Chapter 4 Witness of the Vow

Holy sunlight shone through the stained glass. Lydia, who had been praying with her hands clasped, cautiously opened her eyes. Then she cleared her voice neatly.

“I want to dedicate my life to the Goddess.”

“I see, Miss Lydia.”

“The Goddess made me realize the futility of my life and made me look only to Her.”

Lydia continued her prepared speech from the day before, while subtly wiping her eyes. She felt like an actress.

The High Priest, who was already dedicating his life to Goddess Anastasia, kept nodding and pretended to listen attentively, but his mind was elsewhere.

Could they accept a woman who even drank poison at the imperial palace as a priestess?

He worried deeply about whether it would damage the temple’s image.

“So… I want this body to be of use to the Goddess.”

Lydia slid a holy book toward the High Priest.

It was a common book found in the temple, but peculiarly, the middle section was bulging.

The High Priest opened the book and peeked at the bulging part.

A sapphire the size of a thumb gleamed softly. It was a piece of jewelry Lydia hadn’t forgotten to take even when she fled in her nightgown.

“This is just a small token of my sincerity to show you, High Priest. Will I have more opportunities to show my sincerity in the future?”

The meaning was clear: she would bring more bribes, so give her the priestess position.

“Anastasia teaches us not to disregard even small acts of devotion.”

“Indeed, our Goddess is truly merciful.”

Lydia bowed her head pitifully.

Meanwhile, the sapphire from the holy book disappeared into the High Priest’s sleeve, and simultaneously, Lydia gained the qualification to become a priestess.

“Ah, but Miss Lydia, you know that as a priestess you must maintain chastity?”

“Of course, High Priest. I have no interest in men or romance anymore.”

“Do you also know that you need a witness when making that vow? Not just anyone can be a witness. The witness must also be qualified.”

“Of course. I’ve already thought about the witness. I’ve already sent a letter asking them to come here.”

When Lydia showed a confident smile, the High Priest wondered who it could be.

“Her Majesty the future empress will be my witness today.”

* * *

Last night, right before falling asleep after eating her fill,

Lydia made a request to Arsen.

“This is a letter asking Giselle to come to the Central Temple tomorrow morning. Could you deliver it? You don’t need to go all the way to the empress’s palace—just give it to Alice at Baron Melburn’s residence.”

Alice Melburn was the person most likely to become Giselle’s head lady-in-waiting.

Even before Lydia and the emperor broke off their engagement, she was a sharp woman who had noticed the subtle atmosphere between Giselle and the emperor and had stuck close to Giselle.

She would surely open the letter as soon as she received it and run to the empress’s palace.

“Will the empress come?”

“She will. I threatened to set fire to the empress’s palace if she doesn’t.”

“The emperor will surely leave you alone if he sees that letter.”

Saying it was a joke, Lydia held out the letter to Arsen.

“You can read it if you’re curious. Though it won’t be very interesting.”

Arsen didn’t refuse.

The letter simply stated that she didn’t want to marry Count Monde but had decided to become a priestess because she couldn’t bear the pressure from the emperor and Devon.

It contained nothing that seemed likely to move Giselle—just asking her to be a witness if she felt even slightly sorry, and that would settle their debt.

“Will this make the empress move?”

“Yes. Giselle needs to maintain a good relationship with me.”

Was Richard the only one who wanted to give Giselle the Evansi name?

Giselle also wanted to formally belong to the Evansi marquis family.

“Actually, it would be over if Father just gave permission, but you know my father’s condition, right?”

The marquis was fighting for his life, and he already had two grown children.

In such cases, the siblings’ consent was necessary.

“Giselle needs my consent.”

That day, the day Lydia drank poison, that was why Giselle had specifically called Lydia to the empress’s palace.

Perhaps their plan had been for Giselle to coax and persuade, followed by Richard’s threats and Devon’s pressure.

However, that plan had gone awry when Lydia drank poison.

They must be making new plans, but those plans would become useless before they could be executed.

“Will you consent? That would make the empress your sister.”

“Don’t you need to know when to take a step back to move two steps forward?”

But her insides must have been boiling as Lydia chewed on her lips.

Then Lydia fell asleep, and Arsen sent a subordinate to deliver the letter to Baron Melburn’s residence.

Would it really go as Lydia said?

Leaning against a pillar outside the prayer room where Lydia had entered, Arsen wondered if this ‘one step back to move two steps forward’ would be meaningful.

It seemed more likely to end with Lydia’s loss.

Though he didn’t know Giselle’s personality well as they weren’t close, he knew she was capable.

Her careful advice to Richard was always useful.

At some point, Giselle had started participating in strategy meetings.

Arsen first saw her on the day he and his knights were dispatched to support the lord’s castle in the marquisate.

At that time, while everyone was restless with tension, fear, and worry as Richard was being pushed back, Giselle remained calm.

Her composed face and determined eyes left a strong first impression even on Arsen.

Everyone must have had a similar impression, as no one was particularly surprised when Giselle finally secured her place beside Richard.

How was Lydia in comparison?

She had been anxious, uneasy, and terrified. Though she had been on edge, she had tried her best to look pretty for Richard.

Lydia, who had bounced around looking for Richard wearing dresses full of lace and frills even during wartime, even then—

“…looked like a rabbit.”

That one thing hadn’t changed from then to now. What had changed was Lydia’s personality itself.

She no longer showed fear or complained with grumbling.

She seemed to know what she needed to do and was handling things one by one.

Could a person change this much?

Was that talk about dying once true?

It was troubling that such an absurd story was becoming more believable.

Just as Arsen clicked his tongue briefly, a commotion arose from the other end of the temple corridor.

Arsen, his face hidden under a large hood, hid his body behind a pillar.

Giselle was coming to the prayer room where Lydia was, following a priestess’s guidance after dismissing her people.

Just as Lydia had predicted, at exactly the right time.

* * *

Lydia wore priestess robes. It was a simple outfit consisting of a white dress with a thin rope-like belt at the waist.

The belt had a crescent moon pendant symbolizing Goddess Anastasia.

Lydia knelt before Anastasia’s statue and prayed to dedicate her body and soul to her.

While praying, she asked.

‘Why did you revive me? Was I worth it? Wouldn’t it have been better for the world to revive those who shared their food and shelter with complete strangers instead of me?’

Though she prayed earnestly, no answer came.

“Priestess, please rise.”

Despite the rushed appointment ceremony, it unexpectedly maintained dignity and a mysterious atmosphere.

It seemed those who had risen to the position of High Priest through bribes were different in their own way.

Lydia stopped asking unanswerable questions and stood up.

Glancing sideways, she saw Giselle standing beside her with her hands clasped like herself.

They briefly exchanged glances.

Lydia pitied Giselle’s situation, who almost became a wanderer after losing both parents.

Giselle pitied Lydia who had been obsessed with Richard without realizing his heart was drifting away.

She also felt sorry that Lydia had chosen to become a priestess after being cornered.

How much must she have hated marrying Count Monde to choose becoming a priestess?

Seeing that she had become a priestess who couldn’t marry, Giselle thought Richard’s worries had been groundless.

If Lydia and Arsen had been lovers as the emperor worried, Lydia wouldn’t have chosen the path of priesthood.

She would have at least asked him to pretend they had marriage talks, even if they couldn’t marry.

“You’ve chosen a difficult path, Lydia.”

“Thank you for coming, Giselle. I’ll call you casually just for today. You too, you came today as my cousin, not as the empress, right?”

After the appointment ceremony, Giselle sat face to face with Lydia who had become a priestess.

That ‘Lydia’ and ‘priestess’—could there be a more mismatched combination?

Had the near-death experience from poison changed Lydia?

Well, if she still clung to Richard after such an experience, that would be more foolish than drinking poison.

Giselle raised her lips in a smile while holding Lydia’s hand.

“Of course, Lydia. I don’t plan to act superior to you in the future either. I was happy that you asked me to be your witness today.”

“Please explain it well to His Majesty too. You know what I mean?”

Giselle, who caught on that this was about the engagement to Count Monde, nodded vigorously.

Actually, she had been planning to make a deal with Lydia about Count Monde.

That she would help prevent that marriage in exchange for Lydia’s approval of her joining the family.

She had been slightly worried that Lydia might choose to marry Count Monde rather than accept her as a sister.

But to think things would work out this way.

When Giselle received Lydia’s letter last night, she gladly canceled all her morning schedules and rushed to the temple.

“I had already told His Majesty that Count Monde was too much.”

Though it had been just a light comment made in jest.

“Thank you.”

“It’s nothing, that’s what sisters are for, right?”

At the casually dropped word ‘sisters,’ Lydia’s eyes hardened for a moment.

“Giselle, I cannot sincerely accept you as my sister. But I won’t stop you from using my family name.”

So that’s her honest feeling. Yes, it would have been suspicious if she had suddenly claimed to accept me as a sister.

But it’s fine if we’re just people sharing the same family name.

Giselle raised her lips prettily again after they had briefly hardened.

“That’s enough for me, Lydia.”

Really, as long as you don’t get in my way, that’s all I need, Lydia.

* * *