Chapter 33

Translator: Yonnee

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‘Alrighty. It’s worth a shot anyway.’

Holding fast to my pounding heart, I pulled back the hood that was covering my face.

As it came off, my pink hair broke free and cascaded over my shoulders.

Charon’s eyes became as wide as saucers as he watched.

“Y-You are…?”

It seemed like he recognized me at once.

That’s a relief. This should help me with my grand introduction.

Instead of saying anything specific, I only smiled and nodded.

‘Yes, that’s right.’

I am the one and only Saintess of the Empire.

The flustered Charon corrected his posture to a more respectful one.

“Your Eminence the Saintess? Why are you in a place like this…”

He unconsciously started speaking and regarding me in a polite manner. After all, he was a citizen of the empire, too.

‘Then, I’ll have to live up to your expectations.’

I raised my chin slightly with a proud expression.

“Seeing as how you recognized me, you’ll be able to understand quickly.”

“Pardon?”

“Truthfully, I am here today because I have received God’s divine revelation.”

After talking a bit of nonsense, I immediately got to the point.

The longer a lie was spun, the easier it was to trip on.

This was the very truth behind a lie.

“…God?”

Charon asked back, obviously tense.

Even though he was such a burly man, he seemed to get smaller in the face of God.

“Yes, it is God’s divine revelation. It was a voice that only I could hear.”

As I spoke, I infused as much emotion as I could into each word.

And then.

“God says that there is a hidden sacred relic in this very place.”

I pointed towards the gem with one finger.

Along with my gesture, Charon’s head moved to follow.

And before long, as his eyes were still wide open, he murmured with a rather pained voice.

“…How did you know that it’s a sacred relic? Is it because Your Eminence is different?”

“……?”

My mouth went agape without me realizing it, and I hastily closed it again.

But I couldn’t do anything about my heavily pounding heart.

‘No, it’s seriously a real sacred relic?’

I just threw out the term as a ruse, but it was the real thing.

Now I understand why he was so prideful about the fact that 500 million shillings was a steal.

I’m sure it’s truly worth that much if it’s a sacred relic.

Letting out a dry cough twice, I forced my face to keep on a serious expression as I continued.

“As expected, God’s divine revelation is not wrong. In any case, the sacred relic is originally owned by the temple, so I would like to take it back.”

Charon fell silent.

It seemed like he was thinking things over.

He had his head tilted to the side for a while, but before long, he finally spoke.

“That might be a bit difficult though?”

Now, this was a surprise.

However, I kept the same stern expression to the best of my abilities, focusing on my core.

I furrowed my brows as though I was displeased, and I repeated the same thing once more.

“This sacred relic belongs to the temple.”

“I’m not so sure about that. I paid for this. So, even if Your Eminence says it’s the temple’s property, you can’t just take it away for free. The price—you have to pay for it, dear Saintess.”

Saying so, the corners of Charon’s lips curled up into a patient smile.

“Isn’t Your Eminence the esteemed daughter of the great Brietta Duchy? You must have a lot of wealth, so please, just buy it.”

At this point, I could be certain.

Since things had turned out like this, trying to get him to obediently hand it over would be hopeless.

‘Fine. Let’s move on to Plan B.’

I immediately shifted gears and went for the next best plan I had in mind.

In fact, I had often faced dangerous people in my previous life.

Back then, I had worked part-time at a convenience store that was situated in an alley that’s full of bars, and the salary you could get in a place like that was especially high. Since I was crazy about money, I ignored all the risks and worked there.

At that time, I was more afraid of the imminent danger of dying from hunger compared to the real danger of the streets at night.

So, as I worked there, I faced a lot of people along the streets at night.

And to be honest, compared to how they seemed, they’re a lot more timid than I thought they were.

Especially in the face of ‘superstition’.

Perhaps because they made money comfortably with their shady jobs, they were very sensitive to ‘fortune’, too.

Many of these types of people secretly believed and were susceptible to getting duped by pseudo-religions.

And, at the back of their minds, they had this certain fear of being punished by the heavens after they had been committing a lot of sins.

In an instant, my haughty expression turned into that of a pitiable one.

To be more precise, it was the look of a person who felt sorry for the one standing in front of them.

And for the next few moments, I only kept glancing at Charon with that same look.

“Haa.”

As soon as I sighed deeply, I saw Charon getting slightly agitated.

Since I was a saintess who recognized a ‘sacred relic’ after hearing ‘God’s divine revelation’, it would definitely weigh on his mind if he would continue ignoring me recklessly.

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