The Saintess's New Instructor
Count Renkels served as Ivetta’s etiquette instructor.
With their existing acquaintance and his position as the head of a prestigious noble family, he was a perfectly suitable candidate to act as her chaperone.
Beth’s recommendation had been perfectly reasonable.
If only I hadn’t been sitting right there with them.
Lady Harper gasped in shock and crossed both arms to form a giant X.
Lady Rosina’s brows drooped in clear distress.
“Count Renkels is wonderful, of course, but… would it be all right if we suggested someone else?”
Lady Regia carefully offered an alternative.
At the suddenly heavy atmosphere, only Beth and Ivetta looked utterly bewildered.
I had only asked the maids not to let us run into each other. I had never once mentioned that Count Renkels was my uncle, fearing it might make Ivetta even slightly uncomfortable during her lessons.
But these girls, who had grown up reading the room like it was their second language, seemed to have instantly sensed that there was some complicated history between the Count and me.
Beth looked up at me with a gloomy expression.
“I’m sorry.”
Her voice was completely deflated.
“There’s nothing to apologize for.”
I deliberately kept my tone light as I gave them a brief summary of the family situation.
“You see, Count Renkels is my uncle. We don’t really interact much because of old family issues, so I didn’t mention it. It’s not that we’re on bad terms or anything.”
The one I truly disliked was the former Count Renkels.
The reason my mother had cut ties with her brother was simply because he kept trying to reconcile her with my grandfather.
“So please don’t make such serious faces.”
The other young ladies seemed to have only heard vague hints from the lower maids and didn’t know the full story either.
Yet they all still looked grave.
“Really?”
When they still seemed doubtful, I gave them a quick rundown of my parents’ love story—just to show that it wasn’t some terribly dramatic tale.
Fortunately, the girls’ romantic sensibilities found the idea of love that transcended social class quite charming. The heavy mood lifted almost immediately.
“That’s so cool.”
“It really is.”
“It’s like something out of a romance novel.”
I watched the five of them each offer their little comments before adding one final remark.
“If Count Renkels is willing, I believe he would be the best possible chaperone for Ivetta.”
“You really think so?”
“Yes!”
I answered firmly, wanting to give Ivetta some reassurance.
“Then…”
Ivetta hesitated for a moment before speaking again.
She’s going to ask Count Renkels to be her chaperone.
Ivetta tended to be rather shy around new people.
Still, Count Renkels really was the ideal choice for the role.
“Lina, even if you’re not my chaperone… will you still help me prepare for my debutante ball?”
“That’s a wonderful idea.”
But the words that followed were completely different from what I had expected.
By the time I fully registered what she had said, I had already given an affirmative answer.
“Thank you!”
Ivetta beamed so brightly that it felt too awkward to take it back.
“The truth is, the debutante preparations are so rushed that the other young ladies have agreed to stay in the detached palace and help. It would make me really happy if you could stay with us too, Lina.”
Ivetta chattered on, then seemed to realize she had made a sudden request and quickly added,
“If you’re busy, it’s fine if you only come occasionally.”
I had a serious weakness for cute things.
And Ivetta was very cute.
“I’m not busy at all.”
I readily accepted the offer of palace life.
When else would I ever get to live in the imperial palace?
The more important a building was, the closer it tended to be to the center of the palace complex, which meant my commute time would be dramatically reduced.
The staff of the detached palace were kind even to me, an outsider.
Spending time with Ivetta, Beth, and occasionally the maids after work turned out to be surprisingly enjoyable.
However, as I spent more time with Ivetta, I also learned something new.
The temple was still reaching out its filthy claws toward her.
* * *
Edwin had thrown himself into work to make up for all the time he had spent lazing around.
His already short sleeping hours grew even shorter.
But when he received the news that Lina had moved into the detached palace—just as he had hoped—his motivation surged like a fountain.
Every guard and maid assigned to the detached palace belonged to the Emperor.
There, he could meet Lina without worrying about rumors.
Though he still couldn’t find the time to actually go see her and remained trapped in his office.
Even so, simply knowing that Lina was in the same palace complex greatly improved Edwin’s mood.
The distance between the Emperor’s palace and the detached palace where Lina stayed was hardly close enough to call it “the same space,” but that didn’t matter to him.
Edwin scanned the report with his eyes while speaking at the same time.
“So that rumor was a joint creation of the western nobles and the temple…”
He had identified the general source long ago, but uncovering the precise structure had taken some time.
At first, he had assumed the temple and the western nobles were simply moving toward the same goal separately and their paths had overlapped by coincidence.
The West and the temple had always maintained a close relationship.
The temple preached charity while operating in ways that perfectly suited the tastes of the nobles who provided its main source of income.
The western nobles had always approved of the temple’s stance.
But upon closer inspection, the movements of both sides were far more coordinated than that.
It wasn’t that their paths overlapped—it looked as though they were walking the exact same road together.
And at the center of it all stood Count Harkan, the second-in-command of the western faction and father to a high-ranking priest.
Edwin quickly scanned the rest of the report.
Aside from recent events, suspicious entries had been discovered in the ledgers submitted from the West.
Since the later years of the previous emperor’s reign, expenses related to weapons and hiring mercenaries had been subtly but consistently increasing.
Looking at any single year, the amounts were small enough to dismiss, but when calculated across the entire period, the total was impossible to ignore.
And now the temple and the West were joining forces? Edwin’s instincts sharpened like a blade.
“Keep watching to determine whether this is a temporary strategic alliance or if they’ve truly boarded the same ship. Focus especially on the West’s movements.”
The influence of the Minos Church within the empire was absolute.
Many emperors had tried and failed to bring the temple to its knees, which had only caused the temple’s power to grow even stronger.
If the temple and the West had truly combined forces, it would be easier to strike at the West first.
Kylus was about to leave to relay the Emperor’s orders to the Blue Hawk members dispatched to the West when he suddenly added something, as if he had just remembered.
Compared to the matter of the West and the temple, its importance was low, but it was something Edwin would likely want to know.
“It seems the Crown Princess has taken a liking to Everett Rohas. She appears interested in meeting him a few more times. Whenever anyone asks Everett about the Crown Princess, his ears turn red and he gets all flustered.”
“That’s good. Make sure they can continue meeting in secret if possible.”
It was still too early for there to be two Everett Rohases.
“And let the other candidates for the royal marriage know to meet with her at least once more.”
Of course, it wasn’t purely for personal reasons.
He had noticed that the West was unusually supportive of the royal marriage candidate connected to them.
The main use of monster byproducts from Bellot was in forging weapons.
By making it seem as though the Crown Princess’s marriage candidate had not yet been chosen, he planned to use it as bait.
With luck, even a small lure might catch a very large fish.
* * *
Most of the temple’s attempts to reach out were firmly rebuffed by Kylus’s iron wall.
However, there was one touch that was difficult to block.
After learning that Ivetta was receiving instruction from the court mage on how to handle her divine power, the temple raised its voice, claiming this was an insult to the Saintess of the Minos Church.
They even grabbed the Magic Tower by the collar, accusing the mages of trying to disrespect the temple. It seemed the situation had become quite troublesome.
The temple strongly demanded that Ivetta be handed over immediately.
The imperial family had maintained a stony silence in response.
Then, as if this were their final chance, the temple that had been launching an all-out offensive suddenly offered a compromise.
They would dispatch a priest to teach her how to handle divine power.
It was obviously an attempt to get a foot in the door, but since they weren’t asking Ivetta to come to them and were instead offering to send a priest to the palace, there was no way to refuse.
The temple was exceptionally skilled at shifting blame onto others, and they were working hard to shape public opinion that the Emperor was keeping Ivetta imprisoned.
In the end, Ivetta’s divine power instructor was replaced by a low-ranking priest dispatched from the temple.
I heard the news a little late and immediately grew worried.
There was no way the High Priest would let this opportunity slip by.