“Indeed!”

Forgetting the current situation, Yevar shouted loudly in admiration of his own magic, startling Lady Margaret who had been passionately explaining about Delsevardo.

“Pardon?”

“Ye-yes, indeed Delsevardo! The immortal painter! Ah, I want to pray for him.”

Yevar clutched his chest and reached out his hand with a face overwhelmed with emotion.

“Would you join me in prayer, Sister? For this holy and pitiful painter?”

Looking startled at first, Lady Margaret soon became caught up in his enthusiasm and nodded with a moved expression, reaching out her hand. Yevar carefully grasped her hand with both of his and bowed his head deeply, pretending to pray.

If, as Seiden had heard that night, Lady Margaret had directly contacted the Demon God Book, its tremendous energy would surely remain in her hands. And that energy could be sensed by Yevar, who was the owner of another Demon God Book. That was the reason Yevar had participated in infiltrating this mansion despite all the risks.

Soon, a massive energy transmitted through Lady Margaret’s hand into Yevar’s large grasp with a tingling sensation. It was unmistakably the energy of the Demon God Book.

Lady Margaret, with her eyes tightly closed in concentration on prayer, couldn’t see the pleasure-filled smile that appeared on Yevar’s lips hidden behind his large hands.

* * *

Yevar immediately conveyed what he had discovered at Lady Margaret’s mansion to Seiden. In turn, Seiden promptly told everything to Bellota. This confirmed that Bellota’s suspicions were correct. Now that it was clear that Lady Margaret was truly cursed and had contacted another Demon God Book, it was Bellota’s turn.

The next day, Bellota invited Margaret, who had come for offerings and prayer, to her office, pretending it was a chance meeting. Since she was already acquainted with the devout Lady Margaret, arranging the meeting wasn’t difficult.

“As a token of gratitude for your offering, I’d like to give you a blessing, if that’s alright?”

Since a saintess’s blessing was always an honor for believers, it was natural that Lady Margaret accepted the offer with gratitude and joy. Bellota prayed together with Lady Margaret in her office, gave her a simple blessing, and then served her personally brewed black tea.

“Saintess, do you have a special method for brewing tea? My, the aroma is quite different.”

When Lady Margaret admired Bellota’s tea with wonder, Bellota smiled gently.

“I added a bit of lemon balm leaves.”

“Lemon balm! That’s why it’s so fragrant.”

Bellota quietly watched Lady Margaret as she savored the tea’s aroma with curiosity.

Lady Margaret had been visiting this temple long before Bellota came to the Grand Temple. Therefore, Bellota had also observed Lady Margaret for a long time.

However, she had never seen her face so haggard and weak as it was now. Lady Margaret’s face had clearly deteriorated even from when Bellota had briefly seen her that night. Whatever the curse was, it had undoubtedly expanded its territory significantly in just a few days. There were even bluish spots under her eyes. Lady Margaret tried to hide these traces with heavy makeup, but seemed unaware that this made the spots stand out even more.

Bellota’s heart ached thinking about how the lady had come to the temple to offer her pitiful prayers as always, despite her condition. Bellota could understand her feelings. That’s why she needed to uncover the truth behind this strange incident even more.

“You seem to have hurt your hand.”

When Bellota carefully brought it up, the lady’s hand holding the teacup trembled slightly.

“Ah.”

Lady Margaret hurriedly put down her teacup and tried to hide her hand.

“Yes, I fell and unfortunately got cut by a sharp rock. This is how I am.”

Bellota just nodded and carefully asked.

“May I look at the wound? I’d like to treat it.”

Margaret hesitated for a moment, rolling her eyes.

“It will only take a moment. Please trust me.”

When Bellota gently urged her, Lady Margaret reluctantly extended her hand. Bellota carefully held that hand and slowly unwrapped the bandage. This revealed wounds that were bruised and festering from being repeatedly pierced by something. It was too horrific to be dismissed as injuries from a fall.

To avoid showing her surprise, Bellota quietly held her breath and maintained her composure. Lady Margaret, who had been glancing at Bellota’s reaction, seemed to relax at Bellota’s calm response. Bellota gently overlapped her hand on top of the lady’s and closed her eyes tightly. Soon, a blue light leaked out over their overlapped hands, and the terribly infected wounds slowly began to heal.

Bellota tried to read the type of curse while healing her wounds but failed. The wounds on the back of her hand were not caused by a curse or dark magic. Without Lady Margaret’s active cooperation, even Bellota couldn’t determine the type of curse residing in her body if it wasn’t from curse-inflicted wounds.

Nevertheless, as Bellota kept holding her hand tightly, trying to somehow detect the curse, Lady Margaret’s face grew puzzled.

“Saintess? The wounds have all healed.”

At Lady Margaret’s careful inquiry, the strength in Bellota’s hands loosened.

“Ah.”

Opening her eyes, Bellota reluctantly released Lady Margaret’s hand.

“So they have.”

“Thank you so much. It doesn’t hurt at all now.”

Lady Margaret smiled happily while caressing her hand that had become perfectly clean.

“I should get going now. I must be getting old, as carriage rides don’t agree with me anymore.”

Since there was no reason to keep Lady Margaret any longer, Bellota nodded. She escorted her to where the carriage was waiting. It was disappointing.

As Bellota was returning to the Grand Temple, feeling dejected without any significant findings, she encountered an unexpected figure inside the temple.

“Saintess?”

When someone whispered to her, Bellota turned around. She saw a woman whose face was hidden behind a large hat and scarf, making her difficult to recognize. As Bellota looked at her questioningly, the woman lowered the scarf covering her face up to her nose and smiled brightly.

“It’s me. Hestina.”

It was Princess Hestina. Meeting her at the Grand Temple was so unexpected that Bellota momentarily forgot to bow and stood still, staring at her blankly.

“Hello, Saintess.”

Brought back to her senses by Hestina’s cheerful greeting, Bellota quickly bowed her head.

“Your Highness Princess Hestina.”

Bellota had seen Hestina before, having been invited to several royal events. However, this was the first time they had stood face to face in direct conversation. Nevertheless, Hestina grabbed Bellota’s hands with a welcoming face, greeting her as if they were familiar colleagues who had met many times.

“I wanted to greet you during the last hunting festival, but I was too busy. I’m so happy to run into you like this. I don’t know many people at the temple.”

Despite being internally flustered by such tremendous friendliness, Bellota gave a faint smile to avoid making her feel awkward.

“Do you need something?”

When Bellota asked kindly, the smile disappeared from Hestina’s expression, and a hesitant air appeared on her face. As an unmistakable blush rose to Hestina’s face, Bellota’s heart stung for a moment. She realized why Hestina had visited the temple. Hestina had come to see Seiden.

“Um, where are the knights stationed?”

When Hestina finally asked in a hushed voice, Bellota’s heart, which had been anxiously constricted since seeing her face, finally sank low.

“I have no relationship whatsoever with Her Highness Princess Hestina.”

That’s what Seiden had said, but that was merely his perspective. Seeing Hestina’s face flush while thinking of her beloved was so lovely that the faint spark somewhere in Bellota’s heart slowly faded. Trying not to show the unsightly marks left by that burning spark, Bellota kindly explained the temple’s layout to Hestina.

“The Knights’ headquarters is on the eastern side of the temple. The training grounds are a bit further away, but it’s probably not time for training now. Would you like me to guide you there?”

Hestina, who had been listening intently to Bellota’s explanation with perked ears, startled and shook her head.

“Oh, no. Today I just…… came to look around. Meeting you is enough, Saintess.”

Hestina finished with a bright smile. It was such a pure smile that Bellota felt guilty for feeling uncomfortable. While Bellota was considering whether to offer her tea, Hestina suddenly spoke again.

“Um, Saintess? Have you seen Duke Geril since the hunting festival?”

It was an unexpected question. Bellota, who had completely forgotten about Geril’s existence, shook her head in surprise. After the unfortunate incident at the hunting festival, Geril had stopped visiting Bellota.

“No, I haven’t seen him.”

“Don’t you want to see Duke Geril?”

That question was even more unexpected and embarrassing than the previous one. Bellota couldn’t answer and just stared at Hestina with a face mixed with surprise and awkwardness.

Hestina’s face was excited and thrilled, as if she’s watching something interesting. When Bellota didn’t answer for a while, Hestina’s expression turned sympathetic, as if she had realized something.

“You must be disappointed too, Saintess, about what Brother Geril… I mean, Duke Geril did at the hunting festival.”