Chapter 84

#084 A Villain, or Not (2)

"Shinso..."

Eva's eyes widened like saucers when she saw Demi.

When the Lesser Pandan opened its mouth threateningly wide, she took a couple of steps back, looking flustered.

I hurriedly got up from my seat.

"Demi, it's fine. Lady Blanquer, causing a disturbance in the chapel targeting a priest is disrespectful."

I said calmly.

Eva flinched, looked up at me, and then returned to her angry expression.

"I know. Now I'm a bishop, just like the prince. I... I will definitely take the prince away from you!"

"The line seems a bit off."

"Oh. I will take the prince and the lady away from you!"

"Prince?"

Hearing the commotion, Benezar and Kanael rushed out of the priest's room.

I smiled wryly and looked at them. It seemed I had caused them unnecessary worry.

-Clack!

Eva, not wanting to be caught by others, quickly put on her robe and started running towards the main gate.

Now I noticed she was dressed in the heavy and luxurious bishop's uniform.

She wouldn't wear such clothes unless it was for a significant event...

‘This is Eva Blanquer, the young lady. She is to be ordained as a bishop next week.’

The voice of a nobleman I heard at the duel venue echoed in my mind.

A week has passed, so perhaps Eva had become a bishop today.

To come to the palace chapel alone on such a joyous day and meet me?

"Ah!"

Eva finally tripped over her uniform and fell! I quickly moved my feet,

-Clap!

"...Lady Blanquer? What are you doing?"

A firm voice rang out. Eva was startled and looked up.

A woman much taller and more mature than the girl was firmly supporting her body as she fell.

Her dark green short hair fluttered slightly.

"Lady Mute, how did you...?"

"His Highness informed me of the emergency."

Lady Elizabeth smiled and met my gaze.

I waved my hand lightly and smiled. Eva turned her head sharply and glared at me.

I had never actually pulled the confessional's decorative cord before.

I didn't expect such a little lady to get caught.

*

"Lady Eva Blanquer. Are you aware that your actions could be interpreted as an attack on the Liestester royal family?"

Lady Elizabeth's calm question made Eva's face pale.

We were sitting on one side of the empty pew, having a conversation.

To be precise, Lady Elizabeth, the Royal Guard Commander, was interrogating Eva, the 'suspect'.

The chapel was closed, and knights and guards had entered the room and stood at the entrance.

Benezar and Kanael, after confirming twice that I was safe, returned to the priest's room.

I poured the olive leaf tea into three cups, which Benezar had specially prepared for me.

A fragrant and subtle aroma rose.

"I... I don't know why!"

"Prince Yeseo is a royal priest who has entered the palace to hear the confessions of the royal family and is a guest of Juliette Palace. You should understand that rudeness towards the prince is an insult to Prince Sedric. And there's the matter with your brother, the young duke."

The young viscount's gray eyes darkened.

When the story of her brother, Robert Blanquer, the young duke, was mentioned, Eva finally started hiccupping.

Oh dear.

"Hic. This is strange. Hic. The prince is a hostage. Hic. My brother said that the prince is trying to charm the royal family and the great nobles, hic."

If she had such skills, I would have taken over the empire long ago.

"Lady Blanquer, may I ask your age?"

I asked as gently as possible, offering her a cup of tea.

She hastily drank the olive leaf tea.

I advised her to stand up, bow deeply, and swallow the tea, and the girl obediently followed my advice.

She doesn't seem inherently evil.

"Is your hiccup gone now?"

"Amazing... No, I'm sixteen. I had my coming-of-age ceremony last week."

Eva muttered innocently, then spoke with a sharp tone.

If she turned sixteen last week, she was practically born yesterday, considering she was holding hands with Kanael.

Moreover, she seemed to act much younger than her peers, perhaps because she was raised in a pampered environment.

I sighed and exchanged a glance with Lady Elizabeth.

"Lady Elizabeth, if possible, I would like to handle the matter of the lady myself."

"Is that alright? Shouldn't you report to His Majesty and have a formal inquiry?"

"No, she's too young."

"I'm not young, I'm an adult. Don't talk like my brother!"

Eva narrowed her dark brown eyes and glared at me.

I've experienced all sorts of things since I possessed this body. Yeseo was so gentle that even her teenage years passed quietly.

"You are an adult by age. However, it seems your heart is immature. You don't seem capable of taking responsibility for your actions yet."

"..."

I gestured towards the entrance. Tall young men stood there like grim reapers.

The girl quickly turned her face away.

"Why did you do that? I think you have the right to explain your reasons."

When I asked gently, Eva gripped her teacup as if she might break it.

Her red curly hair tilted towards the floor.

"..."

"I've already told you. I hate the prince. I'm the second child, so I can't become a young duke, and I'm a cousin to His Highness, so I can't have a royal marriage. But... I want to try for the religious companion position with His Highness and Lady Sarnez."

I paused for a moment. My mind was filled with too many thoughts at once.

A hundred criticisms formed on my tongue but were swallowed down to a few sentences.

"First, His Highness is twenty-four, almost twenty-five. Even if you weren't cousins, a sixteen-year-old marrying a twenty-four-year-old seems a bit off to me."

I replied.

Although Kristel is nineteen, I decided to treat her as an exception because a retired employee possesses her body.

She is also an official couple with the prince.

"Isn't sixteen considered an adult in the Theocracy?"

"Even so, it's not right. A twenty-four-year-old with a sixteen-year-old? That's trash."

Eva's eyes widened at my words.

Lady Elizabeth, who had been drinking her tea silently, spat it out.

"Lady Elizabeth, you're making a waterfall with your mouth."

"Cough. I'm sorry. I..."

The young viscount babbled and took out a handkerchief to wipe her mouth and uniform.

Fortunately, it didn't seem like she was unwell.

"I'm the one who received the proposal," she continued. I had no idea what she meant.

I began to lecture Eva again.

"And I have no interest in becoming the religious companion of His Highness or Lady Sarnez."

"Lie."

"It's the truth. Besides, it's not realistic. As you said, I'm a hostage. Which royal family would want to form such a bond with someone from an enemy country? The same goes for the Sarnez family. They have no reason to embrace a headache like me. There are also many capable archbishops in the empire."

"..."

"Then, what about now? Everyone in the capital knows that the prince is accompanying His Majesty and the two Highnesses to the summer palace. You're also assisting the two holy knights with their ether."

Eva asked in a small voice. Hmm.

"That's... because I'm friends with them. But it's temporary."

"I knew it. It always starts with friendship. Then it turns into companionship!"

The young lady pouted and got angry again.

I should refute that not all relationships follow that pattern, but the only cases I knew were the Cardinal and the Emperor, and Lady Antoinette Dume and Priest Mariel.

Both were cases where close friends became religious companions. Damn.

"Um, Lady Blanquer. Is there a special reason you want to advance in your career?"

At that moment, Lady Elizabeth, who had skillfully cleaned up the spilled tea, asked.

Eva and I looked at her simultaneously.

"The Blanquer family is wealthy, and not inheriting the title has its advantages. Being a religious companion to the royal family or a great noble is not an easy position. I'm very satisfied with my life as a young viscount, but not all successors are like me."

Her tone was calm and mature. I quietly observed Eva.

Eva was silent for a moment, then bit her lip and began to speak.

"I want power."

Oh.

"Just... it seemed appealing since I was young. Mother said the higher the position, the harder it is, but I want to climb as high as possible. I want to do well. But because I have an older brother, I can't become a young duke... "

The girl frowned. The looks exchanged between Lady Elizabeth and me were meaningful.

"Lady, did you glare at me after the last duel...?"

"Yes?"

"His Highness could have killed your brother, but I stopped him. Were you angry because you lost the chance to push your brother out of the way?"

"I... I'm not that evil!"

Eva's voice rose. She looked incredibly wronged.

Lady Elizabeth and I, swept up in the atmosphere, immediately apologized.

I'm sorry, I've seen too much of the ugly side of male politics.

"Even though my brother sometimes torments me, he is still my brother. I will be in big trouble with my parents when I return to the estate."

"Your brother torments you?"

I asked directly. The young lady looked troubled for the first time since arriving.

"It's nothing."

"No, please tell me. I won't reveal it."

-Creak

At that moment, Demi, who had been lying silently on the floor, stood up and leaned against my leg, wagging his tail.

He seemed bored. When I lifted him onto my lap, Eva stared at him intently.

As a priest before a noble, she seemed fascinated by the divine beast.

Demi is so cute, it's natural to feel affection.

"Give him ether, and he'll like it. Imagine making a flower bud bloom at your fingertips."

At my words, Eva hesitated but extended her small hand.

She clearly wanted to communicate with Demi but couldn't bring herself to speak first due to her pride.

-Swish...

-Creak

Near the young lady's fingernails, a small ether orb, the size of a candy, rose.

I supported Demi's warm belly as he stood up.

He pressed his paws against Eva's golden fingers.

"Isn't he adorable? He also eats fruits and flowers."

"Wow."

Eva marveled sincerely.

Her expression was completely innocent, unlike when she spoke about wanting power.

I smiled gently, and the girl alternated her gaze between me and Demi, then bit her lip.

"It's really nothing. It's just... my brother has always teased me for being bad."

"The young duke calls you that?"

"Since I was four. You're bad, so you can treat the servants however you want. You're bad, so you don't need to apologize. You're bad, so everyone will listen to you when you yell. Things like that."

"..."

I subtly reached back and grabbed Lady Elizabeth's arm.

She looked ready to draw her sword and behead the young duke.

"Didn't your parents say anything to the young duke?"

I managed to maintain my composure and asked.

"Our parents are always busy and not very close to us. But my brother is nine years older, so I think they must have seen him properly."

Eva said in a slightly dejected voice.

The child was looking at an empty water bottle I had just used.

"I think I am bad."

I clenched my teeth. How long has that brat been brainwashing her?

*

At that moment, Sedric Liestester and Kristel de Sarnez sat facing each other in the reception room of Romero Palace.

A single sentence spread like wildfire throughout the palace.

The prince had never invited a strange noble to his palace before.

Not even his holy knight teacher, Sir Johann Heins, or the priest Sant, and even Prince Yeseo of Penetian, who the prince personally protected, had never been invited to Romero.

The servants of Romero Palace were very excited.

David, the head butler, sternly told them to stop making noise and wake up, but they were already discussing the national celebration and the ceremony from a distance.

All of this was said because they didn't know the relationship between the two.

"What do you want to say?"

The prince asked in a low voice.

Even without the customary greeting of offering a drink, Kristel didn't flinch.

David, perceptive as always, brought her 'coffee with ice and light' and the prince's hot, black coffee.

Kristel spoke calmly.

"I said I came to retrieve a handkerchief."

"Get to the point."

"Annual prayer meeting."

The orange eyes of the person opposite her sharpened.

The speaker smiled brightly.

"Before we go, how about we reach an agreement first?"