Chapter – 07
When Kyle shot the arrow, it flew with an ear-piercingly sharp sound. After he merely shot the bow and let her go, Dee-I felt strangely disappointed. His embrace had been quite cozy. It felt like nothing in the world could disturb her. Anyway, in this situation, Kyle was the only one helping Dee-I.
But somehow, Kyle seemed to be holding back laughter.
“Where did you aim?”
“A place ordinary people could never understand.”
Dee-I spoke confidently, but she was scared to death inside. She had already decided that if she caught nothing, she would pin it on Kyle, claiming he didn’t shoot in the direction she wanted. Just then, the soldier who had run to locate the arrow returned with a bewildered expression.
“Your Highness! T-the arrow is in a place where I cannot easily make a judgment.”
At the soldier’s words, Kyle, Dee-I, Amilla, and the others followed the direction he led. Dee-I flinched when she saw where the arrow was.
The arrow was lying meekly on the ground.
Kyle looked pained from holding back laughter, and the people stared at the arrow with absurd expressions. Amilla remained calm, her beautiful face expressionless as she clasped her hands together, as if none of this mattered.
Just as Dee-I was racking her brain for an excuse, Ritarder, who arrived late, knelt before the arrow as if collapsing. And then he cried out in emotion.
“How can an arrow fall to the ground when there are so many trees! Is it the great divine power of Saintess Diana?!!”
Ritarder’s innate fanatical nature came out, and without regard for people’s reactions, he pounded the ground and spoke.
“How could a humble human like me comprehend the Saintess’s beautiful heart of not wanting to harm a single leaf?!!”
Dee-I was dying of embarrassment from Ritarder’s excessive reaction, but these simple Paeton people, swayed by the crowd psychology, began to be moved, thinking, ‘Oh… Ooh! Come to think of it, she is amazing!’
Dee-I felt red to the tips of her toes from awkwardness. Moreover, as the number of fraud victims grew, her conscience ached as well.
Even though her main profession was fraud, the people in this village were too naive to trick. If she set her mind to it, she could probably swindle the entire country.
As Dee-I was nurturing a seed of ambition amidst her shame, she heard Kyle’s voice, strained from holding back laughter.
“That’s… cough… truly amazing.”
It might be a bit difficult with that perceptive guy around though… Kyle, beside her, was contorting his already scary face even more as he struggled to hold back laughter.
Despite the unexpected reversal of mood, Amilla remained calm.
She only blamed herself for underestimating Dee-I’s political skills.
Amilla was clever. So, she knew that the atheist king was simply enjoying this farce.
Kyle finally swallowed his laughter and spoke with a calm expression.
“It seems there are two Saintess candidates. Even Roxand’s priest. Is one not enough for you?”
His tone was clearly sarcastic to anyone listening. Kyle spoke to Amilla and Dee-I.
“We’ll gradually reveal who the real Saintess is. Amilla, you take the east temple. You… what was your name again?”
When Kyle asked as if he didn’t know, Dee-I answered with a cute expression.
“Call me Dee-I.”
“Ah, Diana, you said.”
“Dee-I, Dee-I.”
“Then, Diana, you can keep using the west temple as before.”
‘That punk is doing this on purpose. Calling me by a nickname makes it seem like we’re close or something, that’s why he’s doing this.’
Dee-I glared, but Kyle, seemingly in too much pain from holding back laughter, looked up at the sky and let out a shout for no reason, startling the people.
The first day of the hunting competition ended dramatically, and Dee-I returned, exhausted, to the temporary lodging tent. Then, Ritarder let out a sigh.
“Phew, what a relief. Saintess.”
‘You saved me. Thank you, Ritarder. Sob.’
Dee-I hid her gratitude inwardly. Ritarder, as if remembering something, pulled out a long necklace he had tucked into his clothes.
“Ah, the earring you gave me, Saintess. I tried making it into a necklace like this.”
“Oh, it’s surprisingly nice, isn’t it?”
It was a purple, transparent, round pendant. Made into a necklace, it looked novel, completely out of place in this world. Ritarder said.
“Stephanie asked a jeweler what kind of gem this is.”
‘Looks like Stephanie tried to sell it off already. That rational girl…’
Ritarder spoke with a nervous expression.
“But they said this gemstone cannot be found anywhere in this world, so its value cannot be determined.”
‘Of course. It’s not time for you guys to make plastic yet.’
Ritarder asked emotionally.
“Where did you bring this gemstone from, Saintess?”
Faced with a question hard to explain, Dee-I spoke with a benevolent face.
“You’ll know when you study more and become something like a High Priest.”
“Ah, I see. I’ll work hard, Saintess!”
Ritarder’s eyes sparkled with burning zeal. Then, he let out a slight sigh, and Dee-I asked.
“Ritarder. Is something bothering you?”
“Ah, well… actually, Saintess.”
“Yes.”
“If I tell you this, my life could be in danger, so you must absolutely keep it a secret, okay?”
“Of course, that’s not hard. What is it?”
“Well… it’s about Saintess Amilla. She might be High Priest Bernadoc’s granddaughter.”
“What?”
It was the story that Amilla, the Saintess whose name she’d heard since first appearing in Paeton, might not be a real Saintess.
Ritarder continued speaking to Dee-I, whose eyes were wide with surprise.
“The priests among themselves vaguely suspect it. Everyone keeps it hush-hush.”
“But priests aren’t allowed to marry, right?”
“Yes. That’s why Saintess Amilla’s very existence has been erased until now. Because she’s an existence that shouldn’t exist.”
Listening to Ritarder’s words, pieces of the puzzle seemed to fall into place.
Birds of a feather flock together. Dee-I had an eye for spotting fraudsters. When the great con artist Kim Seon-nyeo used to gather the neighborhood grandmothers’ money playing cards on a blanket, it was Dee-I herself who recognized her hand skills and used her allowance to make her keep quiet.
She had a feeling. A feeling that Bernadoc was suspicious.
“Hmm… But why go to such lengths, risking danger, to make that granddaughter a Saintess?”
“That’s right…”
The two sighed deeply, met each other’s eyes, soon nodded, and went to find Stephanie.
As expected, Stephanie, who knew a lot, gave the answer as soon as she heard the story.
“It’s only because Saintess Dee-I is staying quiet, but speaking the words of a god is no ordinary matter.”
“Is that so?”
“For example… ah, right. Broadly speaking, it’s like this. It might not work on His Highness Kyle, but if there were a king who faithfully believed in the god Roxand…”
“Yes.”
“The Saintess could propose to that king that this royal castle has bad energy and should be moved below the mountain. But if the king has a location where he wants to build a royal castle, that land is unconditionally to be donated, right?”
“Hmm…”
“So, you can arbitrarily take any land you like. Doing so, ruining a noble is child’s play.”
Even though Dee-I had lived a life where she had to survive on her own by any means, she had never stolen from others. She couldn’t even imagine swindling people on such a large scale.
As Dee-I was thinking about her competitor with a serious expression, Ritarder stood up first.
“I’ll go prepare for the prayer asking that no one gets hurt during the hunting competition with the other priests. I’ll come get you when preparations are done, Saintess.”
“Okay. Take care.”
Dee-I nodded.
Stephanie also stood up.
“I’ll go organize the maidservants to assist Saintess Amilla and return.”
“Alright, Stephanie, take care too.”
After both left, Dee-I, sitting alone in the empty tent, thought about how to proceed.
‘What should I do? How can I keep myself alive? Just by looks, Amilla seems more like a Saintess. She even shoots a bow well. What Ritarder said is just speculation… What if that Amilla girl is actually the real Saintess…?’
Feeling an identity crisis, Dee-I grabbed her head and flinched. A rustling sound was heard, the tent lifted slightly, and a small animal entered.
It was a desert fox with dazzlingly white fur.
Discovering the unbearably cute white fox, Dee-I quietly watched it.
White fur, light green eyes… Light green?
Part – 02
The Hunting Tournament
She had heard once that there were only two beings here with light-green eyes: the god Roxand and Diana, the shrine maiden…
“You—you!”
Dee shot to her feet.
“You’re Roxand!”
When Dee shouted, the fox nodded and opened its mouth.
—That is correct.
“W-waaaah! The fox talked!”
—Well, the orb talked too…
The fox, having carelessly admitted something, froze and slapped its front paws over its mouth.
Orb?
Dee stopped for a second, frowning.
She remembered the moment at the Cheongdam-dong fortune-teller’s shop—when she dropped the orb and briefly saw the shape of a white animal inside it.
“Oh, so that was you too.”
Dee smiled with her eyes, letting the fox relax—then grabbed a thick astrology book nearby and hurled it at him with all her strength.
“You damn god of astrology! Do you have any idea how much I’ve suffered because of you?!”
She screamed in outrage. The fox shrieked as the heavy book whizzed past him.
—W-wait! This place isn’t that bad, is it? The food is good! The meat is fresh!
“Give me a real excuse! Why’d you teleport the broom with me but not my clothes?!”
—The clothes are too different from what people here wear! They’d freak out! The broom is analog, so—aaaagh!!
When Dee grabbed the broom standing beside her and tried to beat him with it, the god of astrology darted around to escape. Dee fumed.
“Shrine maiden? I’ve ended up committing fraud against an entire nation, you know! And now the real shrine maiden showed up!”
—H-hold on! That’s not true.
Roxand stopped and spoke proudly.
—Listen carefully, Diana. What does a shrine maiden do?
When they first met, he called her “Yoo Seol-yeon,” but now he was casually calling her “Diana.” Annoyed, she snapped back.
“They say she’s someone who delivers the words of the gods.”
—Exactly! Now look—what kind of being are you talking to right now?
“A… a god?”
—That’s right! My name is Roxand, and I’m one of the gods of the Lucina continent.
The fox, who had spent a long time trapped in the orb observing human life, threw in a natural wink.
—So that makes you a real shrine maiden. You’re not conning anyone. Understand?
Dee’s eyes widened. She had never imagined she could be the real one. She asked:
“Then Amilla is actually… fake?”
—Yep. That one’s an impostor. You’re the real shrine maiden.
Dee looked completely stunned.
No way I’d be the real one… I never even considered that possibility…
“W-why me, though?”
—Why?
Roxand replied confidently:
—Coincidence.
“…Uh-huh?”
—Yeah. I was stuck inside that orb, and you just happened to buy me with a direct payment.
“Wait. Doesn’t that make me your benefactor?”
—Yup. Sure does. Thanks. And it just so happens this place needed a shrine—
“…….”
—Aaaaah!! The shrine maiden is trying to kill me!
As Dee raised the broom and chased him again, the god of astrology panicked.
The fox being chased and the broom-wielding shrine maiden bursting out of the tent created a dramatic scene. The people of Paton were horrified.
Animal abuse!
Poor fox!
The animal-loving people of Paton looked at Dee with teary eyes. The fox even covered his face with his paws, pretending to cry. He was cute—but Dee had never met such an infuriating creature in her life.
She grabbed the fox by the scruff of his neck, lifted him up, and locked eyes with him. The fox pressed his paws together and begged desperately. Dee stomped toward another tent, fox in hand.
She arrived at Kyle’s tent. Dee shoved the fox toward him.
“I really am the shrine maiden. This here is Roxand.”
“……”
“See? The light-green eyes.”
Dee pointed at Roxand’s eyes with her free hand. Kyle, who had been reviewing documents during his short break, looked calmly between Dee and the fox. Then he opened his mouth.
