AFRPR 53

Episode 53

“The holy relic is fake.”

With that one sentence, the atmosphere instantly turned cold.

“Duke Winterlen, even if you don’t like the result, this is blasphemy,” the emperor accused Lennox.

And it wasn’t just the emperor—everyone in the hall looked like they didn’t believe Lennox.

“It’s good I brought this,” Lennox said.

At his signal, Pippin came forward carrying a scale identical to the one Helios was holding.

“This one is the real thing.”

“That’s impossible.”

“Then let’s check. Don’t you agree, Princess?”

Ignoring Helios’s protest, Lennox looked at Alice.

If the holy relic from the temple was fake, who could have swapped it? Of course—it had to be the temple.

Alice looked at the two men suspiciously.

“Fine. I’ll verify it myself.”

Helios held both scales in his hands.

“My name is Alice.”

Both pointed right.

“I am a commoner.”

Both pointed left.

“It’s hard to test truth with facts everyone knows. I should say something only I know.”

She crooked her finger at Helios.

“I’ll whisper a secret to the relic. Inject your divine power into both.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Everyone, cover your ears!”

“…”

“Father, you too.”

When she was sure everyone’s ears were covered, Alice whispered,

“I like Mini-myu, the children’s play. I like it a lot.”

The two scales tilted in opposite directions.

“I like righteous heroes.”

Again, opposite directions.

“This one is the real one,” Alice said confidently, pointing at the scale Lennox had brought.

The real relic had marked the first statement as true and the second as false.

“I swear on the royal family’s name—this is genuine.”

People murmured in shock.

And the bigger bomb was about to drop.

“Now, let’s keep going,” Alice said. “Duke Lennox Winterlen—do you love Estelle?”

“Yes.”

The same answer as before—but this time, the real relic showed truth.

Everyone was stunned, Lennox included.

What?

He almost asked out loud but held his tongue.

The relic had just declared that Lennox truly loved Estelle.

Alice then asked, her voice trembling, “Estelle, do you love Lennox Winterlen?”

“Yes,” Estelle answered, same expression and tone as earlier.

The relic tilted to false.

“What…?”

“How can that be? You said this was the real relic!”

The hall erupted again.

Estelle forced herself to stay calm. She had thought Lennox had tampered with the relic to make it show “truth” earlier. But he hadn’t.

In fact, Lennox had planned for everything to tilt toward “false.” His original goal was:

1. Reveal the real relic.
2. Prove the temple’s relic was fake.
3. Shift everyone’s attention away from Winterlen.

But things had gone sideways.

So Lennox switched tactics—by acting shameless.

He snatched the relic from Helios.

“I confessed first,” Lennox said flatly. “But she refused—because of her bad reputation for killing her husband.”

People nodded, listening closely.

“I told her I didn’t care. I even offered to marry her for just one year in exchange for a large sum of money. If she still had no feelings after that, she could leave.”

Gasps rippled through the crowd.

“But she still doesn’t like me, so I must not be enough yet.”

Alice was horrified—a cold man like him, begging for love?

She asked about rumors from Hazel Langster. Lennox dismissed them as lies from enemies. Hazel, panicking, blurted out that she saw him draw a sword at his wife.

“That? Oh, that was when Daniel Nultia was bothering her. My wife’s too kind—she even defended him.”

Finally, Lennox snapped, “How many times do I have to say I’m the only one in love here?”

Silence fell.

“Anyway, the real issue is the temple giving out fake relics,” Lennox said. “Shouldn’t that be punished before worrying about my marriage?”

Alice’s face went pale. “I can’t believe this!” she cried, and fled.

The emperor ran after her.

Lennox then turned to Helios, grilling him about the fake relic. Helios claimed he was new to the position and couldn’t explain. He then suddenly started coughing and, looking frail, said he needed to return to the temple.

Lennox smirked—he knew Helios wasn’t that weak.

Helios asked to take the relic with him.

“Why should I trust you?” Lennox shot back.

Helios gave up and left with another priest.

When things settled, Estelle spotted Duren standing awkwardly and called him over.

“Duren.”

“Huh?”

Lennox also waved. “Come here, son.”

Me? Son?

Duren looked confused. Lennox nodded. But Duren still seemed unsure—that wasn’t his name.

“A son,” Lennox repeated, making a small circle with his thumb and index finger.

Duren stared at the circle… then suddenly ran over and—

Plop!

—stuck his nose right into the circle.

“Here!” he chirped.