If it had been Evie, she would have challenged whether that was something you, who are at the highest position, should say. Fortunately, the saint was not so senseless.

“I am indeed thankful for your understanding, Saint.”

Zion responded to the saint’s submission and gracefully wrapped up the conversation.

He then escaped the suffocating greenhouse, but his mood was still down.

Indeed, this world is not perfect.

He was entangled in such a theme and had meticulous reasoning for everything from one to ten.

Like a vicious pile of causality that falls apart with just a slight touch.

Thus, the untouchable monster indifferently rolls on, crushing many lives and trampling them.

Without any blame, truly shamelessly.

And people busily find their place within it. Those who helplessly crumble, those who actively enjoy it, and those who pretend it doesn’t concern them and take the debris.

The saint, who was cowardly yet unobtrusive, belonged to the latter category. A kindhearted bystander.

They generally believe they are innocent. They might even pretend to be ashamed if you press the facts they have buried. But that’s it, they easily comfort themselves with words like, “it can’t be helped.”

So Zion decided to intensely dislike that kind saint on behalf of those who gloss over each other’s weaknesses.

He indeed was thoroughly tired of everything in Tienda.

(This is a time separator.)

He felt bad.

He had been in Tienda for too long.

The root cause of this situation was Evie Ariate.

Zion returned to his room, grinding his teeth at Evie for entirely valid reasons.

“Hello, Count.”

And there, he encountered Evie without notice.

As Zion looked at her as if to say, why are you here, Evie answered diligently.

“I came through the secret passage.”

“…It looks like it.”

“Did you meet the saint well?”

“Very much so.”

“Yes, you look like it too, Count.”

Evie parried Zion’s words and laughed, deftly avoiding his glaring eyes.

Evie, who had been hiding behind the curtain in case someone else came in, stepped out and sat on the sofa, and then beckoned Zion, who had only taken off half his outerwear.

When Zion reluctantly came and sat down, Evie’s eyes sparkled and she asked.

“How did it go?”

He became absurdly irritated at her appearance, evidence of Zion’s bad temperament.

An ordinary kindhearted person would understand how critical this matter was to Evie, but Zion, who neither liked consideration nor compromise, first recalled the events of last dawn.

That dawn, trembling and asleep, he had to wander the Tuha family’s villa to avoid people’s eyes to carry Evie to her room.

Having nicely laid her down, the one who had fallen asleep outdoors and woke up in the bedroom should at least ask what had happened, but that Evie Ariate had cleanly forgotten the night’s events.

Zion Laurel is a person who finds formalities tedious, but this was quite annoying, so he deliberately asked.

“Don’t you have something to say to me first?”

“There’s an infinite amount.”

Infinite?
Zion looked at Evie at the unexpected answer, and Evie blinked her eyes, quickly avoiding his gaze.

Zion’s eyes, which had widened momentarily in surprise, narrowed again.

‘…She was playing dumb.’

Deceiving is normal, absolutely.

Evie, who had been embarrassed by Zion’s thin gaze, struck the sofa.

“Focus on what I was saying!”

Whether it was from embarrassment or pride, Evie snapped, and Zion found it quite amusing but pretended to put his finger to his lips. Then he gestured to the door. The meaning was to lower their voices since watchers were waiting outside.

Evie hesitated for a moment, then closed her mouth and glared at Zion with a somehow angry face. Therefore, Zion decided to indulge Evie’s mischievousness.

After a brief quarrel, Evie cleared her throat and asked again.

“So what happened? Does the saintess know about my curse?”

“No, she knows nothing at all.”

“……Really?”

“She didn’t know anything in that area in the first place.”

She was not only not a curser but rather your believer. Zion refrained from saying this.

And Evie quietly tapped her forehead at the situation that had returned to the starting point.

Then she looked up at Zion again.

“Why are you looking at me?”

“I’m suspicious that the Count might be lying.”

With those words, Evie irritated Zion and then became deeply lost in thought again.

Evie was desperate again today, so Zion became disturbed as he watched her.

If he thought about Rohika Sedro’s temperament, he could guess why Evie was so obsessed with the position of saintess.

So he understood her desperation, but he wished she would be more moderate.

I can’t say anything, and you don’t trust anyone, so all I can do in the end is lock you up so you can’t struggle more, and it will be inconvenient if you are so indomitable.

Then we won’t even be able to sit face to face like this.

“Thank you. It’s back to square one, but at least it’s confirmed.”

Evie said, calmly soothing herself. Then, she resumed speaking flatly.

“So now it’s my turn to help you, Count?”

What about yesterday’s matter?

Zion was about to stumble but refrained as he didn’t want to look playful.

Anyway, there’s plenty to talk about, so he’ll hear it all slowly.

Zion thought this and nodded, and Evie spoke with a more composed face than usual.

“The secret that the Count told me to find out is something that no one but the Count knows, right? If anyone knew, the Count would have already dragged them around and made them talk.”

Zion nodded again at Evie’s assumption.

“And the Count told me to find out because it’s something the Count can’t solve alone.”

Indeed, Evie was getting at it well.

“But something that big can’t be unknown like this. Other people should find signs or traces; that would be normal. So, Count, you…”

Today, her introduction was unusually long. Unlike usual, she didn’t throw the conclusion first to surprise people.

So Zion wondered what she wanted to say and looked at her.

Then Evie suddenly avoided his gaze. Her face was still nonchalant, but Zion felt a strange stiffness there.

When Zion’s intuition moved, Evie, with her gaze fixed on the floor, asked this.

“Count, do you know what will happen later, the future?”