“What did he say?”
“He asked if you were really the Saint. I read it and ignored it.”
The Duke looked utterly dumbfounded.
“He was not the only one who asked that kind of question, was he?”
“Of course not.”
The others probably asked because they wondered if it was really true, but Lisellon likely felt like his feet were on fire.
The soul he had used without much thought turned out to be the soul of the Saint?
The rumor had already spread everywhere, so it was practically becoming an established fact.
“How do you think he will react? When he learns that I am the Saint.”
The erased memories had returned, and even if he learned this fact, it would be difficult for him to interfere again.
And even if he tried, she had already told everyone around her.
It would be difficult for him to try to kill her now.
That was precisely why Edith had become the Saint.
If she were to die, the Imperial Family and the Temple would try to uncover the mastermind no matter what.
No, even before they could act, House Capanteni would point out the culprit.
“It’s hard to predict. I don’t know where the limits of a sorcerer’s abilities lie.”
“…That is worrying.”
He certainly wouldn’t resort to ordinary methods.
***
“To think she was the Saint.”
Just as Edith had expected, Lisellon was extremely restless.
“I should have dealt with her sooner.”
Watching House Capanteni’s reaction had been his mistake.
Once it was publicly announced that she was the Saint, interfering with Edith would become even more difficult.
Bang.
Lisellon slammed the table irritably and let out a sigh.
“Aisha, you didn’t know anything?”
“I didn’t know either. If I had known, wouldn’t I have told you, Lon?”
Of course, Aisha also didn’t know that Edith had been the Saint.
At least, she knew that Edith had regained her memories.
Because of that, Aisha herself had been greatly shocked.
“Her memories?”
“Well.”
“…Do you think that God has noticed?”
Lisellon muttered and bit his lip.
“Aisha, you can meet the Sun God, can you not? Could you go just once and ask?”
Aisha, who already knew that Edith had regained her memories, reacted unenthusiastically.
But she hid her true feelings and answered.
“Alright. More importantly, Lon, what are you going to do now?”
Lisellon fell into thought.
No matter what he did, he felt like a rat trapped in a jar.
There was a high probability that she had regained her memories, and if so, she must have realized that he was a sorcerer.
Could it be that she had discovered it long ago and kept it hidden until now?
That meant he had to act under the assumption that Edith knew everything.
It was the worst possible situation.
“If her memories returned, can’t you erase them again?”
“I could erase them again, but since she is the Saint, I don’t know if it would work.”
“Ah….”
The power of sorcery only worked on ordinary people.
It was difficult against sword masters, high-level mages, the Pope, or the Saint.
The reason sorcery had worked on Edith when she was young was likely because she hadn’t yet awakened as the Saint.
“So that’s why Sylvia was caught.”
A fatal mistake.
“Her memories were definitely erased?”
It still left a slightly unsettling feeling, but in any case, most sorcery wouldn’t work on Edith now.
“What if you leave her alone?”
Lisellon scoffed as if he had just heard something absurd.
“The Duke is gradually narrowing the net.”
“…Wouldn’t it be better to quietly accept punishment rather than stir up trouble unnecessarily?”
“Do you think that makes any sense?”
Lisellon’s expression hardened.
How had he, the mere son of a Viscount, climbed all the way to this position?
He couldn’t fall again.
He would rise to a place where everyone bowed their heads before him.
His face was filled with ambition as he thought that.
He would never give up like this.
Rather than fall and lose everything, he would rather die.
Above all, he had built so much until now. Even if she was the Saint, he believed it wouldn’t be easy for her to face him.
He would use everything he had to fight back, if only to avoid losing powerlessly.
***
Luzbel went to find Jeron first. It was the first time he showed his face since their huge confrontation in the street.
“He doesn’t want to meet me?”
“…I am sorry.”
But he was rejected at the door without even seeing his face.
Flora looked flustered and only glanced at Luzbel nervously.
What should he do?
Luzbel fell into thought, wondering if he should just turn back like this.
At the very least, he wanted to apologize for his mistakes and speak honestly about his feelings.
“How was he?”
“Pardon?”
“…What expression did Jeron have, and what kind of tone did he use?”
“Ah, his expression was not very bright. His tone was… a bit… downcast, I think.”
Downcast.
If it had been Edith, she would have burst in and forced a conversation with Jeron.
Because Edith was that kind of person.
But he didn’t want to do that. It wasn’t that he thought Edith’s way was wrong.
Luzbel simply believed that Edith had her way, and he had his own.
“I understand. Then could you tell him I’ll come again at this time tomorrow?”
“Pardon? Again?”
“Yes.”
“Ah, understood.”
Luzbel decided to wait until Jeron’s heart softened.
He didn’t think there was any need to be impatient. He could force a conversation if he acted recklessly, but it didn’t seem like Jeron would accept that approach.
Because he and Edith were different.
***
Edith calculated her future schedule.
Now that she had become the Saint, she had to officially announce it and begin restoring the weather.
On top of that, she also had to deal with Aisha and Lisellon.
Approaching the sorcery side was more difficult than expected.
Above all, if she touched the wrong nerve, the other side might notice, so she had to be extremely careful.
She began by investigating all the sorcerers in the Capital.
“Edson, is this man the easiest target?”
“Yes. His personality is also boastful, so approaching him should not be difficult. If you humor him a bit, he will probably start talking on his own.”
Among them, they first found someone who needed money urgently.
Edson was a sorcerer, but during the day he worked doing odd jobs at a merchant company. It seemed there were quite a few sorcerers who worked two jobs.
“Do you know what his position is like among the sorcerers?”
“…Not that much… But he doesn’t seem to be of high rank.”
Well, Lisellon wouldn’t entrust important responsibilities to someone boastful and loose-lipped.
Also, since they didn’t know how the sorcerers’ hierarchy was structured, they had no choice but to approach them based on rough judgment.
Honestly, it didn’t seem likely that someone of high rank would be working two jobs.
But most of those who currently seemed easy to approach were people struggling to make ends meet and working two jobs.
“We are the ones in a hurry.”
“Yes…”
“Let us assign someone to watch him.”
Something might come out of it.
But assigning people to multiple sorcerers would be too risky.
They would target just one.
“It would be nice if we could figure out their hierarchy. There must be someone at the top.”
“I will look into it.”
“Yes.”
“More importantly, I heard Jeron turned you away at the door.”
“…Has the rumor spread that far?”
“What is there that I would not know? Especially when it concerns Jeron.”
“Did he tell you?”
“I asked him.”
Since that day, Jeron had begun to thoroughly exclude Luzbel.
It had seemed like he was slowly letting him get closer, but that was now completely gone.
Jeron had always known.
That Luzbel didn’t hold any great affection for him.
And that the reason for it had been Aisha.
But now he learned that Aisha was nothing, and merely the perpetrator.
If she had at least been his real mother, he might have been able to understand.
But to learn she was nothing more than a complete stranger—it seemed to have reopened all the wounds he had endured.
“Tsk tsk…”
Of course, Luzbel was also a victim.
There were many who had suffered because of Aisha.
But it was also true that Luzbel had done wrong, so she couldn’t take his side unconditionally.
The only true victim here was Jeron.
Thinking that made her sad. What crime had that child committed to deserve this?
“…That is harsh. I am already upset, and you are clicking your tongue at me…”
“It is all the result of your own actions.”
“…I know…”
Luzbel lowered his head deeply.
“I want our whole family to smile together again as soon as possible, so make sure you succeed, even if it is just one word.”
“I will, even if you did not tell me to.”
“You will go again today, right?”
“Yes. I will keep going until he opens the door, so do not worry. More importantly, are you going?”
“I should go too.”
“Yes…”
Recently, Edith had truly been trying to spend more time with her family.
Because once she went to the Valencia Duchy, she would be stuck closely with Luzbel for a long time.
More than anything, she wanted to give Luzbel time to focus more on Jeron than on herself.
***
Knock knock.
After knocking on the door and entering, the Duke’s face lit up brightly when he saw Edith.
“My daughter~”
“I came because I missed you.”
“Mm, that’s a nice thing to hear.”
As if savoring the words, the Duke slowly closed his eyes and stretched his neck out slightly.
“What were you doing?”
“I was working. But your timing is good, I just finished.”
“Really?”
“Of course.”
Recently, both the Duke and Theo had been working from home to spend time with Edith.
Theo had also temporarily paused his research, so he was often seen wandering around the main building.
“That man—no, Duke Valencia?”
“He went to see Jeron.”
The Duke narrowed his eyes sharply toward the door as if expecting him to appear at any moment, but when he heard he had already left, his expression finally softened.
“Do not be so wary. Isn’t he kind of cute?”
“…Cute? What’s cute about that big, dark-grown man?”
The Duke’s mouth fell open as if he had just heard the most shocking thing in the world.
No matter how he thought about it, Duke Valencia and the word ‘cute’ were worlds apart.
