29.
The cathedral was always quiet.
A place where everyone walked holding their breath, as though even the sound of footsteps were a sin.
And Serena was someone accustomed to that silence.
“Saintess.”
A voice broke the stillness of the cathedral.
When Serena turned her head, she saw Agnes’s solemn face.
“Are you going today?”
“Yes.”
“Surely it would be better to bring an escort….”
“There is no need. I cannot burden him again.”
Agnes’s steps faltered for a moment.
Noble status required a shield.
For the Saintess, who knew that better than anyone, to say such a thing meant—
‘Are you saying he is more precious than the Church’s authority?’
But she could not say that thought aloud.
One reason was that it would be blasphemous, and the other was—
“It would be a burden to him.”
Because she, too, agreed to some extent.
Agnes matched her pace again and said,
“Then at least allow me to accompany you.”
“Would you do that for me?”
A minimum escort.
If she refused even this, it would be the same as denying Agnes’s very existence.
Serena nodded, and soon boarded the carriage with Agnes.
Inside the carriage, Serena checked the documents in her arms once more.
A special protected zone designation.
An official Church document stamped with the Listener’s seal.
If she presented this, no inquisitor in the Empire would be able to lay a hand on that area.
The heresy allegations against him would be put to rest with this.
‘…Will he accept it?’
She was not certain.
But no matter how she thought about it, there was no reason for him to refuse.
For a person like him, it would be a greater honor than any title.
The carriage began to sway.
Before she knew it, they had passed the main road and entered a narrow alley.
At the end of the alley that had now become familiar.
A shabby two-story wooden building came into view.
Serena stepped down from the carriage.
After instructing Agnes to wait, she stood before the door alone.
Voices came from inside the counseling office.
Two voices.
One was the counselor’s.
And the other was….
“…You say such things again.”
The voice of a woman speaking as though she were terribly happy.
The first name to be mentioned whenever the Holy Kingdom interacted with the Empire.
The young lady of Levantia, an old and prestigious family, and the flower of high society.
‘I didn’t know she could make a voice like that.’
It was a side of her Serena had never seen before.
Because Lady Levantia had always been perfect.
When Serena thought of the counselor who had shaken such a person to that extent, a corner of her heart ached.
Should she turn back like this?
Serena asked herself.
Because it felt as though she should not intrude on their happy scene.
Somewhere in her heart, a small voice whispered.
That she had no choice because she had to deliver it today.
That she had not the slightest ulterior motive of wanting to intrude on their happy time.
Believing that, Serena knocked on the door.
Soon after, the door opened.
She saw two teacups with warm steam rising from them, and the two people who had been sitting on the sofa.
A narrow, shabby counseling office.
And yet the two people inside looked as though they were in the most comfortable place in the world.
‘…Yes, this was the sort of place it was.’
It was the complete opposite of the Church’s corridors.
The sound of tea boiling, low laughter, the creak of an old sofa.
A space filled with such things.
“…It seems my timing was poor.”
Thinking that she truly did not belong here, Serena tried to take a step back.
But Lady Levantia rose from her seat first.
“Saintess! It’s been so long.”
A bright, welcoming voice.
Then the counselor spoke.
“Please come in, Lady Serena.”
Lady Serena.
Not Listener, not Saintess, but her name.
This person always called her that.
As if he himself did not know how rare that was.
***
After drinking tea for a while, Serena neatly folded both hands on her knees.
Because there was something she had to say to the counselor.
“There are two things. One is an apology. The other is a proposal.”
The matter of the knights occupying the counseling office.
The matter of customers stopping because of it.
It was entirely her oversight.
“And the proposal.”
She was about to take out the documents, but stopped.
The likelihood of him accepting was high, but acting as though it had already been decided would also be rude.
She decided to convey it in words first.
“I would like to designate this counseling office as a special protected zone.”
The counselor’s eyes widened slightly.
“I will make it so that even people from the Church cannot investigate or interfere as they please, as they did this time. Regular subsidies will also be provided.”
She already knew what his status was through the investigation.
The youngest son of the Sinclair family.
With a status like that, he would know.
What it meant for the Church to have conducted an investigation.
What it meant to be designated as a protected zone.
“In the long term, we are also considering designating it as an official institution of the Church.”
She thought the conditions were sufficient.
Just as she was waiting for his acceptance—
“It truly is an excessive offer, Saintess.”
Lady Levantia cut in.
“However, if this place comes under the Church’s protection, would the atmosphere here not change?”
It was a sharp point.
Whether she had truly failed to consider it, or whether she had been trying to confine him within her own framework with the words the Church’s embrace—
Serena deliberately refused to let her thoughts reach that far and nodded.
Then the counselor opened his mouth.
“Thank you, Lady Serena.”
A courteous thanks.
And the words that followed.
“However, this counseling office must be a place that takes no one’s side.”
“……”
“Whether they are people of the Empire or people of the Holy Kingdom. Once they open the door and enter, they are all the same guests.”
Serena’s hands stilled on her knees.
‘…A place that takes no one’s side.’
He had not refused the Church’s protection.
It was as though such a thing had never been necessary to begin with.
As though doing the work given to him, in the place given to him, was his calling.
A memory from the past surfaced.
On the day of her investiture, the words the high priest had spoken while looking at her.
“A servant of the Lord does not seek authority. To serve silently in the place given to you is prayer itself.”
Serena had used those words as her lighthouse.
But she had never once seen anyone in the Church who truly lived that way.
Bishops wanted higher dioceses.
Priests wanted larger cathedrals.
Serena herself was no different.
Because resolving to live that way for one’s entire life and actually living that way were two different things.
And yet this person—
At the end of a narrow alley, in a counseling office with cracked walls.
Even when offered the Church’s official protection, he shook his head.
“……I understand.”
She did not try to persuade him further.
Because the more she persuaded him, the more it felt like she was diminishing this person’s noble will.
“I will withdraw the proposal. However, if you ever change your mind, please tell me.”
The counselor bowed his head.
“Thank you.”
That smile.
A face that seemed relieved, and also seemed apologetic.
‘……Does this person not know he is in danger?’
Or does he know and simply not care?
Either way, there was one thing Serena wanted to confirm.
“Lady Levantia.”
“Yes, Saintess.”
“You have known the counselor for a long time, have you not?”
“Yes. I wasn’t his first guest, but I do pride myself on being one of his oldest.”
Her tone was a little proud.
Serena quietly studied that expression.
She recalled the contradiction she had heard before.
Lady Levantia had said she had promised a future with the counselor.
But the counselor had said he had never said such a thing.
“Has he changed from the beginning to now? The counselor, I mean.”
Lady Levantia thought for a moment, then soon shook her head.
“He is a consistent person.”
An answer without hesitation.
“He listened to me from the beginning, and he still does now.”
Her gaze was clear.
There was not even a shadow of doubt.
“No matter what anyone else says, he is someone who treats me as special. That has never changed from the beginning.”
Then where on earth had the ‘memory of promising a future’ come from?
The young lady believed she had heard words the counselor had never said.
‘……There is no answer.’
It was questionable, but it was not something to dig into now.
Right now, she had to look at something else.
Serena’s gaze turned to the counselor.
Their eyes met.
He remained still, unable to either deny or affirm.
He was not falsely playing along.
Nor was he coldly pushing her away.
He simply remained silent, as though respecting her feelings themselves.
If he was favored by the young lady of a prestigious family, there must certainly have been opportunities to use that.
And yet, even knowing the other person’s feelings, he had not used them as a tool.
“……You truly are a consistent person.”
Serena murmured quietly.
“Yes. That’s why I like him.”
Lady Levantia immediately replied.
So very casually.
Even in front of Serena.
“……I will take my leave for today.”
She rose from her seat.
“It was good tea, Lady Levantia.”
“Please come again, Saintess. You are welcome anytime.”
She stopped at the door.
Because she remembered something she had not yet said.
“Counselor.”
“Yes.”
“Please be careful. You do not seem like someone who should be hurt.”
Leaving only those words behind, she turned away.
Agnes was waiting at the end of the alley.
“How did it go?”
“I was refused.”
“……Refused? The Church’s protection?”
Serena repeated the counselor’s words.
“He said this counseling office must be a place that takes no one’s side.”
Agnes was silent for a while before murmuring lowly,
“……So this is what courage looks like in one who does not hold a sword.”
Serena did not answer.
She climbed into the carriage, and the door closed.
The alley grew distant beyond the window.
Serena closed her eyes.
“……Lord.”
She clasped her hands before her chest.
And quietly prayed.
“That person is not Your servant.”
He was neither clergy nor knight.
He was merely one person who listened to people’s stories at the end of a narrow alley.
“And yet why.”
Serena’s voice trembled.
“Is he doing Your work before I am?”
The sunset was falling beyond the window.
Agnes, seated across from her, had her eyes closed.
Whether she was asleep or being considerate.
Serena was grateful either way.
That day, for the first time, the Fifteenth Listener prayed for someone as a person.
***
The next day.
Serena’s words would not leave my head, but.
Being careful didn’t bring in money.
In that case, what I had to do was obvious.
If I wanted to eat and live, I had to work.
I handled the customers lined up since morning in an instant.
Hypnosis, click, three in a row.
It wasn’t a bad day.
The income was decent, and there were no nasty customers.
Most of all, there wasn’t a single measly two-coin customer.
After closing, I tidied up the counseling office and opened the window.
The sunset stretched long into the alley.
The breeze that entered brushed past the seat where Serena had sat yesterday.
‘……Be careful.’
I still didn’t know what she meant for me to be careful of.
If every day went like today, there wouldn’t be anything to be careful about.
Just as I was thinking that lightly—
Something suddenly appeared before my eyes.
A familiar form.
The notification window I saw every time I hypnotized someone.
But I hadn’t hypnotized anyone just now.
The counseling was already over, and I was alone in the counseling office.
“What the hell is this?”
Even when I blinked, the perk’s message did not disappear.
I read it slowly.
[The perk has interpreted the holy protection.]
[Upon a return visit, the interrupted hypnosis will reactivate.]
“……What?”