~Chapter 3~
“Goddess Atenis! How can you do this! Taking away my divine power like this!”
Hiss’s tearful cry made Celen stop in her tracks.
She couldn’t even bring herself to console him.
Standing dazed, Mia approached her and whispered softly.
“Saint, it seems Hiss has lost his divine power too.”
“That seems to be the case.”
“Do you think he lost his memory as well?”
“Most likely. Everyone whose divine power diminishes seems to have memory problems.”
Six months ago, a priest from the Deputy Temple lost his memory.
He couldn’t recall any events from the past month. Aside from the memory loss, his health was perfectly fine.
But just to be sure, Celen measured his divine power and discovered it had halved.
“Hiss is already the fourth, right? Why does this keep happening? I’m so scared.”
Four people in six months. That was not a small number.
What on earth is happening at the Deputy Temple?
Watching Hiss being carried away on a stretcher, only one thought filled Celen and Mia’s minds:
Please… let it not be me.
Even after entering Teberon Palace, Celen couldn’t calm down.
Perhaps seeing Hiss had shaken her. Her mind felt uneasy for no reason.
It felt like something terrible was about to happen.
“Oh, right! Saint, today it’s not the purification room, but the confession room.”
“Excuse me?”
“Duke Kyros is waiting in the confession room today.”
Her ominous premonition became reality.
Celen recalled the sins of the nobles who had passed through the confession room: jealousy, affairs, illegal gambling, rape… even murder.
She remembered reading somewhere that truly bloodthirsty killers appear calm in daily life. Sometimes they even seem like very good people.
Was the bloodthirsty wolf pretending to be mild and composed on purpose?
What truth was he about to reveal?
“Saint… are you okay?”
Mia asked with a worried expression.
Celen realized her hands were trembling.
“I’m fine. Hearing confessions is my duty.”
She had lectured Mia about not discriminating among parishioners, so she couldn’t now claim she was too scared to do her work.
“I’ll come back later to fetch you.”
“Thank you, Mia.”
Celen took a deep breath and entered the confession room.
Through a gap in the wooden walls, she could make out a man’s silhouette.
Tall, broad-shouldered, with glimpses of dark blue hair… it was Kirien.
“Confess your sins before Goddess Atenis.”
Celen kept swallowing nervously.
No matter how hard she tried to calm herself, her hands shook.
She had the unsettling feeling that he would reveal a deep, hidden secret she had never heard before.
“I confess my sins before Goddess Atenis.”
Kirien’s voice was calm, but Celen could not mirror that calmness.
The words that would follow were terrifying, so she squeezed her eyes shut.
“I… dare say…”
Finally, what came out of his mouth was something entirely unexpected.
“I’ve discovered the Saint’s secret.”
Thump, thump. Her heart pounded loudly in her ears, almost drowning out Kirien’s voice.
“I’ve found out that you are the owner of the Bluebird. What am I to do now?”
She knew she should deny it. She should play innocent.
“Don’t give me that obvious line—‘I don’t know, it’s not me.’”
But no words came out.
“You go out on the first of every month, correct? Most Bluebird letters were sent around that time.”
Indeed, Celen had gone out to deliver letters herself, giving gold coins to begging children to send them, thinking she would never be discovered.
She wore a magically enchanted cloak and took a potion to disguise her voice.
But she had been foolish. She only thought about hiding her face, not the dates the letters were sent.
“You tried to mix divine power with magic to make it hard to identify the spell, but you only bought yourself some time.”
“….”
“Consider yourself fortunate that no priests witnessed the letters. If they had, you would have been discovered even sooner.”
Celen had never thought of that. She assumed simply enchanting the letters so only the recipient could open them would be enough.
“Isn’t Count Rife already gone? There may be others who suspect you.”
She had been happy when Count Rife had just left, thinking she could deceive anyone else who suspected her. But that was mere luck.
If someone like Kirien had come instead, her act would not have worked.
How naïve I was.
“So, I suggest you stop sending Bluebird letters.”
He seemed like a man of the night. Calm, composed, orderly, like the quiet of midnight.
Celen hadn’t realized how dangerous the night could be.
The night hides malice and a deep darkness.
“If you don’t want anyone discovering you are the owner of the Bluebird, I have one request.”
Creak.
Suddenly, the sound of twisting wood echoed loudly.
Through the tightly joined wooden wall, a dark shadow flickered.
Suddenly, the door opened and Kirien appeared.
“Tomorrow night, you will accompany me somewhere.”
His face was familiar, yet at the same time entirely unknown.
“Don’t think about running.”
She had seen his glossy dark blue hair, pale skin, and deep navy eyes before, but never his sly, wolfish smile.
“I have a keen sense of smell because I’m a wolf.”
He left with a final smile, but Celen remained frozen, the vivid image of his dark navy eyes lingering in her mind.
Celen hurried back to Eleanor Palace.
She cleared the bedside table and pressed a hidden button on the floor.
The wall behind the bed shifted, revealing a passage just wide enough for a person.
Celen ran down the stairs into the underground.
This place was called the “Secret Room Known Only to the Saints,” or “Saints’ Secret Room” for short, where treasures of past saints were kept.
“Big trouble, everyone!”
Celen’s cry summoned the spirit of the 3rd Saint, Giana.
The spirit appeared from a detailed and intricate collection of erotic paintings.
“Big sisters, please help me! What am I to do?”
Hearing Celen’s trembling voice, the 5th Saint, Nora, appeared from twelve volumes of romance novels restricted to adults.
Next, the spirit of the 6th Saint, Bella, emerged from engraved plates depicting male anatomy in extreme detail, though the plates had worn smooth from frequent touching.
Which parts had been touched the most… Celen decided not to elaborate.
Soon, the 8th Saint, Daphne, appeared from a bronze sculpture of a male nude, and the 2nd Saint, Miriel, from a scroll of erotic art.
“Our youngest, what’s the matter?”
The past saints always called Celen “our youngest.”
Celen liked that, seeking comfort on days she wanted to act spoiled or after especially difficult encounters with nobles.
Being in the Saints’ Secret Room felt like being with a supportive family.
Since the criterion for selecting saints was “the girl most resembling Goddess Atenis,” they all looked like true sisters.
“Big sisters, I think I’ve caused a mess.”
As the spirits gathered around, Celen explained about the Bluebird letters.
The 5th Saint, Nora, started scolding her.
“My goodness, youngest, you’ve got some nerve. What if you had been caught?”
“I’m sorry, sister. I really didn’t think I’d be discovered.”
Celen lowered her head in shame. She truly felt she had done something wrong.
The 6th Saint, Bella, defended her.
“No, sister. What’s wrong with the youngest? It’s the nobles, using themselves recklessly, who are in the wrong.”
The 7th Saint, Hanna, agreed.
They had probably been listening from the start, even without showing themselves.
“Yes, all nobles deserve to be… handled appropriately.”
Bella and Hanna were quick-tempered and blunt, often arguing with the nagging Nora.
“But still, the youngest didn’t exactly do the right thing.”
“Nora! She tried to stop her husband from secretly raising a child and selling her. That’s not wrong!”
“Yes! You did well! If he comes again, teach him a lesson properly.”
Bella, Hanna, and Nora argued back and forth, debating the matter.
“So this man, Kirien, wants to meet you tomorrow night?”
The 3rd Saint, Giana, asked quietly, so only Celen could hear.
Her tone was calm, as if accustomed to such arguments.
“Yes, sister. What should I do?”
“What if he tries to threaten you using the letter?”
That thought made Celen nervous.
Seeing Celen’s worried face, Giana reassured her kindly.
“Youngest, would it be dangerous to go alone?”
Just as Celen nodded, Nora suddenly shouted.
“Yes! Don’t go! How can you know what might happen! Do you know what happens if a saint loses her purity?”
Everyone in the room simultaneously glanced at a mirror.
It was the mirror of the 4th Saint, Felia, who had lost her purity and was expelled.
