TFVWMMF 66

Chapter  66

Angellus carefully drew ten cards.

“How is it? Only good cards came out, right? There’s no way anything bad could appear.”

“Hm…”

Instead of answering, Everett let out a low, short hum with a grave expression.
It wasn’t an act for Angellus’ sake.
The truth was, every card drawn carried meanings so bad that it should’ve been impossible to pull them all at once.

“Why are you dragging it out? You told me to draw ten cards, but now you can’t even read them?”

Angellus’ voice sharpened, as she disliked waiting.
Everett was hesitating over how to interpret the spread.
Too many people had already been cut to pieces by Angellus’ sharp tongue and left crying.

“…Lady Angellus, I’m afraid marriage will be difficult for you.”

“What?”

The woman, who had been leaning lazily, shot upright.

“What kind of nonsense is that? Why would I have trouble getting married?”

It was the very line Angellus herself often threw at other young ladies.

“Shocking and insulting to hear, isn’t it?”

While Angellus flushed red and pale in turns, a faint smile crept onto Everett’s lips.

“Please don’t be upset. I didn’t mean it in the way you’re thinking.”

Unless Everett gave a reasonable explanation, Angellus looked ready to grab her by the hair.

“You’re not the kind of woman to be satisfied with just one man, are you?”

At Everett’s meaningful smile, one corner of Angellus’ mouth curled slyly.

“That’s right. How could someone as beautiful as me be satisfied with only one man?”

“There are always countless men surrounding you, watching you.”

Angellus, pleased, threw her head back and laughed.

“They all want my attention.”

“But once bound by marriage… are you confident you could handle that?”

“It would be difficult. But, fortune-teller, wouldn’t it depend on whom I marry?”

Angellus leaned forward, lowering her voice.

“Kyle Sowe Bartmann.”

Everett’s pupils trembled.

“Do you mean… Duke Kyle?”

“Yes, Kyle. Only a man like him could handle me, the greatest woman in the empire. Well? Doesn’t that change the result?”

Everett tilted his head and asked,

“But Lady Angellus, isn’t the banquet scheduled for next week?”

“That kind of formal banquet doesn’t matter. The Emperor has already chosen me as Kyle’s bride.”

She didn’t utter the word “saintess,” but she spoke without hesitation.

So she pulled some strings.

Everett’s eyes turned cold.

“I see… The noble ladies seemed to care a great deal about that banquet, though.”

Angellus scoffed.

“Tell them to come dressed up. The more dazzling and plentiful the bridesmaids, the better.”

Arrogant and beautiful Angellus.
When Everett first saw her at the temple, he couldn’t take his eyes off her.
Her appearance and holy aura suited the pure white temple too perfectly.
At that moment, Everett had thought he should leave the capital sooner.

But Angellus’ arrogance and spite gradually tarnished her beauty.
Now her questions were nothing but pointless chatter.
From the start, this visit had been less about interpretation and more about testing Everett’s skill.

“No wonder you’re rumored to be the capital’s greatest fortune-teller.”

“I’m glad you’re satisfied.”

“I can see why everyone seeks you out.”

“You flatter me.”

Angellus lowered her gaze and studied Everett’s tarot cards.

“Using these messy drawings, ones that don’t even look like anything… and yet you still predict so well.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Rising from her seat, Angellus pulled a small pouch from her bag.

“You’ve already paid the consultation fee in full.”

“I know. This is extra, because I’m satisfied.”

The pouch hit the table with a heavy thud.

“You’re probably too busy for me to see you again, huh?”

“Please contact me anytime. If Lady Angellus wishes to come, I’ll make time no matter what.”

Angellus wagged her finger playfully at him.

“See? You’re so good at saying just the right things to please me.”

Just before leaving the tarot shop, Angellus turned back and asked,

“Do you carry those cards with you?”

“No. I keep them here.”

She shrugged lightly, then left without another word.

“Milady, did you enjoy your talk with the fortune-teller?”

Inside the carriage, Hugo sat across from Angellus.
Her expression instantly hardened.

“He’s good.”

“Pardon?”

“So good it makes me want to scream.”

“I see.”

“Those childish scribbles on his cards irritate me.”

Hugo only nodded once.

“That thing he calls tarot cards… I want them destroyed.”

Angellus stared at the receding shop.

“I don’t like that shabby building either.”

A faint smile crossed Hugo’s lips.

“I’ll take care of it.”

“Everett, do we really have to go in here?”

Kyle asked again, standing before a dark stairway leading underground.
Everett only chuckled faintly in response and headed straight down.

Besides the jewelry shop entrance, there was another way into the tarot shop—
a secret passage only Everett used.
When holding consultations, he often used this passage instead of the jewelry shop.

“So you go through the Kuna Tavern, slip into the back alley…?”

“Yes, and then you enter the Kuna workshop next door. In the corner, there’s a hidden door leading down here.”

Everett pointed at the way they had just come.

“Was the basement built on purpose?”

“No. It was used as storage by the previous shop. I only knocked through the wall between the two buildings.”

Unlocking one door revealed yet another.

“This is the Naaz Salon, managed by Madame Shallet.”

When Everett pulled aside the thick curtains, a space appeared that was so cozy and splendid, you’d never believe it was underground.
Kyle let out a short exclamation of surprise.

“And in the kitchen over there, there’s another staircase leading up. That’s the one everyone else uses.”

“No wonder no one realized you were Naaz—you slip in and out this way.”

Kyle sat down on a long sofa at the side of the salon.

“Even with these precautions, more and more people keep finding out. That’s the problem.”

“I told you, I’ll never tell.”

Yankeller also knew. Everett almost told Kyle that fact, but swallowed it down.
The more people knew a secret, the less of a secret it became.
It was better if everyone believed only they knew.

“This salon feels exactly like Madame Shallet’s taste.”

“The noble ladies are very pleased. It’s all thanks to her.”

“Every time Alph spends money on the mansion, he grumbles, but seeing this, I guess siblings can’t help being alike.”

Everett set a fragrant cup of tea before Kyle and sat down.

“Thank you, Everett.”

“How did your investigation go?”

“Just as you said, not a single tea leaf shipment enters the palace.”

Everett nodded slightly.

“Recently Alph heard from a maid he planted in the Emperor’s palace—apparently His Majesty always drinks tea after meals.”

“Who serves it to him?”

“No one.”

“…Pardon?”

“Neither maids nor attendants bring tea to the Emperor.”

“Then it must be someone from outside, or someone who visits without being noticed.”

“Exactly. The problem is finding how they get in…”

“I heard there’s a secret passage in the imperial palace. You didn’t know, Lord Kyle?”

“A secret passage?”

“Yes. When the palace was first built, Emperor Ruber supposedly ordered it constructed.”

“Where did you read that?”

“Not in history books, but in a novel-like work. There was a passage that went like this…”

When Raido became king, he could not forget Ansuz.
The nobles pressured him to marry the daughter of a family that had greatly contributed to the founding of the empire.
Those who knew it was thanks to Ansuz’s prophecy that they won the war only fueled Raido’s fury.

When Raido heard that Ansuz was leaving for the Forest of the Sage,
he personally ordered a secret passage to be built,
so he could leave the palace and meet her.

Everett recited the excerpt slowly.

“So in your view, Raido refers to Emperor Ruber…”

“And the goddess Anish is represented as Ansuz. Even though it’s written as a legend, together with the noblewomen’s stories, it seems certain the passage exists.”

Kyle tilted his head.

“Where did you read this book?”

“In the Imperial Library.”

“But the Imperial Library has far fewer books than the palace library.”

“Well, specifically, it was on the first floor…”

Everett trailed off.

Where did I read it? Wasn’t it in the library? If not a book, then where did I hear it…?

The sentences floated in her mind, she clearly remembered reading them—
yet she couldn’t recall what book it was, or where she had read it.

“Everett?”

Kyle called to her, noticing her sudden blank expression.

“Oh, sorry. I was just trying to remember where I’d read it…”

“You don’t have to recall every book from the palace library. Probably just one I didn’t read carefully.”