What Is Your Purpose?
The role of assistant priest proxy had begun rather abruptly. Yet unlike what I had feared, Alice’s reaction was not as bad as I’d imagined. It was hardly warm, but the important thing was that it wasn’t the disaster I had braced myself for. She didn’t rage at me or resort to every petty tactic to drive me away. Because of that, I allowed myself to think the plan might unfold more smoothly than expected. In the end, however, that was far too naïve a hope.
Before long Alice began issuing one demand after another. “I want something to drink.” The first requests were trivial—nothing more than ordering me to fetch a beverage. Under normal circumstances such tasks would have been reserved for servants, yet I didn’t mind them at all. On the contrary, I was happy. Whatever the content, the simple fact that Alice was speaking to me filled me with joy.
Carrying out her orders with a light heart, I let anticipation swell in my chest. Perhaps her hostility toward me was easing. Maybe she was slowly opening her heart. From that day forward I accepted every request and demand she made with genuine pleasure—at least until their frequency grew too obvious to ignore.
The requests piled up steadily until, at some point, I could scarcely catch a glimpse of her face. The moment I fulfilled one, another was already waiting. By then even I could no longer pretend not to understand her true intention. Alice wasn’t asking for these things because she actually needed them. She was doing it to torment me.
I never asked her outright, but her behavior was so blatant that anyone paying the slightest attention could see it. When the realization hit, all I could do was smile bitterly. I felt no sense of betrayal. After all, I had already considered that something like this might happen. In that sense, events were simply unfolding as predicted. Still, expectation did not make the truth any less painful. The fact that Alice would go this far could only mean she despised me that much.
Rushing about until my feet ached was not difficult. What truly hurt was knowing she disliked me enough to treat me this way. A bitter taste lingered in my mouth and an ache throbbed in my chest—an ache too deep to laugh off. Nevertheless, I endured. The reason was simple: if I didn’t, growing close to Alice would be impossible. So I refused to give up. Gritting my teeth, I bore every request and carried each one out.
How much time passed in that manner? Was any of this truly meaningful? Could I really become close to her like this? Just as those doubts began to surface like faint wisps of smoke—
“What is your purpose?”
Alice suddenly asked me the question.
“Pardon…?”
The day’s lectures had just ended and I had finished fulfilling yet another demand. Perhaps I had let my guard down, or maybe the accumulated exhaustion of the past several days had caught up with me; whatever the cause, my reply came out dazed.
Alice fixed me with her signature sharp gaze. “I said, what is your purpose?”
“……?”
For a moment all I could do was stare back with a question mark hovering over my head. I understood the literal meaning, of course. What I couldn’t grasp was why she was asking me this now. What purpose? What exactly was she referring to?
While I stood there speechless, Alice pressed on, her voice like a blade. “Why are you going this far? What do you want from me? Are you trying to get close so you can turn your life around?”
Only then did I finally understand her intent. She was questioning my motives—the reason I continued to linger by her side despite her warnings, the reason I refused to leave even after receiving such openly malicious treatment. That was what she wanted to know.
“Do you actually believe that if you act like this I’ll fall for it the way Juliana and Lana did? That if you silently endure whatever treatment you receive, I’ll open my heart to you?”
Alice’s eyes flashed. “If that’s what you’re thinking, let me make one thing clear. It will never happen. So stop entertaining pointless hopes and disappear.”
That utterly chilling glare and those cold words sent a sharp pain through my chest. Once again I was forced to recognize the depth of Alice’s hostility toward me. Yet I could not simply stand there trembling. I had to give her an answer. What should I say? The dilemma did not last long. No amount of clever wording would convince her, and I had no desire to spin lies. Therefore—
“That is not what I want,” I confessed honestly.
“What?” Alice’s brow furrowed, but I continued regardless.
“I am not staying by the Saintess’s side because I desire money or status. The same was true with the other two.”
Money, position, power—I cared nothing for any of them. It would be convenient to have, certainly, but I could obtain such things through my own strength. There was no need to borrow anyone else’s power. The sole reason I wished to remain by Alice’s side—by those girls’ sides—was simply because I wanted to. Because I wanted to watch over them and protect them from up close. Because I wanted to grow nearer to them. And, if I could be a little greedier, because I wanted to make them happy.
If that counted as selfish motive, then so be it. But at the very least I was not circling them for personal gain.
“……”
Alice glared at me. Her deeply furrowed brow made it clear my answer displeased her immensely. She stared for what felt like an eternity.
“……”
Then, without warning, she spun on her heel. With harsh, angry footsteps she strode into the dormitory. I could only watch her retreating back in a daze.
…Will this be all right?
Worry flooded me. I had spoken my pure sincerity, yet from Alice’s perspective the words would sound impossible to believe. To her, they likely appeared as nothing more than slick lies hiding darker intentions. Still, no matter how much I worried, there was nothing more I could do. All that remained was to fret in silence.
Bang! The door slammed shut with a heavy thud. The woman responsible—Alice—stepped into the room wearing an expression of clear displeasure. It was not merely her face; her mood truly was foul.
The cause was the man she had been facing only moments earlier. Kyle Berwen. Alice had learned of him long before arriving here. She first heard the name during the Honorary Monk appointment ceremony.
The Goddess Church rarely bestowed the title of Honorary Monk. In fact, no one had received it in recent years. Yet the Lure Church had suddenly done so. An appointment after such a long drought was bound to draw attention, but this particular case generated far more interest than mere novelty could explain.
The reason was simple: the appointee did not meet the required qualifications. Kyle Berwen. A notorious scoundrel whose name was known throughout the Empire. A troublemaker who had committed every imaginable offense and ultimately been disowned by his own family. That worthless wretch had been granted the honored title of Honorary Monk.
The incomprehensible decision set the entire world abuzz, and the news eventually reached Alice’s ears. Normally she would have paid no heed to such Church matters. Whether an emperor or the world’s greatest villain received the title, she would have dismissed it. But this time she could not. Because she learned that it was Lana who had bestowed the position upon that scoundrel.
Though Alice held little interest in Church affairs, any matter involving the other two Saintesses was different. She immediately verified the rumor and confirmed its truth. She then investigated the full circumstances and uncovered even more concrete facts: that the reason Lana had grown close to the man was due to a request from Juliana.
Upon learning the entire truth, Alice burned with fury. She could not tolerate anyone drawing near those two, nor could she accept the two of them taking such deep interest in anyone. Therefore she sharpened her resolve. She vowed to completely sever that scoundrel from them both.
Fortunately, the opportunity arrived quickly. The time for her to enter the Academy was drawing near. After thoroughly investigating Kyle as a precaution, she proceeded to the Academy as planned. The moment she arrived, she went straight to meet Kyle Berwen.
The man she confronted was exactly as she had expected—utterly unremarkable. To that unremarkable man she delivered the warning she had prepared and left at once. Compared to the depth of her anger the measure was light, but Alice believed it would suffice. If he possessed any intelligence he would understand the warning; if he dared ignore it, she could teach him a proper lesson later.
With that, Alice erased the man’s existence from her mind. She assumed she would not have to see his face again for quite some time. In the end, however, that assumption proved mistaken. She soon encountered him once more—because Rita had dragged the man before her eyes under the absurd pretext of appointing him as the academy guide.