PDHTFV 42

~Chapter 42~

Maybe my prayer worked, because when Yushen saw me at the meeting place, he didn’t act like he knew me.

Actually, he looked too busy to even notice anyone. It made sense—there were a lot of office workers, not fighters, so Yushen had more work to do.

‘Well, most people pulled out for sudden missions are office workers, like me.’

I worried the mood might get low, but I was wrong. Everyone seemed used to getting called out for these things, and even the office workers knew a bit about fighting.

Most of the members moved quickly after hearing Yushen’s plan. I just followed along with my group, doing my best.

Today’s mission was to take down an illegal market full of illegal drugs in just one day. Yushen announced it himself.

I didn’t know what made him suddenly want to do this, but the reason made sense:

“We need to clean up the capital before the Day of Prayer festival.”

I agreed with the reason. But…

‘Why are we only getting rid of Cupid?’

That part was a little strange, but since there wasn’t enough time to catch every crime, I nodded.

It was a great chance for me! I needed something to help Yushen and Idelia get closer, and now I had the chance to see and touch “Cupid” myself.

Working in Luche, I’d heard of the drug “Cupid.” It’s supposed to be like a love potion, which was just what I needed.

So whether the mission went well or not, I only wanted to make sure I could get my hands on Cupid.

And luckily, that wish came true.

“Hey! Don’t throw that around! Handle it carefully! That one bottle is worth more than your salary, you know?”

“Ah, come on! It’s all getting destroyed anyway. Why do you care?”

The criminal complaining was dragged away by the collar.

What happened was this: the group selling only Cupid got completely destroyed by Yushen and his team.

‘Wow, he really crushed them.’

Yushen used his holy power to chase them down, and they were caught easily.

The rest was simple. In less than an hour, the whole group was arrested and dragged to jail.

Watching Yushen smash the group from behind was shocking. He looked like a wild animal that lost its mind. His violet eyes even seemed to turn red, which made me shiver. The others felt the same.

“Did you see the chief’s crazy eyes earlier?”

“Yeah, I thought I was the only one who saw it. He was really scary.”

As we moved the bottles of Cupid onto a wagon, the members kept talking about Yushen’s fighting.

Honestly, I’d only seen those wild eyes when he was chasing me before.

I kept pace with the others, and while everyone was busy, I slipped one bottle of Cupid into my jacket pocket.

I stood up straight and looked around. No one was paying attention to me. That was the most important thing.

Usually, people get caught doing bad things because they act too nervous. I told myself to act as bold and normal as possible, then went back to moving more Cupid.

Time passed quickly, and suddenly it was the day before the Day of Prayer festival.

The others were busy preparing, but I didn’t have much to do, so I had some free time.

There was proof I’d spent my days peacefully:

‘Compared to our first meeting, I’ve gotten really close to Idelia.’

It wasn’t just my imagination. Now Idelia didn’t say mean things to me anymore. All my hard work to get close to her paid off.

Let me tell you some stories. Just a few days after the market raid, Idelia came to find me.

As I guessed, she wanted to bother me. But that day, I had a lot of free time and spent the whole afternoon in the library. Idelia was upset she came for nothing, so she stomped into the library, even though you’re supposed to be quiet there.

I wanted to clap for her effort, but I held back.

“I don’t like that book.”

I was reading on a soft library sofa when I heard Idelia’s sweet voice right next to me.

Since my Ria (that’s what I call her in my head) didn’t like this book, I got up and grabbed a random book from the nearest shelf.

“I don’t like the author’s ideas in this book.”

Ria, do you even know who the author is? One of the cardinals wrote this book…

I glanced at Idelia and grabbed another book.

“I don’t like that book because it ranks people by holy power.”

I repeated this about twenty times, and it was exhausting going back and forth. I wanted to match Idelia’s mood, but I was running out of energy.

But what was amazing was that, even though we were noisy, no one told us to be quiet. That’s because Idelia is the empire’s top saintess—only a cardinal could tell her what to do.

By the way, Abrelshud didn’t come to the library today. I missed my chance, but for the main character, I could spare any amount of time.

I wanted to keep going along with Ria’s mood, but soon it was time for me to go back to my department.

“…What? You’re not reading more books?”

Idelia watched me putting all the books back on the shelf, sounding surprised.

“I have to go back to work.”

“Why?”

“I have to make a living, you know.”

“…Don’t you get money from your family’s allowance?”

I stopped putting books away and looked at Idelia.

She looked at me with a harmless, innocent face.

I just smiled and went back to putting the books away.

‘Of course she’d say that—she’s a count’s daughter.’

Idelia didn’t do anything wrong. If you grew up in a rich family, it was natural to think like that. In Luche, everyone except Aydin came from a noble family, so she probably thought I did too.

I finished putting away the books and stood in front of Idelia. She just stared at me.

“Unfortunately, I don’t get anything like that.”

“Why? What kind of family would do that to you?”

“It’s fine. That’s not what’s important right now.”

Idelia’s face twisted. She seemed to think nothing was more important than what she just said.

I shrugged.

“Do you remember that book you said you didn’t like earlier?”

“…Uh? Um…”

So transparent. Anyone could see she didn’t remember at all.

That was expected. Picking a fight with me was more important to her than what I was reading.

I almost laughed but held it in. Then I put on a serious face.

“That book was written by Cardinal Bellis.”

“…Huh?”

“It’s one of the temple’s recommended holy power books. I never thought the saintess would say she didn’t like it.”

“Huh? What…?”

Idelia’s big eyes blinked fast in confusion. She looked really cute.

I wanted to tease her more, but I was out of time, so I left her standing there, dazed.

She was probably pretty shocked, and after that, things were quiet for a few days.

Then, on another day, I went to the chapel for the weekly Thursday service.

Idelia, who had been quiet, showed up again.

In the chapel, the saintess has a special seat, but Idelia ignored that and sat right next to me.

People tried to reason with her, but no one could change her mind.

In the end, they had to start the service anyway.

“Did you know? I accidentally broke the arm of that statue over there, but I fixed it. You can’t even tell, right? Guess who helped me glue it back?”

“…”

“Chief Yushen! Aren’t you jealous?”

“…”

“This service is so boring.”

“…”

“Actually, all the services are boring. I wish someone would make them more fun.”

Idelia chattered nonstop, not paying any attention to the service.

The people around us started to leave, frowning at her endless talking.

I just gave them an awkward smile.

It seemed like Idelia was trying to keep me from paying attention to the service and make the others dislike me.

But honestly…

‘I actually like it!’

I also thought the service was boring. I worried about falling asleep, but Idelia’s chatter helped me stay awake.

Instead of the holy voice echoing through the chapel, I listened to Idelia’s sweet voice right next to me.

As she talked, she started sharing personal stories without even noticing.

“Everyone loves me, especially Cardinal Abrelshud. He—”

“What?”

I spoke a little louder without thinking, just as the service went silent. My voice echoed through the chapel, and over a hundred pairs of eyes turned to stare at me.