Chapter 161………………………………..

Arcia strode forward without hesitation and snatched the stone fragment from Riena’s hand.

Fwaaah! The fragment glowed as brightly as when Riena had held it.

The crowd exhaled in relief at the sight.

“Of course.”

“There’s no way Arcia could be a fake!”

No matter what anyone said, the Saintess the citizens of the empire had respected until now was Arcia.

“Wait, but that…”

At that moment, Isaac muttered quietly to himself.

“Doesn’t it look a little dimmer than when Riena held it?”

“Really?”

Roland tilted his head, and even to my eyes, it seemed slightly less bright.

But it was a subtle difference, and in the chaotic atmosphere of the courtroom, few seemed to notice.

Moreover, Arcia’s confidence and commanding presence made such a detail feel trivial.

“Personally, I think it isn’t worth responding to, but now that someone like the Cardinal is involved, it seems necessary to reveal the truth to the world.”

“Ah, Arcia…”

“Everyone!”

Morton flinched as he called out, but the Saintess ignored him, scanning the crowd as she spoke.

“Three days from now, a place will be opened to determine who the real Saintess is—between that woman and me! We will open the Door of Verification in front of all of you, one after another!”

The surprising announcement caused murmurs among the people.

“The Door of Verification?”

“Is that even allowed to be shown publicly?”

For nearly a century, the Door of Verification had never been revealed to the public.

The procedure for verifying a Saintess candidate was traditionally conducted secretly inside the main hall.

“See? Arcia really is the true Saintess.”

If she were a fake, she wouldn’t have proposed the verification so boldly. Many gradually leaned toward believing Arcia.

Reading the crowd, Cardinal Morton’s face turned pale—but there was one person who remained calm.

“Very well. I shall gladly accept.”

Riena responded gracefully, a confident smile on her face that exuded the certainty that she could not lose.

Afterward, the Emperor intervened and dissolved the session.

“The trial will resume after the Saintess verification is complete.”

At his brief words, the crowd dispersed in a flurry.

Some were disappointed by the anticlimactic end of the trial, but most chattered excitedly about the upcoming Saintess verification.

“Hmm? Where’s the old man?”

I was about to leave when I noticed Roland missing from his seat.

Isaac, who had been drinking wine, shrugged.

“If by chance Riena really is the Saintess, he’ll flee abroad and has gone to pack.”

“…That was quick.”

“He’s fast on his feet.”

By all appearances, he was the type who would betray and flee at the first sign of disadvantage in a battle.

“And you? Aren’t you worried?”

“Well… honestly, I think Riena seems more like a Saintess than Arcia… strangely, I’m not afraid.”

He gave me a sly smile.

“I have a feeling our Baron Luciviu has some plan. He’s probably about to put it into action.”

“Who knows? Let’s wait and see.”

I gave an ambiguous smile and left the outdoor courtroom.

When I reached the carriages, Jack informed me of Terence’s whereabouts.

“His Highness has left with the Emperor to return to the palace first.”

He’d be busy for a while dealing with the fallout of this incident. I would have to act alone for the time being.

“Shall I take you to the secondary palace?”

“No. Take me to the main temple.”

I answered the driver and sat in the carriage.

The Saintess’s quarters were deep within the main hall.

“You may not meet outsiders at this time, Saintess.”

A woman in priestly robes, standing before me and blocking my path to Arcia, shook her head firmly.

She was one of Arcia’s closest aides; we were already acquainted.

The last time I had come to meet Arcia with Terence’s help, she had been the one to guide me.

“Ask the Saintess. We arranged a meeting last time.”

“That may have been then, but the current Saintess faces a critical matter. Meeting outsiders could bring misfortune…”

But she could not continue.

“What are you doing blocking my guest?”

Arcia appeared herself.

“Baron Luciviu, welcome.”

“Saintess, this is not allowed! Even the Patriarch told you to exercise caution.”

“I respect the Patriarch, but he is not my superior. I am not obligated to obey him blindly.”

“There are many in the temple who resent the Baron over the magic stone prices. If it became known that the Saintess met him at this crucial time…”

“Stop, Priest Artan. What is this rudeness before my guest?”

With Arcia’s firm stance, Priest Artan had no choice but to fall silent.

“Please, come this way.”

I followed Arcia to her quarters.

Before entering the elegantly furnished reception room, I looked back.

“I’d like to speak with the Saintess alone.”

Artan, who had been trailing us, stiffened.

“But there are security concerns…”

“Attend to other matters, Priest Artan.”

“Saintess.”

“Did you not hear me?”

Reluctantly, Artan had to step away.

“Forgive my rudeness.”

Once the door closed, Arcia spoke.

“The entire temple, not just Priest Artan, is on edge.”

“Because of what happened earlier today?”

“…Yes. The Patriarch scolded me severely over the matter.”

Arcia’s arm trembled as she rested it on the table.

“Everything happened just as you said. That woman actually claimed to be a Saintess.”

She slumped into her chair, taking several deep breaths before continuing.

“I, too, suggested the Saintess verification, just as you said. What should we do now?”

“First, calm down. From now on…”

“How can I calm down?! If this continues, I’ll lose my head for impersonating a Saintess!”

Seeing Arcia flustered and yelling, I recalled the character from the novel.

Saintess Arcia—or rather, the fake Arcia—was the antagonist opposing Riena.

In Return and Walk the Flower Path, Arcia was a jealous villainess, blinded by envy.

She opposed Riena simply because Riena received more love from more people.

She constantly picked fights, insulted Riena, spread malicious rumors, and even falsely claimed Riena had attacked her.

Yet the protagonist Riena defeated all of Arcia’s schemes and ultimately revealed the truth: Arcia was a fake Saintess.

In the end, Arcia faced execution for impersonating a Saintess.

In my past, I would not have bothered meeting such an irredeemable villain from the novel.

But now I knew the novel was written entirely from Riena’s perspective.

‘I wouldn’t doubt it even if Riena wrote it herself.’

Careful reading revealed Riena’s subtle disdain for Arcia.

Riena knew Arcia was a fake—someone undeserving who had taken her place despite not being chosen by the goddess.

Furthermore, Arcia was the figure promoted by the temple that Riena hated.

‘Perhaps Riena’s feelings reached Arcia, making her dislike Riena even more.’

And there was someone who subtly encouraged Arcia to oppose Riena: Terence, the mastermind in the novel.

Recognizing Arcia’s hidden dislike for Riena, he praised Riena in front of Arcia to stoke her envy.

No wonder he was called the mastermind—he manipulated not only Arcia but others who opposed Riena and the Cassius family to hinder Riena.

‘I know that was wrong. So this time, Terence won’t be the villain.’

Thanks to the changes I made to the novel’s plot, Arcia had not yet fully entangled herself with Riena.

In other words, she had not yet fallen into the villainous role she once held.

‘My primary goal is to stop Riena from becoming a Saintess…’

Still, I also wanted to help Arcia have a bright future. That was my honest wish.

“I… I apologize. I became too excited.”

Arcia seemed startled at her own loss of composure and immediately apologized.

Her face was pale blue.

Although she had appeared so confident in the courtroom, she must have been trembling with fear inside.

She had to appear confident to avoid raising suspicion.

“…I didn’t impersonate the Saintess because I wanted to. At first, I truly believed I was the Saintess.”

Perhaps interpreting my gaze as reproach, Arcia began to explain.

“As a child, I was just a devout little girl. My family barely scraped by with farming. We always had to seek the mercy of the gods.”

I could clearly picture her childhood.

“One day, the Patriarch came to our village. After the previous Saintess passed away, high-ranking priests were scattered across the continent searching for the next Saintess.”

Arcia said she had held the fragment of the relic as instructed by the high priest.

“The fragment glowed brightly. Excited, I followed them to the capital.”

But the Door of Verification did not allow her.

“The Patriarch said it was because I was too young. When I grew, my divine power would grow, and then the Door would open. I believed that. But…”

Arcia fell silent.

“I later learned that the temple was under attack for corruption among some high priests, and even after the previous Saintess’s death, it took a long time to find the next one.”

After some time, she spoke again.

“I was just a tool for them. They intended to keep me in place until the real Saintess appeared, and then quietly dispose of me.”

After announcing Arcia’s death, the real Saintess would be proclaimed.

It was a truly cruel story.

Arcia wept silently. I gently stroked her back.

“Don’t worry. I’ll help you.”

“…How?”

“First, let’s get rid of the pests clinging to you.”

“Eh?”

I left Arcia wide-eyed for a moment and swung open the reception room door with force.

“Ah!”

The person who had been eavesdropping on our conversation crashed to the floor.