Chapter 20.
Rain, Tears, and Desert (5)
“Um… uh…”
The flustered soldier stammered, completely at a loss.
“It’s just that… your hair color is so unique…”
At that, the bespectacled man, who had been quietly watching the whole time, could no longer hold back and interjected bluntly.
“Everyone in the palace already knows that the priestess from the South has hair the color of the clear blue sky.”
“That’s right!”
“Oh my, y-yes, that’s right. We knew too, of course. Haha…”
“Y-yeah! I’m sure I heard the rumor somewhere…”
Even the soldiers and the women awkwardly laughed and sided with the bespectacled man.
‘Hm. So this is a setup, huh? I’m at a disadvantage here, since I don’t have a single ally in this room.’
Still, at least in this world, she truly did seem to be a priestess loved by the gods.
The timing of everything always worked out uncannily well.
“What’s all this commotion…? What’s going on, Priestess?”
Through the door the soldiers had entered, Regulus appeared.
He looked puzzled.
In his hand, he held a pink handkerchief.
‘Well, speak of the devil.’
Making a connection in the palace had been a wise move after all.
Illeyna welcomed Regulus with a gentle smile.
“Lord Regulus.”
“Priestess, what in the world…? I heard you were having a tea party, so why are there soldiers barging in?”
He asked, gripping the pink handkerchief tightly.
Everyone in the room, except Illeyna, visibly panicked at his sudden appearance.
After a moment of stunned silence, the bespectacled man spoke.
“L-Lord Regulus, what brings you all the way to the annex?”
“I came to have dinner with the priestess. Andre asked me to deliver this handkerchief. He’s off chatting with a maid he knows. But more importantly—what is all this, Sir Otter?”
“W-well, it’s just… a necklace went missing, so we’re investigating.”
“Hm? You’re not even part of the investigation bureau, and you’re handling this yourself?”
At Regulus’ pointed question, Otter’s face flushed with embarrassment.
‘Ah, so that’s what this is.’
She could more or less guess what they had been plotting.
They had intended to frame her as the necklace thief and interrogate her.
Those “maids” were clearly actresses.
That explained why they had no sense of noble etiquette, yet their hands were soft and delicate.
‘Now, how should I deal with this cute little setup?’
Illeyna glanced over the faces of the awkwardly fidgeting maids.
And then—
“…Come in.”
With a smile that didn’t reach her eyes, she addressed the soldiers.
She also added a word to Regulus, who stood hesitating at the door.
“You too, Lord Regulus. Please, come in.”
Somehow, the situation had naturally shifted in her favor, but no one seemed to notice.
“But Priestess!”
Regulus called out, but Otter quickly gestured to the soldiers.
“T-then…”
“Then excuse us for a moment! Ladies, please cooperate with the investigation!”
At that, the soldiers, regaining their earlier confidence, shouted loudly and entered the room.
Then, adopting a somewhat formal attitude, they began to search each woman’s clutch and pockets one by one.
Illeyna crossed her arms and calmly watched the soldiers as they busied themselves pretending to search.
And then—just as one of them picked up her clutch—
“Found it!”
A soldier shouted loudly.
‘Oh… that’s…’
It was the familiar sapphire necklace.
The one Andre had produced from somewhere when she dressed up for the theater.
A necklace set with a high-quality sapphire, about the size of a thumbnail.
“Oh my goodness! That’s clear evidence right there!”
“What is the meaning of this, Priestess? Hm? Say something!”
The “maids,” who had been quietly complying with the search, suddenly pounced on Illeyna.
“Stealing? We trusted you, Priestess!”
“How could you! Why are you staying silent? Huh?”
‘They’re really going for it, huh.’
Illeyna let out a small smirk.
Of all times, Andre—the one person who could prove her innocence—was nowhere to be seen.
‘That maid earlier must have sent him off on some errand.’
What impeccable timing.
‘It’s like a drama without a script. Or maybe, in this case, a drama with a script.’
Illeyna, completely unshaken, scanned the room with a sharp gaze.
She looked completely at ease, as if none of the chaos concerned her at all.
On the other hand, it was Otter who seemed increasingly agitated.
‘Why… why is she so calm?!’
Though he tried to appear composed on the outside, internally he was in utter panic.
His previous plan—“Operation Cry Out of Frustration After Stepping on a Thumbtack”—had been a failure.
This time, it was “Operation Cry Before You Can Even Argue Out of Sheer Injustice!”
It was, of course, a strategy based on his personal experience.
Whenever he got angry or felt wronged, he always wanted to argue back in his heart, but in reality, tears would just burst out first.
And then, people would mock him: “Aw, look! He’s crying again!” Which only made him cry harder in frustration—a vicious cycle.
He would end up saying nothing, kicking his blanket in frustration all night, replaying the argument in his head—“I should’ve said this! No, I should’ve snapped back with that!”—until he fell asleep fuming.
And of course, he was too timid to actually confront the person the next day.
All he could do was hold a grudge in his heart.
‘There’s no way you won’t cry in this situation, right? It’s so unfair! So humiliating! Come on, cry already, Priestess! I didn’t want to go this far either!’
Otter bit his lip and nervously stared at Illeyna.
But he’d overlooked one thing.
His “crying under pressure while kicking blankets later” technique only worked on timid people.
And Illeyna was far from timid.
She gazed back coldly, her eyes gleaming.
She was the kind of person who became even more composed in times of crisis.
It was both her nature and something she’d been trained in.
‘Grandfather used to say—’
“In a brawl, the one who strikes first wins. If someone messes with you, punch them in the nose.”
“Yes, Grandfadder.”
Her grandfather had told her not to worry about legal fees, and had taught her early on the rule of striking first to win.
“Then who wins in a verbal fight, huh? Answer me.”
“Umm… the louder one?”
“Close enough. It’s the one who doesn’t get flustered. You’ve got my genes—you’ll be great at destroying people with words.”
Honoring her grandfather’s teachings, Illeyna didn’t get flustered or make excuses. Instead, she calmly began thinking.
‘How should I absolutely wreck that bespectacled man?’
Since the beginning, he’d been gossiping behind her back. It wasn’t anything too wicked, but still, it was irritating.
And she was not the kind to let even small offenses slide.
‘Alright. Let’s mess with them a bit.’
Having made up her mind, Illeyna calmly opened her mouth.
“You’re right. I guess I am the thief.”
Her tone was utterly composed.
“Eh.”
“W-what?”
The people in the room, who had been accusing her, were now the ones flustered.
Their faces twisted in shock.
‘What’s wrong with them? Weren’t they just calling me a thief a second ago? Did they think I’d deny it?’
Illeyna coolly watched their panic.
“Y-you’re saying… you’re the thief? T-that can’t be…”
The bespectacled servant stammered, his face crumpling.
“W-why do you think that?” one of the fake maids asked dumbly.
“Well, the necklace was found in my clutch, wasn’t it?”
Illeyna answered nonchalantly.
“Who else could it be? My attendant? Never! I’d rather be the thief myself than suspect him! Yes, I am a thief! A rotten, despicable thief! Everyone!”
She shouted dramatically.
“T-that’s going too far…!”
“Y-yeah! I mean, it’s just a necklace!”
Her extreme response threw them completely off.
Even Otter looked stunned, his mouth opening and closing like a goldfish.
And in the middle of this sitcom-like scene, there was one person who remained serious—Regulus.
“That’s impossible! This is clearly a setup!”
He cried out earnestly.
But Illeyna sighed deeply and hung her head pitifully.
“Even if it’s a setup, it’s still my fault. As a priestess, to have someone hate me this much… someone as lacking as me deserves to be stoned in the town square.”
She tried to squeeze out tears, but none came.
‘I used to be good at crying on cue before the depression…’
Instead, she buried her face in her sleeve.
“I’m too ashamed to even lift my head! I’m trash! I don’t deserve to live! Please, execute me!”
Her extreme self-deprecation actually prompted the others to start defending her.
“N-no! Nothing has been proven yet!”
“Y-yes, that’s right! We only had one witness testimony!”
“Sob… No! Just kill this worthless priestess already! No…”
Illeyna suddenly grabbed the knife from the table and pressed it to her neck.
It was a dull butter knife, not sharp enough to cut steak, let alone skin.
But the naive people in the room erupted into chaos.
“PRIESTEESS!! NOOOOO!”
“S-she’ll die! AHHH! Someone help!!”
“Kyaaah! No! Lord Otter, do something! This wasn’t part of the plan!!”
