Chapter 10
“Holy Lady, I’m sorry we couldn’t help you.”
The priests approached Rasel with sincere apologies.
Rasel shook her head.
“It’s alright. You chose to stay silent to prevent this incident from turning into a factional dispute. I’m deeply grateful that you held this place until I arrived.”
“……Thank you for understanding.”
The priests bowed deeply to Rasel. She forced a smile and waved her hand dismissively.
“Don’t. All I did was light the fire. It was entirely the Grand Duke who helped me. Grand Duke, thank you.”
“Save your thanks for later. My men have captured the man from the grand hall. Once he regains consciousness, we’ll hand him over to Grand Inquisitor Helga. After that, handle the rest yourselves.”
Martin’s tone remained cold, and he barely looked at Rasel. Yet, every action of his was overflowing with goodwill. Rasel realized that now.
“May I speak to the Grand Duke informally?”
Martin’s eyes widened slightly at her words. He glanced at Rasel sideways, and when their eyes met, he quickly looked away. His ears even seemed a little red.
‘Oh? He’s flustered.’
“Do as you wish.”
“Alright. Then I’ll speak informally. Martin.”
Martin didn’t properly reply. Instead, he pushed through the priests and headed toward the flowerbed. Soon, the sound of hooves echoed from the flowerbed before fading into the distance.
Despite his unpredictable and arrogant attitude, Rasel didn’t feel dislike. She smiled as she watched him disappear from view.
Afterwards, events unfolded exactly opposite to what Matron had intended.
As Rasel insisted, a sedative was found in the water bowl. The priest who had been captured in the grand hall and handed over to Helga consistently claimed he remembered nothing, though Martin’s rope marks were clearly visible on his neck—a solid proof of his presence there.
Everything Martin reported matched the evidence, giving credibility to his account.
‘It’s probably true that he remembers nothing. That’s how trickery works.’
Rasel sighed as she read a book in her reassigned room. In her previous life, she had read almost every book in the temple. Her efforts had been a desperate attempt to gain recognition, but she never did; instead, she became knowledgeable about divine power and trickery.
She hadn’t realized that the symbol Bella had engraved on her in her past life was trickery, because of her affection for Bella.
‘People easily turn a blind eye to what they know. They make excuses to themselves: “I love them,” or “That can’t be true.”’
Rasel smiled bitterly.
‘I was the same. But now… I won’t do that.’
She vowed to herself not to trust anything blindly or make baseless assumptions.
At that moment, she sensed movement outside. Rasel quietly took her gaze off her book and listened at the door.
The faint sound of footsteps lingered for a while—heightened security since the previous incident.
Only after about five minutes did a priest enter the room.
“Holy Lady, I’ve come to see you.”
“Hello. What brings you here?”
“His Majesty the Emperor requests an audience with you.”
So the Emperor had come again. Rasel sighed inwardly and rose from her chair.
“I’ll change my clothes first.”
“I will assist you.”
With the priest’s help, Rasel changed into her ceremonial attire, brushed and tied her hair neatly, and followed him out of the room. Two temple knights flanked her at the front and back—four in total—escorting her.
‘A bit overprotective…’
Since the last incident, everything Rasel ate and drank had been monitored. The Grand Inquisitors judged that if anything happened to the Holy Lady again, a major schism in the order would be unavoidable.
‘The power struggle between the Grand Inquisitors has intensified.’
Ultimately, Helga and Matron had clashed, with Helga coming out on top. Helga was blindsided, but Matron would not see it that way; she was undoubtedly seething.
‘Why did Matron orchestrate this in the first place?’
In the end, it only backfired on her, failing to strip Rasel of her divine power. Matron’s once-absolute influence over the temple had cracked, and Rasel gained sympathy from many.
However, Matron was reportedly still pressuring Helga to clarify the cause of the dead priests’ deaths. Truly pathetic.
‘Matron probably did something to the priests. She must be confident in it. Helga wouldn’t just sit back… but I can’t even approach the bodies with all this overprotection.’
No adults in the temple would let a child—even a Holy Lady—near the corpses. Yet if a conspiracy existed, Rasel had to uncover it.
And now the Emperor had arrived.
‘Why? To demand an answer to his previous proposal? He can’t be that free…’
“That old man considers you that important.”
Rasel was startled by the voice from above and looked up. Somehow, Aiden, Grand Duke of Reviers, was walking beside her.
Rasel glanced at the temple knights surrounding her in surprise.
‘They’re supposed to be guarding me, but this is fine?’
“Grand Inquisitor Helga gave permission for me to approach you. There’s no need to blame them.”
Rasel sheepishly withdrew her accusing gaze from the priests. It was now Aiden’s turn.
“Why did you obtain such permission?”
“I wished to speak with you. I also have somewhere to go.”
“I have nothing to discuss with the Grand Duke.”
“Previously, you said we should meet again.”
Rasel remembered hearing something like that at their last audience.
‘But that was probably just a courtesy.’
“You should stop taking every word at face value.”
Once again, Aiden read Rasel’s thoughts perfectly. Rasel frowned, annoyed that he had probed her mind.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“It’s not about what you said.”
‘Annoying.’
“There’s no reason to dislike me either.”
How does he even read minds? Rasel coughed lightly, uneasy.
“You said you have somewhere to go, but I’m on my way to see His Majesty the Emperor. So next time…”
“Our destination is the same, so let’s go together.”
“…You, Grand Duke, are also going to see the Emperor?”
Aiden nodded casually.
“You could say that.”
“So the Emperor summoned both of us?”
Rasel pondered, wondering why, when Aiden asked her quietly:
“You’ve suffered quite a lot recently, haven’t you?”
“Yes. Martin… the young man helped me greatly.”
“He doesn’t help anyone without reason.”
Aiden said coldly, “If he helps someone, it’s only when there’s a reasonable cause.”
“But he helped me without any conditions?”
“There must be a reason.”
“Do you have a guess?”
“I do, but I cannot tell you.”
‘What?’
Rasel pouted, annoyed at his refusal.
“It’s his private matter. Besides, do you remember our previous conversation?”
“Yes? Yes.”
Though their previous conversation had been rather random, she remembered it nonetheless.
“We also discussed your deepest desire.”
“But that can never happen for me.”
Rasel had wished for a family, but they had all died in the Arensia earthquake. She couldn’t have them again—or so she believed.
Aiden quietly observed her, his gaze somehow filled with pity.
‘Why is he looking at me like that?’
“Then, Grand Duke?”
Rasel wanted to change the topic, uncomfortable with his gaze.
“What is your greatest desire, Grand Duke?”
“Hm.”
Aiden crossed his arms as they walked.
“My wish is as difficult to achieve as yours, Holy Lady.”
“Why?”
“My wish is for someone else, and that person doesn’t want it to come true.”
A cryptic answer.
“May I ask why they don’t wish it?”
“Sorry, I cannot answer that.”
He politely dismissed her curiosity.
“But if I could borrow your power, Holy Lady, my wish might come true.”
“…Huh?”
Rasel was slightly taken aback.
“Do I have to do something? I don’t have that kind of ability…”
“You need not do anything in particular. By the way, we’ve arrived.”
Aiden gestured toward the door. Knights stood guard outside the Emperor’s room. They showed no reaction to Rasel, but seemed slightly flustered at seeing Aiden.
“Grand Duke.”
“Is His Majesty inside?”
“Yes, but we were not informed of your audience. So…”
“So? Should we turn back?”
The knights exchanged awkward glances, then stiffened and bowed.
“We cannot speak to the Grand Duke that way, but we also cannot grant entry.”
“How foolish.”
“Excuse me?”
“Why not just ask the Emperor if we may enter?”
The knights felt embarrassed. One stepped inside, and shortly returned to announce:
“His Majesty has allowed both of you to enter.”
“Shall we go, Holy Lady?”
Aiden offered his hand for escort. Rasel hesitated, then lightly placed her small hand on his and entered together.
Tarien sat on a sofa in the room. Behind him, his attendants and Sheirier waited.
“Your Majesty the Emperor.”
Aiden and Rasel bowed. Tarien looked displeased at Aiden, then gestured toward the opposite sofa.
“Rise and be seated.”
“Your grace and mercy are boundless.”
They rose and sat side by side.
“You rarely show yourself in Santra, yet here you are so brazenly before me. Why?”
Tarien’s tone was uncomfortable.
“To correct Your Majesty’s misunderstanding,” Aiden replied calmly, raising no eyebrows. Tarien’s eyebrows twitched violently.
“A misunderstanding of mine?”
“Yes.”
“Explain.”
His words carried an implicit warning: if Aiden failed or Tarien didn’t accept the explanation, the consequences would be severe.
Aiden didn’t flinch.
“I understand that Your Majesty proposed marriage to the Holy Lady for the prince.”
“And what does that have to do with you?”
“It matters because the Holy Lady is already betrothed to my son.”
Rasel nearly jumped from her seat.
