/
Whenever the temple and the imperial family had to communicate, it was usually through the high priest, not the saintess. Thus, even if they did run into each other before, their interactions were limited to just passing by each other in public.
Besides that, he had been away for the past year due to the war against the pagans.
‘Did she change in the past year? If not…’
Perhaps the rumors surrounding her were exaggerated and blown up from the very start.
Rumors were originally like that, after all.
While thinking about Roella, Hestin quickly said, ‘I’ll be off now,’ as he disappeared.
Left alone amongst the unconscious men sprawled out on the ground, Hildeon sat down on the sofa.
It’s become a habit now.
A habit he acquired after getting cursed.
Whenever he was alone, the first thing he’d do was close his eyes.
After he had gotten cursed, he was constantly struck with vociferous pain and fatigue.
The pain that began on his back had slowly spread all throughout. It weighed down on him heavily.
He also had a particularly bad headache.
He couldn’t even sleep because of the throbbing migraine.
It was also painful to keep his eyes open.
He made a conscious effort to hide it and appear calm, but he was no longer sure how much longer he could hide it.
However.
‘That’s strange.’
Hildeon slowly opened his eyes.
It was certainly strange.
The pain that had been bothering him every single day felt faint today.
Though it hadn’t completely disappeared, it was significantly lessened.
And, Hildeon clearly remembered the moment that his pain had died down.
—There’s some dust over here.
The moment that the saintess smiled awkwardly and brushed something off his shoulder, the pain that had been pressing down on his whole body heavily had become exceedingly light.
Was it just a coincidence, or…
‘Is it the Saintess’s ability?’
It was a plausible supposition.
In the first place, he was here to intercept the sacred relic because he thought that the ‘power of God’ might break the curse.
The ‘saintess’, who was called God’s envoy, might be more helpful than a sacred relic.
‘But it’s still not certain. I have to proceed cautiously.’
The saintess that he had met today was surely different from all the rumors he heard about her, but he still couldn’t let his guard down with her.
Between the rumors and how she acted today.
It was too early to conclude which was genuinely her.
He would need to ascertain it better first.
Enough that he’d be able to ask her for help while also revealing his secret to her.
‘I’ll have to meet the High Priest first.’
He couldn’t trust the saintess yet, but the high priest was at least a reliable man.
Sweeping up his fringe, Hildeon let out a small sigh.
At the same time, he saw a mirror opposite him.
Hildeon blinked for a moment.
After he reaffirmed that the sprawled out men were still unconscious, he walked up to the mirror.
And his whole body was reflected.
Tall, bulked-up. An impression of ferocity.
He calmly examined his face through various angles, but as he suddenly came to his senses, he looked away.
“Just what am I doing right now.”
With a self-deprecating mutter, Hildeon returned to the couch.
His steps were unusually hurried.
Like someone who’s been caught doing something embarrassing.
Slumping back down on the couch, Hildeon tilted his head back and shut his eyes tightly.
But really, no matter how much he thought about it…
“…I don’t look cute at all.”
Before he knew it, his ears turned bright red as though they were burning.
—Ah, how cute…!
For the first time in his life, he had been called ‘cute’. The word echoed repeatedly in his head.
* * *
“Huuk, huuk…”
“Milady! Where did you disappear off to just now?!”
Returning to the carriage while gasping for air roughly, Jane scolded me with tears pooling in her eyes.
“I was getting so nervous when there was no sign of you coming back. I was just about to go to the jewelry shop…”
“Sorry, sorry. Something held me up so I was late. Before anything else, Jane, let’s go.”
“Huh?”
“Hurry, hurry. Right now.”
I grabbed Jane by the arm and quickly climbed into the carriage.
As nervous as Jane, the driver at the front of the carriage quickly urged the horses to move.
“We’re setting off.”
At the coachman’s cry, the carriage began forward.
As the vehicle was on the way now, Jane blinked dazedly for a moment before she carefully asked.
“Um, Milady.”
“What is it?”
“By any chance, did something happen?”
Because I was in such a hurry, it was only natural that I looked suspicious.
She was probably worried that I might have caused an incident somewhere.
Still gasping for air, I answered, “…Nothing happened, at all.”
Probably.