The Saintess's Conditions
"Sis, are you okay?"
Nancy sobbed as she buried herself in Ivetta's embrace.
"Of course I am."
Ivetta soothed the girl with a gentle voice, patting her back with tender affection.
"Um, Ivetta?"
I called out to her carefully.
Her gaze turned toward me. Those blue eyes still sparkled with an otherworldly glow, like luminous pearls, the effects of her awakening lingering.
Even after becoming the Saintess, the Ivetta standing before me was exactly the same person who'd been chatting with me moments ago. There had been no change in her eye color.
Looks like she didn't regress, then?
In the original story, Ivetta's awakening and regression had marked the beginning. Only half of that had come true now, so the plot hadn't fully returned to its original track, but that was fine. In her first life, Ivetta had suffered for four years under the High Priest before awakening as the Saintess right before her death. With the responsible priest who would have delivered her to the High Priest now gone, it seemed those four years of misery had simply vanished.
There were many episodes that would have been resolved because Ivetta was a regressor with knowledge of the future, but that was okay too. After all, I remembered everything as a reincarnator. The High Priest could be dealt with one way or another. Even if the future changed, the evil deeds they had already committed wouldn't disappear.
It'd be nice if we could reach a happy ending without too much suffering, though.
I pulled Ivetta into a hug and beamed at her.
"Congratulations, Saintess."
"Thank you."
Ivetta hugged me back, looking a bit dazed.
"Me too, sis!"
Nancy squeezed in as well, so the three of us ended up in one big tangle.
For quite a while.
Once we'd savored the emotional moment long enough, a pointed cough broke the silence.
"The Saintess and I will need to discuss a few things."
It was Everett, whom we'd completely forgotten about for a moment.
After sending the still-young Nancy back to her room, Everett, Ivetta, and I sat around a small table.
Everett remained silent for a moment, his face a mixture of complicated emotions, before he finally spoke.
"We were planning to strike the temple, but your awakening has thrown our plans into disarray."
His overly blunt summary made Ivetta's shoulders slump. She had lived so long in a state of intimidation that her spirit was fragile, but her judgment was sharp. She grasped the full situation from Everett's abbreviated explanation alone.
"The temple will try to use me to expand its influence, won't it?"
In that short time, Ivetta had already analyzed her changed position and everything that would likely happen next. Her entire life had been upended, and what lay ahead would be things she'd never experienced before. Yet despite her fear, Ivetta remained composed.
Just as I thought. Not just anyone can be the heroine of a romance fantasy novel.
I fangirled internally.
"Correct."
Everett nodded, looking relieved that she understood so quickly.
"Which brings me to this."
I had a bad feeling from the very beginning of that sentence. I watched Everett's lips closely—he had a habit of saying harsh things sometimes.
"The imperial side must secure the Saintess's person. It would be best if you cooperate willingly."
Why do my ominous predictions always come true?
Ivetta flinched at the veiled threat. She had developed something of a fear of adult men because of the priests.
"Ed."
In a rush, I clapped my hand over Everett's mouth.
Why are you scaring her like that, seriously!
Ivetta already harbored hostility toward the temple. Her only real choices were the Emperor or the temple, so she would likely take the Emperor's hand, but there was no need for that to feel like the lesser of two evils.
Everett's ears turned red when I suddenly covered his mouth, but he obediently fell silent as I'd intended. As I racked my brain for a way to salvage his words, Ivetta spoke first.
"If you accept my conditions, I am willing to 'cooperate' without resistance."
Ivetta's whole body was visibly trembling with tension. Still, she gathered her courage and proposed negotiations with Everett.
I shot him every warning signal I could with my eyes and slowly withdrew my hand. Fortunately, my signals seemed to work; he addressed Ivetta in a noticeably gentler tone than before.
"State your conditions."
Just a little gentler. Still, it seemed to ease some of Ivetta's tension, so the effort wasn't entirely wasted.
Ivetta bit her lower lip firmly, then declared with resolve, "The other children from the orphanage must come with me!"
The condition she blurted out while so tense was honestly rather trivial. I could see Everett's shoulders sag—he had probably been expecting something like gold, treasures, or a title.
What are we going to do with our heroine? She's so modest.
The original Ivetta had a much stronger personality. That must have been shaped by those "four years."
I decided to step in as Ivetta's representative for the negotiations.
"First, we must secure proper treatment for Ivetta."
Although the head of the temple was the High Priest, that only applied when no Saint or Saintess had appeared. A Saint or Saintess was considered the representative of the god Minos. The Minos Church was the largest religion not only in the empire but across the entire continent.
In terms of influence alone, it's said to be as powerful as the Emperor himself.
"Provide treatment equivalent to that of a crown prince or princess of a friendly nation, in accordance with custom."
The imperial family wouldn't mistreat a Saintess they had gone to such lengths to secure, so her treatment wouldn't be poor regardless. However, the difference between making it official and leaving it ambiguous was enormous.
When I intervened, both Ivetta and Everett turned dazed looks on me. But in this moment I was firmly on Ivetta's side, so I smiled only at her. Her eyes widened into perfect circles while Everett's brows drew together.
"If you're going to set conditions, they should be at least this firm, Saintess."
At my example, Ivetta nodded vigorously as if she understood and clenched her fists with determination.
"Then please provide a house where all the orphanage children can live together, and support of ten gold—no, a hundred gold per month for living expenses!"
Even so, Ivetta's demands didn't grow very bold.
Just twelve hundred gold?
A poor family's monthly living expenses, surviving mainly on cheap black bread and clothes made from discarded fabric, came to about ten gold. She seemed to think doubling it to a hundred was quite the bold ask, but this was a class-based society where prices varied drastically by social stratum. The cost of a hundred cheap black loaves could buy a single loaf of the white bread nobles ate.
Even if we set the standard at an average commoner's living expenses, with more than twenty children to feed, that money won't last.
It seemed Ivetta couldn't even imagine how much it would cost to provide treatment on the level of a friendly nation's crown prince or princess.
I hid a small sigh and stepped in once more.
"Promise full support and protection for all the orphanage children until they reach adulthood. And once they are adults, provide assistance so they can obtain quality employment. Of course, by imperial standards—not Ivetta's."
I would handle the financial aspects properly in place of the modest Ivetta.
The Emperor wouldn't be stingy enough to quibble over something like this.
"And finally, ask them to find the children who were sold from the orphanage."
The moment the words left my mouth, Ivetta's blue eyes filled with tears.
"Can they really find them?"
Her voice shook badly.
"It may take a long time, and we might not be able to locate every child. But if you make it a condition of the negotiations, they'll do their utmost to succeed."
Probably with Kylus leading the effort.
He managed it in the original story, so he should be able to do it this time too.
Throughout the original novel, it had been one of the events the Emperor arranged for Ivetta, who had always worried about the orphanage children she'd been separated from as a child. It had also been the catalyst that allowed emotions to blossom in Ivetta's heart after she'd entered a contractual relationship with the Emperor for certain reasons but found herself unable to develop any real attachment.
The details weren't revealed, so I hadn't realized the children had been sold off.
"Please find the children. If you do that, then..."
Tears spilled from Ivetta's eyes.
With her voice trembling uncontrollably, she pleaded as if begging. Sensing she was about to add another condition that would be disadvantageous to herself, I handed her a handkerchief and gently cut her off.
You don't need to offer anything more. This is already an unfair trade in your favor, my dear heroine.
While Ivetta wiped her tears, I pressed Everett—who held actual authority—for confirmation so we could wrap up these negotiations.
"This much should be feasible, right, Ed?"
I had carefully chosen conditions that stayed within the bounds of what the Emperor's aide could decide.
"That much is fine."
Everett nodded readily.
The handkerchief grew damp even faster, and once again the Saintess joined hands with the Emperor—though in a slightly different manner, and far earlier than before.