The Saintess (3)
Another peaceful morning. After finishing the morning prayer service, Elia was walking down the corridor. With a holy scripture clutched to her chest for her basic theology class, she headed toward the classroom, the nuns’ gazes trailing after her.
“……”
Elia pressed her lips tightly together. One eyebrow twitched as if she were thoroughly annoyed. The cause of her irritation was five steps behind her.
“Why are you following me?”
Elia turned around. Beneath her long lashes, her eyes sharpened like blades. When their gazes met, Leod politely bowed his head. That was all. There was no answer to her question.
“You do realize constantly tailing someone like this is a nuisance, right?”
“My apologies.”
“If you’re sorry, then stop following me.”
“My apologies.”
Three days. For three whole days, Leod had been shadowing Elia. Like a silent escort knight, he stayed glued to her back. Whether she was heading to the restroom, going to take a bath, or retiring to sleep—except for those moments, Leod was practically her shadow. It was incredibly irritating. Downright cumbersome.
Because of Leod, Elia hadn’t been able to do any sword training for three days straight.
“Are you protesting right now?”
“……”
“Let me say it again—I am absolutely not going to the Holy Kingdom. So please give up already and go back.”
“My apologies.”
“Is ‘my apologies’ the only thing you know how to say?”
“My apologies.”
“Aaaargh…!”
Elia pounded her own chest with her fist. The soft, squishy resistance pushed her knuckles back. It felt like her insides were about to burst into flames.
Every time Elia refused, this stubborn holy knight would reject her refusal with nothing but “my apologies.” No matter what she said, it was useless. No matter what method she tried, it was useless. Leod remained utterly consistent in his determination to take Elia back to the Holy Kingdom no matter what.
“You’ve got the wrong person. I’m not saintess material. What exactly makes you so certain?”
There was no physical evidence. Only a gut feeling. The only way to be sure was to return to the Holy Kingdom and verify it. But Leod didn’t have even the slightest doubt in his own judgment.
It’s certain. This girl is the woman of the oracle.
The conviction had struck him with instinctive force.
“Go back.”
“I cannot.”
“I said go back.”
“I cannot.”
“If you keep acting like this, I won’t stay quiet.”
“What do you intend to do?”
“I’ll run away.”
She would soon become an adult and graduate from the convent anyway. Leaving a month or two early wouldn’t cause any major problems.
That was when it happened.
“Running away? What kind of nonsense are you saying, Elia?”
Elia’s guardian, Bertina, was approaching with a stern expression.
“I thought I taught you that partings are even more important than meetings? Are you really planning to end our relationship in such a manner?”
It was a line from the scriptures. Meetings are important, but partings are even more so. It was also one of Bertina’s favorite sayings.
Elia looked at Bertina with clear displeasure in her eyes.
“Weren’t you the one who tried to send me off to the Holy Kingdom without even discussing it with me first, Sister?”
The errand she had been sent on that day had been a lie. When she went to treat the old man who had supposedly strained his back, he was out in the fields working with a perfectly healthy spine. It had all been a ploy arranged at the holy knight’s request to lure Elia into taking the saintess qualification test.
She had felt a small sense of betrayal that day. If they had known each other for so long, shouldn’t he have at least asked her opinion instead of luring her with a lie? Something like, “The Holy Kingdom contacted us—how would you like to handle this?” Of course she would have refused. But still, when it came to human relationships, that was the proper way.
“I did it for your sake, Elia. I wanted you to live in a better place and be treated well.”
A parent’s heart. Even though Elia wasn’t her biological child whom she had carried in her womb, Bertina thought of her as a real daughter. While all the children under her care were precious to her, she was still only human—there were bound to be some she felt especially attached to. That child was Elia.
That was why she scolded her more strictly. That was why she wanted her to live a better life.
“When did I ever say I wanted that?”
“That……”
Bertina, who had been about to say something, closed her mouth. Elia had never said anything like that before. When had she ever said she wanted to live well? When had she ever said she wanted to be treated kindly? Never. But…
Weren’t those the most basic desires anyone would have? Who in the world would wish for misfortune or desire to be treated poorly?
“But this isn’t a common opportunity. We don’t know yet whether you’ll truly become a saintess or not, but even becoming a saintess candidate would allow you to live a happy life.”
It was a fantasy every nun had probably entertained at least once. What if I were the saintess? Bertina herself had dreamed that dream when she was young. Perhaps the affection she showed Elia was nothing more than vicarious satisfaction—watching the girl achieve the dream she herself had only ever imagined.
Elia spoke firmly in response to Bertina’s words.
“Why do you get to decide the standards for happiness, Sister?”
Once again, Bertina found herself unable to speak. That becoming a saintess or a saintess candidate would bring happiness was purely Bertina’s own assumption.
“Good timing. I’ll say it now while we’re at it.”
It was something she would have had to say soon anyway.
“I’m going to apply to the Imperial Army.”
“Pardon…?”
“It seems you and the other sisters all assume I’ll become an official member of the clergy. But I won’t. I’m going to become a knight.”
“A knight?”
It was far too sudden. The Imperial Army? A knight? She had never heard of it, never even considered it. She felt bad thinking this, but… no matter how one looked at it, Elia did not seem like knight material. No matter how short the Imperial Army was on soldiers, the situation wasn’t so desperate that they would recruit a girl who looked as delicate as her.
If Elia applied to the Imperial Army, she would surely be rejected. And Bertina wasn’t the only one thinking this. Leod, who had been silently standing behind them, held the exact same opinion.
In the old days, it might have been possible.
But now they were in a ceasefire. The number of people applying to the Imperial Army had decreased, and the recruitment standards had changed. In the past, they accepted anyone who applied, but now applicants had to pass a test to become an imperial knight.
Hmm……
Leod looked at Elia’s back. A small, slender frame. The nun’s habit clung tightly to her body, shamelessly revealing the dramatic curve of her hips. No matter where one looked, her body appeared soft and yielding. There was no way she could meet the Imperial Army’s passing standards. Not physically. Not in terms of stamina. She had received zero training.
“Anyway, that’s enough of this conversation.”
Elia shoved the holy scripture she had been carrying into Bertina’s arms. Then she turned away from the direction of the classroom and walked out of the chapel.
“Elia…!”
Bertina’s voice called after her. She ignored it.
To think I’d get upset over something like this at my age… Have I not only become younger in body, but in mind as well?
Elia felt hurt by Bertina’s actions—actions that pretended to be for her sake but weren’t truly considering her wishes. At the same time, she also felt a strong bond with Bertina. Nine years. If you included the time before her previous life’s memories returned, it was nineteen years. After receiving care from Bertina for such a long time, how could she not develop any feelings?
She wasn’t her real parent, but she thought of her like one. That was precisely why this incident had wounded her emotions.
I got too emotional…
Elia ruffled her own hair. The veil on her head slipped off and fell to the floor. She bent forward to pick it up. Between her legs, she could see Leod’s feet.
Still bent at the waist, Elia looked back at him.
“Don’t you have any sense? Can’t you read the room?”
“My apologies.”
Again, again, again! The water had already been spilled. She had planned to resolve this as peacefully as possible with words. But if he wouldn’t listen, then Elia had no choice but to use her own methods.
A surefire way to break the stubbornness of someone who had always been stubborn. A method she had used since long ago.
“Follow me.”
Elia grabbed Leod by the wrist and dragged him along. The girls who had never experienced men gasped in shock at the sight. They covered their mouths with one hand, watching with eyes full of curiosity.
Elia dragged Leod into the forest. Deep in the woods where few people ever went, almost nothing they did would be noticed. This was where she would do it.
“Do you really want to take me to the Holy Kingdom?”
Leod, his face expressionless, gave a small nod.
“The holy power you use, Lady Elia, is not something that can be wielded at your age. Since you are clearly no ordinary person, I intend to bring you before His Holiness the Pope first. Once that is done, we will know. Whether you are truly the woman of the oracle or not.”
Using the holy relic stored in the Pope’s archive, they could confirm it immediately.
“Fine.”
Elia spread both arms wide.
“Then take me.”
“You are giving your consent?”
“If you can manage it.”
Elia removed her veil and tossed it at Leod.
“Duel.”
It was the surest way to break someone’s stubbornness.