Mowan admitted she was panicking.
At this moment, her feeling was exactly the same as three years ago when she was judged by the demons and it was announced that she would be expelled from the Demon Empire and exiled to the wasteland.
She only felt cold sweat streaming down her back, and her vision began to spin.
Far from the territory of the Demon Race, her current strength was fundamentally not the strength of an eighteen-year-old Demon Princess who had grown up normally within the Demon Empire.
And facing the Human Race Saintess, who seemed to know all her secrets—the strongest trump card the Human Race had against the Demon Race—she had absolutely no confidence to contend with the Saintess.
Realizing her life was at its end, Mowan’s legs went soft.
Her body felt weightless, and she could not even stand steady.
Suddenly, a warm touch came from her waist.
The sensitive contact made Mowan shiver instantly, and her mind cleared immediately.
She regained her senses and looked down at her waist.
It was the Saintess’s fair arm holding her.
The intimate body-to-body contact allowed Mowan to more clearly smell the elegant fragrance on the Saintess’s body, making Mowan feel even more lightheaded.
“But I know you do not wish for it to be so, right?”
As the tone shifted back to the previous gentle words, Mowan snapped out of her daze.
She recalled that she had behaved too disgracefully just now, completely lacking the poise and courage of a Demon Princess.
Mowan reorganized her feelings.
She nodded and replied.
“Yes, Saintess. Now, I am no longer a Demon Princess of the Demon Race. I think there is no need for us to be in an adversarial position.”
Iserin smiled and raised the palm of her right hand again.
This time, Mowan did not hesitate.
She reached out her hand, preparing to accept the Saintess’s gift.
But just as she was about to pick up that shimmering silver ring, Iserin curled her fingers back, blocking Mowan’s request.
Mowan’s hand froze in mid-air.
One moment the Saintess was doing one thing, and the next moment she was doing another, leaving Mowan completely baffled.
However, Iserin had no intention of withdrawing the gift.
She pinched the ring between her fingers again and aimed it at Mowan’s middle finger to slide it on.
Afterward, Iserin released Mowan’s waist, a faint smile still hanging on her face.
Mowan’s heart pounded faster.
But it was no longer because of nervousness, but because of… an inexplicable shyness.
She did not understand why the dignified Human Race Saintess would perform such an ambiguous gesture toward her, a member of the Demon Race.
Did the Saintess not realize what giving someone a ring symbolized?
And it was giving a ring to a demon.
If the Sun God knew of the Saintess’s actions, she would likely have all her magic power stripped away and be demoted to a mortal who could not use magic, right?
But Mowan looked at the window on the wall.
Through the light-proof glass, not a single ray of sunlight could seep into the room.
Mowan seemed to understand the meaning of the Saintess obscuring the windows when they had first entered the room.
The Kingdom of Visa believes in the Sun God.
People respectfully call Him the Chief God.
They believe that light is a blessing given to humanity by the Sun God; wherever the sun shines is a place watched over and favored by the Sun God.
“Although you cannot become a Knight of Visa, I happen to have a job vacancy by my side. I wonder if you are willing to take the position.”
Mowan’s attention was drawn away from the ring on her hand.
She looked at Iserin, and the previous cowardice was no longer in her eyes.
“What position?”
“Friend.”
“Saintess, I don’t quite understand your meaning… Friend?”
“Yes. A Saintess has no friends. Humans treat me as the proxy of the Chief God. In their eyes, I am a Saintess first, and Iserin second.”
“I understand.”
Mowan did not believe in the Sun God, so she could naturally set aside the heavy religious filters surrounding Iserin.
“Then, as a friend, I ask you to help me take care of my Princess. I know she will not listen to my words. In the future, she will still risk her life and continue to run to dangerous places to hunt monsters.”
“I will.”
“Alright, it’s about time. You should leave this place.”
Iserin stood up from her chair.
She gently raised her hand, and the door behind Mowan opened automatically.
The cold air from outside flowed in.
Mowan suddenly felt an uncomfortable sensation of being dismissed.
She had only just leveled her mindset to communicate with Iserin, yet before long, she was to part with her.
She hadn’t even had time to explain her current situation clearly or convey her desire to live in peace to Iserin.
“To you, the weight of the ring in your hand should be greater than a Knight’s Medal of Honor from Visa, right?”
Mowan looked down at her finger.
“Yes.”
She nodded.
The bit of discomfort in her heart vanished instantly.
“Goodbye, Saintess.”
She finally left the Church without any psychological burden.
Walking outside, the slanting sunlight had turned a dim yellow.
The crowd moving in front of the Church was even larger than at noon.
Mowan clenched her fist, intentionally protecting the prize Iserin had bestowed upon her, for fear of it being snatched by a thief on the road.
She walked toward the inn where the Azure Crystal Party stayed.
Returning to her single room, Mowan intended to put the ring away before looking for her teammates.
Sitting on the bed, Mowan took out her bundle and opened her magic box where she stored her money.
Before stowing the ring, Mowan raised her right hand again.
Using the twilight light pouring in from the window, she carefully examined the ring the Saintess had given her.
It was a very simple sterling silver ring.
There were no decorations like diamonds on the ring, only a few incantations engraved on the band.
Mowan liked this gift very much.
A typical Spatial Ring could only store items roughly equivalent to a suitcase on Earth, and the weight of the ring would not increase because of the items stored inside.
A Spatial Ring would probably cost a hundred gold coins to buy.
To an ordinary person, a hundred gold coins were enough to live on for a lifetime.
Iserin’s beautiful face and the gentle words she spoke in that light-proof room floated through her mind, and Mowan could not help but curl her lips upward.
Rosa was right.
The Saintess’s gentleness was special.
Her gentleness was hard to describe; it was probably… a kind of stern tenderness?
Iserin was likely the most perfect woman Mowan had ever seen who could combine cold and warmth so flawlessly.
Thinking of this, Mowan finally pulled the ring off her middle finger with reluctance…
Pull it off…?
Mowan tugged at the ring with force, but the ring gripped tightly to the base of her finger, not moving a fraction.
“What… is going on?”
Mowan tried to use magic to force the ring to loosen, but it still didn’t work.
Even after Mowan pulled her finger until it was bright red, the ring remained motionless.
Her heart suddenly skipped a beat.
She had been tricked.
Iserin did not intend to let her go just like that.
This ring was both a reward and a shackle.
“Knock, knock, knock! Mowan, are you back?”
Rosa’s voice came from outside the door.
Mowan was startled.
In a panic, she covered the ring on her right middle finger, wondering how she would explain her situation to Rosa later.
She hadn’t brought back the Knight’s medal, but instead had an extra ring on her hand.
“I’m back. Wait… wait a moment, I’m changing clothes.”
“Oh. It’s good that you’re back. I was worried to death. I thought you were locked up in the Church.”
“I’m fine. It just took some time to heal the Princess.”
Mowan took her casual clothes out of her bundle and hurriedly changed out of the priest robes Rosa had bought her.
As for the ring on her hand, she would just leave it.
When the time came, she would just say it was a gift from the Princess.
Yes, that’s right, that’s what she’d do.