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Chapter : 19
“Me and the Grand Duke? Why?”
“Well, as you can see, I was inside the temple too. What do you think Arno would tell His Majesty?”
“That’s true, but still…”
It was absurd, yet oddly convincing.
Well, there really isn’t another way.
I glanced at the hand Ferzen was holding, then turned my gaze forward.
“Grand Duke Ferzen…? What brings you here?”
Before long, Arno noticed us.
He stopped with a slightly surprised expression, then alternated his gaze between Ferzen and me.
Those ash-gray eyes sharpened in a peculiar way.
“Arno, High Priest. I didn’t expect to meet you here.”
Just as Ferzen was speaking, I deliberately pretended to be startled and sharply shook his hand off.
This is how it looks like a secret romance. He really doesn’t know anything.
Ferzen looked mildly dumbfounded.
He talked about secret trysts and all that, but it seemed he’d never actually done one.
“This lady must be… ah, Princess Diel Ekaterina, whom His Majesty mentioned.”
This time, Arno greeted me directly.
“You’re the one who knows a method to treat His Highness the Crown Prince.”
“I’m just grateful that you believe me.”
If Ferzen hadn’t been here, Arno was the type who wouldn’t have even acknowledged me.
“But why are the two of you here…? This isn’t a prayer chamber—it’s a place priests of the temple frequent.”
The smile cast over his handsome face was calm.
Unlike that appearance, however, there was a thorn in the end of Arno’s words.
“We heard that there is a place within the temple where the relics of Saint Levonia are enshrined, so we were looking for it.”
“Ah, it is inside, but… it’s a place for engagement vows, so it only opens when there is an applicant.”
“So it requires an application.”
Arno and the priests following behind him all glanced back and forth between Ferzen and me.
For them, seeing Ferzen in person seemed quite astonishing in itself.
Engagement? And what relics of Saint Levonia?
I thought we’d exchange a few words and leave.
But the conversation became more serious than expected.
“To think that meeting Priest Arno here might also be fate.”
Ferzen slowly traced the sign of the cross.
It instantly created a sacred atmosphere, but somehow—
It doesn’t suit him at all.
Perhaps it was the way his eyes looked, as if mocking the gods.
“The truth is, we’re a couple who’ve promised to become engaged.”
“…What?”
“…Excuse me?”
Arno and I both looked at Ferzen at the same time.
…Has he lost his mind?
Yet Ferzen’s expression remained utterly relaxed.
“Princess, is that true?”
Arno asked me bluntly.
Did he think I’d be easier to deal with than Ferzen?
Fine. If we’re bold enough lovers to come to the temple for a tryst, then promising an engagement makes sense.
Strangely enough, my pride was stung.
I can’t just stand here like an idiot, unable to fool even one priest.
I’m not that small-minded of a person.
“Actually… the reason I came to the capital with the Crown Prince’s treatment method was all because of him.”
I linked arms with Ferzen and lightly leaned my head against him.
I felt the man stiffen for a brief moment.
“If I achieve merit, His Majesty might grant permission for our relationship.”
“Ah…”
“Still, since nothing is certain yet, we came to pray that our souls would be bound together, just in case things go wrong.”
Ptoo, ptoo—lies!
This is a lie!
There’s absolutely no chance the Crown Prince’s treatment will fail. Which means there’s no chance my soul will be bound to Ferzen’s either!
“…Right?”
I looked up at Ferzen with a face on the verge of tears.
At that moment, Ferzen, who had been quietly watching me, lowered his head.
“Diel Ekaterina.”
“……”
His eyelashes came so close they brushed my cheek.
“Someday, you’ll come to deeply regret those words you just said…”
The ticking clock on the temple wall stopped.
“—With all your heart.”
Instead, only his hazy voice reached my ears.
What was that?
…It was an incredibly strange sensation.
As if even the air had frozen, leaving only him and me alive and moving.
How long had we been suspended like that?
Then it felt as though a bell rang.
“Oh, I see.”
Breaking the silence, Arno’s voice rang out.
“After hearing your story, my heart aches as well. But as one who has become a priest, I cannot deceive His Majesty.”
When I looked at Arno, he wore the same expression as before.
He looks like he didn’t hear my conversation with Ferzen.
The same was true of Ferzen.
He had returned to his place and was conversing with Arno.
It felt as though I alone had been pushed into a different flow of time, then returned.
Then the Ferzen I had seen just now was…?
“When you finish treating His Highness the Crown Prince, then… yes, it would be best to speak again.”
But this wasn’t the time to be spacing out.
“For today, I’ll pretend I didn’t see anything. May the blessing of Baron God be with you both.”
“Thank you. Priest Arno, then we’ll be on our way.”
After greeting Arno, I turned around and thought,
He didn’t notice that I overheard the conversation between the Emperor and Arno, nor that I chased after the arrow…
Well, whatever it was, this outcome was fortunate enough.
“See, my little rabbit. Even the gods bless us.”
But when I saw Ferzen speaking loudly on purpose, my thoughts changed.
“Our souls are bound now, so we can never be separated.”
…Wait a second.
Isn’t something strange here?
Is this really a fortunate outcome?
“Thank you for helping me. You could’ve gotten into trouble for nothing.”
After leaving the temple, I exchanged light farewells with Ferzen.
Something felt off ever since the Bella incident.
My suspicions were quietly boiling over.
There were quite a few things I wanted to ask, but this wasn’t the place.
“Anyway, if Priest Arno pretends not to know, then we can just act like things naturally settled down.”
In truth, there was no need for that.
I was going to die soon anyway, so everything would resolve itself naturally.
“Well. We’ll have to wait and see.”
The strange smile that flickered across Ferzen’s face vanished quickly.
“Princess, since this is your first time in the imperial city, you may not know—but Arno is someone you should be more wary of than His Majesty.”
Ferzen spoke quietly.
That’s not wrong.
Even if the Emperor was ranked A, he wasn’t classified as a male lead character.
On the other hand, Arno was one of the male leads.
Among the five male leads, only Arno, Risis, and Theo are A-rank.
This novel was one where the male leads all went mad.
In that sense, Arno was indeed more dangerous than the Emperor.
“And also…”
Ferzen looked at me silently for a moment before continuing.
“Well, to be honest, I heard you praying.”
Praying?
Was he talking about those daily prayers where I wished for death?
“You pray every day to be killed. Listening to it, I couldn’t help but feel concerned.”
Ferzen looked at me with a deeply sympathetic expression.
“Ah, that’s a misunderstanding—”
“I will keep you alive to the very end, Princess.”
I couldn’t explain any further.
“So…”
Because Ferzen cut me off far too firmly.
“Please don’t entertain such pointless thoughts.”
But why does he look like he’s smiling?
