The daughter of the duke trespassing on religious grounds while giving the Saintess' dead body a piggyback was not a good look for her.
As the footsteps became louder and louder, thundering through the tunnels as they entered the underground, Callisto knew she didn't have any time to make an excuse.
Even though the Saintess' body couldn't have weighed more than a hundred pounds, it still was a huge handicap to her fighting ability.
But she didn't want to leave her body here, in the abandoned underground. She deserved a proper burial, being a casualty in a game between higher beings.
The door opened with a loud banged and she steeled herself, preparing to be surrounded, only to be pleasantly surprised by the outcome.
"Luka? Why are you here?"
"It feels like you say that to me often."
"Well, for the first time, I'm glad to see you. Help me out with this." She gestured to the body on her back, and Luka had a double take at the sight.
"Oh my god, did you kill her?!"
"Just help me." Callisto snapped, red eyes glinting angrily. Immediately, he shut up, a red blush creeping up his cheeks as he obediently followed her orders.
She looked at him curiously. Was Luka always like this? What a weirdo.
She didn't know how Luka found her, but as long as it was helpful to her, it didn't matter. She rushed down the tunnels to the exit, the knight captain following close behind.
She didn't rest until they had exited the place and were far away from the underground entrance. She was feeling fine, but Luka, who was carrying the Saintess' body, looked like he was ready to confess to a murder.
"Relax, I didn't kill her. She died on her own." That didn't seem to comfort Luka. If anything, it looked like it made him more stressed.
"Then why am I carrying the body? Also, who is this?"
"Don't you recognize her? It's the old saintess." Callisto watched as the pink-haired man's face contort into disbelief, then shock, almost dropping the body altogether. He looked at the state of ruin of the Saintess before her death, his eyebrows furrowed.
"Who would do this?"
'Why does he ask so many questions?' She groaned inwardly but decided to humor him.
"The church. Put her in my room, there's an empty closet that we can put her in for the time being. I'll have to put the body into cryostasis until I can give a proper burial. Do you want to answer why you were following me around, Luka?" It was a pretty simple conclusion to surmise that Luka had been the one following her.
"Your brother was worried about you. He asked me to look after you."
"Yeah, okay brother-in-law. If you want to look after me, how about you go back home with the body so that no one suspects me?"
Luka didn't have anything to say in response, but the blush that was on his cheeks flushed further throughout his body. Callisto didn't have time to unpack that.
"Alright. Please don't get into any further trouble while I'm away, Lady Callisto"
At least one thing had gone her way. The saintess had given Callisto some crucial information with her dying breath, and though it was easy to misconstrue the intentions behind such open-ended instructions, she had at least gained a pathway.
Thank god she didn't have to resort to Plan B. Involved a lot of blood, some fire, and just beating people up until she found a lead.
But based on the way they cut up the Saintess, Callisto thought it was highly unlikely that anyone but the higher-ups knew what the blonde woman was talking about, and interrogating any of the regular priests wouldn't result in anything.
Those who commanded her imprisonment seemed to desperately prevent the saintess from telling what she knew, which meant that they too, had an inkling about the reality of their god.
Anyways, the first order of business was to find that orb. Callisto hadn't seen it despite staying at the temple for over a week, but she knows that it used to be on the statue, since some of the church staff has mentioned it briefly.
But where was it now?
---
For the next few days, Callisto did her best not to act suspicious. Which is to say, she acted extremely off in a way that seemed normal to her, but suspicious to everyone else.
Just like the time when her boyfriend pretended for one whole month that he didn't know that she had bought him concert tickets, even though she had said things like,
"VIP Concert tickets? What are you talking about, silly? Hahahaha…Hah. What do you mean I left the browser open!? I did? Uh, I mean… Those are for me! To uh…sell! You caught me, I'm a scalper. Hahaha."
"Keep July 27 free! Why? I wanna go on a date…at that specific day…"
Really, it was lucky for Callisto that they hadn't realized the Saintess was even gone, or else she would have gotten caught ages ago. Of course, Callisto didn't know that and thought it was due to her superb acting.
She didn't want to risk going back into the underground, despite the myriad of secrets that were left behind. The stairs that smelled of death and the other rooms that were unexplored…
There was also a chance that they put Lux's Orb in there, but she doubted it, considering how deserted it was. If it was an object of such great importance as she presumed, then they would have put it somewhere more secure.
A warm spring breeze blew against her white robes and hair. If someone were to look at the girl, eyes closed in thought, they could have confused her for a monochrome painting, a marble statue. An unfinished coloring page, with only her unfinished.
And maybe that was true. Maybe she was an unfinished sketch in a painted world.
'Ah, enough of this philosophy crap. Who am I, my boyfriend?'
She faced the wind, enjoying the feeling of warmth on her face. When Callisto opened her eyes, she noticed that she was facing the holy section of the temple, where people weren't allowed, save for only the highest tier of believers.
"Somewhere more secure…like a prohibited area?" Callisto laughed darkly to herself. How could she not see something so obvious?
Though she was in no rush to leave, and as much as she enjoyed the adorable youth of the children staying at the temple, she was getting tired of being in religious rehab.
A source of constant headache was the other nobles who were in the same boat as her. For some reason, they were under an asinine belief that they could talk to her. And now they were all up in her business, trying to get on her good side.
She really hated the pretentious nature of nobility. Callisto had always been a person that would rather have an ugly truth than a pretty lie, and she was excited for the day she didn't have to deal with the hypocrisy of the elite.
After all of this was over, she'd find a secluded lakeside cabin for just the two of them. Quiet, peaceful, the life that they deserved.
Even if the world turns to dust around them. It would be fine.