For a moment I doubted my ears.
That would be the case because the red eye was an eye that did not exist in the world.
“Red eyes? What is that...? Are you sure? You're not seeing things wrong?”
I told her to tell me even if she wasn't sure, but she pushed Martha hard, making it seem pointless.
Martha, who had been hesitating as if her confidence had dropped, finally opened her mouth.
“That, that... I’m not sure either, so I can’t say anything... But from what I remember, it was definitely Red Eye, Saintess...”
“Ha, that’s ridiculous.”
Instead of comforting her for having the courage to report the incident, I continued to deny it. After a long time, I finally came to my senses.
“Sister... No, Martha. I need you to go to the palace right now.”
“Is this the Imperial City?”
“Yes, go and bring His Highness the Crown Prince. As soon as possible!”
“Ah... Yes, yes! I understand, Saintess!”
After tilting her head in confusion at the sudden order, Martha quickly ran out of the forest.
“Let’s go too, Delton.”
“Oh, yeah!”
I passed the priest who was standing there blankly and hurried back to the temple.
And then I waited anxiously for the Crown Prince to come.
“Ha, why are you so late?”
Back and forth, back and forth.
How many times did I go back and forth from one end of the room to the other?
Just as my patience was about to melt away, a knock was finally heard.
“Saintess, His Highness has arrived.”
At the news I had been waiting for, my body leaped out before my words.
I ran in a hurry and opened the door, and the Crown Prince looked down at me with a startled expression.
“Why did you open the door yourself..."
“What are you doing, coming in only now? Come in, hurry!”
I grabbed the Crown Prince's hand and pulled him into the room.
The Crown Prince's expression became even more puzzled.
“The maid who came to run the errand didn’t even tell me why, she just urged me to hurry... Why are you doing this? Did something come up?”
Oh, Martha?
I used to resent her for being so late, but now I see that she seems to have followed my instructions quite faithfully.
'Very well. I will take your secret meeting with that tall priest as secret as a pole to the grave.'
I nodded my head with a happy smile, but then I came to my senses and shook my head.
“Now is not the time to be talking about such idle things. This is a very serious situation!”
“I never said anything particularly idle. I just asked if something was wrong.”
Oh, is that so?
I was momentarily taken aback by the Crown Prince's remark but soon opened my mouth with a serious expression.
“What’s going on? Yes, I have. I think I’ve found a clue about the Saintess’s death.”
“Is that true?”
“Yes, maybe Saintess Margaret was murdered by someone. No, I think it’s definitely true.”
“What are you talking about... Who the hell murdered the Saintess?”
I immediately told the Crown Prince everything I had heard from Martha and the priest.
Of course, since the relationship between the two was to be kept secret, the witness was limited to Martha.
The expression on the Crown Prince's face, who had been quietly listening to my story, quickly hardened.
“Red eyes? I’ve never heard of eyes of that color. It’s a color that doesn’t even appear in mythology... Could it be that the maidservant was mistaken?”
“That may be true. It was a dark night when Martha witnessed it. But once we have that testimony, we can’t ignore it. And besides...”
“What is it? Please tell me.”
“If it’s true that the Saintess was murdered, isn’t it possible that she was an extra-human being? It would take incredible ability to kill a Saintess who holds the power of a goddess, and an ordinary human wouldn’t have that ability. Then, the Red Eye isn’t completely impossible.”
“That’s a plausible assumption.”
The Crown Prince, who had been thinking while rubbing his chin with his thumb, finally opened his mouth after a long time.
“Who else knows about this?”
“It’s just Your Highness, me, and Martha. I reported it to Your Highness as soon as I heard the report.”
Actually, there was another priest named Alex, but I had to keep that a secret, so I'll just say that for now.
“Then let me report to His Holiness first. It appears that Saintess Margaret had an encounter with a mysterious person and died afterward, so it seems that she was indeed murdered.”
“Yes, that would be good.”
After quickly coming to a consensus, we immediately went to see the Pope.
“Oh, I think this is the first time you two have come to see this old man together. Come on in. I was just hoping that some good tea would come in and that you would have someone to share it with. Hehe.”
The friendly face he had been welcoming us with only a moment, however, quickly hardened as he listened to the report.
“What... Are you really saying that the Saintess had an encounter with an unknown person before she died?”
The Pope, whose mouth was wide open in shock, asked Martha, who had come along as a witness.
“Yes, yes, Your Holiness. I saw it with my own eyes.”
“Ha, what is this... but why didn’t you report that fact!”
“That, that... I was afraid that if I were to take a walk alone in a forest with few people at that hour, I might be suspected, and that I might be accused of being involved in the death of the previous Saintess...”
“Does that make any sense!”
The Pope raised his voice unusually.
“Even so, how could you hide such a serious fact! When the daughter of a goddess might have been murdered! If you had told me then, the investigation would have been much easier, but how could you have kept it hidden for 13 years...!”
“My Lord, I have committed a mortal sin. Please punish me!”
Martha, terrified by the Pope's unusual scolding, fell flat on the floor and begged for forgiveness.
I hastily intervened because her voice was shaking so much that I felt like she was going to suffocate at any moment.
“Your Holiness, this sister was only thirteen years old at the time. It is only natural that she would be frightened, having witnessed such a terrible thing alone. But how wonderful it is that she is now revealing what she could have left buried forever. Please be lenient.”
“Ha, this is true.”
My persuasion must have worked because the Pope was no longer angry with Martha.
But given the circumstances, it was difficult to hide his agitation.
“How could this happen... How could the daughter of a goddess be harmed! And in this temple, the domain of the goddess! This is impossible, absolutely not!”
He leaned against the arm of his chair and cried bitterly. He immediately called someone over and gave an order.
“It has been revealed that the 28th Deputy, Saintess Margaret, may have been murdered. Announce this fact to the world immediately, and search the entire country to find the person with the red eyes.”
“Yes? Oh, yes, I understand, Your Holiness!”
The Pope's order was quickly carried out.
Posters were posted all over the country, and rumors spread that the temple was looking for the one with the red eyes.
Naturally, the empire was in an uproar, and reports poured in from all over the country.
The temple visited each and every person who had been reported to check their eye color, but unfortunately, none of them had clearly red eyes.
Most had pink or purple eyes, and some even had eyes of different colors.
Those who were not on good terms with them made false reports to cause trouble for them.
The Crown Prince and I, who were frustrated with the investigation that was making little progress, could not sit still and started searching through the library.
Even if they don't exist now, there may have been people with red eyes in ancient times.
However, even after searching through various books such as history books, myths, and popular novels, I could not find a single line about someone with red eyes.
“Wow, this is driving me crazy.”
I threw down the book I was reading in frustration.
It's already been a week since I last visited the temple library.
And yet I haven't even read a tenth of the books here.
But I couldn't just give up, so I rubbed my heavy eyes and tried to focus my gaze on the book again, but then I felt a serious gaze from somewhere.
“...?”
I looked up wondering what was going on and saw the Crown Prince sitting in front of me staring at me.
“...”
“...”
We met each other's eyes quietly.
Perhaps it was because we were in a situation where there was only a candle in the pitch dark, but things that we normally took for granted came into view as if they were nothing special.
Smooth black hair that shines even in the dark.
Skin without a single blemish.
A nose as high as his status and a sharp jawline.
There are also mysteriously sparkling, dark purple eyes that hold orange candlelight.
The Crown Prince's mouth stiffened slightly as my gaze scanned all of those things in turn.
As if he was really nervous.
The moment I saw that sight, a strong conviction struck my mind.
This guy has been watching me for quite some time.
As if he had read my thoughts, the tips of his fingers holding the book twitched.
As I watched him, who was showing off his tricks as if he were a thief, just like the proverb, “A thief’s own feet are numb,” I let out a short sigh and slowly opened my mouth.
“Your Highness, how long have you been playing around?”
That would be the case because the red eye was an eye that did not exist in the world.
“Red eyes? What is that...? Are you sure? You're not seeing things wrong?”
I told her to tell me even if she wasn't sure, but she pushed Martha hard, making it seem pointless.
Martha, who had been hesitating as if her confidence had dropped, finally opened her mouth.
“That, that... I’m not sure either, so I can’t say anything... But from what I remember, it was definitely Red Eye, Saintess...”
“Ha, that’s ridiculous.”
Instead of comforting her for having the courage to report the incident, I continued to deny it. After a long time, I finally came to my senses.
“Sister... No, Martha. I need you to go to the palace right now.”
“Is this the Imperial City?”
“Yes, go and bring His Highness the Crown Prince. As soon as possible!”
“Ah... Yes, yes! I understand, Saintess!”
After tilting her head in confusion at the sudden order, Martha quickly ran out of the forest.
“Let’s go too, Delton.”
“Oh, yeah!”
I passed the priest who was standing there blankly and hurried back to the temple.
And then I waited anxiously for the Crown Prince to come.
“Ha, why are you so late?”
Back and forth, back and forth.
How many times did I go back and forth from one end of the room to the other?
Just as my patience was about to melt away, a knock was finally heard.
“Saintess, His Highness has arrived.”
At the news I had been waiting for, my body leaped out before my words.
I ran in a hurry and opened the door, and the Crown Prince looked down at me with a startled expression.
“Why did you open the door yourself..."
“What are you doing, coming in only now? Come in, hurry!”
I grabbed the Crown Prince's hand and pulled him into the room.
The Crown Prince's expression became even more puzzled.
“The maid who came to run the errand didn’t even tell me why, she just urged me to hurry... Why are you doing this? Did something come up?”
Oh, Martha?
I used to resent her for being so late, but now I see that she seems to have followed my instructions quite faithfully.
'Very well. I will take your secret meeting with that tall priest as secret as a pole to the grave.'
I nodded my head with a happy smile, but then I came to my senses and shook my head.
“Now is not the time to be talking about such idle things. This is a very serious situation!”
“I never said anything particularly idle. I just asked if something was wrong.”
Oh, is that so?
I was momentarily taken aback by the Crown Prince's remark but soon opened my mouth with a serious expression.
“What’s going on? Yes, I have. I think I’ve found a clue about the Saintess’s death.”
“Is that true?”
“Yes, maybe Saintess Margaret was murdered by someone. No, I think it’s definitely true.”
“What are you talking about... Who the hell murdered the Saintess?”
I immediately told the Crown Prince everything I had heard from Martha and the priest.
Of course, since the relationship between the two was to be kept secret, the witness was limited to Martha.
The expression on the Crown Prince's face, who had been quietly listening to my story, quickly hardened.
“Red eyes? I’ve never heard of eyes of that color. It’s a color that doesn’t even appear in mythology... Could it be that the maidservant was mistaken?”
“That may be true. It was a dark night when Martha witnessed it. But once we have that testimony, we can’t ignore it. And besides...”
“What is it? Please tell me.”
“If it’s true that the Saintess was murdered, isn’t it possible that she was an extra-human being? It would take incredible ability to kill a Saintess who holds the power of a goddess, and an ordinary human wouldn’t have that ability. Then, the Red Eye isn’t completely impossible.”
“That’s a plausible assumption.”
The Crown Prince, who had been thinking while rubbing his chin with his thumb, finally opened his mouth after a long time.
“Who else knows about this?”
“It’s just Your Highness, me, and Martha. I reported it to Your Highness as soon as I heard the report.”
Actually, there was another priest named Alex, but I had to keep that a secret, so I'll just say that for now.
“Then let me report to His Holiness first. It appears that Saintess Margaret had an encounter with a mysterious person and died afterward, so it seems that she was indeed murdered.”
“Yes, that would be good.”
After quickly coming to a consensus, we immediately went to see the Pope.
“Oh, I think this is the first time you two have come to see this old man together. Come on in. I was just hoping that some good tea would come in and that you would have someone to share it with. Hehe.”
The friendly face he had been welcoming us with only a moment, however, quickly hardened as he listened to the report.
“What... Are you really saying that the Saintess had an encounter with an unknown person before she died?”
The Pope, whose mouth was wide open in shock, asked Martha, who had come along as a witness.
“Yes, yes, Your Holiness. I saw it with my own eyes.”
“Ha, what is this... but why didn’t you report that fact!”
“That, that... I was afraid that if I were to take a walk alone in a forest with few people at that hour, I might be suspected, and that I might be accused of being involved in the death of the previous Saintess...”
“Does that make any sense!”
The Pope raised his voice unusually.
“Even so, how could you hide such a serious fact! When the daughter of a goddess might have been murdered! If you had told me then, the investigation would have been much easier, but how could you have kept it hidden for 13 years...!”
“My Lord, I have committed a mortal sin. Please punish me!”
Martha, terrified by the Pope's unusual scolding, fell flat on the floor and begged for forgiveness.
I hastily intervened because her voice was shaking so much that I felt like she was going to suffocate at any moment.
“Your Holiness, this sister was only thirteen years old at the time. It is only natural that she would be frightened, having witnessed such a terrible thing alone. But how wonderful it is that she is now revealing what she could have left buried forever. Please be lenient.”
“Ha, this is true.”
My persuasion must have worked because the Pope was no longer angry with Martha.
But given the circumstances, it was difficult to hide his agitation.
“How could this happen... How could the daughter of a goddess be harmed! And in this temple, the domain of the goddess! This is impossible, absolutely not!”
He leaned against the arm of his chair and cried bitterly. He immediately called someone over and gave an order.
“It has been revealed that the 28th Deputy, Saintess Margaret, may have been murdered. Announce this fact to the world immediately, and search the entire country to find the person with the red eyes.”
“Yes? Oh, yes, I understand, Your Holiness!”
The Pope's order was quickly carried out.
Posters were posted all over the country, and rumors spread that the temple was looking for the one with the red eyes.
Naturally, the empire was in an uproar, and reports poured in from all over the country.
The temple visited each and every person who had been reported to check their eye color, but unfortunately, none of them had clearly red eyes.
Most had pink or purple eyes, and some even had eyes of different colors.
Those who were not on good terms with them made false reports to cause trouble for them.
The Crown Prince and I, who were frustrated with the investigation that was making little progress, could not sit still and started searching through the library.
Even if they don't exist now, there may have been people with red eyes in ancient times.
However, even after searching through various books such as history books, myths, and popular novels, I could not find a single line about someone with red eyes.
“Wow, this is driving me crazy.”
I threw down the book I was reading in frustration.
It's already been a week since I last visited the temple library.
And yet I haven't even read a tenth of the books here.
But I couldn't just give up, so I rubbed my heavy eyes and tried to focus my gaze on the book again, but then I felt a serious gaze from somewhere.
“...?”
I looked up wondering what was going on and saw the Crown Prince sitting in front of me staring at me.
“...”
“...”
We met each other's eyes quietly.
Perhaps it was because we were in a situation where there was only a candle in the pitch dark, but things that we normally took for granted came into view as if they were nothing special.
Smooth black hair that shines even in the dark.
Skin without a single blemish.
A nose as high as his status and a sharp jawline.
There are also mysteriously sparkling, dark purple eyes that hold orange candlelight.
The Crown Prince's mouth stiffened slightly as my gaze scanned all of those things in turn.
As if he was really nervous.
The moment I saw that sight, a strong conviction struck my mind.
This guy has been watching me for quite some time.
As if he had read my thoughts, the tips of his fingers holding the book twitched.
As I watched him, who was showing off his tricks as if he were a thief, just like the proverb, “A thief’s own feet are numb,” I let out a short sigh and slowly opened my mouth.
“Your Highness, how long have you been playing around?”
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