“Lizbeth, I…”

“I understand your feelings very well, young lady. But… but you know, I want my friend to meet a good person. Teddy… I mean Lord Tedel is a good person.”

This time, Lizbeth, who had been comfortably calling him Teddy, flinched for a moment before continuing.

“Putting aside that he’s royalty, he’s just a good person. My brother can’t compare.”

“That’s…”

“You know it’s true, right? So… you should be happy.”

Seeing that heart, that genuine care for her, how could she deny it again? Sesenia could only smile.

“Ah… I don’t mean that you’re my friend, young lady, but that those are my feelings.”

“No. You are my friend. A friend more precious than family. The laws of this country may have officially defined us as lady and maid, but we don’t need to care about such things in unofficial settings, right?”

“Ah…”

“Then when it’s just us, let’s just exist as Teddy, Lizbeth, and myself.”

There was no verbal response. But as if giving a silent answer, the three of them smiled and laughed.

‘My precious people.’

People who always become a guiding light whenever she loses her way.

Sesenia vowed to repay them as she shifted her gaze to the window.

Not long after, the carriage carrying them arrived at the temple.

As Sesenia got off the carriage, an unexpected figure greeted her.

“You’ve arrived!!”

It was the High Priest. He came straight to Sesenia and smiled brightly.

Since she had sent word through Silian that she was coming, she thought someone would be out to greet her, but she never expected it to be the High Priest, so Sesenia’s expression hardened.

“No… High Priest?”

“Yes!”

“How long have you been waiting out here?”

The High Priest’s nose had turned red.

It was winter. Though spring was said to be coming soon, the weather was currently very cold.

In such a situation, seeing his nose so red meant he must have been out for quite some time.

“I haven’t been out long.”

“A man of your age could collapse like this.”

Sesenia gazed at him quietly, feeling worried.

“Still…”

It was then. Senior Priest Ray, standing behind the High Priest, let out a deep sigh.

“He said he wanted to do this when he heard Sesenia was coming.”

“Ah…”

“Ho ho, I’m fine. Didn’t I get to meet Sesenia first, before anyone else? Saint Sesenia, who gave our temple a future!”

“Still, please don’t do this again next time. High Priest, you are the pillar of the temple.”

“No. The pillar of the temple is the faith of the believers. And Saint Sesenia is the benefactor who made that faith even more abundant. Didn’t you gift us with a holy relic?”

As the High Priest was outside, the eyes of the believers gathered around in curiosity sparkled.

They had spread rumors that the one who gave the holy relic was a saint who didn’t want to reveal her name.

In that situation, to hear of a saint who gifted a holy relic.

“So it’s her.”

“Saint Sesenia, you say? My goodness…”

Since she was talking with the High Priest, they couldn’t approach Sesenia directly, but their whispers were clearly audible.

“Let’s… go inside first, High Priest.”

“Yes, yes. I’ve kept a precious person outside for too long. We have a room prepared after hearing you were coming, so let’s go there.”

“Yes.”

The whispers grew louder and louder.

Though she tried to ignore it, the voices of those who admired her so much were only burdensome to Sesenia.

Even when she lived as an empress in the past, there weren’t people who admired her like this.

There was respect for the name of empress, but no one who respected her as a person.

So this moment felt unfamiliar and strange. As if she had picked up and put on someone else’s clothes.

Fortunately, the High Priest guided Sesenia through a passage that only priests could enter, and prohibited others from approaching, so there were no whispers while they walked.

Only then did Sesenia open her mouth.

“Did you do that on purpose?”

“Do what?”

“By waiting for me there, and revealing that I was the one who brought the holy relic. Didn’t you make me appear as a benefactor to the temple because of that?”

The High Priest nodded with a smile at Sesenia’s calm words.

“That’s right.”

“Ah.”

“At first, we kept it a secret on purpose. Because you’re Saint Sesenia, who’s working hard for us. You said you’d be covered in filth and become the horse of the temple, but we didn’t want that.”

“So that’s why you didn’t reveal it was me.”

“Yes. That’s how it was. But you know… thinking about it…”

He trailed off, staring intently at Sesenia beside him.

“Yes. But you know. When I actually thought about it, there was no need for that.”

“No need? What do you mean?”

By then, they had arrived in front of a room.

“Let’s go in. We’ll continue the rest of the conversation inside.”

It was a different place from the prayer room they went to last time.

“This is where we hold important meetings in the temple. It’s completely soundproof, there’s only one door, and there’s no furniture except for the table and chairs, so no one can come in and listen… it’s the most perfect sealed room.”

At those words, Sesenia went inside.

As the High Priest said, this place hardly felt like a temple.

Except for the walls, ceiling, table, and furniture being white, symbolizing the temple, there was nothing special at all.

“I see.”

“I thought what you wanted to see me about wouldn’t be an ordinary matter. Anyway, to continue what I was saying earlier, who would know if the holy relic is fake or real? That’s just our secret. And if this really becomes the medium to find Lowrick’s holy relic… if that happens, then Saint Sesenia will truly become our benefactor.”

Following the High Priest, Sesenia had now reached where the chairs were placed. The High Priest pulled out a chair for her, as if he had been waiting to do so.

He was the High Priest. Always at the highest position in the temple. Someone who would never do such things.

But he seemed to make an exception only for Sesenia, treating her with utmost courtesy.

Senior Priest Ray, who was behind them, tried to stop him with a pale face, but to no avail.

“H-High Priest…!”

“She is our benefactor. Our benefactor.”

“B-but such things…”

“What’s the big deal about pulling out a chair? Please, sit down.”

“You don’t have to do this. What I did…”

It wasn’t even something she had done for them. Everything was just one of the optimal plans in the situation, like flowing river water.

But these people, not knowing her heart, show her kindness.

When she’s not a person suited for kindness. Everyone sees her as a good person.

“I know what you’re going to say. That in the end, it was done under the pretext of asking me to protect others and to make various requests of me. But in doing so, it was of great help to us. Whatever the purpose, it doesn’t matter. Saint Sesenia, you are already our benefactor.”

“The holy relic hasn’t even returned yet.”

“Even if it’s not real, many priests who had left have returned. Of course, even if people who left like that come back, nothing will change, but still, it’s been lively for the first time in a long while. I thought the Lowrick Temple would end in my generation. But Saint Sesenia, you have raised this temple up again.”

“Ah…”

“So don’t think anything. God probably didn’t love humans at every moment.”

Wondering what he meant, Sesenia gazed at him quietly.

“But sometimes, coincidental actions become miracles for us. All things are like that. So don’t put meaning into your actions. This is why I did it, so I shouldn’t be treated like this. Such words.”

“Thank you.”

What else could she say besides those words?

“Not at all. So what brings you here today? Actually, I hope you would come even if you had no business. I want to show you how we’ve flourished thanks to Saint Sesenia.”

“Ah. I’m sorry for not coming often.”

“No, no. So you must have a reason for coming today?”

“Yes. Actually, I came today to ask you to be a witness in your name as High Priest.”

Sesenia gazed at him with a trembling voice.

“A witness in my name?”

“Yes.”

“Is it something that might tarnish the High Priest’s name?”

Ray hurriedly intervened between the two.

“It’s not that. It’s also something the High Priest has been doing for many years. We’re just asking you to be a witness, but to keep it a secret.”

“A witness but secret?”

“Yes. There’s a timing. The timing is after the founding ceremony, on His Majesty the Emperor’s birthday. We’d like you to come then and testify to what you see today.”

It was suspicious to anyone. Even Sesenia herself could feel it.

But there were no perfect words to directly ask the High Priest to be a witness other than this.

“This is really suspicious.”

“It’s fine even if it’s suspicious. Even if Saint Sesenia were to deceive me, I’d want to pretend not to know and be deceived.”

“Hah… you’re really too soft.”

“Favors must be repaid. So whose witness do I need to be? Saint Sesenia’s?”

Sesenia pulled Teddy forward from where he was standing a step behind her.

“Please testify for this person.”

“Who is this person?”

“He’s a slave I bought from a slave trader.”

Ray’s face turned bright red.