CH 21

(Eve’s POV)

“The Chief Priest?”

I remembered the timid old man that I had met at the temple.

I read the letter the maid handed me.

The writing in the letter said that jewels that I had donated were sold and raised a lot of money, and that the priests and ministers would want to show their gratitude.

So they wanted to show how grateful they are and tell me how the money would be used. It was written that I should visit the temple for a while today.

“I need to get permission from Her Majesty the Empress.”

I put down the letter and sent a maid to the Empress to convey the chief priest’s request.

I changed my clothes as I waited for the response of the Empress.

Fortunately, the Empress allowed me to go out.

There must be no justification for directly refusing the high minister’s request.

Just like the last time, I got on the carriage heading to the temple with Nell.

-ˏˋ ━━━━━━ ʚɞ ━━━━━━ ˊˎ-

(Eve’s POV)

The Great Hall, which I had visited again after five days, felt quieter than before.

Upon arrival, one of the priests guided me into the temple.

I walked down the hallway, leaving Nell alone.

The priest continued to take me somewhere along a maze-like convoluted hallway.

After walking for a long time, we finally arrived at a small chapel at the far end of the temple.

As I opened the door and entered, a familiar man was waiting for me.

Grand Duke Terrence in a black military uniform.

“Your Grace.”

I was surprised by the appearance of the Grand Duke, but it was not very unexpected.

The Chief Priest, who was so afraid of Eve, had no reason to call me here out of nowhere and to just thank me for donations.

Please do not repost our translation. Read only at Pink Muffin Translations.

And even in the original story, the chief priest always followed the Grand Duke’s orders well.

Of course, not because he liked the Grand Duke, but because he had some of his weaknesses.

“Come this way.”

The Grand Duke took the lead and walked past the chapel and into the hallway.

At the end of the hallway, narrow enough for one person to fit in, a small door appeared. As he opened the door on the wall, a bright light flooded in.

It was a large balcony. There was a white balustrade carved out of marble and four pillars which supported the roof.

As I followed the Grand Duke and walked to the railing, I was astonished to see the scene unfolding before my eyes.

Under the steeply falling cliff, a wide view of the island could be seen.

This was the end of the hill.

It seems that the entrance side of the hill has a gentle slope, and the other end has a steep terrain like a cliff.

There was a small waterfall next to the balcony. The water flowing from the center of the temple passed through a canal and fell down the hill.

Half of the waterfall was covered with white ice, but the clear water was flowing endlessly under the translucent ice.

I realized now why the Grand Duke had come here. In a place like this, no one will be able to overhear our secret conversation.

The Grand Duke, who had been standing for a moment watching the flowing water, turned to my side and asked.

“Was there any lie in what you said to me at the chapel that night?”

-ˏˋ ━━━━━━ ʚɞ ━━━━━━ ˊˎ-

(Terrence’s 3rd Person POV)   

Terrence asked a question and carefully observed the fiancee in front of him.

Eve quietly shook her head.

“No, everything that I said is true.”

Terrence looked back at the waterfall and lost in thought.

One or two times may be a coincidence.

However, if the same thing is repeated three times, it is difficult to dismiss it as a mere coincidence.

Let’s say it was an easy feat that the Princess was able to guess and matched Terrence’s wedding garments with just a sudden thought in her mind.

And even the astronomy genius who surpassed the Academy’s astronomers, were not able to determine the solar eclipse that the Princess had foretold.

However, it was hard to say that it was a coincidence or a planned out set about the game that I played unexpectedly with my younger brother.

Moreover, those two cards were the last two cards that Terrence himself left at random, without even thinking about it because he already dismissed the thoughts about the foretold future.

‘Just in case, I went as far as checking all the other cards after the game, but there was nothing strange about it.’

The people who he had played together with were two of the most reliable people in the world, his right hand Camion and his younger brother Lot.

Those two would never allow themselves to be fooled either.

‘And how would she be able to manipulate the cards that we randomly picked?’

Terence asked Eve once again.

“To put things together, the Princess suddenly regained her ability right after the engagement ceremony, and now, you’re saying that I’m the only one who knew about this?”

“Yes.”

“And according to the foresight the Princess saw, that His Majesty the Emperor killed the Princess—”

“The plan was to kill me and entrap the Grand Duke as the murderer. From what I have seen, it definitely worked.”

Terrence nodded as she listened to Eve’s explanation.

‘I almost got into trouble.’

If that really happened, it would have been difficult for him to get out.

Surely few would think that the Emperor would frame him even by sacrificing his own daughter.

Terrence himself could not have imagined that the Emperor would use such a vicious technique.

While he was feeling a mixture of admiration and disgust towards the Emperor, Eve, who was watching him, asked carefully.

“Do you believe everything that I say now?””

Terrence smiled low as he watched the clear water run down the hill.

It was amazing, but now there is no way to deny it.

“It’s amazing that I can’t help but believe it.”

‘Now all I have to do is accept it as true.’

Terrence was quick to judge and quick to act.

As soon as he accepted that it wasn’t a lie, he had already decided to keep this woman by my side and use her ability.

“If the Princess helps me with her foresight, I will also help the Princess.”

“That’s what I’m saying….”

“It means that I will protect the safety of the Princess.”

It’s funny, but the Princess’s safety has now become an important task for him as well.

If the Princess suddenly died, he would be considered as a murderer.

Eve expressed her gratitude with a small smile as if she was relieved after hearing those words.

“Thank you for accepting the conditions.”

Terrence didn’t take his eyes off Eve.

Under the bright sunlight, Princess Eve looked more confident and elegant than before.

‘Is this the real her?’

With elegant and sophisticated features, white skin, and blue eyes, she was certainly the Eve that he had known for a long time, but somehow she seemed to be a completely different person altogether.

Please do not repost our translation. Read only at Pink Muffin Translations.

‘Well, it’s not only her charisma that has changed.’

Until five days ago, Terrence thought that Eve had no intelligence enough to think of a plan to prove herself worthy.

However, after appearing at the temple with a bouquet of flowers, Eve began to show a completely different side from before.

He even investigated to see if she was the same person or might be someone else, but there was nothing suspicious about her.

‘Was she just acting all this time?’

‘Or did she gain knowledge as well after her foresight was revived?’

In fact, he didn’t know much about Eve. Because he had never taken Eve seriously.

Previously, she was nothing more than an annoying and troubled Princess.

He thought that she was a woman who was not worth taking seriously.

But now it’s completely different.

Terrence seemed a little embarrassed and looked away.

“You have nothing to be thankful for. It’s just a partnership.”

He continued speaking calmly, without much emotion.

“The top priority right now is to safely hold the wedding and bring Her Highness back to my mansion. If you stay there, it would be difficult for the Emperor to use you.”

Eve regretted saying those words. Because she thought those words were kind of harsh.

Although it was considered a partnership, it was still too cold-hearted to say to a lady who is considered to be his fiancee.

However, Eve didn’t seem to be hurt in the slightest, but rather smiled and was assured.

“Okay, that was good. Oh, don’t worry about marriage. I will divorce you as soon as my safety is secured.”

“Pardon?”

Terrence looked at Eve in disbelief.

‘What did she just say? Divorce?’

-ˏˋ ━━━━━━ ʚɞ ━━━━━━ ˊˎ-

(Eve’s POV)

I thought that if I talked about divorce first, that the Grand Duke would certainly welcome it.

After getting out of danger, he would want to marry the woman that he likes.

But the Grand Duke frowned and repeated what I just said.

“You’re planning to divorce me?”

I looked up at the Grand Duke calmly and said,

“Yes, I want to get divorced and live in a quiet place. But you don’t have to worry about anything. Because I’ll continue to use my ability to help His Grace for the rest of my life.”

All I wanted was to get out of the Imperial palace and get a chance to be safe and self-reliant.

Married life to this terrifyingly handsome man for a short time could be tolerated if given the opportunity to live a safe and free life.

Even after the divorce, if I continued to use my foresight for this man, he would protect me as he promised.

This man will continue to protect me as long as I am useful.

‘However, once I become useless, he would definitely kill me mercilessly.’

The only hope for me was that Eve’s foresight ability would not disappear for the rest of my life.