CHAPTER 34
Kirel tried to get a look at her face, but, as expected, the deeply drawn veil obscured everything above her nose.
Still, just the sight of her vividly red lips was enough to blur the eyes of anyone who looked.
That someone like her was in the temple… He swallowed his regret.
“Um, but may I ask who you are?”
“I believe I asked first.”
Her clear and ringing voice was polite but left no room for further inquiry—completely unfitting for the temple, no matter how he listened.
But then again, priestesses were often haughty by nature. Kirel, trying to stay in her good graces, played along with a jovial tone.
“Ah, well, I am Kirel of the Theros merchant group. You may have heard of us—we’re the most renowned in the East.”
“…So the East has fallen too.”
“Pardon?”
“Nothing. Thank you for the introduction.”
As Kirel flinched at her muttered words, Adele lifted the corners of her mouth in a faint smile. Then, brushing past Rebecca, who still wore a displeased look, she pulled back the cloth covering the wagon herself.
Startled by the unexpected action, Kirel rubbed his hands together and smiled ingratiatingly.
“Ah, you seem interested in the goods? Yes, yes, of course. It would be good for the newly arrived priestess to be familiar with them. These items are not something you can find just anywhere—only in Mount Fidelio.”
“Indeed.”
“You have an eye for quality, I see. Even just this mushroom—over ten years old, I assure you—”
“It’s rotten.”
“…I beg your pardon?”
As she bent to inspect the scent of the mushroom, she let out a dry chuckle. One did not need to see a man’s expression to know when it twisted in offense.
“Didn’t you ask me something else before I answer your question?”
“…Something else…?”
“Let me introduce myself first.”
Sssshh.
At last, Adele lifted her veil.
Her hands moved with such grace, folding the white veil carefully as if afraid to wrinkle it.
As she slowly raised her downcast eyes, Kirel’s gaze went hazy.
“Uuhh…”
There was no reason for her to be smug. Everyone who saw her for the first time always had the same two-stage reaction.
Gasp.
First, they were overwhelmed by her stunning appearance—
“Th-Those eyes… Could it be…”
—and second, shocked by the deep pink hue of her eyes, revealing her noble origins.
“Seems you recognize me, so I won’t need to explain further.”
“L-Lady of House Sergio? Here?!”
“I don’t believe I owe you an answer to that.”
Adele brushed back her black hair and glanced down at Kirel.
Under her cold, appraising gaze—as if evaluating merchandise—he finally shook his head, flustered.
“A-Ah, I’m just a little startled…”
“Only a little?”
“My lady.”
“And to think this was being presented as top-grade ingredients… If I had known the ‘best merchant group in the East’ was this rotten, I would have devoured it sooner.”
Adele snapped the stem of the mushroom she held. As it crumbled in her hand, Kirel flared up.
“No matter how powerful House Sergio is, this is too much! How dare you treat our goods—”
“Why is everyone so obsessed with tearing my house down?”
“…”
“At least we don’t sell garbage.”
Adele shoved aside a box of meat.
Thud. A large slab tumbled to the ground, and a startled Rebecca bent down to pick it up.
“Lady Agnes! How could you—”
“No. Leave it. No need to dirty your hands, Priestess Rebecca.”
“B-But this is food, and—”
“They’re the ones who played the game first.”
At Adele’s firm tone, Rebecca straightened up mid-reach. She didn’t like following this woman’s lead, but something told her now was not the time to step in.
Well done.
Adele whispered, then tossed aside the remaining ingredients.
Each motion of her hand was met with a loud crash.
“This was clearly frozen leftovers from last year. This wheat has aged four or five years. And the spices—ground down to hide their staleness. Must’ve scraped the bottom of some storage bin, huh? Should I call this resourceful?”
“Lady! How could House Sergio act so outrageously! Even if you look down on our merchant group—”
“Didn’t you just say you were the best in the East?”
“T-That’s…”
“Have some consistency. Whether it’s goods or people, don’t flip-flop so easily.”
Adele leaned in, clicking her tongue in disappointment.
Her eyes were cold enough to leave emotional bruises.
“You seem quite displeased with me?”
“Of course! You don’t need to go this far just because your house is powerful! You’re already doing well without resorting to this!”
“So you’re saying we’re threatening a small-time merchant group no one even knows exists?”
Does a house like Sergio, which wouldn’t even get dirt on its boots from stepping on someone like you, need to stoop to this?
Adele’s crimson eyes gleamed.
How cliché. Refusing to admit fault and trying to shift the blame instead.
And to top it off, he thought this was an act of noble oppression. How convenient.
Because—naturally—when people think of aristocrats, they think of abuse of power.
“Since we’re on the topic, let’s clear this up. If the goods had been genuinely good but spoiled from the altitude, then there’d be no reason for you to use the roads my family built. They’d spoil either way, no?”
“…What?”
“The roads, bridges, and even the ice storage offered free to merchants from East to South—those were all provided for public good. Not to hear ungrateful nonsense from people like you.”
“L-Lady, this is too sudden—”
“Sudden? I should’ve done this sooner.”
Maybe I was born for this.
Adele felt great satisfaction. This was her first official act of “aristocratic oppression” as heir to her house.
Not something you can just do on a whim. She’d likely never meet another shameless man like this.
So she planned to enjoy it to the fullest.
“You can transport whatever you like, but don’t bring this trash onto my land. Unlike my father, I don’t tolerate wasting coins.”
“L-Lady…”
Finally grasping the situation, Kirel gasped for breath. Desperate, he tried to cling to Rebecca instead.
“She personally inspected the goods! If there was an issue, she should’ve said so then. She even said they resembled what her family used!”
“T-That’s…”
“Please, Priestess, didn’t you say these were top grade? You must speak up. If you blame our merchant group now, I’ll lodge a formal complaint against you! Even if I was deceived, what do you expect me to do?”
“Lord Kirel!”
“Think carefully, Priestess. If this blows up, who will be held accountable? You’ve been overseeing food supplies for a long time. If Lady Sergio caught something you didn’t, how would that look for you?”
Kirel remembered how Rebecca had been unfriendly to Adele at first.
Priestesses were naive by nature. He tried to persuade her, stepping closer. But Rebecca didn’t budge—though troubled, she stood still.
“I could walk away from this deal, but you’d be held responsible. How would it look if Lady Sergio spotted what you missed?”
“…But still…”
“Let’s not make this worse. Let’s talk it out calmly—”
“That’s exactly why you’re the worst.”
Adele finally ground her teeth.
Standing in front of the stricken Rebecca, she glared fiercely at Kirel.
“You knew from the beginning the priestess hadn’t had much experience with luxury food, didn’t you?”
“What are you saying? She’s from a noble family—of course she’d know!”
“Don’t play dumb. Not all noble families are wealthy. You figured out what kind of person she was and decided she was an easy mark.”
Adele didn’t look directly at Rebecca, but her heart ached. Her fury toward Kirel intensified.
“If you scam someone for money, that’s one thing. But when you scam based on a person, you trample on their pride. Maybe the temple is full of gentle souls, but I’m not one of them.”
“It’s still the victim’s fault for not knowing better! If she’d had the eye for goods, I wouldn’t have done this!”
“Haa…”
Adele felt a throbbing pain in her neck. She could laugh off most insults, but this—this logic—was too much.
She had no choice.
She closed her eyes and pressed her fingers to her forehead. It was unfortunate, but someone else would have to end this.
“No, you’re the one who was deceived.”
“What do you mean?”
“You dared to underestimate the mighty priestess of Mount Fidelio. How laughable.”
“…”
Was she serious?
Rebecca, who had been standing quietly, blinked in confusion at the sudden shift in attention.
Even if Kirel looked at her dismissively, why was Adele suddenly acting like this?
“Lady Agnes?”
Whoosh.
Before Rebecca could respond, Adele narrowed one eye and spun dramatically toward Kirel.
“You don’t even know who she is. In your greed, you’ve dug your own grave.”
“H-Huh? Isn’t she just a priestess?”
“‘Just’? Oh dear.”
O Enes, God of the Sun, do not forgive this man.
Adele suddenly made the sign of the cross. Kirel panicked.
What is happening?
He had underestimated her, but Rebecca did have divine power.
“Just who is she…?”
“You dared mock the one who inherited divine authority to cast curses!”
“W-What?!”
Kirel wasn’t the only one stunned. Even Rebecca, now apparently the embodiment of divine wrath, blinked in disbelief.
What is she doing now?
Before she could speak, Adele raised her hands dramatically to the sky.
Rebecca had seen this before—this exact dramatic pose—just this morning during prayer.
“Still don’t get it, do you? No one in this temple can match Priestess Rebecca’s divine curse! None can even imitate it!”
“That’s nonsense! How could a holy priestess cast curses—”
“And if she can bless, why can’t she curse? Your ignorance is laughable.”
Adele’s burning red eyes seemed to engulf the temple’s night air.
Kirel swallowed dryly, stunned.
A priestess who casts curses? It sounded absurd—until it came from the mouth of Lady Sergio. Then it became terrifyingly real.
“But… if she’s that powerful, how could she have missed faulty food…?”
“And yet you still didn’t suspect anything?”
“…”
“Don’t you get it? If Mount Fidelio accepted someone without such powers, what would that imply?”
“Ah…”
Kirel finally gasped.
He didn’t want to admit it, but this was Mount Fidelio—the most sacred place in the Empire, filled with those possessing divine power.
They would never accept an incapable priestess.
And one look at Rebecca’s wrathful face told him it was real.
“Ahh…”
“Priestess, please—do not forgive this vile man who has mocked you and the holy god Enes!”
Adele bowed low before Rebecca, her eyes both pleading and wicked.
“Hurry. This is your specialty.”
She subtly urged Rebecca to act.
Struggling in a pit of fear and disbelief, Kirel turned toward her as well.
“Pr-Priestess, surely that woman is making all this up?”
“…”
“A noble lady wouldn’t cast curses just over something like this—”
“O Enes, who governs all evil between heaven and earth.”
Rebecca’s lips parted at last, her voice calm.
In her mind, both Adele and Kirel deserved curses, but if she had to choose one—it would be him.
“Strike this man, who dared defile a servant of your divine power, with your heavenly wrath.”
