How to Live as the Terminally Ill Younger Sister of the Villain - Chapter 46
But soon his expression turned to disappointment.
“I also thought about the prayer room for a moment. But the priests who can be called there are limited. Most of them know my face…”
It wouldn’t be wise to gamble on the hope that one of the few priests who didn’t know him might come.
“That’s because you don’t know how to use the prayer room properly. The ‘real’ prayer room, I mean.”
Angelina stood up from her seat.
“Will you come? But you must keep everything you see and hear from now on a secret.”
Angelina raised her index finger to her lips and gave a slight eye smile.
That ethereal appearance made Mason stare blankly for a moment, but soon he clenched his fist as if making a firm resolution.
“I will close my eyes and ears.”
Then he stood up vigorously.
***
“…Why is it that maid?”
Mason, who had agreed to follow but couldn’t contain his curiosity, asked in a small voice.
They were now passing through the gloomy back door of the temple, not the front or side entrance. It was a path where intertwined vines grew so thickly that sunlight could barely penetrate.
And at the very front of their group was Laura.
Wearing leather armor and with a rapier at her waist, she looked unmistakably like a mercenary. She exuded an aura that made it hard to believe she could be a maid of a Marquis family.
Behind her, Angelina, Haley, and Mason followed with their hoods pulled low, trailing along.
“You can’t run into people you know, I’d be in trouble if my face gets reported to the High Priest later, and Haley is a magician so she might attract unnecessary trouble.”
Angelina quickly explained why Laura was leading the way, then raised her index finger to her lips. It meant not to make even a breath of sound from here on.
“What brings you here?”
The back door was blocked by a middle-aged holy knight with a bald head. He was big enough to completely block the door that was wide enough for two people to pass through.
“We’ve come to pray.”
Laura delivered the line Angelina had told her in advance.
“It’s not prayer time.”
“How strange. We’ve embraced the sun and moon twelve times, yet the time doesn’t match.”
The holy knight’s brow twitched slightly at the response. He narrowed his eyes and scanned the three hooded figures behind Laura.
“…Come in.”
Though he couldn’t see their faces as they kept their heads bowed low, he didn’t bother to challenge them. His role ended with hearing the password.
The bald knight led them to a long corridor in the semi-basement. Then he stopped and turned around.
“What kind of prayer have you come to make?”
“We are praying for a flower garden.”
Again, Laura gave the answer Angelina had instructed, and he led her to a pink door.
“This is…”
When the bald holy knight left and the door closed, Mason took off his hood.
“Shh.”
But Angelina pulled his hood back down and made him close his mouth.
Soon after, the reason became clear.
Creak-
The bookshelf opposite the door they had entered opened with a somewhat noisy sound. A priest was standing there.
Mason instinctively flinched and lowered his head. Haley naturally moved closer to Angelina, hiding him behind her back.
“Welcome.”
The priest who entered focused on Laura, showing no interest in the three hooded figures.
“Whose recommendation did you receive to come here?”
Though he wore a gentle smile, there was a sting in his words.
His gaze observing Laura was also incredibly sharp. It was a natural reaction since she was an unfamiliar ‘customer’.
In response to such wariness, Laura let out a small sigh and took something out of her bosom. It was a small handkerchief.
“I don’t have time to waste on greetings.”
One corner of the handkerchief was embroidered with an indecipherable pattern. At a glance, it looked like a sun, but the detailed shape was made up of stars.
The priest reached out to examine it more closely, but Laura unpleasantly put the handkerchief back in her bosom.
A brief battle of wills ensued in the momentary silence.
But the priest was the first to soften his stance, smiling slyly.
“I see you’ve come from the Sun Star. But today isn’t a scheduled visit day, so what brings you…”
“Bring the twelfth flower.”
Laura cut off the priest’s words.
The corner of the priest’s eye twitched slightly, perhaps annoyed. He managed to maintain his smile as he spoke.
“What’s the matter? That child is in training, so it’s a bit difficult to bring her out…”
As he spoke in a sly voice, Laura didn’t listen to the end and took something out of her bosom, tossing it onto the desk.
With a dull thud, what appeared was a necklace.
None other than Mason’s necklace.
“This is…”
The priest, looking at the necklace with narrowed eyes, sent concentrated holy power toward the pendant.
When the holy power, dense enough to be visible, touched the pendant, sparks flew with a crackling sound.
Angelina felt Mason behind her take a sharp breath and grip her coat tightly. She could feel the trembling through his fingertips. He seemed to be trying to control his emotions.
“There were some idiots trying to slip that kind of thing into our back pocket? Thanks to that, the last deal was quite interesting.”
“….”
“Want to tell me if you know anything?”
“…This is an item I’m seeing for the first time.”
The priest was no longer smiling. He was looking at the necklace with quite a serious face.
‘He must have a lot on his mind. It’s not yet time for holy power suppression items to be circulating.’
Angelina had to hold back a snort. Holy power suppression items would start appearing in earnest right after the novel began. That’s two years from now.
But to think that it had already infiltrated the ‘Sun Star’.
He must be in turmoil, wondering if there was an enemy within, where the confidential information had leaked from, all sorts of thoughts.
‘We don’t have much time.’
Angelina tapped her arm with the fingers of her crossed arms. It was a small sound that no one would have noticed, but Laura’s hand moved.
“So stop wasting my time and bring the twelfth flower.”
She snapped sharply while retrieving the necklace.
The priest looked Laura up and down a few times with a frown, then let out a small sigh.
“Please wait a moment.”
Only when he turned to leave did he scan the three hooded figures. But his eyes still showed little interest.
As he left, Angelina heard Mason grinding his teeth behind her.
“Haley.”
Angelina turned towards him and called for her guard, and Haley, who had quickly scanned the surroundings, nodded.
“There are no other devices. No signs of people either.”
They were cautious about eavesdropping, but it seemed this area was rather safe, as these people were sensitive about records.
“Haa…!”
As soon as Haley finished speaking, Mason let out the breath he had been holding. Angelina watched him close his eyes and take a few deep breaths before she spoke.
“Judging by your reaction, it seems it was a familiar face.”
“…Yes.”
Mason hesitated before answering, then let out a long sigh and rubbed his face with his dry hand. As his hood fell back, his eyes were full of complex emotions.
He examined Angelina’s face with those somewhat clouded eyes. It was a gaze where wariness and trust were chaotically intertwined.
“That man…”
He seemed to be debating whether to speak or not, then added.
“He can be considered the main instigator who made me quit being a holy knight.”
“….”
“You’re not surprised. So you do know the reason why I quit being a holy knight?”
“Well.”
Angelina gave an answer that was neither affirmative nor negative. But Mason was convinced she knew.
Otherwise, there was no way she would have brought him here and shown him this. And while protecting him like this, no less.
He could have thought it was because he was Blake Kadenhart’s right-hand man.
But when you think about it, it was still strange. After all, she and his superior had only met twice.
His superior did seem to have a special interest in her, but…
“But you probably don’t know the detailed story. …Would you like to hear it?”
Mason cautiously suggested.
‘Sean would say I’m talking too much to someone unrelated.’
If it were the rational Sean, he would have been more suspicious and wary of Angelina in this situation.
A back alley unknown even to himself who was a former holy knight, a suspicious place full of passwords and deals. Isn’t this a perfect situation to suspect them of being in cahoots?
But Mason, who tended to entrust the future to intuition rather than rational judgment, was leaning towards trusting her.
“That can wait a bit. For now…”
Angelina gestured for Mason to put his hood back on.
Just as he put on his hood, someone knocked on the door they had entered through.
“Are you there?”
“Come in.”
Laura answered.
The door opened and a cute-looking child entered. Laura’s expression didn’t change, but Mason’s fingertips twitched.
“I heard you were looking for me.”
