Chapter 67
A traitor.
The white holy stone embedded in the candlestick sparkled in the flame.
The holy stone driven into the cage seemed to form a barrier that prevented the use of the power of death.
But who in their right mind would think to capture something like this?
Charles suppressed her rising nausea as she thought.
‘They must be insane.’
Even setting aside the instinctive revulsion one felt toward a traitor, or the fear of receiving the curse of the god Seikan—
From her perspective, this was no different from a suicidal act.
If the timing of replenishing the barrier’s holy power was even slightly off, the traitor would come out.
And wherever its feet touched, the ground would reek of death and turn black.
A ticking time bomb that could explode at any moment.
“Ueoeo….”
The horrifying metallic screech emitted by the black mass scraped against Charles’s eardrums.
‘That thing must have once been human too.’
Had it been a person of the Kingdom of Babernon?
It had a face you’d be afraid would appear in your dreams.
She had never observed a traitor from this close before, and though she frowned, Charles couldn’t tear her eyes away.
Grand Duke Derachi signaled to his spokesperson that it was enough.
After covering the cage with a cloth, the spokesperson pulled the cart and disappeared behind the wall where he had first appeared.
“Well then. You said the princess wished to see it, so I showed you our hand.”
“…It seems the efficiency of holy power in maintaining the barrier would be low.”
With a calm expression, Charles removed the handkerchief from her nose.
“And if the barrier collapses, it looks like you’ll be the ones who die.”
She dismissed the appearance of the traitor with a tone of light sarcasm.
‘If they’re acting like it’s nothing, then if I react seriously and rush at them, I’ll just make a fool of myself.’
Instead, she stared straight at the Grand Duke across from her.
The wrinkles at the corners of Derachi’s eyes deepened.
A smile in his eyes, as if the hazel color of Charles’s irises gave off a green, immature scent.
“How considerate of you to worry. The barrier will be fine. We did not capture that without any thought.”
Derachi lit an incense stick in the candlestick before him and asked,
“So, have you made your decision?”
“I wonder. After showing me something that disgusting. Do I even have a choice?”
Treason wasn’t the issue.
They had shown her that they had captured a traitor.
How was that any different from saying they would kill her if she didn’t get on the same boat?
“If I refuse your proposal, it feels like I’ll have to pay for the viewing with my life.”
“How could that be? You are still a princess of a kingdom. We must at least send you back to your homeland.”
Charles sneered inwardly.
Did they think she had come here unprepared?
She had investigated everything up to the level of information obtainable from the black market.
That included the fact that Grand Duke Derachi primarily used holy power related to mental manipulation.
‘Erasing memories, or controlling the mind to turn someone into a puppet.’
Neither option allowed one to maintain a sound mind.
‘Though I have no intention of going down quietly either.’
Charles lightly touched the concealed weapon hidden beneath her sleeve.
“Why show this to me? Before that—do the nobles who stand with you know about this?”
“Zendall has many faint-hearted people who fear the gods. Only the princess has seen it.”
“Bonia Kingdom fears the god Seikan just the same.”
In this world, what creation did not fear the gods?
If one incurred the displeasure of the god Seikan, they would end up like that traitor from earlier.
Derachi stuck the incense he had been waving in the air into the holder.
“But they desire a Saintess just as much.”
“……”
His tone sounded as if he was certain of something he knew about Bonia.
Did he know about the relationship between Bonia’s bloodline and the Saintess?
Charles wanted to see Derachi’s expression, but the billowing incense smoke obscured his face.
His silhouette looked like the massive head of a cunning serpent.
The foul smell filling the room mixed with the heavy scent of incense.
Traitor, serpent, Saintess, Zendall.
Again—traitor, serpent, Saintess, Zendall.
As the second hand of the wall clock ticked through a full rotation, Charles’s mind worked busily.
After a brief silence, having finished weighing her options, she spoke.
“You said that as long as you lend troops on time, there will be no damage on our side, correct?”
“That’s right.”
Right then, his spokesperson emerged from behind the wall.
“I’ll accept the proposal.”
The place where treason would occur was Zendall.
Even if they received the curse of the god Seikan because of the traitor, that too would be Zendall.
Zendall would be the one to fall anyway—so what did it matter?
As long as she achieved what she wanted.
Looking at both Derachi and the spokesperson within her field of vision, Charles said,
“I don’t care what schemes you’re plotting. Just make sure you properly uphold the part we agreed on later.”
Delcan straightened from the wall he had been leaning against when he saw Charles come out the door.
Charles, coming out with the spokesperson, wore a somewhat dissatisfied expression.
‘Did something not go well?’
With dark shadows under his eyes, the spokesperson bowed to Charles.
“I suppose I must bid you farewell here. We have prepared a carriage in front of the estate to take you to the border. A servant will guide you.”
It seemed she was leaving.
Delcan tried to follow Charles, but he couldn’t.
“…Do you have some business with me?”
It was because Derachi’s spokesperson had grabbed his arm.
Not understanding, Delcan asked him.
The spokesperson coughed and said to Delcan,
“It has been discussed with the princess that the escort will remain here.”
What?
Delcan looked at Charles’s back with a bewildered gaze.
Charles let out a deep sigh, then turned around to look at Delcan.
“That’s right.”
Then she gave him a small smile.
There was no way Delcan wouldn’t recognize that expression—she wore it whenever she was trying to hide her anxiety.
“Princess—”
“Delcan.”
Charles cut him off.
“You stay here.”
An evening like any other day.
Siana, who had opened the lid of the dish brought to Prodinta Palace, said brightly,
“There are three peas in the main dish. I think mail arrived for Miss Lily.”
As Siana said, three peas on the main plate were a secret sign between Heli and me.
It meant Lily’s mail had arrived with Heli.
“Is it from Antoine Confectionery?”
We had already talked about the new menu last time.
Wondering what it could be about, I finished even the dessert and hurried to the kitchen.
What was waiting for me…!
“It’s not from Olivia. The sender is someone named Coaru.”
“Coaru…? Ah—!”
At the familiar name, I searched my memory before exclaiming.
“The genius sculptor!”
He was the genius sculptor of Zendall recognized by Huperson.
The letter said that my turn had come for the sculpture reservation I made two months ago, and asked me to reply with the details of the commission.
“……”
How long had I waited for this day?
The dream I had on my first day working at the chapel was finally…!
Overwhelmed with emotion, the hand holding the letter trembled.
…Your Majesty, you’re happy right now, aren’t you? Because I’m insanely happy right now…!
As expected! In life! Enduring wins in the end! Heave-ho, heave-ho.
After neatly folding the letter and putting it into my pocket, Siana, who had been watching, asked,
“Are you going to reply later?”
“Huh? Why would I reply?”
Siana and Heli looked at me in confusion and said in unison, “We thought you would, of course.”
I grinned at the two of them.
“Of course…”
I have to go in person! I’ve waited so long for this day!
Even the time spent exchanging letters felt like a waste.
The next day.
After making thorough preparations last night, I ate breakfast, used Chobi’s hair dye, and left the Imperial Palace.
Kadian, who was in charge of my escort, accompanied me.
The genius sculptor’s workshop was about thirty minutes away from the Imperial Palace by carriage.
A man who looked to be in his early thirties greeted me with a surprised expression.
“I’ve had customers come in person before, but you’re the first to come this quickly.”
As he said that and ran a hand through his shaggy hair, lime powder fell in a shower.
He was wearing slippers like flip-flops and comfortable clothes—he felt like an unemployed older brother from the neighborhood, so friendly…
Coaru cleared a space for us at a wooden table in one corner of the workshop.
Then he brought writing tools and sat across from me.
“Let’s draft the design. Do you have a particular form in mind for the sculpture?”
“I do.”
I nodded and took ten sheets of paper out of my bag.
These were my ambitious works—the top ten candidates for His Majesty’s statue design!
“Oho.”
Coaru’s eyes sparkled.
He said it was his first time seeing a client prepare so diligently and expressed admiration repeatedly.
‘Let’s not mention that there were actually 146 candidates. It might get noisy.’
I had carefully ranked them, but I still regretted the ones I couldn’t bring.
I should’ve included the design Hazel mentioned—the young His Majesty carrying a pillow…!
Next time, I definitely will…
“There are many good ones. With a little refinement, we could work directly from them. Let’s choose one from your designs.”
But there was no time to dwell on regrets.
We had to decide on the design today!
Coaru and I quickly hit it off.
“Then how about going with the third design and using the stone I mentioned earlier to bring out more delicacy? Since it has a smooth surface, it’ll be good for expressing the skin.”
“Oh, I like that. Ah, and I’d like this part to be a bit sharper. What if we tilt it slightly in this direction?”
“Sounds good. With such an enthusiastic client, I think we’ll get a great result.”
By the time we had discussed details like finger angles and exactly how much and in which direction the hair would flow, it was well past noon.
“I’ll contact you once midway through. Then we can check the overall structure and fine details again.”
“Yes. Please take good care of it!”
“Take care on your way back, customer.”
The works visible behind Coaru as he saw me off looked reliable.
I hope His Majesty’s statue turns out just as well.
Hehe. Once the statue is finished, where should I put it so people say it was placed perfectly?
“Saintess, shall we head to the jeweler?”
Before the carriage departed, Kadian asked about our next destination.
Although the sculpture commission was done, since I was already out, I planned to finish all my errands.
“Yes, let’s go to the jeweler!”
I had already looked up a good jeweler in the capital.
I was going to buy return gifts for the birthday presents I received last time, but the problem was…
“Wow. This one’s pretty too.”
While I was looking at brooches inside a glass display case, I heard unmistakable sneering directed at me.
“Commoners these days don’t know their place. She’ll leave the moment she hears the price. Why is she looking so seriously?”
When I turned my head slightly, I made eye contact with the manager who had been gossiping about me with the staff from afar.
The manager covered his mouth with his hand and snickered as he whispered to the employee beside him.
“Seems she knows we’re talking about her? It’s not like she can even hear us.”
…Actually, I can hear all of it.
