The Beloved Fake Saint

Chapter 5

I stood up when I saw the man who opened the door. It was Reihas, looking shiny as ever in his clean white uniform.

Does the pope normally barge into the saint’s room like this?

I tilted my head curiously. “May the blessing of the nine deities be with Your Holiness,” I said with a formal bow, swallowing my suspicion.

“Thank you, Ariel.” He accepted my greeting with a smile, as if to commend my manners. “Were you studying?” he asked, walking toward me.

He must have noticed I was writing. I shuddered to think what might happen if he saw my escape plan.

He might even...

The memory of his cold eyes and long sword sent a shiver down my spine. In one quick movement, I shoved my calculations to the side and thrust another piece of paper forward. “Perfect timing, Your Holiness.”

“What’s this?”

To my great relief, he readily accepted the piece of paper, albeit with a puzzled look on his face. He leaned back against the window with the paper in his hand. Even without the sunshine pouring in behind him, he glowed. His frame was strong and manly, but his face could only be described as beautiful. I still couldn’t believe this angelic creature was the same man who killed Annie right in front of me.

“I’d appreciate your thoughts on my speech for His Highness’s birthday banquet tomorrow.”

Soon, I would get to meet the second male protagonist of the novel—the man that Ariel secretly loved. Of course, I had no intention of following in her footsteps, but I was curious to see Prince Kyle in real life.

The speech I had just handed to Reihas was not written by me, the old Ariel had left it behind. I hadn’t even read it except for the title: “A Birthday Message for His Highness, the Crown Prince.”

Still leaning against the window, he began reading it aloud. “Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to our beloved Prince Kyle. The crown prince was born to be loved. And you are loved indeed, dear sweet prince. Loved by the nine gods from the beginning of time...” Reihas slowly trailed off.

My face was bright red.

Ariel! I knew she wasn’t the brightest, but I didn’t know it was this bad.

I felt like I could die of embarrassment. I was desperate to keep Reihas from finding my calculations, but clearly I’d picked the wrong distraction.

“It’s too rough of a draft for Your Holiness to review,” I chimed in hastily, trying to correct my mistake. “I’ll rewrite it and—”

“Love, huh?” Reihas cut off my flustered rambling with a twisted smile.

I blinked.

“Do you love Crown Prince Kyle?”

Instead of pointing out the rudimentary style of that ridiculous speech, he suddenly asked how I felt about Kyle.

I continued to stare blankly at him. His face was mostly obscured by the light behind him, but I imagined he didn’t look happy.

“Oh, um... well... It’s not romantic love, if that’s what you mean...” He had every right to be upset. It was pretty pathetic for a fraud to have a crush on the crown prince. “It’s sacred love, like the way the gods love us.”

I was raised in a cut-throat environment, so I was pretty good at getting myself out of trouble or turning a situation in my favor. I reframed Ariel’s confession of love as merely a turn of phrase.

“And if Prince Kyle does not take it as an expression?” Reihas continued disapprovingly, leaning forwards. “What will you do then?”

I could see myself reflected in his golden eyes, which had grown unusually dark.

Why is he so serious all of a sudden?

I had no idea what he meant by that. Ariel, of course, never meant those words as an expression. But if Prince Kyle was anything like his character in the original novel, there was an almost zero percent chance he would take it seriously.

“Hmm... If there’s room for misunderstanding, then I should rewrite it,” I replied.

I didn’t want to argue with him. And even if he hadn’t pointed that out, I was going to rewrite it anyway. There was no way I would read that crappy love letter in front of all those people.

“I thought I was mistaken,” he said with a gentle smile in his eyes. “But I feel like you’ve grown a lot lately.”

The old Ariel would’ve wept hearing that she had to rewrite her love letter. But I wasn’t her.

“Would you review the speech again once I rewrite it?” I asked.

Reihas held the paper out in his gloved hands. “Of course. It would be my pleasure.”

I tried retrieving the paper from him, planning to tear it to pieces the moment he left the room. But it slipped out of my hand and landed somewhere between the hem of my dress and the floor. When I rushed to pick it up...

“Don’t move,” Reihas commanded in his low voice.

I flinched at the sound of his firm voice ordering me around. He slowly bent his knees and back. It was strange to see his head beneath my chest when he was at least a foot taller than me. He reached out his gloved hand to collect the paper, brushing against the hem of my dress. Staring at his head bent down below me, I felt inexplicably shocked. He slowly grabbed the paper and stood back up. It was strange to see his hair a little disheveled.

“Thank you,” I said, accepting the paper and gazing into his eyes. But then I remembered what happened with Annie and quickly looked away.

“I’ll see you tomorrow morning then,” he said.

I thought I heard a hint of laughter in his voice.

* * *

After finishing my early dinner, I went to the temple library with the maids.

I planned to borrow some books on imperial etiquette and special events to help write my speech for the crown prince.

“Your Holiness, I believe books related to imperial events are located in the southeast wing on the first floor in the corner of the third row,” one of the maids said after checking with the librarian.

I headed straight in that direction.

All priests, knights, and disciples of Elium Temple, including the saint, were allowed to borrow books. These were coveted positions since Elium was the central temple of the empire. Only the most prestigious of nobles made it through the screening process. Because these positions carried so much weight in the empire, there were naturally some who let it go to their heads.

“Please... I’m a priestess serving the gods.”

“That doesn’t mean you can’t go out. You’ve got to eat, don’t you? Besides, you’re not even an official priestess yet. You’re still a trainee. You can trust me. I’m a disciple of Elium Temple too.”

I stopped when I heard their voices. It was a young priestess and a man. It wasn’t hard to guess what was happening behind the bookshelf.

“I’ve already eaten. And official priestess or not, I must keep myself pure to serve the deities.”

“Oh, then how about a drink? I can show you a much more interesting world than this dreary temple.”

“Good sir, if you keep insulting me like this, I’ll have no choice but to report you to the temple.”

I let out a small sigh. To be honest, I don’t like meddling in other people’s business. But they were right in front of the book I needed, and I had no time to waste if I was going to finish my speech by morning. Otherwise I would have stayed out of it.

Turning the corner, I saw a pale-faced, blue-haired priestess pinned against a bookshelf. A man in his mid-thirties towered over her in an obvious display of power.

Behind them, I saw the book: The Collection of Congratulatory Speeches for Imperial Banquets.

I let out another small sigh and said, “Would you please move out of the way?”