I Became the Substitute for the Runaway Heroine - Chapter 86

‘Has he already claimed the Hero’s Sword?’

A Saintess was born once in a generation, but a Hero was far rarer. For several generations, not a single Hero had emerged, which was precisely why the Duchy of Belmonte had eventually been absorbed into the Empire.

‘That’s how rare and incredible such a being is.’

Caesar’s mother, Grace, must have known—whether through a dream or a divine oracle—that her child was destined to be a Hero. But for reasons unknown, she never brought him to the Belmonte estate to perform the necessary ritual. Instead, she raised him as an Imperial, and so he had reached adulthood without ever becoming the Hero.

‘In the original story, Caesar never even went near the Hero’s Sword.’

However, the plot had deviated so drastically that she couldn’t be sure anymore. Caesar might have visited the Grand Dowager and declared his intent to take the sword. If he had indeed become the Hero, the idea of punching him in the temple and running away again would be a fool’s errand.

‘No matter how strong my offensive divine power is, I can’t overpower a Hero with brute force.’

Odette licked her dry lips, her body tense. “Um… by any chance, did you go to Obelon?”

Obelon—the holy land of Belmonte. At the mention of it, Caesar spoke with a hint of reluctance. “No.”

“Oh… I see.”

The fact that he hadn’t gone to Obelon, where the Hero’s Sword was enshrined, meant he hadn’t become the Hero yet. Then what was this? Odette focused all her senses to identify the source of the strange yet familiar power radiating from him.

‘It really is strange.’

It wasn’t the demonic energy he usually gave off. And yet, it felt familiar—almost like the divine power within her own body.

‘My god! Is it divine power?’

The moment the thought crossed her mind, the energy coming from Caesar became even clearer. Odette’s eyes widened in shock.

“I’ve been sensing a noble and sacred power for a moment now. Is that… coming from you, Lord Caesar?”

“I suppose so.” Caesar’s lips curled into a smirk.

“I-is it really?”

Even though she felt it with every fiber of her being, she could hardly believe it. The divine power Caesar emitted wasn’t the offensive force she possessed. It wasn’t defense or protection either. Was it… the power of purification? It felt like the divine power of blessing.

‘Among the powers of the many Saintesses I saw when I held the staff, there was one with a similar energy.’

That person was none other than Odette’s mother. Caesar was radiating the exact divine power of her mother, who had been revered as the Saintess with the strongest powers of purification and blessing in history.

Caesar leaned in and whispered, “Should I say it’s thanks to you?”

He raised his arm. Divine power gathered at his fingertips before spreading across his entire palm. Since the windows were closed and the curtains drawn, the room was shrouded in shadow, making the light from his hand appear even more brilliant.

‘His method is different from mine.’

Odette usually gathered her power into thin threads, winding them into a dense ball to increase its volume. Caesar, however, swept his palm through the air, rolling the broadly spread power into a sphere. Suddenly, he gripped it and—pop!—he let it burst.

In an instant, the space seemed to warp. The wooden floor beneath her feet transformed into a lush meadow. A warm breeze swept past. Before she knew it, Odette was standing in the middle of a hill with a dense forest rising behind her.

At the foot of the hill, two massive sets of antlers rose.

‘The Great Horned Deer?’

The exact scene from her dream unfolded before her eyes. Caesar was walking between the two majestic deer. He was dressed in a white shirt and white trousers, walking barefoot. Watching him, Odette was overcome by a sudden surge of emotion.

‘Why does my heart feel like it’s being ripped apart?’

An inexplicable sorrow welled up inside her, freezing her in place. Caesar walked toward her. In her dream, he had ignored her as if she didn’t exist, but now, he knelt on one knee before her.

“Come with me, Odette.” He reached out his hand.

“W-where are you asking me to go?”

“We have to set things right. That’s why we’ve met again.”

The moment Caesar took her hand—snap!—the meadow vanished, and they were back in the hotel room. Odette looked around, confirming she had returned to reality, and then stared at Caesar with dazed eyes. Her head was spinning.

“That vision I just saw… did you create that too?”

“That is our future. I simply used a bit of the power of prophecy given by Lady Herabrua.”

“Prophecy?”

Her mother’s power of prophecy had been far less famous than her gifts of purification and blessing. Yet Caesar spoke as if it were now his own. How was this possible?

As if she already knew the answer, despair clouded Odette’s eyes. Caesar pulled the breathless Odette into a tight embrace.

“Someone left a sacred relic in the room.”

The gold, the cash she had hidden in the safe, and the Saint’s Staff—Caesar had taken it all. Furthermore, Caesar had the innate ability to absorb surrounding energy. He must have absorbed the power residing within the staff to make it his own.

There was only one way such a thing was possible.

‘I knew it!’

She had already suspected that her mother had passed all her power to Caesar. But since Caesar wasn’t a Saintess, he shouldn’t have been able to use it. Yet the moment he touched the Saint’s Staff, he had gained the ability to freely use purification, blessing, and even prophecy.

Odette had actually intended to send the staff to House Maise before leaving the Empire, precisely so he could save the world, seal the rifts, and be the hero. But actually feeling her mother’s power through Caesar was a different story entirely.

“So… my mother really did give everything to you.”

Her voice trembled as a lump formed in her throat.

“Yes. She gave me every bit of her power without reservation.”

“That might be why she passed away so much sooner.”

“Do you want to resent me for it?”

“Yes.” She nodded, hot tears spilling down her cheeks. “If she hadn’t poured all her remaining strength into you, she might have stayed with me for even just a few more days.”

“Perhaps. Perhaps not,” Caesar said, his expression darkening.

He explained that to hide her divine power, her mother had to purify the rifts forming in the Northern mountains. ‘She had no other choice since the staff had been stolen.’ He told her how her mother had eventually used her own life force to suppress the radiation of her power, enduring each day in a rapidly weakening body.

The more he spoke, the more Odette’s heart broke. ‘With that body, Mother chopped wood and held me until I fell asleep.’

Odette buried her face in her hands and sobbed, consumed by unbearable grief and longing for her mother. When they lived alone in the mountain cabin, she hadn’t known what that energy coming from her mother was. She only knew that being near her made her head clear and her chest feel light. The scrapes from running in the woods, the fevers, the bug bites—they would always vanish by morning, but she had never thought it strange back then.

After crying for a long while, Odette wiped her eyes and looked at Caesar. “But that relic is mine.”

Without the Saint’s Staff, Odette would have to struggle immensely to hide her own divine power. But Caesar shook his head firmly.

“It’s confiscated for the time being.”

“Confiscated? By whose authority? I am the Saintess.”

She had gone through so much to get it back, and he was just going to take it? She suddenly realized she was now completely penniless. As the reality set in, a surge of righteous fury boiled over.

‘Fine. Just one punch. I’m landing just one punch.’

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