When she sat down next to Liang Lai, the Saintess carried with her the scent of sunlight and honey.
Liang Lai began to tell an absurd story, her fingers tracing sparkling crystalline patterns through the air.
“…So…” Liang Lai’s voice grew more and more muffled.
Dolosa noticed that her silver hair was unconsciously spreading across the quilt.
When Liang Lai finally tilted her head and fell asleep, Dolosa carefully inched closer.
After making sure the other was truly asleep, she gently tugged at the sleeve of Liang Lai’s nightgown.
“Thank you…”
She buried her face in Liang Lai’s loose silver hair, where the scent of morning dew and cornflowers lingered.
The Crystalline Rabbit glowed quietly between them, merging their two shadows on the wall.
The next day.
When morning light streamed through the Stained Glass into the Sacred Dining Hall, Liang Lai was adjusting the Crystal Crown atop her head in front of the mirror.
Dolosa stood behind her, wearing a newly made White Little Saint Robe, nervously tugging at the overly long sleeves.
“Today, we learn the Holy Communion etiquette.”
As Liang Lai turned around, her crown suddenly tilted to one side.
“This is a must-have skill for important occasions!”
She fumbled to straighten her crown, looking like a juggler balancing a water jug on her head.
As a qualified Priest, teaching etiquette was a necessity.
Dolosa stared at the Golden Tableware laid out on the marble long table, her throat tightening.
She had seen such tableware in the Underground Sanctuary; it was used to hold the eyeballs of the “unfaithful.”
“First, the gesture for raising the chalice should be like this.”
Liang Lai demonstrated as she picked up the Holy Grail, her fingers so elegant it was hard to believe she was the same person as usual.
Dolosa noticed that when Liang Lai was serious, the golden pupils beneath her eyelids naturally appeared, her whole being shrouded in a divine radiance.
Dolosa tried to mimic raising the cup, but then she heard Liang Lai suddenly mutter, “Wait, what was the Blessing Toast for the Holy Communion again…”
The silver-haired Saintess anxiously twirled her hair.
“Was it ‘Blessing of the Lord be with you’ or ‘Radiance of the Lord shine upon you’…”
“You don’t know?” Dolosa stared in disbelief.
“Of course I know!”
Liang Lai blushed as she pulled out a gilt Booklet.
“I’m just double-checking!”
As she flipped through it quickly, Dolosa clearly saw a slip of paper tucked between the pages, with a crooked cartoon face drawn on it.
By the tenth round of practice, Liang Lai suddenly slapped the table.
“I remember now!”
She excitedly grabbed Dolosa’s hand.
“My Blessing Toast at the Church is absolutely orthodox.”
Before Dolosa could react, Liang Lai had already donned a solemn expression, holding the cup with both hands and raising it to her brow.
“May the Lord bless you with a good appetite, amen~”
The air froze.
Dolosa blinked in confusion, but still obediently repeated, “May the Lord bless you with a good appetite, amen.”
At this point, she had pretty much started to trust this silly Saintess in front of her.
“No, no,” Liang Lai frowned, “the tone needs to be more devout, like this…”
She took a deep breath, “May the Lord bless you with a good—”
“Third Saintess!!”
A sharp reprimand startled Liang Lai so much that her hand shook, spilling the grape juice from the Holy Grail all over Dolosa.
Standing at the doorway was the First Saintess, Margaret.
“What blasphemous words are you teaching?!”
Liang Lai’s silver hair stood on end with a “whoosh.”
“This is what I learned back in my hometown…”
“That’s a drunkard’s toast from a tavern!”
Margaret snatched the Booklet from Liang Lai’s hands and pulled out that slip of paper.
On it was a Cartoon Jesus holding a beer mug, with a speech bubble next to it that read, “Cheers!”
Dolosa watched as Liang Lai’s face shifted from red to white to green, like an overturned paint palette.
The First Saintess trembled all over with rage.
“By tomorrow, hand me a five-thousand-word Repentance Letter! In Ancient Church Language!”
After Margaret whirled away, Liang Lai collapsed into her chair.
“It’s over… I only know ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’ in Ancient Church Language, and I just learned those yesterday…”
Liang Lai insisted she really had been working hard.
Dolosa twisted the hem of her robe, now stained red with grape juice, and suddenly whispered, “I know Ancient Church Language.”
“Huh?”
Liang Lai looked up.
Dolosa lowered her head, twisting her fingers, “I can help you.”
Liang Lai’s eyes lit up instantly, and she threw her arms around Dolosa.
“That’s amazing!”
Suddenly, as if remembering something, she let go.
“Wait, you can read?”
Dolosa nodded and gave a small smile.
“I can even write in three types of Ancient Script.”
She dipped her finger in grape juice and wrote a smooth rune on the table.
“This is the proper way to say ‘May the Lord grant you delicious food.'”
Liang Lai gazed at the glowing symbols.
“This is even prettier than what Margaret writes.”
Dolosa recited in Ancient Church Language, while Liang Lai copied it down.
Whenever Liang Lai made a mistake, Dolosa would take her hand and correct her.
Dolosa’s hands were cold but steady, and her handwriting was graceful.
“Where did you learn all this?” Liang Lai couldn’t help but ask.
Dolosa’s hand paused: “I used to live in the Library. There were ancient books inside.”
She didn’t say that she had survived there by eating book pages while being locked in.
When they reached the three-thousandth word, Liang Lai’s quill suddenly traced a line of gold.
Dolosa was startled to see the writing on the parchment begin to extend and arrange itself automatically, finishing the remaining words in the blink of an eye.
“The Crystalization Ability can do this too?!”
Liang Lai was even more shocked than Dolosa.
“If I’d known earlier, I would have…”
Before she finished, the completed Repentance Letter suddenly rolled itself up, tied with a ribbon, and even made a little bow.
Dolosa couldn’t help but reach out to touch it, but the scroll floated up on its own and landed steadily on the tray at the door.
“This…”
“It wasn’t me!”
Liang Lai waved her hands in a panic, but then saw a strange light flicker in Dolosa’s eyes.
“Amazing…” the little girl whispered.
Liang Lai suddenly felt a pang of sadness.
She had thought the other was simply poor and hadn’t been exposed to “upper-class” things, so she didn’t know.
But in truth, it was because in this world where abilities were used for fighting and punishment, no one had ever told her that power could be used to finish homework, make toys, or tie bows.
“Come.”
She took Dolosa’s hand.
“I’ve thought of a better way to learn.”
In the kitchen, Liang Lai used her Crystalization Ability to make the potatoes peel themselves and the carrots dice themselves.
Dolosa watched, transfixed.
When Liang Lai had the spoon stir the soup on its own, the little girl finally couldn’t help but laugh.
Even Dolosa herself didn’t realize that she was smiling more and more.
“The most important thing about Holy Communion etiquette is sincerity~”
Liang Lai pushed a Butter Angel toward Dolosa.
“Just like this—”
She raised her juice cup and said affectionately to the diced carrots, “May the Lord bless you with a good appetite~”
Dolosa pursed her lips.
She really wanted to keep acting cool like a little grown-up, but she just couldn’t…
Outside the window, the First Saintess Margaret stood in the shadow of the corridor, the Repentance Letter in her hand emitting a faint golden glow.
She looked thoughtfully toward the kitchen window, as if sensing something.
“No, it’s still not certain… I need to test it.”