Idle Life of a Saintess - Chapter 7
Then, when their eyes met, Noah was surprised and quickly avoided his gaze.
Gabriel didn’t say anything and looked at Noah.
Noah was smaller than Gabriel thought…… Small was a bit excessive…… How should he put this?
The word pretty was not appropriate.
It’s not that she wasn’t pretty, but there was definitely an expression that suited her better than that.
Gabriel didn’t find the right expression until he separated with Noah on the first day.
Then, it came to mind only when he got out of the dreadful situation with Lady Duvincique and arrived at the prayer room.
A proper word to describe Noah.
Cute.
It took him a while to think about it because it was a word that he didn’t normally use.
From then on, Gabriel vowed to be careful when dealing with Noah. Because he had a strange premonition.
However, despite his determination, Noah was a priest who always caught his eyes.
First of all, Noah’s talent was incredible.
That’s all. Noah was even interested in Gabriel.
Reasonable interest!
So Gabriel couldn’t easily turn a blind eye.
How much did she like him to call him to her room and confess?
Did she like his appearance?
But he might die in this Urvas subjugation……
It was obvious that Gabriel, whether by a dragon or a person, would be a target as he decided to kill the dragon.
So he stopped Noah’s confession.
Even if he has no conscience, he has no intention of ruining the future of an innocent priest because of him.
But, with bright eyes, she tried to confess over simple coffee and cookies in her room……
Isn’t that so lovely.
Gabriel knew that Noah was timid and shy to show off her outstanding talents.
After a brief glance, Noah’s cautious personality was read.
Then, she opened her lips with difficulty and talked about her family, and turned it around to confess to him.
He can’t believe she’s going to confess to him after separating the Paladin. They haven’t even started subjugating Urvas.
Before the subjugation began in earnest, she seemed to want to form a relationship with him—perhaps an engagement?
Gabriel covered his face with both hands.
“Your Eminence? Is there anything wrong?”
“Oh, it’s nothing. I just need to rest.”
Gabriel slowly entered the room with a polite smile and closed the door.
As the door closed, he let his body slide to the door.
He said he’d risk his life, but he’s shaken by the priestess’s confession.
There’s no way he could face her.
* * *
“Noah, here you are.”
Lina beckoned.
Noah became close to Lina in just a day.
It was comfortable because she was timid, and there were only two women, so she felt psychologically close.
Noah smiled brightly and stood next to Lina, but suddenly stopped at the fact that she was close to Gabriel.
It was because of yesterday.
Noah felt burdened by Gabriel, who noticed that she would refuse the subjugation of Urvas and didn’t let her speak.
“I purposely stood close to His Eminence. Handsome guys are always right.”
At Lina’s light joke, Noah nodded slightly.
Sneakily looking at Gabriel, he seemed to have been looking over here as well, so she lightly bowed her head to say hello.
Awkward greetings were exchanged.
‘There was no way my opinion would get passed anyway. It’s a national issue. I shouldn’t have just brought up the subject. It’s very awkward.’
Gabriel also seemed to have a hard time with Noah.
‘I think he’ll hate me if I talk to him.’
Maybe that handsome guy is fed up with her.
She suddenly became depressed.
“We’re meeting the Paladins today.”
“Ah.”
Noah recalled Lina’s words that today was the day they would meet the Paladins who would go to the Urvas subjugation with them.
“Among the paladins participating in this subjugation, there is also His Highness Alcaray.”
“His HIghness?”
Why is His Highness a Paladin?
“Yes, His Highness Lan Alcaray. Noah, you didn’t know?”
Of course she didn’t know.
Noah replied blushing.
“I’m from the countryside…… I work in a very small place. The news travels very slow.”
“Oh, is that so?”
Lina’s eyes lit up and explained about Lan to Noah.
Lan Alcaray.
The Prince of Aranta, a neighboring country, his mother was Juliet Coller, a native of the Ariel Empire.
Juliet, a daughter of the Count Coller family, showed healing powers, served as a priest of the Church, and fell in love with the Emperor of Aranta – who was a prince at the time – and ended up marrying despite everyone’s opposition.
Aranta and Ariel’s religion and culture were so different that it was practically an apostasy[1] to marry someone there.
Juliet Coller, who was married to Aranta despite such great opposition, was certainly not an ordinary person.
After that, Juliet became Empress of Aranta.
It was a ridiculous ending for a love of the century.
Was it difficult for a woman from another country to become the empress?
It is not known whether there was strong opposition from the Aranta aristocracy, or whether the love of the century had finally cooled down.
In any case, Juliet had only one prince, and the emperor extended his bloodline with several concubines in order to have more children.
In such a competition, Juliet wanted to raise her son a little differently from the many princes of Aranta.
So, with the special permission of Emperor Aranta, 15-year-old Prince Lan was placed in the Paladin Order of the Ariel Empire.
After that, Lan, who had been educated at the Paladin Order, participated in this subjugation.
At the explanation that was too detailed, Noah looked at Lina again.
“You know a lot.”
“It’s like this in the capital…..”
Lina laughed awkwardly.
“Does all this come out in an article?”
“Yes, but actually, I like to collect information about handsome men.”
“Information about handsome men?”
“Because handsome guys are precious.”
Noah nodded a little, as if she knew.
Lina glanced around and whispered in Noah’s ear.
“Anyway, what is important to us is that Lan is going to the subjugation of Urvas with us, and that he is handsome.”
“Is he that handsome?”
It doesn’t seem like much of a secret, but the way she spoke while looking at her was strange.
“His Highness is an Arantain, so he has dark hair and dark skin, but there are rumors that he is a handsome man with a strangely exotic and friendly feeling mixed with Ariel’s blood.”
‘Was the word exotic and friendly something that could be used together?’
Noah stared at Lina with her eyes wide open.
“When the wizard promoted pictures of Princess Kyria on postcards or newspaper illustrations, the Church put forward His Majesty Alcaray and Schliemann. There’s also a postcard with the two of them drawn together, I’ll show you.”
Lina took out the postcard she had kept between her notebooks and showed it to her.
On the right was a picture postcard of Gabriel in an elegant figure, and on the left a strong, dark-haired man with his back standing solemnly.
“Did the church sell these things?”
“Princess Kyria caught the attention of the people with her gorgeous appearance, so the church seemed to be worried.”
It seems that they cared about it while pretending that it was not the church.
Rather, Noah was more surprised that such a postcard existed.
Maybe it’s because she lives in a small city in the countryside and it’s late for the trend. It was amazing to promote the church as a priest or a paladin.
She didn’t see anything like this at the divine power training center when she was young.
‘Come to think of it, the Divine Power Training Center was a bit closed so that we could focus on our Divine Power training thoroughly.’
“It was expensive because there was a limited quantity. At this time, Gabriel-nim was a regular priest, so he used to appear on postcards, but now he’s a cardinal……. But the real thing is more shiny, right? Wah!”
Lina smiled happily as she alternately stared at Gabriel in the postcard and the real Gabriel.
Gabriel was having a conversation with Will.
While waiting for the controller that hasn’t arrived yet, Will seems to be asking Gabriel about prayers for manifesting his abilities.
“There’s no picture that really captures the atmosphere of a real person…… Ah, I heard recently that wizards made something called a camera. They might advertise it in this Urvas subjugation.”
“Camera?”
It was the first time Noah heard it.
“It’s more realistic than a painting, and it is engraved on paper.”
“Wow……”
“It’s true that wizards are greedy, but we have to admit it. They’re good at making something novel.”
“Lina-nim knows a lot of things.”
“Hahaha. Don’t mention it. Living in the capital, you will find out all about it.”
Lina smiled humbly.
After a while, Anas arrived, and Gabriel led the controllers to the Paladin Training Hall.
There was no word on the move as everyone was nervous about meeting the Paladins who would join the subjugation.
“This is the paladin training hall.”
The hall was neatly organized.
Several straw-shaped figures stood sporadically in a wide open space, and several paladins stood in a row.
One of the Paladins at the front of them greeted Gabriel with courtesy and then greeted the controllers.
“How are you? I’m Darren Gould, the Knight Commander.”
Darren was a tall blonde knight.
“Wow, so big…….”
It was the first time Noah had seen such a large knight, so she muttered without realizing it.
Gabriel was also tall, and so was Gabriel’s escort, but Darren was incomparably tall.
Darren glanced at Noah and smiled.
“Hello? Priestess.”
“Ah, hello?”
Noah thought that when she went out of subjugation, she would have to stick to Darren’s side.
Wouldn’t it be safe to stick to someone who’s big and looks strong?
Of course, there is Gabriel, the strongest controller in the Empire, but since yesterday’s incident is making her feel uncomfortable, she has to stick with the Knight Commander…….
“Following the words of His Eminence, we have gathered the paladins who will be with us in this Urvas subjugation.”
As Darren reached for the Paladins, the eyes of all controllers turned to them.
The paladins were all tall and had great appearances.
“Are paladins originally selected based on their looks?”
A surprised Noah whispered to Lina.
“I heard that the conditions for a paladin in the capital are difficult. In particular, it is said that the escorts of the Pope and Cardinals look at their family and appearance.”
“Oh my.”
In short, it meant the elite.
That’s when the leader, Darren, introduced the Paladins one by one.
Heron Stockwell, Alexander Grimes, Stephen Griffith…….
And Lan Alcaray.
All the paladins were dignified and handsome, but the person who stood out the most was Lan Alcaray.
TL Notes:
[1] Apostasy is the abandonment or renunciation of a religious or political belief.
