Looking at the beginning of this unrequited love story, yes, it all started when Cynthia turned ten years old. In the empire, it was customary to bring children to the temple when they reached ten. 

It was a kind of ritual where they received blessings for future success and longevity. Cynthia, too, was dragged to the temple by her parents’ hands when she turned ten.

At the time, Cynthia was absolutely furious. Naturally so. She had happily followed along, trusting her parents’ promise to buy her chocolate, but instead of chocolate, she arrived at some unfamiliar place. 

Not knowing what a temple was or what a blessing meant, Cynthia got angry at her parents. Anyone could see there was no chocolate here!

Her parents coaxed and soothed her, successfully getting her inside the temple. They tempted Cynthia with promises of chocolate, chocolate fondue, and chocolate fountains. Since these were all things she’d never heard of before, Cynthia was intrigued.

“Cynthia, we’ll buy you chocolate the moment we leave here. Say, have you ever heard of chocolate fondue?”

“…Chocolate fondue?”

“Yes, chocolate comes out like a fountain and you can dip marshmallows and things in it. It’s incredibly, incredibly delicious!”

“Chocolate comes out like a fountain?”

“Of course. If our Cynthia waits quietly here for just one hour, Mom and Dad will let you have chocolate fondue.”

There was a fountain that produced chocolate in this world? At those words, Cynthia changed her mind and decided to wait quietly. Still, she couldn’t hide her sulky expression. 

While she sat in her chair swinging her legs, the former Pope appeared with priests for the blessing ceremony.

Everyone sitting in the grand chapel stood to greet the former Pope. Cynthia, who had been sitting and kicking her legs, also had to stand following her mother’s guidance. Being short, she couldn’t see anything anyway. 

Though she doesn’t remember clearly, she assumes there was a brief mass along with explanations about the blessing.

After the short mass ended, ten-year-old children began lining up one by one, following their parents. This time she had to line up following her father’s guiding hand. Her legs hurt. When would this end? 

She wanted to sit down right then and there, but she was extremely curious about this fountain that supposedly spurted chocolate.

After waiting briefly, getting briefly annoyed, and being carried by her father for a bit, Cynthia’s turn quickly approached. Cynthia climbed the low steps and stood before the former Pope.

And there, Cynthia saw an angel.

Young priests stood beside the former Pope, and among them was young Ezekiel. The moment Cynthia saw Ezekiel, she felt some strange emotion. It was an extremely unfamiliar feeling. 

To borrow ten-year-old Cynthia’s expression, it was a feeling of wanting to “hold him in her hands and never let go again.”

Cynthia stared at Ezekiel with wide eyes. Her mouth closed shut, making it seem like her earlier tantrum had never happened.

“I bestow upon Lady Cynthia Dernier blessings to accompany her throughout life.”

“May Goddess Lena protect you, I shall devote myself eternally.”

“May Goddess Lena protect you, I shall devote myself eternally.”

The words of the former Pope, the priest, and her parents didn’t even register in her ears. Cynthia just stared blankly at Ezekiel, who was handing over holy water right beside the former Pope.

Could he really be human? If he was human, how could he look so sacred? How could he have such sparkling eyes? How could he be so lovely and beautiful and wonderful! 

Cynthia was completely entranced by the excessive beauty she encountered for the first time in her ten years of life.

But the blessing time was far too short. Here, “short” meant too short to perfectly appreciate Ezekiel’s face. Just moments before, she had been waiting for whatever this blessing thing was to end quickly, but from the moment she faced Ezekiel, she wished time would stop.

Please let this moment continue for a long, long time… If it could continue for about a hundred nights, she would have no other wishes…

And then that moment. The moment Ezekiel seemed to sense Cynthia’s gaze and looked back at her with a brief smile. From that moment on, Cynthia’s world began revolving around Ezekiel. 

It was truly an irresistible force. From that day forward, Ezekiel became the source of Cynthia’s world.

Cynthia wanted to say something, anything, to Ezekiel. Or hear something from him. But her oblivious parents tried to take Cynthia away since the blessing was over. 

However, having accepted the new truth of the world, Cynthia feared nothing, and boldly grabbed Ezekiel’s hand without hesitation.

She could feel everyone around them panic at the sudden situation. But even then, Cynthia was still caught up in the arrogance that nothing she couldn’t have existed. So she boldly asked Ezekiel:

“What’s your name?”

“Cynthia!”

“We’re sorry, Father.”

Naturally, her parents were flustered, while the former Pope just looked at Cynthia with warm eyes and chuckled. He seemed to judge it as merely a child’s fondness. Everyone thought that way back then. 

They thought it was just momentary curiosity and momentary affection. But Cynthia’s unrequited love continued for ten years, mocking all the adults’ misconceptions.

Ezekiel didn’t panic and gently lowered Cynthia’s hand. He even placed a small chocolate on Cynthia’s palm. Like praising her for waiting well.

Cynthia vowed to treasure this chocolate for life without eating it. The strange feeling of having her heart tickled by feathers continued. It felt like a butterfly had landed on her heart.

“My name is Ezekiel, my lady.”

“Ezekiel…”

“Yes. Ezekiel.”

She doesn’t remember much after that. She thinks she might have bowed her head apologetically at her parents’ hands. 

But Cynthia kept looking only at Ezekiel until her parents dragged her out of the temple. Ezekiel also secretly glanced at her and waved, hiding from the former Pope. It was truly such an enchanting experience.

From that day on, Cynthia decided to become a devout believer. To be precise, she became Ezekiel’s devout believer. So she headed to the temple every Faith Day. 

According to her parents, mass was held every Faith Day. They also informed her that she could see Ezekiel’s face on those days. Really? Then of course she had to go see him.

As expected, Ezekiel came to the temple every week to assist with mass. After going consistently for about three months, she heard that Ezekiel was a candidate for the next Pope. 

Hmm, no wonder. Such a faithful, holy, and pious face couldn’t possibly remain just a regular priest.

That face deserved to be Pope – it made perfect sense. As long as Ezekiel existed in this world, no one was more suited for the papal position than him. Cynthia nodded and convinced herself.

Faith Day mass had another advantage. The tremendous advantage of being able to talk with Ezekiel after mass ended. Of course, there were disadvantages too. 

The fatal disadvantage that Cynthia couldn’t monopolize Ezekiel. Believers flocked to Ezekiel to share various stories, and Cynthia could barely squeeze in to exchange a word or two.

“Ezekiel!”

“You attended mass again this week, my lady.”

“Because I wanted to see Ezekiel.”

“It must be because your faith in our Goddess is immense.”

“No?”

“Pardon?”

“It’s not the Goddess I believe in, but Ezekiel. Especially Ezekiel’s face.”

“…That too is the Goddess’s divine power.”

Of course, most conversations went like this. Mainly Cynthia would unilaterally praise Ezekiel, and Ezekiel would respond that this too was the Goddess’s divine power. 

But it didn’t matter. Just seeing Ezekiel’s face was good enough, and being able to exchange words was delightful.

“Ezekiel, you’re as beautiful as ever today.”

“Yes, my lady.”

“My feelings for Ezekiel remain as firm as ever.”

“Yes, my lady.”

And over time, the conversation content changed to this sort of thing. Cynthia would say about three sentences, and Ezekiel would respond with one word. 

By then, Cynthia’s heart had changed somewhat too. She had learned a word that could define her feelings. Cynthia’s feelings for Ezekiel were ‘love’. Yes, it was love!

So now she absolutely couldn’t be satisfied with just this much. Sharing Ezekiel with everyone wasn’t enough. The brief conversations after mass couldn’t quench her thirst for Ezekiel. 

Cynthia wanted to monopolize Ezekiel. She wanted to meet him when she wanted to meet him, and have conversations alone together. Cynthia had to think of another method.

First, gifts would be good, right? They said the first way to express affection was through gifts. And Cynthia had a lot of money. So she ‘tried to’ deliver gifts to Ezekiel. 

But unfortunately, Ezekiel rejected all gifts. His reason was that he couldn’t accept personal gifts as God’s messenger.

Really? Then she just needed to give gifts that weren’t personal. So next, she gathered up gifts that seemed appropriate for priests. For example, priest robes made from silk brought from across the continent, or holy books with diamonds crafted and embedded in the covers.

But when even those were rejected under the pretext of being worldly, her competitive spirit flared. Oh, for crying out loud. It’s hard to give even one gift to someone you love! 

Cynthia wasn’t one to give up. If she couldn’t give gifts to him personally, she could target people close to him. But since priests had rules against receiving gifts – assuming Ezekiel’s words were true – Cynthia decided to give gifts to the temple.

The method of giving gifts to the temple was simple. She just had to pour in donations. Cynthia’s family didn’t have tremendous hereditary honor, but they did have tremendous hereditary money. 

It was enough money that even if Cynthia poured out donations until she died, she wouldn’t be able to spend it all. So that amount wasn’t burdensome at all. Since the temple was chronically short of funds, they gladly accepted the donations Cynthia poured in.

The donation offensive had advantages too. When you donated above a certain amount, your name would be called out after mass ended. It seemed a bit worldly, but as mentioned earlier, it must have been an unavoidable method for the financially strapped temple.

And, and Cynthia’s name called out by Ezekiel was so sweet. Not the voice that consistently said ‘Yes, my lady,’ but a voice calling her own name. It was so sweet she felt she could die without regret.

When she first made a donation, Ezekiel had frowned. Since it had been quite a while since Ezekiel ignored Cynthia, she had reached the point of being moved just by Ezekiel expressing emotion. 

So she poured out even more donations, but after about a year, he returned to reciting phrases like ‘We express gratitude to Lady Cynthia Dernier’ with an expressionless face.

Really? Then she just needed to do something else.

So Cynthia poured out ten years’ worth of donations all at once. As a result, Cynthia was able to have her name carved on the temple wall. It was an opportunity given only to believers who donated truly enormous amounts that could be counted on one hand.

Cynthia’s name was carved fifth on the wall. Fifth since the Grand Temple was built… She wasn’t entirely pleased, but there was no beating people born hundreds of years ago. 

That wall was right to the right of the grand chapel entrance, so anyone heading to the grand chapel had to pass by it. Good, now Ezekiel will see my name every time he goes to celebrate mass.

How thrilling this was. 

Just imagining it made her feel good, and Cynthia couldn’t hide her smile.