Chapter 50
Episode 50. His Unfortunate Marriage
2023.10.20.
Miela placed her hand on the knight's bleeding arm.
A brilliant light emanated from her slender fingertips, soon vanishing. With the light, the rather large wound there disappeared cleanly as well.
Miela checked the knight's complexion and the spot where the wound had been before asking,
“Are you alright now?”
“Yes, good as new! Thanks to you, Priestess.”
Miela finished treating the remaining injured and rose. As she looked around as if searching for someone, Delmark's knight commander approached her.
“It's fortuitous that we keep receiving your aid, Priestess. The path here must have been arduous, yet you came—thank you.”
Priestesses with holy power typically handled treating the injured in major and minor incidents in the capital.
Though all duties were taxing, there was one most priestesses were reluctant to undertake: accompanying magical beast subjugations.
The distance to the outbreak sites was far, the danger high, and the number of injured usually substantial.
There was no reason for them to volunteer.
Thus, Delmark's knight commander hadn't even considered that Miela had come along of her own accord.
“No need to thank me. It's my duty.”
Miela smiled at him before asking with expectant eyes,
“By the way, has the Duke not come?”
“He had other matters. Besides, today's beasts weren't particularly dangerous.”
“Ah…… I see.”
Masking her evident disappointment, Miela turned her gaze away—only to widen her eyes upon spotting something.
Amid the knights were things resembling bound tulip roots wriggling about.
“What are those?”
“Ah, the captured young magical beasts. They're normally deep in the forest, but seem to have been swept here by the recent commotion.”
At the word ‘magical beasts,’ Miela's expression hardened in disgust.
“Why didn't you kill them?”
“They're still young, and above all, they help the forest grow. They usually flee at the sight of humans, so they rarely cause harm.”
Having faced countless magical beasts in the north, Delmark's knights knew them inside out.
While Delmark subjugated them aggressively, they spared those beneficial to the forest or non-threatening. The woods provided much, after all.
“We'll release them deep in the forest once we're done here.”
Yet despite his explanation, Miela held firm to her negative stance.
“They're magical beasts all the same, aren't they? They could turn on people anytime.”
“That's true, but……”
“I think it's best not to leave any potential danger from the start. I don't want to see anyone, including you knights, get hurt anymore.”
Worry clouded Miela's clear golden eyes as she stated her opinion calmly.
Faced with those eyes, even the knight commander found it hard to press his view. Besides, she spoke out of concern for them all.
Seeing this, a subordinate signaled to humor her.
The knight commander felt anew the unease of unintended killing but reluctantly ordered,
“……Take them away and dispose of them.”
“I'm sorry. I was being stubborn……”
“No. I fully understand your concern, Priestess. Especially as someone working closest to the injured.”
“Thank you for understanding.”
Miela replied with a radiant smile, as if her earlier worry had never been.
“Then I'll take my leave. God may call me to another task.”
As Miela walked away, whispers rose among the knights.
“An angel, a total angel.”
“Face of an angel, heart of an angel.”
Treating the sick, serving with worry for others—Miela's goodness was a given.
It was the reputation that had clung to her naturally since becoming a priestess.
Miela returned to the temple by carriage.
‘First, a bath.’
As always after fieldwork, she headed to the annex to wash away any foul aura that might cling to her—when nearby murmurs from several people caught her ear.
Turning that way, she saw young noblewomen and ladies gathered under a flowering tree, chatting.
Noblewomen and ladies opening conversational gatherings at the temple during prayers or donations was a common sight.
Especially as spring warmed.
Miela meant to pass indifferently as usual but halted upon overhearing their talk.
“But you two seemed on good terms at the recent banquet.”
The recent banquet referred to the one at the Delmark Duke's residence.
Not being nobility, Miela received no invitation, but she'd picked up details from visiting nobles.
Sensing the topic might lead to Herdin, her instincts stirred.
Hiding by the wall, Miela eavesdropped.
“The Duke isn't one to show such things. He may seem fine outwardly, but inside……”
As the noblewomen and ladies spoke behind fans, Rachel—who had quietly listened after raising the topic—spoke slyly.
“From what I saw up close, Blair…… no, the Duchess seems quite obsessive toward the Duke. Anxious whenever his eyes met another woman's.”
The name ‘Blair’ rang clearly in Miela's ears.
“Oh my. Isn't that jealousy?”
“Perhaps. The Duchess has always been overly attached to what she considers hers since childhood. She was quite fixated on me too.”
“Lady Seldon must have had it hard.”
“No. As her longtime friend and family, I pity and understand her……”
Rachel spoke as if genuinely sympathizing with and worrying for Blair.
Hearing this, the noblewomen and ladies pitied Rachel for enduring such Blair, then turned to fretting for Herdin.
“If the Duchess restrains him so, the Duke must feel suffocated. Even Lady Seldon noticed—if she does that before her, imagine before the Duke himself.”
“The Duke is truly unfortunate. Returning as a national hero, only to wed the imperial family—practically enemies.”
“Exactly. Someone of his stature could have married any lady he fancied.”
Realizing many ears might overhear, they dispersed one by one, claiming other business. Miela, who had listened, quietly turned away.
Mulling their words, Herdin naturally came to mind.
A man indifferent and cold in all things.
Yet from the first moment she saw him, Miela felt her world shake to its core.
As if God had made her—and all creation—to love him.
‘How could one not love such a man?’
Miela had fallen for him at first sight, as if following divine will.
But he was a man already pledged to another before God.
Miela harbored no desire to interfere. Even unrequited, gazing from afar sufficed.
She wished only for his happiness.
But if he were unhappy?
If that unhappiness stemmed from marriage?
Miela knew well the enmity between the imperial family and Delmark.
If that long-standing grudge had made him so cold and arid now……
‘Marriage to the princess is too harsh for him.’
She held no grudge against Blair, but grew to resent the one making him miserable.
Whether the noblewomen's chatter held truth was unknowable—rumors often fabricated from nothing.
But one thing was certain.
Blair, who accepted marriage to him knowing the past enmity, was a bad person.
Miela pondered.
‘Is there a way I can save the Duke from this unfortunate marriage?’
* * *
“Shall we end here for today?”
Agnes and Blair finished tea time and exited the greenhouse.
With the weather much warmer now, the temperature difference between inside and out was minimal. Sensing it, Agnes remarked,
“It's truly spring now. Next time, we could have tea outdoors.”
“I'll prepare a spot in the rear garden when the cherry blossoms bloom.”
“Oh, how romantic. The tea will carry the scent of flowers.”
Blair smiled at Agnes's delight, then glanced at the budding cherry tree and recalled something before asking,
“Lady Lorellaine, has he said anything unusual?”
“About what?”
“Regarding hypnosis.”
“Ah, hypnosis. Nothing particular. He seems to think it's still too soon.”
“What do you think?”
“In my view, she's ready to start overcoming the pyrophobia…… But His Excellency must be quite worried about you.”
Agnes had a talent for phrasing even ordinary words to please.
After seeing Agnes off, Blair returned to her bedroom and thought.
‘Herdin's overprotectiveness toward me…… probably stems from guilt over the fireplace incident.’
But that helped her not at all.
Blair gazed blankly out the window.
A light green world blanketed in sprouting buds. Spring was in full bloom.
And the time she conceived Asiel was early summer.
‘I don't have much time left.’
