Noura had to get up from her seat right away because of the maid Doris had sent with her.
Unlike before, she refused to go and tried to endure, so the Marchioness of Winston persuaded her to go and help her.
“You need to get your household in order, even if it’s late, so you should return to the capital for now. If Doris finds out that you’re suddenly trying to betray her, she won’t stay still.”
Noura held on to the shawl she was wearing as if it were her only lifeline, and then barely managed to get up after hearing what was said.
And she left these words for me and Vincenzo, who were silently seeing her off to the carriage.
“It is thanks to me that the High Priest is trying to make Doris Castagna a Saintess.”
She continued in a very small, somber voice.
“I donated a huge amount of money to the temple, as my business capital.”
She bit her lips so hard that they were slightly bleeding and trembling.
She shivered as if she was despising herself for being such a fool, and she gently grabbed my hand.
“The Crown Princess clearly asked me to tell her about such a trust under the pretext of a donation. And recently, Doris has been meeting with Count Raylon, the main player in abolishing the criminal tax collection system. She pretends to step down without greed and acts like a Saintess, but when the Second Prince finds her ‘ominous’ and there are opposing forces, she pretends not to be able to win and tries to marry him herself!”
Noura's face lit up with a storm of words as if she had just found enlightenment.
She got into the carriage with an angry gait and the door closed.
Noura peeked her face through the open window.
“The incense must be burned in front of the maids, and it must all be thrown away. Doris is a suspicious woman. Don’t let her be wary of you.”
“Don’t worry, Noura.”
“Madam, no, Lady Blie.”
She wrapped her arms around the back of my hand that was resting on the windowsill. Her hand was still pale and cold, but her touch was very gentle.
“Thank you, really. For not making me into some stupid woman who devotes herself to her mortal enemy.”
Noura's bright brown eyes shimmered intricately.
The past years of had to take responsibility for the family due to her injured husband.
It was a look that reflected the years when Doris was looked down upon and not even called by her name properly.
“I would now sell my soul to the devil if only I could kill Doris Castagna.”
Tears flowed from her eyes again.
She quickly wiped away her tears and patted my hand one last time.
“I will wait for the time to come.”
And then she quietly closed the window. A sad sob flowed out from inside the slowly moving carriage.
I told the Marchioness straight away about the Grand Vizier.
Canula trembled for a long time, perhaps more out of betrayal toward the High Priest than anger toward Doris.
Vincenzo seemed displeased that I spoke so quickly without considering Canula's physical condition, but he just kept a stern expression on his face because of the situation.
“If it’s donations, I’ve already been giving more than enough, but that high priest dares...”
For Canula, who had sent away his son, who was originally the successor to the Marquis family, and even Empress Letina, and devoted herself to prayer, it was no different from blasphemy.
“Vincenzo. Get the High Priest immediately. Damn it, that old man must have gotten greedy. He must have forgotten all about his days of faithfulness!”
“The High Priest’s subordinates are here...?”
Ronta is not a country where the divine right overpowers the imperial right, but the high priest is the head of the temple as the representative of God, so how can she order such a great person to come and go?
Then, without saying a word, Vincenzo went out to find the messenger.
I briefly observed Canula, who seemed to be suppressing her anger, but soon I heard the noise of people outside the door where Vincenzo had gone.
It was the sound of Rhodnes returning.
I left for a moment to allow the two to meet again.
The enraged Canula looked at Rhodnes, who appeared covered in the blood of a demon, and her eyes turned sad. Rhodnes also looked surprised by her sudden visit.
Just before going up to the second floor, I heard Canula cry and say, "Roan, my proud grandson. I'm sorry about you." So it seemed that Canula intended to actively support and help Rhodnes rather than justify Bardenaldo's actions so far.
I thought that it was fortunate, but it was around that time that I began to worry about Doris' maids following me.
As I watched the water being filled in the guest bathroom, knowing that Rhodnes compulsively took a long time to wash every time he came back from defeating a monster, I heard another commotion outside the bathroom.
The sound of something dull rolling on the floor was heard, and the maids' screams could be heard all the way into the bathroom.
I was startled and walked out of the bathroom.
Not only was the chest that one of the maids had been doggedly carrying rolling on the floor, but its contents had spilled out, scattering dried herb powders across the floor.
And at the center of it all was Rhodnes.
“How dare you bring something uncensored into my presence? You’ve lost your mind.”
In front of them were Doris' maids, trembling.
“Roan!”
“Please don’t come any closer, ma’am.”
Rhodnes stomped the dust with his bloody boots, clearly having heard from Canula what it was.
The red eyes, covered in the blood of a monster and unable to suppress their will to live, were a source of fear to the maids.
“Your Highness! This is a precious gift that Her Highness has specially bestowed upon me!”
I stood in front of the shivering maids and shouted at him in an exaggerated voice.
“What if you just pour it out like this? What will happen to my reputation if I do this?”
"Ma'am..."
The eyes that had lost all hope in life suddenly took on a sad look for a moment.
I turned to the maids and held the hand of the one in front of me tightly.
“I’ve seen these kids around the palace before. Could you please keep it a secret from Her Highness? I’ll somehow collect this incense and burn it today. I don’t want Her Highness to hate me. Do you understand what I mean?”
The maids, who had been looking up at my tearful face like a ray of light in the darkness, nodded their heads enthusiastically.
The maids who had been glancing at Rhodnes over my shoulder left the room with a “Heek!” sound as if they were being chased out.
There was silence as Neil clicked his tongue and led them out.
“...Rien.”
“Roan. I don’t want to blame you for not explaining everything to the Marchioness, but it was my fault. I was too reckless. I knew it was dangerous, but I kept quiet to deceive Doris.”
As I spoke, Rhodnes took off his blood-stained cloak and armor and immediately pulled my arm towards him.
“Roan!”
“How is it so easy?”
The clean body scent of Rhodnes, who had been washing obsessively, poured out from between the slightly blood-stained tunic shirt inside.
He hugged me tightly by the back of my head and waist.
“No matter what scheme they’re using, I’m going crazy just having that dangerous thing with you.”
A low, muffled voice poured.
“It doesn’t matter what she thinks. I will protect you even if you don’t make any effort. So all you have to do is come to the place I have made safe.”
I barely managed to get out of his arms and looked up at him blankly.
A light of desperate emotion that had been suppressed in his moist red eyes leaked out. If it had anything to do with my death, he would have reacted immediately like this.
“I plan to leave for the capital tomorrow.”
He spoke softly, pulling me back into a hug. I resisted the hug.
“Right now? We were on our way to Elacon.”
“The original purpose was not to see King Elacon, but to see the Grand Sorcerer, so Prince Victor was sent to deliver the message instead. He said that the King might be a bit angry, but that he would understand if we told him that I had turned the procession back to the capital to become the new successor.”
It seemed like the conversation with Canula was over.
“You stay here. The knights who came with Grandma will guard this place, so don’t come near any dangerous places this time. Come back when everyone blocking our way is eliminated.”
Rhodnes slowly caressed my back and whispered.
“I will also go to the capital and help you.”
“When the safest place in the world is next to me. Then come.”
“Roan...”
“You being safe and peaceful in my arms. That’s what helps me.”
The face of Rhodnes's naturally tilted towards me and came closer to me.
Even as he spoke of a brief farewell, his long, golden eyelashes cast shadows under his eyes as if hiding his face, which clearly showed his unwillingness to part ways.
As I froze for a moment, Rhodnes also froze, coming close enough that our noses were brushing each other's.
He shook his body as if he had suddenly come to his senses.
“Oh, sorry.”
During the few days I was here, he didn't hug me, which was the complete opposite of how he had been clinging to me the whole time.
I could easily guess the reason.
Even after performing such tiring work and sitting in the bathroom for hours each time to wash off the smell of blood, he would come to me in bed and give me a short goodnight kiss to make up for his regret.
No matter how much I said it was okay, he didn't want to have even a single drop of the demon's blood on me.
“I was so distracted by the thought of Doris Castagna giving you that worthless thing that I forgot about my physical condition for a moment. I’ll go wash up and come back. I’ll call a servant to clean up this incense, and you...”
As he was talking nonsense while washing his face with one hand, I approached him once more as he retreated.
“Roan, let’s go to the bathroom.”
“Yeah... Yeah?”
He nodded easily, then looked down at me with an expression like he had been hit in the head.
I boldly untied the knot of his blood-stained shirt.
“Wait a minute, Adrienne. What are you doing?”
“I filled the bathroom with water. You’re leaving right away tomorrow morning, right? We don’t have much time to spend together, so it’s a waste of time to take a bath.”
It was indeed so. I couldn't just let him go, as he was hovering around me and unable to approach me because of his demon blood.
“Rien?”
Swish.
The untied shirt string was completely in my hand.
“Today, I will be your special guest for taking your bath.”
"...What?"
From his collarbone, which stood out clearly through the gap in his shirt, to his firm cheeks which had been cold from the outside air, everything turned bright red in an instant.
It was a dramatic change in expression.
I dropped the shirt string I was holding onto to the floor.
Rhodnes's gaze, which had briefly moved to the slowly falling string, moved straight to my lips.
I smiled faintly and encouraged him subtly.
"No?"
It wasn't just the collarbone in the gap of his shirt that stood out clearly in response to my voice.
Unlike before, she refused to go and tried to endure, so the Marchioness of Winston persuaded her to go and help her.
“You need to get your household in order, even if it’s late, so you should return to the capital for now. If Doris finds out that you’re suddenly trying to betray her, she won’t stay still.”
Noura held on to the shawl she was wearing as if it were her only lifeline, and then barely managed to get up after hearing what was said.
And she left these words for me and Vincenzo, who were silently seeing her off to the carriage.
“It is thanks to me that the High Priest is trying to make Doris Castagna a Saintess.”
She continued in a very small, somber voice.
“I donated a huge amount of money to the temple, as my business capital.”
She bit her lips so hard that they were slightly bleeding and trembling.
She shivered as if she was despising herself for being such a fool, and she gently grabbed my hand.
“The Crown Princess clearly asked me to tell her about such a trust under the pretext of a donation. And recently, Doris has been meeting with Count Raylon, the main player in abolishing the criminal tax collection system. She pretends to step down without greed and acts like a Saintess, but when the Second Prince finds her ‘ominous’ and there are opposing forces, she pretends not to be able to win and tries to marry him herself!”
Noura's face lit up with a storm of words as if she had just found enlightenment.
She got into the carriage with an angry gait and the door closed.
Noura peeked her face through the open window.
“The incense must be burned in front of the maids, and it must all be thrown away. Doris is a suspicious woman. Don’t let her be wary of you.”
“Don’t worry, Noura.”
“Madam, no, Lady Blie.”
She wrapped her arms around the back of my hand that was resting on the windowsill. Her hand was still pale and cold, but her touch was very gentle.
“Thank you, really. For not making me into some stupid woman who devotes herself to her mortal enemy.”
Noura's bright brown eyes shimmered intricately.
The past years of had to take responsibility for the family due to her injured husband.
It was a look that reflected the years when Doris was looked down upon and not even called by her name properly.
“I would now sell my soul to the devil if only I could kill Doris Castagna.”
Tears flowed from her eyes again.
She quickly wiped away her tears and patted my hand one last time.
“I will wait for the time to come.”
And then she quietly closed the window. A sad sob flowed out from inside the slowly moving carriage.
***
I told the Marchioness straight away about the Grand Vizier.
Canula trembled for a long time, perhaps more out of betrayal toward the High Priest than anger toward Doris.
Vincenzo seemed displeased that I spoke so quickly without considering Canula's physical condition, but he just kept a stern expression on his face because of the situation.
“If it’s donations, I’ve already been giving more than enough, but that high priest dares...”
For Canula, who had sent away his son, who was originally the successor to the Marquis family, and even Empress Letina, and devoted herself to prayer, it was no different from blasphemy.
“Vincenzo. Get the High Priest immediately. Damn it, that old man must have gotten greedy. He must have forgotten all about his days of faithfulness!”
“The High Priest’s subordinates are here...?”
Ronta is not a country where the divine right overpowers the imperial right, but the high priest is the head of the temple as the representative of God, so how can she order such a great person to come and go?
Then, without saying a word, Vincenzo went out to find the messenger.
I briefly observed Canula, who seemed to be suppressing her anger, but soon I heard the noise of people outside the door where Vincenzo had gone.
It was the sound of Rhodnes returning.
***
I left for a moment to allow the two to meet again.
The enraged Canula looked at Rhodnes, who appeared covered in the blood of a demon, and her eyes turned sad. Rhodnes also looked surprised by her sudden visit.
Just before going up to the second floor, I heard Canula cry and say, "Roan, my proud grandson. I'm sorry about you." So it seemed that Canula intended to actively support and help Rhodnes rather than justify Bardenaldo's actions so far.
I thought that it was fortunate, but it was around that time that I began to worry about Doris' maids following me.
As I watched the water being filled in the guest bathroom, knowing that Rhodnes compulsively took a long time to wash every time he came back from defeating a monster, I heard another commotion outside the bathroom.
The sound of something dull rolling on the floor was heard, and the maids' screams could be heard all the way into the bathroom.
I was startled and walked out of the bathroom.
Not only was the chest that one of the maids had been doggedly carrying rolling on the floor, but its contents had spilled out, scattering dried herb powders across the floor.
And at the center of it all was Rhodnes.
“How dare you bring something uncensored into my presence? You’ve lost your mind.”
In front of them were Doris' maids, trembling.
“Roan!”
“Please don’t come any closer, ma’am.”
Rhodnes stomped the dust with his bloody boots, clearly having heard from Canula what it was.
The red eyes, covered in the blood of a monster and unable to suppress their will to live, were a source of fear to the maids.
“Your Highness! This is a precious gift that Her Highness has specially bestowed upon me!”
I stood in front of the shivering maids and shouted at him in an exaggerated voice.
“What if you just pour it out like this? What will happen to my reputation if I do this?”
"Ma'am..."
The eyes that had lost all hope in life suddenly took on a sad look for a moment.
I turned to the maids and held the hand of the one in front of me tightly.
“I’ve seen these kids around the palace before. Could you please keep it a secret from Her Highness? I’ll somehow collect this incense and burn it today. I don’t want Her Highness to hate me. Do you understand what I mean?”
The maids, who had been looking up at my tearful face like a ray of light in the darkness, nodded their heads enthusiastically.
The maids who had been glancing at Rhodnes over my shoulder left the room with a “Heek!” sound as if they were being chased out.
There was silence as Neil clicked his tongue and led them out.
“...Rien.”
“Roan. I don’t want to blame you for not explaining everything to the Marchioness, but it was my fault. I was too reckless. I knew it was dangerous, but I kept quiet to deceive Doris.”
As I spoke, Rhodnes took off his blood-stained cloak and armor and immediately pulled my arm towards him.
“Roan!”
“How is it so easy?”
The clean body scent of Rhodnes, who had been washing obsessively, poured out from between the slightly blood-stained tunic shirt inside.
He hugged me tightly by the back of my head and waist.
“No matter what scheme they’re using, I’m going crazy just having that dangerous thing with you.”
A low, muffled voice poured.
“It doesn’t matter what she thinks. I will protect you even if you don’t make any effort. So all you have to do is come to the place I have made safe.”
I barely managed to get out of his arms and looked up at him blankly.
A light of desperate emotion that had been suppressed in his moist red eyes leaked out. If it had anything to do with my death, he would have reacted immediately like this.
“I plan to leave for the capital tomorrow.”
He spoke softly, pulling me back into a hug. I resisted the hug.
“Right now? We were on our way to Elacon.”
“The original purpose was not to see King Elacon, but to see the Grand Sorcerer, so Prince Victor was sent to deliver the message instead. He said that the King might be a bit angry, but that he would understand if we told him that I had turned the procession back to the capital to become the new successor.”
It seemed like the conversation with Canula was over.
“You stay here. The knights who came with Grandma will guard this place, so don’t come near any dangerous places this time. Come back when everyone blocking our way is eliminated.”
Rhodnes slowly caressed my back and whispered.
“I will also go to the capital and help you.”
“When the safest place in the world is next to me. Then come.”
“Roan...”
“You being safe and peaceful in my arms. That’s what helps me.”
The face of Rhodnes's naturally tilted towards me and came closer to me.
Even as he spoke of a brief farewell, his long, golden eyelashes cast shadows under his eyes as if hiding his face, which clearly showed his unwillingness to part ways.
As I froze for a moment, Rhodnes also froze, coming close enough that our noses were brushing each other's.
He shook his body as if he had suddenly come to his senses.
“Oh, sorry.”
During the few days I was here, he didn't hug me, which was the complete opposite of how he had been clinging to me the whole time.
I could easily guess the reason.
Even after performing such tiring work and sitting in the bathroom for hours each time to wash off the smell of blood, he would come to me in bed and give me a short goodnight kiss to make up for his regret.
No matter how much I said it was okay, he didn't want to have even a single drop of the demon's blood on me.
“I was so distracted by the thought of Doris Castagna giving you that worthless thing that I forgot about my physical condition for a moment. I’ll go wash up and come back. I’ll call a servant to clean up this incense, and you...”
As he was talking nonsense while washing his face with one hand, I approached him once more as he retreated.
“Roan, let’s go to the bathroom.”
“Yeah... Yeah?”
He nodded easily, then looked down at me with an expression like he had been hit in the head.
I boldly untied the knot of his blood-stained shirt.
“Wait a minute, Adrienne. What are you doing?”
“I filled the bathroom with water. You’re leaving right away tomorrow morning, right? We don’t have much time to spend together, so it’s a waste of time to take a bath.”
It was indeed so. I couldn't just let him go, as he was hovering around me and unable to approach me because of his demon blood.
“Rien?”
Swish.
The untied shirt string was completely in my hand.
“Today, I will be your special guest for taking your bath.”
"...What?"
From his collarbone, which stood out clearly through the gap in his shirt, to his firm cheeks which had been cold from the outside air, everything turned bright red in an instant.
It was a dramatic change in expression.
I dropped the shirt string I was holding onto to the floor.
Rhodnes's gaze, which had briefly moved to the slowly falling string, moved straight to my lips.
I smiled faintly and encouraged him subtly.
"No?"
It wasn't just the collarbone in the gap of his shirt that stood out clearly in response to my voice.
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