“Why is my senior here……”

Nigel stared blankly at Jayden who was smiling through the pure white bars.

“Ah, are you asking why someone from a family not blessed by the goddess is here?”

Nigel nodded.

“Well, our family makes a living selling potions. The raw materials for the holy water used in this event are near our territory.”

As Jayden said, the spring known to be first blessed by the goddess was close to the Galloway family’s territory.

Well, whether the holy water was made from the northern spring or the neighborhood stream was none of Nigel’s business.

The important thing was that Jayden could freely enter and exit the North’s First Temple.

Having quickly done the calculations, Nigel raised the corners of his mouth greedily.

“Senior, since we’ve met like this by chance, could we talk for a moment?”

At Nigel’s words, Jayden nodded willingly and moved his feet.

And the moment Jayden’s body left the temple.

“Sid, Noah, grab him!”

Nigel shouted.

As soon as those words ended, Noah quickly grabbed Jayden’s left arm. Sid looked bewildered at first, but hurriedly clung to the opposite arm.

“Uh… juniors?”

Jayden looked back and forth between Nigel, Sid, and Noah, assessing the situation.

Nigel still smiled as he stared intently at Jayden.

“Senior, please lead and help your poor juniors.”

“Juniors…? Shouldn’t that be my line? I’ve been grabbed after just saying hello.”

Jayden’s blue-green eyes filled with bewilderment.

At this point, Sid bowed his head without hesitation.

“Please, I beg you, Senior Jayden. Even if just for a moment, help us enter the temple.”

“Hmm… shall we move locations first?”

Despite being the one who reached out first, Jayden was escorted to a nearby coffee house with both arms restrained.

“…So that’s what happened.”

Surprisingly, Jayden didn’t even blink after hearing the whole story.

“You came all the way to the North believing in a small possibility for your brother, isn’t that a story sad enough to make one cry?”

Nigel emphasized the word “brother” as he spoke.

Click.

At the same time, a 3-tier tray full of finger foods like scones and mini sandwiches was placed in front of Jayden. After all, humans tend to be more generous to others when their stomachs are full.

Nigel closely observed Jayden’s expression as he reflexively picked up and ate a sandwich.

“…!”

On his delicate face, faint red marks were visible.

Judging by the faint magic felt, it must have been hidden by some illusion magic. But unfortunately, traces of bruising remained clearly visible.

It was also what Zeronin always came back with after attending family events.

After all, Duke Galloway enjoyed slapping Zeronin’s cheeks second only to tormenting Zeronin’s hands.

“…Duke Galloway seems to be in good health.”

Jayden’s eyes wavered for a moment, then curved gently. Though smiling, bitterness was clearly evident.

“Yes, he’s in good health. So much so that it’s troublesome.”

Jayden stared out the window at the falling snow for a long while, then finally gazed at Sid.

“Well, now that it’s been revealed that our family is a mess, there’s no point in me hiding anything anymore. …I hid Kyle for you, Sid.”

“…Keck, cough cough!”

Sid, who had been elegantly sipping tea without a single disturbance, suddenly collapsed and coughed repeatedly.

“As you all know, my family relationships are complicated.”

As Jayden wiped his cheek with a handkerchief, the magic disappeared and swollen red cheeks appeared.

“I’m a weak puppet who can only walk when told to walk, eat when told to eat… and be a target for venting anger when told to be. The only decision-making power I have is choosing my major.”

Jayden smiled faintly at Sid.

“The Kyle I met was precarious, but he knew what the right answer was. Unlike me, he didn’t ruin everything by being too scared to make any choices. I’m sorry, Sid. That’s why I hid him.”

“…But no matter how much I think about it, I can’t possibly consider abandoning everything and fleeing to the temple as a good answer.”

“You… really don’t know anything, Sid.”

It was a tone as if dealing with an innocent child who knew nothing of the world.

“……”

Sid bit his lip, unable to say anything.

At that moment, Nigel opened his mouth.

“Raise your head.”

“…!”

At the strong voice filled with irresistible power, Sid raised his head. And he met Nigel’s unwavering gaze straight on.

“Sid, you’ve done nothing wrong. The wrong lies with those bastards who hide their own hearts while giving unwanted consideration.”

Nigel grinned as he looked at Noah and Jayden in turn.

Then Nigel took off Noah’s elegant shiny black leather gloves and threw them at Jayden.

Suddenly hit in the face with the gloves, Jayden slightly furrowed his brow as he examined the object that had struck him.

“This is…!”

“You recognize it? I was worried you might not.”

These gloves were items that Zeronin had cherished and worn regardless of season since he visited the orphanage.

The reason was simple.

They were a birthday gift from his young half-sibling.

On the inside of the wrist was blue embroidery with the letter ‘J’, the initial for both Zeronin and Jayden.

The embroidery, worn from long years, was stitched with various shades of blue.

Among them, the teal thread was embroidered by Nigel.

Jayden looked at Nigel with a dreamy face, as if in a dream.

“Where on earth did you get this……”

“So, are you going to help or not?”

Nigel, who spoke firmly, mercilessly snatched away the gloves that Jayden was holding so preciously he couldn’t even grip them tightly.

Jayden helplessly looked at Nigel like a child whose doll had been taken away. For a child, there were no options other than yes or no.

So, Jayden’s words were predetermined.

“I’ll help.”

Nigel smiled victoriously.

“You there, can’t you move a bit more quickly?”

A freckle-faced priest singled out and scolded a dark blond boy among several boys carrying boxes in a line.

“I had high expectations when I heard you came with a recommendation from Duke Galloway……”

The freckled priest shook his head.

No matter how much they had gathered to serve in the name of the goddess, even the goddess herself couldn’t embrace that boy’s work ethic.

He had clearly heard that he was a useful child for Young Master Jayden, but he was as clumsy as a novice doing this work for the first time.

“Do I have to train a newbie at such a busy time when I can barely blink?”

The priest glared at the boy.

The boy, or rather Sid, faithfully carried out his role regardless of whether the priest was getting angry or not.

He carefully observed the temple’s structure while pretending to be clumsy, deliberately dropping boxes and lagging far behind his companions by spacing out.

Thanks to sneaking in as an errand boy delivering supplies around various parts of the temple, he could roughly figure out where the priest candidates, who couldn’t take a single step out of the designated building until the appointment ceremony, were staying.

“If that child had come, these boxes would have been organized with time to spare.”

The freckled priest couldn’t hide his regret as he swallowed his saliva while looking at an apprentice priest visible in the distance.

‘I snuck in to find Kyle, but what if I become more famous than Kyle?’

Sid looked disapprovingly at the apprentice priest, or rather Nigel.

With only a day left until the appointment ceremony, Nigel sincerely devoted himself as if he would die if he disobeyed even the slightest order given.

The household skills naturally acquired while taking care of the orphanage children shone brilliantly in none other than the temple.

From organizing mountains of clothes in an instant to perfecting everything from tidying to cleaning, everything was flawless.

Thanks to that, he was able to quickly gain the trust of the lower-ranking priests who lacked both manpower and time in preparing for the appointment ceremony.

“That’s enough, let’s go.”

Nigel followed behind a priest with light orange hair.

This wasn’t the plan from the beginning. Nigel had intended to work half-heartedly while gathering information.

However, the possibility that the already short-staffed temple might entrust Nigel with cleaning the prayer hall put tremendous pressure on him.

After all, when entering and exiting the sacred prayer hall, magic measurement must be done in front of a priest for security reasons.

To avoid catching others’ attention, one must first catch the eye of their own group.

When he showed the trick of doing three things simultaneously and accurately, just as he had done at the orphanage, the lower-ranking priests, as Nigel had expected, hid Nigel tightly, not wanting to lose him.

And back to the present, Nigel was finally able to stop walking when he reached a deserted back alley where not a single person could be seen.

‘Why did they call me again? To secretly run errands?’

Just as Nigel was falling into suspicion, the orange-haired priest smiled brightly.

“Congratulations, Nigel.”

Nigel tilted his head.

“From now on, Nigel will be the maid in charge of the honored guest.”

“What…?”

Nigel couldn’t hold back his emotions and frowned.

“The honored guest Nigel will be in charge of is Kyle.”

At those words, Nigel, who had been making a face like he’d swallowed excrement, shamelessly grinned from ear to ear.

‘Can such luck exist…!’

He had been forcibly flattering the priests in ridiculous ways to gain information, but this time it was as if the information had been uprooted and brought right to Nigel’s mouth.

“…And Sir Noah Beselion.”

Nevermind, cancel that thought.