After the storm-like encounter with Zion, Karentina returned to the room where Stella was staying.

[ I’ll be studying diligently in the study to be a good butler! ]

‘Yeah. Our Zion is so good.’

She laughed, seeing Zion, who was getting enthusiastic.

If he didn’t want to do it, she wasn’t going to force him to do it. However, at the mention of being a butler, Zion widened his eyes and vigorously nodded his head.

It was surprising to learn that he had always wanted to be a butler.

Anyway, the butler problem was solved.

Karentina let out a long sigh as she looked at the ailing Stella.

She pondered over the words of the doctor who had visited a while ago. The only thing floating in her mind was question marks.

…Not knowing the name of the disease.

‘Is the temple the only thing left to rely on?’

As she waited for a priest with divine power, Karentina flipped through the documents she had brought from the office. She stopped moving her right hand as she looked at what needed to be inspected.

‘Huh?’

It was because she had noticed something strange while investigating the financial records used by the mansion’s butler.

“…Five hundred lats for the temple?”

The living expenses for an ordinary imperial citizen for a year were about thirty lats, so five hundred lats was a considerable amount. Of course, in comparison to the Duke’s overflowing wealth, it was negligible money, yet somehow it strangely bothered her.

‘There’s no way my uncle, who is such a stingy man, would contribute a donation…’

So, Karentina decided to delve deeper into the relevant documents.

Around the time the sunset stained in red descended dimly,

Joseph and a temple priest dressed in black hurriedly entered the room. The priest poured divine power onto Stella, but her condition showed no improvement at all.

“Perhaps it would be best to call the doctor again. My divine power isn’t enough.”

“It doesn’t make sense that divine power can’t heal her, does it?”

As Joseph growled, the frail-looking priest swallowed nervously.

“Th-the ability to heal all diseases isn’t something that every priest possesses. Only the gods can do that… unless, perhaps, Priestess Leah were alive.”

The priest, glancing at Joseph nervously, hastily left the room as if fleeing.

“D*mn it. I’ll go find out more about what happened to the Imperial Palace physician in the other territory and come back.”

“Yes, please.”

When Joseph left, the room was filled with worries.

Karentina had one question.

“Priestess Leah…?”

The answer was unexpectedly given by Gemma.

“I’ve heard of her too. She’s a very famous priestess in the northern region.”

“Really?”

Karentina’s ears perked up.

“We were all looking forward to her visit to the island soon, but due to an accident…”

“An accident?”

“I heard there was a big fire at the temple orphanage. She lost her life while trying to rescue the children when the building collapsed.”

“That… That’s a sad story.”

With an expressionless face, Gemma added, “If she had come to the island as scheduled, she might have been able to cure His Majesty the Emperor’s illness, though it’s a shame.”

The Emperor’s illness?

Karentina’s breath caught in her throat. It felt as though goosebumps were rising all over her body. The money that Uncle Maurice donated to the temple in the name of the butler, and the death of an outstanding priestess…

“But I heard that a mysterious gem was found at the burned site of the orphanage after the priestess’s funeral.”

“A gem?”

 
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