Chapter 45: CH 45

I stared at him with bewildered eyes.

After a moment of silence, the Countess opened her mouth.

“Marquis Lloyd. Why are you suddenly saying that all of a sudden…”

“Hegen, where are you wearing your eyes, I wonder.”

Cass, with his cool expression, spoke straight to him.

“You’re not a believer who doesn’t even recognize the Saintess’ face, are you?”

They quickly found out that I was the Saintess.

“Ga… sp? Saintess?”

The man with a mustache looked as if his eyes were about to fall out of it at any moment.

I let out a small sigh.

The poor customer was neglected at the department store, but she turned out to be the president’s daughter. Is it the feeling of this reversal drama?

They also will know.

Cass Lloyd isn’t the type of person who likes to joke.

“You seem to have stopped by to find a building for the temple relief project…”

Cass said, looking into my eyes.

“Did Hegen introduce you to a good building?”

But he spoke his words well as if he had put oil on his mouth. With a chic face that doesn’t seem to be flexible.

“No.”

I answered with a prickly face.

Hegen’s eyes widened when he heard that it was a temple relief project.

Elium is the largest temple in the capital, and there are rumors that the assets of the temple are similar to those of the Imperial Palace.

If Hegen made the temple a customer, this would be a huge opportunity.

“They say there’s no building. I need to go to another agency.”

Hegen’s lips trembled at my words.

“N-No. That’s not it… ! S-Saintess!”

It was a little funny to see him trembling in embarrassment because of the words I had spit out.

I looked at Hegen with pitiful eyes, and the ladies glanced at him too. The Countess’ face was red. The other ladies were also so startled that they couldn’t even make eye contact and were shaking their hands.

“S-Saintess!”

Hegen knelt down in front of me.

“How dare these dead eyes dare not to know the Saintess…!”

The triangular-shaped eyes that had been raised were lost and trembling.

“Oh my, why? You said you didn’t deal with buildings in Area 10.”

I could have sent it nicely, but I tend to have a grudge.

“Ah, if I tell the High Priest about today’s event, he might make good use of it in the Mass. The temple relief project is experiencing these difficulties.”

Hegen’s face turned dark. Perhaps, when the believers find out about this, the Hegen agency will receive a great deal of protest or scorn.

“Saintess, please forgive me!”

“Are you even asking for forgiveness for saying that there is no building? And…”

I said looking at the ladies’ gang.

“I need to review the eligibility criteria for the divine of Elium. As you know, there are a lot of nobles who want to become saints, but there are a lot of people with personalities that are not suitable for being a saint in Elium, so we’re struggling with various problems.”

The ladies’ faces turned pale.

Becoming a member of Elium means becoming the mainstream noble of the Empire, because what was stamped on a saint was the door to the mainstream nobility.

The news that the Ragefield family had been expelled not long ago was no longer a secret.

“S-Saintess…”

“Saintess. I apologize.”

All the ladies shouted in a panicked voice, but I turned around.

At that moment, Cass’ voice was heard.

“Would you like to leave?”

“Yes.”

I answered, grabbing his outstretched hand for the escort.

But he stopped while trying to escort me.

“Ah, but I think we need to stop at the merchant for a while. For today’s relief project, I have left a relief fund of 5,000 franc to deliver to Saintess.

Hm, what else is this about?

I looked at Cas with puzzled eyes.

A faint smile could be seen on his lips. Then I heard Hegen’s voice from behind.

“S-Saintess! I will give it to you now.”

“Me too, wait a minute.”

“Saintess, I will donate for my family as well.”

Hegen and the ladies were rummaging through their bags.

Cass, perhaps…

“Please take it. It’s a small, sincere thing, but please.”

And they brought me more than 5,000 franc.

This is what it meant to say, “If you’re going to sympathize, give it to me with money,” and I pretended to be worried while holding back the smile that popped out around my mouth

“Please use it for the relief project and may Elium forget our blasphemy.”

The unexpected collection made my dark mood well up.

It was sad that the 4,000-franc holy relic called the ‘Pendant of the Seal’, which had left the All-Purpose Pocket empty, was useless, but this collection made my money full.

[Your Money: 6,700 franc]

I think I’m going to be rich soon, though?

***

“Hegen seemed to be looking forward to the temple relief project.”

As soon as I left the store, Cass raised the corner of his lips and spoke to me.

“Yes.”

I replied insignificantly, remembering Hegen, who had been crouching the whole time and watching me.

“The Saintess didn’t say that you would entrust the business to him. And it’s the money that you got by poking out my feet, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

“Well. If the Marquis said so.”

I said with a smile.

In any case, this money was to be spent on self-help, anyway.

“It’s embarrassing to take it all by myself, can I give you 10 percent of it?”

Cass chuckled and gave a cool grin.

“It’s fine.”

He’d know that I’m saving money after I sold stuff to Lloyd’s Merchant.

“But since when have you been watching me?”

Perhaps it was no coincidence that he stopped by the Hegen Agency.

From the moment he saw my unrecognizable back, he knew it was me.

“I found you coming out of the temple.”

But his answer was much earlier than I thought.

“Yes?”

I was surprised and asked him.

A gust of wind blew and scattered my black hair.

“Your face looked complicated. The voices of the priests praising the Saintess were noisy, and that is probably the reason.”

Cass looked at me and said.

I said, “Ah,” while putting my hair behind my ear.

“You heard the news.”

A slight smile crept across Cass’ lips.

“Very intense power. The priests must be excited because they witnessed such a pure strength that can’t be compared with divine power.”

“Hm.”

At those words, I was deeply embarrassed.

“Then it must have been that the Saintess healed my Blue Wing as well.”

Cass said with a smirk.

Those words reminded me of one day. The dying blue bird and the moment I brought it back to life for the first time with the use of divine power, I will probably never forget it for the rest of my life.

But at the time, I said no, so he had nothing to say.

“I guessed a little.” He turned his gaze to look at the others and continued. “Because your eyes, which were telling me not to throw it away, but rather kill it, showed a deep contempt for me.”

His dark blue eyes had a monotonous glow.

“As if you saw the condition of the abandoned bird yourself.”

I suddenly got curious and asked.

“How is the Blue Wing doing?”

“Yes. Obviously. The dogs have been retrained not to dare to bite their owners.”

That’s a relief.

Then his voice was heard again.

“Isn’t it because you wanted to hide your divine power?”

Divine power.

Those two words from his mouth stabbed me in the chest.

Obviously, it was like that. I tried to hide my power from both Reihausd and Cass. Because I had to be a fake saintess.

And I thought it was good to leave the temple so as not to have a tragic ending like the original story.

But since yesterday it has become impossible. Maybe it has been like that since the oracle opened.

There was a slight curiosity in his dark blue eyes.

“Is that child worthy enough for you to give up your efforts?” Cass asked me with a look as if he didn’t understand.

The small smile on his lips was of a primitive kind, aroused solely by interest, like the laughter of a baby who knew no good or evil.

“Worth it. It’s a little bitter.”

Just because I had divine power, that didn’t mean I could save everyone.

“Let it be. And…”

I lifted my head, looked straight at Cass, and opened my mouth.

“Even if it was someone other than Daisy who was there, if I had the power to save them, I would save them.”

In my past life, I wasn’t a good person who helped others with a warm heart.

Of course, I still don’t intend to live like that now.

But in a desperate situation where someone’s life was at stake, I had only one choice. Help as best I can. That was all I knew.

“Even if it was the Marquis.”

It’s a trivial thing, but I added unnecessary words.

Suddenly, a subtle light flashed in his dark blue eyes.

After a while he opened his mouth.

Cass stared at me for a long time.

“You’re speaking like a saintess.”

Perhaps all that matters to him are numbers and scales.

Perhaps, in his eyes, I may look strange because I chose the lighter side of the tilted scale.

I answered casually.

“I don’t know what it means to be a saintess, but I just… It’s just an act for me.”

If I had watched that child die to hide my divine power, I would have suffered from a sense of loss and nightmares.

So saving Daisy was also for me.

“Whatever it is, it’s the way I feel comfortable.”

His gaze suddenly seemed to deepen. Soon, an unexpected smile appeared on his lips.

“You’re saying that your scale is different from mine.”

It could be expressed that way.

I looked at him and nodded my head.

He smiled brightly at my resolute response. Then he asked me.

“Today, do you have more time? Shall we go on a date?”