Where did the serious atmosphere just mere seconds ago disappeared to.
Lidianne twisted my arm, and I let out a shriek so unbefitting of a maiden.
“Why are you always like that! Argh!!”
“Ouch! Liddy! It really hurts!!”
Lidianne didn’t know how to stop.
I lifted my head to plead for help. What I saw was the dumbfounded underlings, and — Lufure-sama rocking in laughter, not the least surprised.
“Go, go! More!”
“It’s not ‘More’ you should be saying! Ow!”
“Ahahaha! Serves you right!!”
Tsk!!! You’re totally treating it as somebody else’s problem!
In that case, then I’m so gonna drag you down with me!
Disturbing thoughts raced through my mind, and I extended my hand towards Lufure-sama —
“…You get along well.”
My hand stopped midair when I heard that whisper.
“You girls, and even Lufure-sama — even your deities…How enviable.”
Marie’s complaint sounded like a sigh, and it took me by surprise.
Lidianne was also twisting my arm, but she stopped instantly.
“I understand why Rozalie felt so jealous. She went overboard, though… But, we totally understand that feeling.”
“Yup.”
Marie said those words, and Sofie nodded beside her.
Loneliness filled their expression.
“We don’t have deities who will help us, after all.”
‘Ah…’
I held my tongue when I heard her detached tone.
Sofie smiled with self-mockery as she stared at Lidianne and me — both of us had been speechless.
“Our deities have never come to save us, nor have they rushed towards us with worry. Actually, we hadn’t even seen their figures. Not even once since the day we stepped into the Shrine.”
‘…not even once…’
I don’t really recall when was it, but Luufure-sama did mention that the deities hadn’t chosen their saintesses.
They forge the oracles and the Shrine arbitrarily decides on who would become the saintesses, he said.
“We knew full well that the fake saintesses aren’t you girls, but us. Rozalie also knew that in her heart. That’s why she was extremely jealous.”
Maire clasped her hands together while saying those words.
She gripped them hard as she bowed her head and closed her eyes, and she looked like she was praying.
“Even if we stopped her so that she wouldn’t go overboard, we did have the same thoughts as Rozalie within our hearts. Jealousy, and envy. Why do you guys, who are supposedly fake saintesses, have deities, while we don’t.”
Her voice turned slightly hoarse.
Her knuckles had turned white from the strength of her grip and her shoulders were quivering.
“…It’s because I’m like this that my deity doesn’t want to appear before me. Even from now on, I’m sure of it.”
“………..”
Lidianne and I couldn’t say anything in return.
We’ve been told that I’m a fake saintess for the longest time ever; besides, setting aside Lidianne, I am a fake Saintess — but yeah, we do have deities that stayed by our side,
I couldn’t say any word, much less comfort her.
Silence descended inside the room once again.
The sun had already set, the candlelight flickering.
The open window showed us the scene of the trees swaying in the wind outside.
“…From now on, you said. But you’re not sure about that, right.”
Lufure-sama said that, a hint of bitterness in his tone.
He turned to the window once, scratched his head before shaking his head slightly.
He then heaved a deep sigh — he looked up, as if resigned to his whatever it was.
He then turned to Marie in that same moment.
“Marie Fowl.”
Marie straightened her back when he called her full name sharply.
She had stiffened, but Lufure-sama didn’t even lift a brow.
“That room is empty, but you still clean it everyday. You always diligently open the window to let the wind in…You can keep at it. Maybe one day, the wind will blow and enter there.”
He said all those things in an indifferent manner, then he turned to Sofie in the same momentum.
“Sofie Grace. You have never failed in tending to the rose garden. Even though nobody spared a glance to the garden that doesn’t have any blooms…But, a bud might be already there. Even though it will still take a while for it to bloom.”
Why… Sofie mumbled.
Why did Lufure-sama know that?
He suddenly scrutinized her.
There wasn’t any trace of his earlier brash and cheeky attitude on his face now.
An expression that didn’t suit his childish face appeared on his face — it was the dignified face of a deity and it was enough to send chills down their spine.
“Whirlwind God Toulle. The vine rose’s Fosse — even if you can’t see them, it doesn’t mean that they’re gone.”
‘Whirlwind, vine rose.’
Both of them are low-ranking deities here in the Shrine.
But that wasn’t the thing that crossed my mind back then.
When Rozalie was chasing and about to capture us — the wind that was blowing and the thickets that stopped her feet.
Perhaps, then back then —
“Even if you are not the Saintesses that they have chosen, they have seen all the things that you do, so they know.”
He then looked at them in turns.
He looked stately, but his eyes were gentle.
“Those guys are watching over you, beside you.”
A gentle breeze blew from the open window.
The trees rustled, the candlelight flickered, and Marie and Sofie exchanged glances.
They both blinked in shock, then they gasped, and afterward —
Their expressions crumpled.
Lufure-sama stared out of the window, before harrumphing as he frowned uncomfortably.
Lidianne happily gazed at the two girls, as if it was her own happy matter.
The tense atmosphere disappeared, filling the room with serenity.
But.
Wait a sec.
“… Sorry to burst your bubble.”
A low voice resounded amidst the room that was basked in the glow of happy ending.
It’s no one else but me.
"
"
I approached the two girls whose eyes were glistening in tears and grabbed their shoulders.
I already knew how tactless I am even from the beginning.
Even if Lidianne forgave them, even if Kami-sama himself forgave them…
“But I don’t recall forgiving you two, you know.”
Don’t make me say that I had forgotten all the harassment they did to me — splashing water and tripping me, you name it.
With a daring smirk, I gazed at their faces in turns.
––––
T/N: Lol, and what are you planning, Eleanor XD
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