Chapter 17 : Chapter 17
Chapter 17: “Perfume Is Poison”
Fia almost forgot that this was a Gal world.
Looking at the mountain of letters piled in front of her, she felt a headache coming on.
After temporarily sheltering the homeless Hero and calming the frenzied little catgirl, she thought there was still time, so she went to the Church’s dispatch office along the way. It was one of the channels through which personnel inside the Church communicated with the higher authorities, somewhat similar to a principal’s mailbox in a school.
But it was far more meaningful than that.
Designated staff would periodically deliver the letters to the Pontiff, the Saintess, or the administrators in various regions according to the registered addresses.
The reason she had not received any letters earlier was because the original owner of this body had deliberately requested that the delivery intervals be extended.
“Are all of these love letters?”
Fia looked toward the little girl beside her. The child was holding a long list in her hands.
“To be precise, there’s also this pile over here.” The freckled child with an apprentice badge on her chest pointed at the mountain of letters on Fia’s right.
Of course, this was not because the Church was enthusiastic about employing child labor. It was simply another way of helping orphaned children.
Fia looked at the new pile of letters that was not much shorter than the first one and fell silent.
“Saintess' big sister, these have only increased recently. There were never this many before.” The girl explained in a childish voice while taking a few small steps closer to Fia and slipping a folded note into her hand.
“What is this?”
Fia looked at the crooked handwriting on the note. The ink was still fresh.
“This is the love letter Ellie just wrote. It’s homework assigned by our teacher. Saintess' big sister, can you read it?”
Her large eyes were full of anticipation.
What a strange assignment. Teaching children how to write love letters. Teacher, do you realize your teaching credentials are about to disappear?
“His Holiness the Pontiff loves reading these the most~”
Then never mind.
Fia’s mouth twitched slightly. She instructed the transport staff waiting nearby to move both mountains of letters to her bedchamber.
Just in case. What if there was something useful in them?
Following the little girl’s words, she also roughly figured out the reason behind this sudden situation. It was still related to the fact that she had disrupted the Hero Summoning Ceremony.
Originally, the focus of the game had been on the green-haired Hero. No matter how useless he was, he still possessed the protagonist’s halo.
As the female lead, the “Saintess” would naturally have most of the romance routes centered around the protagonist.
But Fia had intervened. She had turned the green-haired Hero into a green-trousered beauty, which dispersed the invisible narrative focus that had originally gathered on him.
To put it simply, everyone now felt that they had a chance.
Oh, and not just them.
Fia casually picked up one letter. The signature on the envelope was written in elegant handwriting, and the seal had been carefully stamped with rose-colored wax.
It was the name of a maid. Fia had even eaten hot pot with her before.
This Church could not be stayed in any longer.
There were masterminds stirring trouble behind the scenes, a frenzied catgirl, a Hero who did not look particularly bright, and a whole group of maids and guards waiting for her to “choose” them.
The Hero Summoning Ceremony had only just ended, yet it had already produced such drastic changes. If things continued for a while longer, Fia did not dare imagine what might happen.
A group night raid on her?
After writing “Read” on the note and returning it to the eager little girl Ellie, Fia followed the mail transport team back to her faithful bedchamber.
“Saintess, you’re back—meow!”
Hearing footsteps, the wooden door opened from the inside. Yuna, grinning widely, prepared to launch a ferocious cat ambush.
Instead, she was instantly buried beneath the avalanche of envelopes pouring down, leaving only her puffed-up tail sticking out and flailing wildly.
The maid who had been startled into dropping the load early looked helplessly at Fia. Only after receiving the signal to leave did she finally push the cart away with visible relief.
Fia pressed herself against the wall and squeezed into the room through the narrow gap before dragging Yuna out from the pile.
The “Awakening” status displayed by the system earlier had already disappeared. It was as if it had only been a small joke played on her.
“Where’s the Hero?”
The room was empty. Only the small toys the maids had delivered for Yuna remained—things like a pink cat teaser wand and specially selected mint grass from the cafeteria.
There was no trace of that simple and quiet figure.
“She almost crushed me to death, meow. That Hero didn’t seem very happy. After she saw that I was back to normal, she left and said she would walk around a bit. She’ll come back tonight, meow.”
With the sentence-ending habit included, she now resembled the stereotypical catgirl even more.
Fia did not mind. The roads within the Church were very spacious, and the Saintess’s residence was quite distinctive. After the ceremony ended, new intersections had been marked with signs. Even if she got lost, she could simply ask someone for directions.
“These are all letters for you, meow?”
Yuna hugged her tail and carefully moved away from the doorway. A good cat would not tear paper.
“Probably.”
The door remained open. Fia pulled the desk closer, picked up a feather pen, and began opening the envelopes one by one. After scanning each letter quickly, she wrote her reply on the back of the envelope.
【Morality ±##】
The system notification flickered repeatedly, as if tempting her.
If she simply rejected all of these confessions filled with immature emotions in a rough, uniform manner, Fia could easily reduce quite a bit of Morality while saving both time and effort.
However,
“The most immoral thing is not rejecting them outright, but leaving things ambiguous so they feel there might still be a chance, as long as they try harder.”
Fia muttered to herself, though in reality she was speaking to the system.
Yuna tilted her head. She did not understand.
【!】
And so, although the envelopes had been delivered in the afternoon when the sunlight was still pleasant, Fia worked on them until dinner time. The thoughtful Yuna even lit a magic lamp beside the desk for her.
Fortunately, magic existed. Otherwise, with traditional candles or kerosene lamps, Fia would not have dared let a cat handle them.
Among the letters, she actually found quite a few that had nothing to do with confessions of love.
Some discussed daily Church matters and asked for Fia’s opinion. Based on the original owner’s memories and her experience from her previous life, Fia provided suggestions.
Some requested funding and hoped to claim credit for their work. Fia told them to go speak with the Pontiff instead.
Some reported on Lorinna behind her back. Fia sorted those out one by one so the little candidate could read them herself later.
A small portion contained situational reports. Fia kept those, intending to compare them with the plot from her memories to better grasp the timeline.
After finishing everything, Fia rubbed her wrist and contacted the staff to collect the letters. They would naturally return them to the original senders.
【Morality -10】
【Evaluation: By giving them hope while remaining distant, you guide them toward an impossible future. Your immorality has reached a new height.】
【Title “Perfume Is Poison” Unlocked: Possesses a special natural fragrance that has a powerful calming effect. If it influences someone for more than 30 seconds continuously, there is a 15% chance of triggering their most beautiful memories. The specific effect is influenced by the level difference.】
A new passive ability?
Fia raised her arm and sniffed it, but she could not detect any special scent.