Chapter 104

The Saintess was merely picking at the meticulously prepared food with her fork, barely eating a thing.

Watching her with anxious eyes were Crown Prince Theodore and Princess Dione.

Taking into consideration his children, who could barely eat due to walking on eggshells, the Emperor reluctantly wiped his mouth with a napkin and asked.

“Is there… something worrying you?”

The Saintess flinched, acting exactly like someone whose mind was completely elsewhere.

“Ah, no. I was just thinking about something else for a moment.”

“Is that so? It is just that… you seem to be filled with deep worry.”

“Ah, you do not need to concern yourself with it.”

Theodore thought to himself.

‘The chef is done for after today.’

He would surely be kicked out for the crime of failing to satisfy the Saintess.

Listening to his younger sister click her tongue beside him, Theodore swallowed a piece of meat.

‘Well, I think I have a general idea, though.’

An ambush targeting her, and the family of her companion dying in the process.

A lot of chilling events had been happening lately, hadn’t they?

It was only natural that the Saintess couldn’t properly snap out of it.

‘As for Father…’

The Emperor was focusing entirely on his meal, as if he had already done his part.

Because Theodore knew that his father was actually trying quite hard by his own standards, he chimed in with a shameless smile instead.

“They say that a worry shared is a worry halved, do they not? Why don’t you try opening up to us, even if it is just a little bit?”

The Saintess stopped her hand that had been twirling the fork.
Then, she gave a slight shake of her head.

“Hmm. I suppose that would be better than suffering alone.”

“But of course. Though our strength is meager, we shall bear it together with you. Right? Royal Father. And Dione.”

The Emperor gave a silent nod, and at Theodore’s prompting gaze, Dione reluctantly agreed as well.

“…B-But of course.”

After mulling it over for a short moment, the Saintess opened her mouth.

“Well, you see… I said some rather harsh words to someone, and I am not quite sure how to ease the tension…”

Faced with a remarkably human worry they never expected to hear from the Saintess, the imperial family members fell utterly dumbfounded.

On top of her rambling, she was clearly filtering out things she shouldn’t say, making it a dilemma that could be interpreted very broadly.

She was likely racking her brains like this because of someone around her, but…

While Theodore and Dione were entirely preoccupied with deducing who could have possibly made the Saintess act this way, the Emperor suddenly nodded as if he thoroughly understood.

“I too… frequently encounter such situations.”

The Saintess raised her voice as if surprised.

“You do as well, Your Majesty?”

“Since I am usually of higher status, it can sometimes feel coercive from the listener’s perspective… and that can lead to misunderstandings…”

“T-That is exactly the case for me too! I am so flustered because it feels like the other party took it much harder than I intended!”

The Saintess’s veil trembled minutely.

It appeared she had let out a heavy sigh.

Slowly but firmly, the Emperor asserted.

“Your Holiness. At times like that… you must not be too impatient…”

“……”

“Because… the issue likely does not lie solely with you. Their own personal problems… are probably compounding the situation, worsening their emotions. In times like that, you must wait. When a time comes where each of you can look at the objective facts again… you can meet then and share a sincere… conversation.”

As if he were looking at a nightmarish demon, Theodore froze completely in place, holding his busy utensils midair.

Dione went as far as to drop her knife onto the floor.

‘To think Father would actually say something like that?’

The two imperial children felt their minds go blank at the advice pouring out so smoothly.

“Sigh, you are entirely correct. I know that time is the best medicine, but my heart just keeps getting impatient.”

However, as if the advice hadn’t fully resonated, the Saintess still looked like her worries were far from resolved.

Seeing this, the Emperor curled the corners of his mouth into a relaxed smile and offered a suggestion.

“If it is difficult to calm your mind and body… there is a way.”

“A way?”

“Yes… there is a very good… method.”

Intrigued by his sweet tone, the Saintess questioned him back, and only then did Dione realize the Emperor’s underlying intention, narrowing her eyes.

‘Seriously, what is he trying to pull this time…?’

Even Dione, who harbored negative feelings toward the Saintess, couldn’t help but feel a pang of pity for her.

I should have known the moment the Emperor flashed a uncharacteristically benevolent smile.

‘Son of a…’

To think he would dump me into volunteer work under the pretext of calming my mind and body!

“To think Your Holiness would visit our foundation’s patron party! It is an absolute honor!”

“Please do not crowd around Her Holiness so closely, Count Romil.”

I was currently at a place called a donor appreciation party, which gathered the core benefactors of some foundation.

‘Did they say it supports orphans and the poor?’

Calling it volunteer work might be a bit of a misnomer.

The Emperor told me that all I needed to do was instill dreams and hope into children, but I couldn’t see a single trace of a child’s face anywhere.

Surrounding me were nothing but nobles elegantly sipping their wine.

I guess I should just consider myself tricked.

‘Damn it, he phrased it in such a way that made it so awkward to refuse.’

Pitching it as a method to calm my mind and body to get me hooked, and then framing it as charity—what kind of Saintess could possibly say no to that?

‘I should have refused anyway.’

What does the Saintess’s reputation even matter at this point?

My judgment was compromised because my mind was entirely consumed by the protagonist.

“Ah, Sir Ilian! My apologies! I never imagined I would actually get to meet Her Holiness in person, so I simply became far too excited. Please forgive me with your broad generosity…”

The man currently sweating buckets while talking in front of me, Count Romil, was apparently the chief executive of the foundation.

He looked like he was trying to politely fold his body in half to apologize, but because his belly was thickly layered with greed, he couldn’t even bend properly.

‘Ah, I want to go home.’

Just as I was thinking that I needed to wrap this up quickly and get the hell out, a familiar notification popped up.

Ding!

It was a pretty light selection of options for the first time in a while.

Since the options usually popped up against major characters, it had been a continuous streak of being unable to let my guard down.

It had honestly been low-key stressful.

Well, enough with the distractions, let’s just pick one.

‘Option two?’

If I chose that one, wouldn’t I be able to just go home?

‘…But still, it’d be a bit much to cause a scene and storm out the moment I arrived.’

Though it felt like I was past the stage of worrying about my reputation.

I hadn’t even secured the protagonist’s inheritance of the title yet, so it wouldn’t do any good to get on the Emperor’s bad side.

I ended up selecting the first option.

“Ahahaha! But of course! Our foundation is thoroughly transparent and untainted before the heavens! We would never allow a recurrence of the Crones Foundation Disaster, after all!”

‘The Crones Foundation Disaster?’

I guess something must have happened in the past?

Count Romil shook his head so violently that his meticulously styled hair turned into a disheveled mess.

“We are entirely different from a place like that! Whew! It is a night and day difference!”

“It certainly ought to be. Since Her Holiness has personally graced us with her visit, betraying her devotion would surely invite the wrath of Ralphican.”

Ilian had tagged along today under the guise of being my escort. Since he didn’t have much of anything to do in the Empire, he had gleefully followed me when I mentioned I was heading out.

“Ahahaha… B-But of course!”

Terrified by the chilling tone that sounded as if he might draw his sword at any second, Count Romil stammered and took several disorganized steps backward before ultimately fleeing to the far edge of the ballroom.

Ilian let out a soft breath, looking quite satisfied.

“Sigh, what an unpleasant fellow.”

It seemed Ilian shared a similar sentiment to mine.

Once the Count vacated the spot, other nobles began approaching one by one to pay their respects to me.

Using that as a trigger, even those who had hesitated to approach me before started swarming in, and before I knew it, I was completely surrounded by a crowd.

Thanks to that, snippets of conversation drifted into my ears without me even trying to listen.

“So that person is the Saintess…”

“As the rumors say, she keeps her face concealed.”

“To think the Saintess would actually come here. Has our relationship with the Holy State improved that much? There have been so many worrisome events lately, after all.”

“Well, didn’t His Highness the Crown Prince stay in the Holy State for quite a long time without facing a single restriction? It is proof of how close our Empire and the Holy State truly are.”

“Both the Saintess and the Saintess’s companion hail from our Empire, after all! It would be stranger if things were bad between us!”

…I see. It seemed the Emperor’s true purpose in sending me here was to put our close relationship with the Holy State on display.

Since he had dumped me into an orphanage foundation out of all the foundations available, I had low-key wondered if he was trying to slight Belita’s lowborn origins.

Anyway, just how long do I have to keep this up?

I was casually shaking or turning down the countless hands constantly reaching out for a handshake.

Against a sheer disadvantage in numbers, Ilian alone couldn’t block everyone.

“Kyaaaak! I touched the Saintess!”

“It’s a hand blessed by holy protection!”

‘This is insane….’

“Please line up one by one to greet Her Holiness…!”

Furthermore, even when Ilian threw out threatening remarks, these people barely listened.

It was right when Ilian and I were thoroughly struggling in the midst of it all.

Ahhh~ Ahhh~

……?

Suddenly, a clear, holy hymn echoed throughout the ballroom.

The crowd fell still at the voice, which naturally seemed to purify the mind.

“Ah, dear me. It seems it is time for prayer.”

“Since Her Holiness is present, our prayers will surely reach Ralphican even better. It is an honor.”

‘Am I saved?’

The nobles, who had been acting as if they had completely forgotten their dignity, straightened their garments and walked toward the front of the ballroom.

‘A stage?’

Curious as to what was happening, I walked over as well, only to find children clad in choir robes standing in neat rows and columns on a small stage prepared up front.
The sound from earlier appeared to have been a brief rehearsal.

‘So there actually are kids here.’

I take back what I thought earlier. The Emperor didn’t make up a total lie, after all.

“Ah, Your Holiness! Just, just a moment, please!”

Taking advantage of the gap left by the dispersing crowd, Count Romil approached me once again.

He brought along five children.

They were impeccably dressed and well-groomed, practically put on display.

A boy wearing a cute bowtie.

A girl wearing a charming one-piece dress.

‘Are they noble children who came along with their parents?’

“Your Holiness. Would you be willing to bestow your holy protection upon these poor children?”

“Poor children?”

“Yes, yes! Since they have lost their parents, they are poor children indeed! Oh, of course, now that our foundation has stepped in to sponsor them, their futures will be filled with nothing but blessings!”

“They appear to be children who came as representatives of the orphanage.”

Ilian subtly whispered into my ear.

Saying that I could obviously do it, I knelt down to match the children’s eye level.

“H-How dare you make Her Holiness bend her knees! H-How insolent! Seek her forgiveness this instant!”

…?

“H-Hieek! We are sorry!”

“W-We are sorry…!”

“We have committed a sin worthy of death!”

Startled by the shrill voice, the children tumbled over unsightlily and prostrated themselves right in front of me.

It wasn’t a pleasant scene to look at.

Honestly, that middle-aged man’s face is a much bigger insolence than—

Ding!