Chapter 36
The servants who had been talking with serious faces couldn’t hide their flustered expressions.
Exchanging glances as if caught off guard, they hurriedly left.
Before Alice could even ask anything.
They could have continued.
To cut off at the most crucial point…
I wanted to hear what came next.
But the servants had already walked away quickly.
How disappointing.
She wanted to know what Lady Quillian was like before Kylus collapsed.
Alice clicked her tongue and turned around.
It seemed that today, too, she would fail to get information about them that wasn’t in the book.
Alice had been trying to gather information about the situation in the duchy for the past few days.
From Kylus telling her to take responsibility for saving him, to Lady Meltain approaching her to be friends.
After coming so close that it made her heart flutter, neither of them had shown their faces in the duchy for days.
Lady Meltain had been consistently going out, and Kylus remained in his bedroom.
And Lady Quillian also stayed put in her room.
As a result, Alice’s anxiety grew along with that of the duchy’s servants.
Worried that an incident might suddenly explode.
There was still a week left until the two-week mark.
So Alice was wandering the duchy alone like this.
Originally, in any family, the people who best knew the family’s secret movements were the lower-ranking people working for the family.
As if to prove this, whenever the servants gathered, they discussed Kylus and Lady Quillian.
But unfortunately, they were too cautious.
As soon as Alice got even a little close, they would clam up like oysters.
How could they all have such quick reflexes?
In the end, she failed to get information today as well.
“Still, if I piece together what I’ve heard… it seems Lady Quillian is in a situation where she might be driven out by Kylus.”
Most of the servants she encountered were saying that Lady Quillian would soon be driven out of the duchy.
That meant Lady Quillian couldn’t win against Kylus.
Could it be that Lady Quillian will really be driven out soon, just as Kylus said?
While Lady Quillian being driven out would be good for the duchy, it was a bit dangerous if Kylus completely regained control of the duchy.
For Alice, that is.
At least until the full two weeks had passed.
For Alice, the stronger Kylus became, the harder it would be for her to escape him.
If Kylus really wouldn’t back down, she had planned to cling to High Priest Prion’s pant leg after two weeks.
He was the only person she knew who could potentially stand against Kylus.
“Hmm, but… is Kylus okay?”
Unlike when they parted with him saying he’d see her tomorrow, Kylus hadn’t shown himself for almost a week.
His complexion hadn’t looked bad when she saw him then.
His color had been very good, unlike someone who had just come back from the dead.
He had said he wasn’t fully recovered yet… Could his condition have worsened again?
Kylus’s bedroom was completely off-limits to all servants except the butler.
Alice stopped walking, suddenly worried.
And she raised her head towards the mansion.
More precisely, towards Kylus’s bedroom.
But the curtains were drawn tightly, not allowing even a glimpse inside.
…Would he be alright?
While her desire to leave the Dearrut Duchy remained unchanged, she didn’t wish for Kylus to collapse again.
Now that he was alive, she hoped he would drive out Lady Quillian and reclaim the Dearrut Duchy.
Of course, after she had left.
“…Dr. Helkin said there’s no chance of him collapsing again, so…”
Even as she said this, Kylus’s face saying he wasn’t fully recovered yet lingered in her mind.
Still, for now… should she use more holy power on him before leaving?
No, what if he holds onto her more, saying her holy power is too good?
“Ugh, even in this situation, you’re swayed by his face?”
Alice lightly hit her own head, but Kylus’s face still lingered before her eyes.
To think she couldn’t hate him despite his bandit-like behavior of demanding she take responsibility after saving him.
The buff of that handsome face was too strong.
As if his good looks were everything.
Honestly, he wasn’t just handsome, he was perfectly her type.
Alice shook her head vigorously as if to clear away the handsome face of Kylus lingering before her eyes.
At that moment, she heard a voice calling her from afar.
“Young Mistress!”
“Aileen?”
Alice turned her head towards the entrance of the garden at the familiar voice.
For some reason, Aileen was running quickly towards her.
“Huff, Young… huff, Mistress.”
“Are you alright?”
Aileen exhaled heavily, seeming to have run all the way here.
What could have happened?
Just as Alice had an ominous feeling, Aileen took a deep breath and said:
“Your family from your maiden home has arrived at the mansion!”
“…What?”
For a moment, Alice tilted her head, not understanding what she meant.
“Count Fordley and his wife, and Young Master!”
The Fordley County?
Alice hesitated at the familiar yet strange name, but soon realized who they were.
They were the family who had sold Alice to the Dearrut Duchy.
At the unexpected appearance of these figures, an alarm went off in Alice’s mind.
* * *
“Alice, what is this about becoming a priestess?!”
“How could you suddenly say you’ll become a priestess unless you’ve gone mad!”
In the reception room of the Dearrut Duchy.
“Do you know how shocked I was when I heard the news? I was so shocked I couldn’t sleep at night. How could you cause such a big incident when you’ve barely been married?”
“We sent you off to marry into the Duke’s family with all our might, and you cause this kind of incident… Where is there such a disgrace? I can’t show my face because of you.”
Alice was quietly listening to the barrage of nonsense from the Count and Countess as soon as she arrived at the reception room.
“Alice, why aren’t you saying anything? Say something!”
You should have given me a chance to speak.
Alice put down her teacup, looking at her mother who was beating her chest and shouting as if frustrated.
Thus, Alice finally greeted them after 20 minutes of entering the reception room.
“Father, Mother, and Brother. It’s been a long time.”
Alice scanned the three people sitting in a row in front of her.
First, the middle-aged man with pink hair and golden eyes exactly like hers was Count Rocky Fordley.
A face that somewhat resembled a pig.
The first thought she had upon seeing his face was:
Thank goodness I only inherited the hair and eye color.
Alice shifted her gaze from the Count’s unwelcome face to the side.
Next to him sat a middle-aged woman with green hair, fidgeting restlessly.
The woman with wooden brown eyes was the Countess Fordley, Alice’s mother.
As if to prove it, although the colors were completely different from Alice’s, her delicate features were quite similar.
Lastly, the pink-haired man sitting with his legs crossed, not hiding his displeasure, was her incompetent brother, Eric Fordley.
Eric, who looked exactly like the Count, was the only one looking at Alice dismissively with the same brown eyes as the Countess.
To think he’s dismissing someone when he barely managed to be knighted thanks to Alice’s bride price.
He should be bowing in gratitude instead.
Alice suppressed the urge to poke Eric’s eyes out and spoke gently:
“I was surprised by your sudden visit without any notice. It would have been nice if you had contacted me in advance.”
Of course, if they had given notice in advance, she would have told them not to come.
“Notice? Is that the issue right now!?”
Count Fordley shouted as if he couldn’t contain his anger.
“Your father is right. Is notice the issue now? You’ve turned the household upside down by saying you’ll become a priestess when you’ve barely been married. How could we not come?”
“How are we supposed to face Lady Quillian? We rushed here from dawn as soon as we heard the news to clean up the mess you’ve made!”
“News…”
But how did they find out so quickly?
Alice muttered quietly, watching the Count shout with a face red with anger.
It hadn’t been long since she declared she would become a priestess.
Moreover, since that day, the butler had been thoroughly silencing the duchy’s servants.
Even Lady Quillian seemed to be trying to hide the news that Kylus had awakened by blocking entry to and exit from the duchy.
So how did the Fordley family, living in a rural western territory far from the capital, know…
For rumors to reach a rural count’s family, they would have to spread throughout the entire capital first.
Alice tilted her head at the surprisingly fast information network, but soon found the answer herself.
There was one person in the duchy who would have hurriedly informed the Fordley family.
Lady Quillian.
Lady Quillian must have sent a letter to the Fordley family, unable to contain her anger.
The contents would have been that their daughter dared to disobey her and commit this crazy act.
She probably also threatened to cut off their money.
As if to prove this, the Countess grabbed Alice’s hand and said:
“Alice. You will go to Lady Quillian right now, kneel down, and beg for forgiveness. Say you’ll never do such a foolish thing again.”
“Yes! Beg and say you’ll never even utter the word ‘priestess’ again, and that from now on you’ll obey Lady Quillian well!”
The Count nodded and added.
They looked ready to drag Alice before Lady Quillian right then and there.
Parents who came all this way to make their child kneel…
Looking at the Count and Countess who seemed to have no concern whatsoever for Alice’s well-being, she couldn’t help but smile wryly.
As a small, involuntary chuckle escaped her, the Count frowned.
