Chapter 158 – Lily's Precious Person

“What do you want?”

“I’m sorry. I have an urgent report…”

Early in the morning, before the sun had even risen, I heard Gain-san’s voice and a girl’s coming from the direction of the door.

Thinking it might be a disaster dispatch, I threw a gown over my nightclothes and stepped out of my room. That’s when Fernet-san came along, already changing into his uniform.

“Dona!”

She was the Black Priestess assigned to Lily.

Even though it was early spring, the mornings were still chilly, yet she wasn’t wearing a jacket.

“Are you here by yourself? That’s dangerous. What happened?”

“I’m sorry for showing up so early.”

“Come inside first. You must be freezing.”

She timidly replied, “No, really,” but stepped into the room anyway.

When Grandfather returned carrying a blanket, I wrapped it around Dona as she sat in a chair.

“It’s an urgent message from Lily-sama: ‘The men who threw stones at Marie are up to something. They should be in the forest nearby.'”

I frowned and glanced around at everyone.

Then Master stepped forward and dropped to one knee to meet Dona’s gaze.

“Little one. Could you explain it in a bit more detail?”

According to Dona, Lily had pieced it together from overhearing conversations between Holy Knights, sneaking peeks at logs and documents, and eavesdropping on the surveillance team’s chatter from the training grounds.

“There’s no real evidence for that.”

When I said it in disbelief, Dona frantically shook her head.

“The Holy Knights said the same thing and brushed it off. But last night, word came that ‘the surveillance team lost track of the men.’ So this morning, worried sick, Lily-sama came to me after I woke up early…”

“The surveillance team lost them?”

Fernet-san’s expression hardened.

“Yes. Lily-sama said, ‘I can tell. I know the feelings and moves of people nursing a grudge.’ And then, ‘If they’ve shaken off surveillance, they’re planning to make a move.'”

Lily…

“Fernet, take Ted and head to the forest. Sid-san and Heart, report to Bishop Moras. Marie and I will check the confinement ward.”

Gain-san issued crisp orders the moment he heard.

I rushed back to my room to get dressed.

The front door slammed shut behind them—Fernet-san and the others must have finished changing and left ahead.

“We need to hurry too.”

By the time I finished changing and entered the living room, Heart-san and the others had already gone.

Dona sat anxiously beside Gain-san and Grandfather.

“Faster to walk straight there than wait for a carriage.”

Together with Dona, we set off at a brisk pace toward the church.

“Marie! Thank goodness you’re safe!”

Lily slumped to the floor in visible relief.

I was the one who wanted to collapse.

“Lily-sama tried to break out of confinement. That’s why I had to come so early…”

Lily shot Dona a sheepish look after being ratted out.

“My life doesn’t matter! It was to protect Marie! I don’t want to lose another precious person!”

“Lily. You’re precious to me too. So please take care of yourself.”

Lily pouted, mumbling, “…I know, I know,” but she still looked put out.

I was tempted to grill her on whether she really got it.

“You did great following procedure—telling the priest first and passing the message to us.”

Gain-san praised her while roughly ruffling her hair.

“It wasn’t that big a deal… Ehehe.”

Lily wasn’t used to compliments and always got awkward like this.

But she sure looked happy about it.

“Fufun. Even I, the Saintess’s little sister, get locked away for life over an attempted crime. Trash like that isn’t worth the blade. Just feed ’em to the magic beasts.”

Her mouth was as foul as ever, though.

“You did good too, Dona. If you’d helped Lily escape, it would’ve been a real mess.”

“Thank you.”

Dona beamed happily.

“So? Why’d you ignore Lily’s warning?”

Gain-san fixed the Holy Knights with a stern glare.

“We had surveillance on them after they left the village.” “They’re just villagers—if we lose them…” “Plus, they’ve got statuses for assaulting the Saintess and banishment from the capital.”

The Holy Knights offered their excuses one by one.

Their reasoning made sense.

They were just villagers, after all. With those statuses, they couldn’t even get close to me.

“I see. Fair points. From now on, report straight to us—the Saintess Guard.”

“””Yes, sir!”””

Those Holy Knights monitoring Lily had it rough.

But like Gain-san said, they should’ve escalated it.

“See? I told you! Keep going, Father-in-law!”

Lily thrust her chin up triumphantly and struck a heroic pose in front of the Holy Knights.

“Lily. Don’t get too full of yourself.”

“Okaay.”

Even after the scolding, Lily grinned in satisfaction.

I was truly relieved she hadn’t done anything reckless.

As we left the confinement ward, Bishop Moras’s aides were waiting with a heavy air about them.

“The Bishop is expecting you in his office.”

We followed silently after the grim-faced aides.

I wonder what happened…

When we entered the room, Fernet-san and Ted-san were already there. Master and Heart-san, who’d gone ahead, were chatting amiably with Bishop Moras.

“Took you long enough~”

Fernet-san flashed a grin and raised one hand.

Ted-san managed a wry smile beside him.

“Huh? Already?”

“Of course. We’ve already handed them over.”

“For what crime?”

“Plotting to assassinate the Saintess.”

Saintess assassination plot…

“Do they admit it?”

“Yeah, it was a sloppy plan, but they were dead serious about the assassination.”

Turns out, being the target of that hatred hits harder than expected…

“Marie-sama, you needn’t worry about them bothering you ever again.”

Bishop Moras stated it firmly, all with his usual affable smile.

This was unavoidable, really.

The only silver lining was that the kid hadn’t been with them.

“It’s all thanks to Lily. Just be happy about it—no need to overthink.”

Gain-san clapped a hand on my shoulder.

Right. Lily did this for me…

Her calling me a “precious person” finally sank in, warming my heart.

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