Even before, the worship ceremony held once every ten days was so crowded with nearly 1,000 attendees that there was barely room to stand. But after rumors of the saint performing a miracle spread throughout the imperial capital, several times that number of people squeezed into the already insufficient space to see the saint.

The ceremony could hardly proceed properly, and some people even caused disturbances by suddenly calling out desperately to the Saint during the ceremony, only to be dragged out by several priests. Even after the ceremony schedule changed from once every ten days to once every five days, the situation remained unchanged.

When Snow began to recite the prayer at the end of the ceremony, the commotion would grow worse. Some would cry out incomprehensibly in ecstasy before collapsing. Despite needing to recite the prayer with reverence, Snow found it impossible to concentrate with people calling out to her from all directions.

Though she had been nervous during her coming-of-age ceremony, the atmosphere hadn’t been this chaotic and noisy. If she were truly “Saint Bernadette,” she would have completed the ceremony with compassion regardless of any disturbance, but Snow could only imitate that. So after each ceremony, she would return to the Santarium half-exhausted.

She had resolved to embrace and comfort the sick and suffering, but it wasn’t as easy as she had thought. There were numerous obstacles of a completely different kind than the difficulties Snow had prepared herself to overcome.

Snow truly didn’t know what to say to people who shouted, “Saint, please perform just one more miracle!” during the solemn ceremony.

But in truth, there was another reason that made the increasingly tired Snow even more dispirited.

‘El. Why aren’t you coming?’

Today marked exactly two weeks since she had last met El. Snow planned to complain a lot when she saw El. Just as she had poured out all her difficult emotions during her coming-of-age ceremony, this time too she wanted to find comfort for her tired heart in those deep, warm black eyes and that gentle smile. She intended to pour out everything to him that she couldn’t fully confide in motherly Arianne or her mentor Ceres.

But El didn’t come after a week, or even after several more days. Whether he knew or not that Snow was waiting for him day and night, almost on the verge of melting away completely, he remained heartlessly absent.

Of course, around that time, the first prince of the imperial palace, Elios Riman Akelan, was experiencing near-withdrawal symptoms of hysteria from not being able to see Snow.

“Haah.”

Snow sighed once more and flopped onto the bed. Then she buried her face in the feather-filled pillow and began pounding it with both fists. Arianne, who had never seen Snow behave like this since she was a child, was startled by her sudden action and said:

“My, Snow. If it’s that difficult, why don’t you rest a bit? Wouldn’t it be alright to attend the worship ceremony only once every two or three times?”

Snow rubbed her face against the soft pillow.

“No, it’s fine. If I give up on this too, I’ll really be disappointed in myself.”

Snow mumbled, her voice half-muffled by the pillow.

‘Yes. It’s still okay. I can endure a bit more. The weather too… it’s still okay.’

If things truly become unbearable, she would be the first to know. She would try to endure a bit longer, and if it became truly impossible, she would tell Ceres then.

‘If only El would come, everything would be fine…’

At this thought that came unbidden, Snow’s delicate brow furrowed sharply. Surprised by her own sudden irritation, she shook her head vigorously. Her face bounced up from the springy pillow. Snow tried to calm herself with deep breaths as she always did when she became heated. Or rather, she tried, but it didn’t work well.

What if El never comes?

‘Ah, that can’t be!’

Snow dropped the pillow she had been hugging. Huff, huff, her breathing quickened. Snow’s complexion turned pale.

Arianne immediately looked out the window at Snow’s another sudden action. She didn’t immediately notice anything unusual in the scene outside. However, it didn’t take long for her to realize something was amiss.

‘Oh my goodness.’ Arianne’s mouth fell open.

The sleet that had been swirling in the air was frozen in place, as if time had stopped.

Arianne opened and closed her mouth like a catfish for a moment before coming to her senses and rushing to Snow with a horrified expression. Though she didn’t understand why Snow had become like this, her mind was filled with the thought that she needed to calm her down.

“Snow! Calm down! Calm down!”

Arianne, who seemed less calm than Snow herself, tried to soothe her by rubbing her back and embracing her tightly as she often did when Snow was a baby. Snow’s breathing returned to normal. And then.

Hiccup.

She began to hiccup. Hiccup, hiccup, Snow hiccupped with her eyes wide open. Arianne sighed in relief as she saw the snow starting to fall normally again. Since it had happened in the blink of an eye, she could only hope that people hadn’t noticed. Or if they had, that they would think they had just seen things.

Arianne declared to Snow in a solemn voice:

“This won’t do. You really need to rest. No matter how important it is to participate in the worship ceremony, it can’t be more important than your condition. I’ll speak to Ceres about it.”

Snow could only continue hiccupping without saying anything in response.

‘El wouldn’t just not come. El is my friend.’ That’s what she thought.

But Snow’s expectations were completely off the mark. Another week passed, and El still didn’t come.

Snow finally decided to go look for “El Callisto” herself.

♣ ♣ ♣

When it comes to matters of nobility, a priest from a noble background would know best. With this thought, Snow wondered which priest had been a noble before devoting themselves to the divine. Of course, there was High Priest Verdus, but given the recent events involving him, she felt a bit uncomfortable. She needed to find someone else.

She didn’t need to think long. Snow thought of High Priest Patrick. She had heard he was born into a promising count’s family and had devoted himself to the divine in his late teens.

Amir’s priests don’t completely sever their worldly connections after becoming priests. Of course, they absolutely cannot receive material help such as money or jewels from people of the secular world, but they maintain some spiritual connection. Therefore, High Priest Patrick, who was born and raised in a count’s family, might know quite a bit.

‘He might know something about El.’

Snow thought.

“You want me to tell you about the prominent noble factions in the capital, is that right?”

High Priest Patrick asked, somewhat puzzled.

“Yes. Since I’ll be attending various events as the saint, I thought it would be good to know as much as possible.”

Snow tried to speak as calmly and nonchalantly as she could.

It wasn’t exactly a lie. She had been planning to learn more about the nobles for the very reason she had just mentioned to the High Priest. It’s just that now she had a greater purpose. But Snow couldn’t understand why her heart was stinging as if being rubbed with ice.

High Priest Patrick, who rarely smiled, smiled. He looked at Snow as if finding her admirable. It seemed like just yesterday when she was born, covered in blood and crying, and now the Saint had grown up so properly and beautifully, admired by all the people—it was impossible not to find her admirable.

“Very well. May I first ask how much you already know?”

High Priest Patrick spoke with utmost respect to the girl who had not yet lived even half as many years as he had.

Snow already knew some of the broader context. Even if she didn’t know the names of people belonging to each family, she knew quite a bit about the names of influential families.

“Well… I’m not sure what I should say. I know that the imperial family uses the surname ‘Riman Akelan’… the Grand Duke Grant family that branched off from the imperial family, and…”

“Good. If nothing else, it would be best for you to know the members of the imperial family properly.”

High Priest Patrick scribbled “Ikanel Riman Akelan” on a paper that was already spread out. Next to it, he scrawled “Azena Temael Akelan.”

“These are the names of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor and Her Majesty the Empress.”

The High Priest said, not using honorific terms for the names since he was a priest devoted to the divine. Then he drew lines like tree branches below and added several more names.

—Elios Riman Akelan
—Crusis Riman Akelan
—Papel Riman Akelan
—Galimede Riman Akelan

“These are the names of the three princes and the princess.”

Snow made a curious expression. She remembered what El had said before. El had said that the first prince would like Snow very much. What kind of person would he be? She felt curious. Come to think of it, the first prince and El had similar names.

Snow thought of the cute El from her childhood and let out a small laugh.

“What is it?”

“Nothing, it’s nothing. The Grand Duke of Grant was originally a prince too, right?”

“Yes. But now he has received a separate ducal title and left the imperial palace.”

Snow nodded with a serious face. She had started this to learn even a little about El, but as she learned one thing after another, it became interesting. Snow began listing other noble families she knew one by one, and the conversation proceeded with High Priest Patrick explaining or supplementing what she lacked.

“The Callisto County… I know it’s a famous martial family, is that right?”

Snow finally voiced what she had been most curious about. She had heard of the Callisto county before. It was a family that had produced the most commanders of the various knightly orders belonging to the imperial family for generations.

So Snow vaguely suspected that El might be a knight too. Judging by how easily he had caught her when she jumped from the window, she was probably right.

She recalled those firm arms that had wrapped around her. They must be the result of diligent training.