The Sun God was currently so cornered that He had to ask for help from a soul on its way to heaven.
But with the Grand Temple lacking believers, could it possibly have any money?
Of course not. It was dirt poor, barely scraping by thanks to donations from the Kiris family.
And yet, Ordell’s bedroom was this extravagant because she had been diligently squandering those donations.
“This was a scene in the novel too, but I’d completely forgotten about it.”
I’d been stunned the first time I saw the dressing room.
It didn’t just have every type of dress imaginable—they were all outrageously luxurious.
Forget trying to find hidden funds.
She’d wasted all the money on extravagance, so there was no way she’d have tucked away some secret stash.
That left only one option.
“Sell it.”
Let’s sell everything in the room that could be worth money—decorations, dresses, jewelry, all of it.
I wouldn’t be needing any of it now that I was planning to leave the Grand Temple.
And with the money I made… I should probably return at least some of it to the Temple, right?
“It’s not even my money, so I won’t feel bad.”
I quietly wiped away the tears streaming down my face.
Then, I’d need someone to handle all of this for me—someone who actually knew the value of these items, since I had no clue.
But who could I ask?
It wasn’t like Ordell had any friends in the Temple. No one would have been close to someone as arrogant and wasteful as her.
If I asked Irik, I’d have a harder time keeping the emergency funds to myself.
I had no choice. I’d have to make a list of what could be sold and figure it out myself.
If I didn’t want to get ripped off in this world, I needed to at least get a general sense of how much things were worth.
* * *
I’d been working on the list for hours without even stepping outside.
It wasn’t until someone knocked on the door that I finally snapped back to reality.
The sheet of paper I’d been holding was now filled top to bottom.
“Saintess, I’ve brought your dinner.”
“Come in.”
“……”
“……?”
Why weren’t they coming in?
Just as I was wondering whether I needed to get up and open the door myself, someone finally stepped inside.
He had curly red hair and beautiful, watery blue eyes—a strikingly handsome man.
That face was definitely not a background character.
There was only one person with such looks in the Grand Temple of the Sun God.
A devoted aide who would do anything for Head Priest Irik and an indispensable high priest of the Temple.
It was unmistakably Dietrich Warren.
“Do you require anything else?”
Ah—had I been staring too hard? Dietrich hated Ordell.
Not that there was anyone in this place who liked her, anyway.
“No, I don’t.”
I set down the list I’d been working on and sat at the table.
The meal was almost the same as what Irik had brought earlier for lunch.
But for some reason, Dietrich didn’t leave and instead remained standing at my side.
He was staring so intensely that it was honestly making me uncomfortable.
“Is there something you want to say…?”
“I’m simply waiting to clear your dishes once you’ve finished. You needn’t mind me.”
Your eyes are a little too intense for me to not mind you, though.
Trying to pretend he wasn’t even there, I took a big bite out of the bread.
“But Saintess… may I ask why you’re suddenly speaking formally?”
I nearly bit my own tongue instead of the bread.
Right—vicious Ordell had talked down to everyone.
Even to Head Priest Irik.
Irik hadn’t said anything about it, but Dietrich had no qualms about asking directly.
‘…But maybe this is a good chance?’
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say Dietrich hated Ordell more than anyone else in the Temple.
After all, she constantly belittled the Head Priest he served so loyally.
And even though he knew she was the Saintess, he never bothered hiding his dislike for her.
If that’s the case, wouldn’t he be thrilled to hear I was planning to leave the Temple?
Maybe he’d even help persuade Irik for me.
“I’ve had a bit of a change of heart recently.”
“…A change?”
“Yes. I’ve been immature and treated you all with terrible disrespect. I’m truly sorry.”
I stood up, brought my hands together politely, and bowed to Dietrich.
“Excuse me… What did you just say?”
Oh, he’s flustered. He’s really flustered.
Well, Irik was surprised too. Of course Dietrich would be as well.
“I just don’t think I’m suited to be the Saintess. So I’ve decided to step down and leave soon.”
Dietrich’s face stiffened as if my sudden statement had caught him completely off guard.
“The position of Saintess is not something you can just sit down in or leave on a whim!”
“Then is it fine for me to continue living here like this?”
“That’s…!”
Seems he can’t bring himself to say I should stay either.
Wow. He really does hate Ordell.
“Of course, I’m not saying I’ll leave immediately. I want to make up for the damage I’ve caused the Temple as much as I can before I go.”
“…Make up for it?”
“I’d like to apologize to everyone. To all those I’ve hurt emotionally.”
Dietrich’s face twisted further in confusion.
But I meant it. I wasn’t lying—not even a little.
“And one more thing.”
I handed him the item list I’d spent the entire afternoon preparing.
“This is a list of everything I own. I’d like you to sell everything here and convert it into cash.”
Dietrich looked like his eyes were about to pop out of his head.
He seemed completely dazed, like someone who’d been smacked repeatedly upside the head.
“I feel I’ve used too much of the Temple’s funds for my own personal indulgences. I want to return them.”
“No, wait, this is—”
“Oh! Except for this one.”
I pointed at the first item on the list: a dress.
It looked like it would fetch a good price once sold.
“I bought this dress using allowance I saved up from the family, so I’d like to keep the money from this one for myself.”
A complete lie, of course. How would I know where Ordell got the money?
But if Dietrich handed everything over to Irik, I’d be penniless when I left.
Even if it pricked my conscience, I had to bluff to recover at least some emergency funds.
Please, please don’t know where the dress came from, Dietrich.
“And if possible, I’d like to know how much each item was sold for. It’d be even better if you could compare the amount to the Temple’s operating funds. I want to reflect on just how thoughtlessly I’ve been spending money.”
Well, the truth was, I needed it to understand the market prices.
“Thank you in advance.”
I gently pressed the list into Dietrich’s trembling hands and gave him a soft smile.
If this went well, I could walk away from the Temple with some emergency funds and zero guilt!
But at the time, I had no idea.
That all of this—my perfect little plan—would be completely overturned in less than a day…
* * *
Dietrich left Ordell’s room with a dazed look on his face.
But he didn’t walk away right away. He just stood there for a long time.
What on earth had just happened?
Had he really just spoken to Ordell?
“…Now I see why the Head Priest told me to keep an eye on the Saintess.”
He must’ve sensed it too—that something was off about her.
No, not just off. Something was seriously wrong.
When she handed him that list, Dietrich had genuinely suspected that Ordell had lost her mind from some grave illness.
He stared down at the list with a complicated expression, then made his way to Irik’s room to report.
“She said she wants to sell all of these…”
Irik looked down at the list with an equally troubled expression.
He had just returned from the prayer room after a long session of repentance, trying to ease the guilt of having appointed a fake Saintess.
And now this new information from Dietrich only added to the turmoil in his heart.
‘She even said she wants to return all the money to the Temple…’
Most of the items Ordell had were bought using the Temple’s operating funds.
She insisted it was fine because it came from donations the Kiris family had sent.
The presence or absence of a Saintess—especially one who could hear the word of the Sun God—meant so much for the Temple that he’d accepted a fake, even at a loss.
But now she was repenting and trying to return it all.
What in the world was she thinking?
“Oh, she did say there was one thing she wouldn’t return. She claimed she bought it using allowance from her family, so she wanted to keep the money from that sale.”
Dietrich pointed to the first item on the list.
Irik’s eyes widened as he looked at it.