CH 29

“Do we have to fight?”

Devan burst into laughter at my question.

“Then? How are you going to drive it out of my eye? Are you going to try to coax it out?”

Devan sarcastically said as he pointed at his right eye.

“But… It’s weird… His Highness also said that he could roughly see the front of the building when it was right next to him. Thanks to that, I was able to escape this castle.”

“How can you explain that I can’t see with my right eye though?”

I stayed quiet.

Neither of them knew what to do, so there wasn’t any progress.

Naturally, the room fell silent.

At that time, I could see a paper placed randomly on the desk.

“What’s that?”

Devan looked at it with a blank expression, then he pushed it towards me.

When I opened it, I discovered it was a map.

When I looked through it roughly, I noticed without difficulty that it was the Great Colonel.

On the back of the page was a drawing of a castle, but it didn’t appear to be the work of an expert.

“Did you draw this yourself?”

“Absolutely not.”

Devan quietly sighed, and said with a grudging look.

“Yesterday, he dropped it on the floor.”

“If it was him…”

He was talking about Killian.

When I first met him, I heard something fall. It seemed that it was this map.

“A lot of things happened, so I didn’t want to bother you about this.”

At Devan’s words, I lowered my eyes and looked at the smudged map.

There were X marks everywhere.

“I think he got the map from the butler, but the marks must’ve been drawn by him while he was looking for you.”

I crumbled up the paper and put it back on the table.

“… Why don’t you give it back to him?”

“He doesn’t need it anymore. It’s unpleasant that he has a map of this castle and territory around it.”

“Then burn it.”

Devan shrugged and threw the paper into the fireplace.

In an instant, the paper caught on fire.

For some reason, I stared blankly as it disintegrated, and Devan tapped the table in displeasure.

“This isn’t the time to be spaced out. There’s a lot of work to be done.”

“What do I have to do? ….There’s nothing I can do right now.”

“What?”

Devan had a strange expression on his face.

“There’s a lot that can be solved, and a lot that needs to be solved. Firstly, we’ll need to go to the temple and hold a ceremony soon.”

“What?”

“A Wedding. Since we signed those papers yesterday, we’re now a proper couple.”

At the sudden remark, I opened my eyes wide. What did he mean by a wedding? I can’t believe it’s going to be held at the temple!

“I don’t really want to, but I’ll do it anyway. Still, is there anything I need to do until the ceremony?” I asked.

“Isn’t it you, not me, who’s in trouble if there’s no news about the marriage and contract?”

I quickly closed my mouth.

It was definitely like that. Since I was married, it was important to announce it on a large scale.

“…Does it have to be there?”

Why did it have to be the temple?

I’d already escaped from that place and now I had to go there of my own volition? That wasn’t fair.

“Ah… The temple was looking for you, by the way. First your family, and now the temple? There are so many places that you can’t go to.”

“If I can’t, I can’t. You said you’d protect me.”

I stared at him while I spoke, that caused Devan to pause, then he avoided looking at me.

“…You’re the Great Duchess. Even if the temple finds you, no one can take you where you don’t want to go.”

“But…”

I couldn’t help, but feel anxious.

The temple was much more brutal than he thought. If they wanted to acquire something, then they did…

“Ah!”

When I suddenly shouted, Devan looked surprised.

“What is it?”

“I just realized I have something I wanted to do.”

I forgot about it because of Hilda, but I had something to check on.

“Do you mean that monster in Elywoon?”

“Yes, that one! You took the Maseok from the dead body, right?”

“What do you think you’re going to need the Maseok for?”

“You didn’t bring it? Maseok is a source of power, and there could be clues in it.”

“Clues?”

When the magic beast leaped toward me, it was obvious that there would be some reason for it.

I’d seen mana that seemed artificial embedded between it’s disgusting green scales.

If what I saw was correct, it was evidence that the temple manipulated the horse’s body.

“When I was very young, I lived in an orphanage under the temple before I was adopted by Count Diego.”

Devan suddenly frowned at the turn of the conversation.

“I was a child with enormous potential, someone who appears once in hundreds of years or so. Besides myself, most of the children in the orphanage had some form of divine power. Some had very little, and others had quite a lot.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“At the temple, I leeched the energy out of the other children. Do you know what happens to a child who loses their power?”

“….”

“They don’t die, they just become empty.”

I remembered the other children’s empty eyes.

It reminded me of the children, who’d become worn out after being filled up. They were brought back again and again to be filled, until they were finally sold.

“Do you think that the temple is related to this case?”

“At the temple, the children’s spirits were collected and stored in soulstones. It’s a jewel that looks exactly like a mana stone, but instead of being red, they are white.”

“There are white mana stones?”

“…That’s right.”

I nodded, and Devan fell silent.

It was an incredible story considering the temple’s external reputation.

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t believe me, please just look into the body. If it’s true—”

“Who said I didn’t believe you?”

Devan stood up from his seat.

I looked up at him blankly as he quickly stood above me.

“Send Karen to Ellywoon. Even if they’ve already disposed of the evidence, it can still be found with a high-end mana stone. If it can’t be found… That means that the temple used some kind of trick.”

“…You believe me?”

Devan rang the bell on his desk.

Then, he looked at me and smiled. He looked so aristocratic right now.

“If you’ve been mistreated by the temple, then I can also be quite formidable.”

***

Killian disappeared from the castle that day.

It occurred to me that it was bad that he just stood still and muttered.

‘I can help you. I can help you…’

At that time, I felt chilled and anxious.

What in the world is he going to help me with? All he could do for me was disappear from my sight forever.

“Madam!”

It was only a short while ago too. Then thoughts of Killian quickly left my mind.

This was due to the absolute lack of time I had to think.

“Do you like this or do you like that?”

I was presented with two white ribbons that looked exactly the same in my eyes, and the tailor who’d asked me with a serious look.

I blinked listlessly and motioned to the right.

“Which one do you like better, these pearls or those pearls?”

This time, I didn’t even try to look at them and motioned roughly to the left.

The tailor, and her assistant, seriously listed and classified each decision.

“Haa…”

It was a situation where a sigh would escape easily.

This was why I said I didn’t want to have a wedding.

Devan did everything quickly.

Perhaps it wasn’t a lie when he said that he would hold the ceremony in the temple/ He’d sent one of his men to the institution that day.

Having the ceremony at the temple was considered a great honor to the people of the Empire. It was understandable because you could be blessed by the High Priest, who held more power than the Emperor.

So there were only a few people who could get married there.

They had to be from the Imperial family, or be extremely rich, with enough money to satisfy the High Priest.

In Devan’s case, both were true.

All the nobles were excited, except for the two of us.

He left all the wedding preparations to me. It only made sense to pass it on to me.

He said he was too busy just governing the territory, but it felt like an excuse.

He must’ve found it too annoying.

It wasn’t incomprehensible because I was lazy, too.

A lot has changed since that day.

First of all, two soldiers always resided in front of my room.

Devan said it was for my safety, but sometimes it seemed as if they were watching me.

Second, I started studying about the Great Dukedom and the opposite sex.

I had a nominal elevation to my status, but I still had to do the work that I was given.

Devan had ordered it, so I stepped up to do it.

Third, countless people kept entering my room.

One of them was the tailor, who was now lining up dresses and robes with excitement. I looked at the dress with a bored look.

At first, I thought they were pretty, but the more I looked about it, the more I thought…

I want to decide on my own clothes.

Even though I was annoyed, I couldn’t help it when I thought of Devan’s aesthetic sense.

He was the one who left even his castle’s garden to the soldiers.

I considered the desolate greatness, and knew that he didn’t have the greatest aesthetic sense.

“…I’m sorry, but let’s stop today.”

The tailor looked visibly sullen. It seemed that she couldn’t even show half of what she had prepared.

There was nothing I could do about it.

It was dinner time soon, and I had something to ask at that time.

As I got up from my seat, a young girl with curly hair rushed to my side.

After Hilda disappeared, she became my new maid.

“Your name… No… You, stay here and help organize things.”

“Oh… Yes, ma’am!”

She answered with a big smile, and stood there and looked at me until I left the room.

The rumors that were circulating this time were burdensome, as were the envious looks.

Maybe the love story of the century was spreading about Devan and me.

She seemed to be hoping to become closer to me.

It was so obvious that I was rather reluctant to have her near me.

There wasn’t anything specific that I didn’t like about the maid’s attitude.

I was just afraid of becoming close to someone again.

Hilda was one of the few people I’d become close to.

I didn’t know if she’d betrayed me… or not.

When I realized that I felt betrayed, did I develop a certain level of affection without even realizing it?

Hilda… When I thought of her, I felt scared, angry, and embarrassed, but I also felt like a fool.

Where the heck was she…

Devan said that the formless existence had been following me since seven years ago, after it disappeared when he came to his senses.

Hilda also disappeared from everyone’s memory a few days ago.

I can’t believe she disappeared overnight.

I needed to find out how to cure Devan’s eyes, but I had no clue where I  should even start.

So, I would rather she appeared again, in some form.