Chapter 20
The look on the priest’s face brightened.
Keivrand grinned when he saw it.
“But that’s after I judge whether the rumor is true or not. If it is known that the marriage is broken because of false rumors, it will further disgrace the Divine Kingdom.”
Keivrand laid out a condition, but the priest was confident.
The Countess’ scandal was published on the front page of a reputable newspaper.
The article mocked Count Green for having been bewitched by the Countess and was unable to reign her in. Furthermore, the article expressed regret to the Divine Kingdom, which protected Count Green.
It couldn’t be just a rumor that Countess Green was a debauchery woman, he thought.
“I’m glad we’re finally on the same page, Count.”
The priest, who had been arrogant until now, used honorifics without realizing it.
His pride was damaged, but he couldn’t help it.
Because he didn’t want to experience that terrifying thing from before again.
Anyway, the goal was achieved, so he wanted to leave here quickly and return to the safety of the Divine Kingdom while Keivrand hadn’t changed his mind.
“Wait.”
The priest was about to stand up, but Keivrand called him.
“I’m not done talking.”
“What more do you want to talk about…?”
“What if the rumors are false? How are you going to pay for disregarding my wife and the Green family after being swayed by false rumors?”
“W-what do you mean…”
“Say…If it turns out that the Holy Father encouraged my divorce under false rumors. I can’t just let that slide, can I?”
The priest swallowed his dry saliva.
He never thought about it that far, and the high priest hadn’t told him how to respond.
But it was right for Keivrand to make this request.
“W-what do you want?”
He’ll listen and pass it onto the high priest.
“I’m going to have a wedding soon in the near future.”
Keivrand slowly crossed his legs and lifted one corner of his mouth.
“The Holy Father should attend in person and bless the marriage and formally apologize to my wife. Only then will this humiliation go away.”
At the ridiculous request, the priest’s eyes widened.
The Holy Father wasn’t someone who could come and go as he pleases.
Even the wedding of the Emperor of the largest Empire on the continent wasn’t attended by the Holy Father.
He had sent a message of congratulation and blessing from a distance, and that alone made everyone feel overwhelmed.
But not only will he have to come and bless them in person, he also has to apologize.
However, the priest couldn’t say no.
Keivrand was smiling, but his eyes became grim like before, and an illusion occurred behind his back that seemed to be full of heavy dark energy.
‘It doesn’t matter. The rumors can’t be false, and even so, he’ll be grateful if the Holy Father sends a message of blessing.’
The priest, who thought so, nodded.
“Okay. I accept the condition.”
Keivrand grinned and pulled a small device out of his jacket pocket.
It was a device the priest had never seen before.
“Did you know that there was a magic to record conversations and play it back a long time ago?”
Of course the priest knew, but he couldn’t see why Keivrand was bringing up such a thing.
“Not long ago, an interesting device was invented at the wizard tower. In joint cooperation with the mechanical engineers. As always, they sent it to the honorable Count Green to see if it was useful.”
Click-
When Keivrand pressed the button on the device, the conversation between him and the priest rang out as if they had returned to earlier.
And the clear recording of the priest saying he would accept Keivrand’s conditions.
Looking at the breathless priest, Keivrand grinned.
“I think it’s useful.”
* * *
Keivrand had told the priest to stay and wait at the estate while the truth would be revealed sooner or later.
It was more of an order than an offer, so the priest had no choice but to stay in the West House, the guest building of the Green family.
‘What should I do…?’
It was only now that the priest regretted being arrogant in front of Keivrand.
‘If the rumors are all false…What will happen to me?’
* * *
Iris was reading a book in her study.
The book, which was written a long time ago, was about the history of the Divine Kingdom and how they came to reject beastmen.
[It is well known that Benedict, who was expected to be the next Holy Father, was a beastman.
However, it was belatedly known what kind of species of beastman he was, and that was the origin of the first wave of the beastmen revolt.
At that time, beastmen were treated equal to humans, but were ridiculed and admired depending on what they turned into.
Benedict was a beastman that turned into a mouse.
The fact that the person who may become the next Holy Father can transform into a mouse, a carrier of infectious diseases, stirred up the entire continent, including the Divine Kingdom.
He who upholds the will of God, turned out to be a dirty little mouse.
In addition, he hid that fact and became an honorable high priest and was eying to be the next Holy Father.
Benedict was upright, honest and faithful.
Being able to transform into a mouse didn’t change that fact, but it couldn’t suppress the stigma of mice embedded in the public perception.
Benedict was deeply hurt by the attitude of the public, the priests, and the Holy Father, who had changed their view of him overnight.
He secretly gathered beastmen in similar circumstances with a fired heart, and started the first beastmen revolt.]
When Iris read up to there, Keivrand came to see her.
“Irie, I’m sorry to have interrupted you.”
“No, I was just reading because I was a little free today.”
Iris closed the book and got up holding Keivrand’s hand.
“Would you like to take a walk? Just the two of us.”
“Okay.”
She left the maids in the room and came out with Keivrand.
She thought they would walk to the central garden, but the place Keivrand was walking towards was the west side.
“It looks like you have a precious guest.”
“As valuable as it’s worth. There will be a guest who will make our wedding more brilliant.”
“At our wedding?”
Iris, not knowing the promise Keivrand made with the priest, asked back, but he only smiled.
It wasn’t long before they arrived at a garden in front of the library.
It was smaller than the central garden, but full of fragrant and sweet scents.
Most of the garden trees were fruit trees.
Keivrand reached out and grabbed a peach from a tree and handed it to Iris.
“Peaches in our mansion are famous for their sweetness.”
“I didn’t know there was such a thing.”
Iris took a bite of the coveted peach.
The juice moistened around her lips.
“Wow, really…”
She wanted to say it was delicious, but the words were swallowed by Keivrand’s lips.
Keivrand, who tasted Iris’ juicy lips carefully, placed his forehead against her and whispered.
“Sorry. Your lips looked sweeter than the peaches.”
“Was it that sweet?”
“It was sweeter.”
Once again, Keivrand overlapped his lips with Iris’.
Iris felt her heart, which had just stopped in surprise, beating sweetly this time.
Strangely, this short, light kiss was more palpitating than when Keivrand touched her body.
She was worried Keivrand could hear her strangely fast beating heart, but Keivrand, who took his lips off, wiped her lips with his thumb.
“I’ve decided to prove to the priest that the rumors are false.”
“I see.”
“When are you going to do it, Iris? The sooner the better.”
“I had reserved Tony’s Tavern when I heard that a priest was coming.”
The bar ‘Tony’s Tavern’ was next to the central plaza in the city of Rondiban, the capital where the Green’s estate was located.
It was the biggest and most spacious place in the city of Rondiban, and is often used by the common people to throw parties.
“Tomorrow, I’m going to throw a party there for the common people.”
“What should I prepare?”
Iris put her index finger on her chin and tilted her head slightly to the side, pretending to think. Then, with her index finger, she tapped Keivrand on the tip of his nose.
“Prepare to laugh.”
* * *
A surprise party for the common people prepared by the rumored Countess Green.
In the central plaza next to Tony’s Tavern, there was no room for people to walk even though it was much earlier than the time of the party.
Iris didn’t send out invitations, so various people had gathered.
There were people who wanted to see Count Green up close.
People who wanted to see the rumored Countess Green.
People who hated the promiscuous Countess Green.
People who wanted to eat the delicious food.
People who wanted to climb the social ladder using Count Green.
Nobles living nearby.
Journalists who wanted to cover the main character of the rumors.
They had all gathered here.
“Since the Holy Father took action, the Countess must have caught fire under her feet. So she’s throwing a party like this.”
“Is the Countess throwing this party because of the affair?”
“That’s not necessarily true. Maybe the Countess likes parties, and she wants to have one with us.”
While the people had the same thoughts on their minds, Iris was changing into a dress.
Elegant, but not too fancy.
Decorated, but not too much.
But at the same time, it accentuated Iris’ looks the most. Her silver hair with a tinge of pink was tied up and secured in a bun. A few strands were gracefully loose as it stretched to her shoulders.
She only wore one hairpine with pearls the size of a thumbnail on them, and earrings and necklaces with small pearls.
The dress was a very light sky blue.
It was a dress with wide, fluttering sleeves down to the back of her hand that exposed her shoulders.
It was a plain-looking dress with no lace or decorations, but when Iris wore it, it looked elegant and graceful.
“I was worried that it wasn’t a suitable dress for anyone…You’re so beautiful, Miss Iris.”
Christina, who was waiting on Iris, admired her.
Elly nodded enthusiastically.
Juliette wasn’t here.
It was because Juliette, who had heard about the party today, took a leave of absence, saying she wanted to attend as the daughter of a Viscount.
It happened to be what Iris wanted, so she allowed it without a care, but Christina didn’t seem to like that Juliette had forgotten her duty.
The maids are also entitled to dress beautifully and attend the party, but no matter how much so, they had to take care of the lady they were serving first.
“This is enough for me, so Christina and Elly should go and get ready for the party.”
“For the party…”
“Yes, Countess. We’ll hurry and come back.”
Elly was about to say something, but Christina had interrupted her.
She stared at Christina with a look of discontent and was taken away by her hand.
As soon as they went out into the hallway, Elly shook off Christina’s hand.
“Christy, please, I need to talk to the Countess.”
“What were you going to say?”
“That…I’m the type to get hives when I’m at a party.”
“I don’t think that’s it, Elly.”
“Oh, Christy. I was going to say parties don’t suit me, why?”
Christina glared at Elly.
“I know. I know. But since I was a kid…Christy.”
Elly scratched her head as if she was frustrated.
“But the same goes for Celestine. Celestine says whatever she wants to say…”
“You should call her Miss Celestine. Or call her Lady Green.”
“She’s a…”
Keivrand was walking down the hall when Elly spoke up to there.
The two quickly stopped talking and looked back at him.
For some reason, Keivrand looked as if he was holding back his laughter.
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Christina thought for a moment that Keivrand might have heard their conversation, but knew that couldn’t be.
Since they had spoken in a very small voice.
‘He must be happy to see Iris. Because he’s always smiling when he goes into her room.’
== Translator’s Note ==
1. Please report any typos, grammatical/spelling errors, sentences you find weird, and other etc…in the comment section .