Thought It Was 'The End', Only to Return to a Changed Genre - Chapter 167
After the hastily arranged marriage, completed as quickly as lightning striking, Harrison’s life didn’t change much.
Yet, everything was different.
The diligent but ordinary imperial guard Harrison had disappeared, and only ‘the Saintess’s husband’ remained. People looked at him with pity, as if he were nothing more than a puppet, while secretly plotting how they could use him. It was laughably obvious.
Genevieve hadn’t chosen Harrison because she liked him.
In Harrison’s view, Genevieve wasn’t interested in anyone at all.
The rumors about her being in a relationship with Shane Blanchard were the most absurd. From what Harrison observed, the Saintess and the Duke only stood side by side at official events and barely acknowledged each other in private. It was almost as if they despised one another.
She seemed close to Crown Prince Edwin, but it was more like the bond between siblings than lovers.
Though the Crown Prince occasionally cast glances at the Saintess, he spent his nights entangled in affairs with other women. That was all there was to it.
Despite the countless rumors surrounding her, Genevieve’s life remained barren and desolate. There was no space for love or romance in her world.
Each day, she opened her eyes and was consumed by work, dragging herself through exhaustion until sleep overtook her at the end of the day.
As Harrison observed her while serving as the Crown Prince’s guard, he had thought Genevieve was a radiant person. She had so much, blessed by the divine, sharing that with the people.
But when you stripped away the title of ‘Saintess’, the life of ‘Genevieve’ was pitiful.
Her kindness as the Saintess was simply a matter of duty.
Though she had been rescued from an abusive stepfather as a child, she was still exploited, just in different ways.
The scars from her childhood remained on her back. Despite having the power to heal others’ wounds completely, she couldn’t erase the old scars on her own body.
“Can’t you remove those scars?”
“I never felt the need.”
Genevieve smiled, as if she had truly never thought about it. Harrison was momentarily at a loss for words.
“Is it not a good enough reason that someone who cares about you would be pained to see them?”
“Are you talking about yourself?”
“…Yes.”
“In that case, I’ll look into it.”
“I’ll look into it as well. Jenny, it breaks my heart.”
But Genevieve didn’t seem particularly interested in removing her scars.
Harrison didn’t know the exact reason why Genevieve had rushed to find a husband. She often said, ‘I want to build a complete and warm family.’
But in truth… neither Harrison nor Genevieve knew what such a family even looked like.
They didn’t know, because they had never had one.
“I’m too busy now, but one day, I will.”
“Yes. One day.”
If they had a child… that child, too, could be used as a sword for Keith.
But it would be a very lovely sword.
Harrison, selfishly, searched for pieces of himself in Genevieve.
It wasn’t sympathy—it was just a small sense of shared experience.
A miserable childhood, unworthy parents, and a deep attachment to the one person who had saved them.
Though they rarely spent time together as a proper couple due to their busy lives, Harrison didn’t mind this life.
Keith had said he didn’t intend to kill the Saintess. Harrison didn’t know why Keith had ordered him to approach her in the first place… but living the life Keith wanted was Harrison’s mission. Even if he died without ever returning to Keith’s side, he would have no regrets.
Even Harrison couldn’t fully understand Keith’s true intentions.
Keith often traveled alone. Harrison didn’t know what his real goal was, but as long as he could be used in some part of Keith’s plan, that was enough for his life to have meaning.
But that night, everything suddenly came to an end.
