion, the servants greeted me with tears of joy. Maya clung to my neck, sobbing uncontrollably.  

‘I always seem to make Maya cry.’  

She wiped my body with a damp cloth as I lay down on the bed, sniffling like a child. Beside her, Ada silently wrung out a cloth in a basin and handed it over.  

“Maya, I’m okay.”  

“Okay? How can you say that? That damned Crown Prince! Waaah!”  

In the end, she abandoned wiping me down and collapsed onto the bed, crying her heart out. Even Ada discreetly wiped away a tear.  

Suddenly, Maya lifted her head and glared fiercely.  

“But why did you bring her back with you?”  

She pointed to Rosetta, who was sitting quietly in a corner chair, dressed in a plain gown.  

“Oh.”  

It wasn’t as though I particularly wanted to bring her along. She had outright refused to return to the imperial palace.  

Shockingly, the place where I had been imprisoned was one of the most secluded areas within the imperial palace itself. Neither Xavier nor the tracking hounds sent by Lucas had expected the location to be inside the palace.  

How horrifying. How could they have thought to imprison me within the palace walls?  

I heard that it was Rosetta who informed Xavier of my exact location.  

She had traveled by carriage throughout the night and arrived at the duke’s residence at dawn. It was at the same time that the tracking hounds, who had been searching for my scent in vain, returned empty-handed.  

After hearing her account, Xavier immediately opened a portal and went to the imperial palace with Rosetta, seeking an audience with the Emperor. She became a key witness.  

“My lady, why would you bring someone like her—who spoke ill of you and conspired to ruin the Graham family—back here? Did you forgive her?”  

“Forgive?”  

I found it difficult to answer Maya’s question.  

I hadn’t yet forgiven Rosetta for trying to harm our trading company and family.  

However, whether it was the arrangement of Goddess Maha or something else, Rosetta had lost everything she could have enjoyed as a saintess because of me. That left me with a strange sense of guilt.  

Rosetta, who had been silently watching us, finally spoke.  

“My lady, I’d like to talk to you.”  

On her wrist, I noticed the bracelet we had shared.  

“Hey! Who said you could call her my lady? You traitor!”  

Unable to hold back, Maya lunged at her. Ada grabbed her by the waist, holding her back, while Maya flailed her legs in the air.  

“Ada, Maya. Could you both leave us for a moment?”  

“My lady!”  

Maya protested, but upon seeing the look in my eyes, she quickly backed down. Even as Ada dragged her out, Maya didn’t stop glaring at Rosetta.  

Click.  

The door closed, leaving only Rosetta and me in the room.  

“Rosetta.”  

“Yes.”  

Her calm response drew my attention to the wounds on her face.  

‘If this is a professional habit, then so be it.’  

“What happened to those wounds?”  

“They’re my fault.”  

“Come here. I’ll heal them.”  

I couldn’t stand it anymore. Her unusually pale skin made the long scar from beneath her eye to the corner of her lips stand out even more.  

“It’s fine. This is a punishment I gave myself.”  

“What?”  

Her dark eyes were serene. They no longer sparkled as they once did. They instead resembled a cloudy night sky.  

“So don’t worry about it. I just want to hear your story, my lady. About being the saintess.”  

“Is this because you were supposed to be the real saintess?”  

Rosetta shook her head. She simply said she wanted to hear it.  

Avoiding the part about being a transmigrator, I decided to explain as much as she could understand.  

“I have my reasons, so I can’t tell you everything, but I can tell you this: I always knew you were supposed to be the saintess. I didn’t become the saintess because I wanted to. Goddess Maha said she made me the saintess because she wanted to change this world.”  

“You met Goddess Maha?”  

“Yes.”  

“I see. So you were chosen after all.”  

She murmured, trailing off.  

“If I made things hard for you, I’m sorry. I should have considered your perspective, but I only thought of myself.”  

“It wasn’t because I couldn’t become the saintess. I was unbearably angry because someone I admired had deceived me. I thought I was happy living in the palace, but I wasn’t. Do you think saying I’m sorry is enough? Would that let me live happily again with Maya and you, like before?”  

Rosetta, who had been sitting still, clasped her hands together and pleaded desperately. Tears welled up in her eyes, ready to fall at any moment.  

“I think what you did to hurt my family and parents is a separate issue. If you had only taken your anger out on me, it might have been different.”  

“I just wanted you to understand how I felt. Honestly… I knew it wasn’t my place, but I was tempted by the Crown Prince’s words. And I was angry because of that raccoon. But I really did like you, my lady.”  

“You should have just said so from the start.”  

“…I’m sorry.”  

“Rosetta, let’s end things here. If you want to recover your body and mind, use the reward money the duke gave you before and leave this place to find your own path.”  

In the end, tears fell like pearls from Rosetta’s eyes.  

“Let’s release the burdens we carry in our hearts and live well. I’ll do the same.”  

As I was about to send her away, Rosetta suddenly stood up from her chair and grabbed my hand tightly.  

“N-no.”  

“What?”  

“Don’t go. The Goddess told you to change the world, didn’t she? Isn’t that dangerous?”  

“Rosetta.”  

“I’ll leave. Just don’t do it.”  

I stared into her tearful eyes, dumbfounded.  

“You’re something else. Really.”  

“My lady!”  

I forced a small smile and said, 

“I just want to see this world’s happy ending.”  

Because only then will my ending be happy too.  

＊  

After sending Rosetta out of the room, I asked Albert to bring me any secret records passed down in the Auguste family. I thought there might be at least some record of the curses endured by previous dukes.  

“I’ll bring them immediately.”  

Albert delivered an old book and several texts documenting the history of the curses to my room. He also brought a small album.  

“What’s this?”  

“A collection of the Master’s photographs.”  

Xavier’s photographs?  

Suddenly, my heartbeat quickened, and my face grew warm.  

“Are these from his childhood?”  

“Yes, my lady.”  

Albert smiled kindly and tactfully left the room. As soon as he left, I eagerly picked up the album.  

In this world, thanks to magic stones, there existed devices with camera-like functions. People seemed to take photographs and store them in albums like this.  

Ah, I’m so nervous.  

“He-he, he must have been adorable, right?”  

The moment I opened the first page, my heart nearly stopped.  

[Baby Xavier]  

I ran my fingers over the caption written below the photo. Was this the handwriting of the late Duchess?  

The photo showed baby Xavier sleeping peacefully in the arms of the late Duchess.  

“Hehehe.”  

[Xavier’s Bath Time]  

This one was definitely R-rated. Only for my eyes.  

[Xavier at Age 5]  

The next photo showed a cute Xavier holding a small wooden sword, aiming it seriously at a training dummy.  

“He was so handsome even then.”  

[Xavier at Age 7]  

In this photo, Xavier rested his chin on his hands as he sat beside the Duchess, who was making coffee. The morning sunlight streaming into the drawing room made the mother and son look so happy. His bright smile was truly beautiful.  

“I can almost smell the coffee from here.”  

[Xavier at Age 10]  

This photo showed Xavier and the Duchess dressed in black mourning attire. The sorrow in their eyes said it all.  

“The late Duke must have passed away.”  

And the final photo.  

[Me, Age 13. Mother’s Funeral]  

A much taller Xavier stood alone in mourning clothes, his expression blank.  

“Ah…”  

I turned the page, but there were no more photos.  

Sighing, I lifted my head and looked out the window. The sky was unusually blue. The brightness stung my eyes, making tears well up.  

Resolving myself again, I began to read the books about curses. I continued until the blue sky turned to twilight and the world was drenched in dusk.  

“What’s this?”  

One passage caught my eye.  

Could it be?  

By evening, my parents arrived at the ducal residence, a tearful and snot-covered mess.  

“Yuria! My daughter!”  

“Yuria, your father is here. You must have been so scared!”  

They burst into my room, wearing indoor slippers and robes. My father was even wearing mismatched slippers.  

“Father, Mother. I’m fine.”  

“Boohoohoo.”  

My mother, who had grown noticeably thinner since I last saw her, couldn’t stop crying, while my father, his face swollen, cursed the Crown Prince with indignation.  

“How could His Highness the Crown Prince do this to my daughter? I’m so sorry, Yuria. Huhuhu.”  

“Are you really okay? Xavier told us he found you, but we heard you weren’t in good condition, so we waited. As soon as we got the message, we rushed over like mad.”  

Considering the state I was in when I was rescued, it couldn’t be helped. Seeing me like that would have shocked them.  

“I’m sorry. I asked him to do that.”  

“It’s okay, Yuria. Father understands everything.”  

After holding me and crying for a while, my parents eventually returned to their usual cheerful selves. We had dinner together, and I saw them off as they boarded the carriage back to the Pins region.  

“Yuria, our precious daughter. Thank you, Xavier.”  

“Please travel safely.”  

“Our son-in-law is the best.”  

My mother gently patted Xavier’s back with warm eyes, while my father winked at him.  

“Wait a moment.”  

Both my mother and father, who were about to climb into the carriage, turned around at the same time.  

Still the same golden retriever-like couple with their blonde hair.  

My beloved parents.  

I ran to them, throwing my arms around them tightly, and said,

“I love you, Mom. Dad.”

No matter what happens, I will never lose them.