Even as an ordinary priest, his selfless dedication to the sick and the poor had moved many.

But Shiloh, having read the novel, knew of a major scandal that the citizens of the Empire did not.

He had been in a long secret relationship with a nun.

Popes and priests were in principle forbidden from romance or marriage.

But he had developed feelings for a beautiful and intelligent young nun in her early twenties named Mia, whom he had met during missionary work.

The two had met in secret away from public eyes, but tragically, Mia had been in a carriage accident on her way to meet him and had fallen into a vegetative state.

Daniel had struggled under the guilt that his lover had been in an accident because of him.

Shiloh recalled the story and looked at Daniel with sympathetic eyes.

‘I wonder if that nun is still alive……’

Just then, a middle-aged man carrying a child of about nine pushed urgently through the crowd.

“Your Holiness! Please, grant my poor son the blessing to walk.”

Shiloh recognized the man and flinched.

It was Denis, the owner of the nearby confectionery.

His voice trembled with raw desperation.

Murmurs reached her ears.

“They say he spent a lot of money trying to fix his son’s legs.”

“Goodness. How heartbroken the parents must be……”

She had never gotten along well with him, but learning this unknown story made her feel unsettled.

In a place where parents abandoned children for being disabled without a second thought, he was trying to protect his ailing son.

Understanding a little of why he had been so wary of her, she found it hard to simply dislike him anymore.

Meanwhile, the child in Denis’s arms burst into tears, and the atmosphere grew unsettled.

Denis pressed persistently toward the Pope.

“I only wish for a moment of Your Holiness’s blessing.”

A holy knight standing guard in front of him warned him sternly.

“Please submit a separate request for an audience.”

In the end, Denis squeezed his eyes shut, opened them, and was pushed away by the crowd somewhere out of sight.

Shiloh walked away from the crowd with a heavy heart and headed toward the carriage stop.

She was planning to visit Shuriel for the first time in a while.

Shuriel was at the hospital of Melsus Convent, deep in the mountains on the outskirts of the capital.

The hospital operated in a closed manner, allowing family visits only once a month and for under an hour at a time.

It had worried her from the beginning, but Shuriel was a devout believer in the Sun God’s faith and had insisted on staying at the convent she had always attended.

Thinking about it, they would make sure she ate three proper meals a day, and if her mind was at ease, her health might improve too.

Before the family’s fortunes fell, Shuriel had regularly donated a portion of her earnings to the convent. Thanks to that, she was able to stay there at a lower cost than others.

The carriage traveled for a full half day and arrived at the convent just as a dim twilight settled.

Shiloh stepped out of the carriage carefully and looked around.

The smell of grass from the lush greenery, birdsong, and the soft breeze on her face were as peaceful as a painting.

This was also the place where Mia, Pope Daniel’s lover, had been.

Shiloh wove between people coming out from prayer and nuns, and hurried toward the ward at the innermost part of the convent.

She had just come through the corridor and was turning the corner toward the ward entrance when she saw a young man kneeling before the abbess, crying out.

From his clothes, he appeared to be a commoner.

“I trusted His Holiness, and yet there has been no improvement. How can this be?”

“How dare you doubt and pass judgment on His Holiness?”

The abbess, wearing glasses, snapped sharply.

“……”

“The reason a patient’s illness does not improve is not because of His Holiness. It is the fault of the patient and those around them for lacking in faith.”

At those words, the man bowed his head and sobbed.

“I’m sorry……”

“Pray earnestly from now on. So that you may receive God’s blessing. Be grateful that you can still see your mother alive even one more day. God’s blessing comes only to those who open their hearts fully.”

The abbess warned in a grave, measured voice.

Shiloh’s eyes wavered from behind the corner where she had been hiding.

The convent hospital provided patients with regular nutritious meals and medicinal teas researched by the nuns, and important healing was handled by the priests.

Healing that the priests could not manage fell to the Pope.

Donating a large sum to the temple allowed one to receive the Pope’s treatment.

But hearing that a patient had received the Pope’s healing and still not recovered made her uneasy.

Worry washed over her that Shuriel’s condition might have worsened in the month since she had last seen her.

‘She’ll be all right, won’t she?’

She pushed her unsettled feelings aside and entered the ward.

She was climbing the stairs toward the third-floor patient room when she came face to face with Sister Mellis, who was coming down the stairs with a medical chart in her arms.

“Hello, Sister.”

Shiloh bowed.

Sister Mellis had an impression that brought to mind something transparent and fragile, like glass on the verge of breaking.

“You’ve come. Your mother has improved considerably. This afternoon she even went for a walk with Lady Carol and me.”

“Who is that?”

“Her closest fellow patient these days. Oh, and when she goes for walks, I or another sister is always with her, so you don’t need to worry.”

“Thank you. Do you think she’ll be able to be discharged soon?”

At Shiloh’s question, Sister Mellis’s eyes drifted somewhere with a flustered look.

“You’d need to ask the priest about that. Anyway, you must not have much time, and I’ve kept you too long. You should go see your mother.”

“Thank you. I’ll see you again next time.”

Shiloh gave a quick bow to Sister Mellis, who seemed somehow hurried, and turned the corner to open the door to the shared patient room.

“Mother!”

Shuriel was already sitting up in bed, which was unusual.

The moment their eyes met, Shiloh ran over and buried herself in her arms.

Shuriel gently stroked the head of Shiloh, who was acting like a child.

It seemed Shuriel had put on a little weight since she last saw her.

“Why did you come when you’re so busy?”

“Of course I had to come. Your color looks so much better.”

“Does it?”

“Get well soon and let’s go shopping for a pretty dress.”

Shiloh smiled brightly at Shuriel, who was wearing a white patient’s gown.

Shuriel narrowed her eyes and lifted the corners of her mouth.

“Something good has happened.”

“Someone has offered to invest in the confectionery. At a low interest rate, too.”

“Thank you, Lord!”

She smiled radiantly and pressed her hands together as if moved.

“All you need to do is get better, Mother.”

Shuriel looked at Shiloh quietly for a moment, then took her hand in both of hers.

“There are no other worries…… are there?”

“Pardon?”

Shiloh understood the meaning of the question a beat late.

She had deliberately not mentioned the broken engagement with Peter, not wanting to worry Shuriel while her health was fragile.

By now, there was no way she didn’t know.

Peter had not come to visit even once in the two months Shuriel had been here.

“Peter and I parted ways, but it’s all in the past now, so I’m fine.”

Shiloh looked down and smiled faintly.

“There are plenty of men out there who will love you.”

“Plenty? Who would want someone with nothing to offer……”

“You’re a fool.”

Shuriel fixed her with a look, and Shiloh blinked.

“A fool?”

Shuriel sighed.

“Do you know how lovely and precious you are?”

“Only in your eyes.”

Shiloh smiled bitterly.

Shuriel gently brushed Shiloh’s disheveled hair back.

“It’s always been that way. You just don’t see it.”

“……”

An awkward, shy smile spread across Shiloh’s face.

Every time she received the kind of love from Shuriel that she had never known in her previous life, Shiloh didn’t know how to respond.

Until then, she had been far more accustomed to being excluded and rejected than to being loved.

In her previous life, after her mother passed away early, she had lived with her grandmother. Her father was too busy earning money, and her grandmother, who had a strong preference for sons, openly favored her younger brother. Her grandmother would secretly give her brother pocket money and special food, and on days when Shiloh ate a lot, she would scold her for making her son work so hard.

Then one day.

‘We can’t afford two children. What if we send Sojin to live with relatives?’

She had overheard her grandmother say this to her father.

She had been in the third grade of elementary school.