After a few days, Estelle entered the temple. Only Camilla see her off before she left the palace.
After 3 days, the priests and priestesses are now enamored to the beauty, kindness, and immense divine power of Estelle.
"This is so refreshing~"
She said while resting in a bench near the lake.
"It's good that you are having fun here"
A handsome middle-aged man with brown hair and emerald eyes wearing a different robe from anyone else inside the temple sat beside her. He is Giovanni, the Chief Priest of the Temple of Althea.
"Oh! Your Holiness"
Estelle exclaimed and paid her respect to him.
"You do not need to that my child. Do that only when we are in public"
He said and patted her head.
"Okay!"
Estelle said with a smile. Even though they just met 3 days ago, she already considered the Chief Priest as her father because of his fatherly affection to her and to all the priests and priestesses in the temple. As Estelle and even as Latrice, she never felt the care and love of a father so she is thankful that she is now experiencing it.
"Do you want to assist me in the border?"
The Chief Priest asked.
"What happened?"
Estelle asked, feeling that the war has already broke.
"There are more casualties this time and the Empire needs the Temple"
He replied as he handed out the royal decree from the Emperor to send out 5 highly skilled priests to assist the Royal Knights in keeping the Empire's border safe from the enemies and 'the evils'. They will be considered the Holy Knights of the Empire since they need to fight along with the Royal Knights and heal them as the need arises.
"I see no problem with it"
Estelle replied with no hesitation although the Emperor was mentioned.
"As much as I want you stay in the temple and protect you from all dangers... but you are one of the person who are blessed by Althea with such immense divine power. I will understand if you will reject my offer as I know how important your life is more than anyone else"
The Chief Priest said looking so worried.
"How can I protect the Empire if I am always inside the palace or the Temple? I am just being a coward if I did that, isn't it?"
She reasoned out and brightly smiled.
"I am glad that the future empress of this Empire is you. I am sure our Empire will prosper more"
He said and patted her head again.
"That's too much, Your Holiness. But, thank you..."
Estelle replied and smiled.
When the dawn came, the 3 priests and Estelle headed by the Chief Priest leave the temple.
When they reached the border, they went to the camp of the Royal Knights and look for their leader. A knight led them to Duke Blanchett who is fully armored.
"Chief! The Holy Knights are here! We are now safe!"
Cried by the knight who assisted them but the Duke looked displeased while looking at the direction of Estelle and this was noticed by the Chief Priest.
"I know that you are not happy that your fiancee is in danger and so do I but this about the future of the Empire. The Crown Princess wanted to fight for the peace of the Empire"
He explained but the Duke is still not happy about it.
"Did you inform His Majesty about this, Your Holiness?"
He sarcastically asked and the Chief Priest was quite taken aback.
"Do not blame the Chief Priest about this! I came here in my own accord, isn't that enough?"
Estelle said to protect the Chief Priest.
"And whose permission?"
The Duke asked the same thing as the Emperor and this made Estelle angry.
"Blabber all you want but I will perform my duty as the Holy Knight and priestess of the Temple! You damn coward!"
She exclaimed and seconds after, the Western Kingdom started their offense. They are not prepared. Estelle witnessed the rain of fire that injured almost half of the Royal Knights in seconds.
"Holy Knights, put a holy barrier with me!"
The Chief Priest exclaimed.
"Alright!"
They replied and they quickly run at the opposite side edges of the camp's territory.
"Estelle!"
The Duke called her but she did not turn around.
"Protect the Crown Princess!"
He commanded and almost half of the Royal Knights went to Estelle's side while she is concentrating and emitting an immense divine power to create a strong barrier with the Chief Priest. Just in time, when the second attack was about to land and some of the Royal Knights thought that they will meet their end just like their dead comrades, the holy barrier was completed and protected them.
"Safe~"
Estelle comically said. Jerome stared at her and she just gave him a shrug and a proud face.
"Reckless"
He said before he left along with some of the Royal Knights.
For straight 10 days, they fight, heal, fight, heal. Despite this situation, Estelle was able to befriend the Royal Knights because sometimes when they are not doing anything, they secretly play poker and other card games without the knowledge of Duke Blanchett and Chief Priest.
Even though there are days that Estelle is in day shift, she always sneakily played card games with the Royal Knights.
"When will they send the reinforcement? Did they already forgot about us?"
One of the Royal Knights negatively brought a topic while they are playing cards. One of Royal Knights stopped him but Estelle is unbothered.
"I-I am sorry--"
The knight who asked the question was about to apologize but he was stopped by Estelle.
"Do not apologize. Whether the reinforcements will come or not, we will survive this. We are the strongest and holiest, aren't we?"
She confidently said with a smile that gave hope and confidence to the knights.
Lo and behold, after 5 days of fighting, they won and the enemies retreated without casualties. There are some who are injured and the Holy Knights treated them immediately.
At night, they celebrated and the knights that played card games with Estell thanked her non-stop for giving them hope, courage, and bravery.
"Didn't I said that we are strongest?",
She said while proudly smiling.
"Yes, we are!"
They exclaimed and happily laughed.
"Then...! Shall we play?"
One of the Royal Knights asked while flexing the cards. Estelle and his playmates happily said yes.
"Let's play and drink!"
Estelle exclaimed and added a little twist in their simple poker game.
"Whoever loses shall either drink all the glasses of the players or tell a secret that no one has ever know. Isn't that more interesting?"
She suggested and as usual his playmates agreed.
"Okay~! Who wants to join?!"
Estelle asked.
"It seems like you have been playing this for quite sometime, my child"
The Chief Priest gently asked. Estelle and her playmates were slightly frozen.
"O-Of course not, Your Holiness! What are you saying?"
She said followed with an awkward laugh.
"I am just kidding. Let me join"
The Chief Priest said. They were surprised at first but they got even more shocked when Jerome also said that he wanted to join.
"Let me join too"
He said and cleared his throat.
That night, it was filled with laughter and joy. While everyone is sleeping, Estelle could not sleep so she went on a stroll. Unexpectedly, she met Jerome who also could not sleep.
"Could not sleep?", he asked.
"Yeah... you too?", she replied.
"Mn", he said.
They talked about themselves while walking and got closer than before.
"When is your birthday?"
Estelle asked and Jerome gave him a confused look.
"What kind of question is that? You never missed to give your gifts during my birthdays..."
He replied and to deviate the topic she changed her question.
"And you never gave me any gift in my birthdays"
She said since she knows that Jerome never give gifts to Estelle. Jerome stopped walking and looked intensely at her.
"W-What? I am just joking around. Do not take it seriously"
Estelle added and slightly tapped Jerome's shoulder to assure him that she is just joking. To her surprise, Jerome took her hand and kissed it.
"From now on, on your upcoming birthdays, I will never fail to give my best gifts to you"
He sincerely said and this made Estelle's heart go crazy that made her speechless. She hide her face because she felt that she is now blushing and the Duke found it adorable that he can't help to smile.