Love Letter From The Future
Chapter 414: Proof of Existence (2)

Chapter 414: Proof of Existence (2)

0% The existence of God had been proven.

Although there might be objections, at least that was how the masses saw it. After all, there was clear and easy-to-understand evidence known as ‘Holy Power.’

The power bestowed by the Heavenly God was nothing short of a ‘miracle.’

Even if one fell ill or lost their limbs, Holy Power could restore them. This was a miraculous feat impossible even through the system of ‘magic’, which humanity had independently developed.

Perhaps, if the dragons who once granted magic to mankind were to return, things might be different.

But dragons had long since disappeared, and humanity’s knowledge had yet to reach God’s will. Thus, it was inevitable that the Church of the Heavenly God flourished across the entire continent.

Undoubtedly, the continent’s strongest nation in both name and reality was the Empire.

And yet, not even the Empire dared to act recklessly towards the Holy Nation.

No ruler was ignorant of the true power that religion wielded. Though the Holy Nation would not risk provoking the Empire, it was widely known that the Empire still respected the Holy Nation’s authority.

And the ones who had summoned me for an Inquisition stood at the very pinnacle of that authority.

The headquarters of the Church of the Heavenly God, a place revered by countless believers.

A place whose name alone exuded grandeur—the Holy See.

To sum it all up in a single line—

Yeah.

I was completely screwed.

“No, seriously—Just who the hell filled the complaint?”

I asked, pressing down on my temples.

A groan escaped my lips as a sharp headache throbbed in my skull. The woman sitting across from me also let out a few faint sighs, seemingly just as troubled.

If there was anyone who knew the full story, it was her—the Saintess.

She eventually weakly shook her head. Exhaustion was evident in her pale complexion, as if the past few days had completely drained her.

“First of all, it wasn’t intentional. And I wasn’t in a position to stop it, either.”

Of course, that made sense.

Common sense dictated that the Saintess wouldn’t initiate the accusation herself. Had she done so, there would have been no reason for her to seek me out afterward to handle the aftermath. Besides, she’d had plenty of opportunities to bring me to trial before now.

In other words, there was no reason for her to suddenly accuse me now.

Which left only one possible conclusion—my future self orchestrated some kind of scheme.

‘Ugh...’, Letting out a groan, I leaned back against my chair.

Just what the hell that bastard was trying to achieve?

Did he do it purely to screw me over?

And of all the possible charges, why ‘sexual harassment’ of all things? It felt like a choice made out of pure malice.

Even as I sank into my own thoughts, the Saintess softly continued her explanation.

“So, it all started a few days ago, just right after I returned to the Academy...”

**

The day she returned from the North, the Saintess couldn’t have been in a better mood.

First, she was pleased that the patients she’d been caring for were recovering well.

There had been those who’d suffered severe injuries, but at least the death toll had stopped rising. This was largely thanks to the generous support from the Yurdina family. On top of that, wasn’t the conflict between humans and elves finally coming to an end?

War always preyed upon the poor.

There were many reasons for this, but in the end, most of the soldiers on the battlefield came from impoverished backgrounds. It was the same for any profession where one had to risk their life for money.

Whether it was mercenaries or demonic beast hunters—

All those who walked on the edge of death all had their own stories to tell.

That was why the Saintess never felt good about standing on the front lines.

It was painfully obvious that both her allies and enemies alike were being pushed to their limits. Countless lives were being taken in a war that no one truly wanted.

How could she, who claimed to be a messenger of God, possibly be happy about it?

But even that long-running tragedy had now ended.

Thanks to none other than the achievements of the man she loved.

The Saintess’s heart fluttered at the thought of seeing Ian again after a long while. It was a shame she couldn’t return to the academy with him right away, but she was at least able to keep her promise to come back in a week.

But it didn’t take long for her excitement to subside.

Because the man she encountered on the Academy’s central street was somehow strange.

A deep-seated exhaustion filled those golden eyes.

Meeting his gaze, devoid of even the slightest hint of emotion, the Saintess instinctively knew,

This man was not ‘Ian.’

The man she loved was not this emotionless.

“...Ian?”

Her body stiffened for a moment, but she forced an awkward smile.

There was only one possibility.

He was the ‘Ian Percus’ from the future. And, for some unknown reasons, he once again took control of Ian’s body.

Moreover, he was now directly walking towards her.

He clearly had business with the Saintess.

Right here, on this crowded central street!

Her thoughts instantly became tangled. She had no idea how to react.

Should she just acknowledge him briefly and walk away?

Or should she take him somewhere quieter and demand an explanation?

Of course, the man gave her no chance to deliberate.

“It’s been a long time, Saintess.”

At that point, the Saintess was certain that this person was not Ian.

It hadn’t even been a week since they last parted. Hardly enough time to warrant the phrase ‘long time.’

Realizing this, the Saintess put on a gentle smile.

It was the ‘facade’ she used when dealing with most people.

“Immanuel... It’s been a while, Brother. Have you been well?”

“I’ve been getting by.”

By now, murmurs began spreading among the people around them.

Both Ian and the Saintess were well-known figures at the Academy.

With the two gathered in one place, it was only natural for curiosity to rise.

Especially considering that they had both been in the North not long ago.

All the events that had transpired there had already become legendary tales.

It would have been strange if people weren’t curious.

Today, however, the Saintess found those gazes particularly burdensome.

The intentions of the man before her remained shrouded in mystery, while public scrutiny, turning into compelling evidence, would spread in an instant.

It meant that if something unexpected happened, handling it would become difficult.

Thus, the Saintess intended to swiftly wrap up her conversation with him.

“That is a relief to hear. May the Lord be with you through the trials ahead. I have urgent business at the temple, so if you’ll excuse me...”

With a graceful smile, she made the sign of the cross and turned to leave.

She planned to investigate the situation more thoroughly later.

However, the man seemed to have other intentions.

“You’re surprisingly impatient. Or rather...”

She could sense him casually running his index finger along his chin, his eyes slowly closing in thought.

His reaction was far too calm.

And that alone left the Saintess momentarily unable to respond.

“...Were you also like that in bed?”

Her body froze mid-step.

She was so stunned that she didn’t even notice the cracks forming in her carefully maintained smile. She quickly turned around with eyes filled with disbelief.

And there he stood—completely unfazed.

Against a backdrop of stunned passersby with equally wide eyes as hers.

“You were always quite sensitive, weren’t you? Especially around your breast—“

“...W-W-Wait a moment!”

Even as her mind went blank, her instincts kicked in.

She could not let this man continue speaking.

But the bomb had already been dropped, and the fuse had been lit. There were dozens who had already heard his scandalous remarks.

She couldn’t imagine a way to salvage this.

Still, the Saintess desperately tried to maintain her composure.

“W-What are you talking about? Perhaps, if you mean the sickbed, depending on the patient’s condition—“

“Obviously, I was talking about the bedroom.”

It was over.

Whether his statement was true or not didn’t matter. What he had just said was scandalous enough.

A romantic scandal involving the Empire’s divine prodigy and the Saintess?

Even she herself would find such rumors intriguing. And considering that she was bound by a vow of purity, the rumor was bound to be exaggerated into something even more depraved.

Having swiftly calculated this, her face turned pale.

The street fell into silence, while the man, feigning innocence, tilted his head.

“...Did that perhaps excite you?”

What nonsense is he spouting now?

For the first time in a long while, the Saintess nearly cursed aloud but managed to restrain herself.

Instead, the unfiltered anger she couldn’t contain burst forth.

“W-What an outrageous thing to say! Brother, no matter how familiar we are, I cannot forgive any further insults—“

“But you prefer it when you’re being forced, don’t you?”

At those words, the Saintess let out a small hiccup and fell silent.

How did he know that?

It was supposed to be a secret preference!

Come to think of it, this wasn’t the first time he used her sexual preferences against her. Given that, the possibility that he had somehow uncovered even her most intimate secrets...wasn’t entirely far-fetched.

While the Saintess was momentarily flustered, the man gave a faint smile.

It was one of the rare few times he had ever shown any emotion toward her.

“So, I thought you might enjoy it. My apologies if I misunderstood.”

By now, the onlookers were openly staring at them with blatant suspicion.

The murmurs around her dug into her ears. Every curious gaze that swept over her face made her feel like she was about to lose her mind.

She felt both humiliated and utterly mortified.

Her face was no doubt already burning red. After all, no woman would welcome having her sexual preferences being exposed for the whole world to hear.

But what truly rattled her was the fact that the man still wasn’t done talking.

He was now about to cross a line.

“But there’s no need to repress yourself too much. I’m sure even Arus would want that for you. Ah, I should probably offer Him a prayer tonight—thanking Him for blessing us with such a fine dau—”

“In-Inquisition!”

The man’s final words were almost entirely drowned out by the Saintess’s outburst.

That, at least, was a relief.

If those particular words had spread, even the Saintess herself would have been powerless to manage the fallout. Directly blaspheming the Heavenly God was on a whole other level of trouble.

So, she had no choice but to employ the only mean that could overturn the entire conversation—

“YOU—I’LL HAVE YOU BROUGHT BEFORE THE INQUISITION!”

The Empire’s Divine prodigy, accused by the Saintess of sexual harassment.

And that was how the rumor that swept across the entire Academy the very next day was born.

**

“No, no! Wait a moment—so ultimately, it was you who had me put on trial, Saintess?!”

At my accusation, the Saintess let out a small cough—ahem—and subtly turned her head away.

Then, in a timid voice, she offered a rebuttal.

“...I said it wasn’t intentional, not that I didn’t do it.”

“THAT’S THE SAME THING!”

Shaking with anger at the betrayal by someone I trusted, I shouted.

I had never imagined that the Saintess would be the one dragging me into court.

So, in the end, were the warnings from the Alpenhauser Twins right all along?

I raised my voice at the Saintess, who still couldn’t meet my gaze.

“How could you do this? You, the Saintess of the Church of the Heavenly God, accusing an innocent knight who has never even come close to committing sexual harassment—!”

“...Innocent?”

Her voice cut through the air like a blade of ice.

I broke into a cold sweat as her piercing gaze bore into me.

...Okay, maybe claiming I had never sexually harassed her might be a stretch.

Acknowledging the valid criticism, I quickly revised my argument.

“Well, there may have been some misunderstandings...but at least my intentions were entirely pure—!”

“Pure?”

Still, I refused to give in and tried to defend myself again—

If only the Saintess hadn’t subtly lifted her breasts with her arm at that very moment.

My eyes unconsciously drifted to the emphasized curves. It was an instinctive reaction for any man.

The Saintess’s gaze turned even colder.

Huuu, with a deep sigh, I let my body go limp, signaling my surrender.

“...Fine. Please, explain yourself.”

Only then did the Saintess give a snort and begin to speak.

No matter how flustered she was, she was still the Saintess. Even amidst her embarrassment, she had surely kept her true thoughts hidden.

“Even if it wasn’t me, there were plenty of people around. After you insulted me so blatantly, rumors were bound to reach the Holy Nation. Even if I hadn’t done anything, the Inquisition would have happened anyway.”

“But we could’ve at least bought some time—”

“What matters is that I requested the Inquisition myself. After all, I’m the victim here.”

The Saintess flashed a faintly triumphant smile as she said that.

She seemed quite pleased with the scheme she’d concocted.

“In other words, I would have considerable influence over the terms of your settlement.”

“A settlement...? Is that even possible?”

Even as I listened, I still couldn’t shake off my doubts.

That was because of the charge for which I was being summoned to the Inquisition.

Officially, the charge was ‘sexual harassment,’ but since the victim was the Saintess, it inevitably became a matter of ‘blasphemy.’ After all, she was the Heavenly God’s most beloved maiden.

Even harassing one of the highest-ranking figures of the Holy Nation was already an unthinkable crime.

And if that person happened to be the Saintess, one of the most symbolic figures of the Church of the Heavenly God, there was no way the Holy Nation would stay silent. It wouldn’t be surprising if they demanded to have me crucified on the spot.

Yet, the Saintess remained utterly confident.

“Ian, recognize your own standing. If the Holy Nation decided to sentence you to death, do you really think the Empire would just sit back and accept it?”

At that, I let out a quiet ‘ah.’

She was right.

I had various connections, including those within the Imperial family. More importantly, I held the title of ‘The Empire’s Divine Prodigy,’ so even if my crimes were undeniable, the Empire wouldn’t silently stand by.

They’d surely argue it was merely sexual harassment at most.

That alone would complicate things for the Holy Nation. And it seemed the Saintess had precisely aimed upon that opening.

“While the Holy Nation struggles with its indecision, I, the victim, can step forward and request leniency. I’ll then present some superficial settlement terms, and the matter will be resolved.”

“Oh...”

I gazed at the Saintess with sincere admiration.

Even in the middle of all this chaos, she was able to weigh the risks and benefits so clearly?

Moreover, through this incident, she had managed to put both the Holy Nation and the Empire in her debt—after all, she had effectively resolved a problem for both sides.

I finally understood how she’d survived the political games of the Holy Nation.

Now only one issue remained.

“So, what are these settlement terms?”

At that, the Saintess once again flashed a meaningful smile.

The next moment, with a swift flick, a single document was laid out before me.

Before I could even read its contents, she spoke again, her smile growing even more captivating.

“Would you like to meet my family?”

Family?

Even as her lethal beauty momentarily stunned me, one thought crossed my mind.

Does an orphan even have a family?

And just like that, my next destination was decided.

To the Holy Nation.

And all this occurred before I’d even read the letter.