“What?”

Lecht replied calmly at the shocked Linden’s question.

“It looks like you’ve been ‘blessed’ by that blonde saintess.”

“…yes.”

All people are born with a vessel for divine power. If that vessel was filled with your own power, then you would have ‘divine power’, and if it was filled with the help of another, then you would receive a ‘blessing’ and become a believer.

Linden was born with an affinity to magic, but lacked an affinity for divine power, so he had been ‘blessed’ directly by the saintess last year. Not because he wanted to become a believer of Solarism, but rather to approach her since he was curious about what sort of woman the woman his older brother liked was like.

Although it wasn’t unusual for a prince to receive a ‘blessing’ from a saintess, when it was pointed out by Lecht, Linden felt as if he had been caught red-handed for no reason.

“That’s not the power of the sun god.”

“Your Excellency.”

Tanma, who was standing silently next to Lecht, intervened. He had an expression that seemed to say that there was no need for him to say that.

“Does he really have to know? In any case, it seems as if Ara cares about this guy.”

“…” 

Linden felt as if those words of his were rather strange as well.

If this man were really interested in Meliara, he would’ve felt displeased with him, who she ‘cared’ for, as well as his claims of her being his ‘most precious friend’. If he were a man, he’d at least be jealous.

However, this man seemed to be someone who was above that. He wasn’t broadminded enough to accept it. Rather, it just seemed so insignificant to the point he didn’t even care about it.

Even though it poked at Linden’s pride, the strange feeling of acceptance surging up in him was still uncomfortable.

“It’s not that I’m disgusted with Solar’s power. They’re just different in nature, since it reflects the power of that god. But that clumsy imitation in your body is disgusting, so empty it out.”

“What you just said… don’t you know that’s a very dangerous statement for you to make?”

It was a statement that claimed that the saintess’s ‘blessing’ was fake.

“Do you think I’d care about that?”

“…”

Lecht, who added indifferently, turned his head back to the door. 

If word of this ever leaked out, he would end up provoking the Temple of the Sun God.

He didn’t care that the Temple would risk their lives to eradicate him?

‘So His Majesty the Emperor hadn’t been saying to be careful for no reason.’

His attitude that seemed to say, ‘what’s the big deal’ was so arrogant that it seemed rather incredible.

“Why are your thoughts like that?”

“It’s just the truth.”

Linden examined Lecht’s expression. This was the first time he had ever seen someone so difficult to read.

‘He doesn’t seem like someone who would lie about something like this.’

He was definitely the sort of man to think that all such schemes and lies would only be committed by insignificant people.

So that meant that that was at least the complete honest truth from that man.

This… needed to be further investigated.

“If you’re curious, how about we start with the situation this time then?”

He added, as if he had read Linden’s thoughts.

“If you’re talking about the situation this time, don’t tell me… the epidemic?”

“I think I’ve given you enough hints with this.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

Was it really because Meliara cared about me? 

But no matter how much he thought about it, it was simply too weak of a basis. 

Apart from Meliara, he was a man who had constantly dismissing Linden with the consistent reply of, ‘Why should I?’ to any question until now. It was information that felt to abruptly friendly.

“Because there are many ways to easily get things done without putting in much effort in the world.”

So, if he were to interpret it into his own words, it would be, ‘I want to throw a stone at the saintess, but it’s too much of a hassle, so I’ll just use Linden instead’.

How many people in this world would say that they would use a prince so openly?

Linden didn’t try to pick a fight. Since it’d be really helpful if all of this turned out to be true.

“Thank you for those intriguing words. Please do so again in the future.”

“…Why should I?”

Though he was still an uncooperative man at the end. 

***

“Linden, what are you thinking so hard about?”

I tapped on the shoulder of Linden, who was staring at the table with a serious expression.

“Oh.”

He looked at me and smiled brightly, as if he were coming to his senses again.

“Just because. I was just thinking that I should probably give the knights a bonus since this situation has occurred.”

“Oh! That’s a good idea. Linden, you’re such a great boss!”

To think that you were a boss who would give bonuses after doing hard work! You knights better take care of Linden properly! Such a boss wasn’t common at all!

Although this wasn’t something I’d receive as well, my mood turned for the better for no reason as I smiled and looked ahead.

The boisterous banquet was in full swing. Not only the restaurants, but places everywhere in the village were currently holding banquets like this.

The theme of such banquets was simple. Appreciating a mundane life. 

Due to the sudden incident that had broken out, everyone was extremely grateful with the lives they had regained, as if they had suddenly realized they had been taking the peace they thought would always be guaranteed for granted.

Although in the end, we still couldn’t figure out what had been the start of the situation in the first place, it was still fortunate that everyone turned out okay anyway.

Just as I was watching the people dance and sing happily while piping my cream beer, the three musketeers suddenly rushed toward me.

“Would you like to dance with us, saintess?”

“The beautiful dance of the beautiful saintess! Hic hic, I might even faint from happiness.”

I waved my hand in refusal as I held in a laugh at their over-exaggerated reactions.

“I appreciate the offer, but I think just sitting here and drinking would be more enjoyable for me.”

I looked shakily at the beer in front of me. The three musketeers that were the priests seemed to think it were a shame, but quickly gave up and left the table.

“Don’t you like dancing? I remember you quite liking it though.”

Linden asked as they left.

“I do like it, but I’m not very good at it.”

When I smiled regretfully, Linden stretched his hand out toward me.

“Then, do you want me to teach you?”

“Although I appreciate the offer, I’ll have to refuse. I’ll become an outlaw who steps on other people’s feet whenever I dance.”

“It’ll be fine if you just learn how to do it properly. No one’s good at doing something right off the bat.”

“I’m always hopeless when it comes to coordinating my body. Won’t I destroy the fantasy of the priests who expect my dancing to be beautiful?”

I turned my head to see that the three musketeers were all shaking their bodies along with the other villagers, perhaps because they were drunk. It looked so amusing that I ended up bursting into laughter.

“It’d even be believable to think that they were laughter evangelists1 rather than priests of the moon god.”

I would always burst into laughter whenever I was with them. Although most of the instances were rather absurd, the amusing moments far overshadowed them.

I kept watching them with a smile until Linden called out to me again.

“But Meliara.”

“Huh, what is it?”

“You were a believer of Lunarism?”

“Oh…”

Although it was a pretty random question, it was still something he could’ve been curious about.

“I wasn’t, but…”

“Right? Weren’t you originally a believer of Solarism? The entire Duchy believed in the sun god. So how does it make sense for you to become the saintess for the moon god?”

“It was probably because the Duke believed in the sun god. However, I…”

To be more exact, I was a believer of neither the sun or moon god.

“To be more precise, I was agnostic. There wasn’t a particular god I believed in.”

“You didn’t have a particular god you believed in?”

The expression on Linden’s face became peculiar. He was looking at me with a face that seemed to belong to someone whose last piece of meat had been robbed by his best friend.

“Y-Yeah.”

“How could that be?”

“I just… didn’t have one?”

“How?”

I just said that I didn’t have one because I didn’t have one, so how am I supposed to answer you when you ask me how I didn’t have one again…?

“It’s not that I deny the existence of the sun or moon god. I’m not an atheist. Should I say that I’m agnostic2 instead, to be more exact? It’s not that I think there’s no god, but rather, I don’t recognise a god?”

At Linden’s expression that seemed as if he had just been broken up with, I hurriedly started to spout gibberish in order to convince him.

“So, it’s more like how could we possibly dare to discern God? How could we possibly define ‘God’ with our standards, or something like that?”

“What are you talking about…”

You’re right. What sort of dog eating grass nonsense3 is this? 

In any case, realizing that my bullshiting couldn’t cure his wounds(?), I hurriedly shouted out.

“It means that the gods in this world are all incredible!”

In order to drive the point home even more, I even gave him a thumbs up, but Linden looked at me with an expression that seemed to say that he couldn’t comprehend what I was doing even more.

It was when I was about to die of embarrassment.

“Pfft.”

I heard a sound of laughter from the other side. 

Wait. The sound of laughter…?

When I turned my head in surprise, there was Lecht, who was sitting next to me, his head turned slightly to the side in order to cover his mouth with his fist.

“Keukeukeuk4.”

However, he couldn’t hide the laughter that was flowing out, nor his shoulders that were shaking. His eyes which were folded finely into crescents and the corners of his mouth which were slightly visible above his fist. 

But I was surprised by the easygoing atmosphere around him most of all. 

Wow, to think that was the laughter of an uptight and firm man. It was neither a refreshing or delightful laugh, nor was it an awkward smile either.

It was just a small simple burst of laughter. 

However, it was enough to give my heart a critical hit. This was a seduction that went beyond unexpected charm. 

Standing behind him was Tanma, who also looked at Lecht in surprise, perhaps because this sort of scene couldn’t be seen very often. Even Kelber, who had been dozing off underneath the table, was looking at Lecht with a ‘huh’ sound.

As I stared at his enchanting appearance with my eyes in a daze, his golden eyes met mine. He said to me, still with his fist covering his mouth.

“That’s right, all gods are incredible.”

There was a smile on his face as he said so. My face heated up as I felt a sense of teasing there.

“D-Don’t tease me…!”

Although Linden had been confused and didn’t seem to know what I was talking about, Lecht seemed to have noticed that I didn’t have anything to say, so I had just rambled on endlessly without anything meaningful to say.

“Pfft. You’re right. It’s indeed foolish for us to define God by our standards.”

“Lecht…!”

I could feel my face redden in real time. My ears were burning, and even my hands which covered my cheeks were about to heat up. 

As I stared at him with a tearful look on my face, he reached out his clenched fist toward me. A large, reliable hand reached out to brush against a handful of hair that had arbitrarily scattered loosely near my neck. As he tugged at it gently, my hair swept through his fingers as if it were flowing water. 

He bent at his waist and kissed a small strand of hair that seemed to get tangled and manipulated between his fingers. There were clearly no nerves in my hair, but it felt as if I could feel the sensation of his lips touching my hair. 

A scorching sensation quickly ran down my spine and shocked my tailbone. From there, the sensation of that feeling spreading to all my nerves in my whole body made me feel as if there was electricity at the ends of my fingers and toes.

All my attention was focused on the hair he was holding, and my entire being was focused on him. 

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t believe in God. It’s okay for you to believe in another god too. But let’s make this clear first so we can move on.”

“W-What is it…?”

My whole body was extremely tense with nerves, so I asked him in a trembling voice. He stared straight into my eyes and whispered quietly with a light smile.

“You are the child who has been chosen by Lunar, the moon god.”

“Is that so…? Because I’m the saintess of the moon god?”

Though it hasn’t been confirmed yet.

Was it because Lecht’s voice was so full of confidence? It was something that I had already known, but I felt excited, as if it was the first time I had heard such a thing. My whole body felt light, like it was floating, as if I was on top of a cloud.

“You will be loved. Without a doubt, infinitely.”

My heart pounded loudly with a badump badump sound. I wasn’t sure whether it was because I was nervous from his actions or whether it was because my heart was fluttering from his smile. Or perhaps it was just due to the surprise I felt at what he had said, without a single doubt in his mind. 

Although it was hard to tell what it was, I was certain that all my nerves were focused on him.

“So just trust me this one time.”

…I felt as if I were about to believe in a religion that didn’t exist. 

[1] 웃음전도사 originates from the term ‘행복전도사’ (happiness + preacher), popularized by preacher choi yunhee whose sermons often centered around happiness similarly the term laughter evangelist refers to those that spread laughter.

[2] to clarify, atheist and agnostic is not the same. atheists typically do not believe a god exists, while an agnostic is someone who doesn’t believe it’s possible to know for sure a god exists or someone who is not committed to believing in the existence of a god/God.

[3] 개 풀 뜯어 먹는 소리 is a proverb that means ‘impossible’ and stems from the idea that dogs are carnivores like wolves. (source: namuwiki)

[4] sound of someone holding in their laughter.