COARV Chapter 7

Once I'd become a Stern, the Grand Temple had at least given me a townhouse on the imperial capital's main street. A monthly stipend came in too, to maintain a Stern's dignity. The sum was sizable—but Seria's spending was more sizable still.

Every day, she wanted to drink champagne worth roughly its weight in gold and bathe in water with pearls dissolved into it. New dresses every week, to say nothing of the bags, the shoes, the gloves, the parasols.

The jewelry alone—how much of it did I even buy.

Jewelry was expensive. Since she'd arranged to pay it off in monthly installments, every stipend that had come in since I'd been transported into Seria's body had gone, after living expenses, entirely toward paying down that jewelry debt.

I'd finished paying it off just last month. Seria was, fundamentally, a beauty striking enough to blind a man, so she'd received a fair number of gifts from noblemen harboring ulterior motives toward her. Most of them, in practice, were useless.

Flowers. Jewels. Lace. Fans. That sort of thing.

Flowers all wilted, and the rest—resell it, and it's next to nothing anyway—

Worse, all of it was for women, so there was nothing I could particularly give Kallis. The closest thing to a reasonable option had been the demon-crystal bracelet I'd just taken out.

Demon crystal's precious right now. Precious, and it'll stay precious-precious right up until Lina finds the demon-crystal mine someday.

I'd just tucked the bracelet away safely and was, for once, having tea with Abigail and the priestess, when it happened.

Knock, knock.

A door was rapped urgently, and it flew open.

"Ma'am! It's an emergency!"

A junior priest.

"Calm down. What's happened?"

"The Saint has collapsed!"

"What?"

The priestess shot to her feet. I stood too, flustered in my own way. The junior priest who'd brought the news had more waiting behind it.

"And beside her, the celestium monument is glowing—transparently!"

"What did you say?"

My foot slipped for a moment. That statement could only mean one thing. That Lina had been confirmed a Stern.

No, wait—the original novel's villainess is sitting here behaving herself—what reckless bastard doesn't value his own neck...

Besides—this is way too fast.

We were still in the original novel's very early chapters—why now? More than that, unlike in the original, Lina hadn't even managed to stabilize her divine power yet, not this time.

Which meant Lina might really die.

Goosebumps rose all over me. If the female lead died? What would happen to this original novel then?

There was no way to know. I'd never even considered it.

"His Highness has ordered the priestess and Lady Seria brought to him!"

"Me too?"

"Yes, my lady!"

Me? Why me?

I didn't know, but I couldn't refuse Lesche's order, so I moved at once. Abigail followed right behind me.

The rumor hasn't spread yet, it seems.

Berke Castle proper was packed shoulder to shoulder with nobles who'd arrived from Haneton territory and various other territories. But the news apparently hadn't gotten out, because the annex where Lina was staying was quiet.

Only the people handling the treatment were rushing back and forth.

"How is the Saint?"

"She's past the worst of it! Fortunately, His Highness and the Marquess of Haneton were both at the castle!"

"Thank goodness…"

The priestess let out a breath of relief, spotted Lesche standing near the door, and hurried over to greet him.

"Thank you, Your Highness. I offer greetings on behalf of those who serve the divine."

Once she'd decided the worst was over, whatever followed could apparently be anything at all. The priestess, who'd sprinted the whole way here, caught her breath and said:

"A new Stern has come among us. The Saint is one who knows how to repay a debt—in time, she will surely stay in Berke territory to see to the frozen lake, the glacier."

Lesche wore, for once, an expression I'd rarely call gentle.

No—let me correct that.

I don't think I've ever seen it before.

Had he realized his own feelings, seeing the female lead sick and vulnerable? Against those expectations, what came out of Lesche's mouth was something else entirely.

"I'd like that put in writing."

"I'm sorry?"

"Berke is sensitive about the glacier's protection, as you know. I'd appreciate it if the priestess would take responsibility and put it in writing. Linon?"

The moment Lesche called for him, his chief aide held out a sheet of paper.

"Naturally, prepared in advance. Priestess. Now then, if you'll sign right here…"

The priestess signed, more or less in a daze.

He really is the scheming male lead, isn't he.

I tried to inch away, little by little. I had a bad feeling that if I stayed nearby, he'd have me sign something committing me to staying here all three months of winter. I glanced around, looking for Kallis.

"Lady Seria."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Lesche's call brought me to a dead stop.

"Did you suffer like that too, when your own Stern powers manifested?"

"No. My divine power isn't nearly so great as the Saint's."

The moment I answered, a crack formed between Lesche's brows. I flinched and lowered my head.

Why. What. Had I said something wrong?

"Priestess."

Lesche's red eyes turned to the priestess, who'd signed the document more or less in a daze.

"Didn't you know that the celestium monument's effect scales with the amount of divine power? Was the Saint simply not taught properly? Surely there's no way she wouldn't know her own body overflows with divine power. And yet she went and touched celestium anyway, and turned the whole castle upside down doing it?"

"That's… I imagine it's because she didn't think of herself as possibly being a Stern."

"So you're saying it was a mistake, then."

Lesche arched one eyebrow. He tilted his chin, and Baron Aison, his face pale, was brought forward. The nobleman who'd been invited as Lina's etiquette tutor.

"Baron. Tell it yourself. What did you say earlier? Why did the Saint touch the celestium?"

"That is—the Saint—"

Baron Aison glanced at me.

"She holds a vague admiration for Lady Stern, and so—"

Me?

I blinked, for a moment.

A vague admiration?

So Lina had touched the celestium herself? Because of me? Wanting to check whether she, too, might be a Stern? Why, all of a sudden?

"Your Highness."

Baron Aison dropped to his knees. He too held a proud noble title, one of the five ranks—but there was no comparing him to Lesche, a Grand Duke. Which meant no one present thought it excessive that he'd knelt like that.

Baron Aison, his face pale, said:

"It is entirely my fault."

"Well, at least you know it."

Lesche's expression was a remarkably cold blank. It was more than a little frightening. Just then, someone came in.

"Your Highness! The Saint has woken!"

The priests' faces bloomed with relief, but Lesche's expression showed no particular change. I could hear his chief aide Linon murmuring to him.

"Your Highness. Still—perhaps you ought to look in on her, for the sake of your relations with the High Priests…"

"Am I her nursemaid?"

"If it's for that reason, then…"

Lesche let out a sigh, an expression of pure irritation on his face. He seemed to think it over briefly, then went in—and the priestess had already run ahead, so I had to go along too.

Kallis was in the bedroom. More precisely, he was seated at the head of Lina's bed, where she lay, holding her hand.

So that's where he'd run off to.

I furrowed my brow faintly, and just then, a voice murmured beside me.

"Lady Seria."

I was mildly startled. The man who'd suddenly appeared beside me, murmuring, was Lesche's chief aide Linon.

"He has been taking turns with His Highness at the Saint's bedside to stabilize her divine power. Please, do not misunderstand."

"I don't misunderstand."

I said it reflexively, then let out a small sigh.

"No, actually. I nearly did misunderstand. Thank you for the consideration."

Linon's eyes went round.

"How very honest of you."

There was admiration in his tone. I had no idea what about my answer had impressed him so, but Linon smiled brightly.

"Of course I'd give it consideration. My lady is, at present, the most precious Stern in all of Berke. If my lady would only stay with us for a thousand years, ten thousand years, I'd gladly do a great deal more than this."

The murmured tone nearly made me forget the situation and laugh.

That was when it happened.

"Ngh…"

Lina made a pained sound and forced her eyes open.

That's bad.

Her face was pale, not a trace of color left in her lips. She truly looked like a corpse on the verge of death. Even as the maids kept dabbing at her, beads of cold sweat kept forming on her forehead.

"Saint, are you all right?"

Her black pupils moved, hazily. She looked at Kallis, right beside her, holding her hand and stabilizing her power, and murmured.

"Kalli… s…?"

"Yes, Lina! It's me! Are you with me?"

Kallis gripped Lina's hand tighter. My gaze fixed on those two hands.

"It hurts…"

"You'll be all right now. Don't worry, Lina."

His tone was soothing. I could feel the maids sitting near Lina glancing my way. Linon, who'd just been explaining the situation to me so I wouldn't misunderstand, had gone quiet now too.

Abigail whispered to me softly.

"Should I cut off his hand?"

I nearly turned around at that—what?—when it happened.

"Priestess."

Lesche spoke.

"As you know, Berke territory is extremely busy come winter. I don't have the room to keep a troublemaker like this in my castle any longer."

For a moment, everyone seemed to doubt their own ears. At Lina having just been called a troublemaker—

"Your Highness?"

Lina's eyes went wide—she'd clearly heard it. Whatever the reaction, Lesche called for his chief aide.

"Linon, inform the Grand Temple. Tell them the Saint will be returned to the Temple the moment she's fit to travel."

"Understood, Your Highness."

"Your Highness!"

The moment he heard that, Kallis shot to his feet. He was furious. I could read Kallis's expressions very well, so I felt his anger all the more clearly.

"Your Highness, isn't this excessive? The Saint isn't ill because she wanted to be. How can you speak this way in front of a patient?"

Lesche wore an expression that looked amused—no. Mocking.

"Can I not speak as I please in my own castle?"

"…It's still excessive. The Saint is a patient."

"Well said. Patient this, patient that."

Lesche tilted his chin toward me.

"Your fiancée isn't in perfect health either. Don't you think your priorities are a bit misplaced?"

Kallis froze for a moment.

"One would think your fiancée was the Saint, not Seria Stern."