The Duchess's Fury
“May the blessing of the Lord God fill this holy water and cleanse Lady Klein of all illness. Rest a little, then try to stand and walk. You will surely recover.”
Shhhk, shhhk.
Holy water splashed from the bottle in the Saintess’s hand, dotting Dot’s forehead, nose, lips, and throat.
Dot wanted nothing more than to yank the blanket over her head and hide. She was utterly disgusted.
Aaaagh!
The butler clasped his hands and spoke carefully.
“Your Holiness, the young lady has been bedridden for many days. Even if her body has healed, walking may still be difficult for her at present.”
“Of course. That is only natural. With the support of her maids and practice with a cane, she will return to her former self in no time.”
Capia’s voice had grown slightly hoarse. Her holy power had failed to respond at all, leaving her deeply unsettled.
She had come here eager to corner the fake lady, yet something felt terribly wrong.
Damn it.
What was this variable? Why was her holy power acting this way? Perhaps it would be fine after a night’s rest.
No one must ever learn of this.
Especially not Knight Commander Slot, who had accompanied her from the temple, nor the faction she had secretly cultivated. If they discovered her holy power was failing, they would turn their backs on her in an instant.
“In that case…”
“No!”
“Your Grace!”
At that moment, hurried footsteps echoed from afar. Someone strode quickly toward the half-open door of the young lady’s room and burst inside.
It was the Duchess, who had gone into the city.
She must have rushed back the moment she received word. The veil hat on her head sat crooked, its pin loosened, and quick, shallow breaths escaped her lips.
Dot nearly cried out “Mother!” forgetting even the terrifying Saintess before her.
“What is the meaning of this?”
The butler, snapping back into his role as steward of the Klein household, spoke hurriedly.
“My lady, the Saintess has come to visit the ducal residence. She heard the young lady was unwell and—”
“Do you truly believe you may show my ailing daughter to outsiders without my permission?”
Capia bit her lip in discomfort but maintained a calm facade.
“It has been a long time, Duchess Klein. I wished to congratulate you on finding your daughter, but I hesitated. When I heard she was ill, I came at once. I chose the purest holy water to sprinkle upon her. She will recover soon.”
Instead of offering thanks, the Duchess glared at Capia.
“My daughter requires rest after days of illness. We shall speak in the drawing room.”
That’s my mother!
Dot, who had been teetering on the edge of disaster, finally escaped the confrontation with the Saintess. She tugged the blanket up to her nose instead of accepting the cane forced upon her and cast a pleading look at the worried Duchess.
It was a silent plea: Drive her away.
In the small drawing room attached to the young lady’s bedroom, refreshments as fine as those served at the imperial palace were laid out before Capia.
Alongside Darjeeling tea and a glass of milk sat an assortment of colorful cookies. One in particular was topped with a bright red, temptingly sweet cherry.
Capia had always loved sweet fruit.
I wish I could live a life where I only eat the convenient parts like that. No more forcing myself to eat the tasteless bits just to avoid offending anyone…
Having waited so long for this day, Capia had no intention of backing down easily, even against such an unpleasant opponent.
Yet the Klein Duchess’s fury toward her enemy far exceeded expectations.
“Why have you come here?”
“That is, just now…”
“Ever since I lost my daughter so senselessly, I have not slept a single peaceful night.”
Was she about to dredge up the past?
If the Duchess pressed the matter, Capia, as the leader of the temple, would have no defense no matter how many mouths she possessed.
On the day they returned the lady, it had not been her decision to delay assigning the holy knights as escort. The area had been sparsely populated, and the meeting point was near the temple itself. No one should have approached it freely.
Moreover, the knight commander at the time had not been the current Slot. There was no one to shift the blame onto!
Flames of rage filled the Duchess’s eyes.
“When I entrusted my pitiful, beloved child to the temple, I provided everything you asked for. I spared no expense to ensure she suffered no discomfort! I sent four maids and a nursemaid, along with money, ingredients, and anything else that might be lacking. Tell me, was there ever a shortage?”
“I am deeply sorry.”
“I wanted to send our family knights as well, but the temple refused. Even on the day she was supposed to return!”
There was no room to argue. Every word was true.
The Duchess’s anger continued unabated.
“If I could return to the past, I would kill my own cowardly self first—the one who kept retreating and yielding endlessly. Does Your Holiness even understand how tattered my heart has become?”
Even while being interrogated, Capia desperately sought a glimmer of hope.
The Duchess’s attachment to her daughter was stronger than expected.
Therefore, that wicked demon who clearly knew she was a fake would surely tremble and grovel at her feet. Once the truth was revealed, she would be torn to pieces without fail…
“That is…”
“Five years. For five long years, I allowed her to be raised in the temple without seeing her face even once. And then I had to wait even longer before I could meet my own daughter again.”
Hot tears welled in Sophia Klein’s eyes.
Capia, who had been staring blankly at the tears of the woman known as the iron tiger of high society, sensed danger.
“Your Grace…! I, too, feel great regret regarding that matter…”
Fire blazed in the furious woman’s eyes.
“Regret? Since that day, I have lived with a heart that spits blood! Not a single person from the temple showed their face after the incident… They never even brought back a single strand of my Tiana’s hair to beg forgiveness.”
“We were at a loss for words and hesitated to speak of it…”
“Silence! Is that your idea of sincerity? I lived each day as a ghost of the Klein ducal house. I could taste neither sweetness nor bitterness in anything I ate!”
Dot, who had slipped into the dressing room, pressed her ear to the wall and listened to the conversation in the next room.
Hearing the Duchess’s furious voice directed at the Saintess filled her with vicious satisfaction.
Dot covered her mouth with her hand, ears perked, waiting for the Saintess to be driven out.
“Please calm yourself.”
“Calm myself? Ha! Tell me, what face did you wear when you came here? It is true that I discovered my daughter’s belongings by chance while preparing her for the Eina system and brought her to the temple. You claimed you were not even present at the temple that day!”
She had been there. But she had hidden in the secret room beside the statue, avoiding the eyes of Slot and the priests. She had stayed behind alone to manipulate the statue’s questions according to the fake’s will.
The alibi she had carefully constructed now tightened around Capia’s neck with every passing second.
“That is…!”
“You did nothing for my daughter. You were nothing more than a complete stranger with no connection whatsoever! How dare you appear before my daughter and act as though you are some grand Saintess?”
This was not normal.
No matter how deep the grudge, one should never hurl such insults at the Saintess who represented the entire temple.
Yet Capia was in no position to retaliate, especially with her holy power failing to activate.
Psychologically cornered, the Saintess faltered.
“That is not it. I merely wished to help the ailing young lady…”
The Klein Duchess declared solemnly.
“I reclaimed my daughter with my own strength alone. You did nothing. Even when we announced we had found the lady, you remained silent, did you not? For five years, I paid the temple handsomely for entrusting her to you!”
“Please calm yourself. Pardon?”
The Duchess paid no heed to the Saintess’s pleas and issued her dismissal.
“There is no need for you to add your words now that everything is over. Saintess Capia, please return to the temple at once.”
“……”
Having spoken her final words before the Saintess, the Duchess rose slowly. Without a trace of lingering attachment, she left with her lady’s maid. It seemed she intended to sever all ties with the temple forever.
Left alone, the Saintess stared blankly at the tea and desserts before her.
The cherry still looked delicious, but she had long since lost her appetite. All she could do was grind her teeth inwardly at the target of her rage.
Just you wait, Dotricia Karis! I will repay this humiliation in full one day. You will come to the temple and scrub between the toes of the holy statue every single day.
What should she do? How could she overcome this crisis?
The answer was already clear.
I know very well that you are connected to the Dark Guild. You probably believe your family has already been buried, but you will try to contact them again. To silence the real lady and the people from the monastery. If I… leak the matter of the Silk Robe to the Drakan Rider, it will be the end!
Capia decided to return to the temple for the time being.
She left only a short letter for Slot, who had remained at the imperial palace.
She wrote that, having come to the capital after so long, there were matters she wished to investigate further, and she needed to retrieve something important from the temple. She would return within ten days at the latest and asked him not to follow.
The Saintess’s profile as she headed toward the temple was that of a malevolent spirit steeped in wickedness.
After the Saintess departed, the furious Duchess vented her anger on the unfortunate butler.
“What did the Saintess do while she was here?”
“My lady, as soon as she arrived, she went to the garden monument, sprinkled holy water upon it, offered a blessing, and left a wreath. She said she was driving away any evil spirits that might have become entangled because the young lady was unwell…”
“How dare she lay hands on that?! Butler, have you lost your mind? You should have stopped her!”
“I-I am terribly sorry.”
“Let us go at once!”
The Klein Duchess stormed toward the monument where the Saintess’s traces remained.
Holy water was unlike ordinary liquid; it did not dry quickly and left damp marks on the stone.
The Duchess ordered the maids to wipe the marks away with white cloths and had them burned in the incinerator.
Among the discarded items was, of course, the wreath the Saintess had brought.
Only then did she huff and puff her way to see her daughter, who must have been exhausted by the unwelcome visitor.
* * *
“Hnnng…”
Pay set down the book she had been reading and stretched. Her shoulders and back ached from sitting too long.
Should I try casting Cure?
She reached into the basket and tickled Momo’s wing joint as he slept soundly. The little Drakan let out a sleepy snort and flopped over again.
“…I wonder where your master is and what he is doing right now, hm?”
After the ball at the Orleans ducal house.
Lucia had briefly informed her that the Saintess had visited the Klein residence and been driven out shortly after.
Curious about what had happened, Pay had gone to the palace the next day to investigate, only to learn that the Saintess had returned to the temple for a “short while.”
The Crown Prince’s secretary had stopped her and begged her to lift the self-imposed house arrest, so she had simply agreed and left.
And lately, Lucia had been nowhere to be seen.
Pay directed her hollow grumble at Momo’s wing as he continued to snore.