TVWRL Chapter 18
For a moment, I wondered if I had spoken my thoughts out loud and quickly covered my mouth.
Before me stood countless statues of the goddess and a path lined with flowers, and my inner voice continued to echo.
“Whose blood, sweat, and tears were wrung out for this?”
As I cautiously shifted my gaze, I locked eyes with the elegantly dressed Paulian.
Paulian looked at me nonchalantly, as if nothing had happened, and spoke.
“Lady Adeline, is that you?”
I turned my head and pretended not to know or see Paulian, who was speaking so shamelessly in the middle of the church.
To avoid being associated with unsavory characters, I focused on the elegantly dressed nobles.
But everywhere I looked, there were flashes of brilliance.
The clothing and accessories, outshining the people themselves, left no place for my eyes to rest.
Of course, it was customary to wear new clothes to the coronation, so I had prepared everything new as well, but wasn’t it a bit too ostentatious?
The temple-affiliated nobles particularly enjoyed showing off.
I had designed my outfit and accessories to be as simple as possible, so I wouldn’t stand out.
While it was meant to signify a pure and reverent celebration of the saint’s birth, it had become merely another form of flaunting wealth.
The Myaria Church had become so corrupted.
“Lady Adeline.”
I ignored Paulian’s attempt at familiarity and sat down in my designated seat, guided by a young priest.
Then Paulian approached me. Instead of taking his own seat, he casually spoke to the person next to me.
“Lady, would you mind switching seats with me?”
Because he was substituting for the Master of the Tower, Paulian’s seat was quite far forward.
“Of course.”
The person sitting next to me rose quickly and moved to the front without any hesitation.
It seemed they were hurrying, perhaps to avoid any potential conflict with Paulian.
“It’s an honor to meet you here.”
I treated Polaiyan like a transparent person and continued to look straight ahead.
“Isn’t this a bit extravagant?”
Although I wanted to respond, I restrained myself and kept my thoughts to myself.
‘Is your face as extravagant as this?’
“Did Lady Adeline quit because she disliked such things?”
I continued to ignore him.
“It seems that the only ones properly dressed in this place are Lady Adeline and myself.”
Paulian, your role today is not that of a chatterbox. You need to focus on Leona. Be enchanted by the sacred presence! Isn’t this a form of ADHD? Why are you so scattered and lacking focus?
“It’s not easy to quit a position like that of a saint in the Kinsteria Empire, is it? Not due to a lack of ability, but due to one’s own will.”
Unable to endure the words of this troublemaker any longer, I shot him a glare and placed my finger to my lips.
“Shh.”
“Clearly, you’re not someone who gives time easily. If I stay quiet, will you give me some time later?”
“Only if you behave.”
“That’s not a definite answer.”
“If you want to meet me that badly, take a waiting ticket.”
“As I suspected, Lady Adeline is a principled and straightforward person.”
What on earth is he talking about? This chatterbox.
Just as I was looking at him with disdain, the sound of a pipe organ began to resonate softly throughout the main chapel.
I looked at him again and placed my finger to my lips.
“Shh.”
Paulian then wink.
Why is he acting like this in such a sacred atmosphere?
I shook my head and directed my gaze forward.
Then he leaned closer, whispering just close enough for his lips to almost touch my ear.
“I will come to you soon in the way Lady Adeline desires.”
It was nothing significant, but his breath against my ear made me flinch involuntarily.
I kept my gaze straight ahead to hide my reaction.
In the very front row, the guest seats held the ostensible Emperor Aust and the daughter of the highest noble of the Temple faction, Empress Sierra, a former saintess.
Beside them were the first prince Ilias, the son of the deceased former empress, and the second prince Aiden, the son of Empress Sierra, along with Leona’s parents, the Count and Countess Waynes.
Though I was only seeing their backs, it was my first time seeing royalty up close.
Knowing all their stories, their backs seemed to reflect a sense of loneliness.
The tale of the imperial family from the original story came to mind.
☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓
Emperor Aust, had been oppressed by the temple throughout his life, and Sierra, had become empress with the support of the temple.
Coincidentally, the former empress, Ilias’s mother, fell ill and died just as Sierra’s role as a saint was ending.
Although the details aren’t fully explained, I believed there must be more to the story, which would likely be revealed in the side stories.
Typically, saints would become members of the royal family or the wives of high-ranking nobles.
However, Emperor Aust genuinely loved Olivia, Ilias’s mother, and had no intention of taking a new empress.
Still, if she set her mind to it, Sierra could have easily become the empress.
But neither Sierra nor her father, Duke Crothos, would be satisfied as empress or nobleman’s wife.
In the end, a year after Olivia died, Emperor Aust took Sierra as his empress.
At that time, Duke Crothos said to Emperor Aust, who refused.
“We can no longer wait. Will you take the empress, or shall we consider changing the emperor? It doesn’t seem like either option would be too difficult.”
Duke Crothos gazed at Emperor Aust with a cold smile.
Eventually, the emperor’s decree to take a new empress was announced throughout the empire.
And because of Aiden, Sierra’s son, Ilias was unable to become the crown prince even after reaching adulthood. The temple faction nobles constantly found reasons to undermine him.
I thought Ilias’s fate, falling in love with Leona, who was akin to his enemy, was truly harsh.
A relationship that he rejected but could not help but fall into. It was poignant and heartrending, yet a love standing at opposite ends; isn’t this the essence of romance?
☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓
Seeing Ilias, the male lead candidate enduring the most difficult love, brought a fleeting smile to my face.
‘To witness a scene of falling in love on the spot.’
As a devoted reader, it was an immense honor.
Because this was where Ilias would fall for Leona for the second time.
He fell for Leona in the slums, but Ilias denied that fact and suppressed his feelings.
Given the situation of waging war against the temple, falling for a saint was absurd.
With his resolve, Ilias came to the coronation ceremony, only to crumble once more before Leona.
In her pure and sacred demeanor, so far removed from greed, and in the direction of her heart that aligned with his pursuits.
Ilias, not obsessed with power but drawn to her genuine saintly heart, felt an intense attraction and was tormented by it.
Yet, unable to accept the fact that his heart had been stolen, he pushed her away repeatedly and ended up being the last to join the competition for the male lead.
Though he was late to the game, it was destined for him to give his heart to Leona.
Unlike Paulian, who endlessly expressed his feelings, Ilias silently watched over Leona from behind.
While watching him fall in love was a highlight, another point of interest was Ilias’s appearance.
Ilias boasted the most perfect appearance in the novel.
Subjectively interpreting the original description, Paulian might be compared to a glamorous idol, while Ilias resembled a handsome actor.
Considering the appearance of Chris, a low-ranking priest who didn’t even appear in the story, and comparing it to the dazzling presence of Paulian next to him, I couldn’t even imagine what Ilias would look like in reality.
Thus, my expectations were high.
Ilias’s broad and firm back remained steady, facing forward.
Once he had decided to pursue his path, Ilias’s heart never wavered.
It felt like I was getting a glimpse of his unwavering feelings for Leona.
‘Will I be able to see his face at the banquet?’
Just as I was lost in thought, a familiar voice rang out.
“Everyone, please rise.”
I stopped my wandering thoughts and focused on the words of the regent overseeing the coronation.
“The Cardinal of the Myaria Church will now enter.”
The Cardinal of the Myaria Church walked onto the stage in a row.
‘Huh? Why is one person missing?’
There were supposed to be ten cardinals from the Myaria Church.
In the original story, ten appeared, but there were only nine on stage.
It was a bit strange, but as the blessing prayer began, I couldn’t continue my thoughts and focused instead.
As the blessing prayer and the Myaria Church’s hymn choir concluded, the Pope appeared and introduced her.
“Please welcome Saintess Leona.”
Radiating a soft divine aura, Leona descended from the air to the center of the stage.
The crowd welcomed Leona with thunderous applause.
Standing at the center, Leona glanced in all directions.
When she looked our way, I felt like our eyes met for a moment, and I thought I saw one corner of her mouth lift.
It wasn’t perfectly clear, but it seemed there was a sense of superiority in her eyes as she looked down at me.
Something felt off, but since this was a purely personal feeling, I couldn’t be sure it was true.
It might have been just my sensitivity. After all, there was no reason for her to be concerned about me, someone who had left the church.
Before I knew it, the pope and the cardinals were sequentially infusing their divine power and offering a blessing prayer for Leona.
Leona, with her eyes closed, appeared both sacred and beautiful as she received the blessing.
It was moving enough to bring tears to my eyes.
‘Be a good Saint, Leona.’
I silently wished her well in my heart.
“Everyone, please be seated.”
As the blessing ceremony concluded in a solemn atmosphere, the pope and the cardinals began their greetings to welcome the saint.
‘It feels like having ten principals or officiants at once.’
With all ten of them delivering tedious speeches, time dragged on, and I was on the verge of falling asleep.
I even thought it was a relief that one cardinal hadn’t shown up.
As I pinched my thigh, battling drowsiness, Leona’s greeting began.
In the original story, she delivered a brilliant speech here that stirred the hearts of Paulian and Elias.
She talks about her experiences with the weak she first encountered during her candidacy as a saintess and her desire to help the struggling and suffering as a Saintess.
The church members and Count Waynes were uneasy, fearing her words might incite unrest, but they didn’t show it.
Most people present were moved.
Just like the rule that a troublemaker never realizes they are one, the nobles here had lived too long in wrongdoing to even recognize their actions as bad. So, they were genuinely touched by her speech.
I felt excited again at the thought of hearing Leona’s brilliant speech firsthand.
