“I guess they’ve come to eat?” I said, blurting the first thought that came to mind. This dining hall was for knights, but I could believe Priscilla might want to eat here too.
Desmond frowned. “No way. Lloyd has been staring at you almost without blinking. He’s definitely here for you.”
“Oh, I see. That makes sense.” I’d visited the Alcott manor the other day but only spoke with Priscilla a little. They must’ve come by so I could talk to her some more!
I sprang up and went to greet them. Ever polite, Desmond followed.
“Hello, Lloyd, Saint Priscilla.”
Lloyd beamed. “Hello, Fia. I see you have the day off. I hate to bother you, but Priscilla and I plan on paying a visit to the saints of the royal castle. I know Saint Charlotte is your friend, so I figured I’d ask if you’d like to join us.”
“Absolutely, I’d love to!” I said immediately.
Today was shaping up to be a great day! I was going to meet the saints of the royal castle, not just Priscilla!
All smiles, I turned to Desmond. “Captain Desmond, I’ll be leaving now to go visit the saints.”
I had already finished my breakfast, so I had no reason to delay. Desmond looked like he was about to say something, but Lloyd spoke up first.
“How interesting. You claim to have no interest in women, but it seems Fia is the one exception. I’ve encountered you two eating alone together twice now. Do you perhaps eat together every day?”
Despite the obvious teasing, Desmond rushed to refute him. “Hell no! And it’s not just me she eats with! Just last night, she…” Desmond’s voice stalled.
“Yes?” Lloyd awaited Desmond’s next words, eyes glinting, but the latter clamped his mouth shut and shook his head.
“Never mind. More importantly, if you’re taking Fia with you, you should probably have her change into her knight uniform.”
Watching this exchange made me feel like Desmond wanted to keep my dinner with Saviz under wraps. That worked for me. I couldn’t remember what I talked about with Saviz, so if someone asked me how things went, I’d be hard-pressed to answer!
I appraised my attire: Since I wasn’t working today, I’d thrown on casual clothes. Maybe Desmond was right and I should change into my uniform.
However, Lloyd waved to dismiss Desmond’s suggestion. “It’ll be fine, I’m not bringing Fia along to escort us as a knight. Oh, but I suppose she might be mistaken for a saint if she wears that white dress she has on.”
He smirked, apparently amused by the idea. He probably thought me being mistaken for a saint would be a good jab at the real saints… Which was par for the course for him, I suppose.
First Cyril, then Lloyd… So many people had mixed feelings toward the saints. I was really getting tired of it. Hopefully it ended with these two!
Just like that, I wound up tagging along with Lloyd and Priscilla, but the latter wasn’t all that talkative. She hadn’t been last time either. Perhaps she was just the quiet type. She mostly nodded along to whatever Lloyd said until we reached the royal villa, where the saints lived.
“I hardly ever encounter any saints because their villa’s all the way in the back of the castle grounds,” I murmured to no one in particular.
Lloyd grinned. “That works out for everyone involved. It is better to admire them from afar than to see what they’re really like up close. The mystique lends them beauty, wouldn’t you say?”
He was gutsy, using such sarcasm right in front of Priscilla, a saint. Instead of replying, I took in the villa before me while Lloyd spoke with the knights at the entrance.
A man, likely a butler, appeared and led us inside. We followed him down a long corridor while Lloyd explained the purpose of our visit.
“Today, I’m hoping to have the saints show us how they normally spend their time. I used my influence to arrange this, so technically we’re here on official business. Try to put on your best ‘at-work’ face, okay?”
I couldn’t help being impressed. Oooh wow. That’s a duke for you. He’s not afraid to brandish his influence when he needs to.
The butler took us to a spacious parlor awash in sunlight. Peeking around Lloyd, I spotted about a dozen saints sitting here and there on the sofas. A few read or chatted in groups, while others examined bottles filled with medicinal herbs or gazed out the window.
I was still taking them in when a distant voice called, “Fia!”
Charlotte skipped over to me. She smiled and said, “I heard the duke was bringing a saint raised in the cathedral, but I didn’t think you would be coming too, Fia!”
I returned her smile. “I have the day off, so Lloyd invited me to come along.”
“Lloyd?” She cocked her head in confusion. Amused, Lloyd gave her a little wave. Her eyes went wide as she realized “Lloyd” referred to Duke Alcott. “Fia, you’re on a first-name basis with the duke?! That wasn’t the case when we went to his manor together. You’re amazing! You can become fast friends with anybody!”
I tilted my head to the side. “Weeeell, this is more a case of a bunch of weird coincidences lining up. To keep it simple, I became friends with Lloyd after becoming a jester apprentice.”
“Huh?” Her eyebrows rose, and I couldn’t blame her.
“Basically, I was doing one thing and a completely unexpected result came of it.”
“Oh, I see.” She almost certainly didn’t understand, but she let it be regardless. What a good girl she was. I patted her head as a reward.
A brown-haired saint in her early twenties approached us. She walked straight to Lloyd and introduced herself. “I am Dorothée Auber, saint. I manage the saints of this villa. A total of twenty live here. Of them, ten are currently dispatched to Starfall Forest with the knights.”
“Ah, I see. No wonder there were fewer saints than I expected,” Lloyd said.
Dorothée glanced up at him and said, “I was told you would be observing us today. Would you mind introducing yourselves before I show you around?”
“Not at all. A gentleman like me would never forgo introductions.” He took in the room. At some point, all the saints had stopped whatever they were doing to regard us. “It’s a pleasure to meet you all. I recently adopted Priscilla, a saint from the cathedral. I brought her here today in hopes she could observe how the saints of the royal castle live. And this is Fia.”
The saints looked Priscilla up and down, then for some reason did the same with me. Oh my. These ladies are brimming with curiosity! This warranted a cheerful greeting. “Nice to meet you all. I’m Fia Ruud.”
Only silence followed, with not a single saint so much as twitching.