The Saintess and the Villainess

Chapter 13

At Corvina's prompting, Anne did try the tea, which turned out to be a really sweet chamomile. Anne loved chamomile. It was nice and refreshing.

Then she tried one of the tea snacks as well. It was a little cake decorated with cute icing patterns. She took a bite. It was delicious. It was like a gourmet version of the convenience store snack cakes Anne had loved in her old world.

"How is it?" asked Corvina, with a smile.

"Absolutely incredible!" said Anne. "As expected of Lady Corvina."

"I didn't bake them myself, you know" said Corvina.

"Well, of course not," said Anne. "I just mean any chef you hire is bound to be incredible! Why, these are almost as good as the pastries made by the monastery's chef back in Longren. Oops—" Anne put her hands over her mouth, suddenly mortified. "I didn't mean that in an insulting way!"

But Corvina didn't look offended. If anything, she looked amused. "I'll have to try those pastries from Longren one day," she said.

Blushing, Anne put the rest of the cake down on the table. "So what was is that you wanted to discuss with me?"

"Well, I hope you'll forgive my impertinence, Saintess, but I've gotten the impression that it seems like you know rather a lot about me," said Corvina. "But I'll admit I don't know much about you, not on a personal level. So I was hoping you'd be willing to answer a few questions for me. So I can get a sense of who you are?"

Get to know you questions? Almost like a first date, thought Anne. No way that's the intention, but it's nice to imagine... "Of course, ask away!" she said out loud.

"First of all," said Corvina, resting her chin on her hand. "I do already know you're an elf, so there's no need to wear that hood around me."

"Oh, right..." said Anne, blushing and pushing the hood back.

"I see that minder of yours already got someone to fix your haircut," said Corvina, reaching across the table to ruffle Anne's hair. "It's cute."

"Thank you..." said Anne, turning her face away. She was entirely red now.

"I like the outfit, too," said Corvina. "I think this suits you better than the dress you wore to the ball yesterday."

"Weren't you going to ask me questions?" asked Anne, who's heart couldn't take much more of this praise from Corvina.

"Oh, yes, of course," said Corvina, sitting up straight again. She placed her hands delicately on her lap. This seemed to be her serious pose. It made Anne nervous, although, of course, she also thought it was very sexy.

"I want you to answer these questions based on your own personal opinions, not as a representative of the views of the church or anyone else," said Corvina.

"Sure," said Anne, who had been planning on doing that anyway. Perhaps being totally honest wasn't the wisest approach, but Anne was a terrible liar, and Corvina was very perceptive, so why not just speak her mind?

"Who do you think should have more power?" said Corvina. "The imperial family or the church?"

"Oh that's easy," said Anne. "Neither."

Corvina cocked her head to one side quizzically.

"Well, neither really has the best interests of the common people at heart," explained Anne.

"Many would say that the church exists to serve the people," said Corvina.

"Maybe more so than the Emperor," said Anne. "But at the higher levels of the church it's all about political maneuvering and seeking personal power. They only pretend to care about the people for the sake of their reputation, and so that people will give them money."