“No, you don’t have to. And if Lady Tuha has the dignity of a Saintess, then become a Saintess yourself. Don’t tell me about it.”

Confused, yet her mouth moved in response to a question.

The curse made Evie say what she wanted to say, so Evie began to find this curse convenient.

On the other hand, Lio hesitated, surprised at Evie’s calm argument. But that was momentary, and he raised his eyebrows and asked again.

“You, are you making fun of me?”

“Yes, I am.”

“What!?”

“It’s true. I’ve always had a mocking heart when dealing with Lady Tuha.”

No, cancel.

This curse is still a failure. Even if she decided to be honest, there was no need to play foolishly like this.

Accidentally provoked, Evie looked at Lio with a mistake.

Sure enough, Lio’s face turned red, and his shoulders trembled.

“No, what I mean is….”

“You, do I look that funny to you?”

“Honestly, it’s funny.”

She tried to make excuses, but the curse shattered Evie’s character once again.

“You…!”

And with the continued insult, Lio finally raised his hand.

Crash!

Without a chance for Evie to react, Lio’s firm hand brushed past her head and hit the wall.

So Evie was genuinely surprised.

‘…Crash?’

Why does it sound like that when he hits the wall with his hand? The hand is flesh. It’s soft.

Evie glanced at the hand next to her head, in shock.

The hand of this young lady, who had never spent tea time together because of their distant relationship, was much larger and sturdier than Evie expected.

So Evie looked up at Lio, who was looking down at her coldly.

An enormous sense of crisis, along with Arco Yeong’s voice, flashed through her mind.

―Lady Tuha is, an outstanding talent that our elder sister has her eye on. Perhaps she will be recommended to enlist after her period as a purifier ends.

Recalling this belatedly, Evie smiled palely.

‘Ah, he’s just a regular dangerous person!’

She had forgotten that Lio Tuha was an extraordinary talent.

She was sure she would lose if they fought and bleed if hit.

So Evie was totally frightened, even thinking about secretly putting him to sleep and running away, when Lio, gritting his teeth, said,

“You… Will you be satisfied only if you make me a Saintess in name, too? Isn’t it enough that you pushed my sister aside?”

“What do you mean…?”

“Don’t play dumb! Whose place are you singing in, why does my sister wear a veil!”

Lio screamed in anger.

So Evie finally realized what Lio Tuha wanted to say.
As Rio said, the front seat where Evie sang during the purification ceremony was originally the Saintess’s seat. But Evie appeared and naturally snatched the Saintess’s seat, and then wore a thick veil and hid her presence at official banquets.

Rio knew that this couldn’t be helped.

But he couldn’t shake the thought that Evie had destroyed everything of his sister.

His sister was a noble Saintess who endured everyone’s blame when Mannaya was silent, struggling alone.

But Evie Ariate had made such a sister look ridiculous.

She effortlessly did what his sister clung to desperately and buried Saintess Roble Tooha forever with her casual humility, as if it were nothing.

And the Evie who strutted through the social world, laughing brightly, the Evie Ariate who mocked the careful bearing of past Saintesses while flaunting her specialness, was truly loathsome to Rio.

“Stop showing off. You were just lucky to be chosen, your good luck is all there is to it! Why on earth you of all people…!”

Rio yelled, losing his temper, then abruptly stopped speaking. It seemed that saying the rest would only make things worse.

But even if he stopped halfway, Evie already understood what he meant. So she was stunned.

She had expected it. The reason why Rio hated her.

But she never imagined that the words ‘Why on earth you’ would come from Rio Tooha’s mouth.

In this tactful situation, Evie was pulled back to the past.

It was 9 years ago. Evie was looking at the Saintess who had come down to Bise. And she thought, looking at the girl of her age sitting next to her:

Ah, why am I me, and you are you?

But now she’s hearing the same words. From that Rio Tooha, who didn’t even know 9 years ago that I was looking at him.

Evie didn’t find this fact pleasant. Rather, it was absurd. Isn’t it too selfish to be jealous of this too?

“Did the Saintess say that? That I snatched her seat and wore a veil?”

“My sister would never say something like that!”

“Then ask her this time. Whether I snatched the Saintess’s seat, or the opposite.”

Evie said neither laughing nor angry. Then she calmly escaped from Rio’s arms.

Rio hated Evie. For his sister.

But Evie hated Rio just as much. Also because of her sister.

Evie wished that Rio Tooha would become the Saintess.

So even after seeing the basement of the tower, could he really shout so confidently?

Who knows? Perhaps he might just adapt as naturally as his sister.

In the noble Mannaya Tower, there is a basement.

And in that basement, while the nobles divide and enjoy honor, calling themselves Saintess or Purifier, there are young girls who dedicate their lives to singing.

Evie was one of them.