* * *
I slowly crawled out from the cabinet where I had been hiding.
Back when I was a detective and proud of my fine-tuned muscles, squeezing into cramped spaces always left my whole body aching. But now, in Ordell’s slim frame, hiding like this actually felt quite cozy.
With divine power, I could even enhance my physical strength. Guess I don’t need to bulk up like I used to.
“You, you, you! What the hell are you doing here?!”
As I stepped out completely and dusted off my clothes, Kento pointed at me in alarm.
I felt like snapping that finger clean off.
“You’re the one who told me to come to the kitchen at night, remember? I’m a person who keeps promises. I was happy to come. Unfortunately, you’re stuck in jail, so I figured I’d just have a look around on my own.”
“Y-You little—!”
“And then I saw you walking in, even though you should still be locked up. Naturally, I got curious and watched for a bit.”
Of course, that was a lie.
I had already anticipated that he’d escape prison and sneak in here in the middle of the night.
According to the original novel, Kento didn’t have just one hiding spot for his money.
I was on a stakeout to catch him in the act.
“And look at that, what a lucky sight I caught. Seems like my luck’s not too bad.”
“If you’re dumb enough to show up in front of me, your luck’s actually terrible!”
Kento, having calmed his startled bird-heart, suddenly stood up.
At some point, he had gripped a sharp dagger.
“I was already planning to deal with you. Do you even know who I am? Huh?”
“Sure do. You’re the criminal who got caught embezzling and is scheduled to be tortured by the high priest tomorrow. And now you’ve even broken out of prison. I bet you’ll get the deluxe torture treatment. Just thinking about it gives me chills.”
“Torture, my ass! You’re nothing but a weakling who’s never held a blade other than a dinner knife. You think I’m scared of someone like you?!”
…Wow. That old saying is true—ignorance really is courage.
Who is Irik again?
Only one of the main male leads of this world.
He may not be the true male lead who ends up with the heroine, but he still had tons of fans among the readers.
And if there’s one thing male leads do in romance fantasy novels, it’s everything and anything for the heroine. There’s no way Irik would be weak.
In the original story, he was one of the most skilled torturers—helping bring down Ordell, who had tormented the heroine.
This guy’s as good as dead.
“Shut the hell up! Do you even know who planted me here? It was Count Kiris himself! And you, a fake saint, dare to interfere with the Count’s orders?!”
That oh-so-familiar name made me smirk crookedly.
Yeah, that’s right. Kento was one of the agents secretly planted in the Grand Temple by Count Kiris—the very man who made Ordell into a fake saint.
Whoever helped him escape must also be one of those spies.
The biggest expenditures in the Grand Temple were supposedly my dignity maintenance budget—aka my luxury expenses—and the kitchen's food costs.
Kento always inflated the food budget, using the excuse that the saint deserved high-quality meals.
And if the food quality ever dropped, Ordell would throw a tantrum so fierce that even Irik had no choice but to tolerate it.
But I bet he didn’t know.
That Kento had been secretly embezzling funds using that excuse all this time.
And most of that embezzled money made its way back into Count Kiris’s hands.
That was the whole reason the Count planted him as a spy to begin with.
The real problem, though, was that Ordell had sometimes pretended to indulge in luxury and even helped with the embezzlement.
That way, Irik wouldn’t suspect a thing.
In other words, I was now cleaning up the mess Ordell had made.
“If you understand what’s going on, get on your knees right now. If you resist even a little, I’ll report every detail of what you did tonight to the Count!”
Kento pointed the dagger at me.
From the gleam of twisted excitement on his face, it looked like he was fantasizing about seeing me—the noble and saintly Ordell—grovel on the floor…
Too bad for you, buddy. You’ve got the wrong woman.
“Oh my, really? So you were sent by Count Kiris? I didn’t know that.”
“That’s right, so just kneel—!”
“Then that means you’re a spy, huh? That you’re not a follower of the Sun God? That you don’t believe in our Sun God?”
“…What?”
Kento blinked in confusion at my sudden barrage of questions.
But this was a crucial matter.
As long as he wasn’t a Sun God believer, I could drive him out without reducing the temple’s number of followers.
“If you were a believer, I would’ve used all my strength to help you repent. But if you’re not, then there’s no need to bother.”
And if that’s the case, what’s called for now?
Punishment for one who dared to covet the Sun God’s holy treasures.
【Activating skill: ‘Physical Enhancement’.】
“What the hell are you babbling—?!”
In a fight, always strike first!
I slammed my enhanced fist directly into that pathetic excuse for a face.
Wham!
With a deeply satisfying impact, Kento’s already unimpressive nose collapsed completely.
This was the divine punishment delivered in the name of the saint—the representative of God!
“Grah! K-Kuh! You—you bastard!”
“Oh? Was the divine punishment too soft? Still standing, huh?”
You collapsed earlier today from a flick to the forehead, and now you’re still standing even after that?
Even while staggering, he held tightly onto the dagger.
With his nose that messed up, his brain must be rattled too.
“Just go down already. You’ll die at this rate.”
Back when I was a cop, I saw someone just like this—acting all tough and ending up brain-dead.
But despite my sincere warning, Kento didn’t stop.
“Th-That’s fine! I’ll just take your h-head and… the Count’ll forgive m-me!”
His slurred speech was a real red flag.
And yet, somehow, he managed to swing the dagger right at me with surprising precision.
I was just about to dodge, wondering if my enhanced body could withstand the blade—
“Huh?”
Something yanked me backward with force.
Before I could make sense of it, clang!—the dagger flew out of Kento’s hand into the air.
“Aaagh!”
Maybe because of the force, Kento’s wrist twisted in a horribly unnatural direction.
“Are you alright?”
A cool, steady voice poured down from above, laced with a refreshing scent that lingered near my nose.
I hadn’t noticed even a hint of his presence before he pulled me back.
Startled, I turned my head quickly.
The first thing I saw was silver hair, glimmering even in the dim kitchen light.
Below his short bangs, eyes as cold as a winter sea stared down at me from close range.
“Gasp.”
Good god. You’re that good-looking even at night?
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
“Uh…”
“Are you hurt?”
I was so stunned by his looks that I couldn’t get the words out.
He seemed to misunderstand, and turned his icy glare toward Kento.
At the same time, a heavy, oppressive aura pressed down on my entire body.
Something intangible, something I’d never felt on Earth.
It was bloodlust—and this man’s power.
“To threaten an unarmed woman with a blade in the sacred Grand Temple… Are you looking to die?”
Terrifying.
I thought I’d grown immune to fear after all those years as a detective in violent crimes…
But this—I couldn’t handle it.
Just as my knees began to buckle from fear—
【The AI System has detected fear levels above threshold.】
【Boosting user’s mental resilience for stable functioning.】
“…?”
As the system message appeared, my body calmed down instantly.
Even more effective than a tranquilizer. Huh. Not bad, system.
“I’m not hurt. I’m okay. Thank you so much for saving me.”
I let out a sigh of relief and stepped out of his arms.
The rush of hormones from his gorgeous face faded, and I regained my senses enough to realize who he was.
If Irik was the heroine’s shield, then this man was her sword—cutting down her enemies without hesitation.
With a face that could rival Irik’s, this was none other than Seth Noel, the Captain of the Grand Temple’s Holy Knights.
Male lead candidate #2.
He was supposed to be away on a dispatch mission right now. Why was he here?
And why, of all moments, did he have to show up now?
I had been trying to handle this alone. This makes things a bit tricky.
“Are you truly alright?”
The handsome Seth asked again with concern.
I nodded vaguely and glanced at Kento.
He, too, seemed just as shocked by Seth’s sudden appearance.
Well, of course. It wasn’t me he should fear now—it was the fugitive Kento who should be terrified of the Captain.
Guess there’s no helping it.
Now that things had played out this far, I had no choice but to make full use of the situation.
“Captain, that man was caught embezzling temple funds earlier today and was imprisoned! And now he’s escaped!”
I started by tattling.