Chapter 7

She stood in front of the door where Pavivan was.

Taking a short breath, she turned the doorknob.

When the door opened with a creak, Pavivan came into view.

As she stepped inside, their eyes met. She forced up the corners of her stiff lips.

“I heard that you were looking for me, Your Eminence.”

“Heh heh. It seems you are rather impatient this time, Saintess. I summoned you because I had something to tell you. Please sit for a moment.”

They sat with the table between them. As he poured tea for her, he swept his gaze over her as if measuring her.

“Your Eminence, please speak now.”

“Ahem, now that you have officially become the Saintess of Melissa, I wished to speak to you about the duties you must carry out.”

She gave a short nod.

“One of them is to go where the Saintess is needed and bestow blessings.”

It was something she already knew. Here, they called it the Saintess’s pilgrimage.

She answered calmly.

“Where is the first place I must go?”

“The Helen Kingdom. It seems an invitation arrived this time from the Helen Kingdom for the Crown Prince’s investiture ceremony.”

Was it because back then she had been a puppet who only did what they told her without knowing anything? Or because it had happened so very long ago?

Until she heard the head of the temple’s words, she could not recall that the Helen Kingdom had been the first place she visited.

It felt as though her breath had risen all the way to her throat. Her eyes trembled faintly.

“Saintess?”

At the voice calling her, she pushed away her thoughts and looked at Pavivan.

“Ah, yes.”

“Will you go?”

She did not want to listen to their words, but if it was the Helen Kingdom, that was different.

“Of course.”

“I look forward to working with you from now on, Saintess.”

After meeting with the head of the temple and returning to her residence, she walked slowly and dropped onto the sofa.

What kind of expression had she worn in front of the head of the temple just now? She did not know.

“The Helen Kingdom……”

Would Kardin come? Well, if it was the man she knew, perhaps he would not attend.

In this life, it would be better not to meet him. And yet why was she feeling regret?

Even if they did meet, she would not so much as speak a word to him. He was merely a stranger. Only she would carry the memories of the time she had spent with him.

Most likely, until she met him and cast off her lingering attachment, she would continue to feel troubled.

* * *

Her expectations were not wrong.

At each moment when he came to mind, she forced down the emotions rising within her and wished for time to pass quickly, and yet at the same time, she wished it would simply stop like this.

Even now, inside the carriage heading to the Helen Kingdom.

With a wandering hand, she smoothed only the innocent white dress.

As the road engraved in her old memories came into view, her heart beat even more roughly.

“Saintess?”

At the voice calling her, she lifted her head and saw Amy looking at her with a tilt of her head.

“Saintess, are you feeling very unwell?”

“Hmm?”

“You kept frowning. Ah! Could it be that you’re nervous because this is your first official schedule as the Saintess?”

At Amy’s words, one corner of her lips lifted and she gave a faint laugh.

“……Perhaps so.”

“Oh, come on! You didn’t even tremble when you were appointed as the Saintess! And besides, it’s not just you going, other people are going with you too, so please don’t worry too much.”

“Yes, thanks to you, I do feel a little more at ease.”

In place of the Pope, not only she but also several high-ranking priests had come together to the Helen Kingdom.

Since the banquet would continue until late at night, she would probably stay there for one night and return.

This time too, it would be a night where she slept alone.

Before long, the carriage reached the main gate of the imperial palace of the Helen Kingdom.

Seeing so many carriages lined up, it was only then that it truly began to feel real.

Even in that moment, her eyes moved of their own accord, searching among the lined-up carriages for the carriage of the Grand Ducal House.

“……It’s not here.”

The disappointment in her heart slipped out of her mouth before she realized it.

“Hm? What isn’t here?”

“Ah. It’s nothing.”

The carriage that had entered the imperial palace slowly reduced its speed and came to a stop.

When she stepped out of the carriage, the sky, not yet overtaken by darkness, greeted her.

A maid approached her.

“Saintess of Melissa, was the journey difficult? Since the banquet has not yet begun, I will guide you to your room.”

She nodded and smiled.

“Then, I’ll leave it to you.”

It was not the room she had shared with him, and yet even so, she became drenched in memories of him.

“Then, I will come to escort you when the banquet begins. It will start late, so until then, please rest comfortably.”

“Yes. Thank you for your kindness. May God’s grace reach you.”

She entered the room and immediately sat before the dressing table.

They had told her to rest comfortably. And yet, in the middle of that, she looked in the mirror with the faintest shred of hope, just in case. She examined from side to side the hairstyle in which her pure white hair had been braided up.

Without even noticing time passing, she only continued to look at herself.

When she turned her head and looked at the sky, darkness was falling across it. It was a night sky that made her think of his eyes.

“It hasn’t started yet…… perhaps I should take a walk.”

She rose from her seat and stepped out, then made her way toward the garden with familiar steps.

Like someone going in search of a dear old memory.

When she reached the garden, his voice brushed through her mind.

‘If it’s here, then it’s good enough for a walk. People don’t come to this place.’

‘Is that so? It seems you used to walk here often.’

‘Yes. I absolutely hate crowded places.’

At the memory of his tone, the corners of her lips naturally softened into a curl.

“Who is it?”

And yet why was the voice she had always kept only in her memories now flowing into her ears?

She slowly raised her head.

A man with eyes like the night sky and blond hair that called stars to mind was walking toward her.

He tilted one brow and spoke again.

“Ah, are you the Saintess of Melissa?”

Tap.

Tap tap.

Drip drip.

She had thought he would not come.

Though you did not exist in my memories, you were here on this day as well. I simply had not seen you.

O God. Are you only now granting the fervent wish I had made, that I wanted to see him even just once?

She looked at him through blurred vision as he walked toward her with a furrowed expression.

If she were to see him, she had wanted him to see her in a prettily arranged appearance.

But it seemed her wish would not be helped, because the tears would not stop.

At the moment she hurriedly tried to wipe them away, he held out a handkerchief.

“Ah. Thank you.”

Dabbing away her tears with the handkerchief, she opened the lips she had been biting tightly and introduced herself to him.

“And…… it is our first meeting. I am Saintess Shallen Melissa.”

With tears trembling in her eyes, she smiled brightly.

At her smile, which must have looked rather absurd, the man, who looked flustered, also opened his mouth and introduced himself to her.

“I am Lord Kardin Ferdian.”