“Hmm...”
The Emperor looked troubled.
That was understandable, as the Veloce family was the only dukedom in the empire, and their fame, which had been passed down through generations, pierced the heavens.
Even if he was an Emperor, he could not punish the head of such a family without any solid evidence.
But he couldn't ignore my words that they call myself a Saintess.
“Yes, I understand. I’ll look into that myself.”
The Emperor, who had been groaning, soon looked at me and sorted out the situation.
Although he spoke indirectly, his real intention was to test me.
'Your Majesty, you are surprisingly intelligent.'
I nodded happily, inwardly marveling at the Emperor's intelligence, which seemed to be quite high, contrary to my expectations.
“Yes, Your Majesty. Even if the revelation came directly from the Goddess, I cannot omit the Pope’s verification.”
“Ahem, it’s not that I doubt you, but I hope you understand that it’s a procedural issue.”
“Of course, Your Majesty.”
I smiled confidently even though I had nothing to say.
“Then go down.”
As I followed the Emperor down the cliff, numerous imperial subjects were waiting for me.
“Saintess, please save the empire.”
“Please stop this terrible disaster!”
“Look after us, Saintess.”
They lined up tightly on both sides under the control of the knights and kept appealing to me for help.
'Wow, how can people change so much in an instant?'
It was hard to believe that these people, who had just recently mocked my death as a symbol of the abolition of social status, were being so polite.
I was so shocked that I couldn't close my mouth. I ignored them and walked briskly.
At the end of the road, a carriage was waiting for me.
A chariot with a goddess's pattern engraved in relief on a pure white background.
It was sent from the temple.
'I never thought the day would come when I would ride this.'
I felt a bit guilty about getting on a carriage like this with a body that had no energy at all, so I made the sign of the cross for no reason and was about to get on the carriage.
“Your Majesty, just a moment!”
A middle-aged woman pushed her way through the crowd and ran toward me.
“Oh, didn’t I tell you to follow the rules!”
One of the knights who was controlling the crowd that had gathered to see me hurriedly ran over and grabbed her.
“I have something to give you, Saintess. Please let me see you for a moment!”
“Well, I said no!”
The knight kept glancing in this direction as if he could sense the Emperor and me and tried to drag her away, but it didn't seem easy because the woman's resistance was quite strong.
I was quietly watching them bickering, and then I opened my mouth.
“It’s okay, Sir. Just leave it alone.”
She was just an ordinary citizen of the empire.
It didn't seem like a risk factor, and there was no reason not to meet her since she just had something to give.
“But, Saintess...!”
The knight, who had been looking embarrassed at my words, soon removed his hand that was holding her back as if he had no choice.
Then, a woman ran towards me out of breath, and carefully held out something in her hand.
“You must have had a hard day today, so why don’t you stop by here on your way home...”
It was a bundle made of old rags.
Looking at the packaging, the contents didn't seem to be that great.
But I gladly accepted the package.
“Thank you. I will enjoy the meal.”
The woman's eyes lit up with emotion as I held her hand and smiled.
I am the one who received the gift, but the reason the other person is so touched is probably because they are proud of being the first to offer a tribute to the Saintess who appeared after 13 years.
'I'm sorry, I don't have any holy power.'
I clicked my tongue inwardly, tapped the back of her hand twice, and quickly left the place.
“Ugh!”
With a lion roaring in vain, pretending to be solemn.
So I got on the carriage and opened the package, and there were about ten cookies the size of coins.
It was a low-quality cookie that looked rough at first glance and would normally not have caught my eye, but I found old memories inside it.
“Wow, it’s been a while.”
I smiled as I recalled the memory of when I was little when I would sneak out to the store dressed in civilian clothes with my mother and buy snacks like these. I was about to pick up a cookie and put it in my mouth.
"...”
I felt a dark gaze from somewhere.
I turned my head and saw a lion staring at me.
No, to be more precise, the cookie in my hand.
“...Why are you looking at me like that?”
“No, well... I’m just curious. I wonder what it is.”
Only then did the lion come to his senses and scratch his temple with his forepaw as if embarrassed.
“It’s my first time seeing this. Is it edible?”
“Yes, it’s a cookie. It’s made by kneading flour and baking it. Normally, it’s baked with a lot of sugar and butter, but this is cheap, so not much was used. Sugar and butter are expensive.”
Even in my explanation, the lion's gaze was fixed on the cookie the whole time.
The gaze was so persistent that I asked him offhandedly.
“Would you like to try it?”
“Oh, is that okay?”
“What’s so difficult?”
I readily handed over a cookie.
The lion quickly ate the cookie without even chewing it a few times as if he was in a hurry, and soon opened his eyes wide.
“Hey, what’s the name of this?”
“Cookies.”
“Cookies, cookies!”
The lion kept repeating the word 'cookie' with an expression that said, 'How can there be such delicious food in the world?'
'But aren't lions originally carnivores?'
It seems that the unfortunate living conditions of having to eat only moss for a thousand years had changed even their instincts.
“If it suits your taste, eat more. It may not be high-quality, but it’s better than moss.”
When I handed over the entire package with a heavy heart, the lion opened its mouth as if it had been waiting for me.
The lion's expression brightened noticeably as each cookie disappeared into his mouth.
The lion, who had eaten all ten cookies as if he were blinded by the wind, suddenly clenched his fists.
“Ha, I can’t believe I’m only tasting this delicious thing now. Hethel, if only this damn goddess had kept her promise, I would have eaten it five years ago! If I only ate ten a day, that’s eighteen thousand two hundred and fifty in five years!”
Wow, that's mental arithmetic.
When I first saw intelligence in a lion, I applauded inwardly.
The lion, who had been burning with anger at the fraudster for a long time, suddenly asked with a worried expression.
“But why did you suddenly ask to be examined by the temple? You don’t have any holy power. You’ll be found out in no time.”
“You have to figure that out yourself.”
“What? Me?”
As I spoke absentmindedly while looking out the window, the lion asked back with a look of obvious bewilderment on his face.
“Why are you so surprised? It’s only natural. Have you forgotten who made me mistaken for a Saintess?”
The lion shrugged his shoulders as if he was stung by my words, but he just smiled as if he had no words to make an excuse.
If you have a conscience, it would be a natural thing to do.
It was something I did out of frustration at the scum who tried to push his daughter, who had returned from the dead, into even more hell, but it all started with the dead.
“If you hadn’t decided to treat me like a Saintess, things wouldn’t have turned out like this.”
“No, I never thought I would go all the way to the Great Hall. How could I fool the Pope ...”
The lion furrowed the corners of his eyes as if in embarrassment.
“Are he going to be fooled and fall for it like the humans a little while ago?”
“Of course not.”
How could he be so easygoing when he is the Pope?
Even the Emperor, whose intelligence was usually questioned, did not completely believe that I was a Saintess.
Even the carriage I am riding in now is not the carriage of a Saintess, but a carriage used by women who have been designated as Saintesses to travel to the temple for verification.
Only after the Pope's verification and the official canonization of a Saintess, will the Saintess's carriage be brought down.
So what I was saying was that just because I claim that 'the goddess has designated me as a Saintess' doesn't mean I can receive the status of a Saintess.
“They say that the Saintesses chosen by the goddess have a pattern appearing on their foreheads.”
As I muttered to myself, the lion, who was picking cookie crumbs out of his teeth with his claws, tilted his head.
“Really? The pattern appears?”
“..You didn’t know?”
“I don’t know. I’ve been stuck in a cave for a thousand years. And I’ve never seen a Saintess before.”
I clicked my tongue at the innocent expression of the lion and pointed to the sentence engraved on the carriage ceiling.
“That’s the sentence.”
“Oh, that one. Yes, that’s Hethel’s sentence.”
“Yes, take a good look at it. Later on, you will have to make that sentence appear on my forehead.”
“What? How can I do that?”
The lion asked in absurd terms.
He looked at me as if to say, "What kind of nonsense are you talking about?" but I just smiled leisurely.
“Hey, why are you doing this? The person who can even stop hail can’t do that much.”
At my words, the lion gasped and took a deep breath.
The Emperor looked troubled.
That was understandable, as the Veloce family was the only dukedom in the empire, and their fame, which had been passed down through generations, pierced the heavens.
Even if he was an Emperor, he could not punish the head of such a family without any solid evidence.
But he couldn't ignore my words that they call myself a Saintess.
“Yes, I understand. I’ll look into that myself.”
The Emperor, who had been groaning, soon looked at me and sorted out the situation.
“Shouldn't you go to the Great Hall first? How long will the Pope be waiting for you after thirteen years, when a Saintess has come forth?”
'Your Majesty, you are surprisingly intelligent.'
I nodded happily, inwardly marveling at the Emperor's intelligence, which seemed to be quite high, contrary to my expectations.
“Yes, Your Majesty. Even if the revelation came directly from the Goddess, I cannot omit the Pope’s verification.”
“Ahem, it’s not that I doubt you, but I hope you understand that it’s a procedural issue.”
“Of course, Your Majesty.”
I smiled confidently even though I had nothing to say.
“Then go down.”
As I followed the Emperor down the cliff, numerous imperial subjects were waiting for me.
“Saintess, please save the empire.”
“Please stop this terrible disaster!”
“Look after us, Saintess.”
They lined up tightly on both sides under the control of the knights and kept appealing to me for help.
'Wow, how can people change so much in an instant?'
It was hard to believe that these people, who had just recently mocked my death as a symbol of the abolition of social status, were being so polite.
I was so shocked that I couldn't close my mouth. I ignored them and walked briskly.
At the end of the road, a carriage was waiting for me.
A chariot with a goddess's pattern engraved in relief on a pure white background.
It was sent from the temple.
'I never thought the day would come when I would ride this.'
I felt a bit guilty about getting on a carriage like this with a body that had no energy at all, so I made the sign of the cross for no reason and was about to get on the carriage.
“Your Majesty, just a moment!”
A middle-aged woman pushed her way through the crowd and ran toward me.
“Oh, didn’t I tell you to follow the rules!”
One of the knights who was controlling the crowd that had gathered to see me hurriedly ran over and grabbed her.
“I have something to give you, Saintess. Please let me see you for a moment!”
“Well, I said no!”
The knight kept glancing in this direction as if he could sense the Emperor and me and tried to drag her away, but it didn't seem easy because the woman's resistance was quite strong.
I was quietly watching them bickering, and then I opened my mouth.
“It’s okay, Sir. Just leave it alone.”
She was just an ordinary citizen of the empire.
It didn't seem like a risk factor, and there was no reason not to meet her since she just had something to give.
“But, Saintess...!”
The knight, who had been looking embarrassed at my words, soon removed his hand that was holding her back as if he had no choice.
Then, a woman ran towards me out of breath, and carefully held out something in her hand.
“You must have had a hard day today, so why don’t you stop by here on your way home...”
It was a bundle made of old rags.
Looking at the packaging, the contents didn't seem to be that great.
But I gladly accepted the package.
“Thank you. I will enjoy the meal.”
The woman's eyes lit up with emotion as I held her hand and smiled.
I am the one who received the gift, but the reason the other person is so touched is probably because they are proud of being the first to offer a tribute to the Saintess who appeared after 13 years.
'I'm sorry, I don't have any holy power.'
I clicked my tongue inwardly, tapped the back of her hand twice, and quickly left the place.
“Ugh!”
With a lion roaring in vain, pretending to be solemn.
So I got on the carriage and opened the package, and there were about ten cookies the size of coins.
It was a low-quality cookie that looked rough at first glance and would normally not have caught my eye, but I found old memories inside it.
“Wow, it’s been a while.”
I smiled as I recalled the memory of when I was little when I would sneak out to the store dressed in civilian clothes with my mother and buy snacks like these. I was about to pick up a cookie and put it in my mouth.
"...”
I felt a dark gaze from somewhere.
I turned my head and saw a lion staring at me.
No, to be more precise, the cookie in my hand.
“...Why are you looking at me like that?”
“No, well... I’m just curious. I wonder what it is.”
Only then did the lion come to his senses and scratch his temple with his forepaw as if embarrassed.
“It’s my first time seeing this. Is it edible?”
“Yes, it’s a cookie. It’s made by kneading flour and baking it. Normally, it’s baked with a lot of sugar and butter, but this is cheap, so not much was used. Sugar and butter are expensive.”
Even in my explanation, the lion's gaze was fixed on the cookie the whole time.
The gaze was so persistent that I asked him offhandedly.
“Would you like to try it?”
“Oh, is that okay?”
“What’s so difficult?”
I readily handed over a cookie.
The lion quickly ate the cookie without even chewing it a few times as if he was in a hurry, and soon opened his eyes wide.
“Hey, what’s the name of this?”
“Cookies.”
“Cookies, cookies!”
The lion kept repeating the word 'cookie' with an expression that said, 'How can there be such delicious food in the world?'
'But aren't lions originally carnivores?'
It seems that the unfortunate living conditions of having to eat only moss for a thousand years had changed even their instincts.
“If it suits your taste, eat more. It may not be high-quality, but it’s better than moss.”
When I handed over the entire package with a heavy heart, the lion opened its mouth as if it had been waiting for me.
The lion's expression brightened noticeably as each cookie disappeared into his mouth.
The lion, who had eaten all ten cookies as if he were blinded by the wind, suddenly clenched his fists.
“Ha, I can’t believe I’m only tasting this delicious thing now. Hethel, if only this damn goddess had kept her promise, I would have eaten it five years ago! If I only ate ten a day, that’s eighteen thousand two hundred and fifty in five years!”
Wow, that's mental arithmetic.
When I first saw intelligence in a lion, I applauded inwardly.
The lion, who had been burning with anger at the fraudster for a long time, suddenly asked with a worried expression.
“But why did you suddenly ask to be examined by the temple? You don’t have any holy power. You’ll be found out in no time.”
“You have to figure that out yourself.”
“What? Me?”
As I spoke absentmindedly while looking out the window, the lion asked back with a look of obvious bewilderment on his face.
“Why are you so surprised? It’s only natural. Have you forgotten who made me mistaken for a Saintess?”
The lion shrugged his shoulders as if he was stung by my words, but he just smiled as if he had no words to make an excuse.
If you have a conscience, it would be a natural thing to do.
It was something I did out of frustration at the scum who tried to push his daughter, who had returned from the dead, into even more hell, but it all started with the dead.
“If you hadn’t decided to treat me like a Saintess, things wouldn’t have turned out like this.”
“No, I never thought I would go all the way to the Great Hall. How could I fool the Pope ...”
The lion furrowed the corners of his eyes as if in embarrassment.
“Are he going to be fooled and fall for it like the humans a little while ago?”
“Of course not.”
How could he be so easygoing when he is the Pope?
Even the Emperor, whose intelligence was usually questioned, did not completely believe that I was a Saintess.
Even the carriage I am riding in now is not the carriage of a Saintess, but a carriage used by women who have been designated as Saintesses to travel to the temple for verification.
Only after the Pope's verification and the official canonization of a Saintess, will the Saintess's carriage be brought down.
So what I was saying was that just because I claim that 'the goddess has designated me as a Saintess' doesn't mean I can receive the status of a Saintess.
“They say that the Saintesses chosen by the goddess have a pattern appearing on their foreheads.”
As I muttered to myself, the lion, who was picking cookie crumbs out of his teeth with his claws, tilted his head.
“Really? The pattern appears?”
“..You didn’t know?”
“I don’t know. I’ve been stuck in a cave for a thousand years. And I’ve never seen a Saintess before.”
I clicked my tongue at the innocent expression of the lion and pointed to the sentence engraved on the carriage ceiling.
“That’s the sentence.”
“Oh, that one. Yes, that’s Hethel’s sentence.”
“Yes, take a good look at it. Later on, you will have to make that sentence appear on my forehead.”
“What? How can I do that?”
The lion asked in absurd terms.
He looked at me as if to say, "What kind of nonsense are you talking about?" but I just smiled leisurely.
“Hey, why are you doing this? The person who can even stop hail can’t do that much.”
At my words, the lion gasped and took a deep breath.
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