Chapter 23: Chapter 25

Hestine looked around in relief at the sudden departure of the gaze.

Then she saw a man open the door of the banquet hall and came in.

“That man is… Who is he?”

Hestine was puzzled by the man she had seen for the first time, and at the same time admired his presence.

Despite his gentle face, he had an air of sharpness.

People were slowly avoiding him, as if they were running away with a time bomb.

The man walked leisurely through the crowd and finally stopped in front of Hestine.

“Oh, hello……?”

“It is an honor to greet you first. Saint”

“You know me?”

“Of course. You’re probably the most famous person in the empire right now.”

Hestine’s cheeks blushed in the sweet man’s voice.

Hestine forgot the sharp atmosphere the man had and smiled shyly.

“Why did the owner of the ivory tower come all the way here?”

The Duke of Valkyr, who was looking at them quietly, blocked Hestine in front of him and asked.

The Duke’s eyes were full of vigilance.

“Oh, dear. You don’t have to be so nervous. I was just wondering who the saint was that made the whole empire tumultuous.”

The man said so, and looked at Hestine, who was hiding behind the Duke.

Hestine, who was holding her breath in the brutal atmosphere of the two men, shivered.

“I’m late to introduce myself. My name is Yohan, the owner of the ivory tower.”

“Good morning, Yohan-nim….”

Hestine tilted her head as if she didn’t know what to call him.

At this, Yohan smiled softly and said he didn’t mind calling me anything.

“If you’re done introducing yourself, would you excuse yourself?”

“Oh, Father…….”

Hestine called the duke carefully in a somewhat rude manner.

He was a duke who would have comforted Hestine, who was usually anxious.

But this time it was different. He stared at the owner of the ivory tower with a lot of thorns.

“Ha-ha. I didn’t know that the duke hated me so much.”

“Father, I’m fine. If you are the owner of the ivory tower, are you the sage?”

Hestine stepped forward and asked Yohan,

The Duke’s forehead wrinkled for a moment at Hestine’s action.

“Yes. That’s right. I’m ashamed to say but I am the sage.”

“Oh, my. It’s an honor to meet you!”

“It is my honor to meet the lady of the prophecy. Can you perhaps show me the symbol of God?”

The duke tried to reject the request, but Hestine acted faster.

Hestine held out her left hand without hesitation.

“…….”

Contrary to expectations, Hestine tilted her head at John’s behavior of staring at the pattern without saying anything.

“Is there anything wrong?”

“No. It’s very beautiful, isn’t it?”

John looked away from the pattern and shook his head with a gentle smile.

Hestine swept away her heart, which had been shriveled with tension.

“I would like to see the miracle of the saint with my own eyes one day.”

“Oh… “

“If you don’t mind, would you give me a chance to join your Expedition?”

At an unexpected request, Hestine opened her eyes wide and looked at the Duke.

The duke was also perplexed.

He who hates moving far away from the ivory tower wants to join the expedition. He’s up to something.

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“Thank you, but I refuse.”

The duke flatly refused John’s request. As a result, Yohan nodded, drooping his eyebrows as if he was disappointed.

“Oh, dear. I’m afraid I can’t help it. If you change your mind, please feel free to tell me, saint. I’m leaving now.”

Shortly after entering the banquet hall, Yohan leisurely left.

Berkian quietly asked the duke, watching the owner of the ivory tower leave.

“Wouldn’t it be better to bring him in too?”

The duke gave a brief click of his tongue at his stupid son’s question.

“Certainly, it would be easier to get him involved, but you never know when he’ll stab us in the back. I can’t let my guard down. We’ll have to wait and see.”

“…I didn’t think much about it.”

“Well, I’m going back now, so you stay here and help Hestine.”

“Leave it to me,”

The duke left Hestine with his son.

Hestine suddenly looked at Duke Valkyr leaving the banquet hall and asked Berkian,

“Father……?”

“He said he was tired, so he would go in first. Don’t worry about it.”

“…yes,”

She felt sorry for it, but she couldn’t hold on to a tired man.

Hestine decided to forget about the Duke for a moment and enjoy the celebration.

Thus, the night of celebrating the victory of the saint grew deeper.

***

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Adelia sighed, rubbing her stiff eyes.

“Ha… I can hardly see the end.”

Seeing the names of the families written in small letters, she really wanted to go to sleep right away.

But Adelia could not stop halfway.

This is because the Grand Duke wanted to decide what title to give her before he left for the capital.

‘I have to get this done at once.’

Adelia gently massaged her stiff shoulder muscles and looked back at the scroll.

A sigh came out of her mouth at the feast of letters.

“Laylock, Schmidt, Ballonso, Geppel, Valita…….”

There was no name that caught my attention.

As soon as she continued to check the pseudonym, the word “Rohen” was stuck in Adelia’s eyes.

“Rohen…”

It was a place where my small but harmonious daily life continued, but my little nest disappeared in vain.

Adelia repeated the name that had disappeared overnight.

There was no castle named Rohen.

However, the castle of the noble family, which had long ruled the Rohen area, was now written in a scroll, with no place to go.

“Yurpeon,”

It didn’t sound bad, and it wasn’t a name with remarkable achievements.

It was a name that could continue without a presence somewhere in the province.

“That’s not bad enough,”

That moment Adelia made a decision.

There was no need to look for another name.

Adelia rolled up the weary scroll again, placed it on the table, and left it on the bedside.

The duke will leave at dawn, she had to get up before that.

‘I’m just going to lie down…….’

She closed my eyes for a while and when she opened it was morning.

The snowy Duchy was truly spectacular.

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“Is it really this beautiful when it snows?”

Large grains of snow were falling at moderate speed.

It was as if a pearl had fallen on a white carpet wrapped in the wind.

Adelia had been preoccupied with the unrealistic sight for a while.

“Oh, dear. I’m going to be late at this rate.”

Adelia, who came to her senses late, put her shawl on her shoulder and hurried to the front door.

Fortunately, Adelia had just come across Ivan, who was about to leave the castle.

“Your Highness,”

At Adelia’s call, Ivan’s eyes turned to her.

“I think it’s too early for you to get out of bed.”

“I wanted to see you off.”

A pleasant smile appeared on Ivan’s face at the word ‘see you off’.

“Did you decide?”

“Yes. Yurpeon. Yurpeon would be good.”

Ivan’s eyes widened when he heard the name that came out of Adelia’s mouth.

“That’s the name of the family that ruled the Rohen region. Not bad.”

Adelia nodded softly as if she agreed with Ivan.

“Liam. Keep the papers ready. I’ll fix it as soon as I get back from the capital.”

“I understand, Your Highness,”

“Thank you,”

“You’re welcome,”

Ivan shrugged his shoulders lightly and got into the carriage.

“Let’s go,”

At the end of the coachman’s horse, the carriage began to move.

Adelia turned away as she watched the carriages moving farther away.

Then I met Emily, rubbing her sleepy eyes.

“Emily, have you woken up yet?”

“Yes, lady. I woke up and found my lady.”

Adelia felt sorry for her.

“Come here, Emily,”

At Adelia’s words, Emily rushed to her arms.

Adelia kept Emily in her arms and comforted her for a while.

“It’s cold. Why don’t you eat your breakfast in the dining room?”

At Liam’s words Adelia belatedly realized that a cold energy was surrounding her.

“Are you hungry, Emily? Let’s go eat now.”

“Yes…,”

A gentle smile came to Liam’s mouth as they looked like sisters with a big age gap.

“I’ll show you around.”

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Adelia and Emily were astonished to see the table was so splendid.

“Can I eat this?”

Emily asked in a skeptical voice at the feast of food she had never seen before.

Liam answered Emily’s question with a gentle smile.

“Of course. Sweet desserts are also available, you can eat as much as you want after every meal.”

“De, dessert…!”

Emily’s ears pricked up at the sound of dessert.

Soon Emily turned away and looked eagerly at Adelia.

She looked at her with a face asking whether she could eat the precious thing.

‘Come to think of it, Emily always wanted to eat dessert.’

One of Emily’s favorite books was a cooking magazine called Madame Demetri’s Dinner.

Emily always glistened at the illustrations in the magazine.

Adelia smiled bitterly at the thought of Emily’s expression.

“You may eat as much as you like,”

“Thank you!”

Adelia folded her hand gently at Emily’s bright smile, which she had not seen in a long time.

I wish that smile would never leave Emily.