I Was Reincarnated as a Mob Noble, and I Swear I'll Protect the Villainess Who Got Married Off to Me No Matter What ~To Dodge Our Total Downfall, I Went All Out Training My Trash Skill [Super Recovery] Through Crazy Hard Work, and Before I Knew It, I Could Totally Wreck the Game Protagonist Who Condemned My Wife Easily - Chapter 19

Chapter 19: Comeuppance Time. Saintess Alicia Falls Right into Zenon’s Trap

【Saintess Alicia’s POV】

“No way… another saintess showed up…?”

“Hah, well, the thing is…”

I cut off Gideon’s explanation and just lost it.

“Then kill that bitch right away too! My position might get threatened, you know!?”

“Guh!?”

I jumped up from the chair and started kicking him—kick, kick, kick.

How the hell is someone else popping up to mess with my plans besides Valeria? What is even going on?

“The Pope isn’t seriously gonna say something like ‘let’s bring her into our fold,’ right!?”

The Pope always preached that if you just follow their teachings, God would reach out with a saving hand.

Their sales pitch when recruiting people into the Holy Church was: “Raise your kids exactly the way we tell you, and God will grant you the skill you want.”

If the desired skill doesn’t show up, they just say your faith wasn’t strong enough, squeeze out even more donations to smooth things over—super easy to manipulate.

To make this whole scam sound convincing, they were planning to keep up the appearance that saintesses get chosen only from girls who followed the Holy Church’s teachings perfectly.

So if another saintess really appeared, the Pope would do absolutely anything to pull her in as one of the higher-ups…!

“N-no, I don’t know what His Holiness is thinking, but… according to the last report Soul Eater sent, that person seems to be Valeria’s new fiancé, Zenon Greivan.”

I couldn’t believe my ears.

“Wasn’t that guy supposed to have a dud skill? And anyway, the saintess skill is only supposed to be given to women, right?”

“That’s correct. But what Zenon received appears to be an unknown skill—even the upper echelons of our Holy Church have no information on it.”

Gideon spoke in a bitter voice.

“On top of his body’s regeneration ability, Zenon also has physical capabilities on par with someone who holds high-rank combat skills… At this rate, the higher-ups in the Church are in an absolute panic because they think it might actually be a skill that surpasses 【Super Recovery】—and maybe even the saintess herself.”

“Huh…? Wha…?”

“Through this whole incident, it seems Zenon figured out that we—the Holy Church—were the ones behind the attempted assassination of the crown prince. And worse, he knows my name and my location. He sent a letter to the Asphodel ducal house requesting my capture…”

“…Isn’t that the absolute worst!?”

A cold shiver ran straight down my spine.

Someone else who can use the same 【Miracle of Healing】 as me… is Valeria’s new fiancé?

And that guy might even have a skill that surpasses a saintess…?

On top of that, he’s already counterattacking!

This was so impossible that my head was spinning like crazy.

I scratched at my hair in frustration and finally spat out the biggest question.

“…But why does this Zenon guy know your name and where you are? Don’t tell me he’s someone you know?”

What really bothered me most was that Zenon had seen right through the mastermind and the perpetrator behind the crown prince assassination attempt.

“No, I have absolutely no connection to him whatsoever. So I believe it’s pure bluff… but Zenon is flatly declaring that a 【Necromancer】 exists within the dark side of the Holy Church and that the assassination attempt was that person’s doing… There are clear signs he knows way too much about our inner workings, so we can’t just ignore it.”

“No way… he really has that accurate a grasp on us!?”

I was stunned speechless.

“Where the hell did the info leak from? How could some little border noble brat…?”

I racked my brain, but I couldn’t even guess the source.

The secrecy around the dark side—especially anything to do with Gideon—was supposed to be airtight.

If it ever came out that a 【Necromancer】 other than Valeria had been going in and out of the royal palace during the assassination attempt, we wouldn’t be able to pin the blame on her anymore.

That’s why Gideon used a fake name, lied about his face, background, and skills, and came and went from the palace as my etiquette tutor.

The fact that this guy possesses the 【Necromancer】 skill was the highest-level secret. Inside the palace, no one except me was supposed to know.

“We have to deal with Zenon as soon as possible. However, 【Miracle of Healing】 is the natural enemy of the undead. My compatibility with him is the worst possible, and with Valeria also present, taking action won’t be easy.”

“…Isn’t there any way to handle this!? If word gets out that the one who tried to assassinate the crown prince is a user of 【Miracle of Healing】 and it’s the Holy Church behind it, we’re screwed!”

I don’t really care if the Holy Church gets banned from missionary work in this country, but in the worst case, they might come after me too.

If it’s proven that I was involved in this conspiracy, I’ll be executed for high treason!

“About that…”

Gideon’s expression, which had been stuck, suddenly brightened like he’d received divine revelation.

“…Just now, through my undead, an order arrived from His Holiness the Pope.”

“From His Holiness!?”

“Yes. Fortunately we’re in the middle of a war. The best plan, he says, is for Saintess Alicia herself to lead troops to the Greivan frontier count territory under the guise of reinforcements, and then have our dark side strike Zenon and Valeria in the back on the battlefield.”

“Th-that… that’s actually brilliant!”

I clapped my hands in pure joy.

I was thrilled that the Pope had decided to eliminate Zenon instead of recruiting him.

More than anything, sitting around nervously in the palace just wasn’t my style.

“The Greivan frontier count has already sent a request for reinforcements, right? This is definitely gonna work! My reputation as the savior who throws herself into the front lines is gonna skyrocket too! As expected of His Holiness!”

Zenon and Valeria—who know the truth—will definitely try to get rid of me, but the supreme commander of their army, the Sword Saint Baldo, is gonna welcome and accept the saintess’s reinforcements with open arms.

Once that happens, there’s like a 100% chance of infighting breaking out inside the Greivan frontier army. Then we can just blame the defeat on Zenon and Valeria for causing the internal conflict, and I can carry out the plan without damaging my own reputation.

An even quicker way would be dumping poison into the wells in the frontier territory.

“Hah, reinforcements that are actually the enemy—no matter how much of a Sword Saint Baldo is, he won’t see through it. That means the frontier army gets wiped out on schedule.”

“Ahaha! Exactly!”

Feeling totally relieved, I popped the cork on the highest-grade wine to celebrate.

I poured the deep-red wine into a glass and chugged it in one go.

“The pests die, this country gets trampled by the Empire! Then I show up as the savior and lead them to a dramatic comeback victory! After that, no one will oppose my marriage to the crown prince anymore—happy ending!”

“Just to be safe, I’ll go into hiding. Without solid proof, no one will be able to judge you, Saintess.”

“Hmph, exactly. That Zenon guy is a total dumbass forわざわざ telling us he knows where you are.”

“Hah, he was probably trying to rattle us, but it’s pointless.”

The Holy Church actually has a secret hideout that only a tiny handful of top executives know about.

If Gideon hides there, the perpetrator of the crown prince assassination attempt will never be found, and Valeria’s guilt won’t be cleared.

No matter what kind of intelligence network Zenon has, or even if he borrows the power of the Asphodel ducal house, finding Gideon is impossible.

Even if Valeria makes a fuss about how I attacked her and wiped out her guards, or how she got exiled after clashing with me, no one will take it seriously.

Unless Zenon—the user of 【Miracle of Healing】—starts making noise, but if we crush him fast right now, there won’t be any problem.

Let’s get the Church’s people moving immediately and prepare an army that serves as my hands and feet. A righteous army with the saintess at the top.

…Hehe, now my future position as queen is rock-solid.

“Also, use the dark side to ambush the messenger Zenon sent to the Asphodel ducal house and steal the letter. I think him knowing my name is just a bluff… but this way we’ll find out exactly how much he really knows about us.”

“Leave it to me. Letting the Asphodel duke get involved would be dangerous anyway.”

“Hah.”

“Pfft—haha! I can’t stop laughing. I am Alicia, the saintess chosen by God! That’s right—the whole world revolves around me! Always has, always will!”

I downed more wine and burst out laughing.

At that moment, I had no idea I’d already fallen straight into Zenon’s trap.

We had no clue that Zenon already knew the location of the Church’s secret hideout and was luring Gideon there.

Or that he was predicting every single move we would make with perfect accuracy.

And we definitely never imagined—not even for a second—that Zenon’s skill didn’t just surpass a saintess… but was actually the strongest in all of human history.