“Saintesses… don’t necessarily have silver hair.”

Then it didn’t make sense for Sierra to be a saintess. It was clearly written that Sierra had luscious pink hair.

“Of course not. Saintesses always come from the imperial family. They are descendants of a goddess.”

So Sierra was from the imperial family? That couldn’t be right. Then she wouldn’t end up with Aaron, the protagonist. Besides not having silver hair and purple eyes, Sierra was of common birth. Once Sierra manifested her powers as a saintess, Count Blanche adopted her.

But saintesses always coming from the imperial family…

She couldn’t comprehend what Marchioness Valerian had said after thinking for a long time. The situation settled down with criticism from surrounding ladies, but Amelia was still in shock. What did that mean? Wasn’t this the world she had read about in books?

Sierra is definitely a saintess, but… without that, the story wouldn’t have progressed. Or, was that book even correct to begin with? That wasn’t the only suspicious point. <The Woman of the Sun> was an extremely biased book. To put it nicely, it wasn’t kind.

It was as if everything about the imperial family and the goddess had been carved out, deliberately favoring someone.

“Is what you said true?”

“…It’s not entirely that.”

“It must have been an unchanging truth for at least 700 years.”

Emila’s inability to respond to her words was proof. She realized why people reluctantly treated her well. It wasn’t just because she and Raphael got along. It was because she might be a saintess. They thought she might be a hidden member of the imperial family.

But the new saintess wasn’t her; it was Sierra. That was an unchanging truth.

“Don’t worry too much about it.”

In the end, she realized once again that Emila was under Raphael’s command. She tried to comfort her but hid the truth.

Could the law that hasn’t changed for 700 years change starting from Sierra? Maybe because she was the female protagonist, she could avoid it. But the nobles’ reaction was subtly mocking the emperor for not having a saintess. This meant the existence of a saintess was quite important…

“Sierra was an important existence.”

She thought it was simply because Sierra was Aaron’s counterpart. But was it not just that, but rather the role of the saintess itself that was important? Now she started to doubt whether Aaron truly loved Sierra.

“Um…”

A small voice as if crawling in. Even coming from underneath the dress, it was Aaron, with shiny silver hair and purple eyes, resembling her.

“Grand Duchess.”

“Third Prince?”

“I came to greet you since today is the last day of the founding festival banquet.”

Amelia couldn’t hide her awkward smile at his shy expression. Why is he showing such a reaction to her? Obviously, she doesn’t like Aaron. Remembering the humiliation Leonel suffered because of Aaron made her furious inside.

But why does the Aaron in front of her seem to be showing her kindness? With a look full of expectation. Was it because she met Aaron differently from the original work?

“I see.”

If Aaron is here, then Leonel might be nearby…

“So…”

“Leonel!”

She shouted at the sight of blond hair not too far away. She wanted to hug Leonel quickly due to an inexplicable anxiety and heal.

“Do you have something to tell me?”

“Oh, no… Nothing.”

Even if the other party was showing kindness towards her, she had no interest. It was fortunate enough that no malice developed.

***

The original work wasn’t entirely true. Precisely, many things were omitted. And because of her attitude, many things changed. Like Leonel’s brighter personality…

“…Or Raphael.”

The biggest problem was Raphael’s change. Amelia was hiding in her room today as well, avoiding him. It was fine until the founding festival party ended. She thought his interest in her would fade a bit after the party.

“It’s far from fading… Rather, it seems to have flared up more.”

This could disrupt the plan. She needed to meet with the Master but also had to find out about the saintess. The people here hide a lot from her. The priest coming for treatment also keeps his mouth shut and doesn’t tell her anything.

Despite pouring out questions, they pretend not to know with troubled faces, time and again.

“Do I have to go to the temple directly?”

But there was no temple in the Siegfried territory. It was puzzling why there were temples almost everywhere else but not in Siegfried. Because of this, to go to a temple, one had to move to a neighboring territory. The priests were going through this trouble every day.

All because of one order from Raphael. She couldn’t help but be amazed at his influence reaching even to the temples. Was it true that saintesses only come from descendants of the real goddess in the imperial family? This was very important for Leonel’s life later on.

“I wish someone would tell me clearly.”

Everyone kept their mouths shut as if they had agreed upon it. Amelia wasn’t unaware of what this implied. It was telling her to get information directly from him. It was a behavior typical of Raphael.

“Why… Why are you suddenly so obsessed with me?”

When she first came here, she thought everything would be smooth if she just avoided him. She doesn’t even have the slight intention to go to him as Raphael wanted.

If she couldn’t get information from inside, then going outside would work. There wasn’t yet a reason to stop her from going out.

Ding-dong.

“Did you call for me? Do you need anything?”

“Could you call Leonel for me?”

Going out with Leonel would reduce suspicions. Not that there wasn’t anything she wanted to check…

“Mom!”

The sight of the child running towards her as though he was waiting for her call made Amelia smile softly. To think she would suspect such a child… Even while saying it, she considered it an absurd story…

<The Woman of the Sun> seemed to be written in favor of Leonel. Not just because the story unfolds from Leonel’s perspective. The book itself seemed to hide a lot of content to protect Leonel.

“You called for me.”

“Is your class over?”

“Yes!”

Facing Leonel directly, she realized how absurd her theory was. What would this child know? Moreover, how could he know about a book that hides content in his favor?

It seems she has cornered herself. To doubt Leonel of all people… The moment she looked into his innocent brown eyes, she felt guilty.

“I’m going out with mom today…”

The child’s bright eyes made her bow her head involuntarily. It felt as if she was being made aware of her own sins.

“I’m fine with anywhere.”

“Do you know where I plan to go?”

Amelia spread out a map with a drained face. The first thing she did in case she needed to run away was collecting maps. Maps of the Khalid Empire, other empires and kingdoms, and even a world map were collected in a bundle.

“Do you have a place you want to go?”

“Huh?”

“A place you want to live that isn’t Siegfried territory.”

She wasn’t just wasting time every day. She looked at the map to figure out where to escape and checked the escape routes.

“I haven’t thought about that…”

“Is that so? Then pick any place.”

She planned to prioritize the area if Leonel wanted a specific region.

“Here.”

After confirming the place Leonel pointed to with his finger, Amelia quickly organized the map into a deeper section. Then, she took out two hidden robes, one for adults and one for children. They were luxurious robes for her and Leonel to wear in case of emergency, very expensive clothes with cleanliness magic cast on them.

“Mother…?”

“Hurry and put it on.”

Leonel seemed perplexed but quickly put on the robe at her urging.

“Can we secretly escape the castle?”

“Yes.”

This was an idea she got when Leonel mentioned that the maids couldn’t hear their conversation. If they could disguise their appearance, they could also escape. As expected, the maids acted as if they couldn’t see her and Leonel.

“Shall we wait for the carriage then?”

The carriage with the Siegfried family’s crest was too conspicuous. Amelia called for a hired carriage and then turned around to explain to the startled Leonel.

“Uh, Mother…”

She caught sight of Leonel being grabbed by someone.

“It seems like a cozy outing between mother and son.”