“May the Goddess bless you, dear believer.”
The silver-haired Saintess gently helped up the devout woman who had been praying earnestly below the platform.
The woman, flustered and overwhelmed by the honor, gazed at the sacred and dignified—yet approachable—beautiful少女 before her.
Lady Idelira… how beautiful, how pure and holy she is…
This was the woman’s heartfelt sigh, and also the unspoken, unanimous feeling shared by everyone present.
Idelira Seneller—the Saintess of the Oya Empire.
It was said that from the moment of her birth, she was accompanied by rainbow auroras from the Holy Land, and thus was proclaimed a manifestation of divine miracle.
Every day, the Saintess would stand in the grand cathedral of the imperial capital, quietly and gently listening to the prayers and confessions of the believers—prayers directed toward herself, toward the Goddess, and toward the world.
“Thank you, Lady Idelira. By the Goddess above, having a Saintess like you is truly a miracle for the Empire!”
Another man, who believed himself to be burdened with sin, confessed before the statue of the Goddess.
Afterward, he was sent off with Idelira’s gentle gaze, even though his only real fault was his excessive love for alcohol.
After all the believers had finally left the cathedral, the Saintess turned around and let out a long sigh of relief in a place where no one was watching, preparing to leave.
“Saintess! Saintess!”
“Oh my, little Mary, what brings you here? Didn’t your mother come with you?”
The young girl enthusiastically hugged Idelira’s leg.
The fatigue that had just shown on Idelira’s face vanished instantly, replaced by a warm smile as she affectionately patted the girl’s head.
Mary was a local child who lived nearby.
Every time the prayers ended, she would secretly run over to play.
Shyly, little Mary pulled out a slightly wilted flower from behind her back.
“This is for you, Saintess!”
“Thank you, Mary. It’s a very beautiful flower.”
Idelira smiled as she accepted the golden wildflower, pretending to be delighted as she lightly smelled its petals.
After waving goodbye to the girl, she passed through the solemn and sacred imperial cathedral and arrived in front of a villa.
The moment she closed the villa’s door, it was as if the Saintess had become a completely different person.
The gentle and kind smile was gone— replaced instead by an expression of irritation and disgust.
“Truly foolish believers—
they can’t even tell who it is they’re devoutly thanking. Hehe.
A hypocritical Goddess, hypocritical believers… do you really think you’ve redeemed your sins…?”
Yet, as she looked at the flower in her hand, already on the verge of wilting, she ultimately placed it carefully into a vase.
Inside, it was already filled with wildflowers of all different colors.
Useless things.
Stay in the water with your companions—sprout, and wait for death…
“Hailey, is that you? You’re back already? I heard your voice.”
Just as she stepped into the mansion’s living hall, a gentle and sweet voice slowly drifted down from the staircase.
“Idelira” looked up and saw another少女 just as beautiful.
Long silver-white hair, skin as smooth and delicate as milk.
Slender hands carefully supported the stair railing.
Yet those eyes—those eyes were a dull, pale pink.
If a third person were present at this moment, they would surely be utterly shocked:
this frail少女 was identical to the Empire’s Saintess— the same silver hair, the same figure and face, every expression carved from the same mold.
The only difference… was those pink eyes.
“Honestly, didn’t I tell you not to come downstairs by yourself?! Go back up immediately!”
“I just heard that you were back, that’s all…”
The少女 pouted unhappily at the scolding, but her frail condition betrayed her.
She stumbled—and suddenly toppled forward down the stairs.
“Hey!”
Without a second thought for what she was holding, “Idelira” lunged toward the staircase.
At the critical moment, she caught the少女 in her arms, and carried by the momentum, the two of them fell to the floor together.
Tsk… so heavy.
Honestly… she didn’t get hurt, did she?
In a place no one noticed, the少女 nestled in her arms revealed a satisfied, sinister smile— only to quickly disguise it, pressing herself weakly against her chest.
There was nothing she could do.
Looking at the birdlike, dependent少女 resting in her arms-someone so weak she could barely get out of bed, yet still insisted on coming down just to greet her—
truly… unbearably frail…
She carefully held the girl in her arms, climbing the stairs step by step.
After returning to the room, she gently laid her back onto the soft, fluffy bed, her face expressionless.
That’s right— the frail, pitiful girl lying on the bed was the true Saintess, Idelira Seneller.
And she herself was nothing more than a substitute doll.
Her true name was Idhailey Seneller.
As a young man’s soul from another world who had crossed over, Hailey had not undergone any so-called reincarnation.
Instead, her soul had attached itself to this substitute doll body manufactured by the Church.
Originally, it had been a mindless doll, one that could only be controlled by its master’s will and magical power.
Yet due to an accident, it became a conscious being—and the moment she opened her eyes, she was treated as a demon.
If it hadn’t been for the real Idelira, who happened to be watching at the time and intervened, she would probably have been blasted to pieces on the spot by holy light magic as a manifestation of evil…
“She, too, is a life with a soul.Let her stay by my side.”
Out of respect for the Saintess’s authority, the Church had no choice but to spare the completely confused doll girl.
And so, Hailey became the Saintess’s substitute.
Although the Saintess possessed extremely rare sacred magic, she had been burdened with suffering since birth— her body weak and frail beyond measure, her eyesight deteriorated into blurred near-blindness.
During the day, Hailey—whose appearance was a perfect one-to-one replica of the Saintess -would take her place, fulfilling the Saintess’s duties: praying for blessings, listening to confessions, and granting absolution to the people…
And now, as night slowly approached, Hailey looked at the frail girl lying on the bed.
Her hands moved unconsciously toward the girl’s throat.
Her gaze grew colder and colder.
This body of hers had originally been created based on Idelira’s constitution.
The two of them were nearly indistinguishable.
If she could replace her…
With that thought, Hailey’s fingers slowly closed around the girl’s throat, gradually tightening.
But the next second, she met a pair of pink eyes, shimmering with excitement.
Moist.
“Hailey… good child. Don’t be afraid. I won’t do anything.”
Hailey… her hands were so soft.
So warm.
Idelira smiled, gently lifting her arms to wrap around the back of Hailey’s neck.
Whether from the sensation of suffocation or from excitement, her face flushed an even deeper red.
Startled, Hailey loosened her grip—
and in the next instant, she was pulled into Idelira’s embrace.
The girl who had seemed so weak only moments ago now viciously pinned her down beneath her.
“Hailey, bad children who fail…must obediently accept their punishment.”
One hand pressed the doll down, while the other gently played with the doll girl’s face—
as though admiring a most exquisite collectible.
She couldn’t resist.
The holy Saintess, in this moment, looked more like a cunning, greedy demon—
tenderly caressing the soft skin of the girl beneath her, devouring her with lingering obsession…
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