Chapter 61
Though what the previous duke had meant to do with those test results he’d taken, he had no clue.
‘…Right. Those damned experiments.’
The priest was no high priest of the capital. He didn’t know the details of the experiments.
Only that the Pope had poured great effort into them, and that the former Duke of Thesseron had taken a deep interest as well.
And that the current Duke of Thesseron had, not long ago, taken one of those painstakingly raised test subjects without a word.
‘What in the world drove him to such a reckless thing. Tsk, tsk.’
The Pope, deeply troubled by the matter, had sent the priest a letter laying out the test subject’s looks in detail, along with the imperial decree.
It was a letter that ran on for many lines, ordering him to get the test subject back no matter what.
Along with the promise that, should he succeed, he would be called not to Thesseron, but to the capital, as a high priest.
Those words had lit a flame in the priest’s long-dead hunger for power.
‘I cannot live out my days cast away in Thesseron like this.’
If he could get to the capital’s temple, a turn in his fortunes was within reach.
The priest’s eyes swept quickly over Lucy’s white hair and black eyes.
A woman whose looks matched the Pope’s detailed description to the last stroke.
This was, without a shred of doubt, the test subject in question.
‘I have to take her back!’
While the priest grit his teeth and strode closer.
‘So that’s what it was.’
Only then did Lucy grasp why Rosendal had called Edward away so urgently.
Because this was, in truth, a full-on emergency!
‘No, you could have told me too instead of just leaving me behind!’
If he had, she would have holed up in her room from the start, library or no library!
But now that they had crossed paths, it was already too late.
Though shaking inside, Lucy answered with a calm face.
“And who might you be, sir?”
“S-Sir?”
“I have a hard time remembering people who aren’t good-looking. Are we acquainted?”
At those words, the priest’s face went red.
But his steps did not stop.
“…Hmph! Petty feelings like that don’t matter before the greater cause.”
“The greater cause?”
“You know your sins well enough…”
“Sins? What crime did I commit?”
Was being a test subject enough to make her a criminal?
She put on a puzzled look, as if she truly couldn’t understand…
“No matter how you try to squirm out of it, it’s no use!”
A rough hand, hot with excitement, shot toward Lucy.
She had steeled herself, thinking something like this might come someday. But the sight of that hand trying to drag her off by force made her heart drop with a thud.
‘What do I do?’
How was she supposed to get out of this?
Lucy was stepping back, cold sweat running inside, and the priest was just about to snatch her arm with a proud look on his face. That exact moment.
Smack!
“Argh!”
A loud crack rang out, like a drum tearing.
Right after, the priest stumbled back, gripping his stinging hand.
“Wh-What is… Duke?”
“…”
Lucy stared blankly at the arm that had blocked her way.
That arm, so hard and strong and thick, had wound around Lucy’s body far more gently than she’d thought it would.
She looked up. Edward was already there beside her.
Soon, his fine lips spread into a wide smile.
He was smiling, but anyone could tell he was anything but pleased.
“To think a temple priest, of all people… has such filthy hands.”
“Wh-What do you mean by that!”
“Coming all the way to the ducal castle and laying your hands on another man’s woman.”
“…!”
“I’ve heard talk now and then that the temple’s gone rotten. But is it really all right to be so open about it?”
The priest, who had stood there blank, started thrashing like a poisoned roach the moment he caught on to what kind of slight he was under.
“What are you saying! Not only did you throw me out into the hall, now you insult the temple with such words!”
“What? I can’t hear you. You’re too ugly.”
“Your Grace!”
“You were ugly to begin with, and now greed’s piled on to make you uglier still.”
At the open jab, the priest’s face went red to the very top of his brow.
“Wh-When Lady Sepina hears of this…!”
The priest burst out with all his might, but Edward stayed calm.
“When she hears of it, what?”
“…!”
“Then she’ll cut you off.”
Not me.
At that short reply, the priest’s face drained white in a flash.
He didn’t want to own it, but…
Truthfully, that was likely what would happen.
The Pope had long wanted to rein in Edward, the incarnation, but he had yet to get what he wanted.
So at times, he chose to bend to Edward on purpose.
At least until Edward and Sepina were wed and the leash was properly fastened. Until then, the odds were high he would take Edward’s side.
If, at some other time, Edward and himself were set against each other, he would side with Edward as a matter of course.
…But this time, the priest had something to lean on too.
The priest forced his face to settle and yelled.
“Ha! That was not why I put my hands on that woman!”
“Then why?”
“Do you ask because you truly don’t know!”
Up close, the round woman’s arms showed the injection marks so often seen on test subjects, clear as day.
Anyone could see this was the test subject the Pope was looking for!
The very woman Edward was said to have taken without a word of discussion!
“I will not press you on why you did such a thing. For His Holiness the Pope is merciful.”
“…”
“Duke Edward Le Thesseron. Even now, if you hand that woman back to the temple…”
Swish.
The hard arm stopped the priest again as he tried to step toward the woman.
“Hand back, you say.”
“…”
“Is it temple courtesy to talk of a proper young lady like she’s a thing?”
Flash.
With the cold voice, fiery red eyes swept over the priest.
‘Urk…!’
The priest felt the backs of his knees go numb under the sudden weight.
He had nearly wet himself, at his age, in front of all these watching eyes.
A dragon incarnation was an incarnation indeed.
He hadn’t drawn a blade, hadn’t made a single threat.
And yet, just by looking at him, his whole body felt like it was being pressed flat.
As if he stood before something vast and far beyond him.
And that was not all.
“Your Grace. What is the matter?”
“Is there something we can help with?”
From the wide-open reception room, the duke’s aides came spilling out.
They took in the standoff between Edward and the priest, and with no questions asked, they began to close in with hard looks on their faces.
“An envoy of the temple dares raise his voice in the Ducal Castle of Thesseron?”
“He seems to have mistaken this place for the capital.”
The force with which they approached was fierce beyond measure.
It was plain that if he so much as twitched, their swords would be drawn.
The priest ground his teeth.
‘…But I cannot step back!’
Didn’t his one shot at rising in rank rest on this?
Swish.
The priest’s eyes met the woman’s black ones. She had been wavering, at a loss, for a while now.
‘If it comes to that, I’ll reach out to the Thesseron temple… I’ll call up the holy knights if I have to, but I’ll take that woman!’
It wasn’t that he felt no fear at crossing Edward.
But the right was on his side, plain and simple.
And Edward had taken the temple’s test subject by force. That fact would not change, no matter how much he fought it.
‘Yes! They don’t even have a proper claim to hold the test subject, do they!’
This was a fight he was bound to win.
With that thought alone, the priest gathered his strength and bellowed.
“Duke Thesseron! Why in the world are you acting this way! If you mean to make an enemy of the temple over this…!”
The priest was shouting, about to jab his finger at Lucy.
It was right then.
“…Help me, darling!”
With a shout just as loud as the priest’s, Lucy suddenly threw herself into Edward’s arms.
Darling, darling, darling…
Her voice, pitched with force, rang down the hall.
Erica
Omg YESSSSSSSSSS!!!!! They keep talking about âclaimâ, but what âclaimâ do they have? This world clearly doesnât allow for slaves, and itâs not like sheâs a criminal, in fact, isnât the temple and pope the ones who should be called criminals, for locking up and torturing an innocent woman?! No matter what, itâs wrong! They have ABSOLUTELY no claim to her, and I cannot WAIT for the king, pope, and that b* Sephina, to find out that Lucy is his new fiancÊ!