Holy Night: My Husband is Definitely a Paladin - Chapter 291
TL: Elphie / PR: Marm
âWhat kind of disaster is it this time?â
Cynthia entered, grumbling under her breath. Seeing her expression, Irene could already guess.
Something strange had happened again.
âWhat is it?â
âDonât even ask. Our lunch today will be miserable. Actually, we might not even have it all.â
âWhat went missing this time? I thought the fields were already wrecked?â
The Fortressâs vegetable garden had been in ruins for days now, torn apart overnight as if some wild beast had rampaged through it.
And it wasnât just the fields.
It started with Reynaâs potted plants, then moved on to the tree Leona had brought from her hometown. Eventually, even the orchard near the Fortress had been raided, all its fruit stolen in the dead of night.
No one could figure out what kind of animal was responsible. The bite marks were so erratic that there was no clear pattern to identify.
âDid the kitchen itself disappear today?â
âThe kitchenâs fine, but something else disappeared.â
âSomething else?â
Cynthia paused to gather her thoughts before listing them off.
âOlive oil, soybean oil, sunflower seed oil, vinegar, sugar, salt, pepperâŚâ
One after another, she rattled off the names of essential kitchen seasonings.
Irene listened for a while before sighing.
âSo, basically, the entire kitchen may as well have disappeared.â
Even if the cooking equipment remained, losing all the seasonings meant they couldnât make anything properly.
âWho the hell is behind this? Why are they so obsessed with food? And they didnât even touch the meat! What, is the thief a vegetarian or something?â
Cynthia ran a hand roughly through her hair, clearly frustrated.
âThey managed to buy a bit of salt and oil from shops outside the Fortress, but thereâs not much. The kitchen probably wonât be fully functional again for at least two days.â
Her expression remained twisted with irritation as she spoke.
Irene chuckled and patted her on the shoulder.
“Calm down. Letâs just focus on finishing our preparations for the advanced dungeon.”
“You’re right. We should. Weâre leaving tomorrow, after all.”
At the mention of the advanced dungeon, Cynthia finally managed to settle her frustration.
“Come to think of it, we need to pack food, but thatâs another problem⌔
“Cynthia, breathe! Stay calm!”
Irene quickly pacified Cynthia before she could start shaking with anger again. Then, she handed over the documents she had been reviewing.
Since Cynthia enjoyed paperwork, her eyes immediately lit up. She grabbed a pen and began marking names on the list.
“The dungeonâs interior, according to the Eye of Exploration, is divided into three main paths. They all eventually merge back together in the center. This path here doesnât have many monsters, so to maximize efficiency, we should split into three teamsâTeam 1, Team 2, and Team 3âthen regroup at the center.”
As she spoke, Cynthia started assigning the pairs within the group.
Irene also shared her thoughts from the side, and since they had done this countless times before, it didnât take long to finalize the teams.
But today, there was one major issue.
“What do we do about Princess Cecilia?”
“Hmm…”
At the mention of Princess Cecilia, Irene’s brows furrowed.
Cecilia Visconti. A princess and a Grade 1 purifier. Until Irene had arrived at the Fortress, she had possessed the strongest purification abilities among them.
But despite her abilities, she had never been able to earn the trust of others.
“Sheâs such a headache. She wants to join our squad, but no one wants to work with her…”
The purifiers at the Fortress all avoided Cecilia.
And there was a reason for that.
Last year, there had been a string of deaths within Ceciliaâs squad.
Of course, death was nothing unusual for those who risked their lives in dungeons.
The problem was the rumors surrounding those deaths.
“The ones who died were all paired with Princess Ceciliaâs teammates.”
“I heard she killed them and stole their artifacts.”
“If you think about it, not long after, the princess did show up with a new artifact. She claimed it was from the Visconti Kingdom, but⌔
The rumors had only grown stronger.
And then there were those who, upon first arriving at the Fortress, had no choice but to sign extremely one-sided distribution agreements favoring the princess.
Many claimed that this was how she had stolen their artifacts.
In the past, the Fortress might have ignored such accusations.
But as Ireneâs faction grew overwhelmingly powerful, the Fortress had taken this opportunity to demand Cecilia cooperate with an investigation.
During that time, Cecilia had been barred from entering any dungeons.
And now, a year later, since the dead could no longer testify, the charges against the princess had been dropped due to lack of evidence.
But the people’s hearts had not changed.
“If you stay near the princess, who knows when youâll end up dead?”
“Besides, with Ireneâs circle here, why would we ever need to listen to her?”
Now, everyone trusted and followed Irene.
No matter how powerful a purifier the princess was, and no matter how strong her pair, the Visconti knight, there were limits to what just two people could do in a dungeon.
In the end, upon returning to the Fortress this year, Princess Cecilia had bowed her head to Ireneâalmost to the point of humiliation.
And yet, even now, well into autumn, Irene had yet to accept her as an official member of their group.
That was why Cecilia had even gone so far as to bring the Mirror of Truth, desperately trying to win Ireneâs favor.
“Irene, you wouldâve accepted her by now if she were anyone else. You really donât like her, do you?”
At Cynthiaâs murmured words, Irene couldnât say anything in response.
It was true. She disliked Princess Cecilia.
If someone asked her why, she wouldnât be able to give a clear answer.
None of the suspicions surrounding Cecilia had ever been proven.
And yet, Irene felt as though Cecilia had truly committed those crimes.
