LADBITW Chapter 8

The knights, having finished their meal, pounded their full bellies while making merry, then showed their respect in their unique way by shouting "We love you, Your Grace!" before withdrawing.

Killian and Lietta began drinking tea in the now-quiet dining room without particularly moving to a reception room.

Come to think of it, when they'd met before, it had been in his office, not a reception room. Thinking that he probably didn't bother using a reception room because she was merely a commoner actually made her feel less burdened.

"The meal seems to have suited your taste."

At Killian's remark, Lietta's face reddened.

Had he been watching to see how well I ate?

"Yes. I ate very well. Thank you."

Lietta couldn't quite bring herself to look directly into his eyes, but since he'd ordered her to, she thought she should at least look at his face, so she answered while looking at the area around his neck.

She too knew that she'd eaten a lot. Her face burned at the thought that she'd eaten heartily and quite a bit when such an exalted person was treating her.

She hadn't eaten this much in recent times. She herself couldn't believe she'd had such a comfortable meal.

"Good."

Killian smiled briefly and immediately moved to the main point.

"I called you to hear about how things are going. Is Axias treating you well?"

Lietta answered concisely without embellishment.

"Yes. Thanks to Your Lordship's grace."

Killian glanced at Lietta, then leaned back in his chair.

He wondered why she was staring so intently at only the lower part of his face, but just being able to converse while she looked at his face instead of the top of her head was great progress, so he decided to overlook it.

He knew that there were quite a few places where commoners weren't allowed to look directly at nobles' faces. Sevitas must have been like that too.

The head chef came in, set down newly made teacakes, and left. It looked pretty and smelled delicious, but since Killian wasn't eating, Lietta couldn't touch it either.

Without delicately noticing such things, Killian continued speaking.

"It seems you're settling in well as a blessing caster. You'd never worked as a blessing caster in Sevitas, had you?"

The question of how he knew flitted briefly through her mind, but she thought of course he might have looked into it. It wasn't particularly a secret anyway, so Lietta answered immediately.

"That's correct."

"Why?"

"There was a retired priest who mainly provided blessings and healing not far from where I lived, so I didn't need to. Compared to him, my skill wasn't good enough to charge money for, so I only used it at home."

Killian frowned slightly and asked back, "Even after the plague?"

As plague swept through the empire, the pilgrimage of priests stopped, and those with sacred abilities became expensive. Moreover, Sevitas had recently begun experiencing plague as well, so there should have been high demand for sacred abilities.

It was strange that a commoner struggling to make a living hadn't used such a profitable ability at all.

Lietta answered calmly with her head bowed.

"The plague in Sevitas is a recent development, so there was no opportunity for my meager ability to be used."

Ah.

Killian belatedly recalled what had happened to her during that time and understood.

It was just before three months had passed since Lietta's husband's death, in early spring, when plague patients began appearing in Sevitas, starting with Casarius.

At that time, Lietta had been locked in a house monitored by guards, waiting for her execution date.

Although the law favored the nobility, if she were a commoner woman but her husband had been alive, they wouldn't have treated her so roughly.

Killian silently stroked his chin, then asked, "Your husband—was it the plague?"

"Yes... I didn't see the plague demon myself. But the elder who saw the body confirmed... that it was plague."

She answered calmly, but seeing her face darken vacantly, Killian didn't offer hasty condolences and instead simply shifted the conversation to a noteworthy point in her words.

"Can you see demons?"

Lietta nodded slightly.

"Yes. My ability is weak, so even though I can see them, it's not highly useful."

"Mm."

Even though he didn't know much about sacred abilities, he knew that the constitution allowing one to see demons with spiritual sight was rare.

Sacred abilities that manifested as blessing, purification, exorcism, and healing could be gradually developed through training and effort. But the ability to see demons with one's eyes was in the realm of innate talent that couldn't be helped by effort.

If she had the ability to see demons, she could have become a priest. Exorcism ability could be developed through steady training later anyway.

When the ability to see demons combined with sacred abilities beyond exorcism, it naturally produced high synergy.

He'd heard the Emperor's priests say that among high-level sacred magic, there were magical means to temporarily enable one to see demons, but they weren't very cost-effective.

People who could naturally see demons without any effort had a much greater advantage in that regard.

A high priest or archpriest of a temple, and with luck, even a direct priest to the Emperor. There was a significant possibility of rising to a high position as a priest.

Killian felt interested in her talent.

"Did your blessing ability manifest after you came of age?"

"No. It was before I came of age."

"At the monastery?"

"Yes."

Killian tilted his head slightly. He was puzzled.

Why didn't she become a priest?

If sacred ability manifested before coming of age, couldn't one almost certainly become a priest?

If she was from a monastery, she was an orphan. For a commoner orphan, priesthood was the best profession.

Even nobles couldn't treat priests carelessly. Commoners from monasteries wanted to become priests if they could at all.

Moreover, if she had spiritual sight and sacred ability manifested early, she could have steadily trained to become a high-ranking priest.

Then she wouldn't have suffered such treatment from Casarius.

"At what age?"

"I could do it from around fifteen."

"You said you could purify as well? When was that?"

"Purification—from seventeen..."

Mm... Is that average?

Although sacred ability could be developed through training, generally the younger the age at manifestation, the higher the potential.

Though he'd asked about age, not knowing much about priests or sacred abilities, he couldn't tell what level a sacred ability user who manifested at fifteen represented.

Among the Emperor's elite priests who had been with him in his youth, there were countless geniuses whose sacred abilities had manifested before they even turned ten.

The priests Killian knew well enough to have conversed with were only the Emperor's priests who had been close to him in childhood and the Abbot of Axias monastery.

In any case, wasn't that a decent age for becoming a priest?

She couldn't do healing or exorcism apparently, but if she could purify, that was good prospects not only as a blessing caster but as a priest as well.

But why didn't she become a priest?

The question he'd been about to ask lightly was held back as if caught by an odd intuition.

As a sacred ability user who hadn't become a priest and became a blessing caster instead, most manifested after graduating from the monastery as adults, or even if they manifested quickly, they failed to become priests due to major disqualifying reasons according to doctrine.

It didn't seem like Lietta would have such disqualifying reasons.

She might have gotten into trouble early, though...

A suspicion caught what he'd been about to say.

It was plausible.

Did she get into trouble? Or did something terrible happen to her?

Killian frowned.

Looking at Lietta's face made it more convincing.

For noble priests, marriage or pregnancy wasn't a flaw, but for commoner priests, it was a serious enough flaw to be considered breaking vows.

Since sacred ability had hereditary traits, these were machinations by nobles trying to maintain the privilege of sacred ability among themselves.

When his thoughts reached that point, the fact that Lietta was a commoner and this much of a beauty became newly noticeable, making that possibility feel quite convincing.

Did she get into trouble? Did something happen to her?

However, even Killian hesitated to ask a woman about such things carelessly.

But he wasn't thoughtful or considerate enough to leave it unasked and let it pass.

Killian asked as he stirred his cold tea, "You don't have the stigma of having broken your vows, and seeing how you married early, you weren't a priest who broke vows."

It was a roundabout way of asking, but ultimately it was still the question of why she hadn't become a priest.

Lietta answered without any change in expression.

"No. I failed the priest examination and gave up on becoming a priest."

Killian felt relieved without realizing it.

A memory flickered.

The Sevitas monastery had, at some point, created their own graduation examination. That had been substituted for the priest examination.

It must have been a written test. Was it difficult?

The monastery taught all children the theory of blessing, purification, exorcism, and healing, but those who actually manifested even the most basic blessing ability were extremely few.

Moreover, the number of people who could use purification, exorcism, and healing decreased sharply as one progressed.

With plague spreading so extensively and blessing ability becoming desperately needed, it was truly regrettable for the temple to have lost someone with such abilities.

Really, why create such a meaningless examination?

"Foolish temple, to fail a blessing caster capable of purification."

Lietta answered calmly.

"I was lacking."

Killian confirmed there was no particular emotion in her expression.

So it wasn't a matter of chastity, then.

It wasn't impossible that she was lying, but he couldn't imagine Lietta lying with that face, so he simply believed her. Even if it were a lie, it wasn't something he couldn't overlook. It wasn't a particularly important issue.

After all, Lietta wasn't some precious noble young lady, and so what if she'd gotten into a bit of trouble?

If precious talent had been buried without seeing the light of day because of some vaguely defined doctrine, simply for being a commoner, that would have made him uncomfortable.

If something terrible had been done to her to cause that, he would have been angry as a matter of human decency.

Her life was already difficult enough—he hoped it hadn't been more pitiful than that.

The two continued exchanging conversation for some time.

Lietta answered Killian's questions without embellishment and promptly, just as she'd resolved earlier.

Killian thought she was comfortable and not frustrating like before, answering cleanly and without delay—like someone such as Ern or Leonard who had been with him a long time and read his cues well.

It was a moment when the survival instinct of a commoner who had lived reading nobles' moods was successfully demonstrated.

Killian had no way of knowing that Lietta had inwardly tensed herself and established a policy of answering quickly and concisely with only the essentials.

For him, the hesitation and quibbling had disappeared from Lietta's words and answers came immediately—it was refreshing and finally felt like they could communicate. As he thought, one should feed people before having a conversation.

Lietta was relieved to see that, unlike before, there was no sign of displeasure and his attitude had subtly changed—her way of dealing with His Lordship seemed correct. At least he didn't seem likely to be displeased with her.

Though Lietta herself didn't realize it, on one hand she had considerably lowered her fear and tension toward Killian during the meal. She even had the leisure for other thoughts.

While answering Killian's questions, Lietta was inwardly thinking sadly that he wasn't using the necklace she'd given him as a gift. Her heart felt a bit empty.

It had been her daughter's keepsake.

When she had been driven into the most desperate corner mentally in her life, when she'd almost lost her mind—she had fiercely poured everything of herself into blessing that object. No, she hadn't even intended to bless it to begin with.

Her continued prayers in a trance and her grief-stricken desperate wishes had accumulated over a long time, and when Lietta became aware of it, it had become an almost semi-permanent blessed relic.

Objectively, it was a rare object. It would be fair to say she would never make such a thing again in her lifetime.

It was the only thing with which she could repay him, her benefactor...

Since she herself had some resistance to plague demons, it would be more necessary for him than for her...

To resolve to give it to His Grace, she had agonized so much before her daughter's memorial tablet, asking, seeking permission, praying with tears.

But knowing it was a shabby thing to the Grand Duke of Axias, she swallowed her emptiness inwardly.

It was an object that had already left her hands.

Killian was continuing with quite a few questions.

"I see. What did you do at the eastern annex?"

"I blessed the bedrooms and places where eleven young ladies stay, including Miss Rachel. And I also briefly blessed the items they carry with them."

She glanced carefully, but His Lordship didn't seem to be thinking of the necklace she'd given him.

Because of the previous conversation where she'd been called rude, she couldn't bring herself to mention repaying the money. He hadn't even used the necklace she'd given him.

Lietta was thinking that she must somehow repay his kindness in another way, doing her very best. From this person, she had only received, and had given nothing in return.

Suddenly, a way to be even slightly helpful to him came to Lietta's mind.

Why didn't I think of this sooner? During the brief pause in conversation, Lietta spoke up quickly with a brightened face.

"Shall I bless Your Grace's bedroom as well?"

Killian's eyebrow twitched upward.

"Ah, Your Lordship!"

Lietta bit her tongue tip with an "oh no" and quickly corrected herself.

However, Killian hadn't made that expression over such a trivial thing. He didn't even think about her correcting herself to "Your Lordship."

He thought Lietta was flirting with him quite boldly.

The way she unconsciously stuck out her tongue slightly to bite it and flushed—it was extraordinarily alluring.

His heart moved in an instant.

He'd never seen her smile. It wasn't quite a smile, but it was a bright expression for once.

He'd only meant to ask about blessing abilities. Uncharacteristically for him, various topics had been dragging on, and he'd thought it was simply because today she was answering well in the manner he preferred, like a longtime trusted retainer...

Platinum blonde hair resembling moonlight on a clear night.

Pale sky-blue eyes.

A delicate and beautiful face with fine features, and a calm voice that gave a composed feeling.

Lietta was certainly a beauty to his taste.

"...Do as you like."

His hand unconsciously went to his mouth, bothered for some reason.

...Come to think of it, she seemed to keep looking at his lips.

He felt slightly awkward and strange.

He definitely thought it was because Leonard had been spouting nonsense earlier.