Despite everything that had happened. Too many things, in fact…

Merrien nodded with conviction.

Charlotte seemed about to say more when Forcite suddenly interrupted.

“If you place your hands on the heart while healing, it should improve quite quickly. That’s all there is to it.”

“…?”

Despite rudely interrupting, Forcite’s voice was trembling slightly.

Merrien tilted her head and glanced at him. He seemed somewhat restless.

Charlotte paused with her mouth slightly open, then smiled softly.

“We Saints have things to discuss, so I apologize, but would you give us some privacy, Your Highness?”

“….”

Her voice was so gentle that Merrien thought if it had been directed at her, she would have been enchanted and jumped right up to leave.

But Forcite, displeased about something, just squinted one eye and didn’t even answer.

“I’ll keep my promise. You know how much I’ve wanted to meet Saint Merrien.”

“…Fine.”

After exchanging these cryptic words, Forcite finally stood up.

Even as he headed out, he couldn’t take his eyes off Merrien until the very end.

Once he was completely gone, Charlotte drew the curtains tight, leaned close to Merrien, and whispered very quietly.

“If a Saint joins bodies with a patient, they can cure even fatal illnesses.”

“…I beg your pardon?”

If she had been drinking tea, she would have spat it out.

Merrien’s face turned completely pale. As if expecting this reaction, Charlotte moved even closer.

“The Second Prince asked me never to tell you this.”

Then, glancing at the terrace curtains, she lowered her voice even more carefully.

“Actually, when I arrived here, the Second Prince’s condition was very poor. I can’t give you the details, but I joined bodies with His Highness and realized that an enormous amount of Holy Power instantly healed his body.”

“…!”

‘Is it okay to talk about this so casually?’

…Female lead, aren’t we meeting for the first time today?

Merrien forcibly restrained her hand that almost covered her mouth. Charlotte’s expression was too serious to be joking.

Perhaps…

‘Is this an assertion of dominance?’

Merrien’s throat bobbed heavily at the conclusion she reached after rolling her eyes around.

It might be a silent declaration that Forcite was hers and not to covet him.

Merrien, who until just moments ago had insisted such a Saint couldn’t possibly be in league with Forcite, quickly changed her attitude.

“W-why are you telling me this?”

Her gaze was full of suspicion and wariness.

Then Charlotte, who had been confident until now, not only avoided her gaze but even lowered her head.

“…After that, I informed the empire’s temples that healing power increases when making physical contact to infuse Holy Power. The intention was to place hands on the heart to heal. But for some reason…”

Her voice gradually became quieter, quite unlike someone who had been boldly sharing potentially embarrassing information with a stranger.

With tears welling up in her eyes, her mumbled words became inaudible. Merrien leaned in closer to hear.

“Strange rumors kept spreading about Saint Merrien and Duke Hartez joining bodies…”

‘Ah, so that’s it!’

Merrien snapped her fingers as everything finally made sense.

If Charlotte’s words were all true, it was understandable why everyone found it strange.

‘So that’s what Count Montina was shouting about, and why the nobles were murmuring about physical contact.’

Charlotte must have wanted to meet Merrien, feeling responsible for all this.

The previously stuck gears suddenly began turning perfectly in sync.

Then when Ariel collapsed, it made sense why everyone was puzzled when she didn’t touch Ariel’s body at all and only infused Holy Power.

‘So was that why Ariel pretended to collapse?’

…Did he plan all this by himself?

When her thoughts reached this point, rather than being impressed by Ariel’s thoroughness, she felt hurt.

‘He could have told me beforehand.’

It felt like they had become complete strangers.

While she had come to the banquet hall determined to face things head-on without even knowing what the rumors were, Ariel had known everything already.

Merrien’s expression darkened considerably. Charlotte, thinking it was because of her, quickly raised her head.

“I’m so sorry, Saint Merrien! Because of me, you got caught up in these unsavory rumors…”

Her eyes, which had only been moist before, were now filled with tears, and even her voice was wet with emotion.

“Ah, no. Really, it’s fine!”

Merrien hurriedly replied while firmly grasping her hands.

She had seen how Charlotte had wanted to take her hands first but couldn’t bring herself to do it and had placed them under the table instead.

Charlotte had only spread the healing method for the empire’s sake. She clearly hadn’t thought it would cause any harm to Merrien and Ariel.

“The people who spread strange rumors are the ones at fault. What did Saint Charlotte do wrong?”

‘Actually, I already knew a little bit. Though I had no idea that joining bodies would be the direct solution.’

Charlotte, who had been staring at her suddenly grasped hands with trembling eyes, slowly raised her head.

Soon, before her eyes was the most brilliant and holy Saint she had ever seen in her life.

After staring blankly at the orange eyes before her for a while, Charlotte slowly moved her lips.

“From now on, I’ll work hard to make sure there are no more bad rumors about you. If it’s not too presumptuous, could we become friends?”

“Of course!”

That’s exactly what I wanted.

I wanted to ask about using Holy Power too, and become friends.

This was an invaluable opportunity for Merrien.

“Then… may I call you Merrien?”

“Of course, Charlotte.”

Charlotte smiled brightly, still holding Merrien’s hand.

Merrien, who had only ever encountered malicious noble ladies at the temple, was struck speechless.

‘This is a real Saint. A perfect female lead.’

Fortunately, she didn’t voice her admiration out loud.

As it was already getting dark, the two quickly wrapped up their conversation and pulled back the terrace curtains, and immediately someone fell into step behind Merrien.

“…Did Charlotte say anything strange?”

Ah, how persistent.

Forcite, who must have been waiting all this time, asked in an anxious voice.

Merrien turned around briefly to look at him.

Thanks to the thick curtains, he apparently hadn’t heard anything and looked very curious.

‘To think I’d be using the same act of playing innocent that I’ve seen Ariel do.’

She blinked her eyes as if hearing this for the first time and looked at him in confusion.

“What do you mean?”

“…No, nothing.”

The act had clearly worked.

After staring intently at Merrien for a moment, Forcite turned abruptly and headed toward Charlotte, who was waiting in the distance.

‘If it were Ariel, he would have immediately known I was lying.’

Hmph-. After secretly letting out a breath through her nose, Merrien waved goodbye to Charlotte and quickly moved her feet.

Ariel must have been waiting for her for a long time.

The outing had taken too long. If she didn’t return quickly, it might be six in the evening.

Merrien ran hurriedly, not even noticing her heels getting scraped by her high-heeled shoes.

Fortunately, House Hartez’s carriage was still waiting for her.

“Huff, huff…”

Finally.

When she opened the carriage door, Ariel would be there.

‘I wonder what Ariel will say. Will he scold me for being so late? More importantly, I should ask him why he planned all this without telling me.’

As she caught her breath and made her resolution, Merrien opened the carriage door and called out loudly.

“Ariel!”

However, the moment she met those blue eyes looking down at her, with his arm resting on the window frame and chin propped up, she forgot everything she had been thinking about just moments ago.