Merry Christmas to all my readers! To celebrate, I’m treating you to extra chapter updates. Please enjoy this special release of four bonus chapters! °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°

(Lurelia’s Christmas Bonus – Update 4/4 🎉)

♡ To all readers who purchased these chapters before Christmas: I can’t express this enough – Thank you for your support. (*ˊᗜˋ*)/ᵗᑋᵃᐢᵏ ᵞᵒᵘ*

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“It seems he asked to send someone to a nearby convent, saying he wanted to pray before dying.”

Aina, dressed as a nun, said as she crossed through the residential area on the outskirts of the capital.

Leticia nodded unconsciously in response.

So that’s why she told me to dress as a woman. It would be strange if a man went when they called for someone from the convent.

“I’m Sister Yona, a lector from the convent, and you’re the maid helping me. They won’t introduce the maid separately anyway, so just keep your head bowed until we meet that man.”

“A lector? Do you have any scriptures memorized?”

Lectors, who read scriptures during worship, were often sought by believers wanting to say their final prayers before death.

So it might not seem strange at first that Sir Borba, facing death, would seek a lector, but…

“It doesn’t matter since that man doesn’t know any scriptures either. According to my brother, he was an extreme atheist.”

It wasn’t strange. In the Herta Empire, temples didn’t have much presence.

Most imperial citizens prayed to the Emperor rather than to gods. This had been the case since Emperor Herta the First, who was godlike, three hundred years ago.

“An atheist suddenly wants to pray before death and calls for a lector? Why?”

“That’s what’s strange, so the imperial family was planning to send spies to investigate. Thanks to that, my brother, who was working as an imperial spy, knew detailed information about that man…”

Aina hesitated before adding.

“The man known as Sir Borba was also an imperial spy. Like most extreme atheists, he was a devotee of the imperial family and had been carrying out various tasks under imperial orders since his youth.”

“….”

Perhaps because she had already suspected it, it wasn’t surprising that Sir Borba’s master was the imperial family.

It just felt like confirming something she already knew.

As they crossed through the residential area, Aina glanced at Leticia for a moment and asked in an even lower voice.

“I’d like to share more information with you, but Chamuka is still following us, right?”

It was Chamuka who had been following them since the inn room, hiding his presence.

As agreed beforehand, he was following them while hiding himself well, but even they, who knew he was following, couldn’t gauge where Chamuka might be.

“Stopping him from coming along in women’s clothing was the best I could do…”

Considering his height and build, that was quite a shameless statement.

Aina shook her head and stopped in front of a mansion.

Leticia spoke to Aina, who seemed concerned about finishing her explanation before going inside.

“It’s fine. You don’t need to tell me more. I can ask what I want to know directly now.”

Aina nodded at that and knocked on the door.

“Are you Sister Yona, the lector?”

As if he had been waiting, a tall man who appeared to be a butler came out and guided them inside.

Leticia followed behind, keeping her head bowed as Aina had instructed.

Thanks to that, she could only see the floor, but just by looking at the well-maintained carpet, she could guess the owner’s abundant wealth.

When she thought about how the man who had burned down the Borba troupe so thoroughly had lived abundantly in a nice mansion, she felt stranger than when she heard that Sir Borba had been an imperial spy.

“What kind of person is he? The one who wants to pray. I’m wondering which scripture I should read…”

“He’ll like whatever you read.”

Leticia listened to the conversation between Aina and the butler while clenching her fist.

“You can just say anything and leave.”

The butler’s indifferent words contained contempt toward Sir Borba.

Unlike the respect felt when he subsequently mentioned “the master.”

“The master won’t mind either.”

“Isn’t the person who wants to pray the master of this mansion?”

“No. The master is his son. He’s a very generous person. When he heard that a nun was coming this time, he made a large donation to the convent.”

Did Sir Borba have a child?

If he was referred to as the master, he must be an adult, which means he should have had a child 10 years ago, too.

10 years ago, he said he ‘had no children and would adopt the troupe orphans as his own.’ Was that a li,e too?

“It’s here.”

The butler opened the door. Despite it being daytime, the room was dim.

“If you need anything, send the maid to the room at the far left of the first floor.”

“…? Aren’t there bell pulls inside to call the servants?”

“No. He’s not mentally sound. Whatever you hear from inside, whatever you see, please don’t mind. Sister, just read the scripture and leave.”

With that firm answer, the butler left.

Left alone in front of the open room, Leticia and Aina shared confused glances.

It would be convenient to be left alone like this to talk with Sir Borba, but…

Something was strange about this mansion.

The well-decorated mansion and well-trained servants, and the respected “master” of this mansion, in contrast to his disrespected father.

“Something’s off.”

Aina agreed with Leticia’s murmur.

“I know. He didn’t even ask about the young master’s beauty story. He can’t be blind.”

“….”

That doesn’t seem to be the issue.

“I was sure he would ask, so I hurriedly prepared a story…”

“I kept my head bowed the whole time.”

“That’s not enough to hide beauty like yours. Even just seeing the top of your head would make expectations soar, young master.”

What nonsense.

Leticia firmly ignored Aina’s absurd words and entered the room.

Even if something seemed strange, she couldn’t leave Sir Borba inside and go back.

Besides, she had the confidence that her magic could destroy everything, even if it was a trap.

The curtained room grew darker the further in she went. Especially since not even a small lamp was lit.

At least it was midday, so the curtains couldn’t block all the sunlight, making it possible to see.

Leticia narrowed her eyes.

A white-haired man sat in an armchair near the bed.

He was fiddling with his cane when he seemed to sense their approach and raised his head. Leticia thought their eyes met.

But that was an illusion.

“Are you the Sister?”

The man couldn’t see. Leticia stopped in surprise at his cloudy eyes, visible even in the dark room.

He looked so different from her memories.

Thin and rough cheeks, white hair, cloudy eyes, a smaller frame, and a cane.

The fine gentleman from 10 years ago was nowhere to be seen.

“Ah.”

When she let out a groan after tripping over something, the man slowly apologized.

“I’m sorry. I accidentally dropped some things on the floor while looking for my cane.”

“….”

“I apologize for greeting you while seated, as my legs are like this.”

Only then did she notice the chairs, vases, pillows, plates, and such scattered in disarray on the floor.

Leticia was at a loss for words when she saw that the cane rack was placed on the wall quite far from the bed.

This arrangement went beyond a lack of consideration for a blind man—it felt malicious.

This man probably had to get off the bed and crawl to the storage rack. And even after that, he would have had to bump into and trip over the furniture filling the room to reach the chair.

As Leticia stared blankly at the man, having lost her words, Aina spoke up.

“Are you alright? Should I clear away the items on the floor?”

“No. It’s fine.”

The man spoke slowly in a hoarse voice. As if he hadn’t spoken for a very long time.

Aina deliberately made footsteps as she slowly approached the man.

Leticia just quietly watched.

“I was told to come pray for an elderly gentleman with not much time left, but you don’t look like that at all, sir.”

Although his hair was white, the man was too young to be described as facing death. He had only been in his mid-thirties about 10 years ago.