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Chapter 09 …
Despite the sharp gaze directed at her, she calmly replied.
“I just wanted to wake myself up.”
“Really?”
“As if I’d bring it to play in the water with the Boss.”
“……”
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Because you look like someone who would.”
Titia!
Why can’t you refute that!
“Anyway, no. That wasn’t it.”
After denying it again, this time he actually thanked her.
“Thank you.”
The sudden gratitude left her bewildered, and then Joshua peeked his face out.
“See? I told you, you can trust Twe-Twe!”
I glanced between Joshua and Mr. Veilt. He adjusted his glasses with an air of indifference—no, arrogance—lifting his chin.
“Keeping secrets is important. Above all, as the Boss’s closest friend and right hand, how could I possibly not know something like that? It’s obvious just by looking. Did you really think I didn’t notice?”
I pursed my lips and avoided answering. Both Veilt and Joshua stared at me so intently that it felt suffocating.
Unable to withstand their gaze, I finally confessed.
“Yes, I really didn’t know.”
I had simply thought, Wow, Joshua is really good at keeping secrets so Veilt didn’t notice.
The Boss was sick, and I didn’t have the leisure to scrutinize every little thing.
Well… now that I think about it, it doesn’t make sense that Veilt, who manages the mansion, wouldn’t know the Boss was unwell.
I rambled excuses, saying I only ever focused on my own work without thinking too deeply.
“You have a heavy mouth, so you pass. Please continue keeping silent about the Boss’s health in the future.”
“Yes, sir.”
Joshua tugged at my skirt hem and studied my face.
“What?”
“Doesn’t it make you upset? They lied to you, after all.”
“Before I can feel upset, I just think of my advance payment and feel happy again.”
Everyone nodded in agreement, as if they understood that happiness well.
The day of the Saintess’s visit to the duke’s mansion arrived quickly. Everyone had finished preparations to receive her and lined up at the entrance.
I joined the line at the very end.
Soon, a white carriage escorted by holy knights pulled up before the mansion. The door opened, and escorted down by a knight, a woman stepped out.
She had deep pink hair, golden eyes, rosy lips, and a lively face blooming with smiles.
Cute.
Maybe it was my imagination, but it even seemed as if a faint light radiated around her—fitting for a Saintess.
Is this the heroine buff? She’s dazzling.
Veilt greeted her formally.
“Did you enjoy your engagement trip?”
Yubelline’s face lit up with joy, like someone delighted to meet an old friend.
“Thanks to you. But isn’t your tone way too stiff? Speak comfortably like before. We aren’t strangers, are we?”
She was bubbly, just like in the novel—informal, kind to everyone, radiating a contagious smile.
But Veilt’s expression only grew colder as he adjusted his glasses.
“We are strangers. Will you return immediately after meeting the Boss?”
Veilt made no attempt to hide his dislike for the Saintess.
“I was thinking of staying the night.”
“His Highness the Crown Prince will be jealous.”
“As if he has anything to be jealous about.”
Unlike Yubelline, who smiled lightly, Veilt’s face flickered with displeasure before quickly smoothing over.
“You know well of the Boss’s condition. It would be better if you met him and left.”
“The more you push me to leave, the less I feel like going.”
Brushing him off playfully, Yubelline Mortet glided gracefully inside. Only then did those bowing straighten their backs.
“I hate her.”
I flinched at the voice from below.
“Goodness, Joshua.”
If you suddenly say something like that, it sounds like I was the one who said it! With his soft little voice, anyone who didn’t know me might think those words came from me.
“I f***ing hate the Saintess. She’s disgusting.”
You didn’t need to repeat it like stamping a brand.
“Angels and demons are natural enemies, after all.”
He glared at me with a sulky expression.
Click, clack.
Yubelline’s lively heels echoed through the wide corridor. She hopped lightly as she walked, constantly looking around with a bright curiosity.
It was obvious she felt nostalgic and happy to return after so long.
“It’s changed a lot. Looks more extravagant now.”
“It’s been a year since you last came here, Saintess.”
“Already a year?”
Smiling ruefully, Yubelline cupped her cheeks and sighed.
“Sorry. You know how busy the temple has been. And on top of that, the engagement ceremony… I barely had time.”
It was the engagement ceremony of the Saintess and the Crown Prince—lavish, grand, and demanding. Yubelline had been endlessly busy preparing, unable to rest for even a moment.
She hadn’t even been able to enjoy her engagement trip properly before having to return, which left her feeling disappointed.
Of course, Terrence had done his best to comfort her.
Her cheeks flushed faintly. Lost in sweet thoughts, she glanced at Veilt, then cleared her throat and added.
“Zer must have pestered you, saying he missed me.”
“He hasn’t said a word.”
“You can hide it, but I know everything.”
“There’s nothing to hide.”
Veilt drew a sharp line, but Yubelline kept talking as if it didn’t matter.
“Liar. Zer must have been so lonely. You just don’t want to admit it because you hate me being close to him.”
Sigh.
Veilt pressed his brow in frustration. How many times did he have to repeat himself?
From the very beginning, he had disliked this woman. She had breathed unnecessary life into Zerbanth, who had been living just fine. She had shaken him as if she would give him everything, then abandoned him for another man.
Zerbanth had been discarded by Yubelline.
The world thought he had simply lost to the Crown Prince, but those closest to him knew the truth:
Yubelline had chosen to abandon him.
And now she dared to…
Veilt’s chest burned with anger.
I should have rejected her request to visit.
He had only accepted for Zerbanth’s sake, but as their conversation went on, he began to regret it.
She had aged, but her attitude was still immature and grating.
“Yes, you’re right about that much. But I do not fabricate what isn’t true. Once again, he has never mentioned you.”
“Fool. That’s only because Zer is sick right now.”
At those words, Veilt’s face turned icy.
“The Boss is not sick.”
The chill in his voice made Yubelline wince and apologize.
“Sorry. I was just teasing…”
“Do you think that’s something to joke about?”
“……”
The mood grew heavy. Yubelline tapped her chin, sighing deeply as she studied him.
Still so prickly.
Searching for a lighter topic, she recalled the girl she had seen earlier before coming inside.
Though standing at the very end of the line, hidden in the corner, the woman had been strikingly beautiful. Jet-black hair, long lashes, a sharp nose, rosy cheeks.
Lips like rose petals, marked with a tiny mole beneath them.
Her beauty was so radiant it seemed almost fragrant—exactly Yubelline’s type.
“Did you hire someone new? You people never take in outsiders. Especially not within the mansion itself.”
Veilt answered evenly.
“Yes, we did.”
“Why?”
“It’s guild business. Even trivial matters can’t be leaked to outsiders carelessly.”
Watching him draw strict lines again, Yubelline smiled wryly.
Ever since Zerbanth had shut himself away, Veilt had become even colder toward her. She understood it as his loyalty as a close friend, but he was harsher than with ordinary people.
“I didn’t accept Zer because I love Terrence. Is that why you…”
“That’s not for me to involve myself in. I know, and I have no intention of interfering. So please, Saintess, draw a clear line with the Boss as well.”
Yubelline avoided answering.
“Do you really need that maid I mentioned?”
Of course.
Veilt nodded curtly.
“Yes.”
“Can’t you give her to me?”
“…What did you just say?”
Even Veilt’s incredulous tone didn’t shake her thoughts.
“She’s so beautiful. Just my type. If I can’t have Ella, then at least give me that girl.”
“People are not objects, Saintess.”
Yubelline only shrugged at his rebuke.
“And yet the world treats them like objects all the time.”
“Do you mean me?”
“No, the world. Ah, it’s still so gloomy here.”
Yubelline smoothly changed the subject and stopped in front of Zerbanth’s room. She waved at Veilt with a smile.
“You can wait outside. I’ll come out once we’re done talking.”
“I’ll stay here.”
Veilt was resolute, which made Yubelline frown in irritation, hands on her hips.
“Even if I order you as the Saintess?”
“Yes. I serve only the Boss.”
“Honestly, the Eclipse Guild never bends. You’re all so rigid and suffocating.”
“Is the temple any different?”
“…Fair enough.”
She giggled brightly again, as if nothing had happened.
“Zer, I’m coming in!”
With those words, Yubelline opened the door and stepped boldly inside.
There he was—Zerbanth.
A man who belonged too perfectly to the shadows of that room.
The once large and powerful body now looked pitifully frail. The proud, arrogant man was nowhere to be found.
Yubelline walked toward him—not too fast, not too slow—her lips curved into the smile everyone adored.
Sweet as candy, she whispered in greeting.
“It’s been a while, Zer.”
Their gazes met across the air. Yubelline’s eyes softened with warmth.
His fist clenched tighter. The trembling of that hand only deepened her smile.
“Have you been well?”
Even though she already knew he hadn’t.
That simple question only made Zerbanth seem all the more pitiful.
