Lackey's Seducing Survival Odyssey - Chapter 1305: When Innocent Saintess Plays game: Part-2
Chapter 1305: When Innocent Saintess Plays game: Part-2
Helena took a deep breath and stepped forward, “Have you all lost your minds?”
Her voice rang out, echoing through the air, but no one paid her any attention. They were too caught up in their own arguments, too eager to see whose daughter would become the Archpriest’s bride.
Helena’s cheeks turned red with embarrassment. She coughed softly, straightened her back, and spoke louder this time.
“The person our Archpriest is going to marry is the Princess of Naiadae… and a chosen one.”
That was enough to silence the crowd. Every voice died down instantly, their faces frozen in disbelief as they turned to her.
Helena’s expression shifted into one of quiet disappointment.
“I am not criticizing or belittling others,” she said calmly, “but it is a simple fact. The moment the Archpriest marries the sole Princess of Naiadae, he will become the next Emperor of the Naiadae Empire. So please… stop whatever foolish thoughts you have and return to your respective houses.”
The people blinked, exchanging glances as they slowly looked at their daughters, sisters… even mothers.
Yup. That wasn’t right.
They definitely felt it wasn’t the correct path.
Their faces turned sad and worried… just then,
Helena blinked as she pointed at herself, “Huh? Me? What are you talking about?” Her voice cracked slightly, disbelief echoing through the crowd as she looked at the man in front of her.
He had an innocent yet confused expression, his lips parting as though words might form but never did.
Why was the Saintess suddenly pointing at him?
He didn’t even talk to her!
The sudden silence made her heartbeat echo louder in her ears, almost painful beneath the watchful eyes of hundreds.
Helena, with a blushing face and trembling legs, forced herself to speak again, “I-I am sorry… but I cannot do that… I am not going to marry Archpriest… I have a huge respect for him… so sorry.” Her voice quivered, each word scraping against her throat.
She shook her head with a disappointed expression…. She couldn’t believe she had just deceived everyone—her people, her temple, the crowd she had sworn to protect.
Sera looked at the girl with a slightly shocked expression, unable to hide the confusion that filled her chest.
How in the world did she come up with that plan?
Helena, still staring at the man who had a baffled expression, “No matter how you force me… I cannot do that. My body and soul belong to Mother and Mother alone!!” Her hand pressed against her chest with fierce devotion, her eyes glowing faintly under the holy light.
The people around them blinked in disbelief… wait… Helena… she was the chosen one and Saintess?
Whispers rippled through the crowd. The title itself carried a sacred power—one that few could bear.
Even though their titles were not the same as others, like other Empires, they too held certain powers. A Saintess was not the ruler, but she stood next to the Archpriestess, second only in spiritual authority, much like how an Empress and Princess ruled side by side.
So that meant…
Everyone’s eyes widened in realisation.
Why didn’t they think of this in the first place?
Everyone facepalmed themselves for realising it now.
“Yes, our Saintess… can do that!”
“Indeed… only our Saintess can do this!”
“Saintess… OH SAINTESS!!!”
Their voices merged into a single desperate chorus that shook the area. Even the man who had been standing silently, still half in shock, looked around and then nodded his head, shouting,
“Yes! You have to do this for us!! For our people!”
Helena clenched her fist as she bit her lips, her entire body trembling. Her heart pounded with guilt and fear.
“P-Please… please… forgive me, my people, but I… I promised on my purity that I will be with Mother and Mother alone… both my soul and body could only be with Mother. Forgive me—” Her words cracked at the end, her breath trembling as if her very faith was being torn apart before their eyes.
“We beg you!!”
The voices roared again. The people kneeled before her, hundreds of them, their heads bowing low against the marble floor. Helena took a step back, startled.
“W-What are you guys doing?” she stammered, her voice faint.
“We kneel before our only hope… to bring our hope,” they said in unison, their voices quivering with devotion.
“Please… please bring back our Archpriest!”
Helena’s eyes trembled as tears gathered in them, “B-But I promised—” Her voice faltered, her hands clutching her robe tightly, torn between oath and mercy.
“PLEASE STOP THAT!! MOTHER IS NO MORE!!”
Mother this, Mother that… they screamed her name in sorrow, in anger. When the people died, when the cursed energy spread through the land, when their homes were swallowed by silence—where was she?
Where was their Mother when they cried for salvation?
Helena stood frozen among the kneeling masses.
“We suffered a lot!!”
“We lost a lot!!”
“Even… even… lost our faith!”
Their faces twisted with pain, rage, and grief, as though their fury wasn’t at Mother but at themselves—for still believing.
“Archpriestess… please!” they begged her too, hoping she would make Helena understand. Yet Sera shook her head firmly, “I still stand on my point. I am not forcing anyone.”
The people trembled as they looked toward their only hope. Unlike their Archpriestess, the Saintess had always been kind and understanding.
“Saintess… we beg you,” one of them cried out, “please, Mother is no more. The only person capable of protecting us was the Archpriest—a man descended from the sky when our Mother disappeared. He was our only hope… and only you can bring him back!”
Their voices quivered, their eyes watery, some breaking into tears not just from desperation, but from loss—the loss of the one chance to have their Archpriest among them again.
Helena’s eyes shimmered, tears gathering at their corners. “W-What should I do? I… I am scared…” she whispered, her voice barely audible. She turned toward the Archpriestess, begging for guidance, but Sera only shook her head slowly.
“Decide what you want, child. Marriage is sacred. Once you enter it, your entire life will change.”
Sera watched Helena’s shaking form—so delicate, so uncertain—and sighed within. Damn this girl!
The once quiet, innocent Saintess, so soft and pure, now stood trembling at the edge of something darker.
Sera’s lips twitched as she thought, ’That bastard of mine… really trained his girls, didn’t he?’ The thought left her half-amused, half-horror.
She flinched when she noticed a faint, sly smile flicker across Helena’s face—small, fleeting, but unmistakable. As if… as if she were changing into something dangerous.
The innocent Saintess—corrupted?
Who would have thought a milk-drinking kitten could bare the fangs of a serpent?
But in truth, Helena wasn’t scheming. Inside, she felt only guilt and disgust at herself.
Yet she knew this was necessary. Aether had asked her to do it—for him, and for her own heart.
Some things couldn’t be solved through purity alone; some paths required sacrifice.
She had accepted that truth long ago. Even so, doing it herself—lying before her people—felt like sinking into filth.
But it was the only way… The only way to bring Aether back!
Just then, a woman stepped forward from the crowd, holding a trembling child in her arms. Her voice cracked as she raised the boy toward Helena.
“His father… his father just died during the Clarion energy invasion… and if not for the Archpriest’s appearance… gulp… when he appeared at the right moment and saved my child and me—we too…” Her throat tightened, words choked by tears and fear.
“We too would have died. Even worse… turned into monsters. My child… a monster? N-No mother would want that!”
The mother’s sobs echoed. The child clung to her tightly, his tiny fingers trembling as if remembering the horror.
And Helena… could only stand there, frozen in guilt.
Everyone’s faces turned blank and quiet.
Helena’s eyes fell toward the ground. Her lips trembled as tears slipped free, tracing her cheeks in slow, guilty streams. The disgust within her deepened until she could barely breathe. Then—
/Enough. Accept it./
Her eyes widened when she heard that voice inside her mind… defeated, resigned, and tired. Aether’s tone carried the weight of inevitability.
She blinked slowly, then wiped her tears and forced a small, fragile smile.
“O-Okay then… I will do it,” she whispered softly, her voice shaking. “If that’s what you want… what all of you want… I will marry Archpriest.”
The crowd froze again, their breath caught between awe and guilt… She bent down gently and kissed the child’s forehead before raising her head to face everyone with trembling determination.
“I shall visit Naiadae, and I will personally talk to him, understood?”
She looked toward both the people and the Archpriestess, seeking even a fragment of approval.
Archpriestess shrugged her shoulders lightly, the faintest of smiles tugging at her lips. “Do as you wish,” she said, calm and simple, yet her eyes carried something unreadable.
Helena smiled faintly in return as a soft breeze brushed past her…
“We will never forget this in our life! Thank you, Saintess Helena Sunfire!”
Their united voices filled the area like a hymn. Hands clasped together, embraced as if they were one family, bound by faith and relief.
Among them, beneath the shade of a tree, stood Aether—or rather, his modified clone. His eyes watched the scene quietly, his expression gentle yet distant.
Well… as much as he wanted to play his game, sometimes he couldn’t help but stop.
He wasn’t a monster—at least, not always.
He sighed softly and shook his head, muttering under his breath, “Guess… I’ll go with the Zephyra route then.” His tone was almost casual.
What Zephyra route?
He smiled faintly as his gaze lingered on Helena’s blissful face, surrounded by cheers and blessings. The people congratulated her, thanked her, and worshipped her for accepting their plea.
He could have pushed her further—but she had already done more than he could ever ask for.
He knew her limits… He knew her heart. If he went further, she might shatter completely, and the woman he loved would vanish, replaced by something hollow.
He didn’t want that. He loved her as she was—pure, flawed, human.
Amidst the chaos of women who surrounded him, dangerous and unpredictable, Helena was still light.
She was the one untouched flame he refused to corrupt completely.
His eyes dimmed as if the last thread connecting him to his true self snapped. The link between his consciousness and his other selves flickered like a dying signal. His awareness drifted—shifting, crawling across invisible threads—travelling from one body to another, one vessel to the next, through the vast mental network of his own making.
And finally… it reached Zephyra.
His modified clone stood outside the Maleona house, leaning lazily against the old stone wall. In front of him, several Elders paced back and forth, their faces drawn with tension.
Modified clone, smirked,
“Hehe~”
