Adelia smiled brightly at the Emperor’s response.

“I thought you’d think that way. I was going to recommend that option too.”

“Is there a reason?”

“Haha, just because. If there’s a benefit, we should take it, right?”

When Lucian asked sharply, Adelia flinched and mumbled vaguely.

She hadn’t decided whether to reveal the state of the guild’s defensive magic.

As she tried to hide the truth and speak, her gaze kept wandering elsewhere.

She thought she might have gotten away with it, but there were red eyes making the side of her head tingle. The more she tried to avoid the gaze, the more deeply and persistently it followed her.

Finally, Adelia confessed the truth. She smiled awkwardly and began to speak.

“Haha, actually. There was an incident while I was away from the capital.”

“An incident?”

The Emperor asked, raising his eyebrows. He looked at her with furrowed brows, as if he was looking at a child who was caught making trouble. Adelia flinched at his sharp voice and persistent gaze.

Having already started speaking, she thought it wasn’t something to hide anymore and swallowed hard.

“The defensive magic barrier protecting our guild was slightly damaged.”

“Wait. What did you just say?”

Lucian frowned. At the same time, the Emperor’s face hardened.

It was natural for them to be surprised. For the past three years, they had been the ones trying harder than anyone to break through the guild’s magic barrier.

They had even brought imperial mages and tried to break the magic late at night, but failed. They had long given up after seeing that not even a scratch could be made.

But now someone had damaged that magic barrier. This meant that there was another capable person that even the Emperor wasn’t aware of.

“It’s just a small scratch. It doesn’t affect the functionality and is hardly noticeable.”

“I thought you said a white mage’s defensive magic was absolutely impenetrable.”

Adelia added an excuse to alleviate their concerns, but it only intensified the Emperor’s worry.

“Haha, I thought so too. No, it should have been.”

Adelia laughed awkwardly, but her smile couldn’t hide the bitterness.

No one was more worried than her. Her defensive magic, which she had been so proud of, had been damaged by an unknown person, causing her no small amount of concern.

Not only was her confidence wounded, but her anxiety about an unknown power also followed.

Knowing this, the Emperor and Lucian didn’t press further on the issue of the defensive magic.

“Did you catch the culprit?”

“No. If I had, I wouldn’t be worrying. I’m fretting like this because I couldn’t catch them. The guild’s magic barrier is even stronger than the imperial palace’s. I don’t know how they damaged the defensive magic, but I’m worried they might enter the imperial palace.”

“With Father and me here, who would dare enter the imperial palace?”

“Isn’t it because they’re fearless that they attacked the guild? If they were someone who understood common sense and concepts, they wouldn’t have attacked the guild.”

Adelia responded somewhat sensitively. Her faith in the imperial palace’s defense had decreased since the recent arrow incident.

At a gathering where the imperial princess and the Crown Prince’s fiancée were together, the princess was targeted, and Adelia was seriously injured. It could have been a situation where the princess might have been hurt. If the imperial palace security had been perfect, such an incident wouldn’t have happened at all.

‘Is it inevitable? Maybe it was an unavoidable fate because even a novel wouldn’t be interesting if everything was too perfect…’

In fact, even in the original story, although the imperial palace boasted the best security, there were frequent appearances of assassins. This is the world inside a novel, and novels need to show stories for the readers’ interest, so it might be an unavoidable device created for that purpose.

But regardless of that, she didn’t want new dangers to arise because of her.

“So. What are you trying to say? Surely not just to lament?”

“Of course not.”

Adelia shook her head. She tilted her head loosely and smiled.

“First…”

Adelia calmly laid out her plan. A perfect plan to protect the imperial palace and hide her identity.

* * *

A month had passed since then.

During that month, Adelia had been busy. Naturally, her top priority was finding the culprit.

Unfortunately, the recording stone installed in the guild didn’t capture any significant evidence. But as Adelia thought, the culprit visited the guild again. During the bright daytime when many people were passing by, a person in a black robe was seen loitering near the guild. They completely covered their face and body, and stayed for a very short time, making it difficult to identify them.

Although they couldn’t find the culprit, that recording stone was kept in a corner of Adelia’s office.

Not only with guild matters, but Adelia also had busy days with imperial palace affairs. She prepared a banquet to welcome the delegation and meticulously prepared their accommodations and food for their stay.

Under Adelia’s leadership, the banquet hall was decorated and new staff were assigned. An entire castle was completely reorganized to create a space where the clergy and saintess could stay.

It was a large-scale construction, but with the quick supply of materials from the Eileen Merchant Guild and low unit prices, the construction was completed without much trouble.

And finally, the day came when the delegation would enter the capital.

The crowd surrounding the delegation as they passed through the commoner’s district, the commercial district, past the nobles’ mansions, and approached the imperial palace was enormous.

“Wow! It’s the saintess!”

“It’s the saintess! Wow!”

“Please look at me just once, saintess!”

“Please bestow your blessing, saintess!”

The Holy Kingdom’s delegation was composed on an unprecedented scale.

Centered around the saintess, who was called God’s representative, ten high priests guarded her sides, and dozens of holy knights escorted the procession. All the key figures of the Holy Kingdom were present.

This was the first time the saintess had visited another country as part of a delegation. Although she had visited a few countries under the pretext of charity events, she had never traveled in such a splendid procession.

Upon entering the capital, the delegation changed to carriages prepared by the empire. The carriage with an open roof allowing the saintess to be visible, adorned with subtle patterns and decorations that didn’t look crude at all, was an even better ride than the temple’s carriage.

The red-haired woman in the middle of the carriage stood up and waved to the people. Her red hair, so vibrant it seemed to absorb all the colors around it, stood out prominently.

Her dress, similar to but different from the pure white priestly robes, had few decorations. Due to the dress that emphasized her elegant charm, her vibrant red hair and deep purple eyes appeared even more captivating.

The old priest guarding her side whispered something to her.

“Saintess, you can stop now. I’m worried you might strain yourself.”

“Don’t worry. These people came to see me. If they can find hope and joy in a single wave of my hand, I should gratefully wave to them.”

“As expected of the saintess.”

The old high priest with snow-white hair clasped his hands together and looked up at the saintess. His sparkling eyes held vitality unlike his age. The saintess, seemingly accustomed to such gazes, gave a slight smile and continued waving.

The empire’s people cheered at her benevolent appearance, continuously waving with a bright smile.

The delegation crossed the capital amidst the cheers of countless people.

“Is that really the saintess?”

Adelia, who was sitting in the highest place with her chin propped up, looking quite arrogant, gazed at the saintess.

Adelia was sitting at the top of the imperial palace, elaborately dressed from head to toe for the delegation’s welcome banquet. Her long dress fluttered in the air behind her.

Adelia had escaped here in the middle of preparing for the banquet. Using the excuse of being tired from long preparations, she sent away the maids for a moment and slipped out using invisibility magic.

While the endless preparation process was tiring and boring, her main reason was to see the saintess.

Having spent her life confined in the Count’s mansion and working in the guild office, she had only encountered information about the saintess through newspapers. Reading about her only in writing made it difficult to gauge the saintess’s actual influence.

Adelia, who didn’t believe in God, thought there would be fewer people enthusiastic about the saintess than expected, but that was a miscalculation. The streets were filled with crowds wanting to see the saintess.

Adelia, who had been closely observing the saintess, muttered.

“Rather than a saintess, she looks more like… a villainess from some novel.”

Perhaps because she was surrounded by white things, the saintess’s hair and eyes stood out even more. Every time her blood-red hair fluttered in the wind, it looked like drops of blood falling on a white canvas.

Adelia couldn’t take her eyes off the saintess. She wondered if she really was a transmigrator.

That fact occupied Adelia’s mind more than the banquet that would be held today.

While Adelia was watching the saintess, the crowd welcoming the delegation didn’t diminish. Rather, it grew to the point where controlling it became difficult.

“The saintess is already a god. If it’s revealed she’s fake, the aftermath will be bigger than expected.”

Adelia once again felt the faith of this place. In this world where a definite god existed, the existence of a saintess was more important than she had thought.

People sought God when farming was difficult, when plagues spread, and when they were sick. The existence of a definite god became people’s spiritual refuge.

A fake saintess who claimed to be one in such a place. Feeling somewhat complicated, she frowned.

Adelia watched the saintess for a long time with a sunken face before returning to the palace.