Chapter 3
Arendtert slowly approached Sylaria. Then, furrowing his brows, he spoke.
“Syllie, you’re having a harder and harder time purifying me, aren’t you? How long were you planning to keep it hidden?”
At his sudden, sharp accusation, her slender shoulders flinched.
Before being the Empire’s Crown Princess and Arendtert’s wife, Sylaria was a Purifier.
A Purifier who cleanses the Holy Knights who fight off monsters.
Physical contact is absolutely necessary for purification. For that reason, Holy Knights usually make a marriage contract with a Purifier.
It was the same for Arendtert and Sylaria.
According to the temple’s test, their match rate was a mere 31 percent, but for Arendtert, it was the best option.
He simply could not find a Purifier who matched with him.
So Arendtert took as his wife the unremarkable, frail young lady of a low-ranking count’s family.
Sylaria vividly remembered the day Arendtert had come to find her.
She had been on her way back after picking up sewing work to pay for her younger sibling’s medicine.
Suddenly, the sky ‘opened its mouth’.
On the fertile lands of the Davoud Empire, ruled by the wise Emperor Ronillo III, a curse had been cast.
The sky opening its mouth.
As if a hole had appeared, a black gap would suddenly form in the sky. From that abyss-like darkness, monsters would pour out.
The monsters ravaged homes and crops, killed people indiscriminately.
If there was any blessing in this misfortune, it was that the sky, in its mercy, sent down a lifeline to counter the calamity.
That lifeline was the Holy Knight.
Anyone of imperial blood was born with the holy power to repel monsters.
The strength of this power varied from person to person, but all of them fought as Holy Knights for the Empire.
There were side effects to humans wielding the power of the gods.
If a Holy Knight used their holy power excessively, their veins would bulge and their heart would race, and soon they would go berserk.
A berserk Holy Knight would lose all reason and rampage, destroying everything nearby. The extent of the damage depended on the level of their holy power—sometimes a village, at worst the entire Empire.
The berserk state continued until the Holy Knight died.
To prevent this, their power had to be purified regularly by a Purifier.
Purification is carried out through contact between the Purifier and the Holy Knight. The required degree of physical contact depends on the amount of power used.
For example, when Arendtert rescued Sylaria from a monster and was lightly injured, simply holding hands was enough.
When the fallen Sylaria took the hand he offered her, her pupils dilated, and a soft lilac light enveloped their joined hands.
Then, the red scratch on Arendtert’s pale cheek healed rapidly, as if time had been reversed.
Arendtert’s main ability was healing.
The disappearance of his wound meant purification had taken place.
On the way to the temple, Arendtert, having unexpectedly discovered a treasure, laughed in delight.
‘My destiny, my love was here all along!’
Right then and there, Arendtert proposed to Sylaria. Upon marrying the Crown Prince, she escaped the inescapable misfortune that had ensnared her all her life.
Her stepfather, who was addicted to gambling, and her younger sister born with a weak heart, were no longer burdens to the great Empire’s Crown Princess.
Sylaria no longer had to desperately protect Elenia from her stepfather’s violence.
Her frail younger sister Elenia, delicate as a cosmos flower in autumn, no longer had to feel guilty toward her elder sister.
An imperial decree was issued forbidding her stepfather from entering the imperial palace, and Elenia received devoted care at the imperial hospital.
It was all thanks to Arendtert.
Sylaria did her best to repay this kindness. As her duty was purification, she tried to be physically close to him as much as possible.
Even when Arendtert treated her as a woman who was overly eager for him, she endured his scornful gaze and purified him.
She believed time would solve everything.
That, someday, he would recognize her sincerity.
But regrettably, the efficiency of purification kept declining. Their match rate noticeably dropped.
It was no wonder Arendtert demanded a divorce.
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