As far as she could remember, she had never been to the main church of Odor, but she asked just in case. Adults usually remember childhood events better.

Duke Odor furrowed his brows for a moment.

“Well, you and your elder sister preferred the outskirts to downtown. But you might have come here once or twice. Why?”

“I guess so. I must have been here before.”

That’s why she had such a vivid dream.

Olentia accepted that and tried to enter the church with her uncle.

But then, her eyes caught sight of a flickering orange conch hair pin, like a candle flame. A woman had arrived in front of the church.

“Aah!”

Olentia screamed and covered her face with both hands at the ongoing nightmarish situation.

Duke Odor was even more startled and flinched, and the woman with the orange conch hair pin also turned to look at Olentia.

Olentia was on the verge of fainting right then and there.

She had no idea why she was seeing the woman and conch hair pin from her dream here.

As she shuddered, Duke Odor looked at Olentia with puzzlement.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing.”

Olentia gave a forced smile to reassure the flustered Duke Odor, and her eyes met those of the woman with the orange conch hair pin.

The woman was a beauty with lush brown hair. She had a charming mole under her right eye, and when their eyes met, she grinned, her thin lips curving up in a way that seemed she had made plenty of men cry before. A faint scent of perfume could be smelled from her.

It must have just been an ominous dream.

Olentia calmed herself and entered the main church with Duke Odor.

Honestly, she was quite flustered even after entering the church. The magnificent fresco paintings, golden altar, and oak doors with arabesque patterns were just as she had seen in her dream.

Where the stained glass light sparkled, Olentia saw the face of Archbishop Werbu, whom she had wanted to meet so badly. He had an overall gentle impression, but his eyes were sharp, befitting someone who had personally come down to resolve the issues with the church of Odor.

“Nice to meet you, Lady Armeniaca.”

At his words, Olentia politely greeted him.

“It is an honor to meet you, Your Excellency.”

“You must be tired from the long journey. I heard you had something you must tell me. Is that right?”

The archbishop seemed to dislike wasting time.

Olentia nodded with a slightly tense face. Could she really cancel her wedding with Marquis Luxus? She was worried since the outcome was unpredictable.

And next to the archbishop was a man with an even gentler, no, more benevolent impression. He also greeted Olentia.

“I am Ankedo, the priest temporarily attending to His Excellency Archbishop Werbu, who has come to Odor.”

Olentia smiled brightly and returned the greeting.

“Yes, Sir Ankedo.”

“If there is anything you need from the church during your stay at the Duke’s residence, you can ask Ankedo. The Duke will be busy, after all.”

The archbishop’s added remark conveyed his firm trust in Ankedo.

As Olentia nodded, Ankedo guided her and Duke Odor to the reception room.

The interior of the reception room was neat. A white tablecloth was spread on the table, and several golden statues were placed.

Olentia nervously gulped. She fidgeted with her hands under the table, and even her feet seemed to tremble. She was worried the archbishop might coldly refuse.

But her uncle seemed about to speak on her behalf. That would be the worst. It would be like using her uncle’s power or connections to sway the archbishop even a little.

‘I should speak first. Before uncle does.’

As expected, as soon as her uncle took a sip of his tea, she spoke up.

“About that.”

“I will tell you myself. I want to say it directly.”

When she calmly asserted herself, the archbishop smiled slightly, and her uncle looked at Olentia with surprise.

“But still.”

“Uncle, I’m fine.”

After Olentia silenced her uncle, she briefly cleared her throat. If only she could borrow the wisdom of her mother Malissa at times like this. She was a famous philanthropist in the Bonus Empire and was known for her eloquence, giving speeches in large squares.

‘Mother, please give me strength!’

Olentia, who had prayed for a moment, opened her eyes wide and looked at the archbishop.

“I’m truly sorry, but please cancel my scheduled wedding for which I received the special marriage permit. I never consented to the wedding, and it was arbitrarily applied for by Count Armeniaca, who was my guardian at the time.”

She thought she did well. The archbishop disliked wasting time anyway, so beating around the bush would have been troublesome.

Honestly, she wanted to tell him all the details. How underhanded Sokol and Kikozellia were, how bad of a person Marquis Luxus, her groom-to-be, was.

But to Archbishop Werbu, those were all irrelevant matters.

Olentia thought she had conveyed her opinion well and concisely.

But the room temperature seemed to have dropped compared to a moment ago. It was because of the subtly chilly atmosphere.

The archbishop did not answer readily and only spoke after touching his teacup.

“It cannot be done, my lady. The special marriage permit bears a heavy promise in exchange for allowing a quick wedding at the cathedral.”

“Even though I had no idea about it at all? I’m no different from being scammed.”

Olentia clasped her trembling hands tightly and straightened her back. She felt like her back would break if she showed even a little weakness. She didn’t want to show such an appearance.

“Please, I beg you, Your Excellency. I don’t want to be sold off in marriage to an alcoholic philanderer.”

She pleaded again, but the archbishop spoke with a sigh in his voice.

“If you cancel the wedding altogether, you will never be able to have a wedding blessed by God again, my lady. Are you fine with that?”

Among the nobles of the Bonus Empire, there was no one who did not hold their wedding at a church. That’s how important the ceremony of receiving God’s blessing was. But being told she would not be able to have a wedding blessed by God in the future meant to quietly hold the ceremony in hiding somewhere. Then, it would be natural to not fit into noble society, and she could even be stoned as a bad omen.

Olentia clenched both fists and trembled.

It was because she imagined herself entering the Bonus Cathedral with Marquis Luxus, just as Sokol and Kikozellia wanted.

She absolutely could not do that.

‘Isn’t there any other way? Some other method!’

But the archbishop spoke again in a resolute voice.

“Your marriage to Marquis Luxus is already as good as a promise to God, so just do it. That is for the best.”

Her whole heart crumbled.

Olentia looked at the archbishop with sad eyes. But the archbishop was sipping his tea with an indifferent face. As if it had nothing to do with him.

That’s when it happened.

Finally, her uncle spoke.

“Does it have to be Marquis Luxus?”

Olentia glanced at him as if asking what kind of nonsense that was.

Duke Odor had an endlessly serious face.

“The special marriage permit application would have been made by Count Armeniaca, Olentia’s guardian at the time. So it can be seen that the only one with a promise to God is Olentia. Therefore, it doesn’t seem to need to be Marquis Luxus.”

Then the archbishop laughed and put down his teacup.

“That makes sense. Duke Odor is correct.”

Olentia’s mind was blank as she left the reception room. Thinking carefully about what her uncle and Archbishop Werbu had said, she let out an absurd laugh.

‘So canceling the wedding is not possible, but bringing a man other than Marquis Luxus is fine.’

But what Olentia wanted was to cancel the wedding altogether. It was also difficult to find a man to marry instead of Marquis Luxus right away. She didn’t really want to get married anyway.

However, Duke Odor had a very urgent look on his face.

“We need to hurry and look for decent men. Among the men I know, Viscount Hermil has a good personality.”

“No, uncle. I haven’t given up yet.”

“What haven’t you given up on? Don’t tell me it’s canceling the wedding?”

“Yes. I’m going to try to find a way.”

“Well, you know that when the archbishop says it’s a promise to God, he never changes his mind.”

But Olentia still had lingering attachment. She wanted to leave her uncle’s method as the very last resort.

Then, as her uncle moved towards the carriage, he said,

“Let’s go back for now. We’re done for today.”

Olentia spoke to Duke Odor while standing in front of the church.

“I have more business at the church. Could you come pick me up in the evening?”

Olentia still had issues to check at the church. Perhaps thinking it was simply due to lingering attachment, Duke Odor nodded without further question.

“Alright. Stay out of trouble.”

“You’re the one clearly going to do something pointless, so don’t waste your efforts, uncle.”

She thought he might really try to arrange meetings, as he kept mentioning decent men.

Duke Odor quickly boarded the carriage. Olentia stared at the departing carriage and then looked up at the tall spires of the main church again. She planned to wander around the church and try to recall more memories of whether she had really been here before or not.

By doing so, she thought she might be able to tell if the dream was a premonition or not.

Olentia didn’t want others to see her like that, so she first examined the outskirts. Slowly going around, she arrived at the rear courtyard of the church.

The rear courtyard was covered with numerous pebbles, and there was a small rest area with white tables and chairs.

That’s when it happened.

Thud, thud!

Startled by the sound of hurried footsteps approaching the rear courtyard, Olentia instinctively hid behind a tree.