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Chapter 16
Lost in pointless thoughts, he hadn’t realized it until they reached this secluded, dark place.
The atmosphere was such that it wouldn’t be surprising if an assassin jumped out from somewhere. Unconsciously, Cassel swallowed.
“Lord Elviance.”
The Lady turned slowly, elegantly.
“Earlier, on the podium, what were the words His Majesty the Emperor spoke to you in confidence?”
“Excuse me?”
Cassel’s eyes widened in confusion.
“I’m sorry, but such matters cannot be spoken of carelessly to Lady Blandice…”
“You may tell her, Cassel.”
The moment he tried to refuse, a familiar voice fell.
This voice is…
“Y-Your Grace?!”
Cassel, startled, whipped his head around. But no matter how wide he opened his eyes or looked around, not a single strand of his Lord’s black hair was to be seen.
That large frame, much bigger than average, shouldn’t be something that could be hidden.
“He’s here.”
The Lady, who had been watching Cassel, smiled and untied the fastened hat string beneath her chin.
And above the Lady’s head…
“Y-Your Grace…!?”
The figure of Rishid, sitting with his arms crossed askew, was revealed.
“what on earth is this!”
Cassel’s face turned pale.
Though the size was on a different scale from the appearance of the Lord he knew, Cassel could recognize him.
That doll-like face was unmistakably the youthful visage of Rishid Epenterion from childhood.
“Y-you, you, why is Your Grace coming out from there?! No, more than that, why do you look like that!”
Cassel jumped up, astonished, and reached both hands toward the top of the Lady’s head.
For His Grace, whom the Blandice Ducal family used to grit their teeth over, to be sitting on the Lady’s head.
And to have become small like a doll!
But Rishid slapped Cassel’s hands away just before they touched him.
“Move it.”
“Huh…?!”
“Don’t even think of touching my body carelessly. It’s disgusting.”
Cassel was dumbfounded.
But Rishid, with an unperturbed face, made a request to the Lady.
“Lady, please put me down.”
“Yes!”
With a skill that seemed practiced, the Lady carefully lifted His Grace and placed him down on the bench.
Cassel stared with his mouth agape.
‘What on earth is this perfectly synchronized act?’
The surprises never ended.
By this point, he wondered if he was dreaming, so Cassel slightly pinched his thigh. But since it hurt like hell, it was indeed reality.
Cassel collected himself and hurriedly knelt before Rishid.
“Y-Your Grace! Are, are you, are you hurt anywhere? After leaving me with just a single letter and dumping the entire welcoming ceremony on me, why on earth have you appeared in such a state…!”
“Lower your voice, Cassel.”
Then Rishid furrowed his brow and covered Cassel’s mouth.
“Even if it’s a place with no one, there might be listening ears. The imperial palace is originally that kind of place.”
“Y-yes…!”
Cassel immediately deflated and nodded.
But the moment Rishid let go of his hand, reassured, Cassel poured out words again rapidly.
“So Your Grace, what on earth happened? When, where, what, how, why! Please explain using the five WS and one H how you ended up like this! Ah, and why of all people are you with Lady Blandice right now…! And also why you didn’t contact me at all!”
“……”
“Please explain everything in detail, without leaving a single thing out. Huh? Your Grace…!”
Looking at Cassel, who was now almost sniffling, Rishid let out a sigh.
At the same time.
“What? She gave flowers to whom?”
“Th-that is…”
The maid, gauging her reaction, bowed her waist.
At the maid’s whisper, the color drained from the face of Brianna, Duchess Blandice.
“…The High Priest, you mean Erkael?”
“Yes.”
The head maid, Kate, who relayed the message to her, also nodded with a pale face.
Conscious of the surrounding gazes, Brianna hurriedly rose from her seat.
“I’m sorry, but it seems an urgent matter has come up, so I must excuse myself.”
“Please take your time, Madam.”
The noblewomen gathered at one table nodded with smiles. Brianna also turned away, maintaining an elegant smile until the end.
Kate quickly followed behind her.
“It seems the Lady gave flowers as a gift, and the High Priest accepted them.”
“That’s preposterous…!”
Brianna, who had moved to a spot behind a pillar in the banquet hall, clutched her throbbing forehead.
“Madam, are you alright?”
The quick-witted Kate called a passing attendant and swiftly brought back cold water.
Brianna calmed down only after drinking the cold water.
“…Thank you.”
However, her fingertips gripping the glass tightly were still tinged white and yellow with suppressed anger.
‘Daring to give flowers to a clergyman.’
Had she lost her mind?
Clergymen belonging to the Temple are originally bodies united with the divine. For devout clergy, there is nothing more sublime than maintaining purity of body and mind for a lifetime.
So expressing affection toward a clergyman wasn’t something to be dismissed with a mere ‘oh well’.
Of course, there are clergymen who, in places unseen by people, dream of eloping with a lover, intoxicated by fleeting love, but if the other party is High Priest Erkael…
‘It’s too much to dismiss Airel’s actions as the foolishness of a girl in puppy love.’
Although not her biological daughter, Airel was the official Lady of the Blandice family.
Moreover, the clergyman who accepted the flowers is a famous High Priest even mentioned as a future Pope.
Just looking at the two names, this had the makings of a huge scandal.
Brianna could confidently say that Airel’s name would be printed prominently on the front page of tomorrow morning’s newspaper.
‘Since things have come to this, the Grand Temple might demand public clarification and compensation.’
Airel disregarded the High Priest’s faith and dared to confess her feelings to a clergyman.
Regardless of the other party accepting the flowers, the Grand Temple would likely try to get something out of it, citing High Priest Erkael’s honor.
Although they are currently aligned with His Majesty the Emperor’s faction, the Grand Temple was originally full of people who would turn their eyes upside down for money.
Brianna frowned.
‘She knows enough to know better, so why on earth…’
Even before this, Airel had been showing strange behavior lately.
Finding this odd, Brianna had secretly assigned someone to watch Airel after once barging into her room.
Sure enough, after one outing, Airel, who had previously frequented all sorts of strange places, holed up only in her room.
She didn’t even come down for meals unless called, handling everything inside her room.
It was unprecedented.
‘Come to think of it…’
She recalled the knight who followed Airel that day saying something like, ‘The Lady looked around all the doll shops in the plaza…’
‘Could it be that she’s fallen for some cursed doll made with black magic?’
At the dizzying thought, Brianna sharply raised her head.
She was originally quick-witted and had good intuition. Given that Airel had pulled every kind of outrageous stunt until now, it seemed entirely possible.
“Kate, where is she now?”
“It seems there was a minor disturbance, so she left the banquet hall with the proxy of His Grace Epenterion.”
“What? Another disturbance!”
Anxiety tinged Brianna’s face.
“Well… it seems the Western nobles surrounded the proxy of His Grace and protested something, and the Lady stepped in and took the proxy out…”
“This child, really!”
Brianna let out a sigh and covered her forehead with her hand.
First the ridiculous hat, then giving flowers to the High Priest.
‘And now getting involved in political fights?’
Brianna’s eyes gleamed ominously.
“Kate.”
“Yes, Madam.”
“Return to the residence immediately and search Airel’s room. If any items related to dolls are found, bring every single one to my study without missing any!”
