“Stupid HualÃ, you really know how to cause trouble for me.”
Walking back to the Light Cathedral, Penina counted the few remaining gold coins in her purse and sighed helplessly.
To bail Hualà out and save her from the misery of prison, Penina had to compensate the restaurant Boss a total of twenty-five gold coins before the matter was settled.
The people in the Human Race Capital were all like this.
On ordinary days, they might show great respect for Penina’s status as the Saintess of the Light Cathedral, but when that respect involved their own interests, forget her—it wouldn’t even matter if the Goddess of Light herself showed up.
So what if she was the Saintess?
Did being the Saintess mean she didn’t have to pay up?
Twenty-five gold coins was not a small amount, even for a Saintess of the Cathedral like her.
After paying the compensation, her coin purse immediately shriveled by at least half!
“That wasn’t my fault to begin with…”
Hanging far behind her, Hualà pouted and mumbled softly, “At most, I broke a few panes of glass. Why should the things missing from his shop be blamed on me?”
‘Maybe this is what they mean by “no good deed goes unpunished,”‘ Hualà thought.
She had clearly helped the restaurant Boss deal with a dangerous factor like that Waiter.
Instead of receiving thanks, she was slapped with a bill!
Who treats their benefactor like this!
“Sigh…”
Hualà let out a heart-wrenching sigh.
‘Perhaps being misunderstood will become the norm. This must be the price one pays to become a Hero. After all, someone has to carry the burden—’
“What exactly are you sighing about with such world-weariness!”
Penina’s silver-white teeth were clenched, and her forehead was covered in dark lines.
This stupid HualÃ!
Wasn’t she the one who paid the money?
If anyone was carrying a burden, it was her, the Saintess of Light!
Penina’s brow relaxed as she tried to comfort HualÃ.
“Fine, stop being unhappy. Do you really think I didn’t know he was obviously digging a hole for us?”
“But it’s a fact that they lost things because of you, HualÃ. If I didn’t pay, I couldn’t just let you be arrested and rot in a cell, could I?”
At this point, Penina couldn’t help but let out a giggle.
“Pfft—you just left the Demon Castle prison not too long ago, and now you were almost thrown into a human prison. HualÃ, do you have some kind of ‘Prison Dweller’ Life Destiny?”
Hual۪̉s face darkened, and she puffed out her cheeks in annoyance.
“You’re the one fit for prison! Your whole family is fit for prison!”
Was going to prison something she wanted?
Wasn’t it all due to irresistible forces?
If she had known that acting for justice would lead to facing massive compensation, she would have definitely… forget it, she probably would have still chased after him.
After all, he was a perverted killer who specifically targeted cute girls.
Such a person was absolutely not allowed to live in this world!
Time flew by, and the massive dark silhouette of the cathedral building was finally visible ahead.
Penina gave a final instruction to end the conversation.
She pinched a heavy gold coin between her long, fair fingers and waved it in front of HualÃ’s eyes.
“Anyway, HualÃ, you were basically bought by me just now. To prevent you from causing more trouble everywhere, you can only stay by my side for the time being. You aren’t allowed to leave a two-meter radius around me!”
There was a faint smile on the corner of her mouth.
At first glance, she looked no different from usual, but as Hualà looked closer at that smiling face, she felt like she detected something strange…
Like… ‘success’?!
Hualà shook her head, assuming she had simply misread the expression.
After all, it was pitch black, making it hard to see Penina’s face clearly.
“Oh… I get it. I just won’t go around causing trouble—”
She had no choice.
She truly had no money to pay Penina back, and even finding her next meal had become a dire problem.
“Good girl, so obedient~”
Penina tossed the gold coin she was holding to HualÃ.
“This is a Reward for stupid Hualà being so well-behaved~”
Hualà scrambled to catch it and couldn’t help but cry out in surprise.
“Whoa! For real? Penina, you’re the best!”
‘What else is there to say? If my lord does not cast me aside, I, HualÃ, am willing to serve you forever!’
***
Even late into the night, the Light Cathedral remained brightly lit.
Along the pebble path leading to the residential area deep within the cathedral, the stone lanterns were carved to look like blindfolded girls with their hands clasped in prayer.
In the chests of the stone maidens, the Saintfire, known for never going out, burned continuously to light the way.
Finally, Penina brought Hualà to the place where she rested at night.
It was a room that wasn’t particularly spacious, and even the layout was somewhat simple.
One couldn’t tell at all that this was supposed to be the residence of the Cathedral’s Saintess.
Hualà was a bit confused.
Was the so-called Light Cathedral very poor?
“Alright, HualÃ, there are no more spare rooms in the cathedral for you to stay in. You’ll have to stay here with me for tonight.”
Penina pulled the dazed Hualà into the room and proceeded to take off her Saintess priestess robes, revealing the thin nightgown she wore underneath.
Under normal circumstances, Penina wouldn’t dress like this, but tonight she had been drawn out by the commotion Hualà caused and had rushed out the door without changing.
“Eh?”
HualÃ’s small head looked around, but no matter how she searched, she couldn’t find a second bed in the room.
No, th-this wasn’t right!
“I-I clearly saw many rooms on the way here just now!”
Hualà still wanted to argue.
For some reason, she had an ominous premonition.
If she chose to sleep in the same room as Penina tonight, something terrifying would definitely happen!
“HualÃ~”
Penina’s voice remained calm, as if this was the one thing that was not up for negotiation.
Penina took a small box of sleeping incense from a drawer, took out a piece, lit it, and placed it in the incense burner.
Before long, wisps of white mist like swimming snakes drifted out from the holes in the lid.
The incense smelled wonderful.
It was made from sun-dried Sun Flowers ground into powder.
Once lit, the fragrance of the Sun Flowers gradually spread throughout the room.
It felt warm, making one feel physically and mentally comfortable, coaxing a sense of drowsiness.
Only then did Penina speak: “When I say there are no spare rooms, there are no spare rooms. Do you really think I’m the kind of bad woman who would lie just to sleep with you?”
Her tone became serious.
“I am a Saintess!”
“Ugh… fine then…”
In truth, Penina hadn’t lied to HualÃ.
There were indeed many guest rooms in the cathedral, but that was in the past.
Given the recent situation in the Capital—where many people in the Royal City had gone mad and lost their minds for no reason—the Sunshine Knights of the cathedral were the ones handling it.
Among them, Penina had discovered that the sudden madness had begun to spread within the Sunshine Knight Order, with many showing early signs of muddled consciousness.
The only way to stop the affected knights from progressing to the next stage of complete loss of reason was to receive the Blessing of the Bright Goddess at regular intervals.
Under these circumstances, the Sunshine Knights could only be arranged to sleep within the cathedral.
It was late, and Penina was also very sleepy.
She didn’t have the energy to explain everything in detail to stupid HualÃ.
Once the sun rose tomorrow and she saw those knights, Hualà would understand.
‘Yawn—!’
Penina let out a yawn, her eyes shimmering with a few tears of fatigue as she looked at HualÃ.
“Do you want to take a bath before sleeping, HualÃ? If you do, I can wait for you.”
“I do!”