Hush Now, Saintess!

Chapter 61

Translator: Yonnee

—

With brows twisted together at the center, Owen glared at the direction where the noise was coming from.

“I need to find the divine beast, and yet those people are being so noisy over th…”

He was grumbling like that, but eventually trailed off as he doubted his eyes.

Where his eyes were directed, he saw that someone was sauntering towards him quite proudly.

With her pink hair, cascading behind her like a fluttering cape.

“Ah, why it isn’t Owen Sh*thea— Ah, Owen Siever. As we’ve wagered, you need to step down from your position now, yes?”

She said this with a bright, elegant smile on her face… and the divine beast in her arms.

“H-How did you—”

“What do you mean, how? There’s just that much difference between you and I.”

Roella replied with a refreshing grin.

* * *

“Impossible. How the hell did you find it?”

Owen muttered in disbelief.

He was in utter shock.

He must have been really confident in himself, huh…

“I don’t know. I was just sitting there, and it came rushing into my embrace.”

“Does that even make any sense? I couldn’t find it all day, even after looking through every nook and cranny of the place!”

“Oh, really? Maybe it’s because you’re just weak, to the point that the divine beast wanted to avoid you completely. Didn’t you say it with your own mouth? Divine beasts are quite wary of people with weak divine power.”

“……”

Owen was rendered utterly speechless as his own line was thrown back at him.

With his hands shaking severely as they were folded into fists, he looked incredibly pissed.

But, well.

So what?

The more he did that, the more my smile brightened.

Right then…

Meow.

The divine beast in my arms mewled at just the right time.

As if it was saying I was right.

I gazed lovingly at the divine beast and gently stroked its soft fur.

That’s right.

This was the divine beast of Luqera, which had turned the temple upside down.

Yet what it looked like was…

Meow—

…a cute, lovely, adorable little cat.

* * *

“Ducal Lady, do you know what the Almighty Luqera’s divine beast is?”

I answered the teacher’s question proudly.

“Yes, a cat!”

“Oh, how did you know?”

“I’ve been reading up in my spare time. I read about the divine beast in the second volume of 〈 Basic Theology For Children 〉.”

“That’s a very good study habit.”

The teacher was full of admiration.

As expected, it’s a good thing that I reviewed beforehand.

“By the way, Teacher.”

“Yes.”

“According to the book, the divine beast is protected by the temple. Is that true?”

“Yes, that’s right. There are very few cats in the Empire, and this is because they’re not very active in mating and reproducing. That’s why the temple protects the few remaining cats we still have.”

Studiously jotting down notes, my eyes glinted at this newly acquired information.

‘There were a lot of street cats in my previous life though. This is interesting.’

“Then, are you also protecting cats in the temple where you’re staying?”

“Yes, we have one in our temple as well. It has a cream-colored coat, a light grey pattern, and vivid yellow eyes…”

* * *

“…So, it’s you, huh.”

Meow—

The cat had a cream-colored coat, light gray sock-looking patterns, and bright yellow eyes. Aside from this though, it was quite dirty.

No matter how much I’d look at it, it’s clear that this cat was the divine beast that the temple was protecting.

“Goodness me, look at this mess. How did you turn out like this?”

I neatly hid away the catnip that I bought from the item shop.

The cat, which had been rolling around with the catnip for a long time until now, licked its lips as though it felt sorry to see the catnip go.

Indeed.

It was such a shame. It had been hiding in the bushes until now, ran out the moment it smelled the catnip, then it was suddenly being taken away.

‘But, don’t tell me. You’re not going to run away, right?’

Trying to gauge its response, I reached out one hand towards it and, contrary to my worries, the cat rubbed its head against my palm.

Gasp.

It’s so cute.

Not saying anything, I hugged the cat carefully in my arms.

In response, the cat flicked its tail as though it was in a great mood.

‘Good, good. You lil sh*t, I finally caught you.’

Though I was looking at this cutie with loving eyes, harsh words coursed through my mind.

“Hmm? By the way, is something wrong with you? Your condition is a little…”

Thinking that something seemed amiss, I immediately headed towards the cage where it was supposed to be staying.

After carefully examining the inside of the cage, I walked through the garden again. And, what caught my eye was Owen’s back.

So, back to the present.

I spoke triumphantly, holding the cat in my arms.

“You must keep your word now, yes?”

Owen bristled with anger.

Injustice and arrogance sharply surged through him, reflected in his glare.

I just snorted.

‘Of course, who else would act up like this.’

Meanwhile, more and more people gathered around us.

From the moment I appeared with the cat in my arms, the priests, my knights and my maid followed behind me as though I was the pied piper.

Besides them, the three noble ladies who participated in the bet gathered round as well.

The looks on their faces were worth seeing.

More particularly, as Helena could not bring herself to manage her facial expression properly, she was quite the spectacle.