The relief activity organized by the church lasted the entire day, and the whole team didn't return to the church until nearly evening.

Birds carried the twilight into the distant woods, leaving behind a few pigeons that hadn't eaten their fill, still lingering by the fountain in front of the church, searching everywhere for food.

Celitia sat by the fountain, holding two pieces of bread, tearing the bread into crumbs and scattering them on the ground, leisurely watching the pigeons compete for food.

"Not going to rest?"

Accompanied by steady footsteps, Ariel's voice came from behind.

"This is resting."

Celitia tore apart another piece of bread and scattered it in several directions on the ground.

The pigeons rushed over at lightning speed, their fluffy bottoms all facing her, tails wagging, heads bobbing like chickens pecking rice, eating with great relish.

Gentle laughter rippled in her eyes as Celitia picked up another untouched piece of bread and handed it to Ariel.

"Would the Saintess like to feed them together?"

Ariel took the bread and sat down beside Celitia, tearing the bread into even smaller crumbs and scattering them toward the distance.

"When I have free time, I often feed pigeons here too." Ariel said with feeling. "Watching them indeed brings peace to body and mind."

Especially after a trip to the slums.

Every time she went there and saw the expressions on people's faces—whether impatient, sad and painful, or numb and indifferent—Ariel would feel a wave of sadness.

No matter how many relief activities they organized, they could only provide emergency help but couldn't truly rescue those people.

Ariel shook her head, forcing herself to shift her attention away from the day's activities.

She took a deep breath, and the cool air of the winter evening rushed into her lungs, carrying a trace of extremely faint fragrance.

Ariel couldn't help but glance at her companion.

Celitia had changed clothes, and her hair was still a bit damp—she seemed to have already bathed.

That fresh and elegant fragrance, whether floral or bodily, should be coming from her—it was unexpectedly pleasant.

Ariel remembered that when she had carried her running toward the church, she had smelled this same faint, lily-like fragrance in her hair.

Clean, neat, elegant, restrained noble young lady—this had been Ariel's first impression of Celitia.

"Speaking of which, thank you for taking care of me today, Saintess. I'll wash and return the clothes you lent me."

Noticing Ariel's gaze, Celitia looked up and smiled slightly at her.

"No need to be so polite. I should be the one thanking you—you helped us a lot today."

Ariel's expression was gentle.

"Father Cel also said he was very satisfied with you. He even came to ask me whether you had any intention of joining the church."

"Joining the church?" Celitia was startled and shook her head thoughtfully. "Probably not. I don't really want to be bound."

"I thought so too." Ariel smiled faintly. "You're a bit different from the noble young ladies in my impression."

Once you swore to dedicate yourself to the goddess and became clergy or a monk, you had to bid farewell to secular life.

Unless they had no other choice, pampered nobles usually wouldn't choose such a life.

However, Ariel thought that Celitia wasn't refusing to join the church for this reason.

She wasn't someone who coveted noble privileges, despised commoners, and was unwilling to live the harsh life of a monk.

She probably had something she couldn't let go of.

Ariel still remembered that when their eyes met, despite the girl's fragile appearance, there was a stern, sharp, inviolable aura in her eyes.

She had something similar to Sophia—a stubborn and rebellious quality.

But it was also different from Sophia's. For now, Ariel didn't know how to describe the specific difference.

"It's hard to imagine what kind of family would raise a child like you," Ariel said.

Celitia's movement of feeding pigeons paused slightly.

"Family?"

Memories echoed in her mind—memories from her past life, memories before rebirth, and memories after fusion rapidly passed by, making her somewhat confused.

But the common point was that her family had never brought her any good memories.

If possible, it would be better not to mention it.

"Sorry," Ariel suddenly realized. "I probably accidentally brought up a topic you don't like to discuss."

After returning, Ariel had heard about some recent major events.

Among them was Queen Marianne stripping Celitia's father of his position and title and sending her stepmother and brother to prison to defend Celitia.

To make the usually gentle and good-tempered mother so angry, quite a serious incident must have occurred at that time.

For her, that should be quite an unpleasant memory.

Looking at the girl's silent profile, Ariel worried she was unhappy and, after thinking, began talking about her own experiences.

"When I was little, I grew up in slums like that. My parents died early, and every day I could only rummage through garbage in the streets, surviving on those scraps of leftover food."

Hearing this, Celitia looked up in surprise and glanced at Ariel.

Although she knew Ariel was the king's adopted daughter, Celitia really didn't know about Ariel's past before being adopted.

Perhaps the glamorous, eye-catching Saintess's former experiences had been intentionally or unintentionally hidden.

From Ariel's description, her childhood seemed even more miserable than her own had been.

Moreover, she herself hadn't been alone at that time—she had Ileana protecting her.

Ariel didn't say much about her childhood, just smiled peacefully:

"When I was six, I accidentally stumbled into a procession and somehow caught Father's eye, and he adopted me as his daughter. Someone told me it was because Father and Mother had been married for years without having children, so they wanted to cultivate an heir. However, not long after I became an adopted daughter, Mother became pregnant."

"Ah..."

Even knowing what happened later, Celitia couldn't help but exclaim.

She could almost feel the awkward position Ariel must have been in at that time.

"Actually, Father explained to me later that he just wanted a child at the time, felt I was very agreeable, so he adopted me... this was indeed something the capricious him would do."

It's just that the king's actions would be over-interpreted by many people, bringing great pressure to a child who was only six years old at the time.

"I never thought about becoming any kind of heir, especially after my sister was born. She's the heaven's favored daughter, the one destined to sit in that position."

Ariel's expression was very calm, her golden-brown eyes sparkling with determined light.