The Truth About My Previous Life's Curse Has Come to Light

Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n4604lb/

The Saint with a Limited Number of Uses — Another Perspective

I could do nothing but stare at the girl who was wasting away her life for someone else.

And yet she smiled weakly at me and said, “It’s all right… Reverend Priest. Thank you.”

When I brought fruit to the girl who looked like even eating was painful, she slowly — little by little — brought it to her mouth with an expression of happiness.

At that time the Saint was a harsh existence who healed by shaving away her own life; the whole nation treated her as a convenient healing tool, never letting her rest and constantly forcing her to perform healing.

Amidst that, the girl, still in her teens, wasted away like an old woman and died with a face full of wrinkles.

Seeing people sad because a convenient tool had died, anger surged up in me — why would God do something so heartless? — and with self-loathing at myself for being able to do nothing but blame God, I prayed before God without eating or sleeping… no, I kept protesting.

Why torture the Saint?

They take the Saint’s life, and only those who do not mourn that death prosper.

What kind of Saint is this for?

If things are like this, the Saint is unnecessary.

To the voice of my heart that kept spewing curses endlessly:

—Then I will change the way the Saint exists.

I heard that last auditory hallucination.

“I never expected to be reincarnated,” said Laetil Kianne, who, as part of her education to become Crown Princess, had been greedily reading the Saint textbooks when suddenly memories of her past life assaulted her.

In her previous life she was a mere priest, and she never imagined she would become a duke’s daughter — let alone the fiancée of the Crown Prince. Even as a low-ranking priest she had made a great leap in status. Regret welled up in her: if she had held that social standing in her previous life, she could have protected that girl.

Moreover, she had reincarnated into the same country as in her former life—

The same anger toward God as in her prior life welled up again. But as she read through the history of the Saints, that anger softened… not completely, though.

Before, the healing that shaved away the Saint’s life had been unrestricted; but now the Saint’s healing is limited by number of uses. When a Saint is found, God informs her of the number of times she may heal.

Whether a light wound or a grave injury, it counted as one use.

Alongside that fact, repeated healing by the Saint would create resistance in the healed, making future healing less effective.

“That is…”

Faces of nobles from her previous life who had summoned her in the dead of night for athlete’s foot or food poisoning or a hangover flashed through her mind, and she rejoiced that such idiots would no longer appear.

The environment had changed to one where Saints could live more comfortably. Yet that benefit had not been granted to that girl.

“I do not want to be thankful, but I suppose I can praise it… though I might be told, ‘Who do you think you are?’”

She thought that, but…

“People remain foolish, don’t they…”

“What philosophy are you muttering?”

She had been muttering to herself and did not expect someone to speak to her.

“Prince Stradivarius.”

“You may call me Stra. Lady Laetil.”

Prince Stradivarius, the younger brother of my fiancée, Prince Altosax, asked if he might sit in the chair opposite me on the terrace where I was drinking tea, then took his seat.

“So, what were you lamenting?”

“That God, pitying the Saints who were only Saints in name but are treated like slaves, limited the number of times they could heal in order to help them. The Saints were supposed to study so they would know the value of their power and be able to protect their own position and yet—”

“Ah. Lady Mina, right? That’s a problem…”

She pictured the face of the noble who in her previous life used to call her out even in the middle of the night for trivialities; she rejoiced that such people will no longer appear.

“She should be told to be stingy with her power according to the rules, only using it only in emergencies, but she says, ‘But I can save them,’ and uses it immediately. Someone should do something about that…”

“They probably don’t understand how much tax money is spent protecting a Saint.”

Among past Saints there were those who had been used in kidnappings and similar, so naturally guards were necessary. Some Saints studied medical knowledge in order to preserve their power as much as possible.

Because of that, there was even a Saint who rescued a prince of a great country and became the legitimate consort.

“They assume they can become queen without even investigating how that Saint became the legitimate consort.”

“The fact that we do not chastise them for that is also a problem…”

By the way, although they had been warned repeatedly, they made a fuss and claimed it was bullying, and even the fiancée ignored it and wouldn’t hear our side.

“They’ve apparently gone as far as calling her a villainess… that Saint.”

“I don’t want to deal with her, but I cannot forgive that the country would be thrown into chaos because of such a Saint, making the next Saint suffer.”

I remembered that girl from my past life.

If such a child were to appear again, even if I had to bear a bad reputation, I could only keep warning them.

“—You’re such a worrier.”

“A noble’s duty.”

“You haven’t changed at all… since your previous life.”

A strong wind blurred my vision.

Prince Stradivarius’s outline blurred, and I thought I saw the figure of a girl.

“Your Highness…”

“Although he blamed himself for being a priest who couldn’t protect her, back then even giving her off-season fruit that was too expensive to be bought on a priest’s salary made him happy. —It was that feeling that made her work hard as a Saint.”

“Your Highness. Could it be…”

The words I tried to form asking whether that was the girl did not materialize.

It had been reported that the troublesome Saint Mina and her clique had been soundly punished by the daughter of the Border Marquis who had heard the rumors and come to the royal capital.

“Indeed, the Border Marquis’s daughter.”

To defend such a Saint, she declared the Border Marquisate would secede, slapped three parts of a divorce on her fiancée, and even got the support of the knight commander who was the former fiancée’s parent. After creating such a fuss, at last His Majesty and the Temple, who had been treating matters with complacency, moved.

They immediately reeducated the Saint and punished those who had not reproved the Saint appropriately.

Among them was my former fiancée, Prince Altosax, and the position of Crown Prince was changed to the younger royal, Prince Stradivarius.

However, I remained the next Crown Prince’s fiancée. I was the Crown Prince’s fiancée.

“Lady Laetil has always been careful about the Saint — praise is warranted, not blame.”

The newly engaged Prince, Prince Stradivarius, said with a smile.

“But I wasn't able to stop His Highness.”

“It was not your fault. That was self-destruction.”

“……….”

“First of all, there is no mercy in someone who believed that the changes on the Saint's power were made to protect the Saint who had sacrificed her life at that time. Please believe the words of the Saint from your previous life.”

“Aren’t their personalities totally different?”

“I learned during my reincarnation that knowledge will prevent you from being exploited. I need to obtain any power I can to protect my rights. I don't want to make anyone sad.”

A warm touch.

“At last I can touch you.”

He smiled happily.

“All this time. I wanted you to smile.”

He did not want people to grieve over him.

“Prince Stradivarius…”

“I never intended to become Crown Prince, but as a member of the royal family I wanted to reduce the number of beings like the one I was in my previous life, so I kept making efforts… but it seemed difficult alone, so—”

When he asked if I would cooperate, I, who had resolved to become Crown Princess for the same reason, naturally smiled and took the hand of the one I had been unable to help in the past.

God: “I felt my existence would be at risk if I did not grant that wish… so I reincarnated her to show the result.”

???: “Then you will reincarnate me too, right?”

The former Saint threatened with a smile.

And that was how I was reincarnated.