The Fortune-Teller Saintess - Chapter 61
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Fortune Teller Saint
Chapter 61
It took quite a while to understand what Nein was saying. The content was that shocking.
After a moment of grasping the situation, I hardened my expression and asked Nein.
“Dead, you say. Don’t tell me…”
“Let me say this first – I didn’t kill them.”
Nein chuckled and retorted.
That put my mind at ease, but at the same time raised questions.
“Then why…?”
“How would I know? When I went to find them, they were already all dead.”
Nein continued in a murmur, his eyes coldly hardened.
“It’s certain someone else killed them, but there were no signs of resistance on any of the corpses.”
“You mean it was someone they knew?”
“For that to be the case, there were no signs of resistance on any of the bodies. Even if it was someone they knew, when one person dies, the others would have tried to fight back.”
“The possibility that they took their own lives…”
“None. They were all murdered. And by one person at that.”
Watching Nein and Lucian casually exchange this tremendous conversation, I unconsciously gulped.
‘Did I enter a mystery thriller novel instead of a romance fantasy?’
“Anyway, be careful. You never know when they might appear again.”
I was surprised by Nein’s words and reflexively asked back.
“Are you worried about us right now?”
“I’m only worried about the Holy Lady.”
“Huh? Me?”
When I stared at him with wide eyes, Nein chuckled and pressed my forehead with his finger.
“It would be terrible if you died from panicking alone, wouldn’t it? You’re my playmate.”
“When did I ever panic…”
As I pouted and grumbled, Nein laughed out loud. Then he suddenly raised his head and gazed out the window.
“We’ve arrived at the capital.”
“Already?”
Surprised, I looked out the window and saw familiar scenery. We had arrived at the capital.
Then Nein’s voice flowed into my ear.
Along with his breath.
“Well then, Holy Lady, see you next time.”
“…!”
Startled by the tickling breath, I grabbed my ear and whipped my head around, but Nein had already disappeared.
“What the heck! That scared me.”
“So it seems.”
Robelina said with a chuckle.
Something about her pleased expression made me feel sulky, so I asked her.
“What’s with that look, Robelina?”
“What look?”
“…”
I had a gut feeling. A feeling that if I continued this conversation any further, I would lose.
Sighing deeply, I hastily pointed out the window to change the subject.
“More importantly, look over there. I can see the temple too. There are carriages lined up in front visiting the temple… huh?”
“Carriages?”
Sensing something strange, Robelina and I pressed ourselves against the window.
There really were carriages lined up in front of the temple.
“What’s going on?”
Actually, it wasn’t strange for people to visit the temple. It was a place where those seeking God’s blessing came daily to pray.
However, today there were too many of them.
Moreover, those crests carved on the carriages.
“Isn’t that the royal crest?”
I turned my head to meet Robelina’s eyes.
It seemed someone we knew had visited.
“Your Highness!”
Getting off our carriage, we were able to meet the Crown Prince, Jacad, as expected.
Standing in front of the royal carriage, he looked back at us and said in an indifferent tone.
“You seem to have been somewhere.”
“Yes. We had some business to attend to. But Your Highness, what brings you all the way here? What are all those carriages?”
Now that I looked, workers were taking luggage out of the royal carriages and carrying them into the temple.
When I looked at Jacad with question marks on my face, he said calmly.
“They’re gifts of gratitude.”
“Gratitude?”
“Did you forget already? I said I would send gifts of gratitude in return for helping during the hunting competition.”
“Ah.”
Come to think of it, that’s right.
I looked at the luggage being moved into the temple with lukewarm eyes.
It wasn’t that I wasn’t happy, but honestly, the burden was greater since the scale of the gifts far exceeded my expectations.
“And this.”
“What’s this?”
I received the pouch that Jacad held out to me.
The moment the pouch came down onto my palm.
Clink-
“…!”
The sound of coins clinking together could be heard.
“Th-this couldn’t be…”
“Exactly two thousand gold. I prepared it since you seemed to want a personal gift.”
Jacad spoke in his still calm tone.
I peeked inside the pouch and looked up at Jacad with a serious face.
“Your Highness, if you need anything in the future, just say the word.”
“…Why are you suddenly being scary?”
“Hey, why are you being like this! Between us.”
When I grinned and tried to cling to him, Jacad grimaced and stepped back. Of course, the money I received was too much to be hurt by that reason.
Then Jacad’s gaze briefly swept behind me. Following his gaze, I turned my head to see Robelina watching us with a smile.
Jacad hesitated before carefully offering a greeting.
“Have you been well? Your name was… Cardinal Robelina, right.”
“Yes? Ah, yes. Thanks to Your Highness’s consideration, I’ve been well.”
“What did I even do.”
‘Oh my. Look at these two?’
Robelina answering politely without understanding, and Jacad not knowing what to do while looking at such Robelina.
As the atmosphere between the two felt subtly different, I found it interesting yet felt my heart twist a little.
Gifts of gratitude were one thing, but whether Jacad was suitable as a husband for Robelina was another matter entirely.
Moreover, since Jacad’s first meeting wasn’t good, I had to think even more carefully.
‘Still, he’s the only one showing romantic vibes with Robelina, so should I help them out a bit?’
With a slight smile, I asked Jacad.
“But Your Highness, you could have just sent the carriages, so why did you come personally? Perhaps… there’s someone you wanted to meet?”
While glancing at Robelina, Robelina tilted her head with a puzzled expression as if wondering why I was looking at her.
Meanwhile, Jacad answered.
“No. There’s a body purification ritual before the Founding Ceremony. I came to deliver the gifts while I was at it.”
“…Your Highness, did you perhaps roll your common sense in wine and drink it?”
“What?”
“It’s nothing.”
I subtly looked away, but I could feel Jacad staring at me intently.
Just then, someone burst out of the temple. It was Cardinal Barion, Cardinal Dail, and Sierra, who had become Dale’s librarian.
They were staring blankly at the luggage being moved into the temple, then belatedly noticed Jacad and came over in surprise.
“Your Highness, you must have had a hard journey. But what are all these things…?”
“You’re right to ask. I must have been temporarily insane.”
“Pardon?”
Instead of answering, Jacad glanced at me.
I looked back at him with an innocent face as if I knew nothing, wondering what was wrong.
Then Jacad let out a sigh. Only the three people who didn’t understand looked puzzled.
***
One week before the Founding Festival.
The temple was busy preparing for the consecration ceremony.
Still, thanks to Sierra preparing so much while I was away, there wasn’t much work left to do. She was truly a perfectionist.
I looked around the grand hall where the consecration ceremony would be held. Then something special caught my eye.
Whoosh-
The sacred white flames burning brightly, the Holy Flame.
Those flames, which God had sent down to earth to destroy evil things, never went out no matter what happened.
Even though they were flames, they weren’t hot at all, and even if you put your hand into them, the Holy Flame wouldn’t burn us.
Except for evil criminals and monsters, that is.
In this consecration ceremony, Jacad would perform the ritual of placing a sacred relic into that Holy Flame.
The Holy Flame would consume the sacred relic and increase its power, and it would also publicly reveal that the Empire’s next emperor was not an evil person, making it truly an important ceremony.
However, there was one thing that worried me.
“So this is the hall where the consecration ceremony will take place.”
I turned my head at the familiar voice that pierced my ears.
Jacad, wearing white robes, was walking toward me with steady steps.
He stood next to me and admired the Holy Flame on the platform.
“So that’s the Holy Flame I’ve only heard about. It’s bigger than I thought.”
“Isn’t it?”
I responded to his words while secretly glancing at Jacad’s face.
Today too, he was wearing a mask over his right eye to hide his curse.
That curse hidden beneath the mask was exactly what I was most worried about in this ceremony.
The Holy Flame has the power to destroy evil things. And the curse that Jacad carries also belongs to evil things.
What would happen if that Holy Flame identified Jacad’s curse as something evil?
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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