~Chapter 11~
“Saintess, are you asleep?”
Mia whispered softly, slightly opening the door.
Through that small gap, she peeked in with the communication device.
There, she saw Celen lying on the bed.
“See? I told you it was still time for the Saintess to be asleep.”
Mia chided gently in a small voice.
Edin and the High Priest also watched the video on the comm screen.
―Huh? No… Saintess… you’re there?
“See? I told you she was still asleep.”
Rubbing their eyes to look again, the woman lying in bed was undeniably Celen.
With her bright golden hair, she was the only one in the cathedral who could be identified as Celen.
“Hmm? Mia?”
Perhaps sensing the commotion, Celen finally woke from her sleep.
She turned over and looked back, allowing Edin to see her face clearly.
Mumbling softly, she asked,
“Mia? Is it already time to wake up?”
“Ah, no, Saintess. I’m sorry. Please, sleep a little longer.”
Mia hurriedly closed the door.
Then she walked a little away from the Saintess’ room and spoke in a loud voice.
“See! I told you the Saintess was still asleep!”
―Ah… uh, right… sorry…
“Oh, if it weren’t for Edin, I could have slept another thirty minutes.”
―Sorry… next time I’ll get you something delicious.
The comm device disconnected awkwardly.
The High Priest fumbled for excuses.
“Ah… I thought I smelled rose fragrance…”
Edin was furious.
After all, the Saintess wasn’t the only person allowed to use the rose essences of the Delian Cathedral, yet what kind of commotion was this at dawn?
Moreover, how was Mia supposed to explain this?
Because of an old man’s misunderstanding, it could look as if she were peeping into a woman’s bedroom without permission.
But a subordinate must obey.
Edin suppressed his anger and smiled.
As if it were the greatest honor and happiness.
“High Priest! Then we must have smelled the fragrance of the Atenis Goddess herself!”
An hour earlier
Waking up, Celen checked the clock.
There were about thirty minutes left until sunrise.
If she hurried, she could make it to the Atenis Hall, but returning was the problem.
Kirien might manage to go to the hall and back in thirty minutes, but Celen thought she couldn’t.
She had never jogged, let alone hiked.
If she was careless, Mia might come to wake her and find the bed empty.
After thinking hard, Celen ran to the Saintly Spirit Room.
“Elenaore sister! Please, just this once, help me!”
Celen lowered the huge amaryllis tapestry hanging on the wall of the Saintly Spirit Room.
It was an object imbued with Elenaore’s spirit.
“Hmm? Youngest, what’s going on?”
Elenaore was startled by the sudden commotion.
But…
“Sister! Sorry, there’s no time to explain! I’ll tell you as I go!”
With great effort, Celen rolled up the tapestry and carried it back to her room.
Placing it on the bed and covering it with a blanket, from a distance it looked as if a person were lying there.
“Sister, I’m going out to cause trouble again.”
“Hmm. Go ahead.”
Elenaore didn’t stop her.
She didn’t even ask what was going on.
She just looked at Celen with her usual calm expression.
That was more reassuring.
It felt like Celen could sense Elenaore’s trust and support just through her gaze.
Celen’s chest swelled with an inexplicable warmth.
“Before I return, a priest named Mia might come to wake me. Please tell her I just want to sleep a little longer.”
“Is that all?”
“Yes. I’ll come back as quickly as possible.”
Elenaore’s spirit lay on the tapestry.
From afar, it looked exactly like Celen was lying there.
Elenaore’s spirit was so vividly lifelike that this was possible.
“What are you waiting for? Go! I’ll take care of things here!”
Celen, holding her elder sister’s steadfast support in her heart, ran toward the Atenis Hall.
Present moment
The High Priest and Edin whispered among themselves as they descended the ridge.
Though they lowered their voices, Celen could hear them clearly.
“High Priest, the Saintess is too naive to think of such things, you know?”
“That’s true.”
“Yes. She’s always been so kind that she passed through adolescence without incident. Let’s assume her late bloom has come, and forgive her a little more.”
“That sounds right.”
“She’s obedient, so persuading her is easy.”
Celen waited stubbornly until they were completely out of sight.
When the paladins left to smoke, she finally left the pile of supplies.
Before entering the forest path, Celen glanced back at the Atenis Hall.
She noticed an old signboard she had never seen.
“All beings of this land
have the freedom to strive
for a better tomorrow.”
It was the founding principle of the Artemia Empire.
Celen read it over and over, etching the words into her heart.
“All beings of this land.
A better tomorrow.
And freedom.”
After sending Elenaore back to the Saintly Spirit Room, Celen hurriedly prepared to leave.
When leaving Elenaore’s palace, she sniffed her robe.
Running through the forest path had made her sweat, which worried her.
But spotting the High Priest and Edin at the entrance, she immediately straightened her posture.
The High Priest greeted her with unusually polite manners.
“Saintess, how is your condition today?”
For the Atenis Church, where free healing was the rule, the Saintess was a very important presence.
Without the huge donations she brought, the priests wouldn’t even have enough for their salaries.
So they were trying to curry favor, likely thinking to make money from her.
Her intentions were too obvious.
“Thanks to you, I’m fine. Thank you for worrying.”
Celen smiled as if she didn’t know anything.
For now, pretending to be “used” seemed best.
“I’m glad you recovered in just a day. Actually, Duke Kyros is waiting…”
At the name “Kirien,” her heart skipped a beat.
“Could we meet Duke Kyros first? He’s been waiting quite a long time…”
“Yes. Then we’ll do that.”
Celen followed behind them with a calm face.
Her mind, however, was in chaos.
Memories of holding his hand on the night sea, his hair dyed dark blue under the starlight, his gentle smile, their joyful conversation flickered in fragments.
But she forced herself to focus on the matter at hand.
From the way the High Priest had filled the goblet with water naturally, it was clear he had done it many times before.
Edin became a high-ranking priest six months ago.
Coincidentally, this overlapped with the time Arpiel began suffering from the Lacazca disease.
It was also roughly the same period when the divine power of high priests began randomly decreasing.
Arpiel likely didn’t know the priest’s divine power had weakened and may never have taken a potion made from real holy water.
“Duke Kyros, we’ve brought the Saintess.”
Even as the door to the purification room opened, Celen’s mind focused only on the holy water.
But the moment she met Kirien’s eyes, they were suddenly standing together on the night beach.
She had thought that night was a dream, but it wasn’t.
The thrill remained vividly, making her heart restless.
“Then we shall take our leave now.”
The High Priest and Edin bowed politely and left the room.
Celen stood still, waiting until they were completely gone.
Kirien waited as if he knew why she acted this way.
He then asked softly,
“Were you unwell?”
“Huh?”
“I heard you were unwell. That you took your first day off in nine years.”
Celen’s eyes widened.
She had only been sick yesterday—how did he know so quickly?
But she quickly found her answer.
“Did you plant someone in the cathedral?”
This time, Kirien’s eyes widened.
He looked as if to say, So now you realize?
“Any family with considerable wealth likely has planted someone. Finding one without a spy might be faster.”
“You monitored me continuously?”
Ever since she heard that Arpiel’s wish was to meet the Saintess in person, she had a vague suspicion.
Kirien may have approached her with intent from the start.
Even coming under the pretext of a minor illness like a headache or gastritis.
Even selecting her alone for the healing priest—all of it was for a purpose.
Yet predicting it and confirming it directly through him carried completely different weight.
“So you approached me intentionally from the beginning.”
Celen half-hoped he would lie, charmingly.
But Kirien avoided the question, changing the topic.
“Are you feeling any better?”
Polite in demeanor, gentle in voice, saying only what he wanted.
So Celen felt confused.
Which side was his true intention on?
What kind of person was he, really?
“Duke, my question comes first.”
“I worried that I might have made an unnecessary request.”
For a moment, she hated him.
Walking alone on the night beach, she had felt genuinely close to him.
But thinking that it was only an act made her resentful.
Yet in his words, one could not ignore a single phrase.
“You worried about me?”
Kirien’s body flinched slightly for an instant.
His dark navy eyes trembled faintly.
Sensitive as she was, Celen didn’t miss it.
“No. I came to give a warning.”
Yet his answer was absurd.
Celen couldn’t help but laugh bitterly.
“A warning?”
“A warning not to reveal to anyone what happened that day.”
“You already told me that.”
“You must also keep Arpiel’s existence a secret.”
“I said I understood.”
Celen glared at Kirien.
Hearing the same thing repeatedly was irritating, but she wanted to know his true intentions.
