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The sudden “blessing,” or rather, attack, left the old servant blinking in disbelief, clearly stunned by what had just happened. It seemed he still hadn’t fully grasped the situation.  

Determined to deliver another round of the Saintess’s divine blessing to this foolish servant of the gods, I announced cheerfully, “May you be blessed even more!”  

*Slap!*  

I leapt into the air again, swinging my hand down with a satisfying *smack*. The sharp sound of the impact and the delightful sensation of a clean hit brought a smile to my face.  

‘Ah, this is it!’  

As I reveled in the moment, the old servant finally seemed to snap out of his daze. His face turned red as he angrily grabbed my shoulder, his expression fierce.  

“How dare you!”  

His glare was intense, but I remained unfazed, my expression blank as I raised my hand again. Since he had bent down to grab my shoulder, I didn’t even need to jump this time.  

‘Ah, he must really like the blessing, coming so close for more.’  

“I am a servant of His Imperial Majesty the Ex-Emperor! How dare—”  

*Slap!*  

“You lay your hands on me like this—”  

*Slap!*  

“And expect to get away with—”  

*Slap!*  

“Enough!”  

Each time he tried to speak, I silenced him with a slap to the forehead. Trembling with frustration, the old man turned his head sharply toward Duke Elpinard, seeking some kind of intervention.  

“Are you just going to stand by and let the Saintess behave like this? Like a ruffian?”  

“Ruffian?”  

Duke Elpinard tilted his head slightly, as if genuinely puzzled by the complaint.  

“Calling down blessings is hardly the behavior of a ruffian. During the late Holy Pope’s final pilgrimage, would anyone have dared to call such an act irreverent?”  

The duke’s calm and nonchalant response left the old man sputtering in disbelief, a bitter laugh escaping his lips.  

“The irreverence here is coming from this ruffian Saintess! Just because you call it a blessing doesn’t make it so when it’s actually violence!”  

“The manner of the blessing is determined by the will of the gods, and the Saintess is merely the vessel for their will. Do you mean to question the will of the gods?”  

“That’s… such a ridiculous leap in logic!”  

Frustrated, the old man pounded his chest with his fist. But the fact remained—I was the Saintess, and the will of the gods was sacred and unquestionable. No matter how stubborn he was, there was no way he could win this argument.  

‘Times like these are when the Church’s endorsement as a Saintess really comes in handy.’  

It was one of those rare moments when I actually felt grateful to those Heaven folks.  

Putting on my best saintly smile, I made the sign of the cross and clasped my hands together, mimicking the exact gesture Bael made when bestowing blessings upon his followers.  

“Now, the blessings of the gods are fully upon you, brother.”  

“You… you…!”  

At my confident proclamation, the old servant clutched the back of his neck, teetering on the verge of collapse.  

I glanced over at Axel. He had turned his head to the side, one hand covering his mouth. His neck, which he hadn’t been able to hide, was flushed bright red, and it was clear he was barely holding back his laughter.  

“Elder,” the knight from the Kreutz family, who had come with the ex-emperor’s servant, gently tugged on his arm.  

“We mustn’t waste any more time on such trivial matters.”  

“Hmph. How can this be considered trivial…!”  

The old servant, rubbing his now-reddened forehead, started to snap back, but seeing the knight subtly shaking his head, he forced himself to swallow his emotions and fell silent. He took a deep breath to regain his composure, shot me a glare, and turned to address the duke.  

“Your Grace, we were in the middle of discussing a very important matter. Surely, this young Saintess isn’t someone who should be involved in such a serious discussion?”  

It was a typical courtly way of saying, *’Get this child out of here immediately.’*  

The duke didn’t reply to the servant’s remark, instead turning to me, waiting to see why I had barged in. He had sided with me during the confrontation, but he still didn’t know my reason for suddenly appearing here.  

Without dragging it out, I cut to the chase, addressing the servant directly.  

“You’re here to take Eugene with you?”  

“Hmph, news certainly spreads fast.”  

What he really meant was, *’Your household servants have loose lips.’*  

If I were naïve and responded with a cheerful *‘Haha, yes, it does!’* I’d only earn their ridicule. The court’s coded language was often used to push out anyone who didn’t belong in their exclusive world.  

Back when I was Greslin, I’d often fallen prey to these types of remarks… but now?  

‘I’m a noble lady who’s learned the art of courtly speech!’  

“I came to see my father about something else and ran into Noah at the door. He’s the one who told me you’re planning to take Eugene.”  

“…From young Lord Elpinard?”  

The old servant’s lips twitched slightly as he flinched. He had just implied that someone in the household had loose lips, but I’d turned it back on him, implying that Noah Elpinard was the one spreading the news.  

‘Which means he essentially just insulted the Elpinard heir as a blabbermouth, doesn’t it?’  

“Ahem.”  

Right on cue, Duke Elpinard cleared his throat, making his displeasure known, and the servant quickly scrambled to recover the situation.  

“I meant to say that the Elpinard family’s communication network is impressively efficient. Truly commendable.”  

But the servant was no fool—he’d once held the position of the highest chamberlain in the imperial palace. After his brief stumble, he smoothly pulled out his next move, ready to shift the conversation.  

“It’s also wonderful to see how devoted the Saintess is to her father, His Grace. A united family is such a lovely sight. Don’t you think Eugene could benefit from such a family as well?”  

I narrowed my eyes.  

“Eugene Kreutz has a sacred duty to the ‘Ivory Tower.’ I’m sure even the ex-emperor is aware of this.”  

“Of course, but I hear that Eugene is exceptionally bright and has already met the requirements to graduate early. After graduation, he is no longer bound to the Ivory Tower, is he?”  

He wasn’t wrong. Studying at the Ivory Tower was a legal obligation, but once a student graduated, there was no law requiring them to stay tied to it.  

At this point, Axel stepped in.  

“Eugene hasn’t officially graduated yet. Once the procedures are completed, he will stay in Elpinard as my disciple.”  

“Oh-ho, being the disciple of a hero would indeed be a great honor for young Eugene. But, after all, he’s still a boy in need of his parents’ care. I hear he hasn’t even debuted in society yet?”  

The servant clicked his tongue, as if truly saddened by the situation. His attitude was infuriating.  

‘Seriously? You’re the ones who’ve ignored Eugene all this time, despite him being old enough to make his debut, and now you’re acting like it’s a tragedy?’

Unlike Leonid, who made a clear debut into society with his father’s introduction, Eugene was completely ignored by the Kreutz family and left isolated in the Ivory Tower. Though he was renowned as a genius from the Ivory Tower and his name was known throughout the social circles, he hadn’t officially debuted. As a result, he was left in a strange limbo where his presence among the nobility was neither fully acknowledged nor ignored. 

Eugene, however, didn’t seem too bothered by this. “I’m just a bastard anyway, and I’m not really interested in the social scene,” he’d often say, shrugging off his situation. But there’s a huge difference between someone choosing to distance themselves from society and being denied the opportunity from the start by indifferent parents.  

Now, they had the audacity to bring up his social debut, acting as though they were doing this out of concern for Eugene.  

“First, return young Eugene to the Kreutz family, so that Duke Kreutz can properly introduce his son as a member of society. His Majesty the ex-emperor is also eager to help such a promising individual establish good connections,” the old servant continued.  

On the surface, his argument seemed perfectly reasonable. In this society, where power was inherited through bloodlines, only family members could formally introduce someone into high society. It was a rule designed to reinforce the strict hierarchy of noble bloodlines. If the child had no immediate family, a relative could act as a guardian and fill that role.  

But Eugene’s father was very much alive. There was no reason for anyone else to serve as his guardian. While those estranged from their paternal family might be able to debut through their maternal side, Eugene’s mother had passed away, and she hadn’t been a noble, meaning there was no external family influence to rely on.  

The ex-emperor and Duke Kreutz were exploiting this situation to take Eugene under the guise of a “legitimate” reason.  

‘Just like how I found a legitimate reason to pull Eugene away from the Kreutz family by enrolling him in the Ivory Tower,’ I thought.  

I glanced at Axel, and it was clear from his tightly pressed lips that he, too, found the situation troubling. The argument presented by the servant was hard to dispute. If the Elpinard family refused this seemingly justified request, they would be accused of tearing a son away from his father and forcibly keeping him apart from his family. The backlash would be immense.  

I recalled the memories of my childhood, of the ceremony I had witnessed. Eugene had been suffering, and yet Duke Kreutz had stood there, cold and detached, watching his son without the slightest emotion.  

‘Why does a piece of trash like him have to be Eugene’s only family?’  

The unbreakable chain of bloodline continued to weigh Eugene down. But blood isn’t the only thing that can bind people as family, is it?  

Duke Elpinard, Axel—they weren’t related to me by blood either, yet we were family. What started off feeling strange and awkward had now become something I could say with ease—*we were family*.  

‘The duke treats me like his own daughter.’  

What if Eugene, too, had a family who could sponsor his debut into society? A family who truly cared for him?  

‘Then Kreutz’s and the ex-emperor’s justification would crumble!’  

It was a promising solution, but there was one big question looming in my mind.  

‘How do I create a family for Eugene?’