1. Prologue (top)
“Eliane! As you are nothing but a fake saint, you’re no longer needed!”
I was abruptly summoned to the royal palace …because of this? Your Highness…
Claude, the first prince of the Vercaim Kingdom, looked at me with contempt.
Towards me—his fiancée.
He was behaving so dumbly, I was at loss for words?
“Your Highness Claude, what do you mean, ‘no longer needed’?”
In truth, I already knew the answer. But I shall play along with him.
Afterwards, there will be no turning back.
“It’s as I’ve said. You’ve fooled this kingdom, pretending to be the real saint even though you aren’t! This kingdom has no need for a wicked woman like you!”
“Pretending to be a saint…? I don’t recall doing such a thing.”
“Fun, you’re still trying to act innocent even at a time like this!”
Claude sneered.
When I was young, I received an oracle from the goddess. I became a saint at the same time the previous saint was no more.
From generation to generation, it was the duty of the saint to pray for the kingdom.
The saint was a person tasked with putting up barriers and channeling the protection of various goddesses.
Because of such a being existed, the kingdom had continued to prosper for many years…
…so, what on earth is this prince thinking?
“Your words aside, without a saint, this kingdom will collapse. Does Your Highness know exactly what a saint is?”
“Ha! In the first place, something like a saint should just be buried along with the previous generation. How much tax money do you think we have to spend for your meaningless prayers and other unnecessary things? You’re nothing but a scammer leeching off the money of the royal family!”
Scammer…?
The power within the prayer of a saint was genuine…
—’to be buried along with the previous generation’. He had no reason to say such a terrible thing…
Besides, the tax covered only my minimum living expenses?
In fact, Prince Claude, aren’t you the one indulging in luxury?
“Your Highness, you’re mistaken. Actually…—”
“—Enough excuses. Also stop that meaningless prayer. I get goosebumps simply by seeing you kneeling down to pray.”
Huuuh?
You sure about that?
You think it will be a good idea if I stop praying?
If I stopped praying and something happened to the barriers… by tomorrow, the city might be invaded by powerful monsters? The crops wouldn’t grow either?
I wondered if Claude thought that far ahead—most likely not.
Cause’ the guy was an idiot.
“In the first place, I never wanted to get engaged with you, anyway. However, tradition forces me to be tied down with you, the supposed saint.”
The feeling is mutual.
That was right. Claude and I were engaged.
For generations, the prince and the saint always got married when they grew up.
Even the late Queen, whom passed away of illness, was originally the saint who protected that kingdom…
‘For me to be engaged to such a handsome boy!’ —when I was a child, the engagement caused my heart to go aflutter.
But right away, it showed.
Only his appearance was good—the inside, not so much. He was a dumb person.
His personality was also bad. I wanted to break up with him as soon as I could, but there was the thing called tradition.
Now that Claude had ended it, it was a wish come true…
…despite so.
“You’re basically breaking off our engagement…? But… if you do that, your own reputation will also be…”
…he should still consider that, right?
From my side too, to just go against the tradition, I felt a slight resistance towards the idea.
That was probably why I was still trying to reason with him. …Although at that point, I was merely doing it out of formality.
“Stop!”
A woman’s voice resounded.
“Just because of me, don’t start fighting?!”
Ah, this person. What a thing to say.
The woman who had been standing beside Claude from a while ago—
—that woman, Leticia, was exactly the reason why Claude only got worse.
***T/N: And as per my tradition, I shall also create a new nickname for Asshole Prince Claude, Claude shall be– …Claude shall be…
///mind goes towards another Claude///
I CANT. I CANT TAINT SUCH A MAJESTIC SOUNDING NAME LIKE ‘CLAUDE’, ON THE OTHER HAND, THAT SHITPRINCE ABOVE DESERVE TO BE BEHEADED FOR POSSESSING SUCH A GLORIOUS NAME BUT ACT HORMONAL AF!!!!!
**E/N: Doesn’t the king have a say in any of this. Or, let me guess, he’s away on a trip??
It’s not related to this novel but I don’t know where to ask. How can I find a novel that I thought was here or is there a way to contact someone on the staff to ask please?
I love daddy Claude. (Time to reread WMMAP lol)
This asshole Claude? Eh, not so much.
https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/017/039/pressf.jpg
The King is on trip.. Where you ask..? after this scene he is on trip to afterlife
Let’s pray for him
exatooo mude o nome desse homem desgraçado!!
Two Claude! One is an idiot, the other one- well no, they’re both brash idiots
As expected from Antoinette-sama
You’re t/n is always make me laugh and excited to read more…
??
Oh, you~
Addendum: Now that I have actually read this prologue I can also add something: from what has been shown so far:
Cloud is NOT dumb. After all, IRL how many people actually believe in god? If you were told all of a sudden that the devil would appear and destroy the world if we got rid of say the Christian Church would you believe it? If the church was n actual drain on tax money, would it actually be dumb to get rid of it? In this world BECAUSE of the Saints prayers, they have not seen any monsters, or bad things happen for how many years? 500+ years? 1000+ years? If you can’t actually see that the prayers are protecting you or even see the barriers or the monsters, why would you believe it exists? Especially if you are a pragmatic studious person that only believe in logic?
Yes, the Prince might indulge himself, but aside from the Saintess living expenses…maybe there are other expenses that she is not aware of? Might even be the case that other parties inside the government have embezzled money in the Saintess name?
If you think about it, can you really claim that the Prince is a bad person for “cheating” on the Saintess when he got engaged to her by tradition when he was little? Should the Prince not be allowed to be with the woman he actually loves instead of this Saintess?
So no, at least going by this prologue, I would neither call Claude dumb or a bad person. Of course, as we find out more this might be proven or disproven.
yes because he could’ve broken it off at any time and tried to communicate with her about who he really wanted instead of just leaving her to be laughed at by the public. this whole plot never had to happen if he could’ve found some way of being with the ‘saintess’ while making minimal trouble for the real saintess.
He is dumb. Granted a lot of people doubt the existence of god here but the existence of the barriers and her other powers have been proven by her and the previous saints for generations. Probably can see demons or monsters occasionally testing the barriers but because Princey was spoiled rotten and not taken anywhere potentially dangerous never saw the barriers or monsters much less talked to anyone who had. As for the crops either the climate and/or soil isn’t good for farming without the Saint’s blessings. Furthermore, he is going against tradition and insulting her predecessors, his father the king, and his late mother by claiming the saints are frauds and should be buried with the previous generation. MC pointed out the previous saint was the queen, his mother. Betcha dollars to doughnuts he hasn’t even talked this out or consulted his father about this. Also, Leticia likely only pampers his ego telling him what he wants to hear and has some light or healing ability that greatly pales in comparison to the MC’s. Will likely hear in a few chapters how his arrogance has threatened or doomed the kingdom due to the crops failing and demons breaking through the weakening barriers. Although I do wonder how the other countries protect themselves assuming they don’t have a Saint or similar figure.
I come from the land of worldbuilding!
In a world where the PRAYER raises a FRIKKEN FORCE FIELD which is maintained by a SAINTESS, of COURSE he’s an idiot!
It’s like the people in OUR WORLD that believe the earth is flat… do you consider those people smart??
About the budget, we don’t know anything so whatever
About cheating and marriage and all that, I concede, he’s right to proclaim he doesn’t want to follow tradition, that still doesn’t excuse being rude to her in the first place
And for her to claim his personality is bad, I think she’s right on point considering how he’s handling this issue.
Just from reading the description of the novel (having not read even the actual prologue yet) makes me wonder about the Saintess. Even if she does not care for her former husband… if the country falls into ruin, what about all the innocent farmers and other people that live there? Even if say they believed all the falls rumors, would that really make them deserve being raped by demons and eaten by dragons? Well, I will start reading the story now since the description made it sound like fun reading.
i mean. is she just supposed to accept being treated like that just bc “The People will suffer”? bc that’s what she’s been doing for a while now and since it didn’t make them stop treating her that way, i think she’s justified in living for herself. sorry about the commonfolk, but like. realistically it’s impossible to help EVERYONE.
i’m starting to hate when someone said “fun”
like hisssss!!
Another Claude I see.
Ahem. I have no biases towards anyone named Claude, so I am fine referring to this Claude as the clod that he is.
Stupid is as stupid does… but innocent people shouldn’t be hurt due to his retardation why are they letting this fool marry her anyway?… She can just ignore him, in my mind she is above him anyway, serve the country and tell this fuknut to piss off…
How is the Prince a fool? The way it is described, the Prince have never been shown any sign of that the Saintess actually possessing any power or that there are any demons for her to protect them against. Would you believe that the Saintess wasn’t fake simply because tradition said she was protecting the kingdom? That said, the mistake the prince did was that he didn’t ask the Saintess to show him proof that she was actually protecting the kingdom. The way prayers work it is doubtful that she would be able to do that, but at least then he would have done some investigation into the matter.
This ‘prince’ has brains of a bird and balls of steel… to kick out a real Saint, may chaos fall upon this prince.
Balls of steel–HAHAHAHAHAHA
I suppose, you rather talented on picking a series with idiot fiancee
bow
Do you suppose the king would end up staying at some hot spring incognito?
TO BE FAIR the other Claude is also kind of an asshole
I know.
But he the way he dresses so slovenly and his abs are great redeeming points.
#totally read it for the story…not
I HAVE THE PERFECT NICKNAME FOR THIS ASSHOLE PRINCE.
The Taint.
Because, you know. He taints the name of Claude? Jfc, I’m so ridiculous, I’m not even sorry.
Ahhhh Leticia.. Another thot called Leticia.. Ahhhhhhhbhhb
seems interesting, reminds me of another story which I liked – The White Cat That Swore Vengeance Was Just Lazing on the Dragon King’s Lap – hope its good as this one 🙂 thank you for the chapter
I was actually curious about the same thing, what does the king say about all this? There’s no way he was oblivious about it. Was the king perhaps not expecting his son to be THIS dumb? Is he sick and dying right now? Seriously, what the hell are all the kings in these stories even doing when their sons are doing stupid shit like this?
One thing I never understand in these stories, is why is the King never present in these events? It is always just the “fiance” is side chick and maybe some followers, but never the powers setting up the engagement who kind of need to be placated.
This situation is worse, since the Saint is more then just a placeholder position for the next Queen, but actually a position of importance (likely culturally on top of actually doing something) which means it should be something that the prince has 0 authority to interfere with by firing the current holder. the same as how the prince can not just fire the Prime Minister.
Just name him ‘Claudius” which is close enough to the original but still different.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who automatically thinks about papa Claude