I reopened the mouth after a while with a slight grin,
"By the way, by any chance."
I whispered to her in a low voice,
"Does your family know?"
"......!"
At my remark, Annie replied with her eyes wide open.
"Wha-what do you mean?"
Her clear brown eyes were shaking aimlessly.
"Don't you think they should know who's on the same boat as the fake saint?"
I maintained a calm look, and now it was Annie who was flustered.
"I'm the only one who knows that you're not real! My family has nothing to do with it!"
The situation quickly reversed.
"Don't you think I should talk to your family personally?"
"Sa-Saintess!"
She, who threatened me with glaring eyes, hesitated for a moment and then knelt. She had a concerned gaze of whether it would harm her family, too.
"I think I was too arrogant. You, don't have to give me money anymore. I'm really sorry. In the future, I will never do such a wicked thing again!"
Seeing Annie kneeling in front of me, frightened, I felt a little relieved.
'Foolish Ariel, you were being blackmailed by a kid of this level?'
But I'm different. I had no intention of living stupidly in the future.
"Saintess... if you can forgive me once!"
Then, the door opened without any knock.
I was surprised by the sudden sound, and I saw a holy white uniform and bright blonde hair.
Under his straight brows lies those beautiful golden eyes holding a deep gaze.I was staring at him as he walked this way silently.
"High Priest..."
Annie, who was trembling, saw the high priest's appearance, and her face became paler.Then he immediately pulled out a long sword from his waist.
A light mist of blood scattered instantly, and Annie, who was stretching her back, collapsed to the floor in no time.
It was such a swift execution that I couldn't even scream.
The dark red blood that spread around the floor felt unrealistic.
Soon, he took out a handkerchief and wiped the blade with a disgusted look.
"......"
I blankly stared at him.
I couldn't believe that he, who spoke to me in a gentle voice, killed someone.
She's dead.
Moreover, it's Annie, a maid directly under me.
Of course, I also did terrible things, but it was the first time I had ever seen a person die.
I desperately suppressed my scream and clenched my trembling fist.
Soon, he pushed his polished sword into the scabbard, and he looked at me and touched his lips.
"Because it was this kind of situation, I decided to take care of it right away."
His remarkably nonchalant and soft way of speaking made me feel strange.
Reyhas' judgment was right.
Annie was a bad kid who knew the truth that shouldn't be known and threatened me with it, so there is no guarantee that it will not leak again if she is interrogated outside.
However, contrary to his objective judgment, the situation remained shocking.
I was pale and barely holding on to my rationality.
Soon, I heard Reyhas' voice,
"I'll have them clear it up, Saintess."
I turned my eyes to the other side with my mouth shut. Even if I said something in this state, it wouldn't be a proper expression of opinion.
High Priest Reyhas turned around after a while.
"Please take a rest."
He did not ask anything about the situation, but that made me even more anxious.
Just like when he killed Annie without asking anything, I'm afraid that someday it will be the same for me.
My heart pounded hard as if it would burst out in this ongoing silence.
The door closed with a small sound, and only then did I manage to let out a big breath. I touched my aching forehead with both hands.
[The bored Beings of the Beginning are curious about your cleverness]
[The bored Beings of the Beginning are curious about your judgment]
[The bored Beings of the Beginning are curious about your calmness]
[The unlocking condition of the oracle is nearing]
I still didn't know what it meant. My thoughts became more complicated, and I just closed my eyes.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
"Then what about the fate of the maid who took 650 francs a month and hid me as a fake saint?"
Ariel's twisted voice lingered in Reyhas' ears.
He strode into the office with a cold, sunken look.
"Wouldn't it make you envious if I ended up with the guillotine, Annie?"
On the way, when he grabbed the long sword on his waist and threw it away, the scabbard hit the floor and there was a clanking sound.
Although it was a sword of noble value, he had no intention of reusing a sword stained with dirty blood.
Ariel's face as she tried to hide her fearful eyes and pretended to be calm loomed in his eyes dimly.
Did she have such wit and ambition?
'No, if she had that much wit in the first place, she wouldn't have been blackmailed.'
Reyhas frowned when he recalled Ariel's face, often staring into the distance with a grim look on her face.
He took off his uniform jacket and unbuttoned his shirt.
A statue was reflected in his dull, golden eyes.
Monde, the God of Art.
Elium is a temple that serves all Nine Gods, and unlike the saint who serves all gods, all priests, including the High Priest, had different Gods.
Reyhas' eyes, which were staring at the statue with restrained eyes, fell.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
When Annie died, new maids were assigned to me.
Several maids were ordered to take shifts and divide their work to prevent what had happened with Annie, and I often get confused with their names as well.
The maids were extra careful because they knew Annie died in my room. Every time they make even the smallest mistake, they'll tremble, and I'll feel a little burdened.
Soon enough, the trauma and anxiety I felt from that day were almost gone.
I knew it was adaptable, but I still couldn't believe that a person just died...
I felt a little bit bitter for myself.
This is not the modern world; the values of human life are also different.
I know why Reyhas did that.
The fact that I'm a fake saint should be kept a secret, or the country would be overturned, and if that fact is revealed, both the temple and the emperor would be devastated.
But I didn't have the courage to see Reyhas again.
When I remembered the bloody sword he was holding, there was a chill in my spine for no reason.
'It would be better to escape a little earlier.'
I tried to wait for the real saint to come, but it felt like my life would be shortened.
Annie, who knows that I'm a fake saint, died like that, but there's no law that he wouldn't take my life away because I'm a fake saint.
Plus, the game chat window that often appeared in front of me.
Beings of the Beginning or whatnot, what they kept saying made me more uncomfortable.
'What the hell is this?'
I started writing formulas again at my desk.
◎ The price of a two-story store in the capital city: 100,000 francs for large size, 70,000 francs for medium size, and 50,000 francs for small size
Yeah, it's hard to manage if the building is too big.
If I sell the offerings, I can buy a medium-sized building for 70,000 francs.
That alone will not give me worry about my ordinary life as a building owner.
It is said that the salary level of commoners is around 1,000 francs per year, so even if I don't have a building, there is no worry about living a lifetime.
If I live in an appropriate disguise, Reyhas will certainly forget me in two or three years. In the original, he was indifferent and apathetic towards Ariel.
"Good. In three years."
I put down my quill pen and mumbled.
The five-year self-reliance plan has been reduced to three years. Annie is no longer here to threaten me and take 65% of my salary, so all I have to do is save it.
Then suddenly, I heard a knock.
'Who is it?'