is a Japanese manga series written by Aminohada and illustrated by Sorajima. It was originally released as a webtoon, before being published online on Piccoma, Mecha Comic and Comico Japan websites since August 2022, and then later being acquired and published by Ichijinsha under their Comic Lake imprint since March 2024. A "light anime" television series adaptation produced by Imagica Infos and Imageworks Studio aired from July to September 2025. A second season premiered in October 2026.
Plot The story takes place in the kingdom of Zied in a fantasy world. Rua, a baron's orphaned daughter, grew up in a temple to become a candidate for the rank of Saintess, a title founded by a legendary healer in the past, but her healing powers have a vital flaw: She can only heal others by taking their hurts and ailments upon herself. Maligned and ridiculed by the other inhabitants of the Temple, her best friend Arianne seems to be her only supporter. When her crush, Garrett Vance of the Royal Knights, is critically wounded in a fight against a demonic beast, Rua heals him but collapses from the pain. When she recovers, she is devastated to learn that Arianne has taken credit for saving Garrett's life, is set to marry him and become the Temple's new Saintess, a position which has been vacant for ten years after the previous Saintness' demise. When people continue to unjustly deride her, she begins using her powers to hurt them back, revelling in seeing them suffer the same way she did.
Her despair is noted by Sven, the second prince of Zied, and he recruits her for his cause. As he informs her, the Temple's High Priest is conspiring to unleash an artificially made, near-incurable disease on the kingdom's people. By having his sponsored Saintess Arianne heal the infected, he intends to increase the Temple's (and thus, his own) public support and then eventually seize rulership for himself. After catching the High Priest and Arianne at a clandestine meeting, and thus confirming Sven's accusations for herself, Rua joins his plan to stop the conspiracy before it gains momentum in order to get revenge on her malefactors.
Characters Main characters
The main protagonist. A 17-year-old noblewoman of Zied, she manifested healing powers like any potential Saintess, but with the disadvantage that in order to heal others, she has to take their sufferings upon herself, a trait she inherited from her mother. After her parents and younger brother died of a mysterious disease ten years prior, she was taken in by the Temple of Luche, Goddess of Healing, where she became infamous as the "Broken Saintess" for her supposedly flawed ability. Shattered after healing the love of her life, only to be betrayed by her supposed best friend, she starts inflicting all the pain she has suffered on those who hurt her; in the process, her hair changes its color from blonde to white. But despite her bitterness and newfound viciousness, she is smart, courageous and retains her kind heart for the innocent and victimized, and she also finds ways of using her pain-inflicting touch both as a weapon and to heal poisonings by infusing symptoms from other poisons which countermand their effects. She is also touched by Sven's devotion for her and falls in love with him, and for her actions in exposing the High Priest and Arianne's plot to take over the kingdom, she is elected the next Saintess by popular consent.
The second prince of the kingdom of Zied. Despite a dubious reputation of being cursed owing to his red eyes and his mother's near-death in childbirth, Sven is loyal, kind and highly observant, and a skilled violin player, although he does show a darker side on him when he acts for the protection of others. In his childhood, while undertaking a secret trip among the commoners to check on their welfare, he was injured defending a woman and healed by Rua (an event that Rua only faintly remembers), and has fallen in love with her. Years later, after having recognized her and taking notice of her desire for revenge against her tormentors, Sven recruits her for his plan to move against the Temple's High Priest's conspiracy against the kingdom while striving to protect her from suffering more harm at the same time.
A young noblewoman and Saintess candidate; but while she has a healing power, it works strongest only on herself. Ostensibly Rua's best friend in the beginning, she is a manipulative, cunning and sadistic creature who considers Rua a "toy" for her own amusement and drove the other Temple inhabitants into maligning her. For "saving" Garrett from death, she is set to become his wife and the next Saintess of the realm. It is from Sven that Rua learns that Arianne's family is one of three who support the High Priest's plot to seize power over the realm, with Arianne being a willing participant. As the story progresses, Arianne's clash with Rua becomes personal as Rua gains more popular support for her kindness, something Arianne is incapable of showing, making her increasingly insane with jealousy. When the plot is finally exposed, Arianne is defeated by Rua in their final confrontation and is last seen awaiting her execution.
Friends and allies
Sven's trusted aide and friend. He grew up as a street urchin, and wrongly sentenced to death for alleged theft, he was saved by Sven and has been loyal to him since. Stoic and soft-spoken, he is very popular with the ladies. Despite his outwardly cool demeanor, he is a caring man and becomes Rua's personal bodyguard at Sven's request.
The young captain of the Royal Knights and a renowned hero of Zied who wishes to make his father, who was the knights' commander before him until he was disabled in the line of duty, proud. Once one of Rua's patients, he became her first crush when his words encouraged her to continue her work despite her handicap. After she saves his life and Arianne takes credit for the deed, he rejects Rua, but as time passes, he begins to doubt Arianne's sincerity upon witnessing her selfishness and Rua's self-sacrificial courage. After being told the truth about his rescue by the Temple maid Mary, he calls off the wedding, regretfully apologizes to Rua and, disowned by his father, retires from his position, although popular opinion later compels him to return as a sub-commander after the conspiracy is resolved.
The first prince of Zied, and Sven's older brother. Known as the "Ice Prince" for his strict, aloof demeanor, the only person he shows warmer feelings for is his fiancè Diana. For most of the story, he is unaware of the High Priest's plot and his brother's efforts to thwart it, and is slow to trust Rua. After Rua heals Diana from a poisoning attempt, Sarid joins her and Sven in rooting out the High Priest and his fellow traitors.
Diana is the daughter of a highly influential noble house close to the crown, Sarid's fiancé and the future queen of Zied. Cheerful, optimistic - often to the point of over-enthusiasm - and an avid lover of romance literature, she is the only person who can stand up to Sarid's icy behavior. After hearing of Rua's bravery against the demon beast at the Dedmond ball, which incidentally saved her grandmother's life, Diana whole-heartily endorses her as the realm's new Saintess and Sven's eventual wife. When she is infected with the Black Rose disease by the High Priest and Rosen Shroud to discredit the new chancellor Regiel, she is saved by Rua and Sven and assists them in thwarting the villanous plot.
A bespectacled young man from a country to the east, and the eldest son of an influential merchant family. He is earnest, though very emotional, and a skilled tailor and baker; Sven likes to tease him by calling him . Too clumsy and untalented for taking over his father's business, Luis became a servant at the Restoat mansion and Rua's caretaker. After her family's death, he was forced to return to his father until one of his younger sisters inherited the family business, and upon returning to Zied, he was employed by Diana and quickly became her favorite servant. After meeting Rua again, he shares his suspicions with her that her family's death was in fact committed by the High Priest himself, and they find evidence for that in the diary of Rua's mother, which she left to her daughter as a final clue.
A young woman who worked for Ross Dedmond's family as a maid. After becoming betrothed to her childhood friend Alan, a baker, she intended to quit her job at the mansion, but was raped by Ross; when Alan confronted the viscount, Ross sabotaged his business and had Charlotte dismissed. Charlotte tries to assassinate Ross during his birthday party, but is prevented by Sven and Rua, who take sympathy on her pain and force Ross to pay her and Alan a sizeable recompense for his crimes against them. After the case is settled, Charlotte and Andi get married, and they and Charlotte's fellow victims become Rua's first supporters among the commoners.
A farmer's son who demonstrated an innate talent for making medicine. He became Rosen Shroud's apprentice until after Shroud and the High Priest murdered Rua's family; Shroud found out about Lynn's knowledge of the plot, but let him leave in a fit of insane generosity. Ten years later, Lynn finds Cezee after the latter is poisoned in an assassination attempt while stalking Shroud, and brings Sven and Rua, who have been looking for Cezee, to him, where Rua cures him with her pain touch. Knowing about Shroud and the High Priest's plot, he joins Rua and Sven in their efforts to stop the traitors. After the crisis is resolved, he is made the royal court's pharmacist.
Arianne's older sister. Though unaware of her family's involvement in the High Priest's conspiracy, Yumia hates Arianne after the latter pushed her into a fire during a quarrel and refused to heal her out of spite. She was later married off by her parents to the Hennety clan, a noble family from the Southern Islands, where her husband proved kind and accepting. When she returns to Zied for Arianne and Garrett's impending marriage, she entrusts herself to Rua after witnessing her kindness.
A young new serving maid at the Temple who was the only witness of Rua's healing of Garrett, but out of fear of Arianne, she kept it secret. When Garrett is about to be wed with Arianne, she tells him the truth, and after also informing Rua, she quits her job at the Temple to return home, where Sven arranges for her to get a new job with a trustworthy family.
The new royal chancellor who replaces his predecessor, Chancellor Sandra, after his daughter Nerne was caught trying to kill Rua. Born into a low-ranking noble family, and despite his youth, he was sponsored by Diana because of his skill needed for his new position. After the High Priest's fall, he is appointed the Temple's administrator.
Adversaries
The High Priest of the Temple of Luche. Publicly appearing as a kind and serene person, he secretly plans to seize rulership over the realm, using a Saintess he could control as a puppet figurehead. He was personally responsible for murdering Rua's family after her father spotted Flix talking with the exiled Rosen Shroud, and took Rua in to have her serve as the "plaything" for Arianne, his chosen puppet Saintess. His ultimate plan is to unleash a slow-acting disease on Zied's populace at the kingdom's Founding Day Festival and have Arianne "save" them so he can gain support with the people and then usurp rulership over the kingdom. But his criminal plans are publicly exposed, and after Rua uses her pain touch to punish him, he is apprehended and sentenced to death.