I Became the Substitute for the Runaway Heroine - Chapter 58

“…That you made my heart race… Why did it take me so long to realize it?”

The blood-soaked northern lands, once filled with the cries of monsters and foreign tribes, faded from his memory. In their place, the forest cottage where Odette had lived began to take shape.

That afternoon, when young Odette had been fast asleep.

‘From that moment, I had already set my eyes on you.’

The bedroom door opened, and the adult Odette stepped in.

Her fragrance, a sweet scent of roses, wafted through the air as a vision of Odette approached him.

“Odette?”

Caesar knew it was a dream.

“I was wrong.”

He spoke the words he could never say to her face.

“While you were living in Saxenga… I should have understood—even if I couldn’t accept—that you relied on those people. I know that now…”

But the moment he blinked, she vanished.

“Odette!”

The scene changed. Caesar now stood in the middle of a forest.

Beyond the barrier, Odette smiled brightly and said:

“I don’t need a heart that changes with your moods. Just take everything.”

As she disappeared beyond the barrier, Caesar’s eyes snapped open.

Night had fallen. The darkness was thick and heavy, blanketing everything in sight.

“Damn it!”

He sat up abruptly, dragging both hands down his face.

The long night had only just begun for him.

“We’re going that way.”

Odette turned away from the path leading down to the village, heading instead toward the ridgeline.

“You mean to cross the mountain?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you sure there’s a village beyond it?”

“There is. Just two days’ walk.”

It was a deep forest she had never once set foot in.

But ever since seeing her mother in a dream, it was as if a compass had formed in her mind—she could feel exactly where the Saint’s Staff was.

The Saint’s Staff, the Hero’s Sword, and the Holy Scripture.

These three relics only revealed their powers once they had chosen their rightful owner.

But for various reasons, all of them had vanished—except the Saint’s Staff, the only relic known to still exist.

‘That’s why they all fight for it—to gain power.’

The Emperor had seized the staff from her mother, and the Temple had taken it from him.

‘Then they accused my mother of stealing it.’

Igran, the priest who had pretended to sell magical eye drops just to swindle money—he had said so.

That her mother had disappeared with the Saint’s Staff.

‘He made it sound like that was the reason the faithful stopped visiting the temple.’

Odette was determined to reclaim the Saint’s Staff.

‘Because it’s mine.’

Closing her eyes, Odette focused, sensing where the staff lay.

“…Four temples, and a single tower. A tall tower like a fortress—Demuna. That’s where we’re going.”

Like a salmon returning to the waters of its birth, Odette instinctively knew where the staff was.

“Isn’t Demuna sacred ground?” Jacques asked, followed by Emma’s worried voice.

“I heard ordinary people aren’t allowed in holy places.”

“I’m not just anyone.”

Odette focused her energy into her fingertips and released it.

Boom!

With a roar, the rocks crumbled, and the path they had taken vanished in an instant.

“…You possess truly astounding power,” Jacques said in awe.

“My divine power is growing stronger by the moment.”

Boom!

With a mere motion of her hand, an entire cliff collapsed.

“If you use your power like that, won’t it leave traces?”

“Not if I do this.”

Toward the opposite mountain…

Boom!

Even the rocky mountain on the other side…!

Boom!

Beams of light shot from her hands, shattering the rocky mountainside and collapsing the cliff.

It was as though lightning had erupted from her fingertips. Jacques and Emma’s expressions shifted moment by moment, caught between awe and terror.

Staring into their wide eyes—filled with fear, reverence, and astonishment—Odette spoke.

“We just need to reach Demuna while the priests and Caesar waste time scouring the mountains, chasing the traces of my divine power. The staff is there—the one that can help me control this power.”

Jacques nodded fervently at her words.

“You must get that staff. Otherwise, you could accidentally hurt a lot of people at once.”

“Right.”

“Oh! What about the priests and saintesses? What if they recognize your abilities?”

Odette flicked her fingers, releasing orbs of divine power that scattered across the ground.

“If I scatter my power like this, they won’t realize I’m right next to them. Even if I’m nearby, they won’t suspect I’m the High Saintess—I’ve drawn out my power and hidden it.”

She continued conjuring the divine orbs—large, glowing spheres that fell like drops of water.

They merged and divided on the ground, but none of them mixed with the dirt.

Neither liquid nor solid, the round orbs hovered in between.

Odette bent down, brushed her fingertips across one of them, and fsshh—the light dissolved and re-entered her body.

“I can draw out divine power like this, store it temporarily, then absorb it back whenever I want.”

“I’m seeing it with my own eyes and still can’t believe it. You can really do just about anything.”

“I think it’s rather impressive, don’t you?”

At Emma’s praise, Odette smiled and, with one final flick of her fingers—Boom!—sealed off the path they had just taken.

“An enormous surge of divine power has been detected. We must dispatch the Holy Knights immediately to find the High Saintess.”

The high-ranking priests, gathered in the Grand Temple, raised their voices in urgency.

Since Hera Brua’s disappearance, the temple had grown impoverished as believers dwindled. Only the appearance of a new High Saintess could restore the temple’s former glory.

But the High Priest had no intention of rushing her emergence this time.

Healing and blessings might attract followers immediately, but a High Saintess with offensive divine power? That was… questionable.

Unless monsters appeared, or a war broke out.

‘If a rift opens in Demuna, then we might need a High Saintess.’

Still, it wouldn’t hurt to identify who she was and where she lived, so sending Holy Knights wasn’t a bad idea.

Just not too eagerly.

The High Priest’s face twisted as he recalled the Emperor’s delight at hearing news of a High Saintess with combat abilities.

He’d only reported it out of obligation—not because he intended to offer her to the Emperor.

‘She mustn’t be lured in like Hera Brua was.’

“So he’s going ahead with the engagement ceremony… Caesar must be feeling pretty desperate.”

Odette had claimed to be ill and had refused to move for several days.

There had been concern the ceremony might be canceled, but Caesar had sent word that it would proceed as scheduled.

“My lady, just endure today. After that, Caesar will return to his own lands, and you won’t have to deal with him anymore. No need to show your face.”

“Did you really have to send Eric to the monastery today, of all days?”

“He said he wanted to go.”

“You sent him without even consulting me.”

“Ha. Since when has Eric ever listened to me? He doesn’t resemble me in the slightest, and our ways of thinking are so different, we can’t even hold a proper conversation.”

His words carried a pointed implication, but she didn’t care.

When the overly suspicious Count had ordered a paternity test through the temple, Katarina had swapped the blood sample with Gallerwin’s.

The Count had received multiple confirmations that Eric was 100% his biological son and now simply thought Eric resembled some distant ancestor.

‘Search through all your ancestors—you won’t find one as handsome as Eric.’

Katarina scoffed at the Count.

The few strands of hair clinging to his head, the protruding belly, the stubby limbs, and those greedy, spiteful cheeks—there wasn’t a single endearing thing about him.

That’s why she had maintained the act of a noble Countess while keeping a lover all this time.

‘And now Gallerwin’s gone.’

And not just Gallerwin.

All the maids and servants from the annex had vanished without a trace.

Even Nancy, who’d been sent to Odette multiple times, had returned empty-handed, saying she hadn’t even seen her only that she was with Caesar.

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