Like Elliot, I was about to enter the mansion as the time for Lady Maynard’s private lesson approached.
“Mirabel! Can you hear me?”
I abruptly stopped in my tracks at the sound of Vivre’s voice.
The voice ringing in my head rather than my ears was still something I hadn’t quite gotten used to.
“I couldn’t properly tell you yesterday or the day before because you seemed busy, but isn’t it time for you to listen to me?”
Vivre’s pleading voice made me look around. Anita was following me, but fortunately, there was no one else around.
I gestured for Anita to come closer.
“Anita, come here.”
“Mirabel, can’t you hear me?”
Ignoring his intentions and urgency, I pretended not to hear Vivre’s voice.
“Yes, young miss.”
Anita quickly approached me with quick steps.
“While attending Lady Maynard’s lesson, could you bring me some apology juice from the kitchen?”
“Yes, I’ll be back soon!”
“Yes, don’t forget to treat Lady Maynard as well. And don’t forget your own as well.”
Before Anita could rush off to the kitchen, I stopped her and added more.
“Mine too?”
I nodded in affirmation as Anita asked with wide eyes.
She greeted me with a slightly enlightened face.
“Yes! Please go ahead, young miss!”
After the greeting, Anita quickly started running towards the direction of the kitchen. I watched her back with a satisfied smile and then headed towards Lady Maynard’s reception room.
At that moment, I heard Vivre sigh.
I placed my hands on my hips and let out a small sigh as well.
“It’s difficult to respond when there are people around. I was late because I sent Anita to get something.”
Before Vivre could respond, I spoke right away.
“But what are you talking about, Vivre? Wasn’t the explanation already over?”
Finally alone, I responded to Vivre’s words.
“I did explain about the main stem, but shouldn’t we also talk about the future?”
As if waiting, Vivre said.
“The future?”
“Yes, and when you want to talk to me, you don’t necessarily have to speak.”
Seeing me continue to look around and respond, Vivre added.
“So how should we communicate?”
“While you wear the pendant, we are connected mentally. So I will receive your message. If you decide, your words will be delivered to me.”
It was the first time I heard about this. I couldn’t understand how to do it, so I imagined talking to Vivre in my mind.
“Would it work like this?”
“Yes, that way, I can hear you too.”
“Really?”
It was fascinating that we could communicate even without speaking, so I asked Vivre.
“I can hear you.”
“It’s amazing. It’s incredible that we can have a conversation like this.”
“Everyone finds it amazing. Fleon as well, and you, Mirabel.”
“Did Saintess also find it amazing?”
“She did.”
Knowing that Saintess Fleon was once like me was both delightful and fascinating.
In the end, she was just like me until she became a saintess.
“Of course. Mirabel, you are currently a saintess.”
“Uh?”
I almost stumbled on the stairs at Vivre’s unexpected words. Fortunately, I reflexively grabbed the railing and managed to overcome the danger.
“Be careful. Your body is valuable. You have to fight against those who want to revive the evil dragon Kripso in the future, so it would be troublesome if you were injured by something trivial.”
“No, wait a minute. What did you just say?”
“What?”
I blurted out the words in front of a passing maid by mistake.
The maid looked at me with wide eyes and then smiled.
“Young miss of the Crichton Duchy, right?”
“Ah, ah… Yes, thank you. I’m sorry for interrupting you while passing by.”
My face flushed with embarrassment for no reason.
That’s why I looked around before talking to Vivre, but I ended up making a mistake.
The maid bowed her head in response to my apology and then climbed the stairs, disappearing into the second-floor corridor.
I gently cooled my heated cheek with both hands, trying to calm down.
“Why are you so surprised? Isn’t it obvious? Since you became a saintess along with Fleon and accompanied me, you are also considered a saintess as long as you’re with me.”
Come to think of it, that was true.
Saintess Fleon also had a mission to seal the evil dragon Kripso under Vivre’s request. And she appeared as a saintess at the Duanah Temple.
Since I was following in the footsteps of Saintess Fleon, it wasn’t strange to be called a saintess myself.
However, it was a title that I had never even thought about, so I felt a little flustered.
“Go with me to the Duanah Temple of the Goddess Duanah. There, they will recognize you as a saintess. No, they already see you as a saintess.”
“Then what do we need to discuss in more detail?”
Returning to the main topic, I asked Vivre.
“It would be better to have the conversation with others in the temple rather than here, where we are conversing.”
“So I have to go to the temple after all?”
“That’s right.”
After Vivre’s response, I shrugged my shoulders.
“But at least not today.”
“Why not?”
Surprised by my outright refusal, Vivre asked me. I thought he would understand since we had been together all this time, but it seemed not.
“I have other engagements. I can’t just skip my schedule so freely.”
After I finished speaking, Vivre seemed to accept it with a sigh.
“I’ll wait.”
That was the last thing Vivre said before falling silent again.
In the meantime, I arrived in front of the reception room where Lady Maynard was waiting and straightened myself up. Then I looked at the maid standing by the door.
The maid nodded perceptively and bowed, gesturing me to enter.
The door opened, revealing the interior of the reception room.
* * *
It was the next day when I finally left behind the etiquette class taught by Lady Maynard and headed towards the Duanah Temple of the Goddess.
During the entire journey to the temple, inside the gently swaying carriage, my mind was occupied with thoughts.
Visiting the Duanah Temple for me was the second time since I became my current self.
The first time I visited, I was so stunned by Saintess Fleon disappearing after she returned to her original form that I had no time to think about anything.
“Hey, Vivre.”
I called out to Vivre in my mind as I looked out the carriage window. It was because Anita and Kalina were sitting across from me.
“Why are you calling me?”
Vivre’s voice echoed in my head soon after.
“I have a question. When Saintess returned to her sealed pendant and returned to her original form, do you remember?”
“Of course, I remember. I am not a human blessed with forgetfulness but a dragon guardian. Everything I see, hear, and experience remains in my mind.”
Recalling the time I first went to the temple, Vivre replied.
Vivre’s voice, describing forgetfulness as a blessing and implying that he couldn’t forget anything, had a touch of sadness as it calmly settled down.
Now that I thought about it, Vivre had struggled alongside Saintess Fleon to prevent the resurrection of the evil dragon Kripso.
It wouldn’t be easy for him, a companion who was like family, to have returned to ashes.
“Back then, when Saintess disappeared and returned, what happened to the current Saintess? I heard from you that she was the Saintess of the future.”
I cautiously asked Vivre. It might be a painful question for him.
“That’s right. The Fleon who was with me was the person from before you returned to the past. That’s why the Fleon here now is the same person but also a different person.”
“Then did I take the place of the original Saintess?”
That was what I was curious about.
Fleon awakened as a saintess and appeared in the world as I knew it.
But Fleon failed to prevent the resurrection of the evil dragon Kripso, and Vivre turned back time with me, returning to the past, and passed their mission to me.
As a result, I accepted Vivre’s request to stop Kripso, or more precisely, Daniel, who dreamed of Kripso’s resurrection.
And as Vivre said, I would also gain the status of a saintess.
What about the original Saintess, who was supposed to be the saintess?
“Don’t worry about Fleon. He was originally a servant of the Goddess Duanah. He feels honored to be a saint who received the grace of the Goddess in a different time.”
Vivre stated with certainty, and I nodded my head before realizing something strange and widened my eyes.
“Then does the Saintess know that she was a saintess?”
“It shouldn’t be like that, but thanks to the grace of the Goddess Duanah, she retains all her memories. Memories of all those days of failure. It’s an unavoidable task to stop Kripso…,”
I sealed my lips for a moment at Vivre’s gloomy voice.
If Fleon had all those memories, then we would surely be able to gain a lot of information from him.
Since I couldn’t get any helpful information from Vivre, who had been with Fleon all along, I didn’t know how helpful Fleon’s memories would be. But it was better than starting with no knowledge at all.
At that moment, the coachman, who was connected to the carriage, opened the window slightly and whispered to Kalina.
Kalina relayed the coachman’s words to me exactly.
“Young miss, we will arrive at the Duanah Temple soon.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
After hearing the response, I opened the window and looked outside.
As Kalina had said, beyond the carriage window, the statues of angels serving the Goddess Duanah at the Duanah Temple began to come into view.
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Translator Note:
This chapter was translated by Bree.
Next chapter will be released on August, 12. To read chapters in advance support us on Patreon!!
Thanks for the translation!