CHAPTER 53…………………………………..
“Count Bourbon really made a foolish choice.”
“You mean, killing the chef?”
“Yes. Instead of destroying the evidence himself, he should have entrusted it to His Majesty.”
Since the Emperor had already decided to spare Marchioness Devon, the outcome would likely have been the same.
Tricia clicked her tongue.
“His foolishness made him lose the Emperor’s trust.”
The chef had died because of Count Bourbon’s interrogation.
How would the Emperor take that?
Lloyd, who had been lost in thought, finally spoke.
“His Majesty must have realized that Marchioness Devon is behind Count Bourbon.”
“Right. If there’s even a slight excuse, he’ll probably have you break off the engagement with Hestia immediately.”
“True, Count Bourbon became the fiancé of the princess solely because of the Emperor’s favor…”
Lloyd paused mid-sentence.
“Tricia, you don’t mean…”
“Yes. I’m playing a very big game.”
Tricia tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled.
“So don’t worry too much, brother.”
“……”
“I will never be defeated.”
Meanwhile, Regina, having returned alone to the Duke’s estate from the banquet, had been completely dejected ever since that day.
Leona had watched silently for a while, sensing how upset she was, but after several days of Regina’s low spirits, she finally tried to speak.
“Something must have happened at the banquet, right?”
“It wasn’t like that.”
Regina said this, but her expression gave her away.
“Actually, something did happen. Something unpleasant.”
After a brief pause, Regina told Leona everything that had happened at the banquet—from being pushed by Edwin to noticing his interest in Tricia.
“You’re out of your mind.”
Though no subject was mentioned, there was no mistaking who she meant. Regina chuckled wryly.
“What’s the point of regaining my social standing when Edwin has eyes only for my wife?”
All the effort of spreading Solton’s accessories to win the favor of the ladies had been for nothing.
That made her even more depressed.
“There’s something I want to investigate.”
“Investigate?”
Leona’s sudden words made Regina tilt her head in confusion.
“What is it that you want to investigate?”
“There’s been something on my mind for a while, and it might help Your Highness.”
Leona whispered something to Regina.
“…Right now?”
Leona nodded, and after a moment’s hesitation, Regina stood.
“Alright, you’re not one to talk nonsense. Even if we gain nothing, we’ll consider it a little change of pace.”
With that, Regina began preparing to go out with Leona.
Marchioness Devon suppressed her anger and resentment as she made her way to the temple.
Her second-most cherished lover, after Bill, was there, while Bill was imprisoned and unreachable.
‘I need someone to console me.’
Throughout the carriage ride, she fidgeted nervously, her hands shaking.
Recent events had all been setbacks for her.
She couldn’t tell if these misfortunes were orchestrated or just coincidental—they had come one after another.
First, her husband’s business began to fail.
Though there had been no affection, he had been her most stable support.
If he collapsed, so would she.
‘I even poured emergency funds into it, yet I couldn’t stop it.’
From that instinct, she realized: the Emperor must be involved in this.
She could not comprehend it. Why was the Emperor angry with her?
‘Was it the problem of having Count Bourbon kill the chef?’
But if she hadn’t done that, she herself would have been executed as the princess’s would-be assassin.
According to Count Bourbon, the Emperor seemed to have decided to cover up this incident.
‘No… Count Bourbon must have misjudged… No, His Majesty wouldn’t abandon me so easily.’
Otherwise, the Emperor would have brought this incident to light and executed her.
Yet she survived even after touching the Emperor’s most cherished daughter.
‘In the end, His Majesty must have sided with me.’
Just as she reached that thought, the carriage stopped.
Marchioness Devon disembarked immediately, escorted by the coachman, and headed straight for the temple.
Thanks to stopping the carriage right in front, she could see the entrance without having to walk far.
Locking eyes with the priest guarding the entrance, she gave a faint smile.
“I came to pray quietly.”
“Ah, Marchioness Devon!”
Having been a regular donor to the temple for years, she was familiar not only with the archbishop but also with the priests.
“I’ll guide you to the prayer room.”
“Before that, I’d like to make a donation to the temple.”
With that, Marchioness Devon pulled a small box from her sleeve.
“This is…”
Inside was a gold ingot the size of a child’s fist.
While the priest admired it, she produced a slightly larger box.
Inside were gold ingots the size of an adult fist.
“I can find the prayer room myself, so these can be offered to the temple, and the rest you—”
“Ha! You’ve prepared all this?”
“God always shows mercy to those who are prepared.”
“You are truly a devout lady.”
After smiling, the priest took the gold offered and went to donate the rest to the temple.
Thanks to that, Marchioness Devon could move around the temple alone.
She calmly headed toward the place she had promised.
“Michael.”
Opening the usual prayer room door and calling his name, he responded.
“Madam, it’s been quite some time.”
When he spoke in a sulky tone, she chuckled and soothed him.
Michael was a priest at the temple and her second-most cherished lover after Bill.
‘I hadn’t visited him for a while because his appearance and small frame didn’t appeal to me…’
But with Bill imprisoned and unreachable, she had no choice.
Marchioness Devon placated Michael with a few small trinkets she had brought and kissed him.
Unlike Bill, Michael always responded eagerly when she approached, which she found surprisingly pleasant.
“You’ll spend the night here today, right?”
Michael’s eyes gleamed as he asked, making her chuckle.
“Do you want me to openly show that I’m hiding my lover in the temple?”
“Ah…”
“Which noblewoman spends the night in a temple?”
“We can say I spent the night praying.”
Michael smiled.
“I heard you’ve been having a hard time lately. So staying up to pray one night wouldn’t seem strange to anyone.”
Her lips twitched into a small smile at his persuasive words.
“You’re quite clever.”
Being with Michael wasn’t entertaining, but it was comfortable.
She decided to accept his suggestion.
Looking around the prayer room and wondering where to sleep, she frowned.
“What’s that?”
Something far taller than a person caught her eye.
“A door?”
“That’s a storage for ladders.”
Michael explained that the storage was large enough to hold ladders reaching the ceiling, but she barely paid attention—she didn’t want to know the details.
Marchioness Devon sank into a chair, and Michael sat beside her.
“By the way, what about the documents?”
“Documents?”
“The marriage registration documents.”
She frowned. One of Michael’s flaws was that he couldn’t grasp what she meant immediately, which drained her during long conversations.
“If you mean the marriage registration… Ah!”
Michael finally remembered and clapped his hands.
“Shh! Don’t make a sound. Are we going to announce that we’re in the prayer room?”
“Ah, sorry.”
Michael lowered his voice and nodded.
“You mean the registration documents for Duke and Duchess Mason, right?”
“Yes. There shouldn’t be any problems, right?”
“Of course not. You invested money, after all.”
Michael lowered his voice even more.
“Who would dare claim that Duke and Duchess Mason were never married?”
“Good. We must maintain strict security from now on.”
“Absolutely!”
Their conversation ended there.
Marchioness Devon complained the prayer room chair was too hard and demanded to go to Michael’s room.
So the two left the prayer room.
And then…
Creeeak—.
The two walked out from the ladder storage that Marchioness Devon had noticed earlier.
“I told you.”
A low voice echoed inside the closed prayer room.
“I said it was strange to keep donating to the temple consistently even after running out of money.”
It was Leona, speaking in her natural voice for the first time in a while.
“I did think that, but I just assumed she had a beloved lover at the temple.”
Regina watched the door where Marchioness Devon had exited.
“To think she was hiding such an enormous secret…”
“Do you think this will help Your Highness?”
“Of course!”
Regina whispered, her eyes shining.
She would need to think hard to make full use of what she had just learned.
