“I heard a strange noise and came to check, only to find this guy, who should be in prison, rummaging around here! He said he needed to find the rest of the money and get out of here fast!”
Well, I was actually working undercover, but Seth, who had just arrived, wouldn’t know that so I lied shamelessly.
“Come to think of it, I did hear about an embezzlement incident earlier today…”
Fortunately, it seemed Seth had been briefed on the day’s events, as he looked at Kento with cold eyes.
Kento’s various wounds and filthy appearance made it clear to anyone that he had escaped from a rough situation.
“I also saw him pull some kind of pouch out from under the countertop!”
With solid evidence and an eyewitness, Kento had no way to escape this time.
I never imagined that my detective habits would come in handy even in this situation.
“I see. I noticed he kept fidgeting, so I thought he might be drawing a weapon. Turns out he was trying to hide it. If you don’t want to die, put down what’s in your hand.”
Seth, as a sword master, caught on to all of Kento’s clumsy movements and pointed his sword at him.
Kento’s face turned blue as he took the full force of Seth’s killing intent without the help of the AI, unlike me.
“C-Captain, you misunderstand. You mustn’t be deceived by her words! That woman is…!”
Kento’s eyes quickly swept over me.
He was clearly planning to reveal that I was a fake Saintess to Seth, who didn’t know my true identity, in a bid to escape this situation.
There was no way I would let that happen.
“Ah! Now that I think about it, he said something about the drawer after the counter!”
I cut Kento’s words short and yanked open the drawer containing cutlery next to me.
As expected, after lifting the bottom of the double-structured drawer, another pouch of money appeared.
“You, you, you! How, how do you know about that…?!”
Kento exclaimed as I flipped the pouch open.
It’s no wonder he freaked out, he had only searched under the countertop and hadn’t even touched the drawers.
How could a clueless fake Saintess reveal the locations of the embezzled funds one after another, blindsiding him completely?
“Considering the embezzled funds found earlier were in a different place, there might be more hidden around here.”
There certainly were more. I just couldn’t remember any other locations.
So, Kento needed to be interrogated until he revealed everything.
“I want you to tell me where everything is. I can kill you right here and mobilize everyone in the temple to find the funds, or you can tell us now. The choice is yours.”
At Seth’s resolute tone, Kento despaired.
Now he couldn’t say a word about my true identity.
With such solid evidence, if he did, Seth wouldn’t doubt me but would instead be furious at the false accusations.
“I-I’ll tell you everything…”
Finally, he dropped to his knees, and with tears streaming down his face, began confessing the rest of the locations.
Wow, how did he manage to hide so much in every corner of this small kitchen? I can’t believe he used such talent to embezzle.
“To think we trusted such a person with something important as food.”
There were seven pouches in total.
He really hid them in the most annoying and thorough manner.
Seth also seemed quite shocked by the endless stream of money pouches, his face showing disbelief.
Judging by his fists clenched so tightly that veins were bulging, it was clear Kento’s future was going to be very rough.
Afterward, Seth called for the holy knights and instructed them to imprison Kento in the deepest underground cell.
He also ordered them to increase security to prevent another escape and to ensure that only he and High Priest Airek could access the area.
The holy knights were stunned to see that Kento, whom they had surely locked up, had escaped, and they were surprised once again to find that he had more money hidden as they dragged him away.
Fearing that the holy knights might be startled if they saw me at night, I hid in a corner, covering my noticeable hair and face. Only when after everyone had left had I crept out again.
Seth bowed his head to me.
“Thanks to you, we were able to catch him. If it wasn’t for you, we would have lost the money and missed the embezzler, so thank you very much.”
No need to bow your head so deeply.
“As the Saintess, it’s only natural for me to catch criminals.”
“…What?”
Huh? Why is he so surprised?
He looks more shocked than when he found out the trusted chef was actually an embezzler.
“What? Just now, did you say… you’re the Saintess?”
“……?”
Could it be that he didn’t know I was the Saintess?
No matter how often Seth was away from the Grand Temple on his frequent outside assignments, there’s no way he wouldn’t have run into Ordell, the Saint.
Though I was wearing plain clothes instead of my Saintess robes for the stakeout, it was odd that someone as perceptive as Seth wouldn’t recognize me just because of a change in attire.
Moreover, Ordell rarely wore her Saintess robes anyway.
So why didn’t he recognize me?
“Captain!”
At that moment, someone burst into the kitchen, breaking the awkward silence.
It was High Priest Airek, who had rushed over after receiving the report from the holy knight.
“To think the chef escaped from prison and that more embezzled funds were found— what on earth…?”
Airek, who had been urgently questioning with a flustered expression, soon spotted me and his eyes widened.
“Saintess, why are you here…?”
“Wait, you’re really the Saintess?”
Did he really not know?
“I didn’t expect you not to recognize me, Captain.”
“I-I apologize.”
Seth quickly bowed his head in embarrassment. He still seemed quite disoriented, so I left him alone and looked at Airek.
“Actually, I knew Kento was going to break out of prison and hide out here again, so I’ve been waiting to catch him.”
“What? You knew that?”
Airek’s eyes widened. So did Seth’s.
They seemed even more surprised because I had just told Kento that I found him by chance.
I decided to tell them the truth.
“Kento isn’t just an embezzler. He’s a spy planted in the grand temple by my father, Count Kiris.”
“…What?”
Both men were stunned. They’d never suspected it before.
“I found out about it when I went back to my family recently, I overheard my father and his lieutenant talking about Kento.”
Since I couldn’t say I knew this from the original story, I fabricated a plausible explanation.
It was true anyway that Count Kiris had planted Kento in the grand temple.
“To think the man who always showed me a strict demeanor was doing such dirty deeds behind closed doors. I was truly shocked.”
I wring my hands, like someone who’s been betrayed in a big way.
“To tell you the truth, I was torn. Should I tell the temple about this, or keep my father’s secret?”
“…But in the end Saintess, you revealed Kento’s corruption.”
I nodded at Airek’s words.
“After learning everything and returning to the grand temple, I started seeing things I hadn’t noticed before. The reckless luxury I indulged in without realizing my father was embezzling money, the even poorer state of the temple because of it, and the children who were suffering.”
Although I adjusted the story slightly, it’s still true that I changed my mind about running away because I couldn’t stop thinking about the children.
I’m the only one who can address the temple’s problems right now, so how could I possibly run away?
“I was blind, and committed so many things I shouldn’t have done. I am truly sorry to both of you.”
I bowed my head before the two of them. Even though I wasn’t really the one who committed those wrongs, I needed to apologize.
I needed to win their hearts to successfully and smoothly restore the grand temple in the future.
“I also want to apologize to the others for the things I’ve done, and I swear that from now on, I will prioritize the grand temple over my family.”
“What on earth…”
Seth, who had just arrived at the temple and knew nothing, seemed restless.
Airek, on the other hand, wore a serious expression on his face and asked me,
“Did Count Kiris really order all of this?”
“I can swear by the name of the gods that it’s true.”
In this world where gods exist, swearing by the name of the gods means it’s the absolute truth. Lying under such an oath could bring divine punishment.
“Then why didn’t you tell us about this sooner? Why did you try to catch the chef alone, knowing he would come here? Why didn’t you inform me?”
Airek asked, his tone filled with suspicion.
I shrugged my shoulders and replied,
“Because I knew you wouldn’t take my word for it without proof. So, I wanted to present solid evidence before informing you.”
That’s also why I didn’t reveal during the day that Kento was Count Kiris’s spy.
If I seemed too knowledgeable about the locations of Kento’s hidden embezzled funds, it would be harder for them to trust me.
They might even suspect me of being an accomplice of Kento, so I waited alone until Kento escaped and came back to retrieve the money by himself.
Although there was an unexpected variable because Seth appeared, the plan was still a success since we caught Kento while he was trying to retrieve the money.
Ah, the thrill of catching a criminal according to plan is really something.
“So, you thought I wouldn’t believe you, Saintess.”
Of course not. As a fake Saintess and the daughter of Count Kiris, it would be hard for them to believe that I would expose the Count’s embezzlement.
Especially considering how I had been causing all sorts of trouble in the temple until recently.
“I may have had some unexpected help from the Captain of the Holy Order, but we still managed to catch Kento, so please trust me a little more now.”
I smiled warmly at Airek.
Of course, this one incident alone wouldn’t make them trust me completely.
But it was enough for him to not obstruct me in my future efforts to earn money for the temple.
Trust can be built gradually over time.
SoundlessWind21’s Notes:
If there are any errors, whether it be grammatical, spelling, translation, or website-related issues, feel free to let me know. (´◡`) Anyway, thank you for reading!
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