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Unlike when dealing with Akkard, the maid knocked on Damia’s door with a smile and reported:
“Miss, a visitor has arrived.”
Usually this sentence had made Damia frown recently, but this time it was different.
“Quickly, bring him in.”
She got up from her seat with a bright expression.
The person who followed the maid’s guidance was a familiar figure. A beautiful elf-like young man with a white face, elegant blonde hair, and a tall stature, smiled at her.
“It’s been a while, Damia.”
Since Lessid had been dismissed from his priestly post he no longer donned the temple’s white uniform. Instead he looked refreshing in his lightweight white shirt and blue vest, stood out especially in the sweltering weather.
She had not known about it before because he had always worn uniforms, but Lessid’s taste in plain clothes was quite luxurious. The County of Ferria was not lacking in wealth but it was the first time she had been reminded of his station as he exuded the aura of a precious young master, dressed and looking cool and natural as a fish in water.
“Lessid-nim, you’ve endured a long journey to get here.”
Damia greeted him and smiled for the first time in a few days. She didn’t know why, but the moment she saw Lessid as he entered, she was very happy.
‘Why? Is it because your heart is weak?’
Damia himself was unfamiliar with the vast change in her emotions and was puzzled. Perhaps she was worried about leaving her hometown, so the people from the north made her happy.
But unlike Damia, who was smiling, Lessid’s face darkened slightly.
“
 
 It seems that life in the capital is not going well.”
“Yes?”
“Your face seems to be in poor condition. My apologies for being disrespectful to the lady, but I think you’ve lost some weight.”
Suddenly, without warning, Lessid’s long, white fingers stroked her cheek. He asked carefully as he lowered his long eyelashes, which would make any woman jealous.
“Did something bad happen?”
At that question, Damia felt a wave of something rushing over her. She realized that everything had been more difficult than she had thought.
But, showing her tears, to Akkard was enough. She took a deep shaky breath, and swallowed her emotions inside her. And then she laughed as if she had never been hurt.
“It’s just because it’s hot. It is definitely a different level of heat from the north.”
Quick-witted Lessid has not missed the instant of the emotional shudder that passed over her. But instead of pointing it out, he pretended to be deceived by Damia’s bluff, who didn’t notice his act in turn.
“The heat must be affecting you. Please have some of this.”
What Lessid handed over was a small receptacle of holy water. It wasn’t like the fresh water sold in the Great Hall of the High Temple saying that it was holy water in name only, but was the “real thing” that a powerful priest with divine power blessed.
“Thank you.”
Damia, who received something precious that even nobles could not easily drink, drank it with gratitude. It was polite to drink such a gift in front of the gifter.
‘It’s cool and refreshing.’
Even in this hot weather, the holy water was surprisingly cold. Thanks to this, she felt her body suffocating from the heat regain vitality in a flash.
“Thanks to you, I feel a little better. I am at a loss at what to do because I feel indebted to you every time?”
“It is I, that owes you.”
Lessid looked at her with an unshakable gaze and continued,
“You saved my sister, didn’t you? Damia.