The Villainess Lives Twice

Cries of astonishment and surprise erupted everywhere. The Archbishop covered his mouth and groaned.

The most recent manifestation of divinity was in Saintess Olga two hundred years ago.

Since then, miracles have occasionally appeared in Olga’s legacy or in the relics left behind by previous saints.

But such miracles were largely unacceptable for official records.

Those who believe believe, but those who do not believe thought it was an illusion and sneer at that phenomena.

But what is happening now is different.

However you looked at it, the holy energy enveloped Artizea.

Because it happened during the ceremony, the Archbishop was even more surprised. Wasn’t the divinity manifested directly during the rites, not through the saints?

Among those who were under the altar, the most devout ones fell to their knees and put their foreheads to the floor.

Even the Emperor could not hide his surprise and held his breath.

Meanwhile, Cedric was completely normal on his own. No, he was the most crazy of them all.

“Didn’t I have the doctor on standby? Which room?”

Didn’t he see healing powers manifest once or twice?

The holy power instilled in the body by the blessing is expressed as a healing power when needed in the future. This was Lysia’s specialty.

Cedric himself had his life saved with this power.

Conversely, the fact that this healing power enveloped the body meant that life was at stake or was about to be.

If it’s an injury or illness, it wasn’t something to worry about. It will be cured with healing power.

But now, it is the childbirth that is driving Artizea’s life to death’s doorstep. This does not end with healing.

The first to jump up were the attendants of Grand Duchy Evron.

The maid chief came to her senses and jumped up. And she shouted.

“The hall, it’s the hall! Master!”

She had previously followed Bishop Nikos to a clean room.

“Make hot water and get the cotton cloth down from the carriage! Hurry!”

The maid led the way and shouted at the attendants as they ran. A knight moved to the carriage with the maids.

The maid chief didn’t think this would happen. Even this morning, the baby was in a stable state.

Still, the reason why the doctor and the midwife accompanied her and prepared various supplies was to prepare for anything.

Cedric hurriedly followed her. He couldn’t see the people talking, nor the priests kneeling in prayer.

Fortunately, Bishop Nikos took good care of it. The prepared room was quiet and clean.

The doctor and the midwife, who had been bored, thinking they had nothing to do, were astonished and greeted the two of them.

The devout midwife saw the holy powers surrounding Artizea’s body, and knelt down and drew a sign.

But it didn’t last long. Her amniotic fluid ruptured and blood flowed, staining the hem of her skirt bright red.

Cedric laid Artizea down on the bed. A weak hand grabbed the hem of Cedric’s sleeve as if she had regained her senses a little.

“Tia.”

“It’s okay.”

Artizea struggled to answer, perhaps the labor pain had subsided.

But less than two minutes later she groaned again in a painful groan, and she clenched Cedric’s hand so tightly that her joints could break.

The midwife looked into Artizea’s face and said.

“Madam, breathe slowly. You must breathe through your nose.”

The maid ran up to her with scissors and cut off the clothes from Artizea.

Following the doctor’s instructions, the knights grabbed Cedric from both sides.

“I will stay here.”

“This is not what Her Grace wanted.”

This was something Artizea had told them in advance.

Whatever is to come will happen anyway, and even if Cedric is in the birthing room, there is nothing he can do. So she said, don’t pay attention to her giving birth and do what needs to be done.

That is, if Artizea is comfortable with that, they have promised to do so.

But isn’t that the story of when she passed the day and entered the birthing room without any problems?

There were no urgent national affairs right in front of him, so he had no intention of leaving the place.

The maid stopped Cedric firmly and spoke again.

“If the master is here, how can doctors and midwives fulfill their roles comfortably? They may have to do something tough.”

She was right about that. Cedric wasn’t the type to disrespect the doctors’ authority, but just being there could be a burden.

Cedric wiped his face with his palm. And he told the doctor.

“My wife takes precedence over the baby.”

“Yes. Yes.”

The doctor took a deep breath and answered several times.

“While the healing power is manifested, she can recover as long as she is alive. Don’t hesitate to put a knife on her body and save her.”

“Understood.”

The doctor answered. And went to wash his hands.

Cedric was half pushed out of the birthing room.

The narrow hallway was crowded with people. The knights blocked both accesses of the hallway, but not for the Emperor and the Archbishop.

The two caught Cedric.

“What happened?”

“How is it?”

“The bleeding is significant. I don’t know if it’s normal or not…….”

Cedric didn’t finish his answer, but realized from the look on the Archbishop’s face that what he was asking wasn’t Artizea’s conditions.

Hatred soared.

He once believed that the Archbishop was a fair and faithful man, and that he would always stand by him without wavering.

But now Cedric knew that he was forgetful of justice in the face of temple power.

It was not Akim alone that tried to use the saint?

He knew that it was rare for people to have such an upright good faith.

However, his disappointment arose anew, perhaps because the Archbishop was the person he trusted when he was young.

One Lysia’s sacrifice is enough. Does the Archbishop think Cedric will let his wife and child be taken advantage of?

Cedric said coldly.

“Well. God doesn’t want my wife to die in the temple.”

At Cedric’s words, the Archbishop’s face hardened for a moment. It was because he realized that in those words he meant not to forget what Akim was going to do.

The Emperor said,

“It’s a premature birth, and it’s a good thing and fortunate to have been looked after by God. Do you really not know what happened?”

“…… I do not know.”

Cedric answered honestly.

It seemed obvious that Lysia had blessed her. But he didn’t know when that would be.

Maybe it was in the previous future before going back in time. Cedric did not know whether the blessings resided in the body or in the soul. It may or may not be that divinity can flow from the future to the past.

No, there was no guarantee that the present time was the past.

Or, Lysia may have regained her memory.

Cedric saw a high possibility.

On the night he came back urgently from the North, Lysia was crying, and not knowing why she was crying.

It was certain that the fragment of memory had returned. So, it’s not strange if all the rest of the memories came back.

“Ah, aah!”

A scream was heard from beyond the door.

Cedric clenched his fists. His miscellaneous thoughts and his hatred of the Archbishop were all blown away.

He had all kinds of thoughts. He thought he persuaded her to have the baby for nothing.

They got married and became a couple, so naturally he expected to have a baby. It seemed to him that it was all his vain greed.

The Emperor lightly tapped the Archbishop’s shoulder. And he signaled to go.

The Archbishop was restless. However, he did not have the heart to open the door of the birthing room and enter to check the holy power.

“It will be fine. Isn’t it something everyone goes through as well?”

“Yes.”

Cedric responded briefly to the Emperor’s words.

The Emperor led the Archbishop out of the birthing room hall and ordered some of the knights.

“Take care so that nothing bad happens.”

“I will obey your orders.”

The Emperor nodded at the faithful answer and stepped out between the Archbishop and the people.

The priests were still kneeling and praying together. There were not one or two believers who shed tears.

“Speak to me.”

The Emperor said to the Archbishop.

“What will happen to this?”

Unlike the Archbishop, it was not important to the Emperor how this happened.

Of course, he was curious. However, it was much more important to the Emperor how the people received the fact that Grand Duchess Evron received a miracle at the ceremony and also on the altar.

And that Evron’s successor was born by God’s grace.

The Emperor realized that his palms were wet with sweat.

If he had a crown prince, this was something not even needed to think about. He had to kill it immediately on this spot.

But what about now?

There was no particular reason to do so, except that the temple would use this as an excuse to increase its momentum.

One thing was certain.

The Archbishop read it from the Emperor’s face. He hastily bowed his head.

The damage suffered by Bishop Akim’s work is only beginning to get better.

Far from thanking Cedric, he had no intention of fighting directly with the Emperor as he was looking at him with a cold gaze.

“A baby is also a fruit. Although it is unprecedented, it is not unusual to say that God’s grace came down from the altar of the Harvest Festival.”

“There is no precedent.”

“There are several instances of miracles appearing during various rituals dating back to hundreds of years.”

The Emperor clicked his tongue and walked away.

He had to think carefully. If he was really going to make Cedric his successor, this isn’t a bad thing.

Or even if he wants to get rid of Cedric and get another successor.

It was something worth thinking about.

***

It had been three hours since the Emperor had left.

“Uwaaa!”

Finally, the loud cry of a baby was heard.

Cedric grabbed the doorknob, but couldn’t open it. It was because he was afraid that he might have a bad impact.

It wasn’t long before the midwife came out, embracing the baby, which had been washed in warm water, wrapped in a cotton cloth. The midwife’s face was drenched in sweat and tears.

“She’s a very healthy princess.”

“What about Tia? What happened to my wife?”

Cedric asked, turning white.

It’s not too short of a time for the first childbirth.

The midwife smiled with a weeping face.

“Madam is unharmed. She was bleeding so badly that she couldn’t stand the pain of childbirth and fainted, so we dared to use a knife.”

“Then!”

“Wherever the doctor sews a wound, grace is healing it.”

Saying so, the midwife drew a sign.

Cedric finally sighed in relief.

Artizea lived.

It was not until he was convinced of it that he saw the baby’s face.

It was impossible to recognize who the wrinkled face resembled. Her hair was black, resembling him.

Cedric carefully took the baby and hugged her. This baby was the daughter of him and Artizea.

He felt like he was about to cry.

——

T.T T.T T.T T.T