Karina had hated the Saintess so much that she had attempted to poison her in the past. She had been so jealous and hated her when she was about to remarry Jeremiah. It would have been difficult for her to get along with the Saintess now, rather than just ignore her.
"I don't really want to get involved with the Saintess."
"Hmm. I see."
Mikhail shrugged his shoulders slightly and nodded without asking any further questions.
"Come to think of it, what were you going to say earlier?"
Just before Jeremiah came, she remembered what Mikhail had been trying to say, so she asked.
"Oh, that? Um..."
The man who had been leading the story soon began to chuckle.
"I'll tell you later."
He added that she would find out soon anyway.
'That makes me even more curious.'
As Karina was thinking about asking him again, she remembered something she had been planning to ask him.
"Do you remember this?"
Karina opened the drawer next to her bed and took out a ring hanging from a necklace string. It was the ring with the firestone that Mikhail had sent her through the messenger.
"Of course. I made it for you."
"Can you make this again?"
He thought it was fine, but when he looked at it later, he saw that the firestone embedded in the ring had a crack in it. It seemed like it had done its job of blocking the monster's attack and then broken.
"It's possible to make it, but it'll take some time since all the necessary materials are in the tower."
Mikhail fiddled with the ring on the string.
"But I made it in the shape of a ring so that you can easily carry it on your body, so why are you hanging it on a necklace string?"
He said it with a slightly disappointed tone.
"Oh, that's it."
Karina did that because she thought it would be annoying if Jen saw the ring and had a strange misunderstanding, but seeing Mikhail so upset made her feel bad for no reason.
"If I make it for you again, please put it on your finger. Then I'll make it as fast as I can."
"I will do that."
She replied that shr understood the playful tone.
"Michael, while you're at it, maybe..."
She added something that had been on her mind for a while because she was a little concerned. Mikhail tilted his head as he listened to her.
"It's not difficult, but what are you going to use it for?"
"Hmm. I don't have a specific plan for when I'll use it, but I think it might come in handy someday."
Mikhail nodded in agreement at Karina's half-confident words that it would definitely be useful.
"Then it takes a bit more time to make it."
"It's okay. Let me know when you're done."
It was something that needed time. Her mood improved at the positive answer that he could make it.
***
Meanwhile. Jeremiah, who couldn't stand it any longer, took Lucia outside. It was to warn the Saintess. Karina didn't seem to want to meet the Saintess anyway. In the meantime, she kept talking nonsense about how she was hanging out with other men and how they looked good together. Even if she was the Saintess of the empire, there was no one here who would welcome her. Jeremiah was about to tell her not to come back again.
"I guess you care a lot for the Grand Duchess?"
Lucia asked right away.
"You're asking the obvious."
At his answer, Lucia touched the corner of her mouth with her fingertips and made a strange expression.
"...I thought His Highness the Grand Duke had no choice but to take care of the Grand Duchess because of his natural duty as a married couple."
"I don't know where you heard that nonsense, but if you're going to keep talking nonsense, then let's go back now."
Jeremiah dismissed it as nonsense. But Lucia's words did not end there.
"You said it was a forced marriage. Isn't that why you didn't stay by the Grand Duchess's side even when you were in the North?"
"...!"
When the story of when he was in the North came up, he was momentarily speechless. He felt something suffocating him as he recalled the memories he had seen in Karina's consciousness.
"Is there a reason why your attitude toward the Grand Duchess has changed between then and now?"
Lucia asked in a calm, consistent voice, without any change in pitch. But to Jeremiah, it sounded like a crash of thunder.
"That..."
He couldn't make a sound from his throat, which was so clogged that it felt like he had swallowed a fireball. He clenched his teeth and clenched his fists. Lucia stared at him blankly, waiting for his answer. At that moment.
"Your Highness the Grand Duke! His Highness the Crown Prince has come with a letter from His Majesty!"
A knight came running up and reported. As soon as the knight finished his report, a magnificent and luxurious carriage decorated with gold leaf pulled up in front of them. David appeared inside.
"Your Highness, I don't know how you knew I was coming and were out there."
David got out of the carriage and smiled slyly, wagging his finger as if to tell the servant next to him to bring it to him. The servant quickly bowed his head and held out the Emperor's letter with both hands.
"It is said that a monster has appeared in the village of Liberau, west of the capital. As soon as you receive the letter, His Majesty orders you to go and deal with the monster together with the Saintess."
David opened the letter dryly and looked through it before speaking. It was a report he had received just before leaving the palace. As soon as he heard the report, he had received the imperial order, thinking that he could talk to Karina without Jeremiah's interference. Jeremiah frowned upon hearing the imperial order.
"A monster has appeared in the residential area. I guess I should go and check it out."
Lucia, on the other hand, was most concerned about the safety of the people of Liberau village.
"As expected, the heart of the Saintess who thinks of the people of the empire is warm. I hope that the two of you go together to deal with the monsters and calm the surprised villagers."
David praised the Saintess and urged Jeremiah to go quickly as the situation seemed urgent. Jeremiah gave an order to the knight next to him with a trembling face.
"Tell Karina that I will be away for a while to subdue demons."
Then David tried to dissuade him, saying that there was no need to do that.
"Don't worry, I'll tell the Grand Duchess, so go."
Jeremiah seemed very displeased with the idea of the Crown Prince meeting Karina while he was away.
"I will be back as soon as possible."
He had no choice but to say that and leave.
"I'm waiting."
David smiled leisurely and replied lightly.
***
Karina, who was in her room, came to the reception room without knowing what was going on. And she was surprised to see David drinking tea in the reception room.
"Your Highness the Crown Prince."
She was polite, but she had no idea why he was in the Grand Duke's reception room. That was also quite cute.
"I'm glad your complexion doesn't look bad, I was worried when I heard that you came home early yesterday because you were sick. Did you receive proper treatment from the saint?"
He already knew that the Emperor had sent the Saintess to the Grand Duke's house. More precisely, to Karina.
'He must have sent her on purpose.'
It seemed like the Emperor and the Saintess had some kind of separate deal or conversation. David heard a report from Pie, his hidden right-hand man and the one in charge of running the Dark World.
'Did the Saintess say that she wanted to remarry the Grand Duke of Colesberg?'
If that was the reason why the Saintess showed her blatant interest in Jeremiah at the palace banquet hall, then it made sense. It seemed like the temple had already made preparations for her. That was probably why they had summoned the Grand Duke of Colesburg under the pretext of a prayer service. It seemed like they were putting all their efforts into linking the Saintess and him. David looked at Karina standing before him. He wondered how she would react if she, who knew nothing about this, found out about it.
"I'm feeling better now. I'm not in a state where I need the Saintess's treatment."
Karina, who had responded like that, immediately asked David the purpose of his visit.
"But why have you come to me..."
David offered her a seat as she asked him cautiously.
"I have a lot to talk about. Please sit down first."
David, who managed to get Karina to sit across from him, waited until she was served a cup of warm tea, and only when she showed her curiosity again did he open his mouth.
"They say a prayer service will be held at the temple soon."
David explained the reason and purpose of the prayer service and that he, the Saintess, and Jeremiah would be participating in it.
"Yes."
Karina reacted as if she had no idea.
"And it was His Majesty's Intention that the Grand Duchess should also participate."
"Me too?"
"Yes."
David persuaded Karina, who was asking for advice, that it would be good for her to go as well. In fact, he had been reluctant to leave Karina alone in the capital from the beginning. He was constantly concerned that the Emperor could easily reach out to Karina at any time while they were away to attend the prayer service. Then, the Emperor said that it would be good for Karina to attend the prayer service as well.
Whatever his intention, David accepted it before the Emperor changed his mind.
'If we're going to do it, it would be nice to see the relationship between the Grand Duke and Karina clearly broken off during the prayer service.'
The smile on his lips grew deeper.
"Yes, I understand. There's not
much time left, so I should prepare in advance."
Karina answered calmly.
"I didn't come here specifically to tell you this."
David changed the subject to deliver the most important news.
"Originally it would have been better to talk when the Grand Duke was present, but now that he is out with the Saintess, there is nothing I can do."
Karina's eyes opened wide.
"His Highness the Grand Duke went out with the Saintess? Why?"
"A monster appeared in a village near the capital, so he left for a while to deal with it."
“Ah.”
At the mention of the two going out together, Karina's mood darkened slightly. David, who had been staring at her, soon smiled brightly and continued speaking.
"His Majesty the Emperor has said that he will permit the Grand Duke and his wife to divorce."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
Karina looked even more surprised than before.
"The divorce from the Grand Duke of Colesberg, as desired by the Grand Duchess. His Majesty has approved it."
"Suddenly like this?"
The thought, 'This easy?' filled her head.
She was dumbfounded.
The divorce approval that had been Impossible no matter how hard she tried was granted with absurd ease as soon as Lucia showed up. Her head was in a mess. David said with a surprised look on his face at her ambiguous response.
"You don't seem very happy?"
"Ah.."
Instead of answering, Karina hesitated and blinked. He was right. She felt more upset than happy. But before she could feel it, David's question hit her directly.
"Do you still have feelings for the Grand Duke?"
'What?'
When she heard those words from someone else's mouth, it sounded so absurd.
"I heard you were treated pretty badly in the North. Was the report wrong?"
"..."
'No way.'
Karina quietly fell into deep thought. Lucia appeared before him, saying that it was fate with Jeremiah. If you think about it, it was a similar situation in the past. Except that Karina was blindly longing for Jeremiah. Although yesterday, he followed her out of the banquet hall, prioritizing her over Lucia.
'If the future flows exactly like the past.'
If he and Lucia are destined.
'No matter what I do, isn't it inevitable that the two of them will end up together in the end?'
Karina kept thinking about that. Jeremiah said that he would have nothing to do with the Saintess, but today the Saintess came to visit. And she even heard that Jeremiah and Lucia went out together to deal with the demons.
'In the future, when a wave of monsters occurs, Lucia will support Jeremiah, who is at the forefront of dealing with the monsters.'
The two of them would continue to be entangled in public affairs in the future. It was bitter. But that was all. The current situation did not particularly come as a great shock. Because Karina had already been thinking in a corner of her heart that it might happen. It just felt like things that were bound to happen were happening.
'Yeah. That's it.'
Karina's expression instantly became indifferent.
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