Like A Dry Branch In The Wind (Like Wind on a Dry Branch) - Chapter 8

Translator: Wawaa

Editor: WilsonWilson

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The knights patted their full stomachs and sang loudly. Then, they excused themselves after uniquely showing their courtesy by shouting “We love you, Your Grace!”

Killian and Rietta did not move to the drawing-room, they sat in the quiet great hall and began drinking tea. Come to think of it, rather than the drawing-room, the last time they met was in the office. It was somewhat less burdensome to think that she would not use the drawing-room because she was a mere commoner.

“It seems that you are happy with the food.”

Rietta’s face turned red at what Killian had said. She wondered if he had been watching how well she ate.

“Yes, I really enjoyed the meal. Thank you.”

Rietta answered. She did not dare to look straight into his eyes, but since he had ordered her to do so, she thought she should at least look at his face. So she looked at the brim of his neck.

She was aware of how much she ate. Her face was burning, thinking how much of a glutton she must be to carelessly eat so much food that was offered to her by such a high-ranking person.

Rietta had not eaten that much lately… Even she herself could not believe how comfortable a meal she had just eaten.

“Good.”

Killian smirked and went straight to the point.

“I called you to listen to your happenings thus far. Are you satisfied living in Axias?”

Rietta answered concisely and neatly.

“Yes, thanks to your kindness.”

Killian glanced at Rietta and leaned against his chair. He wondered why she only stared at his lower jaw, but he decided to let it slide because it was a big improvement to be able to talk to her while looking at her face instead of the top of her head. He also knew that there were many places that prohibited commoners from looking directly at the face of the nobleman. Sevitas must have been like that too.

The chef came in and left new tea-time snacks. It was pretty and smelled tasty, but as Killian did not eat it, Rietta also could not touch it. Failing to notice such a thing, Killian continued.

“You seem to be settling down well as a blessing caster. You’ve never worked as a blessing caster in Sevitas, I presume?”

She was briefly puzzled about how he knew about it but she thought it was possible for him to know because it was not really kept as a secret.

Rietta immediately answered.

“That’s right.”

“Why?”

“Not far from my house, there was a retired priest who mainly blessed and healed, so there was no need for me to do it. Compared to him, I’m not a good enough caster to receive payment for it, so I only used it at home.”

“Even after the plague broke out?”

Killian asked back, slightly frowning. As the plague circulated in the Empire, the pilgrimage of priests was cut off and divine power users became expensive. Moreover, the plague had recently spread in Sevitas. Thus, there must have been a lot of demand for divine power. It was strange that a commoner who was living a hardscrabble life never used her ability to make money. Rietta replied calmly with her head down.

“It has not been long since the plague spread in Sevitas so I did not have a chance to use my poor ability.”

Oh.

Killian belatedly recalled and understood what had happened to her at that time. Starting with Cassarius, plague patients began to appear in Sevitas when the season had barely changed to spring, less than three months after Rietta’s husband passed away. At that time, Rietta was trapped in her house under the surveillance of guards and waiting for the date of her death.

Even though status was above law, if one was a commoner woman, no one would dare to be so reckless to her if her husband was still alive. Silently touching his chin, Killian asked Rietta.

“Did you lose your husband to the plague?”

“Yes… I have not seen the plague demon, but according to the old man who saw his body… He confirmed that the cause of death was the plague.”

Killian saw that even though she was replying calmly, her complexion had darkened. Instead of hastily giving her comforting words, he changed the topic to something that stood out from her words.

“You can see demons?”

Rietta nodded softly.

“Yes. But due to my poor ability, even if I see it, it’s not very effective.”

He did not know much about divine power, but he knew that it was rare to have spirit eyes that could see the demons. The divine power that could flourish to blessing, purification, exorcism, and healing could gradually be developed through training and effort. However, the attribute of seeing the demon with one’s bare eyes was a natural talent that could not be done with just effort.

With eyes that could see demons, one was more than qualified to become a priest. Exorcism abilities could be developed later if one continued to train. And when combined with divine power beyond exorcism, it naturally created high synergy.

Among high-level divine power, though it is possible to temporarily see the demon with bare eyes, it was not cost-effective. Killian once heard from the Emperor’s priest that people who naturally saw the demon without much effort were much more advantageous in that respect. As a priest, there was a high possibility that one could rise to a high position—a high-ranking priest in a temple, high priest, or if one was lucky enough, one could even be the Emperor’s private priest.

Killian was interested in her talent.

“Did you get the blessing ability after you became an adult?”

“No. It was before I became an adult.”

“At the monastery?”

“Yes, milord.”

Killian tilted his head slightly. It was odd.

Why didn’t she become a priest? If her divine power was developed before she became an adult, wouldn’t that make it possible to become a priest?    

If she grew up in the monastery, it meant she was an orphan. Being a priest was the best job for orphaned commoners. Even a noble could not rashly become a priest. Any commoner from a monastery would want to be a priest.

Moreover, if she had spirit eyes and her divine power had been developed early, she could have trained steadily and become a high-ranking priest. Then, she would not have been treated badly by Cassarius.

“Since when?”

“I have been able to cast blessings since I was 15.”

“You said you can purify, right? What about that?”

“I can purify since I was 17…”

Hmm… Is that just an ordinary level? 

Even if one’s divine power could be developed with training, one’s own potential could be higher if developed at a young age. Although Killian asked about Rietta’s age, he was not familiar with priests or divine power, so he did not know at what level her divine ability would be if it was developed at age 15.

Among the Emperor’s elite priests from his childhood, there were many geniuses who said that their divine powers were developed even before they had turned 10. The only priests Killian was familiar enough to have a conversation with were the Emperor’s priests who were close to him when he was young and the abbot of Axias Monastery.

Anyway, isn’t that a good age to be a priest? 

It did not seem that Rietta could do exorcisms or healing, but as she could do purification, she had good prospects as both a blessing caster and a priest.

But why didn’t she become a priest?

The question he was going to casually ask did not come out of his mouth as he was entangled with a strange intuition.

For those who had divine power, most who could not become a priest and instead became a blessing caster either had their abilities developed after graduating from the monastery and becoming an adult. And even if their abilities were developed quickly, most of them failed to become priests due to a major disqualification in doctrine.

She might have caused an accident…

Whatever he thought stopped him from saying it, but it was possible. She either had an early pregnancy or underwent sexual harassment. Killian frowned.

Seeing Rietta’s face convinced him more. Marriage or pregnancy was not a flaw for noble priests, but it was enough for it to be a sin to the commoner priest. It was nonsense created by nobles to maintain the privilege of divine power as it could be inherited.

As Killian thought that far, he could see that Rietta was a beautiful commoner and the possibility felt quite convincing. Was she involved in an accident? Or did she suffer from something? Killian was reluctant to ask a woman such a question. However, he was not considerate and thoughtful enough to let it pass without asking. Killian stirred the cold tea and asked Rietta.

“You don’t have any stigma saying you broke the commandments, and seeing that you married early, I don’t think you broke any commandments while trying to become a priest.”

He tried to beat around the bush, but in the end, his question was the reason she did not become a priest. Rietta answered without much change in her expression.

“Yes. I gave up being a priest because I failed the exam.”

Killian was relieved without realizing it. He remembered hearing it somewhere. Sevitas Monastery had its own graduation exam, but it had been replaced with another exam to become a priest.

It was probably a written test. He wondered if it was difficult. In the monastery, theories of blessing, purification, exorcism, and healing were taught to all children, but very few people developed even the most elementary level of blessing. Moreover, the higher the level of divine power, the number of people who could use the ability also dropped sharply.

As the plague spread on such a large scale and people became more desperate for the blessing ability, it was a pity for the temple to miss someone with such ability. Why did they even make such a meaningless exam?

“What a foolish temple to fail a blessing caster who can even cast purification.”

Rietta replied calmly.

“I was not good enough.”

Killian confirmed that she showed no particular expression. It was not about chastity after all. It was possible that it was a lie but he could not imagine Rietta lying with that face, and so he just believed her. Besides, he would still believe her even if it was a lie. It was not a big deal. Rietta was not even a noblewoman; such matters weren’t important to her. So what if she did have an accident?

If Rietta’s precious talents were buried by such ambiguous doctrine because she was a commoner, he would feel uncomfortable. If she could not become a priest because she underwent something bad, he would have been angry. She had already been living an unfortunate life, he did not want her to be more pitiful.

They exchanged more pleasantries for a while. Rietta replied to Killian’s questions in a quick and concise manner. As a result, Killian thought she was comfortable and not as stuffy as she was before. She was good at catching on, just like Erne and Leonard who had been with him for a long time. It was a moment when the survival instinct of a commoner, who had been walking on eggshells around nobles, was successfully displayed.

Killian had no way of knowing that Rietta had set up a plan of being on alert and answering only the essentials quickly and concisely. For him, it was just refreshing to hear that Rietta no longer hesitated or made an unnecessary remark. As her answers also came out right away, he felt that now they were speaking the same language. As he thought; people should eat first before talking.

Rietta was relieved that the way she treated His Lordship did not seem to be wrong. When she heard him speak in a subtly different attitude, it was without any signs of displeasure unlike before. At least he did not seem to be having a hard time talking to her. Rietta herself did not realize it, but she had put down her fear and tension about Killian while eating. She even had time to think about something else.

While answering Killian’s questions, Rietta noticed that he was not using the necklace that she gave him as a gift. She felt sad and a little empty. It was a keepsake of her daughter, an item that was blessed fiercely after she—who was almost out of her mind—squeezed out everything about herself when she was mentally in the most desperate corner of her life. No, she did not even intend to cast blessings in the first place.

When Rietta became aware of her prayers that continued in trance and her desperate wishes that had accumulated over a long period of time, it had become an almost semi-permanent sacred relic. It was objectively rare. It can be said that she would never be able to make such a thing again in her life.

It was almost the only thing she could give to repay her savior… He would need it more than herself, who was somewhat resistant to the plague demon… In order to decide to give it to the Archduke, she asked for permission, prayed with tears, and suffered heartache in front of her daughter’s memorial tablet.

However, knowing that it was a shabby object in the eyes of the Archduke of Axias, she just swallowed her emptiness inside. It was already out of her hands.

Killian continued to ask quite a few questions.

“So, what did you do in the East Annex?”

“I cast blessings in the bedroom and a few places for 11 ladies, including Lady Rachel. I also cast blessings on the things they carry around.”

She studied His Lordship’s face, it did not seem that he remembered about the necklace. Rietta thought about how she should somehow do her best to repay him. She could not dare to say that she would pay back his money because of their previous conversation where he said she was disrespectful. She had only received from this man but did nothing in return.

At that moment, Rietta had gotten an idea of how to help him.

Why didn’t I think about this before?

While their conversation stopped for a while, Rietta quickly spoke with a bright face.

“Should I cast blessings in Your Grace’s bedroom too?”

Killian’s eyebrow wriggled.

“Oh, I mean, milord!”

Rietta bit the tip of her tongue and corrected herself quickly. But Killian did not make that face just because of that. When Rietta corrected her way to address him, it did not even reach his mind.

He thought Rietta had come to seduce him quite boldly. It was not just ordinarily alluring, from the way she unconsciously stuck out her tongue to her face flushed up. He was instantly moved. He had never seen her smile, and although she was not smiling, she had a bright expression on her face for the first time in a long time.

He was only going to ask about her blessing ability but their conversations were getting longer than he had planned. He thought it was because she answered well in the way he preferred, as if she had been his people for a long time…

Blonde hair resembling the moonlight on a clear day. Light sky blue eyes. A neat and beautiful face and a calm voice that gave a tranquil mood. Clearly, Rietta was the beauty of his preference.

“…Go ahead.”

Killian felt bothered for no reason, so much so that he unconsciously moved his hand to his lips. For some reason, he seemed to keep looking at her lips. He felt a little awkward and weird. Obviously, he thought it was because of the nonsense Leonard was talking about earlier.