.jpg)
Riet had a person she wanted to show such people at least once. That person was Grand Duke Yvette Lacheize.
Grand Duke Lacheize’s reaction upon hearing the news of Wind Rock Monastery from Riet was generally the same as Abbot Wilbert’s. Though the way she expressed it was quite different.
“Well done! I knew Rahan would pull it off for me again! Wait. But that means those fucking mages are back, right?”
To think the way of being joyful and falling into grief simultaneously could be so different.
Riet smiled inwardly. Compared to Grand Duke Yvette Lacheize, the Abbot of Wind Rock Monastery was a very dignified and elegant person.
Of course, that didn't mean Riet wanted to serve Abbot Wilbert instead of Grand Duke Lacheize. Because the virtue of a superior is not dignity.
“Pepin.”
“Yes.”
“Immediately send messenger pigeons to the monasteries in the Grand Duchy by region. Tell them if they don't all rush out to eradicate the Potato Blight, there will be no donations this year.”
“Yes.”
“Also tell them to make sure they take a pouch of Holy Relics with them and pretend it's a special cure for the Potato Blight, or there will be no donations next year either.”
“Understood.”
The adjutant, Pepin, bowed and left quickly. The Grand Duke gestured with her chin toward Riet.
“Speak.”
Riet was baffled. She did have something to say separately without Pepin, but how did she know?
However, it seemed Grand Duke Lacheize had seen through even Riet’s doubt.
“You didn't even greet your sister and just kept staring at me like a puppy that needs to pee; how could I not know?”
Pepin was Riet’s stepsister. Riet lamented.
“Damn. I wonder if sister noticed too?”
“Ask her when you go out. So?”
In truth, until the Grand Duke pressed her like this, Riet had not yet made a decision. Whether to tell her about Rahan or not.
Riet was a knight closer to the physical than the intellectual, but she was still the Grand Duke’s knight. Which meant she knew how to think.
She had also heard the conversation Rahan had with that lizard. And she had concluded that Rahan had some sort of relationship with a demon.
She didn't know if he had contracted with a demon or not. He probably hadn't. Since Rahan had muttered so. Unless he knew others were listening.
‘Wait. But there's no way the Captain didn't know I was approaching?’
Since she didn't know Leviathan had played a prank, Riet became confused. Regardless, even if Rahan hadn't contracted with a demon, it seemed he had indeed borrowed a demon's power.
If so, the problem became larger. Weren't the mages who had nearly brought the Foldenbach Empire to the brink of destruction those who had gained power by contracting with demons?
Rahan had already been suspected of summoning a demon during an expedition once. The reason was that the camp where Rahan stayed smelled of sulfur.
At that time, Riet had been the one to defend Rahan most fervently.
In the end, Rahan was cleared of the charges… but what would happen if this matter became known to the outside?
Above all, what would Yvette Lacheize do with Rahan?
Being associated with a demon was a huge flaw even for Grand Duke Lacheize. Especially if she aimed for the throne.
That was why Riet hesitated. To be precise, it would be more accurate to say she wanted to test Grand Duke Yvette Lacheize.
But with Grand Duke Lacheize being so quick-witted.
‘Who am I to try and test the Grand Duke.’
Riet closed her eyes tight and opened her mouth.
“This and that, uh. It seems the Captain has some sort of connection with a demon.”
As she clumsily explained that there were clearly unusual circumstances, the Grand Duke’s expression, which had been listening with a smirk, changed.
“Riet. What did you say to that priest?”
“…I requested that he keep his mouth shut.”
“And besides that?”
“…I also said that if the Captain didn't speak of it, it was because there was a reason for it.”
Riet said this while watching the Grand Duke’s reaction. It seemed the Grand Duke was reacting more seriously than she had expected.
However, as soon as she finished her last sentence, a smile played on the lips of the Grand Duke, who had been resting her chin on her hand.
“You're not eloquent, but you wrapped it up reasonably well.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. And your heart is my heart as well.”
Grand Duke Lacheize smiled at Riet, who was finally sighing in relief.
“That damn fellow built a temple in Til Nebe Cedric in just six years. I thought it would be impossible unless he sold his soul to a demon. And it seems my thought was correct.”
Was this a joke, or was she serious? Riet smiled awkwardly. But the Grand Duke was sincere.
Til Nebe Cedric. The continent of unbelievers.
The Grand Duke was thirty-two when she decided to build a temple in that place where they wore black iron and believed in their own sages instead of a god.
At that time, there was no other way to obtain the throne by surpassing the first prince, who was still vigorously alive, and Prince Elio, who was not yet twenty.
Because her only allies were the Count Palatine of Bayern and one Elector.
Archbishop Victor, an old man obsessed with money, ordered her to go on an expedition as if he were some noble pilgrim.
In truth, he was receiving enormous bribes from the first prince, but the Archbishop had grown tired of the first prince.
‘If the Grand Duke builds a monastery of Eridrahan in Til Nebe Cedric, I will have sufficient justification to support the Grand Duke.’
The time she expected to spend on that expedition was exactly fifteen years.
It was an expedition she could decide upon because she was wealthy, but once it began, the scale of the money spent was enormous. To the point where she thought it would be better to just pour money into the Kingdom of Belinda.
But Rahan Norwich finished that expedition in six years. Considering he wasted a year and a half because of the ship, he had effectively built the monastery and returned in four and a half years.
It was natural for the Grand Duke to cherish Rahan. A contract with a demon? The Grand Duke would have found it stranger if Rahan had no connection to demons.
“But a problem is a problem. You couldn't… make that person called Priest Marid disappear without a trace, could you?”
Riet was flustered by those words.
“That is, compared to the scale of Wind Rock Monastery, the number of priests….”
“Yes. I heard there are about twenty priests. But you could have disguised it as an accident, couldn't you?”
“Your Excellency.”
The Grand Duke was serious. Riet sighed. In truth, it wasn't that she hadn't thought about getting rid of Priest Marid.
But there was a problem.
“Actually, there is one more thing I haven't reported.”
“What is it?”
“Sir Norwich... has fallen in love.”
This time, the Grand Duke's eyes widened.
“Riet, if you were trying to surprise me, you succeeded.”
“I am not joking.”
Riet squeezed her eyes shut. In truth, she had already caught a general sense of Rahan's feelings before he had spoken to her about Iris.
Rahan had caught Iris as she rushed breathlessly into the monastery to keep her from falling. Furthermore, he had tidied her disheveled hair.
Since when was Rahan Norwich a man who acted so meticulously toward a woman?
That was why, when she went down to the hut to announce their departure, Riet's only thought was to tease Rahan, asking 'how far they had gone.'
However, what greeted her was something unexpected. Reflexively, Riet had almost taken the life of the stunned Priest Marid.
But before she could draw her sword, she remembered that Priest Marid was the one who had practically raised Iris Achen.
“Since when did my knights become so soft?”
The Grand Duke snorted. Riet lowered her head like a sinner, hands behind her back.
“My apologies.”
“No, you made the right call. Rahan doesn't look the part, but if something like that happened, he'd roll around in an endless pit of self-loathing.”
She couldn't let a perfectly good sword rust. The Grand Duke clicked her tongue.
“But I am worried that Rahan might cause an unnecessary misunderstanding there.”
A secret is only a secret if no one knows it. She didn't know what kind of man Priest Marid was, but now that he knew the secret, it was bound to be leaked eventually.
“Besides, just before you arrived, I heard some absolutely wretched news.”
.jpg)