There were only seven High Priests in the Empire.

Dunames with the Imperial Palace and the Great Temple, and four Elector territories including the ruined Ideana.

The High Priests were stationed one each in those territories and the Great Temple, with one remaining to move flexibly in case of war or emergency.

Therefore, it was uncommon to have more than one High Priest in a single territory.

Dietrich was already in Ideana territory.

“O-Of course, I did request help from other priests, but…”

Dietrich muttered while touching his smooth forehead.

He had requested more priests to be assigned to the Great Temple, as they were overwhelmed with the power needed for Ideana’s restoration, plus the heretic problem.

All the priests were exhausted, only able to sleep two or three hours a day due to the amount of work.

But that didn’t mean he wanted Giselle Marlhein to be sent here.

“The Great Temple must have judged the heretic problem to be no different from war.”

For the temple, nothing was more important than matters of black magic and heresy.

While the secular world fights over borders, the temple fights over faith.

“Ah, but I alone would have been enough…”

Dietrich pouted his lips, seemingly disappointed that the Great Temple didn’t seem to trust him enough.

“Wouldn’t High Priest Giselle have volunteered herself?”

The priest’s words made sense.

Giselle Marlhein was such an extraordinary woman, she wouldn’t move so easily.

Even if the Pope ordered her, she would resist if she didn’t want to do it, telling them to send someone else.

But she’s coming to Ideana this quickly?

This was only possible because Giselle herself stepped up and notified the Great Temple that she would go.

The Great Temple must have hurriedly sent the letter saying she was “already on her way” due to such circumstances.

Even the Pope found it difficult to handle Giselle’s booming voice.

She was a woman who would accomplish what she set out to do.

“S-Scary…”

At that thought, Dietrich shuddered.

By now, Giselle must be marching with a fierce momentum like a general leading a million-strong army.

“Shouldn’t we inform Duke Lester as well?”

“Y-Yes, we should. Oh my… this is going to get complicated.”

Dietrich shook his head while pushing up his glasses.

Giselle Marlhein’s party arrived in Paradel exactly one week after the messenger bird had flown in.

An even longer and more splendid procession than when Dietrich came entered Paradel Castle, which was still under reconstruction.

Her cool, wavy blue hair and white robes fluttered with her haughty steps.

She resembled a wave. She was a great tsunami engulfing this Paradel.

“High Priest Giselle Marlhein.”

Sched paid his respects politely before the High Priest.

The beautiful High Priest gave a benevolent smile towards her fiancé, the Duke.

“It’s been a while, Duke Lester. May God be with you.”

“I didn’t expect you to come all this way.”

“You didn’t? It seems you’re quite ignorant about me, Duke Lester.”

“…Did you have any inconveniences on your journey?”

“It’s all trials we must endure as children of God. I learned a lot on the way.”

Giselle mocked him gently with a calm face.

Her words meant that the journey was terribly inconvenient and troublesome.

It seemed she had quite a difficult time coming here, as the situation in Ideana was still not stable.

“The villages outside Paradel are still not fully restored.”

“With such vast lands to look after, you must be extremely busy. I understand now why you couldn’t visit Munhe.”

Every word from her soft lips was sharp as thorns.

It was a rebuke to Sched for not visiting Munhe where his fiancée was, and coming straight here instead.

Listening from behind, Dietrich thought Sched might die from being pricked by Giselle’s words.

But Sched’s expression showed not a hint of agitation. His emotionless face almost seemed brazen.

He only looked tired.

‘Another nuisance has appeared.’

Sched hadn’t been able to sleep properly for days.

It was because of the nightmares that had been visiting him every day since that day. That is, since the day his heat came.

After what happened with Riana during his heat, the heat disappeared as if nothing had happened, but instead, the nightmares that had been quiet for a while came rushing back.

Whenever he closed his eyes, he saw Riana.

Riana hovered before him in a faint form, as if she would disappear at any moment.

He was filled with anxiety that Death would kiss her and take her away.

When he reached out to protect her, she would crumble and vanish like a dried flower petal, and the terrible nightmare would throw him back to reality.

When he opened his eyes, his whole body was drenched in cold sweat.

The unbearably long nights mocked him.

“You must be tired from your journey, please go inside and rest.”

Sched suggested rest to Giselle with a face more tired than hers who had come from afar.

As Sched stepped back as if to escort the party inside, Giselle stopped him.

“Before resting, I’d like to have a word with Duke Lester. Just the two of us.”

Sched was silent for a moment, looking annoyed at her bold, upturned eyes.

A face that didn’t want to go along with it.

“That’s alright, isn’t it?”

Her gentle eye smile seemed to press a knife against Sched’s nape.

She was a High Priest and his fiancée.

He had to show at least minimal courtesy.

Tiredly rubbing his eyebrow with his fingertip, he finally nodded indifferently.

As soon as the door closed, the smile disappeared from Giselle’s lips.

She took a seat on the sofa in Sched’s study as if it were her own room.

Sched looked at her with slightly bewildered eyes.

“Sit.”

She sat with her long legs elegantly crossed and stared up at Sched.

The polite and kind High Priest from earlier was nowhere to be seen.

Do the temple’s believers even know that Giselle Marlhein could be this arrogant?

Sched dryly rubbed his face.

He didn’t want to tiredly argue.

He knew his fiancée was not an easy woman to deal with.

It was easier to simply follow her words than to upset her over trivial matters.

Sched sat across from her.

Giselle leaned back against the chair and gazed at Sched.

“My fiancé.”

“…Yes, High Priest Giselle Marlhein.”

Sched countered her somewhat arrogant speech with polite yet excessively dull courtesy.

Giselle’s beautiful brow furrowed.

That damned form of address.

“Don’t you have anything to say to me?”

Giselle asked, rolling her eyes as she looked around his study.

Sched just stared at her calmly without answering.

Was he unaware of his wrongdoing, or did he have too many wrongs to speak of even with ten mouths?

Giselle tapped the tip of her white shoe.

“I came all this way because there’s something I want to hear.”

“…”

“Brillon Port. You didn’t properly explain what happened, did you?”

Giselle brought up a past event and put it on the conversation table.

Ah, Brillon Port.

When was that again?

It was something he had already pushed out of his mind long ago.

But it seemed his fiancée still had something to say about it.

“Why did you set fire to Brillon Port that day? Explain properly. Otherwise, I’ll consider it a declaration of war from House Lester against House Marlhein.”

“I should have sent a letter. That incident was regrettable, I’m sorry, and so House Lester will pay compensation exceeding the damages.”

Wasn’t it too late for a declaration of war?

Sched thought boredly.

“That’s not what I’m asking. It wasn’t an accidental incident, was it? It was arson.”

Giselle needed to know why Sched had caused trouble he wouldn’t normally do.

Sched frowned irritably at her persistent questioning.

“There’s no need for you to know about it.”

“It happened in our territory! If I don’t know, who would?”

Giselle slammed the table at Sched’s half-hearted attitude.

In fact, the compensation he offered was sufficient.

She didn’t intend to nitpick and drag it out, she just wanted an explanation.

But the more vaguely Sched avoided it, the more curious she became.

Why he went to Brillon that day. Why he did such a thing.

“…I went to find someone.”

“Someone?”

“A criminal who escaped from Lester territory. He was hiding like a rat, so it was difficult to drag him out and some forceful methods were needed.”

Because of a criminal?

All that trouble just to catch one criminal?

“What crime did he commit that…”

“We should have caught him before he left Lester territory, but he happened to cross over into Marlhein territory. I apologize again for causing trouble in many ways.”

“So you burned down the port to catch a prisoner? Without consulting our family?”

“It wasn’t a matter that allowed time for consultation.”

“So did you properly deal with that criminal, Duke Lester?”

“Thanks to Marlhein’s cooperation.”

Sched said that and turned his gaze away.

Proper dealing…

His head throbbed painfully as he thought of Riana.

Was anything properly dealt with?

Everything was just getting more and more tangled…

“Sched Lester.”

At that moment, an irritated voice broke through his thoughts.

When he looked up indifferently, the furrow between Giselle’s brows had deepened.

It was clear that unpleasant words were about to come from her mouth.

“It seems it would be more comfortable for you to stay with the priests on the temple side.”

He changed the subject as he stood up.

His stubborn fiancée’s golden eyes followed his movement upwards.

“I’ve instructed the subordinates, so…”

“No, I’ll be staying in this mansion. It seems there are still many empty rooms, from what I’ve seen?”

Giselle shook her head and stood up with him.

“Sched Lester. You know, I’m not the type to crave love or affection.”

Clear clicks resounded from the tips of her feet.

“Rather, I find such things bothersome. I’m the kind of person who values my own life more.”

The white shoes stopped right in front of Sched Lester.

“But, I need to at least do the basics of everything to feel satisfied. The same goes for engagement.”

A hand in a white glove grabbed his collar and pulled him sharply.

Sched’s expression hardened at that.

“So I want you to be clearly aware. That I am your fiancée.”

Giselle’s lips drew close, as if about to kiss him.