“Is it because you want to take Ariate as a lover…?”

“You should hold your tongue.”

“……I apologize.”

At this unexpected question, Zion’s voice was cold, and the saintess immediately bowed her head.

Yet, unable to believe it, Zion glared at her tilted veil in displeasure.

To take her as a lover? Zion’s head began to ache anew at these words from the saintess’s mouth.

He knew all too well that the nobles were making all kinds of noises about him and Evie.

And he also knew all too well, regrettably, that he was seen as violent and low, and Evie Ariate as pitiable and innocent.

But if he looked closely, of the four or five events that created this situation, Zion had voluntarily done only one.

Threatening the nobles not to make Evie a saintess.

Only this was his doing, and the rest was all Evie Ariate’s mischief.

Insulting Zion at Laurel Castle was Evie, manipulating him to stop the tower’s punishment was Evie, and even dragging him into this flower festival was Evie.

Yet the one suffering from these base misunderstandings was him.

‘Damn it…’

This situation was embarrassingly fresh, but Zion managed to overcome it arrogantly.

In the meantime, the saintess opened her mouth again.

“If that is not the case, may I make a request to you, Count?”

The saintess clasped her hands, then suddenly said something unexpected.

“Can you help Ariate succeed me?”

At this unexpected request, Zion stared closely at the vicinity of the saintess’s face.

‘Is she sincere?’

Zion doubted the saintess’s intentions. However, because of the veil, he could hardly infer her inner thoughts.

“You know what happened yesterday between Ariate and Count Montlra, don’t you?”

“Are you talking about exposing the Count’s dishonesty?”

“Yes……. Unfortunately, such a thing happened.”

Unfortunate. A convenient adjective to feign concern and disparage others.

When this commonly used rhetoric in social circles came from the saintess’s mouth, Zion silently looked at her again.

“Because of yesterday’s incident, Ariate has lost Count Montlra’s support. So, though it’s bold and shameless, I ask you to persuade His Highness the Grand Duke.”

It was, as she said, a bold and shameless request. Trying to influence the Grand Duke’s will by approaching his blood relative.

But Zion was more purely curious than angry about this audacity.

Evie suspected that Roble Tohaga might have cursed her, but on this side, they were rather advocating for Evie to be the saintess.

Of course, it is not known whether this is sincere. Tiyanda is full of people who say things they don’t mean, knowing they won’t be accepted.

So Zion, pondering which side the saintess was on, pretended not to know and asked back.

“You said earlier that Evie Ariate is perfect to be a saintess, but is it really so for someone who harbors ill will and exposes others’ weaknesses?”

Zion said this and then regretted it a moment later. Not because he misspoke, but because he realized he was getting involved in unnecessary matters.
The Saintess knew nothing of Evie’s curse. Having confirmed this, it was a matter that could be addressed by simply getting up and going through the motions.

But to start a conversation like this.

Zion couldn’t deny that it was because of yesterday’s incident.

―Not okay at all. I have, until now, never once….

―Everyone deserves a chance at least once.

―I’m so desperate it’s making me mad.

The remaining image and voice of Evie in Zion’s mind made him clench his tongue.

In the meantime, the Saintess calmly replied with a smiling voice.

“Yes. That’s what I think. Otherwise, I would be nothing more than a puppet, like you.”

The gentle voice was followed by a notably clear chirping sound. The sunlight piercing through the glass window was sharp enough to appear as a line, cutting through the air.

In the perfectly controlled peace of the greenhouse, Zion silently looked at the Saintess, who veiled her face.

Zion couldn’t help but recognize the undertone of those words.

Borrowing the favor of the dragon. It was defying the world once again after having already defied providence once.

Zion had defined the power he was bearing in that way.

TienDavis is an imperfect world, born of God’s whims and stubbornness, a remnant of a world that should have been submerged and vanished long ago.

The barely restored providence was distorted again, and the favor that should have been bestowed upon the dragons was passed on to humans.

The result was Count Laurel, the loathsome other side of the righteous Laurel.

So Zion naturally guessed. There was a shadow not less than the noble tower.

It was something that anyone belonging to Laurel and Sedro couldn’t ignore. But it was something tacitly overlooked.

Zion felt that the Saintess had just mentioned it.

“Is it something you can manage to say?”

“No.”

At the Saintess’s answer, Zion’s eyes narrowed.

“I can’t. Like Ariatech, I can’t recklessly charge in.”

And the Saintess, Roble Two, said this and quietly bit her lips behind her veil. To hold back fear.

Count Laurel’s eyes were full of suspicion, but Roble was sincere.

She sincerely wanted Evie to be chosen as the next Saintess. No, she desperately wanted it.

But she couldn’t reveal the reason, so she kept her mouth tightly shut and simply appealed to that cold Count.

Although it was a matter from ten years ago, Roble still vividly remembered everything from that day.

The day she became a noble Saintess and set foot in the basement of the Manyan Tower for the first time.

Then, her old friend and new tower master Rohika said this to the astonished Roble, who couldn’t believe the sight before her eyes.

―It’s for the world. For everyone, someone has to do it.

Roble couldn’t accept Rohika’s words.

So, to the screaming young Saintess, the young tower master smiled and said,

―Don’t you care about the security of your family?

With that single sentence, the reality of the world was revealed to the naive Saintess. It was the beginning of hell.