CH 98

At that, Cosette, gritting her teeth, suddenly turned to look at Keira.

Cosette: “You…”

Keira: “Why? Do you have anything to say?”

Cosette glanced at the chattering nuns and priests, then met Keira’s eyes again. When their gazes met, the anger had disappeared from Cosette’s face.

Cosette: “No, it’s nothing.”

Keira: “If you have something you want to say, don’t keep it and tell me, okay? As you said, we’re like sisters.”

Cosette: “…I will, thank you. I’ll go back to my room.”

Keira: “See you later. You must have had a hard time working. Rest well.”

“…”

Cosette left the prayer room without answering.

A faint smile formed on Keira’s lips as she looked back at her.

“Lady Keira.”

Keira: “Ah, yes.”

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However, when she turned around at the high priest’s call, Keira pretended to be very upset that the ceremony could not be completed properly.

“You must be tired, so please go inside and rest. We will send someone after discussing things.”

Keira: “Thank you.”

She left the prayer room with Rose and Lira.

Her steps back to the bedroom were infinitely light.

After arriving in the assigned bedroom, Rose hurriedly asked as soon as she confirmed that the door was closed.

Rose: “What happened, Lira? Why was the divine beast there?”

She also asked Keira.

Rose: “Is this what milady made her do?”

Lira: “Of course.”

Rose: “How did you bring the divine beast?”

Lira: “There’s a secret passage that connects the inner halls. It’s a secret that only a few among the people at the temple know.” 

Rosé was still puzzled.

Rose: “How do you know a secret that only a few among the temple people know?”

Keira: “From me. I’ve heard many things from Great-aunt.”

Until Cosette appeared, people treated Keira as the next elementalist. For that reason, Johanna was not afraid to share her secrets with her great-niece.

Thanks to that, she knew the location of Beatrice’s spirit stone.

Keira sighed in relief in her heart.

‘If I hadn’t remembered that Cosette was unaware of the existence of the secret passage, it would have been a disaster.’

It wasn’t unusual that Cosette, who had only settled in the capital for less than half a year, was unaware of the existence of said secret passage. 

However, when people panic, they often fail to recall even the obvious facts.

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Keira only remembered it because Cosette had made a big fuss when she started the fire. If she knew the passage’s existence, she wouldn’t have chosen a dangerous means such as arson.

The prayer room was empty at night, so they could have taken advantage of that time to mess with the divine artifact.

So Keira ordered Lira to do this.

“I’ll tell you the location of the secret passage, so take the divine beast. And make it look as if the divine beast, the one Cosette didn’t properly manage, had destroyed the divine artifact.”

Even with this seemingly simple plan, there was a risk of failure.

It was when Mina returned to the prayer room.

But Keira gambled that she might delay her time to dispel evidence of her arson.

Fortunately, her gamble was a success.

Lira managed to take the divine beast before Mina could even return to the prayer room.

And once she’s brought the divine beast to the room, she staged it to make it look that the beast was playing around and broke the artifact. After locking the door, she went to see the doctor.

Keira: “I’m saying this just in case, but you must never say that I talked to you guys about the passage.”

Rose: “Yes, of course.”

Lira: “I’m not foolish enough to talk about it.”

Both of them were good at keeping secrets.

With that, Keira was grateful she had brought Lira and not Emily.

“Milady, you need to change your clothes.”

Keira: “Ah, right.”

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The clothes used for the memorial service were needlessly heavy and bulky.

On the last day of the service, there was a rule that one must not eat anything until the end of it. And so, after changing into comfortable clothes, Keira broke fast with a simple meal.

They didn’t even know why such a rule existed.

Rose brought a drink and asked.

Rose: “What will happen to Mina now? Since she ruined the ritual, they wouldn’t let it go just like that…”

Lira: “What’s certain is that she can no longer work for the duchy.”

It was Lira, not Keira, who answered.

Lira: “Breaking the divine artifact, it’s obvious who did it, isn’t it? She’s just trying to play dirty. Just like last time.”

Even as she sneered, Lira sounded pleased. It was understandable since she nearly took the blame for ruining the ritual.

“What are you going to do?”

Keira: “It’s not enough to simply kick her out of the house. From the temple’s point of view, it must be very upsetting and absurd. What will the public think of them if they let it go without doing anything??”

Mina wasn’t a member of the temple but an employee of the Parvis duchy. It meant that she couldn’t be punished according to the temple’s will.

Mina’s punishment required the content of the Grand Duke.

Of course, Keira had no intention of inflicting a lenient punishment. Opportunities with this justification didn’t come easily, so she wouldn’t let this go.

‘Come to think of it, I was sequestered in the annex because of false accusations around this time in the past…’

What a coincidence that she could punish Mina at this time, too.

She smiled and set her utensils down.

Keira: “The important thing isn’t Mina; it’s Cosette.”

Rose: “That’s right. After all, the purpose of their scheme was to target her Ladyship.”

At Rose’s response, Lira replied with a blank look.

Lira: “Ah, is that so?”

Rose: “Well, what else would it be?”

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Lira: “I thought she had a grudge against me for what happened at Lady Johanna’s mansion, so I thought she was trying to get revenge on me…”

Rose: “I never thought of it that way.”

However, it was too much to set fire to the temple just to get revenge.

Cosette had probably hoped for a scenario in which Keira lost all access to the temple because of this incident. 

With this in mind, Keira decided to make Cosette’s desired scenario come true.

But of course, it would be Cosette, not Keira, who would no longer participate in the temple affairs.

That evening, just around the time the moon had risen, High Priest Filbern visited Keira’s bedroom.

‘He’s a little late.’

He seemed to have a lot of trouble figuring out how to clean up the mess.

Keira welcomed the high priest warmly.

Keira: “Welcome.”

Filbern: “I’m afraid I can’t enter a noble lady’s bedroom. May we talk outside?”

Keira: “Of course.”

Keira followed the High Priest to the reception room of the inner hall and was surprised when she saw what awaited them.

A fidgety Cosette and two high priests were sitting at the table together.

Keira: “Cosette?” 

Filbern: “Ah, I called for her. I thought we should discuss it together.”

What a useless thing to do. Keira clicked her tongue in her mind.

‘But in this situation, you won’t have much right to speak…’

On the contrary, this might be good. There would be no gossiping if they agreed upon the punishment in her presence.

Keira: “Where is Mina?”

Keira asked as she sat down at the table.

“She’s in the interrogation room. I guess she lost track of the divine beast due to negligence, and it doesn’t seem like the ritual was ruined with any malicious intention.”

“That’s right. There’s no reason for that. But, wow, if you get caught, your neck will fall.”

“There was also the testimony of Sister Helen, who witnessed Miss Mina being lazy.”

The temple did not seem to have found a connection between the fire and Mina today. After all, if Cosette was behind this, there was no way she would leave any evidence behind.

Keira: “What do you think, Cosette?” 

Cosette: “Huh?”

Keira: “You know, your maid made a big mistake. Even if you say she’s your favorite maid or that it wasn’t intentional, it’s not right to just let it go.”

“…”

Keira: “It was an important ritual. What do you think the priests feel? They probably think, ‘I want to punish Mina, but she’s under their jurisdiction. Shouldn’t we express our sincerity by bringing the two of them here and ask for their consent?'”

After saying that, Keira turned to the High Priest.

Keira: “Isn’t that right, High Priest Filbern?”