Chapter 10
The Retired Saintess Raises House Prices Episode 10
Episode 10
<One more regression, come find me.>
Eh? I'm not going.
'One more regression'—he left this note fully convinced I regress.
Unbelievable. Did he think I'd fall for it hook, line, and sinker just because he slipped me this?
I want nothing to do with Raphael Winters if I can help it. More precisely, I don't even want to spit in the direction he went.
There's only one thing I desire.
To escape this godforsaken worldview.
Only by returning to my original world can I see my parents again. There's still something I need to ask them. I have to go back to confirm it.
Closing my eyes tight brought that day's memory vividly to mind.
[Eun-hye! Honey! Did you bring Eun-hye out of the small room?!]
[Yeah, I've got her! You get out quick too! Hurry!]
I still remember it with horrifying clarity.
The frantic cries of my desperately calling mom and dad, the thick smoke enveloping me.
The black smoke and roaring flames never faded for even a moment in my memories. Just recalling them dragged me relentlessly back to that day, that instant.
I shook my head to banish it and quickly regained my sense of reality.
Clenching my fists left crescent-shaped nail marks on my palms.
This is reality now.
I have to go back. Mom and Dad must be waiting for me. If they knew I died, they'd be heartbroken for sure.
...That love from all those days couldn't have been fake.
I shook off the intrusive thoughts rising unbidden and calmly sorted my mind.
Since I keep rewinding every time I die, I have to survive without dying.
Until Raphael turns the empire into a sea of fire and the novel ends.
So there's no need to make contact with the male lead.
What if I accidentally give him hope and drag out the story longer?
The manuscript of Sword's Edge the author gave me was 220 chapters.
The title conferral ceremony was about two-thirds through the plot, so I just need to hold out a bit longer.
Back at the Temple, I devised another escape plan.
Fleeing secretly from this fortress-like Temple without anyone noticing was impossible.
The only way was to slip away from the Holy Knight's eyes during a purification prayer outside.
Ideally, from a distant outer suburb. That way, I'd buy more time.
Fortunately, the next purification site was a port village nearby.
I pulled out the map I'd hidden between the pages of Moandalla's scriptures, which I always carried.
It was one of the gifts from Temple kitchen chief Paul.
The old man, whose kids were studying abroad, doted on me like his own daughter.
[Apples from Abanne are the tastiest.]
[Where's Abanne?]
[You don't even know... Of course not.]
Everyone knew how Shuana—the baron's illegitimate child—had lived.
Paul looked at me with pity for a moment, then pulled out a map from his bosom and spread it open.
[Here, this is Abanne. Next to it, Vinist sends dried persimmons every fall. The steak sauce made from them is out of this world.]
[Wow. What's this black thing here?]
[...You don't know the sea either?]
[The sea?]
I widened my eyes and stared at Paul.
[I do! But they say the sea is blue and wavy. This just looks like black ink.]
Paul chuckled and lightly tapped my head.
[Can't mark waves on a map. And technically, it's a deep blue.]
Pitying my ignorance of even maps, Paul kindly explained every corner.
[Look here, Shuana. This is our Temple, and if you ride a week this way, you reach the port village Floriana.]
[Port village...]
[My sons took ships from there to study abroad.]
[Wow, so amazing. How do ships move?]
[With the wind.]
[...The wind. The wind Moandalla stirs with a gesture.]
[Exactly.]
Paul rubbed his patchy-bearded mouth and laughed heartily.
He roughly ruffled my hair with hands scarred from countless knife slips.
[You'll cross the sea someday too, Shuana.]
[Even as a saintess?]
[Sure. The world's overflowing with evil spirits. With your faith, your holy power might overflow someday, earning you an expedition like the Great Saintess.]
[Wow. I'll work hard!]
I clenched my fists and sparkled my eyes.
Or pretended to.
He'd see me as a naive girl locked in an attic without proper education, only learning doctrine at the Temple.
That day, Paul gifted me the map and left.
He must've pitied me secretly unfolding it, imagining going somewhere beyond the Temple.
(Of course, I'd aimed for that.)
Paul brought all sorts—capital maps, nearby area maps, enlarged village maps.
He even gifted an encyclopedia full of common knowledge.
The Temple library had books, but none on outside common sense or events. Not even novels or fairy tales.
Something about impure thoughts corrupting the mind.
This damned Temple library only had doctrine.
Every time Paul brought a new map, I acted like an excited child.
[Look, Paul. There's a big, tall rock here. If it's this high, couldn't it reach Moandalla?]
[Oh, you can read contour lines now! You've been studying hard!]
[I thought prayers might reach better from up high.]
[Nah, Moandalla hears you even from the world's lowest, darkest place. And this rock mountain isn't that tall.]
[Really?]
[Yep. Look at this map I got today. See Franhoff Mountain? That's the world's tallest.]
[Wowww!]
[Shh, shh! Someone might hear. You're of age, an upper-rank saintess now—how'll you manage so ignorant of the world, kiddo?]
When alone, Paul treated me not as an upper-rank saintess, but casually like a neighborhood kid.
I showed him exactly what he wanted to see.
[Heehee. I can play with Paul inside the Temple. I'm so happy now, spreading Moandalla's word and praying for people.]
[...How's there such a kind, desireless kid.]
Having married, raised kids, and earned money doing what he loved, he must pity me.
I, raised locked away my whole life, must seem utterly pitiful.
So pity me more, underestimate me more.
Until I escape safely.
Before long, Paul's maps filled an entire drawer.
Fearing discovery, I pried up a floor brick and hid them beneath.
And finally, the day of the next purification prayer dawned.
