I stared at him with bewildered eyes.
The Countess opened her mouth after a brief silence,
“Marquis Lloyd, what are you saying all of a sudden…”
“Hegen, have you gone blind?”
Cass spoke straight to him with a cold expression,
“You can’t even recognize the Saintess’s face?”
He quickly realized I was the saint.
“P… pardon? Saintess?”
The man with a mustache looked as if his eyes were going to pop out at any moment.
I let out a small sigh.
They neglected the poor customer at the department store, but she turned out to be the president’s daughter. Doesn’t this sound like a peripeteia in a drama?
I’m sure they’re aware.
Cass Lloyd is not the type to crack jokes.
“You seem to have stopped by for a while to look for a building for the temple relief project…”
Cass looked me in the eyes and said,
“Did Hegen show you a good building?”
He spoke his words well as if he had put oil on his mouth. With a chic face that seems inflexible.
“No.”
I answered with a sullen face.
Hegen’s eyes widened as he heard that it was for the temple relief project.
Elium is the capital’s largest temple; filled with abundance of donations from nobles, rumors circulate that the temple’s assets are comparable to those of the Imperial Palace.
If Hegen had someone from the temple as a customer, this would be a huge opportunity.
“He said that there is no building. I should go to another agency.”
My words made Hegen’s lips tremble.
“N-no. That’s not it…! Sa-Saintess!”
It was a little funny to see him trembling in embarrassment because of the words I spit out.
I cast a sad look at Hegen and glanced at the ladies. The Countess’s face flushed red. The other ladies were so surprised that they couldn’t even make eye contact with me and their hands were trembling.
“Sa-Saintess!”
Hegen quickly knelt before me.
“How dare these eyes fail to recognize the Saintess…!”
His raised triangular eyes trembled as they became disoriented.
“Oh my, why? You said you don’t deal with buildings in District 10.”
I could have sent it off nicely, but I tend to hold grudges.
“Ah, I don’t know what the High Priest will do if I tell him about today’s event. These difficulties are affecting the temple relief project.”
Hegen’s face darkened. If the believers find out about this, the Hegen Real Estate Agency may face a massive protest or ostracism.
“Saintess, please forgive me!”
“Is the nonavailability of a building something to ask for forgiveness? And…”
I looked at the ladies and said,
“I need to review Elium’s new qualification criteria. As you know, there are many nobles who wish to become Elium’s believers, but there are many who are unsuitable, and as a result, they are troubled by various misconduct.”
The ladies’ faces turned pale.
Being Elium’s believer means becoming a mainstream noble in the empire; this was only stamped on the believers because the other door to become mainstream nobles was closed.
The news that the Reizfield family had recently been expelled was no longer a secret.
“Sa-Saintess…”
“Saintess, I apologize.”
The ladies shouted in a flustered voice, but I turned away.
At that moment, I heard Cass’s voice,
“Would you like to leave now?”
“That’s right.”
I replied, holding his outstretched hand for escort.
But he paused while escorting me.
“Oh, but I think we should stop by at the Top for a while. I’ve left 5,000 francs for the Saintess’s relief project today.”
Uh, what else is this all about?
I looked at Cass with confused eyes.
I could see Cass curved his lips into a faint smile. Then I heard Hegen’s voice from behind me,
“Sa-Saintess! I will give you some right away.”
“Me too, wait a minute.”
“Saintess, I will donate on behalf of my family as well.”
Hegen and the ladies rummaged through their bags.
Cass, don’t tell me…
“Please accept it. It’s of little sincerity, but please.”
And it raised more than five thousand francs of money when they presented it to me.
They say that if you’re going to sympathize, you should give money; I pretended to be troubled, holding back the smile that appeared on my lips.
“Please use it for relief work, and may Elium forget our blasphemy.”
An unexpected lyre* brightened my gloomy mood.
(T/N: lyre is a musical instrument like a small U shaped harp. But in this sentence the melody of the lyre is used as a metaphor for the good thing that happened to her.)
It was sad that the 4,000-franc ‘Sealing Pendant’ holy relic, which had left my all-round pocket empty, became useless, but this collection filled my possessions.
[Possession: 6,700 francs]
Am I going to be rich soon?
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
“Hegen seemed to be looking forward to the temple relief project.”
As soon as we left the store, Cass raised the corner of his mouth and spoke to me.
“I see.”
I replied indifferently, recalling Hegen, who had been crouching and staring at me the whole time.
“The Saintess never said you’d use the money for the relief project. So feel free to use it because it’s money that you’ve got by yourself.”
“Well, if that’s what the Marquis says.”
I said with a grin.
In any case, this money was intended to be used for self-help efforts.
“I feel ashamed to hog all of it alone, do you want me to give you about 10%?”
Cass chuckled and smiled relaxedly.
“That’s all right.”
Now that I’ve sold things to Lloyd’s Top, he knows I’m saving money.
“But since when have you been watching me?”
Perhaps it wasn’t a coincidence that he happened to pass by Hegen’s building.
He knew it was me the moment he saw my unrecognizable back.
“I found you walking out of the temple.”
But his response was from a much longer time ago than I thought.
“Yes?”
I asked him back in surprise.
A gust of wind blew through his black hair, ruffling it.
“Your face seems muddled. The voices of the priests praising the Saintess were loud, and that is probably why.”
Cass said as he fixed his gaze on me.
Oh really, I said, tucking my hair behind my ear,
“You’ve heard the news.”
A slight smile hung over Cass’s lips.
“A very strong divine power. The priests must be thrilled after witnessing such pure and unparalleled divine power.”
“Um.”
Those words made me feel extremely embarrassed.
“Then the Saintess must have also healed my Blue Wing.”
Cass said with a smirk.
Those words reminded me of that day. I probably will never forget it, the moment I used sacred power for the first time to bring the dying blue bird back to life.
But because I denied it at that time, I had nothing to say.
“I guessed a little.”
He shifted his gaze to another direction and continued,
“Because your eyes showed deep contempt towards me when you told me not to throw it away but rather kill it.”
His ultramarine blue eyes glowed dimly.
“As if you witnessed the abandoned bird’s condition firsthand.”
I asked out of curiosity,
“Is the Blue Wing doing well?”
“Yes, of course. The dogs were re-trained not to dare bite their owners.”
It was a relief.
It was not long before I heard his voice again,
“Didn’t you want to hide your divine powers?”
Divine powers.
Those two words from his mouth stabbed me in the chest.
I certainly was. I tried to keep my powers hidden from Reyhas and Cass. I had to be a fake saint.
And I thought it was good to leave the temple so as not to have a tragic ending like in the original story.
But it has become impossible since yesterday. Maybe it’s been that way since the oracle first opened.
His deep blue eyes were filled with mild curiosity.
“Is that child worthy enough for you to give up all your efforts?”
Cass asked me with a look he didn’t understand.
It was a slight smile of interest, aroused solely by curiosity, like the smile of a baby who didn’t know the difference between good and evil.
“It was worth it. Although a little bit bitter.”
Just because I have sacred powers didn’t mean I could save everyone.
“Let’s just say so. But…”
Raising my head, I looked at Cass in the eyes and opened my mouth,
“As long as I have the power to save people, even if it was someone other than Daisy who was there, I would have saved them.”
In my past life, I was not a good person who helped others with a warm heart.
Of course, I don’t intend to live like that now.
But in a desperate situation where someone’s life was at stake, I had only one choice. To help as much as I can. That was all I knew.
“Even if it was the Marquis.”
I added a trivial but unnecessary remark.
Suddenly, a subtle light flashed in his dark blue eyes.
Cass stared at me for a long time.
After a while, he opened his mouth,
“You are speaking like a saint.”
Perhaps numbers and scales are all that matters to him.
Because I chose the lighter side of the tilted scale, I might appear strange in his eyes.
I answered casually,
“I don’t know what it means to be a saint, but I… just act for myself.”
I would have suffered from a sense of loss and nightmares if I had watched her die to conceal my powers.
So saving Daisy was also for myself.
“Whatever it may be, I feel comfortable.”
His gaze suddenly deepened. Soon, an unexpected smile appeared on his lips.
“You mean your scale is different from mine.”
It could be expressed that way.
I nodded as I looked at him.
He grinned at my determined response. Then he asked me,
“Today, do you have more time? Shall we go on a date?”