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Chapter – 23
Since it was a letter, I had written “Your Excellency” politely—there’s no way he’d think I was angry over something like that, right? No. Of course not. There was no reason he would.
“Emily.”
“Yes, my lady.”
“Send the necklace I’ve been keeping, along with the incense we bought from the eastern merchant last time.”
“You mean the incense they said was good for calming the mind? Understood.”
He’d just met with the Crown Princess—he would need peace of mind. After all, he was someone who found the Crown Princess deeply uncomfortable.
And… the necklace I was returning was far too extravagant for me to keep. More than anything, there was a strong chance it hadn’t belonged to me in the first place. Thinking about that purple gemstone made it all the more certain.
“My lady, I’ve sent the letter together with the gifts as you instructed.”
“Good. Then let’s prepare to go out, Emily.”
“Where are you planning to go?”
Just as I’d written in my letter to Bihan, I had a way to stop the Crown Princess. There was no time to waste. To resolve this problem, I had to move one step ahead of her.
“The temple.”
“…Pardon?”
“I have business at the Temple of Light.”
Emily’s eyes widened in surprise.
The state religion of the Bientia Empire was the Temple of Light, which worshiped the sun. However, influenced by neighboring countries, various religions had come and gone over time, making Bientia a nation with relatively free religious views.
I belonged to the group that believed in no god at all. Even after experiencing the unbelievable phenomenon of reincarnation, I still did not believe in gods. As a child, I had lived two lives and yet never once felt the presence of a god. After my debutante days, I came to believe that if a god truly created this world, then standing by and watching it unfold like this was no different from toying with countless lives.
So it was only natural that Emily would be shocked when I—someone who had never once visited a temple—said I was going to one.
And that my father came rushing over immediately was also understandable… well, no. This was a bit much.
“Our daughter is going to the temple, you say.”
“You didn’t have to rush over so dramatically….”
“But Rose, unless something serious is happening, you’d have no reason to go to a temple.”
I’d merely said I was going to the temple, yet his expression was so grave. It seemed his dislike of the imperial family had extended even to the temple.
The imperial family of Bientia was believed to be descendants of the sun. And the most powerful religious institution in the empire—the Temple of Light—also worshiped the sun as its sole god. They shared divine magic said to originate from the same deity. That was why the imperial family and the temple were allies, reinforcing each other’s authority so the people of the empire would continue to believe in the “sun.” As long as the sun remained the supreme existence, their rule held power.
But that was all an old story now. The legend of the emperor being a descendant of the sun had long since lost its meaning, diluted like the thinning bloodline itself. And divine magic—said to be a blessing granted by the god to the faithful—was now wielded by only a handful of priests.
Though the collapse of the fragile alliance between the two powers would come later, one thing was certain: now that the temple had lost much of its ability to sustain faith, it desperately needed the support of ordinary believers.
“There’s someone trying to interfere with the foundation.”
“Then I’ll take care of it, Rose.”
“No. If Count Riothium moves, it’ll be too obvious. It’s better if our family isn’t mentioned at all. That’s why I intend to use the temple, Father.”
“Use them, you say…”
If the temple were to support the construction of a library in the slums, neither the Crown Princess nor even the Emperor would be able to stop it.
“It started with the residents of the slums—support built through consistent charitable work. The second step was positive public opinion among commoners, formed through the newspapers. Third, we gained the nobles’ support through Duke Kaisers’ guarantee.”
“…That leaves only the imperial family and the temple.”
“Yes. The fourth step is cooperation with the temple. It’ll be the largest library in the capital, open to everyone—shouldn’t there be at least one religious facility where people can pray?”
“…I see. If it benefits the temple, even the Emperor won’t be able to interfere lightly.”
“Exactly, right?”
“But Rose… your father is a little worried. As you know, the temple and the imperial family are in a close cooperative relationship. Whatever the temple knows could easily reach the palace.”
“But I have to set the stage.”
“…”
The temple was arrogant. With Lennon’s name alone—an outsider and a commoner—it would be difficult to approach a high-ranking priest. Even if I stirred public opinion again through the newspapers like before, the temple would cling to its pride and refuse to step forward first.
That was why I needed to create circumstances where Lennon could meet someone high up in the temple.
“I’m going to hide my real name as much as possible. I have another name I can use instead. Please trust me, Father. I’ll do this well.”
“…Yes. You’ve always managed on your own, my daughter.”
Even as he said that, his face was still full of worry. It couldn’t be helped. To my father, of all people, I must still look like a child who had only just turned twenty.
I didn’t dislike that. If anything, it only made me feel more cherished.
“Father.”
“Yes, Rose?”
“…Could you help me with just one thing?”
His face brightened. I must have disappointed him by refusing his help so consistently until now.
“Of course. Anything. What do you need, Rose? A donation for the temple, perhaps, or—”
“I have enough money.”
“Then?”
“The ‘Chalice of Light’ in the underground vault of Riothium Castle—does anyone know that you possess it?”
He stared at me in shock.
The Chalice of Light was one of the seven sacred relics of the Temple of Light, which worshiped the sun. Three were held by the temple, one by the imperial family. The remaining three were missing, their whereabouts unknown. The discovery that one of those lost relics was in Riothium Castle had been pure coincidence.
“…It’s surprising enough that you know about it. Almost no one does. How did you find out? Among everything in the vault, it must have been the most modest and most neglected item.”
“Still.”
A few years ago, while preparing for my debutante ceremony, I had gone down to the underground vault of Riothium Castle to look for suitable jewelry. There were many priceless items, making it enjoyable to browse—but among them was the chalice. In a vault that held only the most precious treasures of Riothium, its plainness made it stand out all the more.
“Is that chalice precious to you, Father?”
“Well…”
He smiled as he studied me.
“If it can be of use to you, that’s enough. It belonged to your mother, Mary.”
“…What? How could Mother possess a sacred relic…?”
“Lavita. Your mother was from that kingdom, wasn’t she?”
Ah… That ancient kingdom, now long vanished, had worshiped the sun for even longer than the empire. Still, it seemed strange that simply being from Lavita would mean she possessed a relic…
“…If it was Mother’s, then I—”
“Then you should use it freely, Rose. If it serves you well, your mother would be very pleased. Use it without hesitation.”
“…I’ll make sure I don’t use it in a way that would shame her.”
The Chalice of Light would be both the device that brought the temple completely to my side and the treasure that protected the library.
I would make it so.
The Temple of Light. The grand temple located in the capital of the empire was always crowded with visitors. Some came to pray, some to request divine magic from the priests, some to confess their sins and seek forgiveness.
But entry was not easy. As the temple gained power, it became a place one could not enter on courage alone.
Before the eastern gate of the temple, where carriages passed by, shabbily dressed people were desperately pleading with the holy knights guarding the entrance.
“There are still so many people at this entrance.”
“…For them, the only hope they can grasp is the divine magic the priests occasionally bestow.”
Emily answered with a bitter smile. She had once stood before the temple like this herself, praying desperately in her childhood.
Most of them likely had sick family members and lived in poverty. They had come to the temple seeking their last hope, but the priests used divine magic only in extremely limited cases.
They had no choice. Only a handful of priests capable of using divine magic remained. To prevent that fact from leaking outside the temple, divine magic had to be treated as something exceedingly rare and precious.
And so, when faith began to waver or donations were needed, the temple would select only a few from the many gathered and grant them divine magic in the name of the sun’s mercy. That was why people came to the temple every day, hoping that rare mercy would be granted to them.
“I always wonder… if this is truly the will of the god.”
“My lady…”
“Yes, yes. At this rate, the god may strike me down. Let’s go inside.”
Unlike the eastern gate, where the priests’ quarters were located, the southern gate leading to the sanctuary stood wide open. At a time like this, when there were no special ceremonies, the only visitors to the sanctuary would be devout believers who came to pray.
Climbing the white marble steps and passing through the massive doors revealed a sanctuary with an endlessly high ceiling, dazzling stained glass and chandeliers, and brilliant golden decorations.
“…Emily.”
“Yes, my lady.”
“From now on, call me Lady Mary.”
“Yes, Lady Mary.”
“I’ll place a donation and sit over there to pray. You stay here. And if anyone asks about me…”
I had several false identities. One was “Sir Mary,” and another was the “Patron Lady Mary” that Lennon often mentioned. The knight was entirely fictitious, but patron wasn’t wrong—the foundation’s funds mostly came from me.
Of course, the source of those donations wasn’t the Riothium vault, but my own assets.
“Tell them I’m the owner of ‘Carrel Street.’”
To run the foundation, I’d thought long and hard about the best way to secure funding. No matter how I looked at it, nothing beat real estate. It was the most stable choice—and I already knew which lands would rise in value.
Carrel Street. When I first bought it, it was just a street of small shops. Now, it was one of the most prosperous streets in the capital. In the future, it would become the street that Eiklet deemed the most beautiful—filled with shops frequently visited by the protagonists, where only good scenes unfolded and no horrific events ever occurred.
More than half of that street belonged to me.
“Isn’t that your biggest secret, my lady?”
“It’s safer to reveal this than to reveal my connection to the foundation.”
After all, nothing terrible would happen on Carrel Street—unlike the eastern slums the foundation was trying to save.
“I need to make it obvious that I’m very wealthy, Emily.”
So that the temple would bite the bait.
