Chapter – 26
William said to Kyle, trembling all over.
“You little— no. I know you don’t believe in the god of Roxand, but even so, how could you do something like this in the priestess’s room? Do you have any idea how frightened she must have been? Were you trying to kill her?!”
Dee had never seen anyone so hot-headed in her life. Kyle, who was used to his father being like this, simply let out a deep sigh and said to Dee,
“Sorry, Diana. We had a bit of a fight.”
“I heard from Jin. You fought with Jason Depp?”
“Yeah.”
“No, but how do you fight so badly that a sword ends up stuck in the wall? What on earth did you two do?”
When Dee pressed him, Kyle avoided her gaze.
“I apologized, didn’t I? Don’t be mad.”
“Ugh, seriously. You’re not children.”
William, looking deeply shocked, alternated his gaze between the two of them.
After seeing Kyle interact so coldly and businesslike with Priestess Amilla yesterday, he had been sure of it—Kyle was hopeless, absolutely destined for a political marriage.
And yet, the son who was frightening enough to make even his own father uncomfortable couldn’t even move properly in front of this tiny priestess.
“So it wasn’t the eastern priestess the officials were talking about, but this one. To think even a calm man like me would make such a mistake, hahah…”
William soon made up his mind to support Kyle’s love life.
“From what I hear, it sounds like my son did something quite awful. But he’s not usually such a bad fellow, Priestess. Come now, cheer up and join my wife and me for a meal.”
“Huh? All of a sudden?”
“All of a sudden? I’ll go on ahead, so take your time coming, Priestess.”
As Dee nodded reluctantly, William returned the dagger to Kyle and hurried away.
Watching Kyle slide the dagger back into its sheath, Dee asked,
“Kyle. That Phaeton crest—what does it mean?”
Some crests, like animals or flowers, were easy to recognize, but Phaeton’s was impossible to interpret. Kyle answered,
“The one on the Vitentia imperial coat of arms is written in an ancient script from the Lukina Continent. It means ‘sun.’”
It looked like the letter R twisted in various ways. When Dee nodded, Kyle continued,
“And Phaeton’s crest is a combination of that and the crest of the Tolte family—the strongest family in Phaeton, and Her Majesty the Empress’s family.”
“The Tolte family?”
“As you know, the northeastern part of Phaeton is dangerous because monsters appear there. But the west is fertile and close to the sea, which makes trade easy. The Tolte family controls most of western Phaeton.”
“Hm… then does you coming here have something to do with the Empress?”
“Ah, coming to Phaeton was my own decision. Monsters keep appearing near villages, and the Pubrinta pirates too.”
“You useless idiot. Going through hardship on your own and getting nothing but curses for it…”
When Dee pretended to cry, Kyle made an awkward face.
Since she kept showing interest in the crest, Kyle casually tore off one of the buttons from his uniform—one he had put on for breakfast—and handed it to her.
“The crest’s engraved on it. Take a look, then come out after you’ve changed.”
He said that and headed toward the garden where breakfast had been prepared.
Dee blinked as she stared at the button in her hand.
“And just why are you ripping things off to give me…?”
She was flustered. He was always so neat and proper, and now he’d suddenly abandoned that neatness so casually.
After being thoroughly dressed up by Stephanie, Dee arrived at the breakfast table, where William greeted her boisterously.
“Oh, Priestess Diana! Since we’re eating anyway, I thought it’d be nice to have a crowd, so I invited everyone. The others will be here soon.”
At the white table in the garden sat William and his wife, Rona, with Kyle across from them. Kyle stood up and pulled out a chair, and Dee whispered to him,
“Ah, that younger sister?”
“…Stepmother.”
“What?”
Rona, with glossy black hair and shining blue eyes, tilted her head and looked at Dee.
“Oh, you must be Priestess Diana.”
She stood up and walked over, gently pulling Dee into an embrace.
“It’s nice to meet you.”
Dee inhaled sharply. Rona’s hand stroked her hair once before withdrawing, and she returned to her seat.
She was a woman with a strangely chilly presence. Rona sat down, and Dee took her seat as well.
Just then, Jason—who looked like he’d drunk himself senseless the night before—staggered over and plopped down next to Rona.
The moment he sat, he collapsed forward onto the table and stretched out a hand.
“Hangover… Someone fix my hangover… Call a hangover-curing mage…”
As he groaned, Rona smacked his back sharply, as if fed up. Jason reluctantly straightened up.
Then he spoke seriously to Dee, who was sitting across from him.
“Priestess. Try using some divine power to cure a hangover. I almost died earlier when I went to the western temple to ask for this…”
“I don’t want to waste my divine power on something like that.”
“That’s harsh.”
He grumbled.
For Dee, who was good at reading the room, sitting at a table with two powerful next-emperor candidates and the current emperor and empress was pure agony. She muttered quietly,
“I feel like I’m going to get indigestion just eating here.”
Kyle replied,
“Amilla will be here soon too.”
“Thank goodness…”
For some reason, both of them let out relieved sighs.
People on this continent generally ate light breakfasts, and since they were about to depart on a long journey, they didn’t want to be overly full. So even though it was an imperial meal, it consisted only of freshly baked fluffy bread loaded with butter, soft goat cheese, five kinds of fresh fruit, good wine, and tea.
Even so, it somehow felt like indigestion the moment she started eating.
Rona smiled sweetly and stroked her husband William’s hair.
“Don’t eat too much cheese. You need to live a long life.”
“I’d rather eat richly and live briefly—”
“Let’s eat lots of greens and live long, hmm?”
Faced with the threat from a wife nearly thirty years younger, William flinched and diligently started eating fruit. Rona clasped her hands under her chin and smiled at Dee.
“Priestess. I should have come to see you sooner, but I apologize for only coming now. I wasn’t certain yet.”
At that, Jason, who had been slumped over, forced himself upright. Dee scolded him,
“Why don’t you just lie back down? You drunk.”
“There’s something I absolutely have to say to Her Majesty the Empress…”
“What is it?”
With tears welling up from his hangover, Jason said to Rona,
“Your Majesty, there’s no one in the south who doesn’t know. They say Priestess Diana appeared in the temple wearing not a single thread of clothing…”
“…You really wanted to say that that badly?”
Dee asked in disbelief. She pretended to stay calm, but inside she was vowing to grab Roxand and turn him into fox stew.
William, already treating Dee as his future daughter-in-law, poured wine into her glass and said,
“Priestess, shall we have a light drink and discuss religion in depth?”
Kyle immediately snatched the glass away.
“She’s only nineteen.”
Come to think of it, while she was considered twenty in Korea, here you weren’t recognized as an adult until after your twentieth birthday.
Dee didn’t particularly enjoy alcohol, but she did like sipping a glass or two, so she reclaimed the glass with both hands.
“Traditionally, it’s fine to drink if an elder offers it.”
“There’s no such tradition in Phaeton.”
“You old stick-in-the-mud, just let me drink.”
“I said no.”
“To begin with, what does age matter for a priestess?”
“You said yourself that your twentieth birthday is next April.”
Watching the two bicker, Rona covered her mouth with her hand and laughed in amusement. At that smile, Kyle shot her an icy glare, but Rona paid no attention and said cheerfully,
“Oh dear. Why does our son hate me so much?”
William chimed in from beside her,
“That’s right, Kyle. Why are you looking at your mother like that?”
Kyle shut his mouth, clearly unwilling to answer. Dee gulped down water as if it were alcohol and said to William,
“I can tell at a glance—their zodiac signs don’t match. They were born under signs that can never get along.”
“I-is that so? Is that why the two of them are on such bad terms?”
“Your Majesty was born under a sign that only suffers and makes no progress when trying to reconcile people like this. Just leave them be.”
“T-to be so divinely insightful!”
William was moved. Rona stared at Dee for a moment, then sent Jason a look. Jason nodded gravely in response.
Watching them, Dee briefly wondered, Are those two planning to assassinate me again?! But she decided to think positively—surely she hadn’t collected that many death threats.
A little later, Amilla finally appeared, having overslept, and sat down next to Dee.
Amilla possessed abnormal physical strength, but her stamina when it came to partying was pitiful.
She seemed completely drained after last night’s all-female eastern temple party.
As the meal was nearing its end, Jin—who had been dragged to breakfast right after confirming that his companions were alive—arrived last. The moment he entered the garden and spotted Amilla, he shouted,
“Ah! Kyle! That’s her! She’s the woman who shot me with an arrow!”
When Jin pointed at her, Kyle said,
“That’s no way to speak to a priestess. You were the one who entered the eastern temple first.”
“No, I’m telling you, she shot an arrow at your precious little brother! And weren’t you an atheist to begin with?!”
As Jin fumed, Dee—who was placing fruit on Amilla’s plate—started lecturing her.
“Amilla. You can’t just go around shooting arrows at people anymore, okay?”
“Prince Jin came in without saying anything.”
“That’s Jin’s fault, but if you kill someone like that, Kyle would be sad.”
“…Alright.”
“And why do you always carry a bow around anyway? Is it a stuffed toy?”
At Dee’s never-ending nagging, Amilla frowned. Kyle then said to Dee,
“A true archer never parts from their bow, even for a moment. Why are you crushing her spirit? She’s a major asset of Phaeton.”
“What? Isn’t it because you keep indulging her that she goes around shooting arrows at just anyone?”
“How is that my fault?”
As the two argued because of her, Amilla’s eyes wavered anxiously. Jin, who had been staring blankly at the scene, said to William,
“F-Father? Don’t you think something about their conversation is a bit strange?”
“Hm. How harmonious.”
“That’s what’s strange about it!”
No matter what Jin said, William’s face was already full of contented smiles. Finally giving up, Jin looked at Amilla—the one who had shot him. She met his gaze with cold red eyes.
He shivered at the look, but being quick-witted, he realized she was signaling him to stop Dee and Kyle from fighting.
Reluctantly, Jin spoke to them.
“Thinking about it, it was my fault for going into the eastern temple. I’ll reflect on it. My injury was treated properly, so it’ll heal soon—so don’t fight.”
“Really? Then that’s a relief.”
Dee relaxed, and the argument ended. Jin let out a deep sigh.
I’m a thief, and somehow I’m the most normal one here… what is this?
This is exactly why I ran away from home, you people…
