/
Hearing this would touch anyone’s heart.
Pure goodwill that was for the sake of the temple and the people of the empire!
‘Indeed, she is the Saintess!’
The high priest lamented the times when he ever doubted if she was truly the saintess.
The ducal lady was still immature, but she definitely had a saint’s heart.
“Did she say if there’s anything I can help with?” the high priest asked.
“It’s the reason I brought up the fountain with you.”
“What is it then! Tell me at once.”
Victor blinked dazedly when the high priest jumped out of his seat and urged him.
He had been under the high priest’s care ever since he was a child, but he rarely ever saw him be so excited before.
The last time he had been so excited was when he received the revelation that the saintess was coming down unto the world, but

Ever since then, he could find no other reason to smile. Besides the good news that the ‘saintess’ had appeared, only bad news followed for years on end.
Besides, what happened at that time was just

‘Ah, now’s not the time for that.’
Victor pulled back his fleeting thoughts, then he opened his lips to speak.
“It’s not very difficult to do. Her Ladyship asked for your written consent that the fountain would be used for donations to the temple. She said that she needs it for the documentation she’ll be sending to the Imperial Palace.”
“Hoh
”
The high priest was quivering with excitement, but he soon halted in place and muttered in confusion.
He felt dizzy from the many emotions he was feeling.
It was a favor that was entrusted to him, and at best, the written consent was tantamount to a ‘guarantee to prove that it’s purely for the purpose of donating to the temple’.
As soon as this were to be submitted to the imperial palace, the fountain would be solely and unconditionally used for only temple donations.
In other words, it’s nothing short of a legal binding.
“I’ll get it ready at once. But when did she say she needed it?”
“She just asked me to bring it to her on our next class, so—”
“Alright! Then I should write it at once!”
The high priest cut off Victor mid-sentence, and he jumped up from his seat.
The old man’s back, as he lumbered back to his desk looked, strangely excited.
‘How many times has he said the words ‘at once’ until now, I wonder.’
Victor rose from his seat, a light smile on his lips.
Even though he was heading out of the office already, the high priest only seemed to have waved him out. He was busy writing up the guarantee.
Now out the door, Victor walked down the empty corridor.
Beyond the arches supported by structured white columns, what came into his sight were the blossoming roses of early summer.
Roses that boasted pink petals were also called God’s favorite flowers.
Now that he thought of it, that shade resembled the ducal lady’s hair color.
‘Ducal Lady Roella. No, Her Eminence the Saintess
’
Standing tall, he recalled the ducal lady who he faced today.
If he were to be perfectly honest, when he heard all the rumors surrounding her, he did not consider her to be the saintess.
Thanks to this, his expectations of her had reached nearly zero.
However, when he finally had the chance to face her in person, his impression of her went like this: she did not seem to be knowledgeable enough, but she at least had enough passion for learning.
He didn’t know how she had been until now, but his own personal impression of the ducal lady that he met today wasn’t all that bad.
Besides that, she even came up with a unique and ingenious way for people to donate to the temple.
‘Somehow or another, she seems to have potential to be a commendable saintess.’
And strangely enough, he was looking forward to their next class.
* * *
“Hmm, hmm.”
After accompanying my teacher to his carriage and seeing him off, I went straight back to my chambers.
In my arms were some books that I borrowed from the library.
I’m thinking of reviewing what I learned today, and also to roughly read more about the basics of theology.
It’s embarrassing that I’m barely at pre-school level at the age that I am now, so I decided to study in advance.
Still, it didn’t prove to be easy to read my books when I returned to my room.
It’s because I kept smiling.
‘Maybe I successfully got a good impression, just as planned?’
The class, and the donation.
It was a pure coincidence that I came up with the idea of the fountain of wishes.
While taking a walk in the garden before class, the fountain over there suddenly caught my eye.
‘That’s it!’
As soon as I saw the fountain, I was struck with a lightbulb moment with the idea of donating through a fountain.
Back in my previous life, there was one particular place where I wanted to go the most.
Rome, Italy.
And, the famous tourist destination there.
‘Fontana di Trevi!’
The Fontana di Trevi was also known as the fountain of wishes.
That nickname was given due to the notion that throwing coins while praying for what you want would ensure that your wishes would come true.
I don’t know whether it’s real or not, but the fountain itself has already become such a famous tourist attraction. When I read about it, it’s said that the coins alone that had been thrown in there amounted to roughly 1.7 billion Korean won per year. (About 1.2 million USD)
1.7 billion.
Wasn’t that amount of money enough to make anyone’s heart race?
Of course, I don’t think coins amounting to 1.7 billion would be thrown into my fountain of wishes.
Firstly, I hadn’t even decided where I’d set it up.
Even so.
‘As long as the people of the Empire or tourists will come to toss coins in it, even if it’s not 1.7 billion
’
It’s basically a piggy bank that would fill itself up on its own.
Then, there’s also a 10% interest on top of that.
‘The only thing that my mission details said was to donate, so I’ll just accept everything that the fountain of wishes can collect.’
It never said anything about how I had to donate my own money.