The Time-Bound Saint Believes in the Devil - Chapter 2.1

Raelia and Chessyre gathered together to brainstorm a plan.

Originally, they planned to be absent during the Saint’s Appointment Ceremony, but now that she knew she had the Saint’s unique power of regeneration, running away would be pointless as her life had already been cut short.

As a Saint, she would live at longest up to two years. The only way to extend her life would be to somehow do away with her divine power, or find another way to extend her life.

Both methods were difficult, and the solution a mystery. Based on 500 years worth of historical records, not a single person had yet discovered the method to extend a Saint’s life. She wondered if the efforts of two people would be enough to find a solution to this problem.

The pair, Raelia and Chessyre, understood that a Saint’s fate would be near impossible to change.

Though they understood this in their minds, their hearts were not ready to give up. So, they decided that they would do everything in their power to fight against fate until their last moment.

Thus, the first stage of Project Escape Time-Bound was formulated.

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the results of a hundred battles.

The two decided to dedicate their remaining free time researching the details of the Saint’s histories.

There had been a total of 246 Saints preceding her.

Just thinking about it for a moment, she doubted that all 246 Saints felt absolute loyalty to their role as a Saint.

She predicted she would be able to find at least a few dozen, if not, at least 10 Saints who disagreed to become a Saint, and refused their expected duties.

A Saint, in the end, was also human. Mora had also expressed similar views, ‘Many people feared having their lives bound down to the span of a mere 2 years, and many attempted to run away from their duties.’

If it had been just a single Saint that had denied their fate as a Saint, it would most likely be near impossible to find any historical records. However, if there had been at least ten or even a hundred Saints that fought to escape their time-bound fates, some kind of records should have been kept.

Raelia hoped she would be able to find these historical records. She planned to compile all the historical records together to make a new path for herself!

‘It would have been nice if I had asked Mora more detailed questions when she had been alive…’

Mora never learned to read archaic languages, so she could not study the Holy Scriptures kept in the Church.

It might be hard to believe, but many Saints could not read the Holy Scriptures kept in the church, but that had been the reality of the situation.

People might criticize them and say, “Just learn to read archaic languages to study the Holy Scriptures.” However, the letters and word systems of the archaic languages were many times more complex and inefficient than their modern language, making it very difficult to learn.

Mora had been a commoner without even basic education and to add onto the difficulty, it would have been near impossible to learn within a two year time constraint.

Many noblemen were taught to learn archaic languages within a year, however even these men only learned the commonly used words and phrases, and were not completely fluent.

The first and second volumes of the Holy Scriptures had always been kept in its archaic language format for the sake of symbolism and tradition, so only the priests who were fluent in archaic languages could read and study it.

‘However, I am different.’

Raelia had mastered the archaic languages of the Holy Scriptures by the time she had been 11 years old. She had not learned it because she had been ordered to learn it, nor because she looked up to the Holy Scriptures.

‘Reading old books had been my hobby.’

The cover had been so beautiful, and the book she had pulled from the shelf just happened to be the Holy Scriptures written in its original archaic form.

If the Holy Scriptures had been filled with nothing but difficult words, she would have closed the book and given up. However, there were many beautiful pictures that read like a picture book.

It would have been great if someone in the household could have read it for her, however not one person had been fluent in her household.

Looking back, she wondered how she had never thought to give up. She had used the dictionary to translate the book word by word, and had read the book very slowly with her own strength.

It had taken an incredibly long time, but she had been successful and had finished reading the entire book.

She felt an enormous sense of pride and satisfaction being able to read a book that many could not, which led her to the path of deepening her knowledge of the archaic languages.

She continued her self studies up to her current age, and had become perfectly fluent in writing, reading, and speaking.

Out of the three different editions of Holy Scriptures, she planned to read the second editions. It had been written completely in archaic form, and it was not possible by law for a normal person to purchase a copy. She regularly read the third edition of the Holy Scripture, but the second edition was much more detailed. The Priests of the Church also studied the second edition of the Holy Scriptures.

The problem was that the second edition of the Holy Scriptures could only be found in the National Library.

It wouldn’t be a problem to leave the house. It would be the first time for her to visit the National Library. The National Library was known to keep records of all the books of the world, and it had been one of the places she had hoped to visit once she made a full recovery.

Project Escape Time-Bound was formulated to three stages. Tomorrow, she would initiate Stage One and travel to the library. As soon as Raelia finished speaking, Chessyre stood up at once.

“I will be on my way!”

“…? Where are you going?”

“Sheesh. You told me we would start Project Escape Time-Bound tomorrow. I need to make preparations.”

Raelia could not imagine what Chessyre needed to prepare. No matter how many times she thought through their plan, she could not think of anything.

“Yeah… what kind of preparations?”

“You’ll be leaving tomorrow, won’t you Miss? I have many things to prepare. I will have to use my ’rest day pass’ for this, so please don’t look for me! Then I’ll be off!”

Chessyre didn’t look like she had anything else left to say, and left in a flash.

Raelia appeared confused as she was left alone, and mumbled quietly.

“Yeah… so exactly what are you preparing…?”

She felt an ominous premonition.

Raelia didn’t think that Chessyre would take this plan so seriously.

‘Well… it shouldn’t cause much of a problem. I hope.’

Raelia turned around and decided she would deal with Chessyre later, and hurried to start her own preparations.

She reached for the Holy Scriptures she had fallen asleep reading the other night.

She wondered if reading it would be of any help as she had read through this book hundreds of times by now.

Her admiration of the Holy Scriptures had not fallen at all, but she would be reading her eyes out starting tomorrow, so it would be a better idea to use her time for other preparations.

‘Should I go and visit Father?’

It would become much easier to leave the house if she had permission from her father.

‘If I received extra pocket money, leaving the house would be much easier as well…’

However, she didn’t want to go so far and ask her family for help.

She had been treated like a beggar during the tea party, but this was only in comparison to other normal noble ladies. She did have some money to her name, and wasn’t completely penniless.

‘Yes, I will go find Father.’

Traditionally, it was basic etiquette to do make up and hair with the help of maids before going to meet one’s parents, however she had not held much importance to looking nice for the sake of her father’s eyes for some time now.

Chessyre wasn’t here to help pick her clothes, and she didn’t have any maids she could call for, so she walked to the dress room by herself to change when someone knocked on her door.

Raelia stared blankly. She wondered if Chessyre had returned. She could only think of Chessyre who would go out of their way to look for her.

“Chessyre?”

She made her way to the door, but before she even gave her permission, someone cracked the door open. A clear bright voice sounded.

“It’s me Sister.”

She paused her steps. ‘Why was she here?’

Actually, it would be more accurate to say that her visit this time around was a bit late. Ashlea made it a regular pastime to taunt her after meals.

She just didn’t know that she would meet Ashlea before getting to meet her father. Raelia went through the plans she made with Chessyre once more in her mind before she answered.

Project Escape Time-Bound, Stage Two.

Keep her family clueless about her escape plan.

Raelia froze from nerves. Ashlea was the one person in her family that she had to take the most caution around.

“-Oh Ashlea, did you need something?”

“Let’s talk. Are you going to keep me standing out here all day?”

‘Yes, that would be quite nice.’ She already experienced too many headaching events due to Ashlea today, she didn’t wish to bring such a dangerous person into her own personal space.

However, she had not locked her door, and so Ashlea would end up walking into her room with or without her permission. In the end she didn’t put up much of a fight.

“Yes, come in.”

The door slammed open upon Raelia’s answer. Ashlea probably already had her hand on her door knob ready to open the door at a moment’s notice.

Ashlea seemed to have changed as her dress was different from the one she wore during breakfast. Raelia didn’t understand fashion trends very well, but she could tell the dress was very expensive in one glance.

Five maids followed behind Ashlea, which greatly contrasted Raelia who had no maids to even help pick out her clothes for the day, other than Chessyre.

It was laughable.

The funny part wasn’t that she had only one dedicated maid under her wing.

But rather, that a noble lady would walk around with five maids in her own home.

If her sister did not go overboard, she might have felt a bit jealous. However it was very obvious that it was all just a farce to show off her power.

Put very plainly, it was very unseemly.

“How are you feeling, Sister? I was worried.”

Ashlea clasped her hands together and asked. Outwardly, she appeared like the most caring sister in the world.

Raelia peeked over to the maids behind her sister. Matilda was the only maid among the five who was officially assigned under Ashlea.

“You were worried?”

“Of course I would be worried to hear that my only sister in this world would become a Saint. But Sister, why are you alone? How about your maid?”

“She is out. I’m not a Saint yet, I’m just a candidate.”

“The probability is very high, didn’t you hear? Sister might not be aware, but the Duke never speaks empty words.”

Ashlea spoke as she took several steps toward Raelia.

“This is an important time for you. If it were Matilda, she would never think to leave my side.”

Matilda standing behind her appeared moved, as she mumbled ‘Young Miss.’

Raelia let out a deep sigh.

“Is that so… What a good maid you have. If you’re done worrying, why don’t you leave? Unlike you, I am not such a free person. I’m very busy.”

Ashlea froze, and became speechless. She simply stared, and watched Raelia silently.

‘Has she gone insane?’ Ashlea’s face expressed. It could have been that Raelia was truly insane. Raelia had never once talked back or given much of a response, so it was shocking to see any sort of response at all.

“Sister, did you… eat something bad?”

Ashlea managed to ask. Raelia’s expression remained unchanged, and she simply quirked her head.

“I had the same meal as you. Had there been something that had gone bad?”

She began to wonder if something really had been a bit off that morning. Ashlea simply blinked listening to Raelia’s nonchalant words.

Raelia felt as if a heavy burden fell from her heart. She wondered why she had never been able to express herself like this before, because after taking her first step she realized just how easy this was.

If she had never become a Saint, she would have endured silently for another two years, but now there was nothing to be gained from enduring.

She would officially be named the next Saint in a week’s time.

She was not confident that she would be able to find anything important within just a single week, but she planned to do all that she could to raise her chances of survival by even a bit.

‘Hm… well I guess there is one good thing about becoming a Saint.’

She could leave this disgusting tiresome house two years earlier, and it made her incredibly happy.

“No… phew….”

Ashlea said as she quickly snapped back to her senses. She wasn’t an easy opponent. Her sister’s accumulated experience in acting was no joke.

Outwardly, Ashlea appeared perfectly at ease. It didn’t matter that Ashlea’s calmness was fabricated or real. She had caught a glimpse of Ashlea’s shocked expression.

“…Sister, you appeared very sensitive this morning. Are you like this because you’ve been selected as one of the Saint candidates?”

“No, not at all. Do I seem sensitive? I can’t really tell.”

“You seem overly worked up. Did I do something to hurt you? I was just so happy that you were selected as a candidate to become the next Saint…”

“Why, exactly, are you happy to hear that?”

Raelia’s tone of voice remained calm and collected. Ashlea paused her words and spoke hesitantly. This was the tone she had used all this time to appear like the most caring and apologetic little sister.

“I’m just so happy that you have been recognized, Sister. The status of Saints is held in very high regard by everyone.”

“Aren’t you just happy to become the Saint’s little sister?”

“Of course it’s not like that. I just honestly hope that everything will go well for you, Sister!”

Raelia wondered how tiring it must be to live such a fake life. At the same time, she had a deep realization that she had lived her own life in the same exact way.

In general, noble ladies were expected to behave in this way. Raelia was no exception to this, even though she had lived the majority of her life without contact with the outer social world.

“The definition of sincerity must have changed. Ashlea, I understood your heart. But as I said, I am quite busy and I don’t have time to play with you like this.”

Ashlea was at a loss for words. She turned to have a word with her maids.

“Can you leave us alone for a moment? I wish to speak privately with my sister.”

Ashlea’s maids left the room.

Ashlea heavily relied on the maids for her daily needs, and this was a sign that she planned on taking this conversation into a different direction.

This would turn out to be one of Raelia’s biggest life events.

In the past, Raelia simply watched on like a neutral party, wondering what Ashlea was up to. However, she had enough of living like that. Raelia felt anticipation as she observed the flow of this conversation.

The maids did not care about Raelia’s needs, and left without sparing her a glance. The door closed, and silence fell upon them.

Ashlea took the initiative to break the silence.

“Have you gone insane?”

‘Hmm. I wonder.’

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

Ashlea frowned. She had no idea what had brought such a change in Raelia’s attitude. Was it because she had become a Saint? Still, her sister was merely a candidate right now. It wasn’t like she was actually a Saint.

“Has it gone to your head after you’ve become a Saint candidate? Do you think you could treat me this way and get away with it?”

“What would you do to me?”

‘Will she beat me up? That would be troublesome…’

It wasn’t a problem getting hit, however it would become very annoying if they were to discover that she had the power of regeneration.

Raelia didn’t think for even a second that such a thing would actually happen. The two of them were noble ladies, after all.

However, Ashlea proved to be more insane than what Raelia gave credit for.

SLAP!

“…Ha?”

Raelia laughed from surprise. Her sister was truly crazy.

The sound of the slap had been so loud, that she could feel the second hand pain.

Yes, it truly ‘appeared’ painful.

“Do you still think so?”

Ashlea turned her head forward to glare at Raelia and laughed.

Raelia had not been the one slapped.

This crazy shrew had slapped her own face with her own hand.

“….”

“….”

She was confident that she would never be surprised again after meeting the devil, but this was truly shocking.

‘What is this girl doing?’

“I mean…”

She was baffled, and could not string any words together. Ashlea’s cheek grew red and swollen.

“Father would be so happy to see me like this, don’t you think?”

Ashlae said with a chilling smile. Raelia assumed that the slap had been intentional, but hearing the words from the person herself, made reality sink in.

Different to Ashlea’s assumptions, other than feeling dumbfounded, Raelia did not feel even a bit worried.

True, all parents would flip seeing their own daughters in a state like Ashlea’s.

But what did it matter that Ashlae’s face was swollen?

She was now a candidate to become a Saint, they would not dare to whip her or even kick her out of this home.

‘…Ah.’

Raelia suddenly realized.

No matter what Ashlea did to her, she would not be fazed by it.

Now that she was picked as a Saint’s candidate, she could get away with absolutely anything.

“Hm, Ashlea.”

Raelia took a step forward.

“Do you know what I regret most when I found out that I would soon die?”

Ashlea frowned listening to such a random question. Ashlea didn’t answer, and Raelia continued to approach closer in a leisure walk.

“It’s funny that I’ve never once slapped you before.”

She had decided that she would no longer make choices she would regret.

She hoped the next time the Devil appeared before her, she would not think of Ashlea because she regretted missing a chance to slap her.

And so, Raelia raised her hand, and slapped Ashlea’s face.

SLAP!

Ashlea’s face twisted into the opposite direction.

She had always wished to slap Ashlea’s face for years, and lived life simply enduring. Surprisingly, slapping her was not so hard.

Her palm tickled.

‘Maybe one more time?’

The second time is always easier than the first.

For this reason, Raelia went ahead and slapped her sister’s other cheek.

SLAP!

“Ack!”

Ashlea fell to the floor. Raelia thought of how much it would hurt, and at the same time had felt very strange.

Was it possible to fall like that from just a slap?

She had never been someone with much strength, so she couldn’t help but wonder. Raelia paused and observed her hand. Maybe she had some strength to her arms after all.

‘When did I become so strong?’

“You, you b-bitch…!”

Ashlea furiously gripped her hands into fists. She looked like she wished to kill Raelia this instant, and quickly stood up.

She couldn’t contain her own anger, and wished to exact revenge with a slap of her own, unfortunately her plans could not proceed as she wished.

Ashlea had fallen very loudly, and the maids had barged in without permission.

“MISS!”

Matilda came running in a scream, at the same time, Ashlea’s fist relaxed on reflex.

If Matilda had been five seconds late, then Ashlea wouldn’t have been able to endure her anger. Matilda’s timing had always been amazing.

“Hk…, Matilda…”

Ashlea ran into Matilda’s embrace and began to sob.

The two appeared very suspicious. It would have been very difficult to find a maid that would barge into a master’s room without permission.

Though Raelia wasn’t Matilda’s direct master, she was still a daughter of the Vitel Noblehouse. If Matilda had received a proper maid’s training, then she would know that such behavior was one of the worst taboos a maid could commit.

‘Did they plan this ahead of time?’

The two were very close, and so it was possible. But how far had they staged this incident? It didn’t seem likely for Ashlea to have planned slapping herself… could the escalation of this incident have been completely staged?

This was a very huge twist in events.

She had originally assumed that Ashlea was simply trying to get on her nerves and bully her, but it appeared that everything had been planned ahead of time. Her anticipation suddenly chilled.

Matilda, who was comforting Ashlea with a hug, screamed at Raelia.

“Miss Raelia! How could you do this to our Young Miss–?”

“Are you yelling at me?”

Raelia cut Matilda from speaking further, and asked in a toneless voice. Matilda shut her mouth.

‘…What?’

It had been the first time she had seen Raelia act in this way. Matilda was completely loyal to Ashlea, like Chessyre was to Raelia. Matilda had been aware that Ashlea had always bullied Raelia.

Matilda had occasionally received orders to intimidate Raelia, and she even enjoyed following through with the orders.

She felt a breath of fresh air seeing a noble lady suffering due to her own actions, it had been amusing to see a noble retreat in silence.

The dunce never went to tell on her father, and so there had never been a reason to fear her. But today?

“Hm? Your answer, Matilda?”

Raelia did not sound angry. Her voice was rather mellow and gentle. However, this made her appear more dreadful than usual.

“…It’s fine, Matilda. Hk… I’m really okay.”

Ashlea sniffled while trying to sooth Matilda. She pushed Matilda away and averted her face. Small clear shining droplets of tears rained down her cheeks.

“It’s all my fault. Sister. I never knew that, Sister… hated me so much. I would have been more careful, if I knew Sister hated me so much…”

How could anyone find a kinder sister in this world?

The maids watched with sad eyes, as if Ashlea was the most pitiful person. On the other hand, their eyes threw daggers to Raelia. They even murmured complaints to one another.

‘The sister who is so cold hearted.’

The rare one in a million villainess who loves to beat up her little sister.

Ashlea turned her face so others could not see her, and sneered.

It was infuriating to get beaten up like this by Raelia, and she could not help but throw her sister to the pack of wolves. Surely her sister would suffer the worst punishment. She had eye witnesses, and avoiding punishment would be impossible, she thought.

She continued to speak as if she was hammering a nail.

“I’m so…so sorry. If Sister’s anger could subside like this, then I am fine even if you wish to slap me more.”

Raelia absentmindedly observed her sister’s acting. She even managed to catch her sister sneering.

How many people would dare give into their rage, and hit the person again? Hardly anyone would do so.

Unfortunately for Ashlea, Raelia no longer understood the definition of enduring, and she was the rare exception of all exceptions.

“Is that so?”

Raelia raised her hand, and slapped her sister one more time.

SLAP!

Ashlea’s face twisted the opposite direction, and the maids began to scream.

“Hm…”

In this group of panic stricken people, only Raelia appeared calm.

“My anger is not going away, is it okay to slap you one more time?”

Following these words, Ashlea was slapped another two times. Finally, the maids ran to Raelia and begged her to stop, and finally the room became quiet.

That evening, the mother who found her daughter one-sidedly badly beaten, screamed and fainted from shock, causing absolute chaos to befall this household.

****

Raelia was sent to her room.

When her mother managed to regain consciousness, she went into a fit of rage, screaming how her stepdaughter could get away without any sort of harsh punishment. However, now that Raelia was a candidate to become the next Saint, any sort of harsher punishment was not possible.

The worst they could do was flog Raelia, however if the church found out evidence of abuse, they would not remain quiet and let the incident go easily.

Chessyre who had finished happily shopping all of today, felt horror, hearing the news of Raelia’s punishment of self confinement.

‘Self confinement? But our Miss must go to the National Library!’

She was sure that the Vitel Noblehouse’s Second Young Miss bullied her master again. She felt like crying for her master. Her master was a victim, but must suffer with self confinement!

“…You slapped Miss Ashlea five times…?”

However, when she heard the details of the incident, she was very glad that her master was only punished with self confinement.

Her master had always remained silent, and endured all the bullying. She couldn’t imagine that her master was able to muster up the courage to go so far as slapping her younger sister.

She felt very happy with this great achievement, but an enormous amount of pity she could not witness it with her own eyes. Nobody would have sided with her master that day.

“Yeah, that’s what happened.”

Raelia spoke a bit apologetic.

She had dug her own grave by causing such a scene, and had made it more difficult for herself. Now it would be very difficult to plan a trip to the national library.

If Ashlea had not slapped herself like that, Raelia would not have said anything and simply endured it all.

If she wanted to slap Ashlea, she would do it the day before the Ceremony, not a week before when she had so many tasks on hand.

Anyway, the deed had been done, and Raelia would rather be punished for actually slapping Ashlea, rather than being framed by Ashlea.

“What do we do now? When I came in, I saw someone guarding your door…”

Usually they would punish her and not bother with observing if the punishments were properly handled. However, her mother would not let this easily pass and ensured a guard would keep watch of her door all the hours of the day in shifts.

“We have to find a way.”

Raelia’s eyes shined with determination. Every hour of the day was precious, and she had no time to just sit in her room idling.

The next morning, Chessyre brought Raelia’s breakfast to her room since she was in self-isolation.

After finishing her breakfast, Raelia commenced putting on her makeup – though in reality it was more for the sake of disguise.

If the guards caught word of their plan to escape, all their plans would be foiled, and so they proceeded with great caution.

In the process of putting on her disguise, Raelia realized why Chessyre needed to go out shopping.

She had no idea Chessyre would purchase a wig for her.

“Okay, we are done.”

Chessyre said softly. Raelia observed her own reflection, and she was awestruck at her own appearance.

An unfamiliar girl with brown hair stared back at her through the mirror.

The disguise had been planned from the start because she wanted to exercise caution, and hide from her family or anyone, that she was doing research in the national library, and not for the sake of escaping her self-confinement.

Was it because she was wearing a maid’s outfit? The mirror reflected a young noble lady’s maid. The beauty of her face still stood out a bit, but it was amazing to settle down her visuals to this degree of plainness.

“Do you like it?”

“Very much.”

These were not empty words, Raelia truly adored her current look.

The best part was that her silver hair which took after her father had completely changed.

“Great! Now let’s go onto the next step of this plan.”

The two of them locked eyes for a moment, and nodded.

Chessyre took the empty plate, and left the room. She closed the door, but intentionally left the door ever so slightly open. Raelia stood close to the door, but out of sight.

“Then… keep up the good work.”

Chessyre bowed to the guard. The sleepy guard yawned while nodding in acknowledgement.

Chessyre who was calmly walking down the hall, suddenly swayed. It gave the guard a shock, but she seemed to have regained her balance, and he wondered if she just took a wrong step.

But not long after, Chessyre fainted onto the floor, he ran over to her in shock.

‘My, ch-chest hurts..!’ Chessyre groaned in the distance.

‘Chessyre I will not let your sacrifice go to waste.’

‘Now is the time!’

Raelia stepped out of her room, and quietly closed the door behind her. She soundlessly darted off into the opposite direction as the two. The guard’s attention was focused onto Chessyre and did not notice Raelia running away.

As soon as she turned the corner, she leaned against the wall and let out a sigh of relief.

She had never experienced such a thrill since the day she was born. She felt like she had become a detective in the mystery novels she had read, and her heart raced wildly.

She happily walked with a slight dance to her steps. Still, she kept her pace quite fast and didn’t delay her actions.

The other servants did not seem to be very interested in her.

Chessyre’s disguise was near perfect, and anyone would recognize her to be a stranger, so there was a chance people would become suspicious of her.

A few people passed her, but thankfully she was not recognized by anyone. Raelia stepped out to their garden and headed to the place Chessyre had instructed her to go.

‘I found it!’

There truly was a dog hole here! She thought dog holes existed in only fantasy novels, and felt a wonder finding one in her own home.

Raelia observed the dog hole with amazement like she had just discovered a cultural heritage site. The thought of crawling through it did not disgust her, but made her heart thump with excitement.

It would also be the first time she would ride a carriage that did not belong to the Vitel Noblehouse. She always had someone from the Vitel Noblehouse to accompany her outside, so she couldn’t help but anticipate happily for what this day would bring.

The carriage which Raelia rode were the ones commoners could afford, and the National Library only allowed the carriage of nobles to be driven on their roads.

She got dropped off the carriage a ways off and chose to walk the rest of the way.

They would have let her carriage through if she provided proof that she was a noble, however she didn’t want to cause a fuss and decided it would be better to take an extra 30 minutes to walk there. The idea of a stroll outside didn’t sound too bad as well.

Maybe it was because this street was filled with many stores, the place was lively with many people.

Many store owners shouted to attract customers, as customers bargained for cheaper deals. She even saw a small child apologizing with their head bowed for stealing. Just then, she saw someone standing in front of a stall selling fruit… that being, the Devil.

‘Devil?!’

“?”

Raelia was in shock.

‘Wh-what are you doing outside?’

‘No…’

She frequently thought of the Devil.

The first person to inform her that she was the next Saint, was the Devil, so it was impossible to forget him.

She did have a small hope to visit Equindum today since she took the trouble to go out, but was hesitant because she didn’t want to meet the Devil again.

‘I had no idea I would meet him here.’

She frequently wondered where she would meet the Devil next.

In her imagination, the Devil would appear suddenly by either traveling through walls, or even jump through her window in the deep of the night and haunt her while she was about to sleep. She thought he would use bizarre dark magic to appear before her and scare her.

She had imagined dozens of other scenarios, but she never imagined finding the Devil at a fruit stall.

He felt different to the time she met him at the church. At the time she felt nothing but dread and fear, but right now…

‘He appears harmless?’

His stunning facial visuals helped to negate his bad points, and made him appear like a harmless being.

Still, he didn’t seem human all the same. She didn’t feel fear like the time she met him before. His pointed ears and dark skin aside, the most inhumane thing about him was his otherworldly handsome face.

‘What use does a Devil have to be handsome?’

He seemed like someone who would be able to charm anyone with just a point of the finger. If it were not for his pointed ears and dark skin, he would perfectly blend in as a human.

The Devil stood in silence, staring at the array of fruits. The fruit stall owner was blessed and didn’t seem to have the ability to see the Devil. If they could see the Devil, he would be glared at for interrupting his business.

Raelia followed the Devil’s gaze.

He was staring at an apple.

She wondered if she was seeing things, and rubbed her eyes, but the only thing the Devil seemed to be staring at was the apple.

‘Huh?’

‘The apple couldn’t be cursed, could it? Maybe the apple has some sort of mysterious power within it?’

She could not deduce the exact reason, but it should be a significant matter.

She decided not to concern herself with him.

She would pass by feigning ignorance.

She had a bit of confidence thanks to her disguise. Originally, the Devil had discovered her because she had made eye contact with him. As long as she was careful, she might be able to slip by undetected.

She firmly decided she would not make the same mistake twice.

“….”

‘…was… my intention.’

She was able to slip by unbothered, but Raelia couldn’t help but pause her steps.

‘But for real… why does that Devil keep staring at those apples so much?’

The stare was so intense, that it felt like if she did not purchase the apple for the Devil, something grave would occur.

‘He must be crazy… people cannot even see him! He could just steal one when nobody was looking, but he continued to stand there, simply staring.’

‘This curiosity is killing me!’

She let out a deep sigh, and reverted her steps and approached the fruit stall.

‘You are crazy, crazy. Making a resolution to avoid the Devil, but walking into the Devil’s den with your own two feet.’

“…How much is this apple?”

She could feel the Devil staring at her. After purchasing the apple, she turned to look at the Devil. The Devil seemed a bit shocked when she made eye contact with him.

Raelia mouthed silently.

‘Follow me.’

She walked about a block further and slipped into an alleyway. The Devil obediently followed like a lost puppy that she began to feel something about this situation was very off.

The regret over her impulsive decision was starting to sink in, when Dion opened his mouth to speak.

“…Raelia?”

It seems he caught onto her disguise. He observed Raelia with a look that she could not understand. ‘What’s that look supposed to mean? Is he amazed?’

“Here…”

Raelia gave him the apple instead of answering his question. Then asked a question to him.

“Were you staring at this because you wanted to eat it?”

She wondered while not even believing her own words. She was starting to think how stupid her question sounded.

He must have been cursing the apple, rather than staring at it because he wished to eat it. It was highly probable that she quickened the destruction of this nation exponentially by this one decision.

Raelia started to deeply regret helping Dion, but lucky for her, such plans did not exist.

Her jaws dropped, dumbfoundedly.

Instead of using dark magic, he simply nodded and took a bite of the apple.

‘…For real?’

‘Really?’

‘He was staring at it because he honestly wished to eat it?’

Raelia didn’t know how to react to this, in this short while, he gobbled up the entire apple in a flash.

‘Uh…er…’

“…Tastes good?”

“Not bad.”

He said after finishing the apple, and walked to throw away the core of the apple into the trash can.

‘What?’

‘What is he doing?’

She was feeling extremely confused. She had never read in any Holy Scriptures that Devils enjoyed consuming apples, nor of any information that they hated to litter and politely threw trash into the trash can.

She momentarily hesitated.

“Er… if you wanted to eat it so much, then you could have done so, right?”

“But you must purchase it with money first, right?”

“….”

His argument was too reasonable, and it made her speechless. She couldn’t muster up the courage to ask him why he didn’t steal the apple since nobody could see him.

‘Am… am I the strange one? Am I just prejudiced against him?’

While Raelia was lost in her own confusion, Dion spoke.

“Your hair color changed. I almost didn’t recognize you.”

“Ah well…”

Raelia awkwardly nodded. She would have been grateful if he continued to not recognize her. She was the one to dig her own grave, and had no right to complain.

She couldn’t endure her curiosity and helped him, and deeply regretted her actions and thought to quickly run away. She gradually retreated backwards.

“Then, I need to be going now…. I’m quite busy…”

“Where are you going?”

Dion stuck behind her, and asked.

“…The library?”

He would be able to detect her lie, and so she simply told the truth. As she answered, she tried her best to hurry, but the distance between them didn’t change at all.

‘Why are you following me?’

“I see. Oh, did you think about what I asked you last time?”

‘Of course I didn’t.’

‘Is what I want to say, but my bravery when I slapped my sister is now gone.’

“Ah… yes, I did think about it but I think it’s a bit difficult for me to go through with it. I respect Elea very much and I don’t think I can help a Devil’s request. I am very sorry.”

She phrased her words as politely as possible.

She hoped by being polite, she could at least avoid being cursed. Dion’s expression changed again to the strange expression. He stroked his chin with his hand and asked a question.

“Even if you will be cursed?”

She froze in place upon his question.

Horror sunk in Raelia’s mind. She was the most horrified at his wickedness.

Although they were enemies, how could he repay her apple with a curse? Didn’t he feel even a bit of guilt? Though he wasn’t a person, and was a Devil! Still!

‘I really thought for a moment he was a good perso-, a Devil. I am so stupid.’

“Are you threatening me?”

She tried her best not to appear terrified, but her voice shook from fear.

Now that she thought back, this was the first time he spoke of such things like curses. Raelia frowned. He could truly curse her. Then everything that had been recorded in the Holy Scriptures about the Devil must have been the truth.

The Devil told her that the reason she could see him was because she had become a Saint. She could not check the authenticity of his words, but if it was the truth, the other Saints might have been threatened in this same exact way.

It could be possible that the Saint’s life had been time-bound because of the Devil’s curse and not because their mortal body could not endure God’s divine powers.

‘Wait.’

She felt like she missed something. She reviewed her thoughts.

‘Other Saints were also threatened?’

She had said repeatedly that she could see things she should not be able to. Mora had appeared to have been fearful of her life as if she had committed a grave unforgivable crime.

Mora emphasized that nobody else must ever find out, and earnestly had requested for Raelia to keep quiet about this.

“…I see.”

Raelia mumbled her thoughts out loud. Yes, Mora must have seen the Devil.

‘And so… she could not ask for help from anyone… I was sure she was imagining things…’

She felt regretful that she had not believed her friend who was drowned in fear.

“Raelia?”

The Devil confusedly asked.

‘Ah, I might be thinking too deeply into this.’

“My apologies if it sounded like a threat… but it’s not. It is a mere question. If you do not help me, you would end up cursed, is that still fine with you?”

‘… Isn’t that the same thing? Maybe the Devil’s vocabulary is a bit different from humans?’

She felt very confused, but she did not change her mind. If he continued to threaten her, she might have heeded to his request out of fear, but this was not the case.

“…I’m fine.”

“Well, that’s fine.”

Her gamble worked. Dion stopped forcing her, and gave up. Raelia felt relief wash over her and sighed.

She wished to ask him about Mora, but she had not prepared her heart for the conversation yet.

If she went ahead and asked him about Mora, and her death had been caused by him, then she would not be able to handle life.

She gradually read the mood and spoke when she felt safe.

“…You’ve given up, right? Then I’ll be off…”

“Shall I accompany you?”

“NO!”

She rejected his offer quickly and walked out of the alleyway.

The people out on the street were lively and the world was peaceful. She felt a bit of relief seeing normal people again. ‘I should have done this from the start!’

“Why not? Let me accompany you.”

‘Though it turned out to be pointless…’

She was on the brink of turning insane. She wondered if she had been a criminal in her past life that a Devil wished to accompany her to the library.

“I’m really fine.”

“You don’t need to be polite.”

‘How am I trying to be polite, sir?’

She was feeling depressed that all her words were falling onto deaf’s ears as Dion continued to speak.

“The world these days is very dangerous. I am stronger than you think.”

‘You are the most dangerous existence to me in this world. If you are stronger than I think, then that is a very big problem in itself.’

‘Ah…’

‘I don’t know anymore.’

‘To hell with it all…’

‘He needs my help, he wouldn’t kill me.’

In the end, she nodded. Dion stood next to her as if he understood her wishes from the start. He really seemed like her personal body guard like this.

Thankfully, the library was not too far away. When she found the door, Raelia sighed in relief in her heart.

“Excuse me, we’re here at the library now… you’re not thinking to follow me in, are you?”

She felt anxious that he didn’t give a quick reply, he stood there thinking. She wondered if he would truly follow her in.

Raelia’s eyes shook nervously, Dion nodded.

“Yes, I think I should be on my way. Then until next time.”

‘I don’t want to see you next time though?’

It was too bad that Raelia’s thoughts could not be heard by the Devil because Dion disappeared before she could speak another word.

‘…So fast.’

“Ha…”

She had taken too long to get here thanks to him. She really shouldn’t have bought the apple for him.

After finally escaping from the Devil, Raelia diligently walked into the library.

A man who looked like a staff member was seated at a desk, and was in the middle of reading a book. It seemed that there were not many visitors at this time.

Raelia approached him and lightly knocked on the desk. The man finally looked up.

He irritably looked Raelia up and down, and thrust out his hand.

“Your identification card and entrance pass. That will be 10 thousand vel.”

She felt annoyed at the way he judged her, but she didn’t want to cause a huge scene since she had left the house in secret. If she had not left the house wearing a maid’s uniform, he would probably not treat her in this way.

Raelia used Chessyre’s identification card and paid the entrance fees to enter.

She felt amazed when she made her way into the library, the inside was very luxurious and enormous.

‘Yes, it should be at least this big if it claims to have all the books of the world. The title of the national library does not disappoint me.’

The problem though was that it was too enormous. She had been wandering around for more than 10 minutes alone, totally lost, and instead decided to look for someone for help.

It was still early morning, and so not many people had made their way to the library. There were two people within her immediate vicinity, but one person was sleeping on one of the tables.

Raelia approached the person that was awake, and spoke to the person that appeared to be the librarian.

“Excuse me, where can I find the Holy Scriptures?”

“The Holy Scriptures are over there.”

The librarian showed her the way, but the books kept there were the third edition, which was not what she was looking for. Raelia shook her head.

“Ah not that one, I’m looking for the second edition.”

“… the second edition of the Holy Scriptures?”

The librarian’s eyes had a curious look. ‘The second edition? A person like you?’

He noticed the maid’s uniform Raelia was wearing and sneered, knowingly.

The maid’s uniform signified that she would not be the one reading the Holy Scriptures, but her master had sent her on an errand to fetch the second edition.

Raelia felt a bit wronged, and chimed.

“I am the one who will be reading it.”

The person at the front desk appeared merely annoyed, so she let him go without complaint. However, she could not let this pass quietly. She began to wonder if all maids were looked down upon in this way by the nobles.

The librarian looked at her with ridiculing eyes, and answered in a gruff tone.

“The second edition is written in archaic form, it will be difficult for this customer to read.’

“No, I can read it. Why…”

She could not continue her sentence.

“I don’t think it’s the librarian’s job to judge the visiting guests here.”

Raelia looked over to the person who abruptly interrupted. It was the man that had been sleeping.

The man yawned and lazily got up. His hair was a mess, and he was covering his mouth due to his yawn, and so she could not identify the man.

She looked to the librarian again. His face appeared very pale. The sleeping man walked over and stood next to Raelia.

“Would you like to judge me as well?”

The librarian who was trembling in fear didn’t seem like he was capable of giving his opinion of the man. The librarian instead apologized, and gave a 90 degree bow.

Raelia felt worse than she had a moment ago.

The librarian apologized so quickly. The apology was not even made for her sake. The librarian was definitely bowing down to the man.

The man appeared to be thinking the same thoughts, and criticized the librarian.

“You shouldn’t be apologizing to me, but to this Miss.”

“I’m s-sorry. If there is anything you need…oh! The Holy Scriptures are in this direction…”

“It’s fine, I will guide her.”

The man interrupted the librarian and chased him away with his eyes.

Raelia watched the librarian running away with his tail between his legs with a blank expression, completely dumbfounded.

The problem was solved instantly, but she still felt angry. Rather her temper was boiling hotter.

“What do you think you are doing?”

She said to the man. She could finally make out who this man was, and realized.

‘Oh.’

‘That’s why the library bowed in apology like that.’

The man was a noble. She did not recognize the man specifically, but the fact the man was a noble was as obvious as the sun in the sky. His visuals spoke loudly of his status.

His long lashes and silver eyes appeared very noble, and blue hair seemed to glow even though they were indoors.

The combination of genetics seemed as if it was a gift from god himself, and one couldn’t help but be awed by his beauty.

His skin was pale but glowed with a perfection which could rarely be found even amongst nobles. His facial features gave the illusion as if they were chiseled, and rather than handsome to describe this man, he was very beautiful.

She wondered if a human could glow to this degree. She could not remember someone that was more beautiful than this man in her life. And most likely, she would not be able to find someone more beautiful to her death.

“You seemed troubled, so I provided some help. Is there a problem?”

Raelia who was dazed by his beauty snapped back to her senses.

‘Yes, it doesn’t matter that this man is a beautiful noble.’

“…There are three problems. First, I never asked you to help me. Even if you didn’t help me, I could have perfectly helped myself. Second, the librarian was not apologetic to me so nothing was solved. You just oppressed him with your status. You’re a noble, aren’t you?”

Raelia said straightforwardly with absolute clarity.

She didn’t wish to have any regrets on her last day of life, and so she had nothing to fear whether this man was a noble or not.

‘So what if you’re a noble? I’m also a noble, I will soon even be a Saint!’

“And third, your treatment towards me is no better than the librarian. If you really were concerned for me, then you would not have stated to the librarian that you would guide me, you would have asked if I wished to be guided by you.”

“Er…”

He thought for a moment, and nodded.

“Miss’ words are absolutely correct. I apologize, it was my mistake.”

His apology was honest and sincere, which greatly contrasted the librarian’s apology. She wasn’t sure which noble house he was from, but he seemed to have grown up with a very proper education.

If the man had lost his temper and pointed out her commoner status, then Raelia was ready to show him her true identification card. However, she didn’t need to.

Though his casual form of speech bothered her a bit, she was in a maid’s outfit, so she didn’t have much complaint to endure this much. No noble in this world would speak to maids with honorifics.

Her anger was not completely appeased, but it was not his job to appease her. So, Raelia simply nodded and accepted his apology.

“I accept your apology.”

“As an apology, I would like to guide you. Would that be alright?”

“I would be glad to accept.”

The man smiled happily hearing Raelia’s words and guided her through the library. When he smiled, she thought she saw the illusion of the world becoming a bit brighter.

Raelia quietly followed behind the man thinking of trivial things like as long as he was with her, she wouldn’t need a lamp to look around in this library.

She wondered if the man’s status was not as high as she originally thought. It was rare to find a noble that was this polite toward a maid.

“It’s this way.”

The man guided her to a place with an entire book shelf full of Holy Scriptures.

‘All these books were the second edition?’

There were a total of 58 volumes. She had been aware there were many volumes, but it was another thing to see the actual books with her own eyes. There were multiple copies of each volume, so the entire set appeared much more sizable than reality.

She bowed in gratitude for the man, and approached the shelf. It was still morning, and all these books were written in ancient archaic language, and so nobody else was in this corner of the library.

Raelias eyes seemed to tremble looking across all the volumes of Holy Scriptures. As a long time book lover, she felt very moved that she would be able to read the original version of the Holy Scriptures.

‘Which should I read first? Should I start from volume 1? No, nobody starts on the first volume, they would start on the volume they are the biggest fan of…’

“Excuse me.”

Raelia did not seem to hear the person speaking to her, and ran her finger across the spines of the volumes of books.

She was very pleased with the feeling of the high quality of the books. She could almost smell the archaic times coming from the books.

“Hello?”

‘Yes, let’s start with Saint Anneres. Reading about the 72 days of prayer would be good. Then I will read about Lecia’s miracles. Then….’

“Miss?”

“…Yes?”

Raelia snapped back to her senses.

‘Oh right, I was in the library.’

She wasn’t even alone. She got lost in her own excitement, but it was only to be expected.

It had been Raelia’s long time wish to be able to read the second edition Holy Scriptures.

“Ah.. my apologies, did you call me?”

“No, you seemed dazed and I wondered if you were alright.”

“Haha, you joke…”

“Did it sound like a joke?”

He had asked in all seriousness. It would have been for the better if it was just her eyes that were dazed. The man chuckled and spoke.

“This is my first time meeting someone who loves the Holy Scriptures so much. Are you studying to become a Priestess? I assume you have studied archaic language from the previous conversation.”

“Pretty much so.”

It was a whole world of difference to be preparing to become a Priestess versus a Saint, but that was not very important right now.

“That is amazing. Did you learn archaic language on your own?”

“Yes.”

“What do you plan to read first?”

“First, I will read about Anneres 72 days of prayer.”

He nodded and walked a few steps. He pulled out a volume and handed it over to Raelia.

“Here you go. Are you a fan of Saint Anneres?”

“She is the Saint of Saints. I respect her very much and… what is this?”

“The book that you said you planned to read.”

Raelia quickly looked over the book. The second edition, volume 33 of the Holy Scriptures. She opened to the table of contents to check.

“It should be on page 272.”

She was making her way down the page since there were so many items on the table of contents, when his words interrupted her thoughts. She quickly scanned lower down the table of contents, and read Saint Anneres’ name for page 272.

“…?”

‘Something is… a bit strange?’

She caught onto him belatedly.

‘Who is this man?’

She wondered if he was one of Saint Anneres’ longtime fans. It was the only reason why he would have memorized the volume and page for her.

“Are you Saint Anneres fan?”

“No.”

“… but you memorized this?”

“I read it once before.”

She wondered where to start questioning him. Normal people would never remember the page number of something they read only once.

The man continued to speak while Raelia was lost in thought.

“When I see things once, it is hard for me to forget.”

“Ah… that sounds really tiring.”

She had read about such a person in a book before. It was one of the long forgotten blessings from god.

Even if she had not read such books, she would have still thought the same way. Everyone has a memory or two which they wish they could send into oblivion.

The man asked with doubt.

“Tiring?”

“It’s not? The ability to forget memories as we live into our lives is helpful to maintain a healthy mind. You should understand better than me since you cannot forget easily.”

His eyes shined hearing Raelia’s words.

“Ah, you’re right.”

He lightly chuckled.

“Your thoughts are very unique. Nobody had ever spoken of my memory in that way. Usually, they share their feeling of jealousy at my talent.”

“By chance, are you still attending school? Usually students who need to take exams are the ones that feel jealous over such talent.”

“I do wish to attend. But I doubt I could learn more things than I could at home.”

“I wish to go as well… preferably a school which provides dorm rooms.”

“Why dorms?”

“I’m sick of seeing my sister’s face.”

“You’re not close to your sister?”

“I’m not.”

Raelia lightly shrugged her shoulders.

“I had a huge fight with her yesterday as well.”

She noticed his expression turn a bit strange, it seemed he could not imagine her fighting anyone.

She was a lot healthier now, but she was undersized for someone her age. It seemed like she would easily lose against anyone who would pick a fight with her.

“Did you win?”

Eventually, he gave up trying to imagine what kind of situation she got caught up in. Raelia nodded with energy.

“Yes. She should still be suffering and feeling ill in bed.”

“What in the world did you do to her…?”

“I never thought she would slap herself like that, she said she would tell our father that I hit her. I would be punished for hitting her when I didn’t. The least I could do was act in a way that I wouldn’t regret, so I slapped her for real.”

The man appeared further confused. Raelia understood his feelings. It’s hard to imagine that there would be a girl crazy enough to slap herself. Yes, it was truly crazy.

“One slap?”

He collected himself and returned to his normal calm state. Raelia replied without pause.

“Do you think I would be satisfied with just that? I slapped her five times.”

A silence fell between the two of them for a moment, and suddenly he exploded out laughing.

“Pfft, ahhah, hahaha!”

Raelia wasn’t sure which part of her story was funny.

His laugh sounded very refreshing and loud. She felt thankful that they were the only ones in this corner of the library.

She would have needed to apologize in his stead if there were another person here with them.

“Ah really, you are a very amusing young lady. Miss, what is your name? How old are you? Why don’t we be friends?”

‘I wonder which part of me is funny?’

She didn’t particularly wish to become friends with a person who thought well of people that turned to violence, but he didn’t seem like such a bad person after all this time and decided it wouldn’t be such a bad idea.

“My name is Raeri, and I am 18.”

Raeri used to be the nickname which Mora used to call her.

She couldn’t tell him her real name, and it would be rude to make up a fake name, so she decided to use her nickname.

The man seemed amazed when he heard Raelia’s actual age.

“We’re the same age? I’m 18 as well.”

“Is that so?”

Raelia’s eyes opened wide in shock. She was sure the man was much older. The man smiled.

“Do you think I would lie about something like this? Oh, my name is Ru.”

Ru didn’t tell her his surname, but Raelia was still sure that he was a noble. It was mostly the case because he could read the archaic languages of the Holy Scriptures, so there was no way he could be a commoner.

‘He’s probably not serious about being friends. He probably wants to break away from normal day to day life for a brief moment with a little maid from another noblehouse.’

She wouldn’t feel any differently from him, so she did not feel disappointed in the least. She had not shared her real name either, and she was even wearing a disguise. If she felt disappointed he was hiding his true name, then the other party would be much more sad to know how much she was hiding from him.

“That’s fine, Ru.”

Raelia nodded saying his name. His name stuck to her mouth easily, and it was a nice name.

She found a spot to sit down and spoke.

“I have to read at least two volumes by the end of today. If I don’t start now, I will be greatly delayed. How about you?”

“I’m very free.”

“I meant that I’m grateful for your guidance, and I was asking you to leave.”

He pulled out a volume of the Holy Scriptures, and sat next to her. However, he didn’t bother to read his book, and simply stared at her while stroking his chin. He seemed a bit hurt by her words.

“Our fated meeting ends here?”

“Is there a problem?”

“I thought you wanted to be my friend as well.”

“Isn’t that what you said?”

“And you agreed?”

The man next to her kept bothering her, and affecting her focus.

She let out a deep sigh. She wouldn’t get anywhere before doing something about this person.

“Excuse me, did you need something?”

“No, not really.”

“Then why do you…”

‘Keep annoying me?’ Even Raelia could not speak such straightforward words.

“I’m just bored.”

‘What do you want me to do about it?’ Raelia stared silently, and Ru continued to speak.

“So I hope we can continue to play.”

“As you can see, I am busy. I don’t have the time.”

“You’re not reading just because you like Holy Scriptures?”

“I’m looking for something. Even if I was reading this because I simply liked to read, I don’t have a reason to play with you.”

Ru’s expression became strange. She felt a bit apologetic, but she had given a lot of time to him already.

They shared a bit of small talk and got to know each other’s names.

“I bet people often tell you that you’re not very good with social skills, huh?”

Raelia felt a bit wronged. But she honestly didn’t have friends, so she remained quiet.

When Raelia ignored him, it seemed Ru lost his interest. He opened his book and started to read. For a while, just the sound of pages turning could be heard in the library.

Like this, two hours passed. It was noon, and when a couple of people passed by looking for Holy Scriptures, she looked up from her book. She finally finished reading this entire volume.

Raelia, who finished reading, had an expression full of respect and faith.

When she looked up from her book, Ru noticed her movements and thought the maid should quit her job, and instead become a librarian in this place.

“Did you finish reading?”

“Ah… yes.”

Raelia answered without much care for him, and got up. Anyone could tell she was off to read the next volume, which made Ru very exhausted. Of course, he didn’t let it show for very long.

He chuckled softly watching Raelia tiptoeing to reach a book on the top shelf.

‘Ah…’

‘I can’t reach it…’ Raelia tried her best to pull off the book, but she could just barely reach the spine of the book with the tip of her finger. She suddenly felt incredibly saddened at her short stature.

‘Damn it, how could they keep the book on such a high shelf?’ Sure, all the people reading these books were men, and she was much shorter than the other girls her age. But, still!

‘Just a little further… ‘ She was able to tap the book twice. Her fingers which reached the books appeared very pitiful. Just then, another person’s hand appeared and pulled the book out from behind her, and placed it onto her hands.

“…!”

Happiness filled Raelia’s face when the 34th volume of the Holy Scriptures finally fell onto her hands.

She appeared very depressed just a moment ago. But her expression changed very quickly and it was amusing to watch.

Ru snickered inwardly, and asked her a question.

“Happy?”

“Ah.”

Raelia who was admiring the book suddenly snapped to her senses.

“Thank you, I keep receiving your help.”

“It’s not a problem.”

He shrugged his shoulders. Raelia gripped the 34th volume and quickly shuffled to her original seat.

After reading the entire 33rd volume, she wanted to read about the miracle next. But she could not skip over Saint Selene who preceded Saint Anneres. Saint Selene was a bit more unique than your average Saint, so she felt the need to read through her story more carefully.

Saint Selene’s life story had been, for the most part, abridged, and the second edition did not stray too much from the third edition of the Holy Scriptures.

Saint Selene had been known as the Saint who had never done her job properly in her life. Only the significant events of her life had been recorded, and much of the necessary details that Raelia needed for were omitted.

-To be continued –