After another long day of lessons and socializing, I was finally back at my room. Zoe came to me immediately.

“My lady, you have a letter.”

“Oh?”

It must have been important, for Zoe to inform me personally instead of setting it with the others for tomorrow. I took it from her and smiled when I saw the sender.

‘Mikhail Lovell, Avington Castle.’

It must be an update from the knights! I was excited to open it, but I thought of something first.

“It passed inspection? People from the royal castle checked it?”

“No, my lady. I was out today and met a maid from House Avington’s manor in the capital, who was going to deliver it, and knew me, so she gave it to me. I hid the letter in my dress when I came in and the guards didn’t search me since I passed the mana detection. I thought you would want to see the letter as soon as possible.”

“Good work.”

“Thank you, my lady.”

It was very thoughtful of her. Men and women usually didn’t exchange personal letters outside of their family unless they were engaged, and though this was strictly business, it would be good to prevent any rumours.

Mikhail had no official title, but he was still the nephew of a viscount. The status of bastards varied depending on the relationship they had with the rest of their families, but either way, I didn’t want anything that could negatively affect my reputation. Perhaps he had considered that and it was why he had sent the letter to our manor instead of the castle, or maybe it was just a lucky coincidence.

I dismissed Zoe and opened the envelope. It contained two sections, one long report, and a shorter letter. I read the letter first.

‘My lady,

I am writing this upon your request to inform you of any updates from Sir Harrod. He sent a detailed report, which I have copied and included with this. I will summarise his findings below.’

Polite, straight to the point, and efficient. I liked that. His parents and the viscount must have educated him, and he had pretty handwriting as well.

‘Nathaniel Seaton’s divine powers were recently discovered, and he has not yet passed the test required to begin his training as an apprentice priest. As such, he currently can not be formally apprenticed.

However, it is certain that his faith is enough to pass the test. Therefore, it has been arranged for him to come to Avington Castle right away to get used to the environment here. He will arrive soon, at the time of me writing this.

The next test is in February, and takes place in the capital, at the Grand Temple. Though his residence will be arranged by the temple, my lady will have a chance to meet him after the test is over.’

Excellent! I didn’t care that he couldn’t start his training yet, all it mattered was that we could have him. His strong divine powers and his loyalty to me were far more important than his devotion to God. Being able to meet him would be a bonus, and I wanted to make a good impression and convert him to my side.

Despite being a male lead, he had much less presence in the novel than Damian or the crown prince, instead providing emotional support for the female lead, and serving as a plot device to help her establish herself as the saint. He could be beneficial to my fake sainthood and my reputation, and I would be taking away the one thing the female lead could always depend on.

Would the temple really let him go so easily though? Having a high priest under our control would be huge, especially the youngest one ever. It was never explained in the novel how he came to have his holy powers or how these powers worked in general, and in life the information was still obscured. The books roughly said that it had to do with faith, blessings at birth, and kind acts one committed in life, which were self contradictory.

My own observation saw that in spite of the propaganda that anyone could be blessed if they obeyed God, all senior priests and high priests I could find records of possessed holy power, typically ‘awakened’ conveniently just before they were promoted, or discovered young and rose swiftly in ranks. There was definitely something fishy going on, particularly with Nathaniel and his youth, but I could figure that out later.

‘There are no records of a girl with blonde hair and green eyes at his orphanage that is in the right age range.’

What? I read that line several times to make sure I was seeing it right. That couldn’t be possible.

‘There was a girl who was close friends with him. Her name is ‘Rin’ and she has brown hair and brown eyes. She arrived at the orphanage two years ago, and she turns eight this December. She is sweet and kind, and everyone at the orphanage adores her.

However, shortly after the knights went to visit the orphanages for the first time, a man showed up, claiming to be her uncle. He took her under his care and left. The knights tried to trace him, but were unable to, at this moment.’

I was more confused than angry. How could this be possible? I knew certainly that my actions would change the future, but this was before the novel even started. Nothing I did right now should impact the female lead’s backstory.

I was sure it was her. ‘Rin’ could be short for ‘Catherine’, and everyone loved her for her kindness, not to mention her friendship with Nathaniel. The birthday was right too. But why were the hair and eyes wrong? Why did she only arrive two years ago?

No uncle was mentioned at all in the novel, and she definitely wasn’t adopted before being found by the baron. Who was this man? Had the female lead switched orphanages since the accident? If so, how, and why? Why did the man feel a need to cover up his tracks? Did he know who she was?

I couldn’t answer any of my questions. I flipped through the report and saw a detailed profile of the girl was included, so I decided to read that later. Quickly, I finished the letter.

‘The knights will keep trying to find the man, but it is unlikely that they will find anything. They will switch directions to look more into Lady Catherine Bryant’s accident.’

Zoe must have told them who I was looking for. Well, if it helped, I supposed it wouldn’t hurt to give it a shot.

‘Everyone will keep working their hardest. Sir Harrod humbly begs for your patience.

Sincerely,

Mikhail Lovell’

His signature was pretty and confident, like him. In another time, I might even have had a crush on him. The idea made me laugh, but the humour was brief.

I collapsed onto my bed, sighing. What the hell was going on?

Eliminating the female lead early was plainly the quickest way to guarantee my success without fail. But I guess I should have thought of it by now, with my life here. Nothing was as simple as it seemed, and half the luck the female lead had in the novel might have been set up.

That thought scared me a bit, because it meant I was no longer dealing with a sweet fairy tale written for fluffy romance, but actual powerful nobles and conspiracies. I would have to keep improving and striving to become better, to match them.

Yes. I would write and tell the knights to keep looking into the accident, but I would also start preparing other plans.

In the end, no matter what, I was going to win.