[Saintess for You - 01]
[Saintess for You - 01]
It had been one month since Eris became my bodyguard.
Eris, who had thought she would finally be able to rest after training like a madwoman for a month, hadn't been able to rest properly because she had to receive etiquette training from Ed.
In particular, to be by my side, using 'honorifics' was a basic requirement, and it was better for her to memorize various manners.
Of course, since she was a bodyguard, having the bare minimum of basic knowledge would have sufficed, but Eris, having been from the slums, didn't even have that.
Things that were common sense and natural for nobles or high-ranking people were not so for her, so she was being trained like crazy by Ed.
At least recently, she had learned how to use honorifics.
It was still quite awkward, but hey, progress is progress, right?
If one couldn't distinguish between rudeness and honesty, they wouldn't survive long around here. And even then, if you intended to be rude, it was best to do so only after you were prepared to make enemies or had finished preparing to completely crush the opponent.
"King."
Naturally, that's me.
"Queen."
Ed.
"Knight."
Eris.
I had tried preparing for various scenarios, but it was always better to have allies.
I wouldn't be able to easily find someone who would hit the jackpot like Eris, but if I looked, I would find talent.
In particular, there would definitely be gems rotting at the bottom, unable to receive proper evaluation simply because they were slum-dwellers or commoners.
I could just hire someone talented and amazing, but then I would have to pay a price commensurate with that, and it would be a relationship formed by contract rather than loyalty.
That wasn't bad in its own right, but honestly, right now, I needed someone who would be truly loyal to me rather than people like that.
To be a bit more honest, I needed people who were in debt to me.
Eris felt a sense of indebtedness because I had saved her, and her will to follow me was clearly felt in her tone and actions.
The more people like that I had, the better.
The more I had, the lower the possibility of being betrayed, and it meant I would have my own allies.
No matter how strong I became, there was a limit to doing it alone.
It was a story I saw quite often—that one could destroy a country but couldn't kill a single person, or that one could protect the world but couldn't protect the one woman they loved. Even in history, the end of a hero didn't always result in a happy ending.
There were plenty of endings where they lost their lovers or family and were plunged into sorrow, and there were plenty of cases where someone who should have ended as a hero fell into evil at the end.
So, I need it.
A strong person to protect my world.
'Well, Ed is strong enough that I don't really need to worry about him. So, maybe I don't need to be this concerned.'
But if I had even one more person with achievements and honor, my voice would become that much stronger, and I could become powerful not just in terms of martial prowess, but also politically and socially.
If I couldn't achieve everything with my own honor alone, I just had to keep honorable people by my side.
"Well, there's still time, so I'll take my time with that."
I smiled as I put a sugar cube into my black tea.
'Next is Ed, but I need a justification to keep him by my side. Ed is only by my side right now because it's "work". Once that "work" is over, there's no reason for him to be by my side.'
Of course, Ed wouldn't hate me.
But that didn't mean there was enough affection built up for us to remain close after the work was done.
Regrettably, to Adrian Valtus, a girl named Anastasia Lacroix was just a 'troublesome student' he took on because the Pope asked him to.
He might develop some begrudging affection or something for that troublesome student, but he wouldn't consider it a level where he would dedicate his life to being with me.
That was very frustrating and annoying, but that was reality.
'Pushing it emotionally is not good.'
Ed is a rational person.
It would only trouble him if I acted spoiled for no reason, and even if I managed to keep him by my side that way, it wouldn't be a proper relationship.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the Ed I valued and thought of as special would die the moment I did that.
Things like that should only be used when you've blocked off all surroundings with justifications and are about to deliver the final blow.
So that I could give Ed the feeling of, "It can't be helped."
"As expected, it has to be family, right?"
There was a saying that if you want to conquer a person, you should start with their stomach, and there was also a saying that you should target the people around them first.
In a few years, I would grow up a bit more.
I wouldn't just be a child, but a woman for whom it wouldn't be strange to have a partner, so I needed to go with Ed when he visited his hometown and make a good impression.
If I could make his family my allies, that alone would be enough power.
'And I also need a story.'
Ed's status is by no means low, but there would be those who wouldn't shut their mouths, chattering about "the Saintess's partner this and that."
What makes them shut their mouths is honor, trust, and public evaluation.
Ed already has honor.
He has trust.
He has skill, and he has knowledge.
Then, what's left is public evaluation.
'Something like, he's the benefactor who helped me when I was in despair, feeling burdened by my status as the Saintess? Would a savior narrative like that resonate well with people?'
I didn't need everyone to like it; just drawing a 'favorable reaction' was enough.
I couldn't ask Ed directly, and Eris didn't seem like she could do that, so I did need someone who specialized in such things.
It would be good to have a subordinate who is good at spreading rumors or is an expert at agitation, but unfortunately, such people aren't easily found.
"......."
I drank my tea, then stood up, opened the door, and stepped into the hallway.
The slightly cold air seemed to seep into my bones, and when I looked around, I didn't see anyone.
It couldn't be helped, as it was late at night.
"Good evening, Saintess-nim."
"Harold-nim."
As I was walking, I ran into Harold.
"I heard you have a hobby of taking walks in the cathedral, but this is the first time I've run into you like this."
"Oh my, is there such a rumor? It is true that I like to walk alone during my free time in the morning or evening."
It wasn't a lie.
Because it was true that I needed time to think alone.
When I walked blankly, I got a unique sensation as if my brain was activating, so it was a not-so-bad feeling.
Harold looked at me for a moment and then said.
"Would you like to walk together for a moment?"
"Yes, I don't mind."
Regardless of this or that, he was the commander of this cathedral's Holy Knights, so there was no need to treat him badly.
Rather, I needed to get along with him.
"Is Eris doing well?"
"Since Ed has been training her diligently for a month, she won't commit the same rudeness as last time."
"That's a relief. I don't know about inside the cathedral, but rudeness that happens at parties or places like that would leave a scar on the Saintess-nim's name. Being blessed in the name of the Saintess means exactly that."
"She is a quick-witted child, so she will surely become a child who fits this stage soon."
"I think so too."
At first, to put it bluntly, I thought of Harold as just a stiff old man.
Someone who was stubborn and cared about meaningless formalities.
But Ed said that Harold was a person who had his own good points, and objectively speaking, he was by no means a bad person.
In fact, when Eris defeated the Holy Knight, he acknowledged it immediately and even subdued the foolish Holy Knight who was about to run wild.
In the sense that he didn't break his word and kept it properly, the expression "stiff" was a really fitting description, but that suffocating strictness seemed to exist not only for others but also for himself.
"The Saintess-nim has become excellent. It must be because Adrian has done a lot of work."
"I think so too."
"Saintess-nim, by any chance, do you..."
"Yes?"
"......."
Harold, who was contemplating, couldn't open his mouth and kept agonizing over it.
What could he want to say?
"I have a wife who is younger than me."
"Ah, yes? Oh, I see. It must be a happy family?"
"Ye-yes, that is correct. We are happy. As the Saintess-nim knows, noble marriages are often used as political tools rather than being done just because one loves the other. Since we enjoy a wealthy life with food, clothing, and shelter guaranteed, it is somewhat unavoidable that we lack such freedom."
Ed had evaluated that Harold knew that responsibility comes from authority.
Indeed.
I could see why he evaluated him like that.
"Nevertheless, my wife and I married because we loved each other. To be precise, um. My wife fell in love with me the moment we first met at a party, and since then, it seems she tried to win my heart by any means."
Is this a love story?
Stories about nobles' love lives were all about engagements, or stories about people chosen by parents or society.
Of course, among them, there were people who got along well with the feeling of "we're getting married anyway, so let's get along," and there were those who truly fell in love.
But it is said that there are cases where they only play the role of a political tool, and there is almost no affection as a married couple.
In the worst case, they almost don't even talk.
"At that time, my wife's eyes were truly like a predator's. As someone who dedicated my faith to the Goddess religion, she knew I didn't even have a fiancée, let alone a marriage, so she chose only one option: to charge forward. She would coincidentally appear wherever I was every time, and she even won over the people around me, constantly instilling in me that marriage is also a good thing."
"Ah."
That's good, isn't it?
That's right, if I could win over someone I could chat with, even if I wasn't super close with Ed, it felt like the difficulty would go down a bit.
"I was a bit scared of my wife when she told me that story only after we got married. Of course, haha. I love her, though. Sometimes she runs wild in absurd directions, and I was able to understand the meaning behind the predator's gaze I felt every time."
"Yes....... But why are you telling me this story?"
"That is, yes. It might be my misunderstanding, but. ......The way the Saintess-nim looks at Adrian is too similar to the gaze my wife had in the past. It might just be my imagination, though."
"......."
"My, ahem. Please take it as the ramblings of an old man. Excuse me."
I obtained it by using all sorts of means and methods.
Since only that result remained in my head, I smiled and said.
"Could you tell me a little more about your wife's story? I am a girl, after all, so such love stories make my heart flutter. Even though you are nobles, to have a marriage based on love, it's romantic."
"I-is that so? Haha, it's a bit embarrassing to brag about my wife."
In that story.
I thought there might be a pretty good method.