Being disliked is fine. Whatever misunderstanding exists, if I consistently show my sincerity, it will eventually be resolved.

But illness is unacceptable. Pain and death instantly steal away the time that should remain between us.

I paced the corridor briefly, holding the cat in both hands. Though blood was spreading across my white robe, I couldn’t even think about treating my wounds.

‘Should I go to Richard? Or Sister Mary?’

Going to Richard probably wouldn’t yield any clear solution, and Sister Mary grew plants, not raised cats.

‘The infirmary?’

At this belatedly remembered location, I nodded. Though humans and animals are completely different, going to the infirmary seemed like the answer.

I hurriedly carried Kyle and ran toward the infirmary. In the temple’s multi-layered structure of buildings, the infirmary was located at the outermost edge, as ordinary citizens needed to visit for treatment.

When I rushed into the infirmary carrying Kyle, the priests working there jumped up in surprise.

“Goodness, Holy Maiden!”

“Holy Maiden, your hands are covered in blood!”

“No, that’s… that’s not it…”

I hadn’t come for my hands to be treated. My quarters were naturally at the innermost part of the temple, so just running all the way here made me feel like my chest would burst. The priests tilted their heads at me as I struggled to speak between gasps.

“What brings you here, Holy Maiden?”

“The cat, the cat looks like it’s dying…”

I held Kyle out to them. Their eyes widened, then they burst into laughter.

“So you brought a sick cat here. How kind of you.”

“Just a moment, I’ll take a look.”

They were clearly relieved it wasn’t me who was injured. But their reaction still grated on my nerves.

‘I’m genuinely desperate. Why is everyone laughing?’

I had run here with my heart nearly bursting from urgency, yet they were praising me for being kind.

Moreover, they passed Kyle to the youngest and lowest-ranking priest among them. Then they naturally sat back down and started conversing with me.

“We just received some high-quality chamomile tea. Would you like some, Holy Maiden?”

“…?”

Why were they so calm? Was it because he was just a cat?

While I was blinking in confusion, unable to understand, people standing outside the infirmary seemed to have overheard the priest’s words and called out loudly.

“Holy Maiden, is that you?”

“Holy Maiden! Please bestow the touch of God upon us as well.”

“Holy Maiden!”

They shook the locked door until it rattled and extended dirt-covered hands through the open windows. Despite the desperation dripping from the situation, the priests sat calmly sipping tea as if they couldn’t hear those voices.

I stared at the protruding hands with a pale face and asked in a low voice.

“…Who are those people outside?”

“Ah.”

The priest answered with a nonchalant smile.

“His Holiness instructed us not to treat them. They’re people who helped heretics.”

“…”

Heretics.

Currently, the temple branded two types of beings as heretics.

Beast-folk, and humans who helped beast-folk.

These people were clearly the latter. If they had been beast-folk, they would have broken down the infirmary doors long ago.

‘But they’re humans?’

The same humans to whom we’re supposed to show love and compassion.

Yet they’re denied treatment just for helping beast-folk?

‘I saw it at Olzen. How beast-folk lived harmoniously with humans.’

While there were regions that completely enslaved and abused beast-folk as the Pope claimed, Olzen was a place where beast-folk lived in harmony with humans. When the temple began hunting beast-folk, many people tried to stop them.

Naturally so. From their perspective, their neighbors were suddenly being hunted.

‘That’s why I deliberately took on the villain’s role. So other holy knights and priests wouldn’t step in, saying I would eliminate them all.’

And I secretly helped the beast-folk escape. I thought that was the end of it.

‘They’ve been persecuting these people all this time?’

I opened the locked infirmary door. The condition of the people outside was devastating. It was impossible to guess how many days they had been left like that.

They stared at me with hollow expressions, seemingly bewildered that the infirmary door had opened. The first to move was a child. The child grabbed the hem of my robe and said tearfully:

“I’m sorry, I’ll never help beast-folk again. Please save my father.”

Those words pierced my heart like thorns. As I silently looked at the child, one of the priests who had been drinking tea stood up and said to me:

“Um, Holy Maiden. These people aren’t worth your concern. First, we should treat your hand…”

“My wounds are nothing.”

I closed my eyes. Healing my body’s wounds was something I could do as naturally as breathing, but I needed to draw out even more holy power.

‘God, please heal everyone here.’

Somehow, I thought I heard both the deity’s laughter and a clicking tongue simultaneously. Then, a dazzling light enveloped the area outside the infirmary, like a falling star.

“Gasp!”

“Th-this…”

Everyone had only heard of my holy power, but this was their first time witnessing it. Pope Incensino had prevented me from setting foot in the infirmary, saying precious things should be displayed preciously. If someone needed my healing, they were thoroughly treated inside the temple.

‘Yet this is something I can do so easily.’

The sight of the priests collapsing in their seats after witnessing my holy power seemed ridiculous. I simply smiled faintly and said to them:

“Oh, it seems I accidentally released too much holy power.”

“Aah!”

Cheers erupted immediately afterward. People who couldn’t stand on their own feet jumped up and danced, while those whose bodies were rotting grew new flesh. Everyone bowed to me with tears in their eyes.

“Thank God! Thank you, Holy Maiden!”

“I did nothing.”

It wasn’t something for me to receive thanks or boast about. This wasn’t my power.

Instead, I firmly held the hand of the child clutching my robe and said what I wanted to say.

“And don’t regret doing good deeds.”

“Holy Maiden…”

Helping fleeing beast-folk wasn’t wrong. They shouldn’t regret their good actions because of priests who couldn’t even hear God’s voice.

At my words, the child’s parents bowed their heads.

“You truly are God’s messenger, Holy Maiden.”

“No one in this world can represent God’s will. Even I am no different from a blind person when it comes to divine providence.”

There was nothing to boast about just because I could hear the deity’s voice. That was entirely the deity’s choice.

I simply wanted to encourage their courage.

“Please use your good heart as a compass and don’t rely on others. God stands with those who are good.”

Despite my telling them not to thank me, they held my hands and bowed their heads. Then they left, rejoicing in their healed bodies.

After I waved goodbye to them:

“Holy Maiden.”

The priests were all staring at me with expressions like stiff wooden blocks. The oldest priest among them spoke to me in a frightening voice.

“Those people committed sins. They were paying for their sins. How could you, Holy Maiden, interfere with that?”

“It was a mistake.”

“A mistake? Are you saying you can display such tremendous holy power by mistake?”

“For me, it’s as easy as breathing.”

“What?!”

I calmly asked him in return:

“Brother, were you truly following God’s will just now? My God did not tell you to sit and drink tea.”

“That…”

The priest’s face turned bright red. He left these words and turned away, stomping like an elephant.

“…I will report this incident to His Holiness the Pope!”

And with that, it seemed the infirmary was closing for the day, as the other priests all left together.

Looking at the empty infirmary, I sighed.

‘I need to get Kyle treated.’

After healing the people, I remembered Kyle, whom I couldn’t heal. Just as I was looking for Kyle with an urgent expression:

“Excuse me, Holy Maiden.”

The young priest who had taken Kyle handed him back to me, along with a small medicine pouch.

“If the cat isn’t having diarrhea or vomiting, there’s no need to worry. Cats naturally have higher body temperatures than humans. From what I can see, it looks like growing pains. If he does have diarrhea, mix this medicine with his food.”

I carefully took Kyle back. Then I bowed my head.

“Thank you.”

“It’s nothing. Really nothing at all.”

The young priest added with a dark expression:

“The senior priest said earlier that heretics must pay for their sins, but those who paid donations had already received treatment.”

“I see.”

They were arbitrarily selecting people based on money. The infirmary was supposed to operate for free. Where the money went was obvious without being told.

The young priest bowed his head again and said:

“The reason I continue walking the path of living according to God’s words in the temple, despite feeling disillusioned, is because of devout people like you, Holy Maiden. Thank you.”