It was unlikely that Adelia would have made it impossible for herself to open, so it was more reasonable to think that the magic was rejecting her. Decisively, the engraved magic circle glowed brightly, indicating that it was functioning correctly.

Honestly, she could easily break such a shoddy magic circle. It was a magic circle that would disappear with just a flick of her hand, but Adelia couldn’t do anything.

“It can’t be helped. I can’t damage a keepsake left by Adelia’s mother.”

She stood up and walked towards a drawer set up in one corner of the room. Opening the top drawer revealed neatly arranged handkerchiefs of various colors. She took out the most luxurious sky-blue handkerchief and returned to her seat.

Adelia carefully wrapped the notebook with the handkerchief.

Even if she couldn’t open it, how could she treat it carelessly or throw it away? She felt she should keep it preciously, even if it meant burying it with her when she died.

“Maybe someday I’ll be able to open it.”

Adelia put it in the drawer, hoping for that day in the future. She hid it deep in the bottommost drawer, where human hands rarely reach, in a place where not even a ray of light enters.

After closing the drawer and returning to her seat, Adelia rubbed her face and grumbled.

“The Count’s mansion just had to do renovations and discover something like this.”

Having seen her birth mother’s notebook on a busy morning made everything feel distant, as if dark clouds had settled over her head.

Whether the path she was walking, the choices she had made, the method of revenge she had chosen were right. As self-doubt swept over her, guilt surged.

“Should I at least find out about Adelia’s last moments? If I knew even a little about why I entered this body, I wouldn’t be this confused.”

She wanted to know the truth. Whether she entered this body after Adelia died, or if she had stolen Adelia’s body.

If it was the former, it would ease her conscience, and if it was the latter, she would live atoning for her sins, considering herself a criminal.

The current uncertain speculation, being neither here nor there, only intensified her anxiety and guilt.

“How can I find out when it’s not even in Adelia’s memories?”

Adelia let out a deep sigh.

Where could she find out memories that even the person involved doesn’t know? In this situation without answers, she could only sigh deeply.

She propped her chin and muttered while staring into space.

“Should I ask Kai? Or maybe the holy sword? They’ve both lived long, so they might know something.”

It couldn’t be easy to find memories removed from the body. It was a situation where she couldn’t even be sure if it existed in this world.

If there was any possibility, it would be with the non-human guardian of light and the holy sword.

Adelia, who had been lowering her eyes and holding a sorrowful gaze, slapped both her cheeks.

“First, I need to deal with the saintess. I need to find evidence that she’s a fake saintess to prepare.”

Adelia was clear about public and private matters. Worries were worries, and work was work. It wasn’t a trivial emotion, but she absolutely hated postponing work because of personal problems.

She pulled towards her the book that Gina had brought earlier.

Taking a deep breath to organize her thoughts, she opened the book. She soon became immersed in the book with a serious face. Adelia, who had been quietly reading, softly muttered a passage from the book.

“Jet, the God of Creation. Depicted holding a pen in one hand and a square book in the other, he is the creator of the world. The God of Creation, I wonder if the person who created this world is the author.”

Adelia made a small joke and chuckled, gradually lightening her mood.

She showed quite a lot of interest while reading the book. From information about the Holy Kingdom that was unknown in the original story to information about the saintess. New knowledge overflowed.

Adelia continued reading the book. Even as the number of pages decreased, her reading speed didn’t slow down. Rather, it gradually increased until she finally reached the last page.

“And so, the saintess appeared at a time no one predicted. When the time comes, the saintess will reveal herself.”

With this last sentence, Adelia closed the book. After sitting still for hours, calmly moving her eyes, life returned to her face.

“My thoughts were correct. As expected, the saintess is fake. There’s no way she could be a real saintess.”

Adelia’s eyes curved into crescents as she raised the corners of her mouth. She reopened the book she had closed. What she was looking for was a paragraph at the very beginning of the book.

Tapping one corner of the book with her hand, she looked truly delighted.

[The power of the saintess was different from holy power. The silver power overflowing with warm energy was so sacred that it often created an illusion of appearing golden. The holy power of the clergy could not heal the noble body of the saintess, and no worldly object could inflict even a single wound on the saintess’s body. Ah, how else could this be explained if not for her being the saintess.]

This sentence, heralding the appearance of the saintess at the beginning of the book, was exactly the evidence Adelia was looking for. A fanatical record that revered the saintess as almost godlike.

She smiled cynically and tapped that passage.

“The warm golden aura is a characteristic of white magic. And the inability to be healed by holy power, as well as not being wounded, are all exactly the same as a white mage.”

The reason she suspected the saintess was fake was none other than her own power. This power she had directly obtained was too powerful to be human, yet too human to be divine.

White magic was extraordinary from the very method of obtaining it. While holy power and magic are determined at birth, white magic had to be personally acquired from start to finish. One had to discover the location, learn the incantation to awaken the guardian of light, and only after receiving permission could one finally obtain the power. There was a reason why an owner was determined only every few hundred years.

Adelia muttered while tapping the table.

“I’ve always thought it was strange. It was clearly so when I first met Kai.”

—So that’s what they call it nowadays, white magic. But white magic isn’t all-powerful. It’s not divine either.

From the beginning, Kai referred to white magic as ‘that power’, ‘the power of light’. He seemed to know the name white magic as well, but spoke as if there were other names for it.

If the guardian of light called it that, it was clear that this power either had no name or had a name unknown to people.

The name white magic was given by the people. Since it wasn’t a power originating from humans, the name given by humans was merely an alias.

“The incantation is the same. The source of all power. The ability inherited from the most powerful light. But there was no mention of it being magic. So how do we know if this power is magic, holy power, or something else?”

—I seek the origin of all power and the ability to harness the most powerful force of light.

This was the incantation to call the guardian of light, which the villain had discovered with difficulty but Adelia had stolen.

At that time, she thought such an incantation existed because white magic was more powerful than any other power, but now she knows that’s not the case.

While white magic excels in defense and healing, people believed this power to be magic because it could freely control all types of magic. Although it possesses the healing characteristic of holy power, this power wasn’t seen as holy power because it used more magic than that.

“It has the healing power of holy power, can use magic, and can perform purification that neither of those two abilities can do. It’s not a power that can be defined as just one thing.”

From Adelia’s experience, white magic was a power superior to even a mix of those two abilities.

As if white magic wasn’t a power existing between holy power and magic.

“As if holy power and magic were derived from white magic.”

The idea that holy power and magic have the same origin might make the clergy jump up and down crying blasphemy, but to Adelia, it seemed the most reasonable assumption.

She pondered, rubbing her chin with her hand.

“Still, what bothers me most is the phrase ‘source of all power’.”

In this world where gods exist, the source of everything was God. Therefore, the source of all power should naturally be God.

“If the source of all power is the most powerful light, and the source of all power is God, then white magic would be an ability inherited from God’s power.”

If so, it was clear that white magic was indeed a higher ability than magic and holy power.

Having reached this point in her thoughts, Adelia let out a deflating sound and leaned back comfortably against the chair.

“Well, whether it’s true or not, how would I know? I’m not a god.”

Only God knew the truth. No matter how much she, a mere human, racked her brains, the answer wouldn’t come.

If she thought any deeper, she was on the verge of uncovering all the secrets of the world. It was the chronic nature of mages to pursue the truth.

Fortunately, Adelia was closer to a merchant than a mage. A merchant who values efficiency and profit over truth.

What was most important and necessary for her now was the fact that the saintess was fake.