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Chapter 6
There was no more time.
Skipping any greetings, Helicia immediately ran into the forest with Lato.
As she hurried back toward the temple, she asked,
“How much time is left until the coronation, Lato?”
“About an hour. By now, they’ve probably turned the place upside down looking for you, Lady Helicia.”
At Lato’s answer, Helicia let out a sigh of relief.
From behind her, Arpessian’s voice echoed faintly like a distant call.
“If something happens later, come find me at the Estar Imperial Palace! I’ll definitely repay this debt!”
Someone she would be seeing again soon anyway.
Thinking of meeting him at the coronation, Helicia couldn’t help but feel a little regretful about the tree branch she had left behind.
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“Lady Helicia! Lady Helicia!”
“Where is the Saintess?!”
As expected, priests all over the temple were searching for her.
The temple was bustling with people gathered for the coronation.
Helicia quickly changed clothes in Lato’s small quarters and said,
“Just say that Lato found me.”
“Where should I say I found you?”
“Let’s say I felt weak after coming to the temple, so I went out to the fields, the mountains, the streams—hunting snakes—and got lost!”
“…Is there a reason it has to be snakes?”
“They’re good for your health. Want me to catch one for you later, Lato?”
Helicia pulled her head through the plain white priest robe and slipped her arms into the sleeves.
Raising her thin, small arms, she added confidently,
“I’m really good at catching snakes now!”
“I’ll just say you got lost.”
Lato replied stiffly, standing by the door with his back turned.
It was unusual for him to be this tense.
Helicia loosened her roughly tied hair and brushed it with her fingers before lightly tapping his back.
“If you act awkward like that, people will get suspicious, Lato.”
His shoulders jerked in surprise.
Well, he’s fourteen—makes sense. Full of youthful energy.
Clearing his throat awkwardly, he answered calmly without changing his expression,
“I didn’t look.”
“Who said you did?”
“You seem to be misunderstanding. It’s just… someone entering my room for the first time.”
“Oh, that was long and convincing. You pass.”
Stretching her arm up, Helicia stood on her tiptoes and patted his much taller back a couple of times before walking past him.
As soon as she stepped out, the temple was in complete chaos.
It seemed that everyone with two legs and a pair of eyes—including the High Priest—had been mobilized to find her.
The moment she set foot in the vast temple, people began recognizing her.
From every corner, even from the top levels, heads popped out calling her name.
In the entirely white temple, colorful heads popping up everywhere made them look like moles.
“Saintess!”
“Lady Helicia, where on earth did you go?!”
“The High Priest almost collapsed clutching the back of his neck while looking for you!”
Helicia hadn’t actually planned to strike Verdic’s neck, but somehow things had reached a similar conclusion anyway.
If things were going to come true like that, she wished it had been something else.
As the priests gathered, Lato began delivering the prepared explanation.
“She is not yet familiar with the temple and appears to have gotten lost.”
“We even checked under the carriage, but she wasn’t there…”
“She is quite small in stature—perhaps you overlooked her.”
The priest tilted his head slightly, as if unconvinced.
But realizing there was no time, he quickly gave up his suspicion.
Soon, Helicia was swept away by the fussing priests and changed into the Saintess coronation robe.
A pure white garment said to be worn only by one blessed by the divine.
Intricate patterns of gold and silver thread, along with lavish embroidery, instantly transformed the orphan who had been crawling through alleys in search of food just days ago into someone noble.
Just a single piece of clothing.
When she finished preparing and stepped out, soft gasps escaped from the waiting priests.
“O God Kashei… you have not abandoned us.”
“How can she be so beautiful…”
“It inspires reverence just by looking at her!”
Helicia looked at her reflection in the grand temple window.
Bathed in bright daylight, she appeared elegant and dignified.
Her wavy platinum-blonde hair flowed like water, and her clear, sky-colored eyes were transparent.
Perhaps because she had grown up malnourished, her small frame made her look almost doll-like, buried within the oversized robes.
Six attendants held up the long trailing hem of her garment behind her like a carpet.
Looking at herself, Helicia’s eighteenth thought was simple:
‘This is uncomfortable.’
The dragging robe irritated her.
Though she’d hardly ever wear it again, the fact that she couldn’t even walk without someone holding it behind her—yet people felt reverence for it—was absurd.
‘I kind of want to roll around on the ground like this.’
The priests would probably faint in shock.
Just imagining the expensive robe getting covered in dirt made her feel oddly pleased.
If it was something the gods would hate, she felt like she could do anything.
A mischievous smile crept onto Helicia’s face, causing one of the priests to flinch.
“Then we will now proceed—L-Lady Helicia?”
“Yes?”
Pretending nothing happened, Helicia widened her eyes innocently.
The priest blinked, thinking he must have imagined it.
“N-no, it’s nothing. We will proceed.”
Though puzzled, Helicia moved as the sound of the coronation organ filled the temple.
Naturally, Lato took her hand and guided her forward.
“I will escort you.”
As she entered the central hall, countless eyes already waiting turned toward her.
“After nearly twenty years, God Kashei has bestowed a miracle.”
High Priest Verdic’s solemn voice echoed throughout the temple.
Colorful light streamed through the stained glass windows.
The stairs leading up for the coronation were covered in a single kind of flower.
Rodante—the flower symbolizing the temple—crunched like paper underfoot.
As Helicia took her first step, Lato adjusted their joined hands to match their height difference.
The priests holding her robe let go one by one, and eventually even Lato released her hand when he could no longer reach.
Behind her, the white fabric flowed like a trail.
Only when she reached the top did Verdic look at her and smile gently.
Warmth filled the wrinkles around his eyes.
“Through the Saintess, with the Saintess, and within God, may all honor and glory be eternal.”
He placed a chain adorned with a golden jewel—the symbol of the Saintess—upon her head.
Sunlight poured down from above.
When she lifted her head, the magnificent interior of the temple came into view.
Some priests, overwhelmed with emotion, wiped away tears.
For twenty years, the position of Saintess had remained vacant.
Whether it was simply a gap or the temple’s failure to find one blessed by the divine, the result was the same—the temple had been treated as abandoned.
Some high-ranking priests, able to use even a trace of divine power, had begun taking bribes.
Since divine power was never meant for personal gain, Verdic could only feel anger and disappointment.
But a High Priest without a Saintess held little power.
Over those twenty years, the authority of the temple had fallen to the ground, and believers had noticeably decreased.
Thus, the appearance of a Saintess after such a long stagnation held extraordinary meaning.
‘So that’s why they made it this extravagant…’
It felt embarrassing, like they were proudly announcing her existence to the entire world.
As she awkwardly made her way down due to the long robe, Lato tilted her weight toward himself and said,
“Please lean on me. I can support you.”
But Helicia subtly pushed the cumbersome fabric aside with her foot as she descended.
If the priests found out how she treated the sacred robe, they’d be horrified—but she had no devotion left anyway.
She was only being careful because it looked expensive.
Still, Lato’s gaze lingered on the robe being stepped on.
Noticing this, Helicia widened her eyes and asked innocently,
“What?”
“…It’s nothing.”
After a brief hesitation, Lato forced himself to look away and continued escorting her.
As soon as she came down, tense gazes examined her.
Among them were golden eyes.
Arpessian, now neatly dressed, stood frozen in shock.
He couldn’t even respond to the greetings being offered to him.
