Chapter 57
Perhaps because she saw me, she waved her hand, and I waved back. Only then did Priestess Melodia smile brightly at me, just like she had when I first saw her at the orphanage.
“I don’t really like it.”
“Huh?”
The Grand Duke’s walking pace was still fast, and his words still lacked a clear subject.
“I mean the temple. It pretends otherwise, but it’s strangely high-handed. That’s why I don’t like this place. Water that’s trapped, rather than flowing, is bound to rot eventually.”
“I see.”
Indeed. Even looking just at the orphanage, one of the temple’s undertakings, it had decayed completely. Not only the orphanage I was at, but the others must have been rotted to the core too. The priestesses only visited; they didn’t care at all.
I nodded, as if agreeing with him.
“So you feel the same way?”
“Somewhat?”
“You seem to have known Priestess Melodia for a long time, haven’t you?”
“Yes. Priestesses regularly visit the orphanage. After all, it’s one of the temple’s projects. She’s the one I met back then. Compared to the others, Priestess Melodia is very kind.”
But he didn’t seem particularly curious about Priestess Melodia. It seemed like he only cared about what she had done for us.
“I see. It’s strange. Even though she’s a child, talking to you feels like there’s some understanding. Maybe it’s because she’s a child and I let my guard down, I don’t know. But it feels like it’s been a long time since I’ve had such a long conversation with someone. Talking like this clears my mind.”
“I see.”
“As for me, I don’t trust the people of the temple. Except for one person.”
“Is that one person the High Priestess?”
“Yes.”
I only nodded. I didn’t even understand why the Grand Duke was suddenly sharing all this with me, or what I should say in response.
Was he saying these things to test me, or was there another reason?
I always thought he found me inconvenient…
“But somehow, it doesn’t feel bad.”
The High Priestess told me to trust my instincts. Could it be that the Grand Duke truly opened his heart to me and spoke this way?
Then it happened.
“You’re not curious, are you? Why you trust the High Priestess, not Priestess Melodia, who found the twins.”
“I just… would do the same, I think.”
“You would?”
“Yes. I liked Priestess Melodia very much in the past. I still do now, but not the same way as before…”
He snorted softly.
“Same here. I didn’t like that woman I saw today either.”
Roen, who had said nothing the whole way here, perhaps thought this was his moment, and finally spoke.
“It seems we have a lot in common, Aisha.”
Roen’s eyes sparkled with what looked like genuine anticipation.
“No. It’s not just us—it’s all of us. I also don’t particularly like Priestess Melodia.”
“Well… that woman seems to like you a lot, though.”
Roen, who had been dissatisfied since the Grand Duke said he resembled him, provocatively jabbed at him. Of course, it didn’t affect the Grand Duke at all.
“True. She’s been popular since she was young. Roen, if you resembled me, you’d have been popular from a young age too.”
“Really? I’d be popular?”
Roen, who had never responded to the Grand Duke before, now looked at him with eager anticipation.
“Since you resemble me. Of course.”
“I see.”
Roen puffed up his shoulders proudly.
“They say I’ll be popular.”
“…Huh?”
“But I’ll only like one person.”
“Yes. The one who becomes your partner later will be lucky.”
At that moment, I recalled the future Roen I had seen—losing even the sibling he thought was his entire world, ending his own life, yet still expressing gratitude for those who stayed by his side until the very end.
“This time, I hope he finds someone to truly love—not just the heroine, but someone he can genuinely share love with.”
Still, if he grows up like this, though the past wounds won’t fully vanish, he will surely find someone to love.
I tapped Roen’s shoulder lightly as he looked at me with that peculiar expression. A motherly feeling, perhaps.
In the meantime, we arrived at the carriage.
“Let’s go, Roen.”
Only then did Roen quietly climb into the carriage. He hesitated for a long time as if he had something to say, then exhaled deeply and took his seat. I sat beside him.
Across from us sat the Grand Duke, holding Lari.
The carriage carrying us started moving again.
“Your Grace.”
“What is it?”
“Why… don’t you like Priestess Melodia?”
“She’s been around me since I was young.”
“Priestess Melodia?”
I was surprised; it was an unexpected answer.
“She wasn’t a priestess back then. She probably became one long after I married the Grand Duchess. She would watch me from afar at parties, then suddenly appear as a priestess—it was a bit shocking.”
“Oh, so the priestess liked Your Grace?”
“Well, I don’t know if she liked me, or if she had some other reason for watching me.”
“Ah, that’s why you dislike her?”
“I tend to dislike unconditional affection. When people interact, no emotion should exist without reason.”
He quietly gazed at Lari, sleeping in his arms.
“My concern for this child is because of blood ties. That’s why I find you strange.”
“Me?”
“Yes. At first, I thought you only wanted the twins to be well cared for. But it seems you didn’t want anything else. Not money, not to use the twins as leverage to be adopted into a good family… It’s strange.”
I could only nod. I agreed it was strange. Perhaps it was just because of what the High Priestess had done, but even I couldn’t fully understand my feelings.
“Anyway, I am strange too, talking so much in front of you.”
He smiled awkwardly, shaking his head.
That was the end of it. As if to prove he normally disliked talking, he fell silent again, and the carriage smoothly headed toward the Grand Duke’s mansion.
Meanwhile, Roen, trying to stay awake, eventually dozed off. Even then, worried about me, his hand held mine tightly.
“Aisha.”
“Yes?”
“You did well.”
After a long pause, he gave a stiff greeting.
“Not at all. If anything, you endured more, coming here because of me.”
“No. I was glad to see the High Priestess in the meantime.”
Another silence. The sharpness from before was gone, but there wasn’t even a trace of the slight kindness he sometimes showed at the temple.
“Why don’t you ask anything?”
“What should I ask?”
“Why the High Priestess brought me here. You don’t seem curious about anything…”
I couldn’t reveal everything to him right away, but I was still puzzled. After all, I had spent quite some time with the High Priestess.
“Well, I thought she’d tell me if necessary.”
“But… you’ve already met the High Priestess.”
“Is that the problem?”
He shook his head.
“No. She’ll tell me when the time comes. So there’s no need to feel burdened about it.”
“Yes.”
And with that, the conversation ended. Even in the carriage and upon arriving at the mansion, he said nothing, simply laying Lari on the bed and leaving the room.
Roen, tired, lay beside Lari. I was the only one washed by the Grand Duke’s maidservants.
Normally, they would have roughly changed my clothes, but for some reason, they washed me with great care. For a very long time.
“Is the water temperature okay? Any discomfort?”
As they asked these things, I wondered why they were being so thorough. Soon, I realized their intent.
“Um… did something happen at the temple?”
“What kind of thing?”
Perhaps thinking Roen wouldn’t give any information, the maidservants had given up on him early. Of course, even asking me would yield nothing, but perhaps because of what we discussed with the Grand Duchess, they held some hope in me.
With a kind expression.
“Yes. It seemed like you stayed longer than expected.”
“Ah! Yes, I did.”
I nodded without hesitation.
“Was it you who stayed?”
“Yes.”
“What did you do?”
“Do you think I would answer? You made me uncomfortable every time you saw me, and now you suddenly ask that—should I answer?”
The two maidservants exchanged awkward smiles.
“No… you should tell us anyway, so we can prepare to leave.”
I nodded at them, really innocent, showing I knew nothing.
“Actually, it wasn’t anything serious. The High Priestess told me to visit the temple often.”
“Excuse me?”
“The High Priestess?”
“She wanted to continue blessing Lari.”
I wondered how the Grand Duchess would react when I said this.
‘She’ll intensify what she’s doing for Lari. Worried it might be discovered, she’ll make sure Lari can’t leave.’
Since I deliberately said the High Priestess asked me to come often, now it was the Grand Duchess’s turn to be caught.
