Chapter 64 Hopeless romantics must die!

Lena remembered it very clearly.

That was during the period of her 173rd failed matchmaking attempt.

To the young boy who had been accompanying her to vent her frustration under the pretext of practicing swordsmanship, she poured out her grievances yet again: Did men who sent roses upon a first meeting really have no idea how awkward that made people feel?

Acting as a listener, the boy gave a perfunctory response, his eyelids drooping with fatigue as he muttered half-asleep, "Got it, I'll definitely never give you roses in the future..."

Hearing the boy's simple and crude conclusion, Lena couldn't help being amused. Looking at his youthful face, she lowered her head and spoke softly to him, half-jokingly:

"Just giving a single rose is far too unromantic. If one day a man proposes to me with a boundless sea of flowers... then no matter how vast the gap in our circumstances, I will definitely say yes!"

"This is the trick to chasing a woman, you know, learn more from this, little Minor!"

Bathed in the sunlight, the boy's sleeping face was already drowsy.

Realizing she was making a fool of herself, Lena soon shook her head: "With conditions as good as yours, you certainly don't lack girls chasing you... Tsk, if I were younger..."

Her voice gradually trailed off here, as Lena herself realized something was amiss—younger, if she were younger what did she plan to do? What kind of bold and wild talk was that?

In an instant, the young girl's face flushed red like an apple.

Looking at Minor, who was fast asleep beside her, Lena patted her chest and let out a slight sigh of relief.

Good thing he didn't hear it... Otherwise, wouldn't her dignity as an adult be completely lost...

As the setting sun went down, the more vivid memories grew blurry.

She only remembered that at that moment, the young girl's heart went thump-thump, beating very fast.

Just like right now...

Amidst the sea of roses, Lena's heartbeat was exceptionally clear, her mind in utter chaos. A boundless sea of flowers... he actually had them sent to her?!

"Lady Lena, calm down—your emotions... are extremely bad?! What is wrong with you?" The Heart of Pure Ice flickered in a frantic panic.

Lena bit her lips tightly, her mature and beautiful face no longer holding a trace of coldness, her eyes as charmingly captivating as a pool of spring water.

That demon did not lie... Which meant that this sea of roses was truly prepared for her by Minor...

This could only mean one thing: Minor at that time... had not been asleep at all?!

In an instant, Lena's ears turned completely red.

What on earth had she said?!

No, wait, the crux of the matter was why Minor had the demons prepare this, and why he had betrayed...

***

Suddenly, Lena froze completely.

So that's how it was... Minor hadn't given up on her at all!

Misty tears suddenly welled up in her eyes, and unable to stop her body from trembling, Lena covered her mouth: "He violated his own principles just to prepare this gift... and leaked intelligence to the demons."

"How much pain must he have suffered for this!"

The Heart of Pure Ice vibrated violently in her chest, reaching its absolute limit before suddenly emitting a rapid, urgent warning sound: "Beep-beep, beep-beep!"

"Saintess, the backlash is starting... I really can't hold on anymore!" the Heart of Pure Ice cried out in terror.

With a seductive flush rising across her face, Lena suddenly realized the message Minor wanted to convey: everything she said that day, he remembered it all!

"—If one day a man proposes to me with a boundless sea of flowers... then no matter how vast the gap in our circumstances, I will definitely say yes!"

So Minor's goal was... Steam suddenly burst forth from Lena's face, swirling endlessly above her head:

"A pro... pro-pro-pro-pro... proposal?!" Overwhelmed by panic and incoherence, she touched her burning cheeks:

"Just for something like this... he pretended to betray humanity...? But, no, it won't do... The age gap between him and me is too..."

Her words stopped abruptly, and Lena could no longer speak—no matter how vast the gap in their circumstances... even age, was it the same?

In an instant, Lena's eyes overflowed with sparkling tears.

Beep-beep—! Beep-beep—! Beep-beep—!

"Lady Lena! Lady Lena! Look at me! Look at me!" The Heart of Pure Ice let out a heart-rending scream.

Lena raised her head as if snapping back to reality, and murmured:

"Minor... could it be that he has looked at me like that ever since back then?!"

"LADY LENA!!!!"

"But I never had such thoughts... No! Maybe it was just a moment of impulse for Minor! I need to give him a good lecture..."

Hugging her waist, she tried to put on an adult expression, but looking at the boundless yet silent sea of flowers before her, Lena's tone gradually weakened.

Drip, drop, large tears slid down from her eyes.

"He knew... once he is in the Demon King's Castle, he will never be able to come back..."

Lena continuously wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, sobbing with grief:

"...Therefore, at least in the final moments, he wanted to convey the feelings hidden deep within his heart..."

***

"He was serious..." Lena squatted down, covering her face and weeping.

"This is pure love!!!!"

At this moment, the Ice Saintess cried like a young girl, finally admitting to the emotion that perhaps should not have existed in her heart—

The heartbroken Saintess stood right in the dead center of the sea of flowers.

"Minor! Minor!" Lena wept.

Within her chest, the Heart of Pure Ice also wept:

"Lady Saintess! Lady Saintess!"

With a snap—sounding just like a paper window being pierced, the Heart of Pure Ice trembled violently, erupting with uncontrollable chill that wrapped around Lena layer by layer.

The Heart of Pure Ice was the Holy Church's most vital holy artifact.

It was precisely during humanity's weakest era—when the demons inched their way across human territory and the kingdom was torn apart in the darkest of times—that the Ice Hero wearing the Heart of Pure Ice successfully repelled the demons' siege at the city gates. Through the efforts of successive generations of heroes thereafter, they launched a desperate counterattack.

In the end, humanity's strongest hero, Minor, reclaimed human territory all the way to the Sacred Minor Border.

Unfortunately, ever since the Ice Hero, there had never been another hero possessed of such composure and calm. Rather than passively waiting for a suitable hero to appear... selecting a powerful eligible candidate was clearly much more appropriate. Through continuous testing by the Holy Church, they also discovered: the Heart of Pure Ice preferred fragrant, soft girls.

—Thus, the Heart of Pure Ice became a holy treasure of the Holy Church, and the title of its user, "Saintess," was born.

Because of this, the Saintess also held a title known only to scholars well-versed in history: The Hero's Shield.

To ensure that this holy artifact, capable of turning the tide at critical moments, would not be lost in battle, the Holy Church spared no expense in carving numerous magic arrays onto it. The most crucial among them was this: when a backlash occurred in the Heart of Pure Ice, it would safely teleport both the artifact and its owner back.

The glowing backlash and desperate cries of the Heart of Pure Ice finally penetrated Lena's mind. Raising her head, Lena finally came to her senses.

The Hero's Shield...

"I failed to protect you—Minor!!!" Lena drove her longsword into the ground, her voice grief-stricken.

"You hopeless romantic, I'll *&Minor#￥*(#$%)!"

The Heart of Pure Ice let out a string of profanities, but they were cleanly filtered out by a green, wholesome rune belonging to the Holy Church.