MSS 02

Chapter 02

So handsome!
So dazzling!
He looks young, too!
But!
He looks kind of sensitive!
…Is this what you get if you bundle all that up and make it into a human?

A flawless, brilliant blond head over a pale, delicate face. A body so well-built it makes you sigh just looking at it.

A man with elegant features and a face full of irritation snapped at the adulterous couple.

“Why are you raising dust in a public place? Do you not know what decency is?”

“What are yo—”

The cheating man turned, ready to snap back, then clamped his mouth shut the moment he saw the Imperial Knights’ uniform the handsome man was wearing.

Whether they shut up or not didn’t matter—his interest was already elsewhere.

He fixed his gaze on me, the one assisting the cheating woman, and spoke.

“I’m here to buy handkerchiefs.”

“Ah, uh….”

I handed the adulterous couple off to Ellie, who’d quickly caught on, then headed to the counter.

“You want the navy ones with silver embroidery, right?”

“Yes.”

“Fifty again today?”

“Yes.”

“….”

We definitely know each other, but this is incredibly awkward….

“Isn’t it heavy to carry fifty handkerchiefs around?”

“You think it would be?”

“You always buy navy. You must like dark colors.”

“Do you know what I like even more than dark colors?”

“What?”

“Employees who ring me up quickly.”

“…….”

Sorry. My bad.

I wrapped fifty handkerchiefs in paper and handed them over.

He comes so often that we pre-pack them in sets of fifty now.

He tore one open immediately and wiped the fingers that had brushed against mine.

Then he walked out without even saying goodbye, pushing the door open with his shoulder—as if he didn’t want to touch it.

When I turned around, the adulterous couple was gone too. A coworker approached me.

“Who was that? He’s gorgeous.”

“Oh. My junior from the academy.”

“Wha?! Seraphina, you graduated from the academy?”

“Yeah.”

“Wow… then why are you working here? Shouldn’t you be in the Imperial Knights like him, or at least a palace civil servant?”

“Well…”

To graduate, you have to donate forty million gold to the school’s development fund. That’s the price of a carriage. And if you don’t pay, they don’t let you graduate.

I didn’t have the money. Still don’t.

So here I am, working to save up enough to graduate.

“Anyway, that guy is seriously good-looking. Like a prince.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“He comes often, doesn’t he?”

“Yep. Almost every day.”

Every time, he buys handkerchiefs.

“What’s his name?”

“Him? Arden.”

I replied, watching Arden walk away.

He didn’t even look cold—just walking around in a single coat.

Just then, an older man approaching from the opposite direction let out a tremendous sneeze—ACHOO!!

Arden froze mid-step.

He stared down at his coat, where maybe—maybe—a single drop of spit had landed.

Then wordlessly took the coat off… and stuffed it straight into the trash bin.

Wearing only his uniform now, he kept on walking.

“Wow…”

I shook my head without thinking.

Life must be hard for him, too.

He was popular at the academy, but whether it was boys or girls, he reacted like that every time someone got near.

As far as I know, he graduated without ever dating anyone.

What’s the point of being handsome?

Who would willingly date someone like th—

“Excuse me! You gave me the wrong dress!”

“Oh my, let me check! Could I see your receipt? Haha, you threw it on the floor… I’ll just pick it up and read it….”

“Ellie, you okay? You don’t look well.”

“I’m fine! Just tired, that’s all!”

“No wonder. Go home and rest.”

“Bye, everyone!”

Past midnight, I parted ways with my coworkers outside the dress shop.

Our shop’s owner, Madam Scrooge, refuses to pay overtime, so she always gives us work five minutes before closing.

(May your business crumble.)

For the last thirty minutes, we work without pay.

(I will have revenge.)

I headed back to the boarding house I’ve lived in since I was a student—cheap rent, though the price of one of the shop’s dresses could cover four months’ rent.

“Sighhhh.”

I hugged my shoulders against the cold and exhaled.

I still couldn’t believe I’d lifted a person like that earlier.

It’s been two years since I suddenly gained superhuman strength.

I’ve adapted somewhat, but if I’m not careful, I lose control.

It came from such a suspicious cause, I can’t exactly go to the hospital.

Not that I could afford to anyway.

Seriously. If something had to appear out of nowhere, why couldn’t it have been money instead of strength?

“Sighhhh…”

I pulled my thin, drafty coat tighter and sighed again.

Why do adulterers get to spend their afternoons having affairs, while someone like me—who works honestly every day—has to clean up the napkins they toss aside?

“The world is wrong.”

Even working every single day without rest, my monthly salary is only 1.5 million gold.

Even saving every coin, it takes over two years to gather forty million.

How is that fair?!

“SIGHHH!”

Then—

Something moist brushed against my calf.

I looked down. A dog.

A Maltese.

A dopey-looking Maltese with a tiny yellow backpack pressed its cold, black nose to my leg.

Not dumb.

Dopey.

Dopey-looking.

Small, chubby.

The Maltese shook itself, then opened its mouth.

“I finally found you, Seraphina!”

“?!”

“Why are you coming home so late! Walk faster, will you!”

The dog talked?!

And it knows me?!

“Seraphina, listen well!”

To what?!

“You are destined to become a Magical Saintess!”

“…….”

A what saintess?

“And so—”
The Maltese isn’t a dog, but a divine beast.

“You came here because of a divine oracle telling you to find the Magical Saintess?”

“Exactly!”

“Heh. A dog running a scam. Cute.”

“I’m not a dog!”

The scam-artist Maltese protested.

“I’ll explain everything!”

In my drafty second-floor room, the so-called divine beast stood proudly on all fours.

Its face, however, was still dopey.

“Seraphina. The world is overflowing with evil.”

People who have clearly done wrong, but slip through the law because it’s ambiguous.

Cowardly nobles who evade justice with money, power, and connections.

Someone needs to show them that divine justice still exists—

“A Saintess is needed!”

“I see.”

“She sneaks into evil nobles’ mansions to gather evidence! Steals stolen goods to return them to their rightful owners!”

“I see.”

But listen, dog.

Breaking into houses and stealing things for justice?

That’s not a saintess. That’s a criminal.

“That’s why her identity must be hidden!”

By day, an ordinary girl. By night, a Magical Saintess!

“Oh, so I have to hide my identity too?”

How fully criminal.

Whatever.

“No. I’m not doing it.”

“I refuse.”

“WHY?!”

Apparently, he didn’t expect rejection. The Maltese hopped in place, ears flapping in outrage.

“Why! Why won’t you do it!”

“Isn’t it weirder if I do?”

Magical Saintess?

That’s something for teenagers.

My dreamy girlhood ended the moment forty million gold landed on my shoulders.

Even if a talking dog shows up after work and tells me, “Chosen one! Become a Magical Saintess!”, I’m not about to go, “Oh my gosh! I’m special!” and follow along.

“I’d never even heard of Magical Saintesses until today.”

“Of course! A Magical Saintess only appears when the world is in chaos! A being sent by God to purify the world and set history right!”

“They don’t appear just anytime!”

“Originally?”

“Yes, originally!”

“When was the last Magical Saintess?”

“950 years ago!”

“You’re joking?”

That’s before the Empire even existed!

“You dug up some ancient relic and want me to do it? …Wait.”

I narrowed my eyes.

“Did God personally pick me?”