Chapter 103.3

He was so angry, but Rishe hurriedly excused herself and sprinted off to the Goddess Tower.

"...Weird adult."

Leo, who was left behind in the corridor, muttered to himself.

His wrists were bound behind his back and tied in a rather complicated knot. It wasn't really that impossible, but it was going to take a lot of effort to untie it.

"Damn. If that's not her kind of business, what the hell is?"

Leo cluck his tongue and then looked at Rishe's back as she ran off.

"...That's the future Empress of Garkhain."

****

Rishe carefully ensured not to get dizzy and rushed to the back of the Grand Shrine.

What was swirling in her head was the fact that Leo had just told her.

Garkhain is included in Leo's "enemies"...Why in the world did he refer to the entire Garkhain Kingdom, and not to His Highness Arnold's name?

The whole picture was finally coming into focus, but the crucial part was missing. She felt unsettled and had a disturbing premonition.

I'm sure that the reason the Duke suddenly tried to separate me from Young Miss was because he didn't want me to find out that she is the Maiden Priestess.

However, it did seem a little unnatural to her.

I sensed more of a will to not let me find out than a will to let someone find out.

It reminded her of an incident that happened just the day before yesterday.

When she met Young Miss for the first time in this life, His Highness Arnold looked at Myria with cold eyes. The duke also looked nervous the moment His Highness Arnold said his name...

She wondered if there was anything else that made him feel threatened.

What I have seen and heard in this Grand Shrine; His Highness told me about his childhood...

A possibility emerged in Rishe's mind.

No way.

Feeling incredulous, she jumped into the tower she had reached.

Even though it was a tower, one floor seemed as big as a cathedral. The entrance was in the form of a door, with separate staircases on either side.

As Rishe began to climb the stairs, she found a figure when she reached the third floor.

"Oliver-sama!"

"Oh, Rishe-sama."

When Oliver calmly turned around, she found the Archbishop's assistant, Schneider, crouched at his feet.

Schneider seemed to have fainted, and drops of blood were dripping from the corner of his mouth. She blanched, but his injury didn't look quite serious as if he dropped from a single blow.

"Is something troubling you? I thought I asked a priest to send a message for you to rest in your room."

"Is this from His Highness Arnold?"

"Yes. And My Lord is a little higher up, following the archbishop."

Oliver smiled and pointed upwards, and Rishe cleared her throat. Oliver's demeanor, which was usually unafraid of Arnold, was somewhat terrifying when seen in this way.

"I'm going after His Highness."

"You'd better not. My lord is in a terrible mood right now, you know?――After all, you were injured."

This unexpected information made gape.

But Oliver's smile must be a lie.

"Thanks for the heads up! But if His Highness isn't in a calm state, someone needs to stop him!"

"..."

Rishe put her foot on the stairs and ran up again.

Her carefully regulated breathing became erratic, and she was heaving while heading upward. Upon reaching the sixth floor, she noticed an arrow that fell there.

This is the sacred tool of the Maiden Priestess used during the festival.

After picking them, she looked up and saw several arrows scattered on the stairs.

A small bow was also among them. Rishe pressed her lips together.

There is no way that Young Miss, who respects the Goddess would leave her sacred tools lying around. Either she's in a situation where she can't pick them herself, or she's never been conscious in the first place.

While picking up the bow and arrow, Rishe reached the entrance of the seventh floor.

"Your Highness..."

"―― ......"

Arnold, sword in hand, slowly looked back at Rishe.

She shuddered with instinctive fear. He bore resemblance to the Emperor she had faced in knight life.

But the fallen priests around him were breathing, and the gaze he shot her was different from that time.

"What's wrong, Rishe?"

"..."

With a curiously gentle gaze, Arnold extended his hand to her.

"Your breathing is erratic, and you don't look well."

"... Your Highness ..."

"You must have acted recklessly again before you got here."

He gently brushed her cheek with his sword hand, but his hand smelled of rusty blood.

"I'll save the priestess kid. You don't have to worry about a thing."

"..."

"So, be a good girl and wait here."

He sounded like calming her down, but she felt like he was trying to tell her something.

"Can you do that?"

Arnold's sea-blue eyes stared quietly at Rishe.

The light that dwelled there was dark and sharp as a blade.

"There's just one thing I'd like to ask you."

"..."

"Why did you want to keep me away from the Order's people?"

She recalled the events of their first day in the Grand Shrine.

They had an exchange on the balcony. Before that, however, Rishe spoke with Bishop Schneider.

[It is said that only women born into a family of the Maiden Priestess can be chosen as Maiden Priestesses.]

[A few boys have been born, so the noble Goddess's lineage has not died out.]

[――The Maiden Priestess of the previous generation was very skilled in the Kurshade language. There will never be anyone like her, ever again.]

Rishe took a deep breath.

The woman who was Myria's mother gave birth to only one child, Myria.

After her death, Myria became the only woman with the blood of a Maiden Priestess. That's why the Order raised Myria in secrecy.

But what if there were other women whose existence was "hidden"?

It was as if the Order kept Myria's birth a secret.

What if the person who was supposed to be dead was alive?

Arnold told Rishe.

[If you string that sentence together, it becomes 'the girl with the floral hair.]

Rishe stared into his eyes as he stood in front of her.

With a heavy sword in his hand, Arnold looked at her with downcast eyes, so beautiful that they could have been painted.

"What color is your mother's hair?"

"..."

After a few seconds, Arnold suddenly smiled calmly.

However, his eyes were still dark. They were an unfathomable shade, like the ocean at night.

Arnold's hushed voice replied.

"――...Pale purple, like a violet flower."

"...!!"

The previous Maiden Priestess did not die.

Perhaps she was offered as a hostage. To Garkhain, under his father Emperor - for the Holy Kingdom of Domana to escape invasion.

"Your mother is supposedly the dead Maiden Priestess..."