Chapter : 08
Just as Hilten had expected, his superior was not merely difficult—he was practically a nightmare.
By nature, Hilten was incapable of saying anything he knew to be wrong, even if someone held a knife to his throat, so he was always blunt and straightforward. But whenever his superior stared at him with those cold eyes, sweat would break out on his back and his hands would tremble.
I’m not going to live out my natural lifespan at this rate.
One day, when he was seriously considering writing his resignation letter, his superior suddenly changed without any apparent reason.
It was as if he had been shot in the head. He began buying black robes by the armful, and even his bored, listless way of speaking and his cold attitude completely changed.
Then, a month ago, he had finally abandoned the Magic Tower and left.
Of all places, he had to settle down next door to the Marquis Webberdin’s estate.
And on top of that, he was approaching the Saint in that disgusting appearance.
There had to be some terrible purpose behind it.
However, Hilten neither wanted to know nor understand what terrifying plan was lurking inside that man’s head.
All he wanted was to escape as soon as possible from the workload that had doubled because of the Tower Master’s absence.
“So, when are you planning to return?”
“I don’t know.”
“……Then who exactly knows?”
“It isn’t my decision to make.”
What kind of fresh bullshit is that supposed to be?
He could practically hear his own head exploding.
I fucking want to quit.
Hilten was barely suppressing the urge to scream at the top of his lungs when—
“Anything else?”
Rien pushed back his robe and roughly swept his disheveled hair upward.
The face that was finally revealed held not even the slightest trace of emotion.
And this guy thinks he can pretend to be some gentle little lamb.
Whenever his superior’s true nature suddenly surfaced, it felt as though the temperature in the room dropped by ten degrees.
Unable to get used to the suffocating tension, Hilten slowly clenched his fists.
“‘They’ have sent someone to keep watch.”
“I know.”
“……Have you already dealt with them?”
“Yes.”
“How……?”
Hilten’s voice trailed off.
He had noticed where his superior’s gaze had settled.
A blackened, discolored shovel lying in the corner of the room, and the flowerbed of daisies outside the window.
……The watchers had probably already become excellent fertilizer.
Pretending not to notice the horrifying truth, he dutifully continued his report.
“As you ordered, I have people keeping an eye on them, but I don’t think it will be easy to catch their tail. Ah, and the fact that you moved here personally—is that also……?”
“J-Just do your job and keep watch.”
Rien reverted to his awkward, stammering manner of speech and coldly cut him off.
Does he think speaking clumsily automatically makes him look kind?
Hilten was dumbfounded, but since he had no desire to become the second batch of fertilizer, he silently bowed his head.
They say you only realize how precious something is after you lose it.
Inside a swaying carriage,
Cecilia was painfully realizing just how precious the transportation technology of modern twenty-first-century civilization had been.
In a world with both magic and divine power, does it really make sense for the main mode of transportation to be a carriage?
It wasn’t her first time riding in one, so she had prepared herself to some extent.
But she had never expected to find it this unbearable.
The agonizingly slow speed was one thing, but the horrible ride was enough to make even someone who had never suffered from motion sickness before feel sick.
“Cici. Do you feel like you’re going to pass out?”
Unlike Cecilia, who was dying by the second, Nox had been sitting elegantly across from her the entire time. He closed the book he had been reading.
“Wow, that’s a problem. We haven’t even gone halfway yet.”
He looked at her with an expression of concern.
“If you really can’t take it, make sure you tell me. It’s not actually impossible to walk to the temple.”
“……Really?”
“Yeah. It’ll only take a full day of walking. No, wait. With your short little legs, maybe two?”
……As if he had actually been worried about her.
She didn’t even need to think twice anymore to recognize that the gentle smile on his lips was actually ridicule.
Don’t worry.
“I hope you bite your tongue.”
“Cici, I think your thoughts just slipped out.”
I meant for them to, asshole.
Cecilia turned away from her useless older brother and looked out the carriage window.
Beyond the hazy glass, lush greenery and a brilliantly saturated sky drifted lazily past.
It’s perfect weather for a walk, so why am I suffering like this?
There was only one reason she was enduring this misery inside the carriage.
It was because of the proposal the Marquis had made several days ago when they met in the garden.
[The Relief Festival will be starting soon. Before then, shouldn’t you pay your respects to His Holiness the Pope?]
[Ah…….]
[Especially since you, Cecilia, will have an important role in this year’s Relief Festival.]
Although his words had sounded like a suggestion, they were essentially an order, so refusing wasn’t an option.
Even if she was still a ‘fake’ Saint, the responsibilities of House Webberdin remained.
[All right.]
On the first day, when she accepted without much hesitation, she had even been secretly excited.
It had been a long time since she had gone out, aside from the early days after possessing this body.
But the moment she heard that her legal sibling would be accompanying her and that they would have to travel by carriage, her mood plummeted as if someone had flipped a switch.
Still, there was one fortunate thing amid all the misfortune.
The ‘Holy Land,’ the former capital of the empire where the Grand Temple was located, was quite close to the Webberdin territory.
Just as Cecilia was about to surrender to her motion sickness after scraping together every last bit of patience she possessed, the carriage miraculously came to a stop.
“Saint, Young Master. We have arrived.”
Before the coachman had even finished speaking, Cecilia sprang to her feet.
She had no time to get down gracefully with an escort.
I need to get out right now!
Consumed by that single thought, Cecilia flung the carriage door open with a loud bang! and stepped outside.
However, she had overlooked two things.
First, a large number of priests had come out to greet such honored guests.
And second, her legs were trembling much more than usual because of the motion sickness.
In front of dozens of people, her unsteady body suddenly tilted.
I’m going to humiliate myself.
With a grim premonition, she squeezed her eyes shut.
Yet even after several moments passed, no sympathetic gasps came from those around her.
Instead of hitting the dirt, Cecilia collided with something as solid as a wall.
She immediately opened her eyes.
“Are you all right?”
A familiar-looking knight, at least a head taller than her, was holding her firmly.
“Ah, thank you. So…….”
“I am Miguel, Vice Commander of the Holy Knights.”
“Sir Miguel.”
“Yes, Saint.”
The man’s silver hair fluttered gently in the breeze as he answered in a low voice.
Beneath it, Cecilia stared blankly up at his calm blue eyes, tranquil as a lake.
The lines of his face were rugged, yet somehow possessed a softness like fully bloomed flower petals.
……In short, he had a very holy appearance.
Cecilia suddenly remembered the first time she had seen him.
It had been when several high-ranking priests had visited the Marquis’s residence on an errand from the Pope.
Amid a group of gray-haired old men, there had been one man wearing gleaming white armor who radiated an absolutely insane presence.
[Good heavens, Melanie. Do you see that man?]
[Pardon?]
[Wow. Maybe this really is a book after all.]
She had been in the early days after her possession, when she had been busy burying herself in despair, yet his presence alone had been enough to make her forget all about her depression.
[My lady, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but that man is off-limits.]
[No, it’s not like I was going to do anything…….]
Had her excitement been that obvious?
Embarrassed, Cecilia cleared her throat.
[I was just curious about his name.]
[You don’t need to know his name either. He’s a Holy Knight!]
[Why does that matter?]
[Because he has devoted both his body and soul to God.]
[Ah.]
In other words, he was a forbidden fruit she couldn’t have.
My interest immediately disappeared.
It was certainly surprising to meet him again like this, but that was all.
After looking at him with the detached appreciation one might give a work of art, Cecilia stepped out of the unfamiliar man’s arms.
“Miguel, why don’t you take care of the Young Master too, instead of only the Saint?”
Nox, who had gotten out of the carriage behind her, called out to the knight in a rather familiar manner.
“You two know each other?”
“Of course. He’s my friend.”
As if proudly displaying their friendship, Nox draped an arm over Miguel’s broad shoulder.
“Right?”
“Unfortunately…… yes.”
“You misheard him. He meant ‘fortunately.’”
That doesn’t sound right at all.
For some reason, the look Miguel gave Nox felt strangely similar to Cecilia’s own gaze.
A mixture of slight irritation and utter exasperation.
But apparently, other people’s contempt was a reward to Nox.
He had been grinning brightly when, all of a sudden, he put on a sorrowful expression.
“Our Cici is jealous, huh? It’s all right. Even though you have no friends at all and can’t even get out of a carriage properly, your big brother will be your family and your friend.”
……Just listening to him, you’d think he was a real male lead from a romance-fantasy novel.
It was lamentable that all he really meant was to tease her about having no friends.
“Move.”
Cecilia coldly dismissed him and firmly stepped on Nox’s foot as he hovered around her.
“Cici, my foot hurts.”
“Good.”
“Could you move your foot?”
“If you disappear from right in front of my eyes.”
After her icy retort, Nox finally shut his mouth.
Miguel, who had been enjoying the siblings’ childish quarrel from the best seat in the house, turned his back on Nox as well.
“I heard you came to see His Holiness the Pope. Unfortunately, His Holiness is still meeting with believers.”
“That’s fine. We can wait.”
“I don’t want to wait.”
“Thank you for your understanding. Then, would you like to wait in the prayer room first?”
“Miguel? I said I don’t want to.”
“Of course.”
“Then give me your hand.”
Perhaps because of the spectacle Cecilia had made earlier, Miguel suddenly extended his hand.
It seemed he intended to escort her personally in case she stumbled again.
She appreciated the consideration, but her motion sickness had already subsided enough that she didn’t really need assistance.
“I’m fine. I can walk by myself now…… I guess not. Yes. Please.”
The moment she noticed the disappointment shadowing his face, she quickly changed her answer.
She promptly placed her hand on his arm, solid as iron, and only then did Miguel give her a faint smile.
It was a fitting reaction from a child of God who had made consideration and service the meaning of his life.
The fact that she, who wasn’t even a true Saint, was being escorted by the Vice Commander of the Holy Knights was so overwhelming that it was almost burdensome……
But Cecilia wasn’t quite rotten enough to spit in the face of someone who was smiling kindly at her.
Fortunately, the prayer room wasn’t far away.
Miguel stopped in front of a door intricately carved with irises and passionflowers, flowers known as the flowers of God.
