I Can Hear the Saint’s Inner Thoughts

50 – A Fake Who Wants to Be Real (1)

* * *

Victoria Eberhart was a natural liar.

She was afraid to show her true feelings, so she was skilled in piling up lies and deceiving others.

‘…This selfless heart isn’t part of my duty as a saintess, but rather comes from my love for you.’

Victoria was still swallowing unspoken words, trying to hide her embarrassed feelings and act like she always did around Astal.

It was the first time she had loved someone, and it was also the first time she had thought about being abandoned by someone.

Instead of expressing love or affection, Victoria would use perverted remarks and other crude language to belittle her feelings for the other person.

‘I’m lying like this for now… but once this is over, I want to properly confess to you.’

A clumsy and immature love.

That was the form Victoria’s love took.

And now, she was moving, body in motion, to enforce that love. Ignoring trembling hands and a rapidly beating, fearful heart.

“You really are a handful. Making a frail saint like me fight a Dullahan,” Victoria said, uttering words she didn’t mean, as if it were nothing.

Clearly, her head told her she couldn’t beat the Dullahan, one of the Demon Lord’s four generals,

“…Don’t you dare even think of laying a finger on my lover.”

Victoria’s love was bigger and deeper than such worries and concerns. She gritted her teeth, held her breath, and showed her ability to overcome fear.

After all, dreams are just dreams. Her opponent is like a puppet, acting and attacking according to a set pattern.

If it were the real Dullahan, this fight wouldn’t even be possible. The Dullahan, called an invincible knight, had immense strength and was skilled in various weapons techniques.

This was also why Astar had chosen to mix magic with martial arts to avenge his parents.

“He is someone only *I* am allowed to torment.”

Victoria’s voice, laced with irritation, came from deep within her throat, contorting her face.

The thought of Bellamora, observing this spectacle from above, fueled her anger even more.

‘Astar is mine. I won’t yield him to anyone.’

The saint, who was supposed to follow the words of the heavens, lead a righteous and devoted life, and keep her purity, was now showing endless lust and possessiveness toward a man.

Clang—!

Victoria blocked the blade of the Dullahan’s sword with the long handle of her hammer, deflecting it.

Even with her strong grip, the impact was enough to make her hand tingle. She was pushed back, leaving a deep mark on the ground.

“Just because it’s a puppet from memories, don’t underestimate the Demon Lord’s Four Generals, will you?”

Bellamora, manipulating the Dullahan as if he were a doll with a faint red thread of light.

As a half-vampire, she could use her blood to achieve various actions.

“…It doesn’t even tickle. Is this really all you’ve got?”

Victoria, again swinging her huge hammer to deflect an attack meant for Astar’s parents, spoke words of bravado.

Because she absolutely refused to lose to that woman.

Whether it was her figure, her face, or her feelings for Astar, a selfish desire not to lose in any way was welling up from deep within her.

“No, of course not. This movie is my battlefield after all. So…”

*Snap—!*

Bellamora snapped her fingers as she said those words, and a bloody line connected to the monsters and demons attacking the village.

*Creak, creak*— A sinister and grotesque sound, as the ghosts of the past focused their gazes on Victoria.

“…How about we test if losing a saint’s virginity in this movie will return you to being a normal human? You won’t be able to approach Astar-nim with a defiled body.”

Those creatures were now leering at Victoria with lust-filled eyes because of Bellamora’s words. Seeing the swarm of enemies rushing at her, Victoria couldn’t help but panic.

“I’m sorry, but I’m spoken for.”

Victoria, swinging her hammer in a wide arc, obliterates the enemies around her. Every single one of her movements is infused with the will to protect Astal and his parents behind her.

“…That’s a ridiculous thing to say. Does someone like you dress so crudely?”

“I have to dress this way because there’s someone who protects me. It’s a pity you can’t see how adorable it is when he gets flustered, face red, and avoids my gaze…!”

Victoria is breathing heavily, sweating as she barely holds off the onslaught of the Dullahan and the enemies, but she doesn’t skip a beat to provoke them.

It’s an integral part of her playful personality – to draw out the true feelings of others and agitate them.

Even after changing her mind to treat Astal well, she continues to tease him slightly for this very reason.

“That milk-saint with nothing but fat sacks in her chest…!!”

“In the world, they call them pouches filled with love.”

Victoria’s provocation makes Bellamora lose her cool, creating a huge scythe made of blood and launching herself from the ground to kill her.

To Bellamora, Victoria was more bothersome than a thorn in her side. If it weren’t for her, she could have broken Astal’s mind long ago, turning him into a slave who only loved her.

Sparks and noise fly between the two women, and a battle to the death is about to begin.

“Fine. I’ll cut off your limbs and feed them to the demons here! That vulgar body and that breast that looks so good for nursing will be useful too!”

“Are you jealous of something you don’t possess? How ugly, Bellamora. You shouldn’t add reasons to like a big chest. It’s different from small ones.”

* * *

At that moment, the hero Kyle and his companions were walking into the heart of the back alleys. The deeper they went, the stronger the lingering scent of blood and rotting flesh became.

“Ugh…. What is this place? How can it be so gruesome!”

“It seems that this is the power source that keeps the Nightmare Theater alive. There’s no way they would put something this horrific in such a bright and bustling area.”

Anima pinched her nose with her hand, expressing her disgust at the sight, while Tarion silently shot down the enemies trying to kill them with his bow.

The place they arrived at was like a mountain of human corpses. Behind it was a giant machine, making a chilling mechanical sound, greedily gulping down people’s blood, memories, and dreams.

“Given Bellamora’s personality, I figured she’d hide such an important facility in the darkest and most horrible place.”

The hero Kyle ran a hand through his hair, observing the situation around him. It was a place overflowing with humans who had become crippled or insane from Bellamora’s illusions.

There were also gruesome creatures who were picking at the brains or digging through already dead bodies for blood, dreams, or lifespans that could be exchanged for currency.

“…Demons are all just pretending to be kind on the outside, while they’re scheming cruel things on the inside.”

Kyle narrowed his eyes, staring at the mountain of corpses in front of him. It was a disgusting sight, with maggots crawling all over the badly decomposed bodies, but he didn’t lose his composure and continued forward.

“Please, please…. I haven’t had water in over a week… I’m thirsty…. Please, take me back to my dream…”

“Reality is hell…”

A staggering, crawling mass of people with unfocused eyes. They looked like humans addicted to drugs, unable to live their lives properly.

“By the grace of Odin, may they find peace.”

Seeing no hostility, no killing intent, Kyle didn’t draw his sword.

Those who attacked or took lives, like the parents who had just tortured their child to death, were already beyond redemption.

“How could they even think this way? All that talk about a last paradise, making people happy, it was all a lie!”

“Grinding people up to power machines… I didn’t know it was meant to be this literal.”

Anima and Tarion spoke from behind, watching the massive shredder devour human corpses and use the heat to power its machinery.

This wasn’t a blissful paradise, but a hell disguised as something beautiful.

“Who are you? This is our territory.”

As Kyle and his companions approached the undeniably suspicious machine, they were met by a barricade.

A group comprised of a horned demon with a goat’s head, a muscled orc, a winged being, and regular humans, all wearing suits.

Their clothes, stained with human blood, looked almost crimson. They were already drawing weapons, ready to stop Kyle’s group.

“…I am Kyle Dragonica, the Flame Warrior. I’ve come to free you all from the false dream of Bellamora.”

Kyle, holding back his companions who were already summoning spirits and drawing bows, offered a deliberately polite greeting, testing his opponents.

If this machine was the lifeblood of this land, it was natural for them to have such a guard.

“A warrior? You call yourself a warrior? If you’re a warrior, then I’m a dragon, you son of a b*tch!”

“These b*stards are hilarious, seems they’re severely addicted to the dream! Well, I guess that’s understandable.”

Unfortunately, due to Astal’s perception-hindering magic, those below the sage level couldn’t perceive Kyle as the hero.

“But, you can’t go past this point.”

“Why not?”

“If we told you, would we be guarding this place?”

Without a moment’s hesitation, a human’s face, filled with pleasure, lunged forward, stabbing a blade into Kyle’s abdomen.

“Hey! Leave the blood, brain, and heart, like always! We need to extract their dreams, lifespans, and blood…?!”

“…So, this is truly hell.”

Just then, a voice came from Kyle, who should have been bleeding and falling.

“Thank you. You’ve eradicated my last shred of mercy.”

Kyle, having caught and broken the dagger with his bare hand, wore a look of fury unlike any they’d seen before.