Please Leave The Sickly Villainess Alone

The temple was located on the outskirts of the capital.

The temple that our carriage arrived at was a magnificent place made of pure white marble.

We climbed the high steps and entered the temple.

Two believers wearing white priestly robes guarding the door recognized me and hurriedly greeted me.

“W-We behold the Saintess!”

‘It’s the first time someone’s called me a saintess.’

These people don’t seem to be from the Sole Saintess Faction.

“I came at the invitation of a sacred family. This letter is supposed to be my entry pass, may I go in?”

It was a letter from a month ago, and I had refused it then, but…

“Of course! Count Heilo is in the temple right now, so you’ll be able to meet him if you go in!”

“Thank you.”

As we passed through the entrance and went inside, more people were visible than outside.

Among them were priests who rushed over to greet me upon seeing me, and there were also priests who looked at me from a distance with rather displeased eyes.

“We behold the Saintess!”

“Thank you for visiting the temple, Saintess!”

I awkwardly received their greetings and asked:

“I came at Count Heilo’s invitation. Do you know where he is now?”

“If you mean the Count, he’s in the prayer room with the High Priest now!”

“Ah, then I should wait outside for a while.”

“No! Both of them have been looking forward to meeting you, Saintess. If we tell them you’re here, they’ll arrange for you to enter the prayer room.”

Before I could finish speaking, one young priest ran towards the prayer room.

“Ria, they’re calling you a saintess.”

Miller whispered beside me, dumbfounded.

“The power of healing mages is close to sacred power, so they have been treated as saints in temples since ancient times. It’s no different now.”

At Drehan’s words, Miller replied with an ‘I see.’

“I see a few idiots here too.”

Dad muttered quietly.

I could immediately understand what he meant.

When we caught the culprit who tried to kill me in the west and found out their identity was a believer of the Sole Saintess Faction, Dad was very indignant.

He instinctively knew I was his real daughter, so he would have been even more angry at me being treated as a fake.

I thought the Sole Saintess Faction’s influence was only formed in the western temple, but even in the capital’s temple, there were those who revered only Senia as the sole saintess and showed hostility towards me.

Moreover, Senia had volunteered for the war nominally to save the country, while I had entered as a mage of the Magic Tower, which was different from the temple.

‘Even if Count Heilo who requested my visit doesn’t, the High Priest might be from the Sole Saintess Faction.’

If so, he might not readily participate in helping me prove my legitimacy.

As worries were piling up, the young priest who had hurriedly gone to the prayer room came back smiling and said:

“Both of them wish to meet you, Saintess.”

I nodded and turned around to say:

“I’ll be back soon, everyone.”

I had stated that the initial purpose of coming to the temple was to meet Count Heilo, and since it was uncertain whether proving my parentage would be possible, I didn’t mention the real purpose.

Walking through the center of the temple under the sunlight, I passed the central great temple and headed towards the prayer room in an area restricted to the general public.

Before I knew it, people had disappeared one by one, and I entered a secluded space.

Only the sound of my footsteps and those of the young priest echoed in the corridor.

“You’re not a fake saintess, are you?”

The young priest asked me as he walked ahead.

“…Are there people who call me a fake?”

“Yes, there have been so many such people over the past two years.”

“…”

“But from what I see, you don’t seem to be a fake, Saintess.”

“Why is that?”

“The theology books say that past saints were all beautiful and kind.”

“Are you saying I look beautiful and kind?”

The young priest nodded with reddened ears.

“I’ve seen Saintess Senia before too, and while she was angelic in public, when we walked through the temple alone like this, she was different.”

The priest continued gloomily:

“I didn’t know the wide paths of the temple well then, and although it was my fault for getting lost briefly, she scolded me harshly. After that, even when I told other priests about what happened, they didn’t believe me.”

I nodded.

The priest was still bad with directions, of course.

We were going in circles to the prayer room that wasn’t that far away.

Nevertheless, he seemed quite moved that I didn’t reproach him, and even sniffled.

“It’s here.”

When we finally arrived at the prayer room, I couldn’t hide my exasperated expression.

‘We… we could have just gone straight…’

That’s because we had walked through corridors that spread out like a maze left and right.

Still, I thanked the young priest who had shown me kindness.

As I gently stroked his golden hair, the child’s cheeks turned red as if he was pleased.

“Wait here for a moment!”

The priest soon ran inside.

And when he came out again, he wasn’t alone.

A man with honey-like blonde hair and mysterious golden eyes, and an old man with white hair and green eyes walked out together.

“Saintess, thank you so much for coming.”

“Hoho, it’s an honor to meet you, Saintess.”

Fortunately, the two greeted me with respect.

“We were about to go look for you when 30 minutes passed after sending this child. It seems he got lost again. It should have been a 5-minute walk.”

I smiled at the sniffling child and said:

“Still, he did his best. He was the first to speak to me too.”

“Thank you for being kind to my younger brother.”

At Count Heilo’s words, my eyes widened.

Brother? Looking at it that way, their pure blonde hair did resemble each other.

“Cael, it’s time for you to go study theology. Off you go.”

Count Heilo patted the child’s head.

The young priest turned back several times as if reluctant to part with me, but soon disappeared.

“There’s still an hour left before theology study time, isn’t there?”

The High Priest said with a hearty laugh.

“If we send Cael now, he’ll arrive on time.”

“That’s true.”

It seemed the child was the representative lost soul of the temple.

No wonder Senia couldn’t stand it with her personality and showed her true colors.

“Now then, shall we go inside, Saintess?”

“Yes.”

The inside of the prayer room was larger than I expected.

Count Heilo invited me to sit in one of the chairs arranged for the priests.

“I didn’t expect you to come like this.”

Well, I had refused using the Magic Tower as an excuse…

Before stating my purpose, I first asked the Count:

“Why did you ask me to come to the temple?”

“That’s…”

Count Heilo exchanged glances with the High Priest sitting beside him and said:

“Actually, there’s something we’d like to ask of you, Saintess.”

“A request…?”

“When you first awakened 3 years ago, confusion came to the temple once. It was the first time two saints appeared in the same era.”

This was the first time I heard about the temple’s circumstances, as I didn’t know much about them.

“We thought it was a temporary ripple then, but over the past 3 years, heretics have been steadily emerging within the temple. I’m sorry to say this, but it’s because of the Sole Saintess Faction.”

“…”

The High Priest beside me spoke:

“It seems you already knew.”

“Yes, I was threatened by a believer of the Sole Saintess Faction.”

“Oh my…!”

The High Priest’s aged eyes widened.

“It’s my fault for not suppressing the ripples…”

“No, I was threatened by an apostle from the western temple. It’s separate from the capital’s temple.”

“Still…”

Heilo looked at me with golden eyes and said:

“The reason I sent a letter to you, Saintess, was none other than hoping you would visit the temple and prove your legitimacy as a Rayes.”

“My legitimacy…?”

“Yes. The heretics claim that you borrowed an unrighteous power to disguise yourself as a saint, and deceived the Rayes ducal family to become their daughter. If you prove before their eyes that you are the real child of Duke Rayes, those absurd claims will subside.”

“I have the power to discern bloodlines. It’s not well known because there hasn’t been much occasion to use it.”

“If it’s alright with you, Saintess, we’d like you to come to the public worship held in the great temple later with the Duke who came with you today. I will prove your legitimacy in front of everyone.”

I didn’t even need to state my purpose.

These people were more sincere than me in proving my legitimacy.

“Alright. Please reveal it in front of everyone.”