One day, while strolling around with me in the garden overlooking the barracks, suddenly, Aria asked my permission to check the training ground. It was rare for Aria to do it, so I allowed it without question.

  Apparently, she accidentally witnessed the training of the new recruits and saw a familiar face.

  I stood at that hanging garden and looked at Aria as she made her way to the training ground.

  That was how I was aware of your ‘brother’ at that time. I could clearly see his face for the first time. Well, the hanging garden was so close to the training ground that I could hear their voice.

  “Are you alright?” Aria walked up to him, who was lying flat on the training ground, all beaten up. She asked him in concern.

  “I am fine, Your Holiness.” Upon seeing her, he got up in a hurry as if nothing had happened.

  “… I always say it, but please don’t call me that. It would cause a misunderstanding. I am not the saintess.” I could only see her back. However, from her body language at that time, I deduced that she was not pleased with it.

  Apparently, long before I met him, since their first meeting, he always referred to her that way. To him, she has always been his saintess. Each time it happened, she would correct him. But he never listened to her.

  Of course, it would be problematic if others were to hear about it. She has not yet been appointed as the next saintess. And I, the current saintess, was still active. If others truly wished to find fault with him, he would be sent to the ‘cleaner.’ However, Aria would also be involved. That was why they just turned a blind eye as long as he did it secretly or not publicly.

  “Sorry, my tongue slipped.” I did not know what he saw on Aria’s face; he just diverted his gaze and scratched his head in embarrassment.

  “… Please just call me Aria.” I could see that Aria just let out a sigh. At that point, she should have given up trying to correct him already. Yet, she did not.

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  “A… Lady Aria.” Yes, that was the face of a man in love. He tried to call her by her name, yet he gave up halfway. At that time, if he were to do it, he would be killed by the new recruits before the ‘cleaner’ could step in.

  “How is your body? Does it still hurt when you move?” Unnoticed by it, she began to examine his body again.

  “I am perfectly fine, thank you very much, Your—, I mean, Lady Aria.” Oh, he was about to address her as Her Holiness again, yet he stopped it halfway and just called her Lady. I think at that time, Aria must show him her stern face. Well, her movement indicated it too.

  “… This is better.” Her tone suggested that she, at least, came to accept it. She may also have smiled at him. His face turned red when she said that, too.

  After that, as if to hide his embarrassment, he tried to change the topic by asking her about her purpose for visiting him. “……. What brings you here, Lady Aria?”

  “I was escorting Her Holiness. And I saw you were training. So, I asked her holiness' permission to come say hello.”

  “……” I could see that he stepped on the landmine. He dug up his own grave. While trying to escape from the wolf, he ran into a griffin. That was the current expression used to describe his situation. That was his usual habit after all. Paul always feels dissatisfied about it.

  Aria, too—was she aware of what she did? I overheard from Paul that she always innocently plays with other people’s hearts. Perhaps it was true after all. What do you think, Lucy? Was Aria also at fault here?

  Do you know what her following action was? She closed the distance and touched his face while asking him in concern. “… Why are you staring blankly? Do you still hurt somewhere?” She began to check his body for any injuries. Was she doing it on purpose? Or was it just her second nature?

  It took Andres a while to recover. Then he blurted out something nonsensical. “Ah, no, no, I think I saw heaven just now.”

  “Oh, what did heaven look like?” She did not catch on to what he was doing. I really wonder what made her think that he truly saw heaven.

  “Beautiful, truly beautiful.” Then he looked at her face and said that.

  I was about to step in to stop them. However, Aria distanced herself from him and walked away. She really did leave him hanging there. “I wish I could…. Forget it. I am leaving now.”

  She caught a fish, instead of either taking it out of the water or releasing it. She kept it tied and left it swimming in the water. That was how I felt about her action. We really needed to fix that habit of hers. So, Paul and I, along with Archbishop Henry, tried to raise her awareness about it. Only after that did she begin to notice the unusual. She really was ignorant of the worldly disaster.

  “Eh? Ah, please wait; please allow me to escort you.” Upon seeing Aria retreat in great haste, Andres frantically chased after her.