PLEASE DON'T REPOST/REUPLOAD ON ANY SOCIAL MEDIA. DON'T ASK PERMISSION FOR RE-TRANSLATION BECAUSE WE WON'T ACCEPT ANY. IF YOU SAW THIS ON ANY SOCIAL MEDIA OR AGGREGATOR SITES, PLEASE TELL US. -HHG Dukedom-
TRANSLATOR: HARU HONEYSHIKIPROOFREADER: OPHEODRYSQUALITY CHECKER: HARU HONEYSHIKI
It was clear now.
Zahid el Carnor adored me. From the first time we've met, until now, Zahid pretended not to seduce me secretly, when in fact he did. The reason for doing so was simple. It was to further bind me to him completely. As long as Charles and Ethan remained here, I was unable to escape anywhere. But there were always exceptions, and the future was uncertain.
Zahid wanted to remove all obstacles in his way, so he tried to chain me with the most surefire method. Love, after all, was the greatest shackle a man could use on a woman. Women were always weak to it.
To be honest, there would have been no one blocking his way if he had broken a few legs here and there. Fortunately, I knew exactly what kind of person he was. In the original novel, he was described as an ambitious sociopath. Every one of Zahid's actions were done after thorough calculation. If I couldn't do my part properly, then it wouldn't be out of character for him to, in a sense, eat me alive.
With this knowledge in mind, I needed to be wary of him and continuously keep my guard up. If I hadn't known anything, I would have certainly been bound from the start to him, mind or body. His beauty was truly that dangerously powerful.
“Sister!”
“Sis-, sister!”
As soon as I returned to Duchess's Annex, I made my way to Charles and Ethan's room. They were talking while sitting on the bed but jumped out as soon as I opened the door. Charles and Ethan were astonished to see me dressed up like a preening peacock.
I looked at my younger siblings while holding a bag filled with candy and a bill of sale.
“Guys……."
I didn't need to look at the mirror, as I was already aware of how strange I must have looked. I handed out the candy to my siblings, popping one each into their mouths, watching as they quietly savoured the sweetness. As eating sweets calmed me down a bit, I followed suit as well.
Charles pointed to the bill of sale while rolling the candy around in her mouth.
"What's that?"
"Oh, this is…"
I mumbled to myself, not really knowing how to answer the question.
"A candy store…."
"Candy store?"
“I told him I wanted to get some candy, but he bought me the whole store instead.”
Charles and Ethan were at a loss for words. Charles called out to me with a long sigh.
“Big Sister….”
Based on her tone, she was asking for an explanation. Come to think of it, the three of us had never properly talked about this matter because Kayle and I were rushing to my workplace at the time.
As I was wondering how to quickly evade the matter, Ethan pointed to the clothes and jewellery piled up in the corner of the room. They were the ones I had ordered in the costume room with Zahid earlier. It must have arrived at the duke's mansion before us while we were walking around in the busy streets. With a determined expression, Ethan declared,
“I-I don't need this. Big sis Charles doesn't need those either.."
“That's right. We don't need this."
Ethan and Charles stared at me.
“Sister, can't you just be honest with me? Is this really a marriage of love?”
I tried to say yes, but was unable to due to Charles' following words.
“But that person…”
Charles paled as she whispered in a small voice.
“I was so scared of him…”
He was usually a fine gentleman. At least, he pretended to be, what with his beautiful face and all. But Charles and Ethan saw through this, and they knew that it was a cover. Unlike myself, who had already known everything, it would have been quite a shock to my siblings.
If I hadn't known Zahid's true nature, I might have kept lying. But now that I could no longer hide it, I realized it was a cue for me to be honest with them.
“Charles, Ethan.”
It had always been hard to explain the harsh reality to my siblings, as I would rather shield them from the knowledge. Still, I began to cautiously tell the story.
“You guys knew about our debt of five billion Marcas, right?”
Both nodded heavily.
“I made a deal with the Duke. I can't tell you the details, but I became his wife with the condition that he would pay off our debts… However, I don't intend to stay as the Duchess for the rest of my life.”
I spoke purposefully, and my siblings understood my words well. The young siblings held serious expressions as they listened to my declaration.
“We will leave this place in five years.”
If both Charles and Ethan made their appearances as wizards, then even the Duke of Carnor couldn't attack us freely. At least then, we wouldn't be overwhelmingly crushed with his power.
In the original story, after I went abroad to ask for protection for my siblings, I tried to do so by using another wizard's power. That would then lead to the confrontation between the wizards and the main characters.
My only concern is whether or not I'd be able to defeat Zahid.
Four total wizards existed, with only one in each generation divided into one of the four basic elements of fire, water, air, and earth. But Zahid was someone who could handle all four attributes. There were now five wizards, when originally, there should have been four. His existence was unprecedented in all of continental history.
Zahid was strong because he was the special hero.
But I thought it was worth a try. Things were different now. I was still alive. As a purifier, if I bolstered my siblings, there was a good possibility of winning against him.
“So if you tried to hold on and stay here for the next five years…”
I paused while telling the story carefully, because Charles and Ethan suddenly embraced me. Ethan hugged me as hard as he could and asked,
“It must have been hard for you, right?"
I was rendered speechless, and after a long moment, I just smiled at them. I loved Charles and Ethan so much, as they've always cared and thought about me. So I didn't feel that it was too tiring or hard at all. I was just afraid.
If he found out my secret and what I might have done behind his back, if he knew that he could become a perfect wizard by consuming the purifier's flesh and blood….
He would instantly change his mind and decide to eat me alive.
***
Snip, snip, the sound of the scissors was almost soundless in the air.
Every time the delicately patterned silver scissors moved, the withered leaves and crooked branches were clipped off, falling to the ground below. Out of the blue, the man studying the perfectly decorated little shrubbery opened his fine lips.
“The Duke of Carnor paid 5 billion Marcas?"
The priest, who stood next to the man, replied with a nod.
“Yes, Holy Father.”
“How strange.”
He mumbled to himself while sweeping a hand through his long silvery hair loosely tied into a ponytail.
“Why would the duke step in and pay off her debts?”
"…”
The priest desperately tried to squeeze out an answer, but was unable to do so because of his lack of knowledge. He broke out in a cold sweat, the beads slowly running down his face before dripping off. Even as tears dripped from the priest standing next to him, the man continued to talk freely.
“I know of the Arles family. They've produced several saints for generations…”
He huffed lightly before continuing.
“Not many debtors have owed five billion Marcas for years.”
“….I'm sorry.”
“No, no. It's not your fault.”
The man gently shook his head to correct the mistake.
“It was a long-term decision we've made on account of our long-term interests. I had approved of it myself.”
No matter which way the Vatican saw it, leaving the 5 billion debt with low-interest rates was quite unusual. Debts of this size were never judged with much mercy or compassion.
It was a family of saints who had long devoted themselves to the Vatican. If they were handled with the usual cold and unfeeling logic, it would dampen the morale of those who would become loyal to the Vatican in the future.
The man considered both the 5 billion Marca debt and the value of the unseen future, and concluded that he needed to show some generosity.
So he left the children of the Arles alone. Of course, he did not write off the debt.
All my life I've been thinking of getting interest…
But then the Duke of Carnor suddenly intervened. He put the silver scissors down on a small tray.
“Why did the Duke of Carnor pay off Arles' debts and take her in as the Duchess? It doesn't make sense at all."
It was publically known that the Duke of Carnor had a crush on a slum girl. But the man was well aware of his true nature.
“As far as I know, he's not the kind of person who would ever do that…”
A slender finger caressed the flowers in the bush. He smiled as he gently touched the red rose blossoms.
“I wonder what's going on. Since the Duke of Carnor is as cunning as a fox, he is hard to deal with. Shall we ask Ertha Arles then?”
It wasn't a question nor was he expecting any sort of answer. The priest kept his head down and remained silent as he waited for the orders. The man softly spoke.
“I'll send a personal letter and call her to the Vatican.”
The priest raised his head unknowingly at the last words of St. Zenosius', also known as the Pope.
But when he met the shiny black eyes, he pressed his forehead back against the floor.
Zenosius said with a small smile.
“Make sure everything's ready to greet a guest.”
The priest's voice quivered as he answered, the cold sweat still running down his face.
“Yes, Holy Father. I will do as you wish.”
“You can go back.”
“Thank you, Holy Father…”
The trembling priest ran away as soon as permission was granted.
Left alone in the greenhouse, Zenosius laughed aloud as he watched the back of the priest's head bobbing away in a hurry. The priest heard the laughter, but he could not even protest one bit. It was funny how he could not refute one word to the pope even if he acted like a dog to him.
This was an inevitable fact.
The Vatican said that it was because ‘power determines everything', and Pope Zenosius had reached its peak.
People said that sexual power was God's power. The priest had thought that this could be developed by prayer and performance and that only a man of faith could have great strength. It was then, that a Saint named Zenosius was born with greater power than any other pope.
People praised Zenosius. He, who was loved by God, was nobler and purer than anyone.
But Zenosius knew better. God did not give him the power of sexuality.
Just like the wizards, it was just a natural inborn talent.
Called holy by others, he was pure and beautiful. He talked about his sexual power as evidence of it being given by God. People's belief in sexual power was firm.
Solely because of his great power, Zenosius became Pope.
The Pope was a very convenient seat. Zenosius could murder to his heart's content under God's name. The high priests knew of his hideous nature, but they decided to turn a blind eye to it because he was the Pope with the greatest sexual power in history.
As such, Zenosius wielded uncontested power……
The only ones that annoyed him were the wizards. They had enough power to match the Pope's. This amount of power was not fit for heathens such as them. Most bothersome of all was Zahid El Carnor, the only wizard who could use all four attributes. He was eye level with Zenosius, and they were essentially the same.
When he had heard that the Duke of Carnor had suddenly taken a wife, Zenosius had a feeling. A woman of five billion was an unbefitting choice, but she had her own worth. Ertha Arles was a purifier.
“What should I do…”
Mentally muttering to himself, Zenosius picked up the scissors again and looked at the rose bush.
While imagining pleasant thoughts, he continued to prune off the wild branches and flowers. It would be fun to gave the wizards fight with the purifier. However, it would be even more interesting to have Ertha Arles killed in front of the Duke of Carnor.
To kill the purifier in front of the wizard. Yes, there would be no greater joy than this.
He smiled. A very small question started to grow among his thoughts.
If the purifier could remove the wizard's evil nature…
What would it do to the Pope's holiness?
***
It had been a hectic day
The first night at the Duke's house, he was so kind as to let my siblings and I sleep together in a cosy bed. But because we were worried about other people's perceptions, I had to use the same bedroom as Zahid from today. I sighed as soon as I woke up early in the morning because I was worried about sleeping with Zahid tonight.
However, I couldn't worry about it as I had to move quickly since the butler, Dimon, came to the annex for me. I was trained as a duchess in the office. Zahid decided to personally teach me about etiquette and social studies. Currently, I was learning how to manage the Duke of Carnor's safekeeping from Dimon. Zahid himself ordered Dimon to give me what he had been dealing with. Book-keeping, budgeting, buying goods and filing, those things were actually not as difficult as I had previously thought.
But there was a problem.
Thanks to the Duchess of Carnor, who popped up out of nowhere, the capital society was now in complete chaos.
Letters were already swarming towards me. The duke's mailboxes exploded day after day with invitations to various tea parties, social gatherings, and banquets, as well as requests for visits.
It was a pain in the ass, but there was something else that was very important I had completely forgotten about.
“We're going to have to set a fixed date as soon as possible. I've also called in merchants to handle the wedding items, so I'll have to start preparing today…”
“The wedding?”
“Yes, ma'am.”
The old butler looked at me suspiciously.
I will have a "wedding". I mumbled the word to myself again. I thought I'd be finished with only the contract, but Zahid was doing a very thorough job here.
He wanted an extravagant wedding, intended to show my face to all the nobles of the empire.
This was to warn off everyone from messing with either of us because I was the Duchess of Carnor.
While I was at a loss at the thought of having a wedding, a light knock was heard.
The door opened before I could even tell the person behind it to enter.
“Hello, Ertha.”
“….Zahid?”
I barely managed to call him without his title. Zahid strode up and kissed me on the forehead. The place where his lips touched was hot.
Dimon tried to control his expression at the affectionate display. He was one of the few people who knew Zahid's nature, and these kinds of displays truly surprised him.
While nudging Zahid, I questioned him.
“What's going on?”
“I'm here to see you. You were so busy that you couldn't even say good-bye in the morning"
I thought he'd come to see Dimon, but he came to see me instead. I finally looked into Zahid's eyes. The amethyst eyes looked uncomfortable. As I stared at him and tried to read his mind, Zahid started to talk.
“I have something to give you.”
He held out a white envelope. My eyes widened when I saw the letter's origin. A large gold leaf was imprinted onto the letter's wax seal. I've seen this symbol my whole life, and I've never once forgotten it. Zahid placed the envelope on my desk and confirmed my growing suspicions.
“It's a letter from the Vatican to you.”
I focused on it.
It was a personal letter from Saint-Pope Zenosius.