Chapter 78

* * *

“Hmm, she seems like a good person. The Duchess of Lombard.”

“It’s better to be cautious with judgments. Still, I agree to some extent.”

At the same time, Brother Matteo and Sister Judith were looking down over the port district of Bellamare.

The physician who had been in charge of their treatment suddenly turned pale one day and left for the west.

He said a replacement doctor would arrive soon, but by then, Matteo and Judith were already mostly recovered.

They were, after all, favored by God.

On top of that, Brother Vincent, who possessed one of the strongest divine powers even in the Holy City, had insisted on moving quickly and poured out divine energy without restraint.

Thanks to that, they soon became capable of long distance travel. The problem was that the road was blocked.

Watching the duke and duchess come and go freely, it seemed there was some hidden route, but no matter how much they investigated, they couldn’t figure it out.

In the end, the three of them cursed several times a day while crossing the collapsed mountain on foot.

“Damn, thinking about it again pisses me off. Wouldn’t it have been better to just storm the castle?”

“Then the cleanup would be a hassle. Are you confident you could handle the pressure from above?”

The most suspicious cat had been taken into the main castle by a maid named Berry or something and locked away tightly.

They could break everything and drag it out if they were determined, but the aftermath would be troublesome.

In the end, both the duke whose soul was completely corrupted and the duchess who cherished a great demon like a cat were equally suspicious.

They turned their direction toward western Bellamare.

However, Sister Judith had another objective she hadn’t told anyone about.

‘I need to stop the Prefect. To do that, observing the duchess comes first.’

His recent behavior was clearly strange.

Even if a priest being captivated by a charming woman could be dismissed as a momentary lapse, he hadn’t even reported the demonic energy he sensed from the duchess to the Holy City.

No matter how high his position, that was an abuse of authority.

So Judith decided to investigate the duchess and report directly to the Pope.

Since Vincent possessed divine power among the strongest in Argenbach, she calculated that he wouldn’t be punished lightly unless the crime was severe.

She didn’t want to see a capable superior replaced either.

‘Just how extraordinary must this temptress be to enchant a Prefect who has no blood or tears.’

The investigation wasn’t difficult.

The duchess had already been famous throughout the Empire, though mostly for bad reasons, and a large scale riot had just broken out in Bellamare.

As a result, the former governor’s entire family had died without even their bones being gathered.

Once again, the duchess stood at the eye of the storm.

“To be honest, I had a damn strong prejudice against the duchess.”

Pulled out of her thoughts, Judith shot Matteo a look full of disdain.

Even if he was disguised as a traveler, as a priest, he should always speak with dignity. Yet he casually threw around vulgar words like damn.

But at his next words, Judith found herself unable to scold him.

“Have you ever seen a territory where the people wear expressions like that?”

“…”

“Excluding Argenbach that His Holiness protects. No, even including the Holy City, I’ve never seen anything like that anywhere.”

“That’s irreverent.”

Unlike Vincent, both Matteo and Judith had experienced the lives of ordinary people.

It was before their divine power fully awakened, and their memories were faint, but still.

They always lived with their heads lowered, eyes fixed on the ground. Dreaming of tomorrow was a luxury. They simply endured each day because they were still breathing.

But this place was different.

People talked about the future. Without being ordered, they restored what was essentially a ruined square, and smiles never left their faces even during hard labor.

At the end of it all, the duchess was always there.

Every single person in Bellamare said the same thing.

“It’s all thanks to Madam.”

Even Judith felt her heart soften a little.

No, wait.

Judith shook her head sharply and muttered.

“This could all be part of the duchess’s scheme.”

“A scheme?”

This time, Matteo snorted.

“What exactly is the duchess aiming for by making people’s lives better?”

“To seduce the Prefect…”

“Ha. You think Lord Vincent would fall for something like that? Maybe His Holiness, but not him.”

Normally, Judith would’ve snapped at him to stop speaking so disgracefully, but this time, she was too confused to care.

But Matteo wasn’t the type to play nanny.

“Shouldn’t we split up soon? Lord Vincent’s already moving on his own. What’s in it for you to stick around?”

With a faint grin, Matteo flicked his sun bright blond hair and stepped into the street.

Unlike Judith, who pulled her robe low to hide her identity, he didn’t seem to care about standing out at all.

Trying to steady her chaotic thoughts, Judith recited a passage that was almost like a creed to her.

“Light gives birth to shadow, and original sin gives rise to deeper darkness. This is the will of God and the balance of the world.”

Then she turned her body in the opposite direction.

* * *

The pain in my ankle was abnormal.

I’d been pushing myself lately, inspecting ports all over the area and meeting people, but it had never hurt like this before.

Sensing my pale complexion, the playful look in Vincent’s eyes hardened slightly.

“Elicia, are you really okay?”

“Madam!”

Gareth approached and stood close behind me.

He looked ready to draw his sword at any moment if Vincent didn’t put me down immediately, clearly wary of the sudden appearance.

But Vincent didn’t even blink and set me down on the carriage steps.

Then he waved his hand through the air.

“Alright, everyone, look away.”

“What do you mean…”

“H-Hey!!”

He lifted my skirt just enough to expose my ankle.

Even touching a noblewoman’s hand was forbidden to commoners. Seeing beneath her skirts was unthinkable.

The shocked crowd immediately turned away, screaming about what he thought he was doing to our Madam.

With them causing such a fuss, I didn’t even need to intervene.

“Madam, your ankle…”

“What’s wrong?”

Gareth, who had already drawn his sword in reflex, stiffened.

I lifted my skirt further to look and froze as well.

The bandage that had been fine when my physician examined it yesterday was now swollen as if it might burst. Even the color of the skin on my foot looked wrong.

I’d been thoroughly scolded about staying in bed and resting instead of walking around, but…

‘So that’s what he meant.’

I shouldn’t have let it go in one ear and out the other.

Seeing my guilty expression, Gareth seemed to guess there was a cause.

“Did your physician say anything to you?”

“He told me if I kept walking around, my ankle would worsen, so I should stay in bed…”

“I wasn’t informed of that.”

“If I’d told you, it would’ve reached Edwin’s ears too, and then that overly worried man would’ve thrown himself across the entrance to stop me from going out.”

There were mountains of places in Bellamare that needed on site inspections.

I admit I was impatient and wanted to finish the necessary procedures before spring, but even so, I hadn’t expected it to get this bad. I was reflecting a little too.

Judging by Gareth’s bewildered expression, Gilbert had followed my instructions well.

It really was a good thing I hired my own physician.

“For now, you should return to the manor. Or should we call the physician here instead?”

“It’ll be faster if I go. Sorry, but we’ll have to postpone the inspection.”

“N-No! Please don’t worry about us. Madam’s safety matters more than anything.”

“Thank you for saying that.”

After finishing my conversation with the engineers, I tried to put my shoes back on, but my foot wouldn’t even fit.

Being carried by Gareth through the residential area would’ve been fine, but Bellamare’s rough roads made it hard for either a normal carriage or Edwin’s modified one to fully absorb the shock to my ankle.

As Gareth and I exchanged helpless looks, Vincent, who’d been watching silently until then, stepped forward easily.

“Elicia, do you need help?”

“All of a sudden?”

“If I help you, then in return, please grant me one request.”