The Saintess Is Too Good at Lying - Chapter 102

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Saint Is Too Good at Lying! Chapter 102
I saw Formoso’s face again that late evening.
The Gauge had filled to seventy percent by then, and I was sleeping contentedly, pleased with the progress, when I felt a gaze upon me.
Opening my eyes slowly, I found Formoso standing there like a stone sentinel.
He showed no surprise whatsoever at my waking, and smiled composedly as he spoke.
“You’re awake?”
For someone sneaking a look at me, he carried himself with remarkable audacity. Come to think of it, he’d done something like this before.
Back then, I’d merely thought it distasteful and moved on, but now that I understood his feelings, the discomfort ran deeper.
What was he thinking about while he watched me sleep?
“I didn’t expect to find you here. You startled me.”
Fresh from sleep, maintaining my mask proved difficult.
When I betrayed my discomfort with a furrowed brow, Formoso smiled.
“Did I wake you?”
“It seems so. If there’s anything you need to discuss, call for me tomorrow.”
“My apologies. I was searching for a place to soothe my weary heart.”
I let out an exasperated breath.
“You should go to the Prayer Room.”
“I’ll need to visit there as well.”
Formoso continued without missing a beat.
“The Cassini Noblewoman is adamantly denying any connection to Demon Worship. She nearly fainted after a lengthy spell of weeping.”
“I see.”
I clicked my tongue softly and pretended to deliberate, lying with practiced ease.
“Please don’t press too hard, Archbishop. Surely she couldn’t possibly be a Demon Worshipper…….”
“I also asked her why she pushed you down the Staircase.”
Formoso cut through my words.
“She insisted she never did such a thing. She said she has no idea why you would claim that.”
……
“Someone is lying, then.”
I smiled and replied.
“I don’t lie. You know that.”
The Gauge climbed higher. Formoso nodded slowly.
“Indeed. When testimonies contradict so clearly, physical evidence is all we can trust. I believe we must investigate her whereabouts before she returned to the Cassini Mansion.”
“I’m concerned we might be reopening old wounds unnecessarily.”
“……How.”
Formoso murmured, his expression one of bewilderment.
“How can you be so relentlessly concerned for others? She nearly killed you.”
“The Barion Faith teaches that we should love even our enemies as ourselves.”
I answered with a compassionate smile, and Formoso’s eyes gleamed with admiration.
Interrogations resumed the next day.
When Formoso asked Lumiel about her whereabouts before returning to the Convent, she evaded the question.
She swore she had no connection to Demon Worship, but feared that innocent people living quietly might suffer harm because of her.
As this information spread, suspicion toward Lumiel only deepened—whispers suggested she had something to hide after all.
Whether or not that was true, I attended the Chapel more frequently than usual instead of engaging in ordinary social activities.
“Saint, how deeply shaken you must be. Did the Cassini Noblewoman truly push you down the Staircase?”
“We should view it separately from the Demon Worship matter. I believe in the Noblewoman. She was originally a saint, after all.”
I repeated that phrase like a parrot.
Ironically, the more I sheltered Lumiel, the more my words were accepted as truth. I was simply adopting Lumiel’s signature technique in full.
When I finished my testimony and left, everyone would believe she had pushed me.
Naturally, suspicion of her as a Demon Worshipper would bloom all around her. She would be deeply bewildered.
But then again, that’s all something you did to Justitia. I’m simply repaying it in kind.
“Could a third party be the culprit? Even so, she was originally the one named as the saint.”
“We should investigate that possibility as well…….”
“Ella.”
Alfonso’s voice reached me in the middle of our conversation.
When I turned my head, he was approaching with that characteristic arrogant expression of his.
“Your Majesty.”
“How have you been?”
“Well enough, though the atmosphere here feels rather unsettled…….”
I laughed awkwardly and led him to the Reception Room.
In Alfonso’s presence, I tended to become relatively honest, so crowded places where many eyes could see were dangerous.
“I was grateful that day.”
He spoke the odd words the moment he sat down.
“The way you woke me to myself. You’re right—calming people when they’re anxious, managing the situation—that’s a king’s duty too.”
“I’m simply honored you took my counsel to heart, Your Majesty.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Alfonso narrowed his brow slightly as he asked. I met his gaze without showing that I understood.
“About Lumiel.”
So that’s why his expression had been poor then, Alfonso asked.
“I… didn’t want to sow discord in the family. If I kept quiet, it could all pass without incident.”
“Even so, that’s—!”
“I also thought perhaps no one would believe me anyway.”
When I fixed Alfonso with an unwavering stare—suggesting he was no exception—he swallowed dryly for a moment.
“Would you have believed me if I’d spoken to you plainly then, Your Majesty?”
“…Of course.”
I deployed Lie Detection.
[False.]
“You’re my fiancée, after all.”
The addition felt all the more hollow for it. I found myself laughing despite myself, yet something felt odd.
Why was he lying? Surely we were close enough that he could simply say no. There was no need for him to read my face.
“I’m truly moved that you’d say such a thing.”
I was about to brush past it with a bright smile when—
[False.]
[Lie Gauge increased by 0.1%]
[Current Gauge: 73.5%]
Seeing a status window for the first time in ages while with Alfonso left me dumbfounded.
What? My lie actually worked on him just now?
“I’m serious. I asked the Archbishop to investigate not only Demon Worship but also the Staircase incident thoroughly.”
“Truly?”
“Your expression says otherwise.”
“Yes, the Archbishop… made no mention of it at all.”
I stared at Alfonso, dumbfounded by his words.
‘Does he want me to be on his side?’
If not, there was no reason for him to tell such a lie to win my heart, nor any reason to issue Formoso such specific instructions.
“Why are you laughing?”
When I let out a small laugh, Alfonso furrowed his brow and asked.
“I was thinking the advice I gave before didn’t go entirely to waste.”
“What are you talking about?”
“It was something you did thinking of me, wasn’t it?”
I spoke while maintaining my smile.
“I’m glad, thinking perhaps I’ve earned a little trust.”
“…What.”
Alfonso’s gaze drifted slightly past me.
“After all, you were worried about me too.”
“If I worry about Your Majesty going forward, might I earn more trust?”
“Of course. Someone who worries about me can’t possibly be my enemy.”
“…”
Yet you were so cold to Justitia, the woman who worried about you more than anyone else.
“I’ll make sure to worry about Your Majesty a great deal going forward.”
The gauge rose once more, and the fact that he believed my lie bothered me quite a bit. A foolish king who couldn’t even tell friend from foe.

* * *
Sergio’s brow furrowed when he saw the maid emerge from Lumiel’s room.
Almost all of the food he’d sent up came back down untouched.
“The young lady has no appetite whatsoever, sir…”
Lumiel’s maid faltered, bowing her head deeply. A sigh escaped Sergio’s lips.
“I’ll take it up myself.”
He took the tray from the maid and climbed the Staircase.
It had already been several days since Lumiel, who’d been interrogated at the Cathedral, was released without any charges and returned to the Cassini Mansion.
Lumiel had locked herself in her room without budging, refusing all contact.
With her rejecting conversation altogether, Sergio couldn’t even ask her how everything had come to pass.
For now, it seemed best to leave her alone—she needed rest. But prolonged solitude wasn’t good for her either.
‘Why would she do that, Lumiel?’
Lumiel couldn’t be a Demon Worshipper, but it seemed certain that she’d pushed Justitia down the Staircase.
Beyond the shock, confusion gnawed at him. Why? Even Justitia had said she didn’t understand her reasons—she’d sounded just as bewildered.
First, he’d let his own mind settle. Then he’d ask her, piece by piece.
With that resolve, Sergio knocked on Lumiel’s door.
“Lumiel, it’s me.”
……
“Lumiel?”
Beyond the door lay a silence so complete it seemed to devour sound itself. Sergio hesitated for a moment, then pushed the door open and stepped inside.
At the same instant, the tray he’d been holding clattered to the floor. He cried out in alarm and rushed toward Lumiel’s bed.
“Lumiel!”
Blood streamed from Lumiel’s wrist—enough to soak deep into the bedding.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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