Contract Marriage with the Devil Duke - Chapter 16

The one who appeared in the backyard was the priest Ankedo, whom I had seen earlier. Next to him was another priest in white ceremonial robes, whom I was seeing for the first time.

The two men’s clothes were a bit different. While the new priest’s robes were simple, Ankedo’s robes were more ornate with golden patterns embroidered on them. It seemed Ankedo’s rank was higher.

As there was no need to hide, I was about to come out from behind the tree when Ankedo’s sharp voice was heard.

“The guy who saw me. Did you dispose of the body properly?”

‘Body?’

Shocked, Olentia hid straight behind the tree again and eavesdropped on their conversation.

The priest with fluffy hair nodded with a pale face.

“Yes, yes. Of course. I put it in a sack and threw it in the Centmi River, so even if they find it after it decomposes, they won’t be able to identify who it is.”

“And I told you to smile when you see me in the church. Is it hard to smile? If you stiffen up and look scared every time you see me, how will I look to the Archbishop? Huh? The Archbishop is already grinding his teeth to find the one who embezzled from the church.”

“I’m, I’m sorry. I’ll do better from now on.”

As this shocking conversation went on, Ankedo, seemingly displeased about something, struck the fluffy-haired priest in the solar plexus. He didn’t hesitate at all as he hit with his clenched fist.

Olentia was greatly shocked. When she was introduced to Ankedo, she had felt that the Archbishop trusted him, and thought he was an extremely docile person. Even when they were together in the reception room, he rarely spoke and was rather taciturn.

But to see him like this!

Olentia trembled without realizing it. Murder, body disposal, embezzlement. Events she had never even imagined unfolded.

At that moment, as Olentia trembled, she unknowingly stepped on a branch in front of her, making a sound.

Crack!

Olentia froze, and Ankedo looked around.

“…What? Was someone here?”

It was the moment Ankedo looked around.

“Sir Ankedo!”

A woman who ran to the backyard from the other side called out to Ankedo. It was the woman from the dream with the orange shell hairpin.

Ankedo, moving away from the tree where Olentia was hiding and towards the opposite direction, said,

“Moring, it was you? Why did you come all the way here?”

The woman called Moring looked at him with a face as dark as a twilight street.

“Thomas, a neighbor and low-level administrator of the Odor Province Church, has disappeared. He knew that you were the embezzler, didn’t he?”

“So?”

“You didn’t request his murder, did you? My former lover couldn’t be such a frightening person. Right?”

Ankedo and Moring seemed to be former lovers. Thomas, the low-level administrator of the Odor Province Church that Moring mentioned, would have been thrown into the Centmi River in a sack.

Olentia’s heart was beating so fast she felt it might burst. It was fortunate that she was small enough that hiding behind the tree didn’t give her away at all.

Ankedo scratched his head as if annoyed, then grabbed Moring’s arm.

“Come here. Don’t you know it’s troublesome if you keep coming to the church like this?”

With that, the two of them left the backyard. The fluffy-haired priest had already fled when Moring appeared.

Only then did Olentia slump down in her place. She grabbed the tree with both hands and took deep breaths.

“Haa, haa…”

She had to inform the Archbishop of this fact immediately. But she hadn’t used a recording magic tool, and would they believe her without evidence?

‘If there’s anything you need from the church while staying at the Odor Count’s residence, you can ask Ankedo. The Count will probably be busy.’

The Archbishop’s firm trust in Ankedo kept coming to mind.

Olentia caught herself biting her nails without realizing it and quickly came to her senses.

“This, this is not the time for this.”

Feeling it might be dangerous to tell the Archbishop right away, she came out of the backyard and caught a priest working in the main church.

It was a female priest, who looked confused.

“What’s the matter? I saw you come with Count Odor earlier. You’re Miss Armeniaca, right?”

At times like this, it was really helpful to be from the Armeniaca Count’s family. Everyone recognized her.

Olentia nodded and then carefully probed her.

“Is the reason the Archbishop came to the Odor Province Church… to find the embezzler?”

The female priest was startled and took Olentia to a quiet place. Standing between walls, Olentia spoke in a weak voice, slumping down.

“I guess that’s right, oh dear…”

“How did you know that? Did Count Odor tell you?”

“No, no. The Count didn’t say anything. I just heard it in the backyard a little while ago. And the culprit is Sir Ankedo.”

“Ahaha! Haha!”

Despite speaking seriously, she burst into laughter, holding her stomach. She seemed to think it absolutely couldn’t be Ankedo.

Why?

But the priest soon explained the reason.

“Father Ankedo is an angel and a great man of the Odor Province. A month ago, he went into a burning house himself to save children, which was really amazing. He always goes to difficult places to serve and sacrifice. How could such a person be an embezzler? It’s nonsense. There must be some misunderstanding.”

Even the Archbishop seemed to especially cherish Ankedo. Olentia held her forehead with one hand, feeling dizzy. She almost wished what she had seen wasn’t true.

“So you’re saying you won’t believe me?”

When Olentia asked, the priest nodded with a troubled expression.

“I don’t know how you came to think that, but it’s not something you should say lightly. Especially the Archbishop trusts Father Ankedo very much, so he’ll be even more angry. Well, it would be different if you had evidence.”

“Evidence… evidence.”

The body thrown into the Centmi River immediately came to mind, but there was no way to prove Ankedo’s involvement right away.

Olentia steadied her trembling legs and asked the priest.

“The Archbishop would be happy if the embezzler is caught, right?”

The priest smiled brightly as if it was obvious.

“Of course! He must be very troubled now without even a clue about the embezzler. He’ll be really happy if the culprit is caught.”

Olentia parted with the priest and left the main church. Ankedo, Moring, and the Archbishop were tangled chaotically in her mind.

She had no intention of staying quiet after hearing about the body and knowing who the culprit was. But when she thought it would make the Archbishop happy, she felt even more determined to do her best. At the very least, there should be no unjust deaths.

Olentia boarded the Odor Count’s carriage that arrived in front of the main church on time.

Her uncle wasn’t there, only a knight with the family crest bearing a crescent moon emblem.

Olentia said to him,

“Go to the Count’s residence, not the jasmine field villa.”

“Thomas isn’t dead, right? Huh? Right?”

Moring kept asking as she was dragged away by Ankedo.

Then Ankedo, who had pulled her out of the church, let go of Moring’s arm and said with a smile,

“I guess he ran away because he was scared. How would I know where he disappeared to?”

Ankedo maintained his smiling face because there were people passing by. He was known as the angel and great man of the Odor Province.

Ankedo calmed down the excited Moring.

“So don’t just come looking for me like this. We’re broken up, aren’t we? I don’t think we need to meet like this.”

“I know, but I’ve been so scared and afraid lately.”

“Of what exactly?”

“That… it’s nothing. I’ll be going now.”

Moring gave up and started to walk away. She felt she could never say this in front of him.

‘I’m scared that someday I’ll disappear just like Thomas did.’

She could only swallow those words inside.

As soon as she arrived at the Odor Count’s residence, Olentia looked for her uncle. She had something to tell him as quickly as possible.

“Uncle!”

The moment she called him, both Odor Count and Dimidius turned to look at Olentia.

Odor Count and Dimidius were having tea together in the first-floor hall.

Olentia was startled and flinched for a moment. It was natural to run into Dimidius since he was staying at the Count’s residence, but she hadn’t thought about it because she had experienced such a shocking event at the Odor Province Church.

“Nie, niece. Why are you here…”

The flustered Odor Count approached Olentia step by step. His eyes seemed to convey the question of why she came to the Count’s residence instead of going to the villa.

Olentia grabbed the Count’s clothes tightly and spoke quietly enough for only him to hear.

“Please find the body thrown into the Centmi River right now.”

She could hire mercenaries capable of searching the river herself, but that would clearly take too long. She didn’t hesitate to tell her uncle because it would be the surest way to search. Thomas must have had a family too. The body needed to be intact for a proper funeral.

Odor Count looked at Olentia with a pale face.

“You… what have you done? Huh?”

“It’s not something I’ve done. I’ll tell you the details later, so please hurry with the body search first.”

It was then.

Dimidius, who had clearly been sitting on the sofa until just a moment ago, was now right beside them. He was wearing a purple suit that was almost black, and still smelled of bitter tree bark.

“Is this something I shouldn’t hear?”

Olentia clasped her cold hands together and swallowed hard.

‘Did he hear about the body search? How could I know!’

Quite troublingly, Dimidius was someone with the ability to approach without making any sound.

Male lead reborn without memories — but he still falls for her.

The person he finds displeasing in this life turns out to be his cherished wife-master in previous life…

Xie Zhi and Fang Xianxing who had known each other for less than three days through a blind date sat in the same car in front of the civil affairs bureau. They had a disagreement and failed to get married.

Xie Zhi immediately took out his phone, slid through his contacts, and randomly selected the next marriage candidate.

The woman snatched his phone and hung up. Looking at his phone wallpaper, she awkwardly changed the subject: “An ancient painting, eh? It looks pretty good, it’s just that the person in the painting looks a bit like me.”

When he heard this, he sarcastically mocked her for being so delusional, completely unaware that, the person in front of him was the reincarnation of Wen Ru, the famous prime minister of Yuan Shun whom he most admired…

The female CEO who doesn’t want to get married with a divorce agreement in hand × The male archaeological researcher who will only get married if he’s sure he can get divorced