CH 105

[Dear my spring rose,

I can’t keep turning you down when you implore like that. For the sake of reconciliation between the South and North, I will forbid ‘trivial’ disputes for the time being.

With love, Your Marguerite] 

‘Who on earth is my Marguerite?’

When I thought of the emperor’s repulsive gaze, goosebumps rose on my forearms. 

I was disgusted and put away the letter. 

The emperor’s expression that regarded a war on a scale large enough to kill thousands of people as a trivial dispute was comical but in any case, she succeeded in delaying the war than the original had intended. 

Lagrange would have stormed the South without the royal family’s notice, but Euclid’s position was different.

‘And Charl is in the North right now.’ 

It had been a year since we returned to the Grand Duchy after the succession, but Charl was still roaming around the North. 

It seemed like she had been stopping by Nature from time to time, but it was always Veronica, and not me, who drives her out. 

‘What on earth did she say to be able to drive out that Charlotte?’

Either way, according to the original, she should have left the North early to help Hermann.

‘Well, it’s good that we bought some time.’

With my fingertips, I touched Charlotte’s bracelet and necklace which took me almost a year to completely darken. 

Although they were not jewels that carry a disgusting aura, the deep rose scent was definitely proof of the muddy aura. 

Bracelets and necklaces were more like decorations that had no offensive power among holy objects.

Just trying to darken this small relic made me so exhausted that I wouldn’t be able to wake up for days, but the weapons that appeared with Hermann in ‘The Men’s War of Roses’ would consume even more energy. 

‘I wish I had more time.’

I was going to look for the holy relics while Dietrich left to investigate to prepare for war. 

‘He told me to stay put but….”

He still didn’t know what kind of force Charlotte’s power and Hera’s holy relics could exert.

Due to the disappearance of the evil god Asmodeus, Lagrange’s shadow demons weakened as a whole, therefore, there was no way he could properly match against Hermann. 

‘Before Hermann gets his hands on the holy relics, I have to get to them first.’ 

I sketched out the changed plan in my notebook and put strength into my legs dangling in the air. 

“All right!”

“What are you doing?”

“Oh my god!” 

While stretching my arms and legs, Dietrich suddenly jumped in from the window. 

‘I thought it was a ghost! At least make some noise!’

He must have ridden on Zagan who followed Veronica who came back, but it certainly didn’t feel normal to abandon the door which works well enough and come in through the open window. This was not even the first-floor window, but the window below the top floor.  

When I fell back in surprise with a plop, he slowly bent his waist. 

“What are you looking at?”

I sensed Dietrich’s gaze falling on the desk and hurriedly hid the map I had laid out. 

‘If I get caught looking at the map, he’s going to question me if I would be going around again.’

“Why did you hide it?”

“It’s nothing.”

“I’m asking you what you’re hiding.” 

Dietrich’s eyebrows twitched in displeasure as he had seen the paper laid out but he wasn’t able to see its contents. I stared at him with wide eyes and spoke. 

“It’s nothing. We’re grown-ups now. We need to protect each other’s privacy.”

Dietrich opened his mouth to refute the rigid words I had tossed out, however, he didn’t forcefully look at the paper I had hidden. 

I reached out my hand to Dietrich’s head, who had safely turned nineteen. Sweeping up his soft curly hair revealed a neat forehead. 

“What about the training?”

“It’s over so I came here.”

“You must have been holding your sword all day, aren’t you tired?”

“Not really.” 

I marveled at his sharp answer so I asked him with wide eyes. 

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

After waking up at dawn and training with the knight commander, he takes a simple breakfast, then handles the surging documents, and takes up the sword again. 

Then, while the other knights take a break, he would go back to the office and handle the paperwork again. 

Even Baal was mind-boggled at his schedule which had no room for gaps. 

‘He’s really someone who succeeds no matter what he does.’ 

It was a little faulty that his chosen profession – being a villain – wasn’t very good, but Dietrich grew up to be an upright young man that I couldn’t believe he was originally a villain. 

“You must have forgotten.”

“Huh?”

“I ordered a ban on marriage in Lagrange.”

I frowned at Dietrich’s words that completely floated above my head. 

‘A ban on marriage? What about the ban on marriage?’

“So there’s no point in dating or anything like that.” 

Dietrich, who spoke bluntly, extorted the emperor’s letter from my hands in a blink of an eye. 

Then, he tore up the letter, which had a pink color like a love letter, and was even sprayed with perfume. 

Riiip. 

I nodded slowly as I stared blankly at the refreshing sight of the torn pieces of paper fluttering in the air. 

‘Yeah. He’s the villain, all right.’ 

────── 〔✿〕──────

“Princess, if you get caught going out again, I’ll be the only one His Grace will scold.”

“Lancel can afford some scolding.”

“That’s true but…”

At my indifferent reply, Lancel who was guilty of many crimes could only pout his lips. 

Now that he’s in his middle age, it would only be uncomfortable seeing him act cute, so I opened the gate without feeling any guilt. 

“Shall I at least go with you?”

“Lancel.”

“Yes.”

“You’re weaker than me.” 

Lancel was an ordinary person with no ability. Although Eredia’s ability wasn’t that great in offense, it was still incomparable to that of ordinary people. 

“And when people look for me, you have to be there to lie to them.”

“You’ll come back right away, won’t you?”

“Yeah. It’s not far so it’ll only take a day.” 

There were a total of thirteen holy relics appearing in ‘The Men’s War of Roses’, and most of them were kept in the southern temple but some of them were hidden in the North. 

As the war drew to a close, Hermann who had driven the Lagrange’s forces to the extreme North had found the last relic in the North. 

‘Since it’s the last relic to appear, I think it must be the most powerful.’

I guessed as I vaguely recalled the location of the relic. 

‘The setting was definitely a temple dedicated to the evil god Asmodeus.’

Even though the Northern people worshipped the demons, they were fundamentally incompetent, so there was only one temple in the Lagrange territory. 

“Lead the way, Zagan.”

Riding Zagan, who knew the Northern roads better than most coachmen, I quickly reached the temple. 

“Is this really the place?”

Purrrng.

Zagan glared at me in scolding as I voiced my doubts. I shrugged my shoulders and replied,  “It’s because it doesn’t really look like a temple to me.” 

Since it was a temple dedicated to the evil god, so I had imagined a black Nature-like appearance, but it looked like a normal family house. 

As I meekly knocked on the door and waited, a man in dark-gray robes greeted me. 

“I greet Princess Anissa, the most lovely shadow of Lagrange.” 

He recognized me first without me having to reveal my identity. As he bowed politely, his gray hair curled down his back. 

“You know me?”

“Yes. I saw you at His Grace’s succession ceremony.” 

The priest smile softly and extended his hand to me. 

“It’s impossible to forget such as striking appearance.” 

Well, my gentle southern-like appearance alone would probably stand out in the North. 

“This house is a temple?” 

“You shouldn’t believe everything that you see. Please follow me.” 

As I followed the priest and walked inside the mansion, the real entrance to the cavernous temple finally appeared. 

“By the way, what brings you to the temple, Princess?”

“Ah, uhm. I want to offer a prayer to Lord Asmodeus.” 

‘Although that evil demon does not exist in the world anymore.’ 

“As expected of Lagrange’s princess. You have extraordinary faith.” 

The priest put his hand together, feeling moved. I smiled wryly and stepped onto the stairs which gradually led to the basement. 

How would he react if he knew that I played a strong role in destroying the god he believed in? 

“I want to pray alone, silently. Will that be all right?”

“I don’t mind, however, another believer has just arrived.” 

I turned my head forward, puzzled by the priest’s words. Asmodeus was very unpopular so it would have been rare for him to have believers. 

‘I guess I have to wait until the person disappears…’

The holy relic hidden in the North was the eye of Asmodeus. To be precise, it was the eye of the statue sleeping in the temple. 

‘Though it’s a bit uncomfortable to be inside a grave.’

Since it’s uncommon to irreverently dig up a god’s grave, most people wouldn’t even know that the statue exists. 

As the priest said, a man was kneeling in front of the grave made of a hard slab of slate.

With his broad shoulders like that of a knight, he didn’t look like an ordinary believer. 

I narrowed my eyes in an attempt to identify the ‘believer’ with quite a tall stature. 

‘This aura…’

My mouth dropped open in disbelief at the innate color that was so unique it was impossible to forget. 

‘Why is this person in the North?’