An Unexpected Reversal
After the question-and-answer exchange with Alice, I had been on edge. I knew perfectly well there was no chance she would believe my answer. I had simply poured out my genuine feelings, but from her perspective, it must have looked entirely different. To her, it probably seemed like I was reciting rehearsed lines to win her favor or dodge suspicion. So I had expected her impression of me to sour even further. I assumed her attitude toward me would change as well—naturally, for the worse.
But in the end, none of that happened. A change did occur, yet it unfolded in a direction I had never anticipated. There was no increase in her spite, no fresh wave of demands. Instead, the requests and favors that had so clearly been meant to torment me simply... stopped. At first glance it seemed like a blessing, but I couldn't bring myself to celebrate. The reason behind it was completely opaque.
If something I had expected to bring only negative consequences had instead produced a positive shift, it was only natural to wonder whether something had gone wrong rather than simply feel relieved. The unexpected outcome ignited my imagination. Perhaps she was preparing to torment me through some new method. Maybe she was sharpening her blade to drive me out once and for all. I had no evidence, yet the anxious speculations refused to cease.
Time slipped by amid that deepening unease. Several days passed, and then—
“……?”
I sensed something strange. No matter how long I waited, there was no sign that anything would happen. Alice's behavior remained exactly the same. She treated me as if I didn't exist, just as she had at the very beginning. Even though we spent the entire day together, she wouldn't utter a single word in reply. It wasn't pleasant, but it was hard to call it bad, either. Compared to the nonstop demands, it was undeniably more comfortable.
Yet while my body had found relief, my mind had not. Alice was once again acting as though I were invisible. She still followed my guidance, but she never met my eyes and never answered. What on earth had changed? Had her anger toward me surpassed some critical threshold, leading her to decide I wasn't even worth acknowledging?
Around the time those thoughts began to circle, a familiar voice rang out.
“I’m back!”
“I originally planned to stay away much longer,” Rita said with a regretful expression when we met again after so long. Just as she claimed, she really had intended to remain absent for an extended period. If it had been entirely up to her, she would have lingered outside indefinitely. But she couldn’t. Any longer and the upper echelons of the church were bound to notice.
I nodded at the explanation. It had been an impossible situation from the start—the assistant priestess to the Saintess simply vanishing from her post. And to leave an outsider, a man no less, as her substitute? If the church leadership discovered it, the fallout would be anything but minor.
Of course, Rita hadn’t acted recklessly. She had done her best to blind the superiors to any leaks and prepared plausible excuses in advance. Still, avoiding detection entirely was the ideal outcome, so she had calculated her time to the absolute limit before returning.
“So, was there any progress?” Rita asked, looking at me. Her large eyes shimmered with intense curiosity and expectation.
In response, I could only say, “...I’m sorry.”
“Huh?!”
Rita’s already wide eyes grew even larger. Seeing her reaction, I lowered my head. The reason was simple: despite the enormous risk she had taken to create this opportunity, I had produced no meaningful results.
“S-surely… there wasn’t any progress at all?” Her voice trembled faintly, as though she were praying it was a lie.
Meeting those eyes, I felt an overwhelming wave of guilt and remorse. The regret was so heavy I could barely look at her. Part of me wanted to flee. But I couldn’t. That would have been inexcusable.
Even in failure, I owed her honesty. So I opened my mouth and began to explain.
“Well……”
A short while later, I finished my explanation and waited for Rita’s reaction.
‘She’s going to be angry…’
I could fully understand if she lost her temper. In fact, I thought it was only natural. Had our positions been reversed, I would have been furious myself. This matter couldn’t have been trivial for her. A priestess tasked with assisting the Saintess abandoning her post would appear, on the surface, as though she had completely discarded her duties. Of course, she had apparently laid down safety measures and groundwork, but if the truth came out, she wouldn’t escape unscathed. No—she would suffer serious consequences. Discipline would be the least of it; in the worst case, she might even be demoted. Perhaps worse. Given how obsessively the church protected its Saintess, anything was possible.
Knowing all that, I had resolved to accept whatever reaction she gave with humility. If she raged, I would endure it. If she demanded compensation, I would grant as much as I could.
With that mindset, I waited. After what felt like an eternity, Rita’s voice finally broke the silence.
“What are you talking about? There was progress.”
It was the last thing I expected.
“...Pardon?”
I lifted my bowed head and stared at her, eyes wide with confusion. Progress? Which part of my explanation could possibly have led her to that conclusion? If anything, the situation had regressed. I couldn’t imagine any outcome that qualified as progress.
As I gazed at her with pure bewilderment, Rita looked back with an expression of mild exasperation.
“...This guy really has devastatingly bad instincts, doesn’t he?”
“?”
I couldn’t understand that remark either. In the end, I couldn’t hold back my question.
“Um… what exactly do you consider progress?”
What among the events that occurred while she was gone could possibly be called an achievement?
“The only thing that happened while I stood in for you was endlessly accepting the Saintess’s requests and demands.”
That was the sole part I could interpret positively. Was she perhaps praising me for enduring Alice’s unreasonable orders without breaking?
But her next words immediately shot that idea down.
“Not that. There’s something else.”
“Pardon?”
“What happened after that?”
After that…? If she meant after that, then…
“...I had a conversation with the Saintess.”
I had exchanged words with Alice. Whether it truly qualified as a conversation was debatable, but still.
“That’s it.” Rita pointed at me.
“...Pardon?”
That counted as progress? It seemed far too trivial…
“...It was hardly anything meaningful.”
To summarize, Alice had asked about my purpose. She wanted to know whether I was approaching her—and them—out of material greed or some other ulterior motive. I had answered that I wasn’t. That was the entire exchange.
“That is the progress.”
“...Pardon?”
Looking frustrated, Rita thumped her small fist against her chest. “The Saintess basically has no interest in other people. The only ones who ever catch her attention… are probably the other Saintesses.”
“...I see.”
The statement stung, but now wasn’t the time to dwell on it.
“Yet that very Saintess went out of her way to ask you a question. What do you think that means? It means she’s taken an interest in you, Sir Kyle.”
“......”
When put that way, it didn’t sound entirely wrong. After all, curiosity doesn’t bloom toward someone who inspires neither interest nor intrigue. However—
“It doesn’t seem like positive interest, though.”
That was the problem. Rita might be right that Alice had grown curious about me, but it didn’t feel like the good kind of curiosity. If it were, she wouldn’t have asked such a question or displayed that kind of attitude.
“Well…” Rita’s thoughts seemed to differ. “I wouldn’t necessarily say that.”
“......?”
I could only tilt my head. Where exactly was the positive element in either that question or the attitude Alice had shown? It would have been far more convincing to say she had simply grown tired of my presence and couldn’t hold back her words. Even if, by some miracle, the question itself had been a positive signal—
“...I don’t think the Saintess took my answer in a positive light…”
My response to Alice’s question had clearly been unsatisfactory. I had spoken from the heart as best I could, but from her perspective it must have sounded unbelievable. In fact, her attitude had immediately reverted to the way it was before.
“That’s…” Rita began, then shook her head. “Never mind. It seems I won’t be able to convince you, so let’s drop it.”
“......”
It was an unsatisfying conclusion, but I nodded anyway.
“Still, it’s not bad. There is progress. If we push just a little further, we might see meaningful results.”
“You want to push even harder from here?”
The idea filled me with worry. What if Alice finally snapped?
“It’s fine. Just trust me.”
Rita thumped her chest as if to say I could rely on her alone, brushing aside my concern. Then she asked, her face as bright and clear as ever, “You want to change the Saintess, don’t you?”
“......”
In the end, I had no choice but to swallow my objections.
“So let’s keep trying just a little longer!” Rita cried with renewed energy.
Watching her, I forced myself to think positively. As she said, changing Alice would ultimately require continued effort. I steadied my faltering resolve once more.
…However, in the end, that determination proved meaningless.
Because the affairs of the world always move in directions no one can predict.