Chapter 22
Light novel: Episode 22
Manhwa: Chapter 11
“You think I’d spend 3,000 gold on something that doesn’t work? Even if I had money rotting away, I’d never do that.”
Leaning deep into the overly plush seat of the carriage, far more luxurious than the others, Lute’s eyes curved into a smile.
Yuri, hearing that a single flower had finally bloomed in the midst of despair, was overcome with emotion and covered his mouth as tears welled up.
“So the contents of that old book were real! Uwaaah… It feels like all our hardships have just been washed away. I was so worried this would be another failure… Wait, did you say 3,000 gold? I only gave them 1,000.”
“I gave 2,000 more.”
“When?!”
“To be precise, I got squeezed dry.”
With those words, Lute let out a light laugh.
Ordell, the Saintess, had looked him straight in the eyes and confidently demanded two thousand more gold.
And that wasn’t even the end of it. He’d have to travel all the way back to that remote place every month and keep paying.
That too, with separate donations and recharge fees.
When she said the recharge fee could be less than the donation, he almost shed a tear from gratitude.
Has he ever been milked for thousands of gold like this?
Never, not even once. In the long history of the Sieri family, no head of their family had ever been extorted like this.
And by a Saintess, no less.
“Pfft!”
Ah, just thinking about it kept making him laugh.
“…For our lord, known across the Empire for having the foulest temper, to laugh even after being squeezed for 2,000 gold—could there be something wrong with the relic? Are you really alright? Please, show it to me. I need to verify it!”
Yuri panicked at the sight of Lute chuckling.
It wasn’t like his usual mocking laughter at others, he was smiling as if he was genuinely happy, which made it all the more shocking.
“No, no. I’m not showing it to anyone. The Saintess said if anything happens to this relic, I’ll really die.”
“What are you talking about—”
“She saw through everything. That I’m sick. That I’m constantly in pain.”
“What?! But how… Not even the Saintess or Saint of the Great Sea God noticed any of that—”
The Great Sea God, one of the Three Major Gods of the continent, was currently the most powerful and revered deity.
That was why Lute had once sought out the Saintess and Saint of the Great Sea God’s grand temple in hopes of curing his illness.
But the result had been nothing short of disappointing.
Far from detecting anything wrong, they had merely assumed he had finally knelt before the Great Sea God’s power and raised their chins in pride.
Even though the Saintess had used divine power to examine his body, she hadn’t noticed a single thing out of the ordinary.
What was it she said again? That he was in excellent health and would live a long and prosperous life?
That her blessing would ensure only good things would come his way?
Bullshit.
That very night, after returning to the ducal estate, Lute had suffered one of his worst bouts of pain in years, so severe he ended up coughing blood.
From that day forward, he hadn’t so much as glanced in the direction of the Great Sea God’s temple.
Yuri knew all of this as well.
“The Saintess said it’s probably because the Sun God’s divine power has strong healing properties—that’s why she could see it.”
Lute recalled the moment he first encountered Ordell at the entrance of the grand temple.
A young woman with soft, fluffy pink hair, dressed in the composed robes of a Saintess.
But unlike her gentle-colored hair, her eyes, which glowed gold in the sunlight, did not appear gentle at all.
She looked so young, it was doubtful she had even reached twenty, but she gave off a depth far greater than the Saintess and Saint of the Great Sea God.
And he had definitely seen it—
Her golden eyes that had scanned the space around him, as if searching for something that wasn’t visible.
Even in the reception room, her gaze would occasionally drift slightly off from where he sat, and he had wondered why.
Now he understood.
“If the relic hadn’t worked, I would have doubted her words but the effect is just too good.”
That agonizing pain which had begun one day without warning.
No doctor had ever been able to diagnose the illness, and none had been able to alleviate the pain in the slightest.
Over nearly twenty years, he had grown somewhat accustomed to the smaller aches, but the moments when it felt like nails were being driven into his heart or skull—those, he could never get used to.
But the moment he held the divine relic that Ordell brought, he felt a pain unlike anything he’d experienced before.
It was as if searing flames engulfed his head, heart, and entire body in agony.
Had he not lived a life steeped in pain, he might have screamed, clawing at himself uncontrollably.
But after what felt like an eternity, when the agony began to fade, he felt it.
Like a light drizzle in a drought, a single flower blooming on parched soil, a breeze brushing through the sweltering heat.
It was small. Insignificant, even. But it marked the beginning of change.
Soon, a downpour drenched his body, thousands of soft flowers wrapped around him, and a gentle wind brought with it the clearest, most refreshing air in the world.
A body free from pain for the first time in twenty years. It was so sweet, so intoxicating.
“It was so good… to the point that I could believe anything that woman said. No, I had no choice but to believe her.”
Ordell had, just as she promised, made the payment worth it. She had kept her word—she was, all things considered, quite decent.
But that didn’t mean all suspicions about her had disappeared.
He’d seen it before. People who earned your trust only to betray it without warning.
She too might one day use this to make unreasonable demands of him.
To avoid losing his judgment, intoxicated by the bliss of a pain-free existence, Lute clenched his fist tightly.
“You said the Saintess of the Sun God’s grand temple is a daughter of House Kiris?”
“We’ll have to investigate to be sure. We know the faces of Count Kiris’s legitimate children, but the Saintess is an adopted daughter, and since she’s never officially appeared in high society, nothing is publicly known—not her looks, not even her name.”
“That’s strange. You’d think if their daughter became a Saintess, they’d be proud but instead they keep her hidden? Is it because the grand temple is poor?”
It wasn’t a regular shrine under a temple’s jurisdiction. What they had just visited was the grand temple itself, supposedly the closest to the god. And yet, its condition seemed utterly dismal.
Could it be because it’s not a prestigious temple, they’re deliberately hiding it?
“Well, if we look into it, we’ll find out.”
“So, you’re telling me to dig all that up, right?”
“Who else but you? Now that my pain’s gone, you don’t need to worry about me. Focus on this and dig deep. I want everything there is to know about the Saintess.”
“Yes, understood.”
Just as Lute said, now that his condition had improved, there were fewer things to worry about, so Yuri readily agreed.
Wow, that relic really is miraculous. Since it’s even lightened my workload, maybe I should register as a follower out of gratitude.
“Oh, but to really look into the Saintess, shouldn’t I investigate the grand temple too?”
“Leave that alone.”
“Why?”
“You’re being talkative today. I’ve been pretty lenient with you, haven’t I?”
Lute smiled at Yuri while looking him straight in the eye.
A smile with only his mouth, not his eyes. It was the kind Yuri feared most in the world.
“Ahem! I’ll focus solely on House Kiris!”
At Yuri’s booming reply, Lute turned his gaze to the window.
The roof of the grand temple, now distant, could just barely be seen peeking through the thick trees.
There was only one reason he hadn’t assigned Yuri to look into the grand temple—
‘Because I want to find out for myself.’
If the High Priest and the Captain of the Holy Order were the ones the Saintess trusted most in the temple, then why was she keeping their business a secret? What kind of relationship did they have?
Ah… he was already looking forward to next month.
* * *
“Count. It’s William Gale.”
Gale, having knocked on the massive door before him, took a slow, deep breath.
Just seeing the two delicately carved dahlia flowers on the door made his chest tighten with dread.
They were pure and beautiful flowers beloved by many, but to him, they inspired only fear.
“Come in.”
At the cold voice from within, Gale swallowed hard and opened the door.
Seated behind a solid wooden desk was his master and the owner of those dahlias, Count Joseph Kiris.
His sharp green eyes and stern face only added to Gale’s already growing anxiety.
Unable to bear the weight of it, Gale bowed deeply, folding at the waist with his head lowered.
“After checking the grand temple, it seems all eight infiltrators, including Kento, have been imprisoned.”
Count Kiris’s hand, which had been signing a document, stopped dead in its tracks.
Even without looking up, Gale could feel it. The Count’s gaze boring straight into the top of his head.
“…And?”
“A-ah, it appears it’ll be difficult to get them all out.”
“I didn’t send you all the way out there just to hear that.”
The Count’s voice was colder than expected, and Gale gulped again.
“But there is, um, good news as well!”
“Good news?”
“Yes! The one who reported the spies was none other than Ordell Kiris. She claimed she did it to gain the trust of the High Priest and become your spy from within the temple herself.”
“She said that?”
The Count’s voice was laced with scorn.
It was clear he didn’t believe a single word of what Ordell had said.
Of course, under normal circumstances, Gale wouldn’t have either. He would have laughed in her face and personally re-educated her thoroughly on the Count’s behalf.
But that time… something about her had been different. For some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to strike her as usual.
There had been a force to her words. A strange power that made him believe her.
“That foolish girl. No matter how much she schemes, there’s no way she could do anything right. And you bring her words back to me without question?”
“I’ll tell you everything that happened at the grand temple. Please listen and judge for yourself.”
Gale quickly replied.
After a long moment of silence, the Count finally clicked his tongue and gave a reluctant nod.
Relieved, Gale began to recount everything that had occurred there, in full detail from the very beginning.
SoundlessWind21’s Notes:
If there are any errors, whether it be grammatical, spelling, translation, or website-related issues, feel free to let me know. (´◡`) Anyway, thank you for reading!