The Possessed Evil Woman Wreaks Havoc - Chapter 49

“The imperial family knew that the angel who protected the first emperor was actually a demon. They also knew that he used demonic power to seal the Demon God.”

The crown prince glanced at me and continued, “So, they believed that the first emperor took his own life to fulfill his contract with the demon by offering his soul. However—”

“……”

“Judging by your expression, Lady Bella, it seems that’s not the case.”

I couldn’t see my own face, but I could guess it looked terrible.

In a strained voice, I asked the crown prince, “Can I enter the imperial archive?”

“That’s difficult, procedurally speaking. However, you should be able to access the secret archive in the temple. The temple’s secret archive contains almost identical records to the imperial archive. It is originally accessible only to the high priest and a few senior priests, but as the current saintess, you should have sufficient access rights.”

“I’ll take my leave.”

I hurried out of the drawing room and got into a carriage to return to the temple.

Kayden noticed my tense expression but didn’t ask any questions.

As soon as I arrived at the temple, I rushed to the library without caring who might be following me.

“Saintess? What brings you here?”

A priest, who worked as a librarian, approached me when I burst into the library, panting.

“I need to access the secret archive. Right now.”

“Well, normally, you would need paperwork, but since you’re the saintess… I suppose it’s fine.”

The priest hesitated for a moment before guiding me to the secret archive.

The secret archive, behind dozens of locks, was smaller than I had expected.

I started searching through the shelves. If a book looked promising, I pulled it off the shelf, and, if it didn’t have what I was looking for, I threw it to the floor.

“Saintess! The books here are invaluable, with a historical value beyond measure!”

“If they’re so precious, then you should catch them before they hit the floor.”

“Please! Don’t throw them!”

I ignored the priest’s desperate cries and continued rummaging through the shelves. Eventually, I stumbled upon a peculiar book.

Unlike the other books, which had luxurious leather covers and gold-plated metal guards to protect the corners, this book looked plain.

Seeing me pick it up, the priest began to panic. “You absolutely cannot throw that! It’s the most valuable book in this archive.”

“What book is this?”

“It’s the diary of the previous saintess.”

I flinched at the word “diary.”

A diary is an intensely personal item. Why is someone else’s diary in the temple’s secret archive?

Holding the diary in one hand, I pointed at the priest with the other and asked, “How would you feel if someone read your diary?”

“I wouldn’t like it, of course.”

“What if your diary were preserved for hundreds of years?”

“Who would do something so creepy…?”

“And yet someone did this.”

I threw Daphne’s diary to the floor, intending to step on it and destroy it so no one could ever read it again.

However, as the diary hit the floor, it opened, and I was left speechless.

‘Is this divine script?’

When had Daphne learned the divine language? There were small letters written on the inner cover in divine script.

[To Bella]

As my foot hovered over the diary, the priest threw himself to protect it.

“Step on me instead!”

“Move aside.”

I easily pushed the priest away and picked up the diary.

The priest urgently cried out to me, “Saintess! Please wait! You seem upset that we kept the ancestor’s diary, but none of us have read even a single word! It’s written in an ancient language that we can’t interpret.”

I didn’t hear a word the priest was saying.

“I’ll be taking the diary.”

I tucked the diary into my coat and hurried out of the library.

***

When I returned to my room, Jessie was waiting for me.

“Miss, is something wrong?”

“I want to be alone for a moment.”

My expression must have looked grave because Jessie left the room without any complaints.

I locked the door and sat down on the bed. Then, I opened the diary and cautiously began reading the first page.

[Today, I became the saintess. Honestly, I still can’t believe it. The reason I became the saintess is just too absurd.]

It started off quite plainly.

[One day, my mother suddenly told me she was marrying me off as a second wife to some local noble over fifty years old, with three children. Apparently, she was promised an enormous amount of gold for it. Isn’t it too much, considering I’m only seventeen?

The gold wouldn’t even be mine; it would go to my family, so why should I listen to my mother? When I resisted, my mother sent me to the temple, telling me to reflect on my behavior.

Ha. So, while locked in the temple’s prayer room, I complained to the Celestial God. To be precise—

“I’ve prayed so hard all this time to marry a handsome man! If this is how things are going to be, give me back my prayers!”

And in my anger, I might have kicked the statue. I don’t remember details like that very well.

Anyway, the Celestial God suddenly appeared and told me to become the saintess. Said my prayer was moving.

What part of it was moving?

Either way, becoming the saintess seemed better than being sold off to an old noble, so I accepted.

But seriously, with a god like that, can this religion even be considered normal?]

I sighed. It was just like the Celestial God to do something like that. After living for so long, the Celestial God had grown numb to most things and liked spirited humans like Daphne.

[Anyhow, the Celestial God taught me the divine language. Told me to use it if I didn’t want people to know my prayers. So, I’m writing this diary in divine script.

Just in case my younger sister tries to steal it again. Hey, Roselyn! Bet you can’t read it this time, can you?]

I remembered Daphne mentioning she had a younger sister. It seemed her name was Roselyn.

The diary contained snippets of Daphne’s life over several years. She wasn’t the type to write daily entries—she only wrote brief records on particularly memorable days.

[The Demon God is said to be descending into the Middle Realm soon. The temple hastily organized an expedition to confront the Demon God.

The problem is that I have to join them! I don’t want to, especially since it means I won’t be able to attend any parties for a while. When I complained, the high priest said to me,

“Saintess Daphne, if the Demon God descends, there will be no more parties ever again.”

What choice did I have? I had to join.

The leader of the expedition is a man named Zachary. He’s handsome, but I prefer men who look a bit more rugged, rather than someone so pure-looking. And his personality is just so uptight.

I think I should cross ‘righteous men’ off my ideal type list forever. They burn others out while trying to uphold their own sense of justice.]

The diary also mentioned me.

[A demon joined our group. A demon! I’ve never seen one before, and when I did, my jaw practically dropped. I used to think blonde was the prettiest hair color, but I was wrong. I didn’t know red could be so beautiful. And her body… My goodness.]

I frowned deeply. I always thought Daphne looked at me with a suspiciously lecherous gaze, and it turned out I was right.

[The demon’s name is Isabella. But she told us to call her Bella for short.

Bella has a terrible personality. But it’s hard to hate her since she doesn’t bother hiding it. She seems both dumb and brilliant at the same time. Her words are often absurd, yet somehow make perfect sense. Are all demons this strange?]

Strange? I frowned and turned the page.

[There’s definitely something between Bella and Zachary.

Bella always says things like “just a human” or “merely a human” to Zachary, but she looks after him too.

When Zachary’s sword broke, she went to another kingdom’s royal vault and stole a new one for him. And when he got hurt trying to subdue a monster, she tied him to the bed until he healed… Though I’m pretty sure tying him up wasn’t the only thing she did.

And Zachary, well, it seems he has feelings for Bella too. Whenever she disappears without a word, he acts like an abandoned puppy…]

I hurriedly flipped the page. The next entry described when Nigel joined our group.

[A wolf named Nigel joined our group. But everyone calls him Fluffy. Bella didn’t know I could understand the divine language, and she pulled a very amusing stunt.

It was hard to keep a straight face listening in on that conversation. Poor wolf, forced into a name change, but it’s too funny to intervene.]

Daphne wasn’t exactly kindhearted either.

Nigel had whined for ages, insisting he wasn’t “Fluffy.” And she just watched for her own amusement.

Now that I thought about it, weren’t Gabby and Isabella Daphne’s descendants? Gabby had said they were the last of the Graham family line.

It seemed I finally understood why that brat was so peculiar. Blood really does tell.