CH 51

At Duke Blake’s words, everyone’s eyes turned to Haron.

Haron, who had no role in the discussion earlier, remained silent as if he had expected this situation.

「In that case, he will probably mention you at least once in order to refute the claim.」

That was written in the note he received from Lucia a while ago. There was a faint smile on his lips.

「You can respond to it but you don’t have to. I can’t be there, so you should decide based on the atmosphere.」

If things went well, he might be able to stay by her side next time. At that moment, it almost felt like she was sitting next to him and whispering advice into his ear.

He was just thinking about it, but the tip of Haron’s ear tickled.

Afterwards, he concentrated on the situation in the conference room again.

It was still a mess. There was a fierce battle between the two dukes.

Even their supporters were split in half to join in on their fight.

Haron was watching quietly with his chin in his hand.

「Wait until the right moment comes.」

It was the right time.

He looked around the conference hall, where the voices were getting louder.

The fact that Carl frequented Duke Blake for some time had been hinted toward Haron.

If it was Carl, he must have come here for business, and there was a high possibility that the mahone stones were involved.

Haron opened his mouth quietly, feeling the atmosphere around him slowly fading away.

“Here.”

When Haron raised his voice, the eyes in the conference hall poured onto him.

“I am the only person who has ever fought the Devil. Other than myself, no one knows the Devil better than me.”

Okay. There was no one here who knew her better than him. For some reason, he raised the corners of his lips slowly in a sense of triumph.

He appeared with a confident smile in the eyes of others.

“Did you say it was a Mahone Stone trade?”

He tilted his head and said in a slightly twisted posture.

“A few years ago, I was accused as a mahone stone thief in the lord’s estate.”

As Haron’s words fell, the crowd roared in a way that was incomparable to the previous ruckus.

Most of them knew about it, but after that, there were a lot of big incidents afterwards, such as the subjugation of the Devil, so it was one of those incidents that was naturally buried. The Warrior himself brought up the incident that everyone had forgotten about.

Duke Blake, who was quietly listening to him, frowned.

He didn’t know why Haron was bringing that up.

“But I wasn’t the culprit. The real culprit was different, and it was… the Devil.”

“What kind of bullshit…!”

“How do you know if it’s bullshit or not? Carl, no, Marquis Altor?”

Carl, who had yelled out the word ‘bullshit’, had no choice but to shut his mouth while grinding his teeth.

He still had to watch his language as Duke Blake didn’t know he was involved in that day’s work yet.

Instead, he growled and attacked the other side.

“…Can you provide evidence that the Warrior was not the culprit?”

“When I met the Devil, he said so himself. They said that they were just retrieving what was theirs to begin with, and that the mahone stones were used to build a barrier again in the land of demons.”

It was what he had heard from Lucia.

He adequately recounted the stories he had heard from her.

“So why are you suddenly saying that? Are you here to frame me because I accused you?”

Carly growled grimly.

At what Carl had asked, Haron smiled and shook his head.

“Isn’t the reason simple?”

Carl choked up again when he heard that it was simple.

“The Devil values the mahone stones to the extent of infiltrating the lord’s castle to retrieve them. It’s probably too late now.”

“…What do you mean by it’s too late?”

The Emperor, who had been quiet even during the nobles’ arguments, asked Haron for the first time.

Haron answered politely, but with a serious face.

“It means that they may have already begun to regard the empire as an enemy.”

~*~

“Argh! No! I hate it!”

Seeing Shiana ripping out her hair like crazy, Haron shook his head and held out the teacup to the maid beside her.

“Please bring other drinks instead of tea. Make it sweet.”

“What? Why? You always drank only rich, tasteless tea every day. So, what are you up to today?”

“When I see the Princess, I feel like I’m low on sugar.”

“Hey…!”

Shiana jumped up from her seat and sat down again. There was a little swelling around her eyes, whether she was really crying or she just couldn’t sleep, he couldn’t tell.

But no matter how she was, Haron was just annoyed.

“Hey, I’m really going to ask you one more time, huh? Marry me, just once.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Only once!”

“No, I do not want to.”

He roughly pushed Shiana, who was holding onto him and looked at her disgustedly like she was a worm.

“Why are you doing this all of a sudden?”

“It’s all because of you.”

“What did I do?”

“If you make a mistake, you will end up being sold to the Devil in the name of peace!”

Saying so, Shiana messed up her red hair even further.

She looked more crazy than usual, but Haron just sipped the drink in front of him as if nothing had happened.

The conclusion of yesterday’s meeting was finally drawn.

Perhaps because he was the Warrior, he frightened the nobles, so more than half of the aristocrats were in favor of the ban on the mahone stone trade.

There were also opinions about how to beat the Devil first, but there were only a few since Haron had already lost to the Devil once.

“Ugh! Why must it be me! Why am I always used only for wedding businesses?!”

“Hey, that’s what it’s like to be sold to the Demon King…”

‘…I envy you.’

He barely mumbled those words that he couldn’t dare to say out of his mouth and clicked his tongue.

He’d rather let himself go. Whether as a hostage or as a marriage prospect, he would be much more useful than that princess.

Haron took a deep breath, drank the drink her maid had given him, and stood up from his seat.

“If you have nothing more to say, I will go.”

“What? Already? Where are you going?”

“I decided to attend the sacred ceremony this evening.”

He had to gather even the littlest bit of information about the Great Hall of Fame at the sacred ceremony.

“Yesterday was the assembly meeting. Today is the temple ceremony. Warrior, you’re so busy-”

Shiana continued to speak sarcastically as Haron walked away while ignoring her.

~*~

Located in the capital of the Holperst Empire, the High Priest held a sacred ceremony, one of the temple’s holy ceremonies at the beginning of each season.

It was to share the sacred blessing given by the High Priest himself.

Only the imperial family, high-ranked noble families, or those who brought enormous donations could attend the sacred ceremony.

Ordinary people who could not participate would gather around the streets to experience the sacred ceremony as closely as possible.

Usually, there were so many people gathering that it was like a festival, but today was especially worse.

It was because of the news that the Warrior was coming.

“I heard the Warrior will attend the ceremony.”

“It’s been a while since he has been there in person. It’s his first time since he became an adult.”

Among the crowds, colorful carriages entered the Great Hall. Among them was Duke Blake’s carriage.

“You must be very angry.”

Haron sat in the wagon, leaned against the back, and slightly raised the corners of his mouth.

On the day of the parliamentary meeting, Blake’s mansion, which he returned to after talking to Shiana, was hovering with a chill that had never been there before.

Obviously, after the parliamentary meeting, the Emperor would have called in Duke Rokden and Duke Blake to go through many separate meetings because he couldn’t be the one to make such a big decision alone.

The contents of the meeting afterwards must have gone in the direction that Duke Blake didn’t want.

Haron, who had to be wary of Duke Blake for a long time, was able to penetrate the situation without Duke Blake’s intimidation.

‘If it’s a result that the Duke will hate, it’s probably the best result for us.’

Recalling that day with a faint smile, he got off the wagon and headed to the Great Hall.

With Duke Blake absent, several nobles approached Haron. They were those who had not been able to greet him because they were conscious of the Duke.

As he greeted the nobles one after another, it was already time for Haron to be blessed.

He stumbled towards the middle of the altar and knelt on one knee in front of it. The High Priest stood in front of him and recited a prayer of blessing.

It was an ordinary scene.

“Wait a minute.”

But someone intervened in the ceremony. It was taboo to disturb the High Priest, so everyone around him was surprised and looked at the side where they heard the voice.

A woman in white robes from head to toe was entering the altar.

“Saintess!”

One of the new priests shouted. The shout made the surrounding murmurs grow louder.

The divine daughter walked gently towards the center of the altar. The High Priest bowed deeply when he saw her.

A woman who is called the daughter of God and delivers God’s voice and trust.

There was only one Saintess in all the temples of the empire.

It was very rare for her to stand in front of so many people. At most, she would be seen during the New Year’s ceremony, which occurred only once a year, and there would only be a very brief prayer which she would participate in.

“Warrior.”

She made eye contact with Haron.

It was the second time for Haron since he received the prophecy when he was young.

“It’s been a while.”

Even though more than 10 years had passed since then, the appearance of the Saintess was the same as then.

Haron looked at her with surprised eyes.

“I’ll give you the blessing of the Warrior.”

She passed through the Great Hall and went in front of Haron. Naturally, he knelt on his knees halfway in front of her. She put her hands together, and began to recite the prayer of blessing.

As the Saintess naturally continued her ritual, other believers were also confused one by one and proceeded together.

“You’re wearing something unpleasant.”

The Saintess whispered quietly from a distance so that only he could hear her.

Haron’s face hardened. Seeing his hardened face, she smiled faintly and slowly spoke.

“Everyone makes mistakes, so don’t worry too much, Warrior. My oracle is never wrong.”

Her white clothes shook.

She slowly approached Haron, who was kneeling on one knee, and lightly swept his forehead with her finger.

Her elegant movements had everyone keeping their eyes on her and the figure of the Warrior in front of her was like a scene from a myth.

Enchanted by the scene, no one noticed that Haron’s expression turned heavy.

The Saintess just smiled and whispered once again.

“Someday, the Warrior will be able to kill the Devil himself.”