119.
After confirming the invitation from the former imperial princess, I immediately began writing a reply.
“Are you really going?”
“I’ll ask for permission first.”
Even after Frien turned his steps toward the temple, Jaka, who had spent quite some time arguing with Julie at the mansion entrance, looked especially exhausted.
In the end, it was only settled after I stepped in to mediate, and Julie seemed to feel properly betrayed because I had taken Jaka’s side.
‘But it’s not as if I can throw someone out overnight.’
As I rubbed my forehead with my fingertips against a faint headache, Jaka leaned askew against the desk where I sat and continued the conversation.
“And after you get permission?”
“I’ll attend the banquet.”
“Won’t you just end up getting cursed at for no reason? You don’t even know what might happen there.”
In a way, it was perfect timing. After all, whenever I left him behind, Jaka acted like a puppy seeing its owner off.
I shrugged and said,
“It’s fine. We’ll all be attending together.”
“……All together?”
Before I could even open my mouth, Jaka pressed me again.
“Do you mean that the four people involved are going to attend the banquet together?”
“Yes. So you should get ready too.”
I stamped my seal on the letter and sealed it, grinning broadly.
* * *
Smack.
Frien’s head snapped to the side. His cheek flushed red in an instant.
“You pathetic fool.”
The archbishop raised his hand as if to strike him once more, but was barely calmed by the people around him who tried to stop him.
“A man who bears the title of a knight of the temple falls victim to a heretic’s potion? And you’ve hidden that fact until now?”
“I was investigating it.”
“Who was? You, when you can’t possibly be in your right mind anymore? Or that woman who must have arranged for the potion?”
“This was not the Baron’s doing.”
“We’ll know that once we bring her in and interrogate her.”
Frien, who had kept his eyes lowered the entire time as if acknowledging his mistake, slowly raised his head at those words.
Beautiful silver hair, features even more beautiful than that—and at the pinnacle of that appearance, which always made one feel something strangely unfamiliar, were his crimson eyes.
And now, those eyes were staring directly at the bishop.
With a gaze far too chilling to be aimed at the bishop who had kept him alive until now—who, in some ways, was no different from a benefactor.
“……I haven’t even decided to execute her, and this is how you react merely because I said I would bring her in for questioning?”
As veins rose once again at the bishop’s temple, the surrounding priests hurriedly clung to his robes.
“Please calm yourself!”
“You’ll harm your health!”
“Sir, are you not in a state where you cannot think properly right now?”
Around Frien, too, fellow holy knights had taken up positions before anyone noticed, in a manner that could not be told apart from guarding or surveillance.
Frien brushed once over his split lip and frowned slightly.
When he returned, he would have to show his face to the Baron; if he went back looking like this, it would be as good as admitting that something had happened.
A faint light hovered around his fingertips, and the lip that had seemed about to scab over returned to being clean and smooth.
Everyone knew well enough that the divine power he possessed was exceptionally great, but those who witnessed him so casually using it on such a trivial wound could not close their mouths.
As expected, Frien Izanar was of an entirely different caliber, enough that the bishop had personally brought him into the temple and kept him close.
That was why no one present had expected someone like him to cause such a grave problem, and to make matters worse, there was no sign that it would be easily resolved.
“……Have I not reported to you continuously all this time? The Baron has no connection to the heretics.”
Frien’s voice was growing colder by the moment, just as it did when he stood before heretics.
“If anything, I told you she was an ally of the temple. Is that not enough?”
“I cannot trust you, so your reports up to now must be considered invalid! Now we must learn, down to the last detail, what else you’ve been hiding from us.”
“Then ask me. Would that not suffice?”
“Bishop.”
One priest called to the bishop in a low voice and grasped his sleeve.
The bishop knew better than anyone that Frien Izanar’s faith was founded upon his desire for revenge against heretics.
He was a man who hated, to the roots of his being, the heretics who had taken his family’s lives overnight.
To carelessly touch the person who was clearly most precious to such a man right now was……
nothing less than a poor move that would bring the temple no benefit. Unless they had decided to cast Frien aside and execute him as he was, despite how useful he would continue to be in the future.
The moment the bishop’s hesitation became clear, Frien willingly knelt before him of his own accord.
And he unfastened the sword at his waist and set it down on the floor.
“I must return again by dawn tomorrow.”
In other words, he was asking them to finish it before then.
The bishop was so indignant that he did not even want to ask where, exactly, Frien intended to return.
“You know better than anyone how interrogations are carried out.”
“…….”
Even at that final warning, there was not the slightest tremor in Frien’s expression.
With a hardened face, the bishop gave the order.
“Take him to the interrogation room.”
* * *
As usual, even at the tea party hosted by Meriana Peregrine, rumors made their presence known.
“My lady, have you perhaps heard the news?”
“Why are you trying to sully Lady Meriana’s ears with something like that? Do you think she’s so idle that she needs to hear such rumors?”
“But what can I do when I want to talk about it? Lady Meriana is kind, so she’ll listen even to useless gossip like this.”
The two women who had long stayed by Meriana’s side and catered to her moods began exchanging idle chatter that was no different from any other day.
In this way, they satisfied Meriana’s curiosity about gossip while setting the stage so that her dignity as a ducal lady would not be damaged.
So that even if Meriana showed interest, it could be dismissed as nothing more than “kindness” toward a close young lady.
But today, Meriana’s response was especially meager.
It was not as though she was usually affectionate toward the young ladies she kept with her, but today she was particularly quiet, as if her mind had been drawn elsewhere.
“Um, Meriana?”
“My lady, is something troubling you, by any chance?”
Meriana’s gaze as she turned to the one who had spoken was cold.
The young lady, intuiting that she had misspoken, closed her mouth and adjusted her posture.
“What trouble could Lady Meriana possibly have? You must have been asking because you had some worry you wanted to consult her about, weren’t you?”
The one sitting beside her smoothed over the situation before it was too late. As if they had been waiting for that cue, the people around them burst into bright laughter.
Meriana lifted the corners of her mouth ever so slightly and smiled faintly.
Those seated close by secretly let out sighs of relief inwardly, their faces still covered in smiles.
And when Meriana set down her teacup, everyone turned their attention to the ducal lady as if accustomed to doing so.
“The reason I invited all of you here today is…… because I have good news I wanted to tell you first.”
A faint smile lingered around Meriana’s lips.
“Good news?”
Those who had been looking at one another in bewilderment suddenly had exclamation marks appear on their faces.
“Oh my, could it be……?”
“Goodness!”
“Congratulations!”
As if in conscious response to the rampant rumors outside about Anastasia Roxan and three men, the good news that flowed from Meriana Peregrine’s lips was, quite literally, a fresh wind that would strike high society.
“Fortunately, the elders of our families have given their permission, so we have decided to hold the ceremony this autumn.”
“Oh my!”
The wedding date of Meriana Peregrine and Rohwinas Kanesion had finally been set.
“Mm, I think I’ll be busy preparing for the wedding from now on.”
As Meriana said that, a smile spread across her face.
Her bewitching yet even pure, picture-perfectly beautiful face was as composed as though she had prepared it in advance.
* * *
“I cannot help but think it might have been better to announce it at a more appropriate time…”
His adjutant’s words were exceedingly cautious, but Rohwinas could easily guess what he truly wished to say.
‘Meriana Peregrine leaked the wedding date to the public without even consulting Rohwinas, the other party involved.’
But he did not have the courage to point out his superior’s “future spouse” in front of that very superior.
Rohwinas let out a soft laugh.
Ever since he had returned from meeting Rogiche, the movements of the two families, which had once been lukewarm, had changed so drastically as to be blatant.
His own father had always been favorably disposed toward his third son’s marriage, so that was one thing. But it had briefly surprised him that the stiff old Duke Peregrine had truly decided to hand over his only granddaughter to the third son of the Kanesion family.
But if all of this was not the old man’s will, but Rogiche Peregrine’s, then many things became clear.
And that also meant the Peregrine family had long since fallen into the hands of a man who had merely been playing the role of “heir.”
As Rohwinas remained silent, a shadow gradually fell over his adjutant’s face as well.
“Moreover, the wedding date has not even been properly discussed yet. If things proceed like this…”
“Just leave it be.”
The adjutant hesitated for a moment, then asked in a voice braced with resolve.
“Do you truly intend to marry her?”
“…Why? It has been quite some time since we became engaged. What is strange about lovers getting married?”
Rohwinas answered as if it were nothing and took out a fresh cigarette, placing it between his lips.
The office was already thick with smoke.
Perhaps long accustomed to it, the adjutant did not so much as let out a small cough.
“But…”
Silence settled over the office. Rohwinas, who had lowered his head and was pressing at his brow bone, opened his mouth.
“Just say it. At least today, I won’t find fault with anything you say.”
After carefully studying Rohwinas’s complexion, the adjutant finally answered briefly in a very low voice.
“…You seem unhappy.”
At those words, the corners of Rohwinas’s mouth quietly curved upward.
Even his adjutant had known it well.
For some reason, it was amusing that he himself had been the only one who had failed to realize it until now.