The Saintess's First Public Outing
The original novel’s first public schedule for Ivetta was a visit to a territory devastated by an avalanche.
Of course, at the time the Emperor had accompanied her as her contractual partner’s escort.
Everything from the timing to the companions had changed from the original story, so there was no useful information to draw from it.
Still, the church’s behavioral patterns were worth referencing.
‘Will they try to drive a wedge between her and the Emperor again this time?’
In the original novel, the church seemed to have at least partially believed the rumor that Ivetta and the Emperor had fallen in love at first sight.
Back then the Emperor had been at the peak of his irritation from the constant power struggles with the nobility, and his personality had been completely broken.
Yet he had shown Ivetta a surprisingly gentle side.
To outsiders who didn’t know the inside story, it looked like a rather sudden romance, but it lent the rumor credibility.
A Emperor who was that affectionate could only be explained by the madness of love; nothing else made sense.
That was why, in the early stages, the church had focused on tearing the Emperor and Ivetta apart.
They emphasized how cruel and violent the Emperor was, and they attached noble young ladies from families connected to the church in order to make him look like a womanizer.
It had been completely ineffective against the fake couple who had banded together with the goal of overthrowing the church.
Ivetta had actually been secretly delighted to learn that the Emperor was ruthless enough to thoroughly crush the High Priest.
She had thought that if the Emperor fell in love with another young lady, she could simply hide it well for a few years.
But this time, the Emperor and Ivetta were not bound by a contractual relationship.
It was the Emperor protecting the family of one of his vassals.
‘Then they’ll probably target Beth instead of the Emperor.’
The only current point of contact between the Emperor and Ivetta was Beth.
Even if lovers could be separated by breaking up, sisters didn’t break apart just because their relationship grew a little strained.
At that moment, a far more extreme method—one that didn’t even require direct sabotage—occurred to me.
‘Would they really go that far?’
I glanced at Beth, who had come to work for the first time in a while.
Perhaps because Ivetta’s study time had increased and left her bored, Beth had returned to the Blue Hawk.
Even so, she was still staying in the detached palace with Ivetta.
The imperial palace was not a place that easily allowed intruders.
There was no way the Emperor would have stationed lax guards around the detached palace where the Saintess Ivetta resided.
‘There probably won’t be any safety issues.’
Still, it seemed better to give her at least a heads-up.
The escort forces would be somewhat reduced while Ivetta was visiting the poorhouse.
I quietly called Beth over while she was busy working.
“Lina, did you have something to tell me?”
Beth, who was receiving the Saintess’s blessing twenty times a day, looked so holy that one might mistake her for another saint.
Even her tone had become much gentler, and perhaps because she had absorbed so much of Ivetta’s divine power that it was practically spilling back out, a faint golden glow like a halo shimmered across her skin.
‘At this rate, wouldn’t even an assassin’s dagger just bounce off?’
Even if she somehow got a scratch, it would probably heal instantly.
I set my worries aside a little and gave Beth a light warning.
“You know Ivetta has a visit to the poorhouse coming up soon, right?”
“Yes. The day after tomorrow, wasn’t it?”
Beth had been left off the final list, but she didn’t seem bothered at all.
“Just in case, I think it would be best if you stayed inside the detached palace as much as possible.”
“I will.”
Beth nodded obediently.
She looked so well-behaved that I could hardly remember the old Beth whom Nadan had made excuses for, claiming she had “self-studied etiquette.”
‘At this level, I don’t think she would have caused any trouble even if she had gone along with us.’
It wasn’t as if I had raised her, yet I felt strangely proud.
‘Divine power really is amazing.’
Then another method—one that could hurt Beth without threatening her life—came to mind.
It was also petty enough that the church would think of it.
“Just a moment!”
Leaving behind a blinking, startled Beth, I dashed straight to the supply storeroom.
‘The recording magic tool.’
I grabbed one of the recording magic tools we used for gathering evidence and returned to Beth.
“Beth, make sure you carry this with you at all times. And from now on, ask Ivetta for thirty blessings a day instead of twenty. Got it?”
“Uh, yes.”
Beth nodded meekly.
She was so calm it was hard to believe she was the same troublemaker from the Blue Hawk.
Still, I emphasized the instructions one more time.
After all, the fact that Beth’s personality had changed was still unknown to the church.
Time passed quickly, and the day of Ivetta’s visit to the poorhouse arrived.
Since I was supposed to join the group as one of her attendants, I was scheduled to depart from the detached palace as well.
Kyle, who was to escort Ivetta, was with us too.
Kyle helped Ivetta and me board the carriage in turn.
Then, as soon as we were seated, he closed the door.
As if there was no one else left to ride with us.
‘Edwin said he was coming too.’
I had expected that Everett, being a knight, would have to guard the carriage and therefore wouldn’t ride inside like last time.
But I hadn’t expected we wouldn’t even get to see each other at all.
Kyle must have noticed me searching for Everett with my eyes, because he spoke up.
“Are you looking for Sir Rohas, by any chance?”
“No! I was just looking outside!”
Since I had absolutely no intention of revealing my secret romance with a man, I denied it vehemently.
Kyle, whose eyes were darkly shadowed as if he had been solving troublesome matters until dawn, smiled with only the corners of his lips.
“I see. I thought you might be curious since you’re acquainted with Sir Rohas, but I suppose you aren’t that close.”
We were exactly that close. Actually, even closer.
I was curious where he was.
Even though it was work-related, surely a simple greeting with our eyes would have been fine.
‘It doesn’t look like Kyle knows, at least.’
Unable to resist the impulse, I asked in a deliberately casual tone.
“Actually, we ran into each other by chance last time! And I heard that Sir Rohas was also assigned to this outing.”
I had over-emphasized the word “chance,” but it seemed I had managed to fool Kyle well enough.
“The Imperial Guard building is quite close to the Inspectorate, after all.”
Kyle added that he himself ran into the Imperial Guard knights every day while going back and forth between the Inspectorate and the Emperor’s palace, then spoke as if he had just remembered.
“Sir Rohas has indeed joined the group, but he will be stationed at the rear to keep watch.”
“An Imperial Guard knight, at the rear?”
Usually, the more skilled the knight, the closer they were placed to the person they were protecting.
Placing an Imperial Guard knight at the very back of the procession was unusual.
The Imperial Guard knights were the empire’s greatest elites in terms of pure martial prowess.
Kyle seemed to know this wasn’t a normal arrangement.
His attitude suggested he didn’t particularly care.
“His Majesty has entrusted me with full authority over this schedule. Everything from the composition of the group onward.”
Kyle smiled again with only the corners of his mouth.
Then he began explaining how much effort he had put into this outing.
“Especially the list of people accompanying the Saintess—I stayed up two whole nights to prepare it. I was also handling the other tasks His Majesty assigned me, so I was truly busy.”
Since the route passed through the city streets, they had to prepare for any possible incident, but they couldn’t station too many troops or it would create unease. It had given him quite the headache, he said.
After rambling on about his troubles in such a blatantly self-congratulatory way, Kyle smiled mischievously.
“That’s why Sir Everett Rohas is at the rear.”
Whether it was true that he had stayed up two nights or not, his eyes were bloodshot as he smiled with wicked glee, making him look positively sinister.
“His Majesty might not like how I handled things, but if it’s truly unbearable, he’ll simply dismiss me, won’t he?”
The way his closest aide spoke—with the absolute certainty that “dismissed” would not mean any part of his body being physically cut off—was utterly lighthearted.
‘It seems the Emperor must have done something really wrong to Kyle.’
Feeling the strange intensity radiating from Kyle, I kept my mouth shut and watched him carefully.
This was not the time to question why Everett was stationed at the rear.
When I fell silent, Kyle generously added,
“Still, once we arrive at the poorhouse or on the way back, he’ll be placed near the carriage again. Any more than that and I think he really would get angry.”
There was no subject in the sentence, so I couldn’t tell whether the Emperor would get angry or Everett would.
‘At least I’ll be able to see him later.’
I smiled faintly, looking forward to our meeting a little later.