Chapter 2.2

Translated by iseuli

Edited by DelishNoodles

‘Since even I had a hard time trying to remember Saint Selene, I’m sure most people are not even aware of her existence.’

The last few pages of the 33rd volume wrote about Saint Selene’s life. She had minimized her social activities to the bare minimum of jobs which had related to healing and necessary meetings related to ongoing politics, and had instead spent the majority of her remaining life mastering archaic languages in order to study the Holy Scripture during her period of Sainthood.

Saint Selene reminded Raelia of herself, she wondered if Saint Selene had also tried her best to research the methods to extend her life span. She thought her hypothesis would not be so far off from the reality of the situation.

She began to read through the pages of the 34th volume with much more focus than ever before. She didn’t dare skip even a single word.

The Saint dedicated the entirety of her first year to studying.

However, it seemed Saint Selene did not figure out anything. If she had discovered anything, she would have attempted some sort of intervention. During the first year, she spent all her hours studying. Then the second year, she did nothing more other than peacefully fulfilling her role as a Saint.

Realia got the impression that the Saint had given up.

Saint Selene had put forth so much effort into studying. It seemed as if she had made a conclusion after all the research. If she felt any sort of hope, she would not have given up even two years into her Sainthood. Raelia suddenly wondered why the Saint had suddenly given up. She pondered on the possibility of Saint Selene meeting the Devil.

Raelia had been fervently reading and suddenly paused, which perked Ru’s interest.

“What are you thinking?”

Raelia suddenly realised he had been staring at her all this time. She offhandedly thought that this man had way too much free time on his hands.

“It’s nothing much, just…”

Raelia paused. She suddenly remembered the person next to her had photographic memory.

It felt like lightning struck her mind.

She wondered why she had not thought of asking for his help sooner. She wasn’t sure how much of the Holy Scriptures he had read thus far, but asking him would not take long, and it would be worth a try.

She would be able to narrow down the volumes of Holy Scriptures she had to research a great deal. It would be more efficient than going through the stories randomly based on her own preferences.

“Ru, could you help me with something?”

Ru stroked his chin seeing Raelia’s shining eyes and predicted the type of help she needed.

“For free?”

“If your advice is of help to me, then I’ll be more than happy to help you out with one thing as well.”

Raelia clasped her hands together and beamed her hopeful eyes.

She was praying that her stunning looks would help move Ru’s heart, but it was fruitless. If he yearned for beautiful people or objects, looking at himself with a mirror would be much more satisfying than looking at Raelia.

“I don’t think there would be anything Miss would be able to help me with… but I am interested to hear what you have to say.”

Thankfully, he still agreed to help her. He continued to speak without pause.

“I don’t really like how you phrased, ‘If your advice is of help to me.’ The trade is much too favorable and subjective on Miss’ end. You’re the one asking for my help, aren’t you?”

‘He figured it out?’ Raelia quickly changed her phrasing as soon as he caught onto her real intentions.

“I misspoke. Whether your advice is helpful or not, of course I will return the favor and help you.”

Ru was sure that she had not misspoken, but he let it go.

“I don’t really need any help, but I do have a favor to ask from you.”

“What is it?”

“I will let you know after I help you. Let’s take care of the urgent tasks first. How could I be of help to you?”

Raelia paused to think for a moment. She could not directly ask him if he had any knowledge on information to extend a Saint’s life, so she tried her best to phrase it in the best roundabout way.

She looked across the library. She intended to move to a more private location if there were people around, but nobody was around. She once again spoke very carefully.

“I am researching unusual peculiar incidents relating to the Saints. I wish to read about the Saints who passed on quicker than two years. Or Saints who came across de-”

She was about to ask if any Saints had seen the Devil, but was able to quickly catch herself.

“Saints who may have seen hallucinations.”

“Hmmm.”

Ru was caught off guard by Raelia’s question and thought for a moment. She had not asked any direct questions relating to the Devil, but she still felt a bit anxious.

Ru finally broke his silence.

“I have not fully read all the volumes of the Holy Scriptures, however give me a piece of paper.”

Raelia gave Ru the quill pen and paper that she brought. He jotted down a series of bullet points in archaic format.

“…?”

She wondered if it was necessary since she did not ask him to write in archaic format. Ru, who noticed Raelia’s curious eyes answered her question while continuing to jot down various references on the top of his head.

“The information is not restricted, but I think it would be a better idea if Miss is the only one who could be able to read this note.”

Raelia felt thankful for his thoughtfulness. If someone found such a strange list, it would not be good on her side.

“I already agreed to help you, so I am writing this down for you. But why are you researching this? Is your master a Saint Candidate?”

Raelia became speechless at his keen senses. Ru continued to speak.

“Your expression tells me all that I need to know. You should learn to hide your expression better if you don’t want others to figure you out. Still, this isn’t really anything you NEED to hide.”

His quill didn’t stop at all as he continued to speak.

“Miss might not be aware, but many Saint Candidates come to search the Holy Scriptures. Everyone remains secretive, however it is a very common and understandable practice.”

“…”

“Still, why are you searching for Saints that have experienced hallucinations? I’ve never heard of any such incidents.”

“…Is that so?”

It was surprising. Mora had seen the devil, and she, herself, had seen it as well. She was sure that she would find incidents of other Saints experiencing similar episodes with the Devil.

Even if nobody outright explained they could see the Devil, she thought she would be able to find a small trail which hinted at the idea of seeing strange things.

Raelia peeked over his paper. She was aware that he had perfect photographic memory, but seeing him pack the page with all the information was amazing.

It took a long while before he put down his quill.

“This is all that I know. I’ve written the volumes of the Holy Scriptures I had read thus far, so you can use that as reference as well. I don’t know of any Saints that have seen hallucinations. At least not in my memory. Have you heard of any such incidents?”

Ru seemed fully invested in Raelia’s business. Raelia shook her head.

“No, this…much, is more than enough, thank you!”

Raelia bowed and attempted to take the paper from him.

It only took a moment for Raelia to splash the cup of cold water into Ashlea’s face.

She didn’t ask Chessyre to bring the cup of water for this specific reason, and if Ashlea didn’t come to bother her like this, she would have just drank it like a normal person.

Ashlea had brought this onto herself.

“You…you…”

Raelia placed her hand on her cheek and spoke in a soft voice. This was an imitation of Ashlea’s best acting.

“Oh my Ashlea, what do you mean calling me ‘you….’ You should be calling me Sister.”

Her little sister looked like she wanted to drop the honorifics of her speech, but there were maids in the room, and so she could not act irrationally.

The maids saw Ashlea as nothing more than the most lovable Vitel Noblehouses’ youngest daughter.

It was amusing to see Ashlea suffering due to her own fake disguise.

“Sister… why are you doing this to me?”

Ashlea looked like the saddest person who was on the brink of tears. She was so despicable, but this was very amusing.

Yes, amusing. She never knew how fun it would be to behave in this way in front of a person who took great pride in her own image.

“I wonder too. I’ve been enduring everything for so long, it’s a wonder how I’ve lasted this long.”

“Is there anything that I’ve done to make Sister so upset? I’ll fix my mistakes if you tell me, Sister.”

“I don’t think you’ll be able to fix your own mistakes just because I tell you with words. What use are words of warning this late? You should just continue to live like that.”

The maids whispered amongst themselves. She could already tell that today’s story would snowball into something bigger, and her reputation would be greatly tarnished.

It would be such a joy if Saints could be fired over a poor reputation, however Elea had personally picked the Saints so that was not possible. It would have been great if it were that easy.

Ashlea glared at Raelia for some time. She bit her lips as if she was trying to endure her sadness, and turned around to leave.

She resembled the leading female protagonists who pitifully and sorrowfully left the room.

“Miss! Why are you being like this…”

Chessyre said after everyone left while holding Raelia’s dress. Her voice wobbled like she was on the brink of tears.

When Chessyre held her sleeve, she suddenly realized she had to return the dress.

“Oh, right. Let’s change out of this dress first. Won’t you help me?”

“Can’t Miss go out to apologize so you can wear this dress to the ceremony? You are so beautiful in this dress….”

“No. I already sent them away, how could I do that? Now then, we don’t have any time. Help me get this off.”

Chessyre sobbed while helping her out of the dress. After Raelia changed out into a different dress, she held onto the dress and simply stared down at the dress.

“What will you do now?”

“Do what?”

“Your dress. You don’t have any replacements…”

“I will leave to buy one tomorrow.”

Chessyre looked shocked.

“You will buy one?”

Her expression appeared puzzled wondering how her master would manage that. Raelia smiled.

After the Church hired designated dress designers for the ceremony, the tradition had never been broken, however it was very common for Saint Candidates to attend the ceremony without proper dresses even as recent as 60 years back.

There were many Saints who had been promoted even though they did not wear white dresses.

‘There will be no problem.’

The dress didn’t affect the Saint’s Ceremony in any way. In the first place, the tradition of white dresses did not start because of Elea’s instructions but due to the members of the church.

The Saints who wore yellow, red, brown, and even black dresses all lived out their full two years life spans.

If the position was easily kicked away just because of a white dress, then Raelia would not have a reason to read through the giant 50 volume collection of the Holy Scriptures.

“I will wear a different colored dress.”

Chessyre exclaimed.

“Isn’t that a form of blasphemy?”

“How so?”

“That, I mean…”

Chessyre couldn’t think of an answer. Raelia quirked her head.

“A pure white dress is indeed very special. This is the representation of Elea. It’s nice to wear a special dress that could only be worn on special days.”

“…”

“But nowhere in the Holy Scripture does it require a Saint to wear a white dress. They just ‘allow’ us to wear a dress that we normally aren’t allowed to. Everyone chooses to wear a white dress since they normally can’t, and through time it became a tradition.”

“Is that so?”

Raelia’s reasoning was very logical, but Chessyre couldn’t completely believe in Raelia. Raelia suddenly had the urge to tease Chessyre, and so she quirked her head and mumbled.

“Well, if there are any problems, it can’t be helped?”

“…MISS!”

-end of Chapter 2-