An Unfamiliar Comfort
That had been her true motive from the beginning. She wanted to understand the cause of the strange behavior he displayed. Yet as time passed, a subtle shift began to occur. At some point, the hours she spent with him started to feel comfortable. She couldn’t pinpoint exactly when it had begun. It had simply become that way one day.
Ever since she started acting—to prove that the life of the man who had sacrificed himself to save her held meaning—she had worn a mask in front of others. Because of that, she had never once felt at ease no matter who she faced or where she stood. And yet here she was, feeling comfortable in someone’s presence. It was right around the time she became aware of this and felt a flicker of panic that the rumor of her closeness with Kyle spread through the Academy.
She was mildly surprised, but not overly so. She had expected it would happen eventually. After all, she and Kyle had never met in truly secret places. Though they chose secluded spots for their appointments, they were not locations entirely free of foot traffic. They hadn’t gone to extreme lengths to avoid prying eyes, so it was inevitable that someone would witness them. And once there were witnesses, the natural flow of gossip was unavoidable.
The degree of attention she received had always been exceptionally high. That was why Lana had anticipated a day like this would come. Of course, anticipation did not grant immunity from its consequences. After the rumor spread, a rather significant change occurred in her daily life. The number of people approaching her increased. Even before, many had gathered simply to speak with her or exchange a few words, but afterward the intensity grew worse. It no longer stopped at conversation; people began extending personal invitations. There were even those who tried to close the physical distance between them.
Anne drove all such individuals away, but it was undeniable that the burden on Lana had grown. In the end, she had to properly reject each and every one of those overtures. The process left her exhausted, yet Lana did not regret it. When the man—Kyle—came to apologize for the trouble, she instead felt sorry toward him. Originally, the rumor itself should never have taken root. If Lana had not deliberately delayed the treatment, such gossip would never have circulated. In that sense, the entire situation was something she had brought upon herself.
Therefore, Lana felt apologetic toward Kyle. She worried that a man with no background might be harassed or harmed by others because of the rumor. And sure enough, that concern became reality. One day, as the two met for their usual treatment session, they appeared before them: the Empire’s prince, Ernen Rihel, and the heir of the great noble house of Ebenros, Sebastian Ebenros.
The moment they revealed themselves, Lana felt a wave of unease. At a glance, their demeanors were clearly different from usual. As the saying went, bad premonitions were rarely wrong. They began to speak to her. Their words were dressed in the guise of concern or persuasion, but in truth they were nothing more than interference and meddling. It seemed the pair wanted to separate Kyle from her side.
When she heard their words, the emotion that surged through Lana was pure, unfiltered anger. It was unprecedented. Since becoming the Saintess, she had met and dealt with countless people. It would have been nice if they had all been gentlemanly and kind, but of course that was not the case. Some were abnormal; others triggered instinctive discomfort. Yet no matter how strange the person, she had never once felt anger.
Now, for the first time, she experienced it while dealing with someone. What surprised her even more was the target of that fury. She was not angry at their interference. She was angry that they had insulted Kyle. Even with her standing right there, they had unabashedly hurled insults at him, and that was what ignited her rage.
By the time she regained her senses, she was already unleashing sharp words at them. She made no effort to hide her displeasure, pressed them with the weight of her authority, and ultimately drove them away. Immediately afterward, Lana was startled by her own actions. This was a clear violation of her resolve to never remove the mask of the perfect Saintess.
Why? she wondered. Why did I get angry? Why did I let my emotions show?
The answer came instantly. The man—Kyle—was the cause. She had grown angry because Kyle had been insulted. Because he had been insulted, her emotions had broken through. Had they spoken that way about someone else, she might have stopped at words, but she would not have used such cutting ones. No, in the first place, she would not have felt genuine anger at all.
Of course, if it had been Anne or someone close to her, the story might have been different. The problem was that she had not known Kyle for very long. She had become angry on behalf of a man she had met only recently. Even Lana herself could not comprehend it.
At that point, confusion was inevitable. She could not understand why she was behaving this way. Naturally her interest in the man deepened, but she had no leisure to examine it closely. She had to take responsibility for what she had done. Lana believed this incident could not possibly end without further complications. The attitudes of Ernen and Sebastian had been far too ominous. If they directed their resentment at her, it would be tolerable. The real problem was if they did not.
What if they turned their blades toward Kyle? Then a serious disaster would surely follow. Kyle was a man without any backing. There was no way he could withstand a prince and the heir of a major noble family. If things remained as they were, Kyle would undoubtedly suffer greatly.
Having reached that conclusion, Lana immediately began preparing countermeasures. Since she could not think of a concrete method herself, she consulted Anne and received the advice that appointing Kyle as an Honorary Monk would resolve everything. Lana followed that suggestion at once and requested the Luur Church to bestow the title upon him.
She was fully aware that the request was irregular. She knew it was not an honorable act. She understood it might cause considerable harm to the Church. Yet Lana made the request anyway. This, too, was something the old her would never have done. She had sought to portray the perfect Saintess, but she had never fully relied on the Church. She had always viewed borrowing its power as a debt.
Nevertheless, knowing full well that her request might burden the Church, she asked. She did so because she recognized that the entire situation had stemmed from her own selfishness. Since her greed had caused trouble for Kyle, she believed she had to clean up the mess herself. With that resolve, she submitted the request to the Church.
In the end, her tension proved unnecessary. The Goddess had delivered an oracle.
Accept the Saintess’s request and support her with all your strength.
It was an extraordinary event. The Goddess rarely issued oracles. They descended only during great crises or for momentous occasions such as the appointment of a Saintess. For something like this to warrant divine instruction was unheard of. Naturally, the upper echelons of the Church fell into an uproar. Lana herself harbored questions, but they were not deep. Whatever the Goddess’s will, there was no way for her to know it, and in any case it was not a bad outcome for her.
The Church felt the same. Despite the commotion, they moved immediately in accordance with the Goddess’s words and appointed Kyle as an Honorary Monk. Public opinion toward the Luur Church grew somewhat noisy as a result, but even that settled before long. The Church swore in the Goddess’s name that no corruption had taken place. After all, this was a matter the Goddess herself had directly commanded. There could be no perception of wrongdoing, nor any risk of incurring divine wrath. As expected, nothing further occurred and the uproar quickly died down.
In the end, everything was resolved cleanly. Kyle had escaped the crisis, and the Luur Church’s reputation remained intact. Of course, Kyle ended up receiving unwanted attention because of it, but he himself appeared genuinely unconcerned. There were a few lingering points that bothered her, but the situation had been handled neatly enough.
And so time flowed on, bringing them to the present.
Even now, none of her questions had been answered. Why did she feel no rejection toward this man? Why did she feel comfortable with him? Why… did she sense a strange familiarity in his presence? The answer remained out of reach.
Yet apart from that, she could no longer deny the truth: to her, this man was different from everyone else. He was special. Her interest in him had not simply remained—it had clearly, unmistakably deepened compared to before.
She wanted to know. About that man. About why she was acting this way. To do so… she needed to remain by his side a little longer.
Yes. Not yet.
That was why she decided to delay the treatment just a little more. Only a tiny bit longer. All while telling herself the lie that it was merely to resolve her questions.