I Reject the villain’s ending.

Episode 74.

The unflappable crown prince uttered the line.

‘Then you can dance the second dance with me.’

‘What a shame, the second dance is-’

Iros swung his foot out and stomped on the instep of Diane’s foot. Diane screamed as she stood upright.

‘Ouch!’

‘As you and Lord Dian decided to dance.’

‘Yuck. Iros?’

‘Isn’t that right, Diane?’

‘Oh, right. Yes, Your Grace.’

Diane shook her head furiously, tears hanging from the corners of her eyes at Iros’s menacing glare.

There was the sound of crunching bones, and he wondered if Diane’s foot’s instep was still intact.

‘And the third dance.’

‘I’ve decided to dance with Sir Leo.’

‘……?!’

The air behind me flinched and trembled for a moment.

The crown prince glared at the void behind me with menacing intensity and laughed.

‘There you are, rushing off on holiday, my loyal knight, eating at someone else’s house, holy lady.’

‘He said I owed him a lot of apologies for having the wrong lord, so I took some time off.’

‘…….’

The crown prince was also guilty, so he said no more about it.

But the twitching of the corners of his mouth seemed to tighten the judgment.

‘Sir Iros, you seem to have too much greed. Haven’t you ever heard that too much greed makes one angry?’

‘Well, I’m very good at taking care of what’s mine.’

Another invisible spark flew between Iros and the crown prince. The whole room stood still and stared.

I blushed and spoke in a low, embarrassed voice.

‘I think you both need to stop.’

‘What do you say, Sierra? Wouldn’t you rather have me than a temple sword you can’t marry?’

He undid two or three buttons and leaned toward me.

‘You have a fine chest and a fine face, sire,’ I said, ’but I have no intention of marrying you, for I have no love for you.’

How can I be in love with a man I killed in my first life, when I was in the midst of wrecking a country, because I’m sorry, I’m not that conscience-free.

I said it with all the emotion I could muster, one letter at a time, and this time Iros’s expression changed, and he smiled wickedly.

‘Saint, I’d much rather be the one to…….’

‘Sierra, don’t you think I’d be a better guardian and night watchman than such a woodshedder?’

What, what, you two are having a confrontation? I hate this situation! Everyone is staring!

‘Escape is the only answer!

She made up her mind and slipped away from the two flaming men. With a quick step, she grabbed her dress and ran.

‘Ugh, Sierra!’

‘Saint!’

Even Iros had unbuttoned his dress and was running after me. I shouted, feeling like I was going to cry.

‘Stop chasing me, you two!’

Huddle, I thought as I ran in circles around the ballroom.

This is strange. I’m trying to be a good girl and get away from the black mistress, but the two men keep coming at me with their tops unbuttoned.

‘And here I am, in this big banqueting hall, with all these people staring at me, and I’m undressing like this!

I wonder if I’ll make it out of here alive.

I feel like I’m going to die of shame from all the eyes and conversations.

The crown prince chased after me and continued.

‘What about the fourth dance, will you grant me that?’

‘No. I think I will return before the fourth dance.’

‘What?’

‘Well, that’s too bad, because I have to go to the dance now.’

Iros chuckled softly as he watched me stop running away and stand tall and resolutely ironclad with a wicked grin on my face.

‘You look gorgeous, my saint.’

‘I know. I’m gorgeous. The best.’

I cooled my burning face with my hand and turned to Karina. I couldn’t wait to get out of this situation.

‘Well, Princess Karina, we’ll talk again later, and it was nice to meet the others.’

‘I’ll send you a separate invitation so we can talk in private next time. Is that okay, Sierra?’

‘I would be delighted if you did, and I hope we can talk privately then.’

Carina chuckled, understanding that the last thing she wanted to do was run into the Crown Prince again.

‘I’ll keep that in mind. Have a good time.’

‘You too, Karina.’

After exchanging pleasantries, she led Iros out onto the floor.

There were still a lot of eyes on us, but less than when the crown prince and Iros had unbuttoned and followed us.

My cheeks were slowly cooling as well.

‘Hmph. Never again, a saint being chased by two unbuttoned men.’

‘Foot. Still, I’m glad the saint chose me, aren’t you?’

‘Yes, yes, I am. Only I was very embarrassed.’

The music began to play. I had learned the dance so well before that I had no trouble picking it up again.

But did Iros know how to dance?

‘Pink, can you dance?’

‘My mum taught me when I was little.’

‘Do you still remember it?’

‘Yes. I used to have the most fun dancing with my mother, whose face I don’t remember anymore.’

Iros smiled softly, and with a fluid gesture, he leaned down, one hand behind his back and the other grasping the back of my hand and kissing it.

His lips moved in and out of mine, and his eyes twinkled, not unlike a fox’s.

‘Lady Sierra, will you dance with me?’

‘Foohoo. With pleasure.’

It was cute how she dropped the nag like that.

The music started, not fast, and Iros moved his feet in time with the beat, holding my waist and hands.

Naturally, I thought I should take the lead because I was a better dancer than Iros, who had learned to dance as a child, but he was better.

His movements were incredibly graceful as if he’d been dancing all his life, with delicate, fluid movements that never missed a beat of the music.

I glanced over at Iros, looking down at me with calm eyes, and his lips parted.

‘You said it was your mother who taught you to dance, didn’t you?’

‘Yes.’

‘Was your mother a noblewoman by any chance?’

This dance is so different from the dances of the commoners.

Perhaps Iros’s mother had not been a commoner, he thought.

Iros thought about it, remembering.

‘My mother was always somehow different from the rest of the village, alone, highborn, orphaned, and very pretty. She was also a bit of an imposing person sometimes.’

‘Like an aristocrat, for example?’

‘Maybe. Aristocratic, no, more aristocratic than aristocratic. That was my mother.’

Wavy, light pink hair that fell below her waist, lips that were deep red even without make-up.

A woman with very beautiful mauve eyes that flashed through his mind.

‘And your father?’

‘An ordinary man, a bit stupid and indecisive, who only loved my mother. I don’t look anything like him, but my sister and brothers look like him.’

Iros’s smile was so pleasant and wistful as he reminisced that it reminded me of a spring day when the cherry blossoms were breaking.

‘You liked them a lot, your family.’

‘Yes. I loved them. I still think about them sometimes before bed.’

Why do you remember it so fondly, even though your parents were sold to slavers as children?

I don’t know. I still get choked up sometimes, even though I’ve cut out all my blood.

If I let my guard down, all those I’ve executed become ghosts, pulling me back into the mire.

Whenever that happens, Iros is beside me, pulling me to the surface.

‘Saint.’

‘…….’

‘Now, Saint, you have me, and you have Mei, and you have Dian… and you have Yongyong, so-’

‘This is what you wanted to tell me, that I have so much family?’

‘Yes.’

‘And you’re the one who loves me the most?’

‘Yes. I love you, Sierra.’

‘I know.’

I giggled, removing my shade to reassure Iros, who looked a little concerned.

‘By the way, can I have a second dance? I heard a bone break in Diane’s instep.’

‘Divine power would have healed it, I think. Diane’s a fool not to have blocked that one when her specialty is shielded.’

Iros averted his eyes and turned away. Why is he turning when he shouldn’t be turning?’ He glanced back at…….

‘Ah. The crown prince was looking this way.

He had been looking at me the whole time I was dancing.

He was looking at me with a pitying, almost wistful look.

When I glanced at him, I felt a hot gaze from above. The culprit is Iros.

‘He doesn’t like it when I give him the slightest attention. He doesn’t even like me to look at him, does he?

First separation anxiety, now excessive exclusivity. My pink puppy is so fond of me that she’s a tal.

It was then. I was thinking about something else when my ankle sprained and my shoe heel snapped again.

‘Ah!’

‘Sierra!’

Luckily, Iros grabbed my waist to stop me from falling, and the heel rolled away, sparing me the disaster of a ridiculous fall.

‘Wow. That was dangerous.’

‘You can’t say that so casually, you’re the one who got hurt.’

‘Yeah.’

‘What do you mean, ‘yeah’? Have more respect for yourself. It hurts.’

‘Well, I’m a saint, I can always heal you.’

‘I’m still upset. I pray every night that my saint will never get sick, and God must be neglecting his duties.’

‘Pooh-hah. Negligence.’

My ankle was slightly swollen, but I didn’t feel any throbbing, so I quickly used my holy power to heal it.

‘By the way, my shoe is broken.’

‘At least I won’t have to dance anymore.’

‘Haha, I love you so much.’

‘Good, I don’t have to give you to another guy.’

Just when you think you’ve got it, his eyes suddenly change.

‘Ew!’

I let out a shallow scream and threw my arms around Iros’s neck.

I thought I was going to fall, but it wasn’t, it was Iros picking me up.

I thought I was going to fall, but instead, Iros picked me up.

A princess hug, too.

I quickly untangled my arms and covered my face.

‘Whoa! Put me down! Everyone’s looking at me!’

‘You can’t go in those broken shoes.’

‘I’d rather go barefoot!’

Oh, Princess Hug, what a humiliating place to be in this crowd!

Whether I turned red like a flaming sweet potato or not, Iros pushed his way through the crowd to Karina.

‘Pardon me, princess, but do you have a pair of shoes?’

‘Oh dear, Lady Sierra’s shoes are broken. If you’d like to go to the second-floor common room, I’ll have a maid bring you a pair.’

‘Ugh. Thank you, Carina.’

‘No problem, huh huh huh. It’s nice to see Sierra looking so cute.’

Karina’s giggling voice made me want to die even more.

‘Pink, no, Sir Iros, hurry up to the second floor.’

Iros nodded, smiling brightly at the tiny whisper in his ear.

‘If you’ll excuse me, then.’

‘Hoo-hoo. The common room is on the second floor with the purple curtains, don’t get confused?’

Seeing Karina smirking at him as she said something meaningful, Iros nodded with a puzzled expression and headed to the second floor.