However, I concluded that these feelings were jealousy. Those who had looked at me unfavorably from the beginning were all friendly toward her, and I thought I resented that fact.

“Do I have to pray all day long?”

The next question that flowed from the saintess’s lips also gave me an uncomfortable feeling. She seemed to have a dissatisfied tone about the saintess’s role.

“Not all day. You need to spend the morning continuously in prayer.”

“Prayer must be necessary for the empire’s people. However, can I dare do such important work? I still have many shortcomings.”

“Well, that’s true.”

The priest nodded as though he understood. Looking at the current atmosphere, it didn’t seem like things would go in a good direction for me.

When I looked at the priest with anxious eyes, he smiled warmly at me.

“It seems too much for the saintess to work alone yet. So it would be good for Lady Stella to assist by her side for the time being.”

Bad premonitions never failed me – the expected words flowed from the priest’s mouth. I was speechless seeing him give Lady Radner special treatment while he had thrown me straight into work without any mercy.

Wasn’t she the protagonist? But how could she push off work she should do onto someone else?

“My holy power has drained significantly, so I won’t be of help.”

“Please help at least until your holy power completely disappears.”

I tried to refuse with excuses, but the priest’s attitude was firm, so I had no choice but to take on part of the saintess’s work. Two things: dawn prayers and making potions.

Other people praised the saintess since it wasn’t their concern, but I didn’t. I could only look unfavorably at her for creating a situation where I had to do the saintess’s work again after being kicked out of the saintess position.

No matter how I looked at it, she wasn’t the protagonist.

She showed an angelic appearance on the surface while subtly manipulating me – her behavior and way of speaking felt familiar somehow. It wasn’t because she was the protagonist. I felt some inexplicable unease.

The protagonist’s personality I’d heard about from my friend was that of a humble and sincere young lady despite being nobility. She always sacrificed herself for the empire’s people. But the woman before my eyes now was different. She seemed to push difficult work onto me somehow.

It was already strange that I wasn’t kicked out of the Alpha Empire, but now I felt unease even toward the protagonist. God was definitely punishing me.

Actually, during my three years of hardship for the empire, I hadn’t always worked solely for the people.

At first, I prayed for them and used holy power, but being tormented continuously from 4 AM to 10 PM gradually made my altruistic heart disappear.

Around the time the saintess appeared, I didn’t want my labor exploited and often thought about wanting to escape the saintess’s duties. So God must be punishing me.

Even so, isn’t crushing my self-esteem too much?

God, please have pity on me.

I admitted I didn’t have the right mindset as a saintess. But I hoped God would take pity on me considering my three years of hard work.

* * *

“What, I thought being the protagonist would be easy, but it’s not.”

Just before entering the prayer room after being summoned by the saintess, I heard a grumbling voice from beyond the door. The moment I heard it, I was shocked. It was completely opposite to her usual gentle, soft voice and bright smile.

She became the protagonist? Could Lady Radner also be a possessor like me?

I had felt unease when talking with her, and now I could understand why.

She was also a possessor. How unexpected. At the same time, I envied her. She was the real saintess while I was the fake saintess.

Though I wondered why holy power existed in my body in the first place, I set aside such thoughts for now and knocked.

Suddenly, crashing sounds came from inside. Worried she might have fallen, I was about to ask if she was okay when the saintess’s voice came from inside.

“Come in.”

Only Lady Radner was alone in the prayer room. Fortunately, she didn’t seem hurt, but her flushed face showed she was quite flustered.

“Did you hear what I said earlier?”

“I didn’t hear anything.”

“Seems like you did?”

The saintess’s gaze toward me was cold. It was completely opposite to her previous angelic, bright, and cheerful atmosphere.

“No.”

“No, my foot.”

Her firm gaze felt familiar somehow. Not only that, but her way of speaking also sounded like something I’d heard before…

“Are you lying to me right now? Why don’t you keep trying?”

When I remained still, the saintess walked to the altar and picked up a bowl-shaped sacred object placed on it. Then she deliberately let go. The sacred object fell to the floor in an instant.

“Kyaaah!”

With a crash, the saintess screamed. Shocked by her sudden change, I froze. The maids who rushed in at the sound looked at the fallen sacred object with horrified eyes.

At the same time, they approached Lady Radner.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. I’m not hurt.”

“What’s the situation? Did you accidentally drop the sacred object, saintess?”

“No. It wasn’t me.”

“Then who did it?”

“It was an accident. So I’d like to just quietly let it pass.”

“Covering it up won’t change anything. We need to scold the culprit who caused this commotion.”

At that moment, all the maids’ expressions turned toward me. Only the saintess and I were there, and since the saintess said it wasn’t her, I was the only one left.

“I, I never…”

Flustered, I tried to urgently deny it, but the maid cut off my words and shouted.

“Are you making excuses after committing a wrong? You threw the sacred object at the saintess, didn’t you!”

“I never…”

“Keep making excuses. Don’t you see the sacred object fallen in front of the saintess right now?”

“You’re finally showing your true colors. You acted arrogantly, calling yourself a saintess when you first came, and this proves it.”

One of the maids showed hostility toward me.

“It wasn’t me.”

“Shut your mouth. Since you have such wicked thoughts, God must have been angry and taken away your holy power.”

No one here took my side. To them, I was nothing more or less than a perpetrator who tormented the saintess.

Even if the novel’s content changed, the fact that I was the villain remained the same. What exactly should I do, and how? I didn’t have confidence to continue living as the saintess’s maid.

Just as I was thinking such thoughts, something outside the window entered the prayer room and pounced on the saintess.

“Kyah! What is this!”

The startled Lady Radner screamed. The creature that pressed down on her shoulder and gracefully landed on the floor was a cat.

“It’s a cat.”

“Kyaaah. G-get it away.”

Lady Radner turned pale and was terrified.

“Cats have been called spiritual beings since ancient times. They can freely enter anywhere.”

Meow. The crying cat started rubbing against me the moment it saw me. I knew who owned this cat. It was the crown prince’s cat.

When we enjoyed tea time together, it would sometimes visit and rub against the crown prince’s legs. Then at some point, it started approaching me too.

“Cookie, you came?”

When I picked up the cat with loving eyes, Lady Radner shot me a momentary look of shocked reproach. I was the only one who saw her gaze. Everyone else’s attention was focused on me.

The moment I saw her eyes, I felt uneasy. Even though it was an unfamiliar face to me, why did it feel so familiar?