CH 55

Chapter - 55 || There Are Demons Everywhere

I was not injured anywhere, and strangely enough, I was not too weak.

"It was as if time had slowed down only around Lady Elvira."

The first doctor, who has been serving the Duke's family for a long time, told me so.

"Elvira! I'm glad you're safe."

"Father! Mother!"

When my father and mother came back from the Duchy of Kien, they listened to my story and hugged me, crying.

"Rudolf, hey, hey."

Brother Richard said, and took Rudolf-sama somewhere, and when he came back, Rudolf-sama's cheeks were swollen.

For a moment, there was almost an uproar, but then Rudolf-sama himself said,

"If anything, it's not enough."

No one said anything more, as the question was dropped.

Now that my mother and father had returned, I was going to take some time off to rest at my birthplace.

Of course, Rudolf-sama was with us.

Rudolf-sama, my father, and my brother Richard continued their discussions in the palace until late every day.

Even though I was not injured, I spent most of my time on my bed. I only had time to talk to Rudolf-sama before he went to sleep, as he was coming home late.

So I greeted him with every little sound I could hear and tried to talk to them as much as I could every day.

That was how I would welcome Rudolf-sama tonight as well,

"Welcome back, Rudolf-sama."

"You should have rested first."

"I was hoping to see you."

"That's nice of you to say, but take it easy."

"Yes, I am."

As the maid who had prepared the tea stepped back, Rudolf-sama said in a whisper.

I straightened my back. It was about time that important decisions were made one after another.

"I heard that Count Huskevy will have his lands taken away, his title revoked, and he will be imprisoned.

He embezzled quite a bit of money. Also, Alexander and Natalia are..."

Rudolf-sama stammered, but I asked him to go on with my eyes, so he continued.

"...There were many calls for his execution, but he managed to stay imprisoned."

I let out a long, slow breath.

Rudolf looked at me as if he was contemplating.

"Alexander's condition has only worsened. He's almost insane. He is still living as a king in a country that exists only in his mind.

Because of that, he has still managed to stay imprisoned. He is still living as a king in a country that exists only in his mind."

Perhaps Alexander-sama had been living in that country since long ago.

I blinked slowly, trying not to shed any tears.

"Lady Natalia is..."

Pretending not to notice my reddening eyes, Rudolf-sama nodded.

"She was imprisoned as well. It was magnificent how she walked so resolutely in that fiery red dress."

Rudolf-sama took a sip of tea there.

"And him, Lord Jacek, is to be exiled with all his wealth taken away."

"I see."

"His strong wishes have been granted and he will be placed in a temple somewhere. He wants to spend the rest of his life praying for redemption.

...If only the Lord hadn't made a mistake, he would have been a good subject."

Finally, I spilled tears that I could not hold in my eyelashes. It reminded me of Natalia's prayer that I had seen in The Holy Grail.

Rudolf-sama came next to me and gently lent me his shoulder.

"It is thanks to Elvira's assistance that each of them were spared the extreme penalty. Without you, the sentence would have been much heavier."

"......."

I just shook my head. I was speechless for a while and held back my tears with a handkerchief.

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After that, many more things were decided.

The Kingdom of Turku became a fiefdom of the Zomer Empire, although it still had the structure of a kingdom.

His Royal Highness, King Patrisch, would be king in form only, and my father would be the new Prime Minister.

This decision was supported not only by the nobility, but also by the commoners, including the mountain people, Rudolf-sama said,

"It was decided without much trouble because many of us wanted to receive the Saint's blessing."

In fact, since this system was established, strange things had been happening one after another.

"I heard that the water has returned to the dried up lake."

"Oh."

"And then there's the Holy Grail."

"I see."

I raised my eyebrows.

I had heard that the melting snow had caused a flood at the foot of the mountain, and I was worried.

"I checked, and there was no damage to people or livestock from the flood."

"I didn't know that!"

"The grass had died before the flood, so everyone was in unusual places. That was a blessing in disguise."

I was reminded of the scenery of the mountain of Gure.

You never knew when the grass would dry up and the livestock would lose weight, leading to their current safety.

"I heard that the grass is slowly growing back. Jacek-dono, who had not yet been assigned to any temple, had been entrusted to that mountain temple to help with the reconstruction work. Wadnui-sama approved."

[ E/N - Tono (殿 との), pronounced -dono (どの) when attached to a name, roughly means "lord" or "master". It does not equate noble status. ]

"I'm glad..."

"The Temple has a lot of work ahead of it, but with Wadnui-sama at the helm, a new system that is more in tune with the people is slowly taking shape.

The old system will be broken down. In any case, the former High Priestess was just like that."

"Oh."

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At the end of the day, I was able to talk to the High Priestess through the iron bars.

The High Priest was trying to escape with Roberto, but was easily caught by the Knights of the Empire.

The prison was located on the outskirts of the palace.

At first glance, it was a small building, but it had a large basement.

The High Priestess, who was chained and deprived of the freedom of her limbs, still smiled at me as usual.

"Well, well, Saint."

I asked while being protected by Rudolf-sama and a number of Knights.

"I'm here to ask you one question."

"Yes, yes, what is it?"

"Why did you lie to me, High Priestess?"

"Lie?"

"You said that my lilies were fake. It may have been Alexander-sama who started it in the first place, but if the High Priestess hadn't helped, none of this would have happened."

The High Priestess laughed and said,

"I thought it would be easier for you to live that way. It's hard to find a King who is that easy to handle.

And you were in the way to handle the king. So I lied to him. That's all."

I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

"You already had everything, so why did you still want it?"

The High Priestess said without any ill will,

"You don't understand. We can have them because we have worked hard. If I didn't do anything, I'd be like Wadnui and his friends, praying and living a boring life."

"I think it's wonderful to live a life of prayer."

"Congratulations."

The High Priestess moved a little closer to me.

"Well, I'll tell you one thing about our efforts."

The sound of the heavy chains jangling echoed. The Knights tensed up.

"If you are a Saint of the empire, you must know about the demon Toifel, right?"

I nodded. It was a concept I learned in the temples of the Zomer Empire.

"Yes. But we don't have that in the Kingdom of Turku, do we?"

Then the High Priestess said something surprising.

"It was there, but it was erased by the High Priestess some generations ago."

"Erased?"

"If there was such a thing as 'Toifel the Devil,' people would be scared and would strongly seek for a Saint.

That's why we used a little drug to make the Saints of the time say that there was no such thing as Toifel the Devil."

"Drugs? Oh, my God..."

The sinfulness of it all made me shudder.

"It's for the authority of the temple. It can't be helped."

"What happened to the Saint?"

"I don't know. I'm told she suffered from a guilty conscience."

I bit my lip.

"...Aren't you the devil? That's what it looks like to me."

When the High Priestess heard this, she seemed to enjoy it even more.

"You fool, there are demons all over the place, it's just the difference between the Zomer Empire that takes the trouble to declare them and the Kingdom of Turku that keeps them close to its chest."

The High Priestess' high-pitched laugh echoed through the prison.

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As I left the jail with a heavy heart, a dark cloud mysteriously appeared in the sky that had previously been clear.

A rumble of thunder approached, even though it was not raining.

The Knights looked up at the sky.

"Lightning?"

"That was sudden."

"Elvira, come here."

Rudolf-sama stopped me in my tracks. I panicked.

"Rudolf-sama, let's get out of here as quickly as possible."

I had a bad feeling about this.

If my prediction was correct.

Could it be?

Rudolf-sama would give us instructions soon.

"All right, everyone, hurry up!"

Without even asking why, everyone moved on.

The sound of rumbling thunder got closer and closer.

It was not raining.

There was only one thing that came to my mind from my earlier conversation with the High Priestess.

I wondered if the Saint I had seen in my dream might have been the one who had been drugged.

As soon as I got as far away from her as possible, I thought so.

"Whoa!"

"Elvira, watch out!"

Rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle rattle!

There was a fierce sound of thunder that seemed to split the heavens. Everyone cowered for a moment. Then, we immediately noticed something strange.

"Is something burning?"

"Oh, there was lightning!"

"Oh no."

I didn't need to see it to know.

The lightning struck the prison and burned the whole place to the ground.

The High Priestess was punished in such a way.