Chapter 13

As the view changed in an instant, a disturbance came to my ears.“Cardinal!”Those in white robes ran towards the messed-up Cardinal Eustaf.“Are you okay? What happened?”The priests asked Cardinal Eustaf with a worried look on their face.Cardinal Eustaf slightly gazed at me with an unspoken pressure behind his gentle face. However, he soon pretended to be calm and came up with an answer to the crowded question.“What was sealed in the holy sphere was not an intermediate level demon, but a top-level demon.”“No way!”His words caused a great stir.The noise was so loud that it hurt my ears.“Are you okay?”“I’ve managed to handle the demon well.”The gaze of the people naturally turned to me.I approached Eustaf as if I had waited for this moment and spoke.“I was able to live thanks to the courtesy of the Cardinal. I couldn’t do anything on my own.”“Did your divine power manifest?”The emperor, who was watching the situation silently, asked a question. I answered the emperor’s question right away without stuttering.“Unfortunately.”What a shame. I’m not disappointed at all.“Is that so?”The emperor looked at me suspiciously. Perhaps because he was also the emperor of the Great Empire, he was wary. But he couldn’t question me.I bowed my head, receiving the emperor’s eyes full of doubts.“Hmmm. Young lady Hestine purified the demon alone.”“Oh! I knew it!”“You’re amazing.”“After all, the oracle of the temple was not wrong.”At the words of the priest who was with Hestine, the exclamations of the nobles poured out from here and there.However, the emperor observed the situation with a calm eye, without being swept away by the atmosphere.I felt nervous for no reason.“Hmm. I am familiar with the sacred power of Valkyr’s young lady. But there’s one thing that caught me.”“What…”“First of all, this test was not fair. The demon that was sealed in the Holy sphere of the Valkyr’s young lady was an intermediate demon.”“That’s right.”“However, for some reason, Adelia’s holy sphere has a top-level demon sealed.”“That…. “The emperor’s sharp criticism shut the mouths of the nobles. Can’t you just acknowledge Hestine as the saint? I don’t like the emperor’s disapproving attitude. However, I did not dare to complain to the emperor.Avoiding the emperor’s sharp gaze, I glanced at Hestine.Hestine, who had been smiling with her cheek flush suddenly felt uncomfortable. “Ugh…”It was then. Hestine frowned and complained of pain.She groaned while holding her left hand. People’s eyes were on Hestine again.“Hestine! Why? Do you have any injuries anywhere?”Duke Valkyr trembled from all the fuss and ran to Hestine.“The back of the hand… It hurts as if on fire…!”Hearing that the back of her hand was hurting, Duke Valkyr quickly took off Hestine’s gloves.And immediately he exclaimed.“It’s the symbol of God!”Not only the nobles but also me and Cardinal Eustaf were surprised by that.God’s symbol? Does that mean Hestine is the saint?Then, what is the pattern that appeared on my chest? What was that strange voice?Numerous questions ran through my mind, but I couldn’t find a clear answer to any of them.I checked the pattern engraved on the back of Hestine’s hand.Unlike the one on my chest, her pattern was exactly the same as the one used by the temple.At this point, I wondered if I had misunderstood.‘Is Hestine really a saint?’I’m getting dizzy from all of these confusing things. But this is not a bad thing, rather a good thing. Things are going according to the original. I just need to get out of the flow.“This is…”“Cardinal, this is the symbol of the temple, right?”Eustaf also confirmed Hestine’s pattern with a confused expression.Hestine smiled brightly and asked naturally.Eustaf, who had been delaying his answer for a while, nodded slightly.It wasn’t an illusion but his gaze seemed to be on me for a moment.“Your Majesty, I believe questioning the fairness of the test is useless now. Aren’t we sure now that Hestine is the saint?”The Duke of Valkyr hugged Hestine’s shoulder and looked at the emperor.“But there’s still a question that can’t be solved. How come Valkyr’s Young lady wasn’t chosen by the altar?”The emperor inquired about what happened that day.I quietly bit my lip.The incident where Hestine fell from the stairs to the altar that day was like a nightmare for me.I suffered so much because of that incident. Thinking about that time makes me feel sick. At the Emperor’s question, Duke Valkyr looked at me sharply and opened his mouth.“Hestine wasn’t in good shape that day. As His Majesty knows… Because something unsavory happened.”Duke Valkyr’s voice turned into an arrow and pierced me, the target.I looked back at the Duke of Valkyr with a smirk.How long are you going to drive me into a wicked person?To be honest, I didn’t want to be seen as a “good person” to those who gathered here now but still this doesn’t feel good. “What do you think, Cardinal? Are you really sure that the Valkyr girl is a saint?”“…….”Cardinal Eustaf glanced at me again.Without responding to the gaze, I quietly looked at Hestine.The words of affirmation flowed from Cardinal Eustaf’s mouth with a faint sigh.“Under the circumstances… It would be right to see it that way.”It wasn’t a cool answer, but anyway, the Cardinal Eustaf, ruled in favor of Hestine.I felt even more relieved from the satisfactory answer.“Your Majesty.”Duke Valkyr called the emperor as if urging him.The emperor briefly clicked his tongue at the duke’s call and nodded his head.“Yeah. Now that the Cardinal has confirmed it, we should stop making conclusions.”As the emperor stood up from his throne, the eyes of the nobles followed him. The nobles concentrated on the emperor and waited for the words to come out of his mouth.“The test is over as the saint is already determined. The saint is Hestine Valkyr.”At the emperor’s proclamation, thunderous applause filled the inside of the auditorium.I looked at Hestine, surrounded by nobles and receiving numerous blessings.Next to her stood Izar, who tormented me all the way to the capital.Seeing that, I raised the corners of my lips slightly.Yeah. You’re supposed to be there not hanging around me. “You can leave now. I will send a congratulatory gift to the Valkyr’s later.”“Thank you so much, Your Majesty.”Hestine bent her knees to express her gratitude while smiling brightly like a spring flower.She quickly left the auditorium surrounded by people.I need to get going now, too.Goodbye to this damn Capital now.Unlike when I first entered the auditorium, I left with light steps.“Let’s go back to the mansion.”The Grand Duke immediately approached me as if he had been waiting for me.I had to go to his mansion anyway, so I nodded.However, we heard an unpleasant voice that made us stop. “Where are you going, Adelia?”At the voice of Marquis Sorne, I stopped walking and turned my head.“Do you have something to say?” When I asked in an openly cold voice, Marquis Sorne’s face hardened for a moment.However, perhaps because he was concerned about his surroundings, he soon spoke with a kind smile.“You are my daughter. So, shouldn’t it be right that you go home with me? Not the Grand Duke.”You’re talking nonsense again. The barking of a passing dog sounds more pleasant than this.Suddenly, I became suspicious.I’m not a prospective saint anymore. Now that my value has disappeared, there is no reason for the marquis to pay attention to me.“We’re not close enough to call each other a family.”“Nothing good will happen if you set up your thorns like that.”When the Marquis shut his mouth, his son spoke impatiently. “There is no one who will treat you more sincerely than us.”“Oh no. I don’t agree with that. I don’t believe your sincerity. That’s the funniest joke I’ve heard this year.”“Adelia!”“Stop it, Sizelon.”The Marquis Sorne stopped his son who couldn’t control his anger. I narrowed my eyes and looked at the Marquis.I wish he just let Sizelon go wild. I could have left this place with that as an excuse.The marquis was an experienced nobleman. There was no way he didn’t notice what I was doing.That’s why you came out like this.He opened his mouth with the mask of a father in front of his little rebellious child.“It seems that we cannot solve this conversation on our own.”He then said, kneeling on one knee toward the emperor.“Your Majesty, I beg you to lend me your wisdom.”The emperor’s eyes lit up with interest. “Ho. My wisdom?”“Yes. I don’t think I can solve this problem at all.”The emperor smiled and nodded at the marquis’ remarks that seemed to have oiled his tongue.“Yes. Let’s hear it.”I had a bad feeling about it. And this feeling is never missed.“Although I removed my daughter’s name from the family in respect of her opinion, I think it’s too harsh to quit the relationship completely.”II stared at the marquis, who shed crocodile tears.“It is definitely a difficult problem. Even though she was excommunicated, she cannot completely deny the bloodline.”“Your Majesty.”Grand Duke Hamilton called the emperor with a low voice.The emperor smiled reluctantly at his younger brother, who seemed quite impatient.At that moment, I had a gut feeling that something wrong was going to happen.“I don’t think this is a matter for me or my brother to intervene. Let the Sorne family solve it.”This meant that the treatment of me would be passed on to the Marquis of Sorne.I bit my lip and looked at the emperor with a playful smile.If he weren’t for the emperor, I’d like to give him a finger flick.One time is not enough. I had to flick him at least ten times.More than that, it was Marquis Sorne who I wanted to flick more. Even ten times is not enough for him. Would this annoyance disappear if I did it a hundred times?“Let’s stop here, Adelia.”