Chapter 150 – Lily's Revival

Lily’s handler, the Black Priestess Dona, came to consult with me.

It was more of a complaint than a consultation.

Apparently, after that incident, Lily had come back to life and was cackling wildly in front of the Black Priests.

Fernet’s prediction had hit the mark, leaving me wanting to clutch my head in despair.

“When I came to, I’d been manipulated by Lady Lily…”

No, I get it. It was the same for me when we lived together.

Lily has this inexplicable talent.

For some reason, when you’re around her, you just want to do things for her.

It’s not quite charisma, but Lily has something that draws people in.

It’s no wonder she’s been forgiven for her utterly reckless personality.

“I understand. I’ll give her a stern scolding. Dona, you didn’t do anything wrong, so don’t beat yourself up over it.”

“Thank you.”

She’s turning twenty next year, and continuing as Lily’s handler is her condition for becoming a White Priestess.

Black Priests rarely get a shot at becoming White Priestesses. That’s why she’s so desperate.

Someone with the mental fortitude to stick with Lily really is one of a kind.

I don’t want to lose her either. I need to go see Lily later.

“Huh? I said I wanted cold tea. What’s the deal?”

“No, we told you we couldn’t take that order…”

Lily sets the cup back on the tray, and Dona takes it with a troubled look on her face.

“Dona, you’ve got Fire Aptitude, right? Could you swap it for hot tea?”

“If that’s what you want!”

I call out to stop Dona as she starts to walk off with the tray.

“Ah, Lady Saintess.”

“Lend me that. Mind giving us the room for a bit?”

She hands me the tray with the teacup on it, bows her head politely, and leaves.

The moment I show up with the tray, Lily pulls a long face. “Aww.”

“Lily. Don’t give Dona a hard time. Prisoners don’t get to specify their tea temperature.”

“I was just teasing her a little ’cause I was bored.”

The Lily who’d been so listless before was now thoroughly enjoying her confinement lifestyle.

What even counts as proper confinement anymore? Lily’s making me question it.

“I don’t really get it, but confinement probably isn’t supposed to be this much fun.”

“Is that a rule? I’ve done everything I’m supposed to, though. I even got a Holy Knight to help with the manuscript copying and finished ahead of schedule.”

Lily sticks out her tongue with a cheeky grin, utterly unrepentant.

Now even the Holy Knights are falling victim to her. Her roster of casualties just keeps growing.

“It’s work—you’re supposed to do it yourself.”

“Exactly! That’s why I was gonna ask Marie to teach me this when she came by!”

“Lemme see. Oh, this one. Right here.”

I explain it to Lily step by step, crunching through the budget figures just as she asks.

Before I knew it, every calculation was done, and everything felt neatly squared away.

“As expected of Marie!”

Just as I open my mouth to respond, she cuts me off with a beaming smile.

Darn it. Not me too.

“Hahaha. It’s fine, really. I usually do it all by myself anyway.”

Lily throws her head back in delighted laughter.

“So? Finally figured out your feelings for Heart?”

Ugh. Lily knows exactly how to shut me down.

“Well… It was like my life flashed before my eyes—all these memories from way back came rushing through my head…”

“I totally get that! When I realized how I felt about Kirika, all sorts of moments came flooding back.”

From there, she launched into a detailed rundown of just how much she adores Kirika.

Lily looked so blissfully happy recounting their time together.

“So, Marie, good thing you figured it out before you lost him.”

Lily’s words carried a hint of sadness.

“Lily…”

I fumbled, not sure what to say.

“Cut it out. If you make a face like that, I’ll get sad too. Got any fun stories?”

Lily shook it off with forced cheer.

“Um. Gain-san asked if we’d become his daughters. On paper, anyway.”

“Gain? Why?”

Lily furrows her brow, eyeing me suspiciously.

I hurriedly give her the short version of the disaster relief mission story.

I’d been agonizing over how to bring it up to her, but in the end, I just blurted it out.

“Huh. I’m cool with it. But won’t it cause trouble for Gain’s family? Y’know, since I’m a criminal and all?”

Lily puffs out her chest, boasting proudly.

Surprisingly straightforward. It caught me off guard, but it’s so very Lily.

“Yeah, so that’s why I wanna go meet Gain-san’s family first.”

“Then if Gain becomes family, I’ll get to see him too?”

“Yeah. But… do you want to?”

“Well… I’ve reflected on everything from back then. Now I think I could appreciate Gain’s kindness…”

Lily stares intently at the little bear figurine.

“You’ve really changed, Lily.”

“You might be shocked, but I didn’t even realize other people had feelings. After that, a whole bunch of stuff happened…”

I had nothing to say to Lily, who just shrugged and laughed it off.

All I could do was promise to stay by her side—as family.

“I’m sure Gain-san will be thrilled.”

Just like that, I wanted the same assurance: that Gain-san would stay by my side as family.

Even after marriage, a guarantee for whatever came next.

And Gain-san had felt exactly the same.

Apparently, he’d been thinking about it ever since we cut ties with our old family.

Heh heh heh.

And there I was, blissfully unaware, calling him “Dad.”

“Marie, you look so happy.”

“‘Cause in my heart, Gain-san’s always been my dad.”

Thank you for reading!

*And with this, Chapter 6 comes to an end.

Chapter 7 is about 10 parts long, but I’d be delighted if you stick around till the finale.

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