Chapter 56: Chapter 56

Translator: Latte Editor: Sasha

“……”

Elody and Caville were speechless. They couldn’t believe his words.

High Priest Amos immediately wracked his brain for any excuses that would be plausible.

“We kept it for security reasons. We sincerely apologize for causing Your Graces to lose contact with each other. However, considering the situation at that time, please try to understand.”

High Priest Amos braced himself for the worst as Caville looked at the wagons with a menacing stare.

That was a huge amount.

Caville glared at the high priest.

Terrified, Amos immediately made a gesture, ordering the other priests to lay down the supplies in front of the gate.

Even though the space right in front of the gate was full, the priests did not stop moving.

And eventually, due to lack of space, the supplies began to pile up in the corridor.

Caville’s heart felt like it was being ripped to pieces as he stared at the supplies.

“……”

However, unlike Caville, Elody was dubious.

‘Did I send that many…?’

The amount was massive…

She touched the nape of her neck.

“As a token of our apology, please accept this communication device as a gift from the Temple of Thysser,” Amos spoke as politely as possible.

Elody’s eyes widened at his words.

A communication device was a divine magic tool that could only be used by high priests and imperial families.

She heard that there was an outstanding divine magic tool maker in the Thysser Temple that could make that communication device.

Like a modern phone, the device made it possible to communicate with other people over a large distance.

High Priest Amos turned to the curious Elody and presented her a small box.

“May I ask the duchess to check its contents?”

“……”

At his words, Elody carefully opened the box. There were two metal magic tools the size of a palm.

The design was so astonishing that they could even be considered as an ancient artifact.

“Thank you.”

Elody truly liked the gift. She was filled with the desire to take it to the lab and disassemble it.

‘I hope I can succeed in making magic tools too someday…’

Elody also tried to make magic tools, but the results were very sloppy.

All of them were for the red ginseng production, but there were tons of drawbacks such as the machine producing a very loud noise or its size being too large.

Elody called in the servants to lead the priests to the guest rooms.

“I have told the servants to send your luggage to your room tomorrow, so it would be best for you to go in and take a rest first.

“Thank you, duchess.”

High Priest Amos glanced at Caville before following a servant that guided him to his room.

Suddenly, the man who introduced himself as the commander of the paladins stood in front of Elody.

“Your Grace, this is for you as well,” he said as he gave another box to Elody.

‘How did they prepare so many gifts…?’ Elody thought as she opened the box.

“…These are my letters.”

“……”

“Thank you, Sir Theodore. Please come inside and make yourself at home.”

“…Alright.”

Theodore looked like he had tons to say, but soon turned around without uttering a single word.

After the priests and paladins who put down the supplies went to the guest room, only Caville, Elody, and a few servants were left.

“Caville.”

Elody approached Caville, who had been standing there, staring at the accumulated boxes.

“My wife….”

“It’s late, but at least we got it back…”

“…But… I don’t have the heart to forgive the Temple’s actions.”

At Caville’s resolute words, Elody made an awkward look. She was less angry after receiving the magic tool.

“Come on, take this.”

“……”

Caville accepted the box that Elody handed to him.

“What is it?”

“Open it.”

At Elody’s words, Caville opened the box.

“……”

The box was full of envelopes.

It was an enormous amount.

“It would be difficult to read at once. You don’t have to read it because after all, it is already in the past, but… these letters portrayed the feelings that I had wanted to tell you back then.”

“Wife…”

Caville reached out and squeezed Elody’s hand.

Elody stared at Caville’s intense gaze with a perplexed expression.

“I… Wife…”

All of a sudden, Marie approached the two.

“Your Grace, the people from the Temple said that they wanted to rest. What should we do with the banquet?”

“Wrap it up,” Caville answered.

Caville held Elody’s hand and headed for the stairs.

“Caville, wait a minute…” Elody panicked as she followed Caville up the stairs.

He led her to his bedroom.

When Caville suddenly barged into the room with his wife, Ifrit, who was lying in bed, jumped up in surprise.

“……”

Elody was puzzled and confused.

“…I don’t think I’ll feel better even if I kill all of the temple guys right now.”

Caville put the box of letters on the table. It seemed that someone had already read it as the seals were ripped off.

“Caville, please calm down… take it easy. Alright?”

Elody approached Caville and stroked his back.

“……”

“You shouldn’t attack the Temple right now. We could take advantage of this situation.”

Elody hoped that Caville would not make any enemies after she left.

He spent 7 years on the battlefield alone. She just wished he could live a peaceful and happy life after all that…

“Caville…”

“…Alright, wife,” Caville painfully responded.

Had it not been for Elody, he would have cut the necks of the priests on the spot.

“I need a hug.”

“……”

“Can you hold me, wife? Please?”

At Caville’s earnest words, Elody was forced to open her arms to him.

The two enveloped in an embrace. Elody was in his arms, but Caville felt like he was being held by his wife instead.

“Wha… what are you guys doing?” Ifrit, who was on the bed, suddenly spoke.

“……”

Caville beckoned Ifrit to leave as he was hugging his wife.

“W-wait, Caville… I think I should go down now,” Elody said as she pushed his chest and broke the embrace.

“I’ll take care of the banquet, so you can just take a rest.”

“……”

At the end of her words, Elody left the room as if she wanted to run away.

“…Is it my fault?” Ifrit asked while blinking.

Caville just stared at the little puppy with an angry expression.

Elody quickly left the room and went down the stairs, and then stopped walking.

“……”

She took a deep breath and placed her hand on her thumping chest. She felt strange.

She couldn’t figure out why being alone with Caville felt so awkward and uncomfortable.

Maybe it was because they had to divorce soon, or maybe it was because they hadn’t seen each other for a long time…

Nonetheless, her heart was pounding like crazy.

* * *

The banquet was finished after the men from the Temple arrived.

As a result, Princess Larissa and Carolina got very heartbroken and went right back to their room.

And as the knights left the mansion to return to their lodgings…

“What is all this?”

A huge amount of luggage stopped their tracks.

The amount was so large that it piled up from the first-floor hallway all the way to the entrance of the mansion.

The chattering of the knights could be heard throughout the halls.

“What the? Are these gifts from the Temple?”

“It must be for the duke!”

“They must have finally come to their senses!”

Furious, Marie blocked their way and shouted, “These are the medicinal supplies that our madame sent to the battlefield for 7 years!”

“……”

Everyone fell into silence.

“What?”

“All of these?”

The knights began to murmur at the unexpected words.

“The duchess truly cared about the duke! She was worried about him for 7 years!” Marie cried, “These, these medicines… she made them all by herself! You have no idea how expensive these are… It’s probably worth a lot more than all of your salary combined!!!”

“……”

Marie sobbed as all of the resentment she had kept hidden had broken free.

After the war ended and the knights returned, Marie and other servants had been working very hard to explain to the knights that misunderstood the duchess.

However, no matter what she said, the knights wouldn’t listen! They would only say yes to disregarding the truth. In fact, it was irrelevant to them as their thoughts had already been construed in believing what they wanted and nothing else.

In particular, the knights who used to be mercenaries were the worst. They had dismissed their explanations as lies and were too busy criticizing the duchess.

Suddenly, Brien approached Marie.

“M-Marie….”

Marie gritted her teeth and clenched her fists.

“You have no idea how much she’s…! How much…!”

‘How much pain she’s in…!’

The heartache she felt was like an insatiable fire that burnt all the oxygen in her body leaving her listless and empty. However, she couldn’t even confide about it to her lover.

Marie wanted to, she truly did. But she had to hold back. The duchess’s secret was something that should never be said.

“Would the temple really steal her supplies and letters? It must be a lie.”

“I mean… it doesn’t really matter anyways. Even if the madame didn’t send any letters, at least she has managed the duchy well.”

The knights who had secretly held onto such thoughts were proved wrong after seeing the large number of supplies.

“……”

Especially the mercenaries who had always been downgrading the duchess, they were speechless and had nothing more to say.

“Why are you guys still here?! Hurry up and return to your quarters! Go wash up and sleep, don’t be late for training tomorrow!”

At Brien’s words, the knights began to rush back to their lodgings.

As all the knights started to leave, Brien tried to approach Marie again.

“Marie…? Please don’t cry, yeah? I’m sorry…”

As Brien tried to close the distance between them…

Slap!

Marie slapped him hard.

“What do you think you’re doing?! Get out of my way!” She hissed, not wanting to be hugged by her ex-lover.

As Marie pushed Brien away and walked to the entrance, she noticed someone and stopped.

“…?”

‘Why is he crying…?’

After all of the knights went back, there was one man that was standing alone, weeping in tears.

“……”

That man was Heinz.

Marie passed him, raising her eyebrows as if she had seen something strange.

“Sob…”

Heinz was crying much harder than Marie.

He sobbed into his hands and the tears dripped between his fingers, raining down onto the ground.

“…What’s up with you…?”

Brien, who was touching his beaten cheek, also found Heinz in tears.

“Ugh. Sobs…”

He began to approach Heinz and asked, “Hey… why are you crying…?”

“Sniff… Sobs…”

But Heinz just kept crying without a single word.

That day, no one could understand the reason behind his tears…