The Pure Priestess's Innocent Courage Part 2
That day, Elysia had stayed awake the entire night.
Actually, waking up with a clear mind in the morning wasn’t all that unusual for her.
Last night, she had been so terrified that Gray might slip away in the middle of the night after being disappointed in her that she hadn’t slept properly. Lately, she had been completely absorbed in her secret alchemy research—though she called it “elixir development” in her own mind—and her usual wake-up time had drifted to around noon.
But today, her momentum had been even deeper than usual.
“Ugh… ah… ugh… ah… uh… ah… Gray… Gray… living together… kya!”
Is this a dream?
If it was, it made perfect sense.
It was one of those delusional fantasies she indulged in every night, hugging her treasured No. 1 “Gray pillow” and imagining things she could never tell anyone else.
Her body felt as if it were floating gently in the sky. Even when she had been burning up with a high fever from a terrible flu, she had felt something similar.
She had simply been staring at the ceiling, yet it was so warm and soothing—like soaking in a hot bath—that she had forgotten to breathe, her brain on the verge of melting.
She had lost all sense of time, rolling and tumbling for hours.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
“… Is this real?”
When she finally came to her senses, daylight was already streaming through the windows.
Elysia had no choice but to rise from the bed with her mind still foggy.
Somehow, the Gray pillow was soaking wet from end to end.
Well, that was a minor issue.
Normally, since Elysia liked to sleep in, breakfast was always Lucia’s responsibility.
Following the sweet scent of berries with her half-lidded eyes, she headed to the kitchen and immediately heard Lucia’s loud cry.
“Sister. Good morning.”
“Oh, Ria. Hello. You woke up early today…?”
“……?”
“…… Kya! You woke up without even waking me!”
“Why are you so startled? I should wake up early sometimes too. Want help?”
“You… aren’t feeling well?”
Lucia had stopped pouring coffee and pressed her hand to Elysia’s forehead.
“What are you talking about, sister? I don’t have a fever.”
“You talk so well. Your forehead is practically boiling.”
Boiling…?
Now that she thought about it, what exactly did “boiling” mean…?
Bubbling…?
Lucia grabbed her cheek and pulled. Stretch. Stretch.
“Your face is bright red, your eyes are unfocused… you look like you haven’t slept at all.”
“Eek, don’t pull my cheek…”
“Declaring to leave the world and getting swept away by one man, staying up all night… where did the love you’ve accumulated over ten years go? This sister is truly heartbroken.”
“It’s not that…”
“Not what?”
With a teasing lilt, Lucia kept tugging her cheek.
“You can stay here…?”
“… If Elysia wants to stay longer, I won’t stop you.”
Gray answered while spreading and applying some paste.
He looked perfectly calm on the surface, but in truth he was sweating cold sweat, desperately trying to gather yesterday’s mistakes. He hadn’t slept either.
Of course, Elysia had no way of knowing this.
If she did, she would break.
Lucia, perhaps feeling that Gray was growing jealous, buried her face in Elysia’s chest with an expression full of resentment.
“If our house feels inconvenient, you can sleep at the temple. Right, Ria?”
“… That… You keep saying you’re forcibly taking Elysia away…?”
“Oh my. Was it not?”
“…………”
When Gray swallowed his answer with a pale face, Tina added in an old-lady voice.
“Mom. You’re being way too noisy.”
“Tina, you don’t mind that your sister is leaving?”
“Don’t mind? Sigh, Mom really can’t be helped.”
“What?”
“Ria unnie has grown up now, so she should start preparing. Rosa unnie at the temple said she’s getting married soon.”
“T-Tina! It’s not like that for unnie!”
“Really? Anyway, I’m not as busy as a mom, so I can come visit every day.”
Elysia, still buried in Lucia’s chest, her ears burning red, fidgeted restlessly.
She quickly erased the words Tina had spoken from her memory.
If she stored those carelessly, her head really would melt.
Actually, she couldn’t deny that she had impulsively decided to cohabit, swayed by Neir’s suggestion.
Watching Lucia’s reaction, the feeling that she was truly leaving began to sink in.
“You’re planning to leave right away?”
“Ah, no. I have to greet Bishop Boris too, and…”
“… If he gets into some accident and can’t come, will that plan be delayed?”
“… Sister, don’t take those ominous words too seriously.”
Elysia’s tension eased a little thanks to Lucia’s fussing.
“…………”
“…………?”
For a moment, their eyes met.
The two of them, embarrassed, looked away for entirely different reasons.
… Maybe she thought I was a woman who got hurt because of yesterday’s incident, but no.
No.
Gray wouldn’t think that!
Elysia, like fleeing, stood up and retreated to her room.
She had to calm herself before Bishop Boris returned.
If she acted awkwardly then, Gray might become even more uncomfortable.
Moving residence didn’t change her duties as a priestess of Astasia.
Just as always, she dressed in her priestess robes, greeted the statue of Astasia as usual, and went to work at the temple as usual.
The priestess robes that had been touched by Gray’s hands were placed in the closet, commemorating the first time they had been worn.
The old, worn robes had been painfully tight around the chest, but she had endured until she received the new ones.
Yet even this small discomfort had been the happiness Elysia had longed for more than anything.
“Uhe… uhehe…”
Her mouth had opened on its own.
Was she looking weird?
Since this worry wasn’t baseless, she had overheard the temple people gossiping behind her after work.
“… Um? Priestess Rosa. Is it that Ria priestess smiled just now?”
“Huhu… Theo. Lying is bad, you know. Not just anyone, how could Ria priestess smile? Or… are you slacking off without working and giving a hint?”
“What are you saying? I haven’t slacked off!”
The gossiping voices of Theo and Rosa.
After hearing their conversation through Lucia yesterday, the distance between the two had seemed subtly different.
……… They said they were dating.
Is it true?
Elysia, who usually maintained a certain distance from her surroundings, asking them directly would have been an enormous rudeness.
“By the way, Priestess Ria… since you’re smiling, you really look beautiful.”
“Hmm…… Theo. Do you like Ria priestess that much?”
“Yes?! Ah, no. I didn’t mean it that way… I, why, Ria priestess doesn’t smile usually.”
“…………… Huh. Is that so. Yeah. Ria priestess is beautiful after all. See you later.”
“Rosa?! Don’t smile so menacingly and listen to what I’m saying! Rosa!”
“Doesn’t smile usually”…
It was a familiar misunderstanding.
She already knew that her expression and tone outside the house were very cold.
Elysia herself thought the same and acted the same, but it seemed others didn’t see it that way.
But this wasn’t a problem worth worrying about now.
Elysia greeted Astasia as usual.
Normally she would have prayed earnestly for meeting Gray, but since the day they reunited, her one-sided prayers had turned into infinite gratitude and praise toward the goddess.
If the one who guided Gray here was the goddess…
Elysia had the resolve to become the goddess’s servant even after death, even as a soul.
Gray… Gray…
Thinking of him made her smile grow even wider.
What was he doing right now?
Maybe he had gone to see the new nest.
He had mentioned cleaning was needed, so perhaps he was sweeping the floor.
Since he lived as a wanderer, he might not be familiar with cleaning.
But old buildings always had many invisible dangers.
What if…
If he got pricked by a rusty nail… the wound festered…
If he caught… tetanus… tetanus…
“………”
She wanted to help him immediately, but barely calmed her heart that felt ready to burst and focused on the temple.
As a servant of the Astasia goddess, she needed to pay attention to her behavior.
She couldn’t act rashly.
In any situation, calm thinking was the virtue the temple of wisdom prided itself on.
Leaving her post simply because she had seen a man was unimaginable.
“Eh? Priestess Ria, are you going out?”
“… There is a matter of paying for the damages at the confectionery where I left a mark during the temple exploration. Any special circumstances?”
“Ah, no! Please be careful!”
So, I hope there are no misunderstandings, but this was never leaving her post.
It was only that, by chance, she had passed by that building while paying the fee.
If there had been another intention, it had come from a pure heart that Gray might get hurt.
Crossing the city, following the winding ridge, there stood an old tavern building that had closed its doors a year ago.
And there she had met Gray.
Of course, it was a coincidence.
“Um? El… Ria. You’re early.”
Gray still hadn’t gotten used to calling her “Priestess Ria.”
The way he stumbled when calling her by the name “Elysia” also made her mouth open.
But that didn’t last long. It was because of the unfamiliar person standing next to Gray.
Elysia’s expression had frozen pale in less than three seconds.
“………………”
Calm down…
First. Yeah. Right.
As a servant of the goddess. Absolutely.
Don’t act rashly…
Don’t. Do. But.
But, Gray. There. You can’t have someone next to you.
Was it a coincidence?
It couldn’t be.
Definitely.
She had been comforting her.
The woman who was crying, the one shedding tears.
Woman… woman. It was a woman.
Long skirt and elegant scarf. Thin line. Small but with clear curves. From head to toe.
Her instincts understood that all biological clues were saying it was a woman.
Instinct. Yeah. Not the rationality as a priestess, but the instinct as a female was leading.
There, Gray. That woman. Who is she?
Who? Why is she there? Why next to you? If it’s a stranger, shouldn’t she fall away now? Maybe she’s lost? Not a child, but similar? A lost person? Don’t worry. If it’s that, I can find her for you. So you don’t come close, don’t come close, don’t come close, don’t come close, don’t come close, don’t come close, don’t come close, don’t come close, don’t come close
Aah, I got it.
Now that I think about it, it was a woman she had seen once.
Ragnea Temple.
The priestess that Baron Zeke had taken with him proudly.
The church member who had come with a letter from the parish priest of Ragnea diocese and briefly made Elysia panic.
She had said Neir had resolved it, but why was she with Gray at this time, it was hard to understand.
Her face had lost color and her breathing had quickened, but Elysia wasn’t a girl with enough courage to question boldly.
When she thought about the answer she didn’t want to imagine… even if she covered her ears and pretended not to hear, her honest heart had wanted to stay next to Gray’s side in a cowardly way.
Take it easy, Elysia.
Especially at times like this, you shouldn’t be flustered.
Ten years.
It had been ten years.
After waiting ten years, the relationship of giving luggage, holding wrist, and finally… living together… together… living… relationship…
This should be able to be overlooked without a problem for the dignity of a legitimate wife.
Gently and naturally.
First, say “Oh, what a coincidence.”
She knew they weren’t even dating yet.
By having one woman next to her, she was subtly telling that she was a cool woman who didn’t fuss over every little thing.
After thinking that, she finally opened her mouth.
“………… Who is the woman next to you?”