Aelia didn’t actually want to use this final measure either. If you could live in comfort, who’d want a life on the edge, licking blood off the blade and never knowing if they’d see tomorrow?
But ever since that bastard Hero showed up, her days had only gotten less and less pleasant. This time, she’d even had the rotten luck of getting scalded by tea and eating food full of sand... and so, all the anger she’d been bottling up these past few days exploded at once.
Even so, when Aelia returned to the main hall, every move she made was still elegant and dignified. On top of that, she’d already freshened herself up from head to toe, so she looked as radiant and breathtaking as ever.
And when everyone saw such a beautiful and captivating holy maiden, they felt refreshed just looking at her. At the same time, for some reason, they also felt a sudden sense of duty and motivation to perform well in front of her. Their hands moved faster at once, and even their communication with each other suddenly became unbelievably smooth.
Before long, the inspection smoothly reached its end.
“Long live Lady Aelia! Long live the kingdom!”
Amid the orphanage’s enthusiastic cheers, the inspection party began its return journey.
Even on the way back, the people of the slums still looked coldly at Luke and the others. But it was already all but certain that this place would develop into a thriving district. The people living here wouldn’t become rich overnight, but one way or another, they would all benefit and leave behind the hopeless lives they’d had before.
“Luke, how do you feel?”
After returning to the royal palace, Charles called out to Luke, who had been about to head back to his quarters alone.
“What do you mean?”
“Our kingdom’s pride and joy, Lady Saintess.”
Charles straightened his back as he said it.
Seriously...
Luke couldn’t help letting out a helpless smile inwardly.
In the half month or so since the two of them had become acquainted, Charles had never once praised or promoted his kingdom’s Saintess.
But that wasn’t because he was bad with words. It was because his faith in Aelia’s wisdom and greatness had already reached the point of blindness. He firmly believed that even without singing her praises, Luke would surely be deeply won over by Aelia’s conduct.
“What I’m more worried about is what’ll happen to this place after Lady Aelia leaves with me to subjugate the Demon King.”
Luke decisively avoided giving any direct evaluation of a certain someone.
Charles was instantly left speechless.
It was true that he didn’t like the kingdom. But the real target of that dislike was the rotten, selfish nobles, along with that person at the very top... As for the common people of this kingdom, he still hoped their lives would keep getting better.
No matter the reasons or the process, looking only at the result, Aelia really had made the kingdom better.
But it was also undeniable that the scope of her blessings only extended as far as her light could reach.
Take the slums and the orphanage just now. If Aelia hadn’t come in person, then even ten years from now, nothing would probably have changed.
And if Aelia left the kingdom together with Luke, then the consequences would simply be too awful to—
“When the nest is overturned, no egg remains unbroken.” After hesitating for only a few seconds, Charles revealed a firm and resolute expression. “The Demon Lord’s Army threatens the entire continent. The only ones who can defeat them are the Hero and the Saintess... As for everything else, you two need not worry.”
He patted Luke on the shoulder, offering him affirmation and encouragement. Then Charles urged his horse forward without hesitation and moved to the very front of the group, showing his resolve to protect everything here.
Don’t worry. Once I’ve gathered the information I need, I’ll send that trashy Saintess right back to your side.
Watching his back, Luke—who had always responded better to softness than force—slightly changed both his goal and his insulting nickname for a certain someone.
Meanwhile, the very person at the center of their discussion, Aelia, returned to her bedchamber while holding back a mouthful of anger.
But she didn’t make her move right away. Instead, she obediently played the good girl until nine o’clock that night.
“Elise, I’m a little tired tonight. I’d like to turn in early.”
After sending away her personal maid and arranging everything, Aelia pulled an invisible box from the deepest part of her wardrobe. After a long time, she once again changed into the phantom thief outfit inside, then skillfully carried out a full series of disguises.
After that, under cover of night, Aelia left the room through the window.
Yes. What she was about to do next was launch a night raid on that bastard Hero and make him lose face in the worst way.
You’re asking how a perfectly proper Saintess ended up becoming a lady thief?
Truth be told, Aelia didn’t want that either.
After all, Saintesses held exalted status and lived in luxury... but the problem was, that treatment was only for high-ranking Saintesses.
When she had first transmigrated here, she had been nothing more than an insignificant Novice Saintess.
And during the process of climbing the ranks, there were bound to be plenty of situations where reason got you nowhere, and even throwing your status around didn’t work.
Of course, in order to achieve her ultimate goal—becoming a Grand Saintess Candidate who could survive the Demon Lord’s Army invasion and then enjoy a lifetime of wealth, glory, and carefree comfort—she had buried all those frustrations deep in her heart. In every word and every action, she presented herself to the world according to the standards of a Saintess.
But when dissatisfaction piled up day after day, it was bound to erupt.
In order not to damage her Saintess image... she chose to move at night and disguise herself as a thief, delivering harsh lessons in the moon’s name to those who had offended her and thought they could get away with it.
If that were all, then as her status rose and the number of unpleasant situations decreased, this thief identity could actually have been discarded.
But unfortunately, her second operation had gone badly.
After successfully sneaking into a wealthy merchant’s home and preparing to convert his fortune into her own operating funds, she was spotted by others in the same line of work.
Considering that they outnumbered her, Aelia had no choice but to raise the French flag, hand over all her spoils, and join their organization on the condition that they wouldn’t expose her real face.
What she never expected, however, was that this would become the beginning of her boarding a pirate ship... Even now, after finally obtaining the life she had always dreamed of, she still had to show up at that organization’s gatherings from time to time. It was nerve-racking beyond words.
Refuse to go?
Well, it wasn’t impossible.
But a cunning rabbit has three burrows. Putting all your eggs in one basket was extremely dangerous. If her Saintess identity ever stopped working for her in the future, it was absolutely necessary to leave herself one or two backup plans.
And besides, when she pulled little stunts like this, it let people focus their attention on the organization behind her rather than suspecting she was acting out of personal spite and revenge. Even less would they trace the clues back and connect her to the revered Saintess Aelia.
Relying on her superb magical skill, Aelia quickly avoided every guard and arrived outside the Hero’s residence.
One thing worth mentioning was that the magic she was using now looked like dark magic on the surface, but was actually reverse light magic.
The principle was simple. In the past, she cast magic by making the world focus on her, or by making others shine even more brilliantly.
Now, however, she absorbed all the light directed at herself, or made others grow dim as well, using that to pretend she was some dark-magic girl.
As for the reason, naturally, it was to create a contrast between light and darkness so no one would connect her to Saintess Aelia.
And after years of effort, this thief identity of hers had successfully become independent. To the world, she was known as Princess Moonshadow.
