The ’good news’ Aiden was waiting for came the next day. Lumi sent him a message that his herbs had worked wonders and her husband was trying his hardest to find out what went wrong.
Since Lumi had only replaced the batch sent as an offering, her husband’s investigation came up short and he was banished from the temple’s grace.
And this was where Aiden was supposed to come in.
"My Goddess, shall we take a walk outside? I feel like it will be a nice day to catch some mice."
Aiden told her, and the Goddess nodded. They left the construction to the dwarfs while heading to the nearby village where Lumi and her husband resided.
It was finally time to set their priest free.
...
"How can this be? I made sure the spices were of the highest quality, and they even work fine when I use them? How can things end up this way?"
Lumi’s husband raged as he threw a glass toward the wall and caused it to shatter. His servant flinched as he picked up the pieces of the broken glass.
He knew that his master was in a foul mood and he needed to stay clear of him. But he still could not help but ask his master if he was fine.
"Sir, are you-"
"Don’t open your mouth. It is because of you all that I was humiliated. Your deity, faithless hands must have contaminated the spices."
Lumi’s husband had no idea how right he was about the fact that someone else had contaminated the spices. But he was taking his anger out on the wrong person.
The culprit was none other than this life whom he did not even suspect.
"Tsk, I will need to prepare another gift to give to the temple now. What would be a good thing?"
He questioned as he started to look around. But as he was looking into things, a guard decided to rush toward him and inform him that he had a guest.
It made the noble pause, and he looked at his guard with suspicion.
"I have a guest?"
He asked with hope and suspicion, and the guard nodded.
"Yes, sir. Your guest is wearing priest robes and there is this divine glow around him...I think he might be from the nearby temple."
The guard informed Lumi’s husband, and she flinched. She was sure that the local temple wouldn’t want anything to do with her husband for some time, but maybe they needed more donations and had agreed to spare him?
Her husband must have had similar thoughts because he let out a laugh and suddenly looked relieved.
"I see! So the gods have decided to be merciful? That’s good! Let’s welcome them now."
The guard quickly rushed toward the door and forced it open. But when he came back, it was a familiar face Lumi knew quite well.
The person visiting him was not from the local temple, but Aiden from the temple of Goddess Apophis. He had come to help her as per her request.
Seeing him and Goddess Apophis here calmed Lumi down, and she let out a sigh of relief as she noticed her husband welcoming them with open arms, not knowing that they were here as his demise.
There was some fuzzy air around Aiden that made it hard for her to recall his face properly. She was sure he was doing this to hide his identity from others.
’It seems like I chose the right master to follow. Not only is her servant resourceful and smart, but he also knows when to keep his head down.’
Her husband quickly reached out to grab Aiden’s hand and shake it enthusiastically.
"Priest! Welcome to my humble abode. How may I help you on this fine day? What message have you brought for me from the gods?"
The noble asked in a frantic voice, awaiting his sentence with an eagerness Lumi had never seen before.
But Aiden did not answer him outright. Instead, he calmly reached toward his cup of tea. But he did not reach for the one near him. Instead, he chose to grab the one away from him.
His flowy garment touched the first teacup as he brought the other one near him.
"I am afraid we have not come to a conclusion yet. But the priests are willing to believe in you and forgive you. We are well aware that someone as honest and earnest as you would never send bad stuff to our god."
Aiden’s words were soft and barely audible. But they carried enough intent for Lumi’s husband to become happy.
He happily took a huge sip of his tea to show that he was happy.
"I see! That’s great! It means that I won’t have to worry about anything. Priest, please stay the night! I wish to treat you-"
"Unfortunately, I need to head back. My god needs me to attend to them tonight."
Aiden made his way out, and Lumi’s heart beat faster and faster in her chest each second. She waited for her husband to fall over, but that did not happen. That night, he ate a hearty feast, and Lumi felt discouraged.
She decided to head back to Aiden and question him when a miracle happened the next morning.
Her husband was found dead in his bed, and the priests and doctors were called. They tried to find foul play, but there was nothing they found in the end.
There was no poison in her husband’s food, nor was there any hint of a foreign substance. If anything, her husband was dehydrated.
In the end, it was concluded that Lumi would manage her husband’s property until someone else was found who could take over. But that was when she made a decision and wrote the local authorities and temple a letter telling them she wanted to donate everything that was in her and her husband’s name.
She got an instant reply that sounded enthusiastic. After all, everyone expected her to donate to the local temple, so they had no reason to stop her.
And that was where she fooled them.