“Thank you for all of your help, your grace. Thank you very much.” Duke Simon de Sarnez commented.

Eugénie Kessié, who was seated across from him, haughtily flicked her chin. The old woman was in charge of the Archdiocese that covered the southwest region, including Sérénité, and one of the strongest Archbishops in the Empire. She liked to claim that she was the best after Cardinal Aurélie Boutier. Her family, which has raised numerous high-ranking priests, was a major force in the southwest region.

However, they were not a Pair de Riester and Kessié had a lot of lingering attachment to that. The reason she gave her whole life to the fight for power in the central region was, as expected, for higher fame.

“It was nothing. It wasn’t like I did volunteer work.” The old woman commented.

It was also the reason she started to act as a spy for the Vatican. As long as she did the simple requests delivered to her by a religious figure of the Holy Kingdom, Kessié could gain a significant amount of money. The carriage that had the crest of the Vatican was something even the Empire did not dare to mess with. That was the silent agreement throughout the continent. Basically, it was the best way to stealthily receive things. The money that came in like that went straight to her political fund.

“We can’t watch as the prince of an enemy kingdom stands by his Royal Highness’s side. We have enough good people who can rise to that position.”

“You are right, your grace.”

“We need to make sure that his Royal Highness chooses a priest of Imperial birth to right the direction of the Empire. I trust that you will help me in many ways, as you are well-aware about that as well.”

Her wrinkled lips curled up. Her gaze seemed to clearly indicate her expectations.

The Duke calmly smiled back.

There were over a hundred families aiming for the position of the Crown prince’s Religious Partner. Prince Jesse Venetiaan did not know about it, but there were quite a lot of religious figures who were wary of him.

In return for her support for this scheme, Kessié wanted Duke Sarnez to turn her granddaughter into the soulmate of a member of the Imperial family in the future. “My granddaughter is younger than the prince and her Divine Power is amazing. People frequently say that she is gifted.”

“I have heard about that. Ugh.”

The Duke suddenly scowled and clutched the right side of his face. Pain from the burn must have suddenly started. Kessié clicked her tongue.

“Tsk. Why are you not showing that to a healing priest? You need to take care of your body in order to do something big like this.”

“……Her Majesty is an extremely sharp person. Having this injury on my face to cover my expressions is a great camouflage.”

“Well, that is true.” The old woman agreed. They needed to move carefully in order to not be consumed by the Empress and her talented sixth sense. They had to pay attention to each and every word they said and could not suddenly use a ton of money or do things they don’t normally do. She was someone who noticed changes like that very well. The Duke was quite a vicious person as well. In order to be labeled as a victim, he dragged himself to the terrorist incident despite having the flu.

Kessié stuck her tongue out as she spoke. “I also had a lot on my mind getting rid of the priest in the Bellang Barony not too long ago. It was so hard to make sure it looked like an accident. The weather helped me thanks to the grace of the Almighty God.”

“Was the Divine Oracle used on Robert Blanquer done properly?”

The Duke took a deep breath and changed topics. Kessié’s eyes opened wide.

“I’m sure you are not questioning my Divine Power. The Divine Oracle working properly is why he is doing everything without causing issues.”

“I agree with that but the extra edition for the < Biweekly Riester > never ended up coming out. I wonder if he sent the envelope over properly. There are rumors about the young master being dead……”

“Then at least the loose ends were tied up properly. What are you worried about?”

She sharply retorted before slurping her coffee. The Duke remained silent.

The Chief of Staff knocked on the reception room door and entered. It must have been important because he was interrupting a meeting with the Archbishop. The old man whispered in the Duke’s ear.

“My lord, we have successfully spread around two hundred of the propaganda flyers in the Claire Plaza.”

“Good work. It should be quite effective, as it is the weekend.”

“Yes, my lord. In addition…… Young lady Christelle has been with the madam since last night. Her wet nurse is with them as well.”

“Good.”

He nodded his head. The Chief of Staff missed a beat before asking.

“Are you not worried that she will try to run away?”

“That child is not foolish. She is cognizant of her responsibilities.”

“……”

“Just pay attention so that the two of them do not hear anything weird. They must not know anything until everything is over.”

“I will do my best, my lord.” The Chief of Staff loyally responded.

He was originally an errand boy who was taken in and raised by the Duke’s great-grandmother, someone who had watched the heads of the House of Sarnez growing as spies for generations.

Of course, there had been nothing active until now. The most they had done was sending over trivial information at the Holy Kingdom’s request. However, the current master was different. He might be able to leave behind a great achievement, like his great-grandmother. The Chief of Staff thought about his eternal master and smiled.

“Then I shall take my leave, my lord.”

“Okay, thanks.”

He respectfully bowed before leaving. He purposely did not bring over any medicine and ointments for the burns for today.

It was better for his master the more in pain he was right now. He himself knew that as well.

*

It truly was a relief.

“Ganael, lay back down. You need to get some rest.”

“But your highness.”

“No. Not until you eat dinner. Sss.” I made a sound like a snake. The young boy awkwardly laid back down on the guest bed. I smiled brightly and placed the blanket over the child and Benjamin.

The two person-room that Maria led us to was so large and great and it was a lot of work to go back and forth between the two beds to take care of them. However, I was attending to the two of them today. I used my authority as a Prince to make it happen, so nobody could say anything about it. Authority was so nice in times like this.

– Aaarf!

“See, Benjamin. Tithé is happy to see you too.”

“Yes, divine beast-nim. I missed you too.”

I placed the Harp seal in the middle-aged man’s arms. Benjamin smiled benignly before playing with the little guy. Seeing this made me extremely happy. I didn’t know if this was the author’s consideration or a blessing from the Almighty God, or maybe it was both, but……

My friends were safe. It had been quite chaotic earlier.

‘Second brother! Ahh!’

Maria shouted while covering Thérèse’s eyes…

‘Holy Almighty God! Why do you look like that?! Why are you covered in blood?!’

‘It’s not my blood, Antoinette. Hahahaha.’

Captain Hervé Duhem gave a vicious answer as he laughed.

‘Oh dear, our one and only second born!’

‘Eldest brother!’

François Duhem fainted again after seeing his brother looking so scary.

Marielle, the healing priest of the March, came to check on Captain Duhem’s condition. He had no large injuries, so she said everything would close cleanly in a day or two. However, the Imperial Guard members who had fought by his side were severely injured, needing to rest for at least a month. I planned on going to check on them after my meal.

Thankfully, Baron Bellang’s family did not have a scratch on them. The three of them were washing up and resting in the next room.

‘Oh right, the Imperial coachman only received minor injuries too!’

I looked back at the reliable Holy Knight and smiled brightly.

“I truly thank you for this, Sir Johann. I’m sure it would have been difficult for Captain Duhem and his people to look after the civilians.”

“Not at all, your highness. I lucked out because a strong gust of wind burst through at that moment.”

His mint-colored eyes warmly curled up. The fact that his skin glowed seemed to confirm that his condition was fine.

I slowly turned around and exchanged glances with Ganael. The young boy motioned to the area around his neck with a serious look on his face. My face instantly stiffened.

‘Oh, that’s not it? They’re all dead?’

“……My goodness.”

‘Sir Johann almost died? I heard it took him a few hours to wake up. That tranquilizer must have made things difficult.’

“Please sit over here. I will give you some ether.”

“It is not proper to do this with someone who is not your partner, your highness.”

“It’s fine. I will give them a bunch later. Think of Gerrit and take it.”

– Shaaaaaaa.

I pulled a chair over, sat him down, and released a small Holy Domain. Demy and Tithé were overjoyed as they grew flowers and made dew fall on the circle.

– Kiiiiiiiiiii, kiiiiiiiiii.

The red panda was looking for a human bed, so I happily picked him up as I told the three of them what happened. These people deserved to know the situation. They had all worked hard with me during the masquerade to find any suspicious people. Most importantly, we all desperately hoped that the Marquis was not a bad person.

“Because of that…… September 30th is the day the Duhem siblings lost their parents and one of their siblings. It could spread fear throughout the territory so they couldn’t report the truth. Her Majesty looked after the Marquis a lot at that time and helped support them so that the family was not shaken.”

“I had no idea about that. I had only heard it was an accident……”

Ganael mentioned in a quiet voice. Benjamin looked somber as well.

“Then the reason the Marquis is always sick around this time……”

“He rose to the Marquis position around this time when he was nineteen years old. It was after the funeral and the inheritance transfer procedures were completed.”

I heard that sometimes he is sick for about a month. Marielle explained that it was an illness caused by mental sorrow. Thérèse said that his condition seemed much better than usual this year, despite in an extremely quiet voice that only I could hear.

I quietly nodded my head. He had come to rescue Demy and I after all. I was sure that he would slowly start to get better and better.

“Then the fact that he showed up at the masquerade was surprising.”

Sir Johann commented. I scratched my cheek.

“Apparently young lady Thérèse really wanted to go to the masquerade this year.”

I couldn’t say anything else because I was embarrassed, but Maria said that Thérèse begged her eldest brother to go because she wanted to dance with me. The Marquis wanted to fulfill the wish of his youngest sibling, as it was the first time in her life she wanted to go to a Beau Monde event, ven if that was the anniversary of the passing of their family members. However, he had gotten rid of all of the invitations that came to the territory until then, so they had no justification to head to the Blanquer Duchy at such a late time.

“He had no choice but to ask his connections in the Imperial Palace. He wanted to see if he would be able to get an invitation.”

“I am not from Riester, but I believe that would have been quite embarrassing.”

The Holy Knight quietly chuckled. I nodded my head.

“Apparently that was the reason he was so flustered to see us in the Empress Palace. That was the reason he asked us to keep it a secret from his sisters. He wanted to surprise them.”

“The reason he rushed away on the day of the masquerade must have been because the demonic beast appeared.”

“Yes…… I’m sure the young lady was scared.”

Thinking back on things, that was probably the same reason I didn’t see the three sisters when I came here during the Great Clearance of Demonic Beasts.

‘Maybe they were in the Marquis Estate in the Imperial Capital?’

“Anyways, such a situation-”

– Knock knock.

Someone knocked on the door, walked in, and bowed. It was Antoinette.

“Welcome, young lady Antoinette. You must be busy, so what brings you……”

“Prince Jesse.”

Her voice was extremely serious. The corners of my lips slowly moved down.

“The messenger we sent to the Imperial Palace returned with injuries. The Imperial Capital Garrison seems to be blocking off the portal. The path on land also seems to be blocked in the central region.”

Ganael gasped. The woman’s complexion was dark. That made no sense. ‘Is it possible?’

“They are Duke Sarnez’s people. He has tricked the Imperial family and is controlling the soldiers.”

*

That night in the Sarnez Lord’s Castle…

“It’s okay. Everything will go well. Who are we?”

Christelle’s blue-gray eyes sparkled as she asked.

Isabelle and her wet nurse, who were both wearing pants, looked extremely tense as they answered.

“Isabelle, Christelle, Ellen.”

“Hello, we are! ‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly!’ ……Is what you said, baby miss.” Her wet nurse, Ellen, had perfectly memorized the Korean-style bowing as well.

Christelle smiled brightly and hugged the two of them. She then affectionately rubbed their arms and their sides as well. It was to relax their stiff bodies and to lift the mood. Isabelle and her wet nurse chuckled and said that it was ticklish. She was glad that her plan had worked.

“Yes, that is right. We will look over the plan one last time before making our move. Please don’t forget that I am an Archbishop-Grade Holy Knight. So just trust me and follow me. There is absolutely no chance of you falling and getting hurt.”

“Okay, ‘Ollie the Kid.’”

“We need to inform her Majesty in order to make sure that we can capture father. Trying to talk it out with him on our own will lead to us getting captured or ending up as co-conspirators. Father is not doing this accidentally.”

“Of course, absolutely of course.” Ellen answered in a shaking voice. The Duke had been planning this for months before making his move.

If things continued like this, Christelle, as well as her innocent mother and wet nurse, might get dragged into it as well. That was why she had to firm her resolve. She needed to remain sharp in order to save everybody and to help the prince.

Christelle pulled out the breakdown of the plan from her bag. The left side had a map of the western part of the Empire, including the Sarnez Duchy, while the right side had an enlarged map of the Lord’s Castle. This was created by Isabelle, who was talented in art.

“Once it turns 11pm, we will turn off the lights and pretend to be asleep. We will wait for one hour before I start moving you one at a time through the window at midnight. I will go down first and clear the ar……”

– Knock knock.

Someone knocked on the bedroom door at that moment. It sounded dull and scary. Christelle quickly hid the two scared women behind her.

“Who is it?”

“Christelle.”

She got chills. It was her father.

—
Translator’s Comments

Oh snaps… why is he here?!

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