1. My Power as a Saint has Disappeared, Therefore I’ll Leave Before my Engagement is Annulled
“It must have been difficult for you all this time. I shall free you from that power.”
In a dream, the Goddess who appeared before Melissa gave her a beautiful smile.
Eight years ago, that was how the Goddess manifested herself within Melissa’s dream when she gave her the saintly power. Contrary to a floaty sensation, her consciousness was clear, albeit the dream itself felt mysterious. Melissa was confused but accepted it as reality.
Around that time, the kingdom was in poverty due to a natural disaster that was said to occur every 100 years. Melissa’s househoud, a rural aristocrat, was no exception. Food and money were becoming exhausted. With the downfall of her family, painful days began.
The Goddess who appeared before Melissa, someone who couldn’t see any kind of hope for tomorrow, bestowed upon her a lifechanging miracle.
It was none other than the power of a saint.
She had the power to heal wounds, to bestow divine blessings, and enrich the kingdom.
Melissa, who had learned to help the famine-stricken people, had been praying to the Goddess for the past eight years. The kingdom became richer and the people were saved by the power of the saint.
A few weeks ago, a ceremony was held all over the country in honor of her achievements.
The mediocre Melissa, who had nothing, was able to help others with the power of the saint. She was able to save their lives.
For Melissa herself, it was also an honor.
She felt that she had finally found her place.
“I shall transfer your power to a new saint. You’re now free.”
Melissa’s heart was constricted by the Goddess’ words.
A new saint appeared. Someone that wasn’t Melissa would assume over all her titles and duties.
My role is over.
Eventually, a radiant light enveloped her as she woke up from the dream.
For a dream, it felt truly vivid.
She could certainly feel her saintly power diminishing.
Melissa woke up, got out of her bed, and went to the wardrobe. Fortunately, her belongings could be counted by hand. The clueless Melissa began to pack her things.
***
“Lady Melissa, where are you going!?”
“Maria, if you move with such haste, you will fall.”
As she walked down the hallway with a large bag, she was approached by her maid, Maria.
Worried about the breathless and pale Maria, Melissa reassured her with a smile.
“Be good. Your hair is truly messy right now, your precious beauty is ruined.”
“Lady, Melissa… that luggage… I, couldn’t find any of your personal belongings in your room…”
“I apologize. You must be surprised. I was considering telling you, but I decided against it knowing that seeing you will shake my resolve.”
“Resolve…”
Melissa’s smile remained unchanged. Maria’s lips quivered.
Since she came to the royal castle, Maria had devotedly taken care of her, someone who hailed from a low-ranking family. Whenever Melissa felt tired, the kind of cute Maria would brew a warm herbal tea and accompany her.
As a maid, she’s very sharp. She deserves better than to take care of someone like me…
Eight years.
Melissa felt remorseful for almost leaving without a word for Maria. Although it was brief, Maria, who had doted on her like a family, gave her a happy, warm, life.
“I can’t stay here anymore. Maria, you don’t have to care for me anymore either.”
“Lady Melissa…?”
“A new saint will appear. She’s better than me. I’m sure she’ll support His Highness.”
“New saint? What do you mean?”
“My role is over. I’ve lost my power as the saint. As I am now, I’m useless to the kingdom. I’m sorry. It’s sad and painful for me to leave His Highness. Forgive me for having to leave you, Maria.”
That was right.
The most regrettable thing was His Highness.
The emergence of a new saint meant Melissa was no longer his fiancée.
Being a saint was a requirement for becoming the fiancée of His Highness, Jeid.
The day after Melissa received her power, a letter came from the royal capital.
It was an invitation from His Highness Jeid.
A letter directly from the prince. She understood that it wasn’t because of her heritage, but because she had acquired the power of a saint.
She went to the royal castle, and as soon as she met His Highness Jeid, she was told of her mission. The situation of the kingdom was rigid.
His Highness Jeid spoke to Melissa to ask for her help.
His Highness Jeid was quick to act. After having invited Melissa to the castle, he also moved the military and sought to restore order in various parts of the kingdom.
The devoted support of His Highness Jeid had helped minimize the damage, and he led the kingdom to peace.
After a while, once the economic situation had settled down, the story of her engagement with His Highness Jeid came up.
Even though she was a noble, she was still a low-ranking aristocrat. As such, under normal circumstances, there was no way Melissa could become engaged with him. However, contrary of being ashamed of Melissa, the king and the queen generously spoke to her.
Everyone said that she would be a suitable partner for the prince, for she was a saint.
In honor of her achievements, no aristocrat was against her engagement.
Regardless, Melissa was in dilemma. She just couldn’t think of herself as a member of the royal family.
But, her feelings for His Highness Jeid had already grown so much by that time, she couldn’t refuse.
She was delighted to stand next to him as his fiancée.
At that time, I should’ve refused properly…
His Highness Jeid had always been gentle and kind to her.
Despite being busy with public affairs and duties, he still came to visit Melissa.
Now that her power as the saint had disappeared, would His Highness Jeid still treat her as he had always done?
More than anything else, Melissa was convinced he deserved to be with the true saint.
“Melissa, at the very least, speak to His Highness once.”
“Maria, I’m sorry. I don’t know if I want to meet him. I don’t want to be rebuked by him. Even if I’m gone, the new saint will come soon, there’s no problem. Thank you for everything. I’m happy to have met Maria and to have spent time with you. Truly—thank you.”
As tears came to Maria’s eyes, Melissa also felt teary.
Melissa left the royal castle while stifling her sobs.
The sun was rising.
Inhaling the clear air, Melissa began to walk ahead.
***T/N: I especially picked this up because it doesn’t start with breaking the engagement/ condemnation scene that I’m tired of.
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After reading the chapter 1, it makes me interest to read its 8 raw chapters and that choice really satisfy me, the first time reading this novel, i have a huge hunch theres a misunderstanding in the saints choice of leaving
Btw no worries theres no bad prince like in other novel nor corrupt characters in here
I mean it looks like she had it hammered into her head that her only value was as a saint so now that it’s not the case then……yeah time to exist stage left, it’s probably the case that the prince does love her and will be heart broken about her departure, depending on the circumstances the king and queen could want her back or try and push for a new marriage, which might cause the people to be upset about the person who aided them getting the boot cuz nobles, hell the new saint might not even be interested in marriage or be a man.
Okay, this girl has made a mistake. She’s betraying the trust of people who have treated her well and whom she cares about, just to spare her own feelings. I can appreciate that she isn’t overtly complaining about the loss, but I think she’s trying to ignore what happened instead of facing up to it, which will prevent her from letting her heart move on.
ok, but like. they’ve always emphasized that she’s good BECAUSE she’s a saint. now that she no longer has any powers, with her view of herself as ‘mediocre’, you expect her to open herself up to potential abuse now that she’s no longer a saint? lol
Her doing this is calling them shallow and ungrateful lol
She doesnt have a single trust in their characters and doesnt think someone saving the kingdom deserves any reward
¯_(ツ)_/¯ politicians, dude. sure they can be nice and stuff when it’s convenient, but this issue seems to have been lurking at the back of her mind this whole time and she prepared for the worst to happen if they decided to throw her away bc of her lack of powers.
Hmm… so far the mc doesn’t seem like the brightest candle in the chandelier… and for some reason my douchebag prince alarm is beeping… maybe because of that “engaged only because you’re a saint” emphasis… hmm… we’ll see
I mean, her attitude so far doesn’t come off as STUPID so much as MISTRUSTFUL. which, w the way she’s been treated, how can you blame her. Idk about the prince, tho, the best possibility i can think of for him so far is that he’s blind to the ways his elitist peers and ppl treat her, but maybe he’ll redeem himself? I’m tired of asshole princes.
To often people confuse doing things different then the way they would do them as stupid, Really she should have gone to say good bye, but from an emotional angel I can see why she did not. There are basically 4 ways it could go :
1) does not matter, we are still engaged and getting married
2) We can no longer get married, but here is a reward for your 8 years of service and dedication.
3) No longer the saint? get lost scum
4) no longer the saint, you must have sinned and need punishment for the sin so the Gods do not punish us as well, take he away.
From what she is saying/her impression and possessions #3 is the most likely, but due to her emotional investment only #1 is not going to break her heart.
The question is, and we have not seen their reaction yet to know, since being the saint comes from the goddess how will they react to her losing the position. They could very easily take it as a sign of some major sin on her part, and punish/execute her for the assumed sin.
But if she spent 8 year working for them, and only has a single bag of possessions, that is a bad sign for how they compensated her for her work.
The problem is everything she had was dependent on a title she just lost. Maybe she should have stayed and talked, but that is not always going to help.
The goddess is the one that took away the sainthood and she’s been clearly indicating that she has reservations about the law demanding saints get married to the royal family essentially treating her like a commodity. I understand that he’s probably gonna end up the male lead she gets with anyway but she shouldn’t HAVE to marry the prince just because people trying to curry literal divine favor look like they were being nice to her.
This goddess here has propelled her to a top spot simply via respecting the wishes of her chosen one.
she had reservations, but then decided to marry the prince anyway, so honestly, the goddess doing this only AFTER melissa decided to accept the prince bc she was in love w him kinda feels like the goddess did this to fuck w her, to be like “oh, YOU have problems w my gift? well let’s see how you like BEING WITHOUT IT, ungrateful spawn” or something like that. :/
Why is this labeled under “because pushing didn’t work, i decided to pull” instead of”because my power as a saint disappeared […]” or something like that? Is that the title of a new original anthology?