“Ah, yes. It would be an honor. But we arrived quite late today, I hope we’re not taking up your rest time unnecessarily……”

“Not at all. We’re grateful just for your visit, so please don’t hesitate.”

The high priest showed a warm smile and gestured towards the inside of the cathedral.

The chapel where tomorrow’s consecration would take place, a prayer room for believers who wished to pray alone, a confessional where confessions are held, simple accommodations created for pilgrims to rest…… After touring several places that are also found in the capital’s grand temple.

“This ceiling painting was done by High Priest Geniel who received a great blessing in art around the first century of the continental calendar.”

“The painting that fills this wall is about the size of twenty 100th-size panels put together, known to be painted by Gusteo, a representative painter of the third century, who received a revelation from the Lord in his dream and painted it over 100 days.”

“This wooden statue was carved from a tree struck by lightning when the Lord punished ancient people long ago……”

Fitting for the cathedral of the holy kingdom, we admired religious art pieces filled from the corridor behind the chapel up to the exhibition hall.

“This relic is a jade disk that is said to have absorbed light from heaven when Yeniella, the first saint, received the Lord’s call and ascended from this world leaving her physical body behind.”

“This oil bottle was used when Noel, the first priest of what would become the holy kingdom’s ancient temple, was appointed. It has been used generation after generation and even after the establishment of the holy kingdom during papal inaugurations.”

“This is one of the wheels decorated on Mysiel’s statue among the Eleven Apostles in the Room of Oracles; about twenty-some years ago it suddenly turned black as if burnt by fire. We kept it thinking there must be a will of the Lord.”

We were even guided to the treasury where relics sharing history with the order were stored. Initially we just joined the tour with a light heart, but as we went on, we received increasingly grand hospitality.

“Would you like to visit the Room of Oracles? It’s where Brother Mishael will spend tonight.”

“The Room of Oracles? Would it be alright for me to go there?”

“What secrets could there be for such an honored guest as yourself.”

The honored one isn’t me…… but Mishael……

It seemed like a sore point for the holy kingdom that they let Mishael go. Since he gave up becoming a priest because of me, they wanted to maintain a good relationship with him through me as much as possible.

‘At this rate, I might even meet the Pope? Mishael wouldn’t like me getting too involved like this……’

Worried about whether it would be alright to accept this offer, I glanced at Mishael just in time.

“Uh, over there!”

“Brother Mishael!”

“Ah……”

Suddenly hearing someone call out to Mishael, I looked over to see a woman with curly hair and round glasses and a man whose faint freckles across his nose gave him a mischievous look looking this way. They were dressed similarly to Mishael but in black, indicating their priestly status. On closer inspection, they appeared to be around our age……

“Who are they?”

“They’re my classmates from my days as a novitiate.”

“Oh, is that so?”

Those who had spent six years together with him in the monastery deserved special attention. While Mishael waited for me to introduce them, he straightened his attire.

Mishael glanced briefly at the priests and the high priest then bent his waist as if to block the space between them and me and smiled broadly.

“Lily, do you want to wander around alone?”

“Huh?”

“I want to catch up with some old classmates for a bit……. I’ll be fasting from this evening until the sacrament tomorrow, so I don’t think I’ll have any spare time. I can just visit the sanctuary later on my own.”

“Oh, sure, then.”

“Thank you for understanding.”

Mishael firmly grasped my hand, then let go and bowed politely towards the high priest.

“Your Eminence, I kindly ask for your care.”

“Of course.”

With that, he left behind the warm smile of the high priest and sauntered off towards the priests.

Huh, isn’t he going to introduce me to his friends……?

And……. shouldn’t he have asked the high priest for permission to leave, not me?

Thinking this, I felt bewildered when I sensed the high priest moving. She seemed quite accustomed to this, showing no hesitation at all. Is the order more relaxed about hierarchy than I thought?

“Sister, shall we go then?”

“Ah, yes.”

I found myself following the high priest down the stairs to the underground sanctuary in a daze. It seemed like I could hear a loud bang against the wall and voices saying ‘Hey, are you mad?’ ‘Sorry, for calling your name without permission…….’ But as we turned a corner at the stair landing, the sounds faded away.

After passing about five flights of stairs, a flat corridor appeared. Despite its length stretching far enough that the opposite end seemed like a small light, we finally reached the end of the corridor blocked by a translucent barrier.

“Just a moment.”

The high priest asked for my patience and then reached out to touch the barrier. As she closed her eyes and murmured something like a prayer, the translucent barrier vanished in a flash of light.

“Wow…….”

I was momentarily stunned by the mystical sight of the barrier being unlocked with holy power. Soon, a vast space opened up before my eyes. The ceiling was endlessly high, and the space seemed even wider than the great chapel.

Despite being an enclosed underground space, the area, designed like a tall dome, felt as open as outdoors. Appropriate to its name as the sanctuary, in the center stood a high round table on ancient-style pillars as legs, with an open book four times the size of a regular one on it.

And hanging around the dome ceiling were statues of the 11 Apostles. All of them looked down at the round table below, giving a sense that one couldn’t escape their gaze once inside this room.

“Wow…….”

How these massive statues were fixed to the ceiling and how such a vast space was created underground were beyond my imagination. The majesty of this place left me unable to close my mouth properly.

Moreover, despite appearing to be an enclosed space, the air wasn’t stuffy at all. I tried looking for any gaps that might lead outside, but aside from where tiles interlocked, it was hard to find even a crack in this pristine white marble space.

‘I’m not sure how Mishael is supposed to spend the night here…….’

Then, while I was freely admiring everything, the high priest slowly approached me.

“Do you see the statue of Mysiel over there? One of his wheels is missing.”

“……Ah, yes!”

“The wheel you saw earlier has fallen on top of the altar, we believe it to be divine will.”

“……I see.”

It was curious. The Apostle Mysiel, who oversees time and is surrounded by wheels of various sizes like a halo behind him, and the altar were quite far apart. Could such miraculous events happen so easily in this mystical space?

“Shall I show you something interesting?”

With those words, the high priest spread her arms wide, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath, inflating her chest. Then a faint light began to gather around her entire body…….

“……Wow.”

The wall decorations weren’t just ordinary marble; each tile began to flicker and sparkle uniquely.

“Is it reacting to holy power……?”

“Yes. Only when all high priests gather during the sacrament seeking divine guidance does light shine brightly here. By myself, it’s merely a trick…….”

To call infusing the sacred space with holy power a ‘trick’ seemed like a joke. I couldn’t quite respond immediately when she said that.

“If someone with as great holy power as Brother Mishael were here, they could illuminate this place alone.”

“Wow…….”

“The space may be fully lit, but any oracle given still follows divine will.”

The marvel displayed by the high priest was impressive enough, but to think Mishael could perform even greater miracles made me truly realize his power anew.

‘I was worried about him having to spend the night here……. But it seems like if it’s Mishael, it’ll be fine.’

Perhaps because of the sacred atmosphere that the high priest had immersed us in, I too felt filled with a solemn spirit. Despite being in an unfamiliar place and sleeping alone for the first time in months tonight, I felt at ease.

When the high priest and I returned to the surface, Mishael was waiting for us along with the two priests.

“Lily. Did you have a good look around? Weren’t you scared?”

“Yeah, no. Scary? Didn’t you say you hadn’t been there either?”

“……Ah, right. Maybe it’s because I’ve heard so much about it being a mystical space since my days as a novitiate.”

As soon as Mishael saw me, he quickly approached and examined my face and body, seemingly checking for any harm, oblivious to the high priest standing right next to us.

……Is it because he’s been serving me as his master for so long?

While I endured my embarrassment, Mishael finished checking and casually waved over the two priests he called classmates. They rushed over with considerably stiff expressions. They were quite well-disciplined friends.

“Lily. While I’m away today, I’ve specially asked my classmates to take good care of you.”

When Mishael said this with a short gesture, the two people hurriedly bowed their heads. The priests’ reverence was so excessively restrained that it was difficult to find…

“Ah, hello, I’m Anton, who lived in the monastery with your fiancé.”

“I’m Lena. We will be serving you tonight, Sister.”

“Oh, no. I mean… you can treat me casually…”

“Lily.”

As I was flustered by their excessive politeness and tried to gesture with my hand, Mishael gently wrapped his hand around mine.

“Though it’s only for today and tomorrow, I’m staying here as an honorary priest. Even though they are my classmates, they are just low-level priests now.”

“Yes, that’s right…! We are just low-level priests!”

“Brother Mishael… Ah, no, it’s an honor to serve the fiancée of the honorary priest!”

…I couldn’t tell why the priest named Lena slapped her mouth so hard, but I was overwhelmed by the momentum of the two priests and found myself nodding involuntarily.

‘Seeing them act like this even in front of the high priest, is this the usual etiquette of the holy kingdom…?’

Unaware of the high priest shaking his head behind me, I could only gaze at Mishael, who was smiling reassuringly at me.

“So please have a good dinner and rest well without me, and see you tomorrow.”

“…Yeah, okay. The Room of Oracles, it’s a very sacred place. Since you’re still needed by the holy kingdom, do your best while you’re here.”

“Got it.”

After saying that, Mishael, keeping his gaze fixed on me, pulled my hand towards him and left a kiss on the tip of my fingers. He restrained himself to that extent because we were in a temple, but in his red eyes that didn’t stray from me, there was a passion burning that only I could recognize… like our nights… like this morning, and like in the carriage ride to the holy kingdom…

Perhaps naturally reaching that thought made my cheeks slightly warm. Noticing what I was thinking, Mishael laughed in pain and slightly furrowed his brow.

“You two.”

With a call colder than his expression, the two priests tensed up immediately.

“Though she’s a layperson, she’s a guest of honor to the order and my benefactor. So you must serve her without any negligence.”

“We’ll take care of it…!”

“Don’t worry!”

“So, Lily.”

After giving a stern command to his old classmates with a harsh tone, Mishael then softened his gaze and smiled prettily.

“If you find anything uncomfortable, tell them. And if it’s not resolved… tell me tomorrow.”

“That won’t happen!”

“It won’t!”

“Can I trust you, friends?”

Mishael said this and glanced at them, and the two again shuddered greatly and stiffened their bodies.

‘…Anyone would think Mishael was glaring at them.’

Is it because of his position as an honorary priest? Thinking about the look he gives me, it seems like he could never get angry in his life.

Mishael was really kind. Not just to me but also to the servants, all of whom followed him well. It was a good thing. After we get married and I formally inherit the title, Mishael will take good care of our home.

‘He would look cool with charisma too…’

But no matter how much I imagine it, it doesn’t seem like my Mishael. Maybe the Cardinal Mishael from ‘Wildflowers’, or perhaps the Cardinal Mishael from my dreams…

Speaking of which.

‘…Will I dream about that tonight?’