Chapter 2

Johannes Chastel was irritated.

"Damn it, they're all useless...!"

The reports coming in from the small shrines across the region were as bad as ever. He knew the shrines in this country were corrupt, but seeing the clumsy tampered documents made him want to tell them to be more cunning if they were going to commit evil deeds. He clicked his tongue in frustration.

"Tch! The Kylanode small shrine, which should be a barrier, isn't working at all, allowing the miasma to reach the capital... Hey! Call Alm!"

Scratching his head vigorously, Johannes ordered the knight standing behind him. However, the knight, who should have immediately acted on the order, did not move an inch.

"I can't call her."

"What do you mean?"

The knight sent Johannes a look of exasperation.

"You can't call someone who isn't here."

"Huh? Where did she go? Is she slacking off?"

"What are you talking about?"

Johannes frowned, feeling as if he were being looked at like a piece of trash. This knight was deeply loyal to the royal family and had served as Johannes' guard for many years, being the seventh prince and a priest. He was not the type to look at his lord like a forgotten piece of garbage.

"You were the one who drove her away."

"Huh?"

"You bullied her relentlessly, with insults and verbal abuse, and subjected her to a storm of power harassment, pushing her to the brink both mentally and physically... For a prince to try to bully a pure young girl like that..."

"Wait, hold on!"

Johannes was flustered by the ominous tone.

"What are you talking about!?"

"That's what you did, Prince Johannes. There's a rule that the internal affairs of the shrine must not be leaked, so we couldn't seek help from other royals. We are also guilty for just watching, but I hope that girl can find happiness in a place without such a tyrant."

"Hey!"

The accusations of tyranny and wrongdoing were harsh.

"What do you mean by 'ran away'...?"

"Prince!!"

Interrupting Johannes and the knight's conversation, Kisara Delowain, the daughter of a duke, burst into the office with a fierce demeanor. She was one of the four holy maidens in the shrine.

Kisara, with her beautiful wine-colored eyes blazing with anger, confronted Johannes.

"You drove Alm away! You shameless person!!"

"What!?"

Startled by the sudden scolding, Johannes toppled his chair as he stood up.

"What are you talking about!!"

"Everyone in the shrine is saying it! Prince Johannes is the worst, a human scum, a person without a heart!"

"The worst! You should die!"

"You should be left in the sewer for three years!"

"Hey!!"

Before he knew it, the other two holy maidens had joined in, berating Johannes.

"What do you mean by putting a royal in the sewer... No, but! I didn't call you! What happened to Alm!?"

When Johannes shouted, the three holy maidens and the knight all wore extremely displeased expressions, as if they had seen a mysterious bug crawling out of a kitchen drain.

"So... she's not here anymore."

"...What?"

The knight waved his hand dismissively, as if swatting away a bothersome insect.

"Didn't you tell her to quit?"

Johannes' eyes widened and his mouth gaped open in shock.

***

All the tasks that should have been shared among the other holy maidens, such as purification, healing, and maintaining barriers, were assigned to Alm. She was even given mountains of paperwork that were not typically part of a holy maiden's duties, and was scolded for being "too slow" and having "messy handwriting. Do you have the awareness of a holy maiden?"

The task of fetching holy water, which should have been rotated, somehow ended up being Alm's responsibility every day. She was expected to arrive for the early morning prayers earlier than anyone else, and even when other holy maidens were still absent, Alm alone was scolded for being "late." She was reprimanded for "slacking off" if she closed her eyes for a moment after lunch due to extreme fatigue. Even when she lost her appetite due to fatigue and lack of sleep, she was not allowed to leave any food, as "a holy maiden wasting food is unacceptable."

The withering of flowers in the shrine's garden was also blamed on Alm and she was scolded for it.

At first, the other holy maidens laughed at Alm's plight, but gradually they began to frown and started to help her. However, whenever they helped, Alm was scolded again.

"We, the holy maidens, looked down on Alm and excluded her because of her status as a baron's daughter, and sometimes even bullied her."

"We were foolish."

"Yes. However, after Prince Johannes came here a year ago, we realized the demonic treatment he inflicted on Alm. 'No matter how high one's status, scum is still scum.'"

As the three holy maidens read out the charges, Johannes' mouth opened and closed in shock.

(Extreme overwork? Demonic treatment?)

He was bewildered by the unexpected accusations.

Sure, he had assigned a lot of tasks to Alm. Why? Because Alm had the highest potential as a holy maiden among them all. As a member of the royal family, Johannes wanted to rebuild the corrupt shrine with his own strength. When he came to this shrine with that ideal, he met Alm Danleac. The girl with silver hair that shone like the sun and amethyst eyes lived quietly and diligently in a corner of the shrine. Despite her lower status as a baron's daughter, she was looked down upon by the other holy maidens, who were mostly from high-ranking noble families. However, Johannes saw it at first glance: Alm's power as a holy maiden was far stronger than the others, perhaps even the strongest in the history of the shrine.

Meeting Alm ignited Johannes' ideal even more. He thought, with Alm, he could change this country.

He wanted to make Alm's abilities known to everyone as soon as possible. Alm's work was far superior to that of the other holy maidens. The holy water she fetched had healing properties, and the talismans she wrote created barriers three times as strong as usual.

"So, I assigned her difficult tasks to make everyone recognize her abilities. Besides, no one noticed, but Alm's power was growing day by day. It was the result of her training..."

"That was not training but abuse."

"You're torturing her and then saying, 'Thanks to me, your power has grown.'"

"You've gone beyond the worst and become a heretic."

"No, this is called being low."

"I don't want to become such a person."

"It would be nice if you gradually went bald from the top of your head."

He was thoroughly criticized.

"Shut up! So, where did Alm go!?"

"How would we know?"

"Just leave her alone!"

"It would be nice if mysterious hair started growing from your toenails."

The three holy maidens turned their backs on Johannes with a "Hmph!" and left the office. Left behind, Johannes was confused: "Do you want me to go bald or become hairy!?"