Chapter 13
Translator: True Detective
[The Saintess Awakens - 03]
"The Saintess's biological family, you say?"
"Yes."
I was handed a letter by the Pope.
"May I read it?"
"I gave it to you so you could."
Once the Pope's permission was given, I quietly read down the contents of the letter. Skipping the trivial greetings, the summarized content was a simple story saying, 'Your younger sister's birthday is coming soon, so come back.' Of course, there was also a sentence that seemed considerate, saying she didn't have to come if she was busy with Saintess duties.
Considerate.
Is it consideration.
To my eyes, this phrase 'you do not have to come if you are busy with Saintess duties' actually looked sincere. An extreme thought stealthily rose within me that this wasn't just social manners or keeping a sort of formality, but rather the only sincere part among all the contents of this letter.
After all, there was absolutely nothing asking about the Saintess personally in this letter, and the Saintess had also never once talked to me about her family. It was to the point where I just found out she even had a younger sister while reading this letter right now.
Because her name is Saintess Anastasia Lacroix, there are quite a few people who mistakenly believe she is from the 'Lacroix family'.
However, just as a Pope changes their surname to 'Lumentio' upon ascension regardless of what their original surname was, a Saintess who obtains the Stigma of the Saintess also changes her surname to 'Lacroix,' regardless of who she is.
A kind of history.
Culture.
Or a symbolism for unity.
Either way, it had meaning.
Even so, they don't go with the extreme logic of 'Since your surname changed, these people are no longer your family', nor do they deny the familial relationship itself. There was merely a hypothesis that, according to past records, this was done to make the child who became a Saintess recognize that she is a Saintess before she is their family.
Whatever the case, it didn't look very positive.
"May I ask the reason you are showing this to me?"
"A letter comes every year. However, the Saintess, Anastasia, has never once seen this letter. I have verbally relayed what the contents were, but she still showed no interest."
"……Is that so."
That indifferent attitude seemed to be the same toward her family. Perhaps she only recognizes the family itself as 'sharing blood' and nothing beyond that. In the worst-case scenario, even if she faced her family, she might only recognize them as existences like 'Who was this again', completely failing to understand any of their individual characteristics.
In other words, it meant she only knew she had a family connected by blood. Whether she was the one who didn't open her heart to her family. Or if even her family couldn't open it. I couldn't know that, but the relationship seemed to be roughly visible just from this letter alone.
"Will you try persuading her?"
"Persuade, you say. You wish for the Saintess to go to her hometown once in response to this letter." "Yes. ……Being as perceptive as you are, you likely already know, but her relationship with her family is by no means good. I, too, had given up since that wasn't the only problem." "……." "But you have already been in this position as the Saintess's educator for half a year. Little by little, the Saintess is changing, too."
The frequency of her violence has decreased a lot. No joke, the number of times she attacks now is practically zero. Besides, from what I've heard, when people greeted the Saintess during her strolls in the past, she would completely ignore them, glare at them, or in the worst cases, they could be attacked, so everyone trembled in fear. But lately, she is indifferent but still accepts greetings with a "Yeah."
Other than that, there was someone who got a small cut while working and suddenly got healed.
Whenever the Saintess sees me, she often makes a face that says, 'Sigh, you're working hard doing something useless anyway,' but it was definitely having an influence little by little. I truly think it's fortunate that I met her when she was young. If I had met the Saintess after she came of age, there was a high chance nothing would have changed no matter what I did.
Of course, it's not entirely impossible, but just like normal people find it hard to change their path once they become adults, the Saintess was an especially difficult person. Even if we had met after she had already decided the path she would live, there was nothing I could have done. Above all, if we had met after she came of age, I would have been turned to ashes in a few seconds.
Before I could even finish saying 'Hello', light magic would have pierced through me. I mean that sincerely, not as a joke.
"It might be because I am a bit inflexible, but a bad relationship with one's family does not look good to me." "I see, but if you want her to get along with her family, I think it is too early. It is true the Saintess has calmed down somewhat, but that temper of hers is still the same." "Do you see it as difficult?" "It will depend on how the family responds." "……I see, we cannot force her. But will you at least talk to her about it once?" "Understood. I will relay the contents of the letter, at least." "Thank you." "Then excuse me."
From the Pope's perspective, it might be natural for a family to get along, but not everyone in the world could live so normally and ideally. Even though they shared blood, there were plenty of cases where they were further apart than strangers who didn't share blood. It was easy to hear the evaluation of 'literally just strangers connected by blood.'
I couldn't know what the relationship between the Saintess and her family was like, but I should at least relay the message. There's a possibility of stepping on a landmine, so should I prepare my defenses just in case before I go?
An attack might come flying for the first time in a while, so I felt it would be best to be careful.
"Ah, Pope. ……Do you know what the relationship between the Saintess and her family was like?" "……."
I asked as I was about to leave the room. I didn't know if she would know, but since there was a fairly high chance she did, there was no harm in asking.
"Past Saintesses were half-forced to part with their families. Therefore, the families would somehow try to create a day to meet the Saintess and look for that opportunity. That is a rightfully natural action as 'blood relatives'."
I suppose so.
No matter how happy they are that she was chosen as a Saintess, having their child's surname changed and having her live in the Grand Cathedral is quite a harsh story. Not to mention if she was a young child, not even an adult.
"But after this Saintess was chosen, her family has not once visited this Grand Cathedral."
"Understood. I will keep that in mind. ……Then I will excuse myself first."
I opened the door, went out, stood in the hallway, and let out a small sigh. Was the Saintess's cold behavior the first to hurt her family? Or did the family reject the alien Saintess first? Either way, I knew it wasn't a proper family relationship. As expected, this letter was literally sent out of courtesy, probably sent because they predicted that, just like until now, she wouldn't come even if they sent it.
Not only that, but since she is their daughter for now, if they didn't even send this much and didn't meet her, they would have been quite conscious of the social gaze as well.
Or was it their conscience? Either way, the possibility that this was 'a letter sent because they truly wanted her to come' had become very low.
"……."
I moved my steps, stood in front of the Saintess's door, and knocked lightly. A knock knock sound was heard, and the Saintess said "Come in" in a languid voice.
"Good morning, Saintess."
I don't know since when, but she was sitting on the windowsill looking outside. Perhaps it meant she had started giving her gaze to 'others' under the name of 'outside', so maybe I should view it positively. Though I couldn't deny the possibility of it going in a bad direction, since emotions toward those others could easily run wild if things went wrong.
"Yeah, you're here? ……What's that letter?"
"It is a letter from your family, Saintess." "Family……. Family……. Ah, family."
It was a reaction like, 'Ah, I had a family, too,' so it was very perplexing to respond to from my side.
"Would you like to read the letter?"
"Summarize."
The Saintess spoke as she popped a cookie into her mouth, looking annoyed.
Lately, it felt like I was just the Saintess's 'Handler', not her 'Educator'. Since I resolved everything from one to ten by her side, the number of people in the Grand Cathedral who remembered me as the 'Saintess's Handler' gradually increased, and it seemed there were even people who mistakenly thought the whole reason I came here was to hold the Saintess's reins.
"It is your one and only younger sister's birthday, so come and celebrate it; if you are busy with Saintess duties, you do not have to come……. That is all." "Is that so?" "For your information, you may have already noticed, but it came every year. Do you remember?"
"I remember. The Pope asked me every year." "When did you become a 'Saintess'?" "Let's see, was I 5 years old……."
The Saintess is 13 years old now. It's been about 8 years since she was dragged to the Grand Cathedral.
In fact, the time she has spent here is longer than the time she spent with her family, and let alone having no memories of her baby years, this Grand Cathedral might be closer to 'home' for the Saintess.
"If you do not wish to go, I will relay your refusal to the Pope. The Pope is not saying you absolutely must go, so please do as you wish, Saintess."
"……."
The Saintess blankly stared at the scenery beyond the window and then looked back at me. I couldn't know what that gaze meant, but I could tell that she was thinking about something.
"I'll go, since there was something I wanted to say, too." "……You are going?" "You brought the letter, didn't you." "That is true, but."
The Saintess strode over to me.
Did she grow a little taller?
Is it a growth spurt?
A woman's average growth spurt is between 10 and 11 years old, but it's not like they stop growing completely after that, so well.
The Saintess snatched the letter I was holding and spoke.
"Let's go, the sooner the better. ……I'm going outside this Grand Cathedral for the first time in a while."
"When was the last time you went out?"
"I've never gone out since I entered this place as a Saintess."
"……."
Hmm. Could the rigid and suffocating atmosphere of this Grand Cathedral have also played a part in worsening the Saintess's tendencies? That thought suddenly occurred to me.