“So you think I spent 3,000 gold on something that doesn’t even work? I wouldn’t do that even if I had money rotting away.”
Leaning comfortably into the overly plush seat of the carriage, more extravagant than any other, Ruthe curved his eyes into a smile.
When he said that a single flower had finally bloomed in the depths of despair, Yuri welled up with tears and covered his mouth.
“The contents of the ancient manuscript were real! Sniff. It feels like all the suffering until now has been washed away. I was so worried it might’ve been for nothing again this time… Wait, did you say 3,000 gold? But I only paid 1,000?”
“I paid 2,000 more.”
“When?!”
“To be exact, I was ripped off.”
Ruthe let out a light laugh as he said that.
Ordell Kiris, the saintess, had looked him straight in the eye and boldly demanded another 2,000 gold.
And that wasn’t even the end of it. Every month, he had to travel all the way to this remote place to continue paying.
That too—with separate fees for donations and for recharges.
When she said she would charge less for the recharge fee than the donation, he was genuinely touched—almost brought to tears.
Had he ever been scammed out of thousands of gold in his life?
Never. Not once, he swore. Not a single head of the Sheary family throughout its long history had ever been conned like this.
And by a saintess, no less.
“Pfft!”
Ah, just thinking about it still makes me laugh.
“……For our master, known throughout the Empire for his terrible temper, to be ripped off for 2,000 gold and still laugh like this… Could it be the relic is affecting your mind? Are you really okay? Show me. I need to inspect it!”
Yuri was horrified by Ruthe, who kept chuckling softly.
It wasn’t the usual mocking laugh—it was the kind of laugh that came from genuine joy, which made it all the more terrifying.
“No. I’m not showing it to anyone. The saintess told me if something happens to the relic, then I really will die.”
“What does that even mean…….”
“She figured out everything—that I was sick, and that I’ve been in constant pain.”
“What?! But how… Even the saintess and saint of the Sea God couldn’t figure that out…….”
The Sea God, one of the three major deities on the continent, was currently the most revered.
That’s why Ruthe had visited the Sea God’s Grand Temple to seek treatment.
But the result had been deeply disappointing.
Instead of diagnosing his condition, they had arrogantly assumed he had finally knelt before the Sea God's might and puffed themselves up with pride.
Even though the saintess had examined his body with divine power, she hadn’t noticed a thing.
What had she said? That he was in excellent health and would live a long, prosperous life?
She even bestowed a blessing and claimed only good things awaited him?
Utter nonsense.
That very day, the moment Ruthe returned to his ducal estate, he had experienced such unbearable pain that he vomited blood for the first time in years.
He hadn’t even glanced in the Sea God's direction since.
Yuri knew all of this.
“The saintess said that the Sun God's divine power is strong in healing—that’s why she was able to see it,” Ruthe said, recalling the moment he first encountered Ordell at the entrance to the Grand Temple.
A woman wearing calm, saintly robes, with fluffy pink hair.
But unlike the gentle color of her hair, her golden eyes, illuminated by the sunlight, were anything but soft.
She barely looked twenty, yet she seemed far deeper and more insightful than the saint and saintess of the Sea God.
And he had definitely seen it—
Those golden eyes sweeping around his surroundings, where there was absolutely nothing.
Even in the audience chamber, her gaze occasionally seemed off, and he had wondered why.
Now he understood the reason.
“If the relic hadn’t worked, I would’ve doubted her words. But it worked—far too well.”
The excruciating pain that had suddenly begun one day.
No doctor had been able to diagnose it, nor alleviate it in the slightest.
After nearly twenty years, he had grown somewhat accustomed to the minor aches. But the pain that occasionally stabbed into his heart or skull like a driven nail—he could never get used to that.
Then, the moment he held the relic Ordell brought, he felt a different kind of pain.
As if searing flames were consuming his head, heart, and entire body.
If he hadn’t lived his whole life in constant agony, he would have screamed and torn himself apart on the spot.
After what felt like an eternity, the pain gradually faded—and he felt it.
A drizzle falling in a drought, a single flower blooming on barren land, a breeze blowing through scorching heat.
It seemed small and insignificant, but it was the beginning of change.
Soon, a downpour drenched his entire body, thousands of soft flowers wrapped around him, and a gentle wind brought the freshest, coolest air in the world.
For the first time in twenty years, his body was free of pain—it was sweet and addictive.
“……She became someone I could trust, no matter what she said. No—someone I had no choice but to trust.”
Ordell had certainly delivered value for the money. She kept her word. She was, surprisingly, a decent person.
But that didn’t mean all suspicions had vanished.
He had seen many people who showed trust, only to suddenly turn their backs.
She too could use this later to demand something outrageous.
To avoid losing his judgment in the euphoria of painlessness, Ruthe clenched his fist tightly.
“They said the Saintess of the Sun God’s Grand Temple is the daughter of the Kiris family, right?”
“We need to confirm it. I know the faces of Count Kiris’s biological children, but this saintess is an adopted daughter and has never appeared officially in society. Nothing is known about her—not even her name or appearance.”
“That’s strange. They brag about having a saintess daughter, but never show her in public? Is the Grand Temple that poor?”
This wasn’t just any ordinary temple under the Grand Temple’s umbrella—it was the very place that served the god most directly, and yet its condition looked abysmal.
Maybe they were hiding her because the place wasn’t reputable.
“Well, we’ll find out if we dig.”
“So you want me to do all the digging?”
“Who else but you? Now that my pain’s gone, I can stop worrying about that. Dig into everything about the saintess.”
“Yes, understood.”
Since Ruthe’s condition had improved, Yuri gladly accepted—less work for him.
That relic really is incredible. Thanks to it, my own workload got lighter. Maybe I should register as a believer myself, out of gratitude?
“Oh, but to investigate the saintess properly, don’t we also need to look into the Grand Temple?”
“Leave that alone.”
“Why?”
“You’re being really chatty today. Have I been too lenient with you?”
Ruthe smiled at Yuri while looking him straight in the eye.
It was a smile with only the mouth—a kind of smile where the eyes didn’t smile. Yuri found it the most terrifying thing in the world.
“Ahem! I will focus all my efforts on investigating the Kiris family!”
At Yuri’s boisterous reply, Ruthe turned his gaze out the window.
The now distant rooftop of the Grand Temple could be glimpsed faintly through the dense trees.
There was only one reason Ruthe hadn’t assigned the Grand Temple’s investigation to Yuri:
‘Because I want to look into it myself.’
If the High Priest and the Holy Knight Captain were the saintess’s most trusted people in the temple, why were they keeping everything a secret from him? What was their relationship with her?
Ah, he was already looking forward to the next month.
* * *
“Count. It’s William Gale.”
Gale knocked on the massive door and took a deep breath.
Seeing the two delicately carved dahlia flowers on the door, his heart clenched tight.
They were pure and beautiful flowers, beloved by many—but to him, they brought only fear.
“Come in.”
At the cold voice from inside, Gale gulped and opened the door.
Seated behind a solid wooden desk was his master—the owner of the dahlias—Count Joseph Kiris.
His sharp green eyes and stern face only deepened Gale’s fear.
Unable to bear the weight, Gale bowed so low his body folded in half.
“According to the Grand Temple, all eight infiltrators including Kento have been imprisoned.”
The Count’s hand, which had been signing documents, froze in place.
Even without looking up, Gale could feel the Count’s gaze stabbing into his scalp.
“……And?”
“Ah, it seems unlikely we can get them all out.”
“I didn’t send you all the way there just to hear that.”
The Count’s voice was even colder than expected. Gale swallowed hard.
“B-but, I also have good news!”
“Good news?”
“Yes! It was none other than Ordell Kiris who exposed the infiltrators. She said she did it to gain the High Priest’s trust and become your personal spy.”
“She said that?”
The Count’s voice dripped with scorn.
He clearly didn’t believe a word of Ordell’s statement.
Normally, Gale would’ve laughed at Ordell to her face and taken the lead in thoroughly re-educating her on the Count’s behalf.
But something had been different about her this time. Strangely, he couldn’t bring himself to raise a hand against her.
There was a strange force in her words that made him believe her.
“That foolish girl never does anything right when she tries to use her head—and you come back to me with her story, word for word?”
“I’ll tell you everything that happened at the Grand Temple. Please, judge for yourself.”
Gale spoke urgently.
After a long silence, the Count clicked his tongue and granted permission.
Relieved, Gale began to explain everything that had occurred in detail, from the very beginning.