The dawn had broken.
Sunlight poured through the window.
Bersia frowned faintly and slowly opened her eyes. The ceiling she saw was unfamiliar—or rather, it had become quite familiar by now.
She unclasped her hands, which had been neatly folded over her stomach, and sat up.
The room, though sparsely furnished, welcomed her with a warm atmosphere.
It was Usher’s room in the Holy Knights’ barracks.
Out of habit, she scanned the structure of the room.
Bookshelves in the corner were packed with various doctrinal texts and knightly literature.
On the desk beside them, writing utensils were neatly arranged.
A large mirror stood next to the wardrobe, and finally, the bed where she had been lying.
‘Ah, so it wasn’t a dream after all.’
Thinking this, she rose from the bed.
The stiffness in her hips was something she had grown used to.
With a slight chuckle, she adjusted her waistband and opened the window.
The fresh morning air filled her lungs, making her feel revitalized.
Stretching, her whole body screamed in protest, forcing her to wake up fully.
Usher’s physical body was astonishing.
It brimmed with vitality that Bersia had never experienced in her life.
Of course, it wasn’t as if she found this particularly pleasant.
The thought that all of this was likely the work of some god—a prank by the supreme deity—quickly dampened her mood.
Bersia entered the bathroom to wash up.
It was fortunate that Usher was a first-class knight.
If it hadn’t been a private room, sharing quarters with a stranger would have been deeply uncomfortable.
She brushed aside such pointless thoughts quickly.
After all, if Usher hadn’t been a first-class knight and hadn’t crossed paths with her, this body-swapping situation wouldn’t have occurred in the first place.
After finishing her bath, she dressed.
Usher’s clothes were generally neat but restrictive.
Bersia chose the loosest outfit she could find but furrowed her brows as a thought occurred to her.
‘Ah.’
Today was training day.
She let out a deep sigh and changed into training gear.
It was a busy morning for Bersia, whose laziness Usher often criticized.
Bersia’s world was monochrome.
Not because of some affliction like colorblindness, but because her perceptions of objects and her emotional responses to them were endlessly dull and dry.
There was no point in pondering when it had started.
She didn’t want to waste her energy on such matters anymore.
She lived because she couldn’t die.
More precisely, she lived because death was denied to her.
It was all the work of someone who loved her obsessively.
If her life could be described as a journey, perhaps it was like straying off the path and wandering aimlessly.
If she found a cliff to jump from along the way, that would be a blessing.
Such thoughts crossed her mind idly as her gaze remained fixed on Sir Whale, who stood on the podium.
It was roll call before training.
“Betrayers are rampant these days! At such times, it is crucial for you to strengthen your bodies as the swords of the divine! All attention!”
“Yes, sir!”
“Let the training begin!”
With the witches’ uprising confirmed, the training had grown incomparably harsher than before.
Dripping with sweat, Bersia exhaled irritably.
She wondered how long this grueling march would last, and as her breath grew labored, resentment toward Usher bubbled up.
And yet, Bersia couldn’t help but chuckle.
The image of Usher squirming later, as she vented about the day’s hardships, floated into her mind.
It wasn’t exactly healthy to draw motivation from sadistic impulses, but… so what?
Bersia had no intention of being devout or virtuous. She saw no need for it.
For now, she simply wished for the day’s training to end.
Finally, the run ended, and it was time for a break.
Bersia wiped the sweat from her forehead with her shirt.
Her sharp hearing picked up the distant sighs of priestesses.
For a moment, she wondered if she was revealing too much of her borrowed body.
‘Oh well.’
It was a well-sculpted body, after all—why not flaunt it a little?
She was merely showcasing it on his behalf.
Thud. Beside her, Marvin, who had been running alongside her, collapsed to the ground.
“Ugh…!”
“Good work.”
“Argh…!”
Curly brown hair, a face that couldn’t be called handsome even as a joke, and a sturdy build.
Surprisingly, he was Usher’s peer and close friend.
In Bersia’s personal opinion, it was baffling.
How could someone so lazy be friends with Usher?
Marvin wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about training.
He wasn’t especially devout either, and the only reason he became a Holy Knight was that it was a decent job to make a living.
One would think that spending time with someone as rigid as Usher might have some influence on his behavior, right?
Bersia thought about it and quickly found her answer by reflecting on herself.
When she thought about it, Usher wasn’t the kind of person one wanted to emulate.
He was more of a person you wanted to paint in your own colors—it was far more entertaining that way.
She couldn’t help but think of Usher again.
After all, wasn’t she managing his social relationships for him now?
Anyway, back to Marvin.
Aside from his laziness, he was quite likable in Bersia’s eyes.
“What’s the god even doing? Not catching those heretics…!”
He muttered complaints about the divine.
The real Usher might have scolded him for such irreverent remarks, but Bersia didn’t feel inclined to go that far.
“I’m sure he has his reasons.”
“Oh, here we go again with that analytical nonsense.”
“I’m not going to explain.”
“You think I don’t know you?”
‘Not even a little,’ Bersia thought as she smiled sweetly at Marvin’s exasperated expression.
She plopped herself onto the ground.
What followed was a chatting session.
Marvin’s topics of conversation were always the same.
Stories about fun, women, and the priestesses’ stares.
“They’re gathering more and more each day. Has word gotten out already?”
“Maybe.”
“I’m serious! They used to avoid me, saying I reeked of sweat, but now they swarm like bees whenever you show up!”
“It’s probably just your imagination.”
Bersia grinned slyly, prompting Marvin to let out a hollow laugh.
He shook his head and, with a proud look, said, “Man, you’re becoming a real guy now…!”
What a simple-minded person.
Normally, when a close friend suddenly changes, it would raise suspicions. But not Marvin.
Bersia recalled her first meeting with him after the body swap.
When he showed concern, she had said, “The saintess is so pure-hearted that I realized I need to be more reliable. I have to change.”
Hearing that, he had immediately hugged her with a face full of emotion.
She remembered the unpleasant mix of sweat and bachelor odors from that encounter.
Since then, things had remained like this.
Marvin now looked at her with a faint sense of admiration.
“Hey, introduce me to just one of them…”
“Not happening.”
“Actually, there’s someone I’ve been in love with…”
“How many people are you in love with, anyway?”
She scolded him in a very Usher-like manner.
Of course, her naturally refined tone made the reprimand seem calm yet subtly intimidating.
Marvin pouted and grumbled.
“Yeah, what would someone loyal to just one person know? You don’t get the joys of romance.”
Bersia’s fingertips twitched.
Once again, thoughts of Usher crossed her mind.
If there was one benefit to having Marvin close, it was moments like these, where she was able to gain insight into Usher’s past.
- “You kept going on about the saintess, and now look where you are.”
- “How is it? Does she look even prettier up close?”
- “Man, congrats anyway! It reminds me of that time you said anyone standing near the saintess had to be pure in body and soul. Not even… Oh, don’t glare at me like that! I’m sorry!”
Apparently, the reason Usher became a Holy Knight had something to do with their fleeting encounter in the past.
But unfortunately, Bersia couldn’t remember.
There had been too many inspections, too many masks to wear. Any kindness she had shown back then was, by her standards, nothing more than shallow acting.
“Attention!!! Training resumes!!!”
As Sir Whale shouted, Bersia stood up.
Marvin, wheezing, also managed to get on his feet.
“Dear God, could you please take care of the witches! And maybe tone down the training intensity a bit!”
He seemed sincere, but who knew?
“Maybe it’s his way of saying, ‘Figure it out yourselves.'”
“Wasn’t he supposed to be merciful?”
“Mercy can be selective, you know.”
To Bersia, that was exactly it.
The Creator of this land was far from the just and fair king he was said to be.
He was more like a twisted being who built a grand garden, placed a doll he liked in it, and watched for his own amusement.
The doll’s feelings didn’t matter.
That’s why such blatant favoritism existed.
The familiar suffocating sensation, like a shadow perpetually clutching at her throat, returned.
It was a feeling so tediously familiar that she no longer had the energy to shake it off.
She picked up a wooden sword.
Better to swing it around and pretend to focus.
When her heart raced from exertion, stray thoughts wouldn’t intrude.
Pain had a way of sweeping away gloom.
“One!”
She swung the wooden sword.
Sweat poured off her as she trained.
The training finally ended shortly after noon.
Bersia returned to the barracks to wash up.
Even as she cleaned herself, the bitter feeling in her chest didn’t fade.
Her throat still felt constricted and heavy, as if it hadn’t been this bad before.
She finished her bath while absent mindedly mulling over the thought.
This time, she successfully donned the loose-fitting clothes she had planned on wearing earlier.
Her movements became hurried, though she wasn’t aware of it herself.
She left the room and bumped into Marvin.
“Heading to lunch?”
“…Ah, yeah.”
If she went straight to the garden, Marvin would probably complain that she was skipping meals to work, and Usher would chide her too.
He’d go on about how proper nutrition after exercise was essential.
She could recite his lecture with her eyes closed by now.
On the way to the dining hall, her mood soured again.
Her throat felt tighter, and the bitterness in her chest grew stronger.
It was then that she heard it.
“Sir… Knight!”
A clear, bright voice rang out.
Bersia froze mid-step.
She turned her head.
In that moment, she could breathe again.
“There you are…!”
Soft sky-blue hair and clear blue eyes met her gaze.
The young woman’s expression, caught between a smile and hesitation, radiated a refreshing purity.
Usher froze too.
He must have realized who she was with.
A sense of ease washed over her, as if something buried deep inside her had begun to awaken.
Bersia smiled warmly, though she didn’t realize it herself.
Tap.
She placed a hand on Marvin’s shoulder.
“Saintess, we were just heading to lunch. Would you care to join us?”
“Oh, greetings to the Saintess!”
Marvin snapped to attention and saluted, then grinned at Bersia.
He nudged her side with his elbow and whispered, “Wow, she came all the way here looking for you? You sly dog!”
Under different circumstances, Bersia might have found the remark irritating.
But now, it felt oddly pleasant.
Of course, it made sense.
The Saintess’s reaction to Marvin’s casual friendliness was priceless.
Thud—
Usher dropped the water bottle he was holding.
His gaze wavered with complex emotions.
Was it… loss?
“This is our first… meeting, isn’t it…?”
Usher stammered, clearly trying to mask his emptiness.
The sight was unbearably amusing—and lively.
For Bersia, it felt like she could finally breathe freely again.
“Saintess, would you like to join us? The three of us, ‘my friend’ included.”
“Can I really?”
For the first time in ages, it felt like life had some color.
A faint sky-blue—a shade still indistinguishable from gray.
Usher felt as if a hole had been punched through his chest.
That feeling deepened the more he watched Bersia and Marvin laughing and chatting as if they were lifelong friends.
Marvin praised Bersia loudly, saying she had become more manly and fit to be a knight by the Saintess’s side.
Bersia, ever so humble, smiled gently.
Anyone would see it as a wholesome friendship.
But Usher alone couldn’t look at it with a smile.
‘Ah, so that’s how it is.’
Memories seemed to fade, their luster dimmed.
The bonds he had built were now Bersia’s.
She turned to look at him, her gaze softening.
Then she leaned in close so Marvin couldn’t hear and whispered:
“Sorry for taking it all? But at least you still have me, right?”
Her tone carried not a hint of sincerity.
Usher felt a surge of emotion well up, threatening to spill over.