I Reincarnated as My Favorite Villainess Saint (Magic Marza), So I’ll Use Game Knowledge to Smash Every Doom Flag! - Chapter 14

“……Explain yourself in detail.”

The king’s quiet yet unyielding voice echoed through the audience chamber.

Crown Prince Alphonse stared alternately at Claude and Rainer standing before me, his eyes filled with disbelief. His meticulously planned condemnation was crumbling at its very foundation.

Claude was the first to speak. Turning to face the king, he began in a composed yet impassioned voice.

“Your Majesty. Some among you may already know that my sister Elise has suffered for years under an inexplicable curse.”

A murmur rippled through the gathered nobles at this revelation, a fact the Ansbach family had kept strictly confidential.

“We exhausted every means at our disposal, yet no priest, no healing magic could save Elise. However.”

Claude paused briefly, then turned to look at me. His gray eyes held unwavering trust.

“Saint Lydia was the first to perceive her suffering. That night, she came to our home and, through her sacred power, performed nothing short of a miracle, she purified my sister’s curse when we had nearly given up hope.”

(The embellishment is insane…! Sure, I saved her, but it wasn’t some divine spectacle, it was more like a desperate, brute-force effort!)

Despite my internal protest, Claude’s dramatic retelling continued.

“The actions for which Saint Lydia was condemned by Prince Alphonse were, in truth, her first act of mercy to save us from the depths of despair!”

The king nodded deeply at his words, then turned his gaze to Rainer. Unlike Claude, Rainer was not eloquent. But his plain, halting speech carried the weight of truth.

“My lands… were being eaten by a blight called the ‘Withering.’ The soil was dying, my people suffering. The Saint saw through it all.”

He clenched his fists tightly.

“I… I was so desperate, so powerless, I pushed myself to ruin. The Saint didn’t just heal the land, she straightened out the warped mess inside me, too.”

He bowed his head deeply.

“To us of the borderlands, the Saint is our savior.”

Two testimonies, each too shocking to dismiss. Crown Prince Alphonse stood pale-faced, his lips trembling uncontrollably.

“Th-That’s… absurd…! The fact remains both of you committed magical violations!”

“You never once sought to understand the dire circumstances that forced our hands.”

Claude’s icy words pierced the prince’s chest. The “justice” he had believed in crumbled like a sandcastle.

Then,

The heroine, silent until now, stepped forward. Tears glistened in her eyes as she spoke in a voice trembling with emotion.

“How wonderful, Lady Lydia! To perform such miracles in secret…!”

She turned a benevolent smile toward me.

“But why did you keep it hidden? Had you consulted with everyone beforehand, no one would have misunderstood you… It was your overly kind heart, in the end, that led to this confusion…”

A masterful play of words. Under the guise of praise, she deftly shifted blame implying that my secrecy and lack of communication had caused this mess.

But I wouldn’t take the bait.

“My power is far too potent. It must be handled with the utmost care.”

I countered calmly but firmly.

“To uncover the root of illness or curses, I must enter the subject’s innermost realm their psyche. It is an act that imposes tremendous strain and danger. I could never have disclosed it lightly.”

Silence fell once more over the chamber.

“I sought only to extend a quiet hand to those in need. That is all. Yet Prince Alphonse deemed it ‘tyranny’ and humiliated me before the court. Tell me which of us truly acted with cruelty?”

My gaze struck the prince like an arrow. He seemed unable to muster a single word in rebuttal. The tide had turned completely.

Then…

The king rose from his throne.

Every soul in the chamber held their breath.

His stern eyes fixed directly upon his own son, Crown Prince Alphonse.

“Alphonse.”

His voice carried the chill of absolute zero.

“Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

The prince stood cornered. And beside him for the first time, I caught the flicker of panic in the heroine’s perfectly composed smile.