After the soldiers brought Emily to the prison, she was thrown directly into a cell.
The ropes binding Emily’s wrists had already been untied by the soldiers.
After throwing her inside, the men left immediately.
They left Emily all by herself.
After all, the soldiers knew very well that Emily, who had no combat ability, could never break through the walls or iron bars to escape on her own.
Under normal circumstances, even if Emily truly lacked the ability to escape, a few soldiers should have remained to watch her every move.
After all, Emily was the Saintess, a figure whose status in the Church was second only to the Pope.
Such an important person should have been under constant surveillance.
However, Natalie had rejected her subordinates’ proposal, allowing Emily to stay in the cell alone.
Furthermore, Natalie forbade anyone from approaching Emily without permission. Even delivering food or water required Natalie’s personal approval!
The reason for Natalie’s strange behavior was that, in her mind, Emily already belonged to her and her alone.
Natalie had thoroughly come to view Emily as her “treasure,” and she would not allow anyone else to lay a finger on her.
Of course, Natalie’s desire to make Emily hers was a complete spur-of-the-moment whim.
This was, after all, the first time Natalie had ever seen Emily.
In the past, she had only heard rumors that there was a Saintess in the Hero’s party.
Before meeting her, Natalie had very little interest in this Saintess; she was far more concerned with the Hero, whom she considered a major threat.
Originally, Natalie had intended to wipe out the Hero’s party in one go.
With her strength, if she had truly fought to kill, it would have been impossible for the Hero’s party to retreat successfully.
But the moment she laid eyes on Emily, Natalie changed her mind.
The Hero’s party and the Hero himself no longer mattered! Her head was filled with nothing but the thought of obtaining Emily.
The only reason the Hero’s party managed to escape was that she had intentionally held back during the fight.
Natalie couldn’t care less whether the others lived or died, but she had been worried that if she used too much force, she might accidentally catch Emily in the crossfire.
The end result was that everyone else in the Hero’s party escaped, and only Emily was captured.
This didn’t matter much to Natalie; it merely postponed the time of the Hero’s destruction.
After fighting him once, Natalie no longer took the Hero seriously.
With the Hero’s current combat power, even if it increased ten times over, he would never be a match for her.
Natalie’s focus was now entirely on Emily.
Her mind was occupied with how to get Emily and make her belong to her completely!
Natalie realized she had fallen in love at first sight!
For now, Natalie was still in the stage of being obsessed with Emily’s physical beauty; she had little interest in Emily’s personality or heart.
If she truly couldn’t control herself, Natalie wouldn’t mind taking Emily by force.
Of course, Emily was completely unaware of any of this.
It was impossible for her to imagine that the Demon King would take a liking to her, especially now that she had turned into a girl.
After all, they were both girls now.
In Emily’s view, the reason Natalie had let the Hero go and chosen to capture her was likely to interrogate her for information regarding God.
The demons’ hatred for God ran incredibly deep, and it wasn’t impossible for them to be plotting deicide.
Aside from that, Emily truly couldn’t think of any other reason why Natalie would specifically capture her.
With this thought in mind, Emily surveyed the cell where she was being held.
What met her eyes was a tidy bed, a clean floor, and even a partitioned toilet.
If the iron bars were replaced with a normal door, it would be impossible to tell that this was a prison.
However, Emily didn’t feel at ease just because the environment was better than she expected.
She imagined that she would soon be subjected to brutal torture as Natalie tried to force information about God out of her.
Emily truly lacked the confidence to withstand such interrogation.
Before coming to this world and becoming a Saintess, she had been nothing more than an ordinary high school student.
After arriving in this world, because she started out as a Saintess, she had been treated exceptionally well.
No one had ever dared to harm her, and she had never undergone any kind of torture resistance training.
To put it simply, Emily was very afraid of pain!
Forget about agonizing torture; if someone beat her even slightly, she would likely blurt out everything she knew.
Although the threat of divine punishment from God might increase her endurance a little, if she were truly hurt, she wouldn’t be able to care about that.
“What should I do…” she murmured.
Becoming increasingly panicked, Emily realized the worst-case scenario: she would be tortured until she revealed everything about God, and then, having lost her value, Natalie would kill her without hesitation.
And after she died, her soul would be punished by God—the possibility of her soul being completely obliterated was not zero!
‘Really, why am I so unlucky?!’
As she contemplated her tragic end, Emily sank to her knees on the floor, her face masked in despair.
‘No, there’s still one shred of hope! As long as I hold out for a while, the Lord Hero will definitely come to save me!’
Having traveled with him for so long, Emily knew the Hero’s character well.
He would never abandon a companion to save himself!
Of course, Emily also knew that even if the Hero risked his life to save her, the chances of success were slim.
The battle between the Hero’s party and Natalie had been completely one-sided, and that was before they lost their Saintess.
Now, the gap in power between the Hero’s party and Natalie would only be wider.
‘But if I don’t think that way, there really is no hope left!’
Emily couldn’t count on God to save her either.
When she was summoned to this world, God had already stated that He could not directly interfere with the development of affairs here.
He could only allow Emily and the Hero to act as His agents to intervene according to His will.
The most tragic part was that while God couldn’t interfere with the world, He could interfere with Emily’s fate.
Simply put, God couldn’t strike Natalie the Demon King with divine punishment, but He could certainly strike Emily!
In Emily’s eyes, that God was just a coward who bullied His own!
He struck out at his allies with heavy fists while being utterly helpless against his enemies!
Just as Emily was feeling despondent over her fate, the sound of footsteps suddenly reached her ears, causing her to turn her head in terror.
Natalie was standing outside the cell, staring at Emily through the iron bars.
Faced with Natalie’s piercing gaze, Emily instinctively swallowed hard.