As she exited the courtroom, Sokol was waiting for her. With hollow eyes and a gaunt face, he spoke to Olentia.

“How about having tea at Armenica Estate after a long time?”

The red brick Armenica Estate. Just thinking about it made her heart ache with nostalgia.

Olentia gladly accepted Sokol’s offer. After all, Kikozellia had been caught and sent to prison, and Sokol seemed to be doing this because he felt sorry for her.

Olentia approached the Belial family members who were waiting for her, explained the situation, and then boarded the familiar carriage with Sokol. The carriage painted with an apricot tree felt so strange after such a long time.

Because now she was Olentia Belial, not Olentia Armenica.

Olentia spoke to Sokol, who looked unwell.

“Have you been eating properly? What kind of state is this for the head of the family?”

She grumbled out of unnecessary worry.

Whether he understood her feelings or not, Sokol smiled faintly.

“I’ve always been so uptight, but sometimes I need to be like this too. Doesn’t it make me seem more human?”

“You don’t need to force yourself to smile. You look very troubled right now.”

There was no way Sokol could be in his right mind when his wife of many years had committed a serious crime and gone to prison. After all, Sokol was someone who wanted to show others a normal and good family relationship.

Olentia drew the curtains and looked out the window at Green Park. The Belial family’s town house, the Grand Duke’s residence, was also nearby. Come to think of it, it was surprising that they had never seen each other before, even though the two mansions were so close in Green Park.

It was partly because her parents and Sokol rarely let her go out, saying it was dangerous outside.

Before she knew it, they had arrived at the red brick Armenica Estate.

Olentia got out of the carriage with an excited face and approached the head butler.

“Head butler! I’m back!”

Seeing the face of the head butler who had taken care of her since she was very young almost brought tears to her eyes. The head butler spotted Olentia and broke into a big smile.

“My, what’s this… How did this happen? Young lady, you’ve returned!”

Olentia held the butler’s wrinkled hands and said,

“I haven’t come back completely. I’m just visiting. You know, head butler. I’m now part of the Belial family.”

Of course, there was a good chance she would return to Armenica Castle again in a few months when the contract relationship ended. Even so, it seemed unlikely that she would live with Sokol at Armenica Estate. She had her own home, the House of Venus in Noctifer, and other places could be candidates as well.

Olentia entered the estate, welcomed by the head butler. The familiar scent felt like coming home. Even the wallpaper and furniture, unchanged from before, seemed welcome, and it made her heart swell.

As Olentia entered, several servants working inside the mansion all gasped in surprise. It seemed they hadn’t expected her to return at all.

Even Olentia wasn’t sure if she would be able to return to the estate where Sokol was.

“Young lady! You said we would certainly see you again, and you really came!”

“We’ve been waiting, believing you would return someday, young lady!”

At that moment, several maids who remembered what Olentia had said when she left the estate approached her. They were all servants who had worked at Armenica Estate since before Sokol became the head of the count’s family.

Seeing them made her think of old times and feel that it was good to come back, even if just for a moment.

“It’s good to see you all. Elder brother Sokol invited me, so I came.”

The maids all nodded and guided Olentia to the sofa in the living room on the first floor hall.

“Please sit here and wait for a moment. We’ll bring out some good tea and desserts!”

Olentia couldn’t help but laugh at how suddenly combative they had become. It seemed they wanted to treat her well on her long-awaited return to Armenica Estate.

Sokol took off his jacket and sat across from Olentia. He was sweating profusely and kept taking deep breaths.

“Are you really not feeling well? Should I call a doctor for an examination?”

Sokol looked at his own arm and said,

“Has the wound on your arm healed?”

She didn’t expect Sokol to think of that. Long ago, when her wrist was grabbed by Marquis Luxus and it hurt, he hadn’t cared about her pain at all.

Had his personality changed a bit after experiencing a shocking event? Or had some of his former kindness returned?

Olentia stroked her arm with her hand and said,

“It’s almost completely healed. It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

She didn’t bother to add that, as a person with holy power, she had awakened an incredible healing ability. She had told Kikozellia about having holy power to provoke her, but for some reason, she was cautious with Sokol.

Olentia smiled brightly as she looked at the tea and desserts brought by the maids.

“Thank you. For preparing all this for me.”

The maids poured tea into the cups and slowly withdrew. They didn’t want to interfere with the conversation.

Olentia asked about things she had been curious about.

“There was a lot of talk about the Archbishop stepping down, but in the end, he kept his position. How are things with the church these days? Isn’t it good that I married the Grand Duke of Belial?”

Uncle Count Odor had said that if she married the Grand Duke of Belial, Sokol would be in a very difficult position with the church. Olentia had been worried about that too.

Sokol made a strange expression and then messed up his usually neatly managed hair. It was behavior she had never seen before.

“It was completely ruined. They took revenge by changing the dishware supplier to another place.”

Wasn’t that an extremely petty action?

She thought the church was a more childish group than expected.

Olentia leaned forward and said to Sokol,

“You just said it was ruined, right? Does that mean it’s a bit better now?”

“That’s right. I’ve restored a few things. Still, how many years has the church been interacting with the Armenica Count family? They didn’t completely push us away.”

Olentia sighed in relief, stroking her chest.

Sokol chuckled in a way that didn’t suit him.

“You’re part of the Belial family now, so why are you relieved?”

“I always think my roots are in Armenica. That’s why I asked you to keep Armenica strong.”

She had said it because she thought Sokol could do it. Sokol was a person capable enough to be acknowledged by her father.

Sokol took a bite of the sweet dessert in front of him and kept chuckling. Usually, he would never touch desserts, saying they made him gain weight, and he disliked unnecessary laughter. Had he finally gone mad?

Olentia said to Sokol with a worried face,

“Is it because the shock was too great? Everything will be alright with time.”

Even though she knew how ridiculous it was to comfort someone who had tried to covet her inheritance, Olentia was concerned about him. She still had good childhood memories, and he was the head of the precious Armenica family.

At Olentia’s words, Sokol answered with a determined face.

“Yes. I’m going to divorce Kikozellia, Olentia.”

It sounded very resolute. Olentia swallowed hard for a moment and drank her tea. She had been thinking that he would divorce Kikozellia, but hearing it from Sokol’s mouth made her feel strangely tense.

“You’ve thought well. Elder sister-in-law never suited you from the beginning.”

This was all Olentia could say.

As soon as she returned to the Grand Duchy, Olentia went to see the maid who had been possessed by an evil spirit and was in great mental shock. She had injured her hand in Podion’s attack and was wrapped in bandages, and was said to be resting in the servants’ quarters for the time being.

“How are you these days? Are you alright?”

It was the first time she had seen an evil spirit possess a person, so she still felt chills down her spine.

The maid paced around, not knowing what to do about Olentia’s visit.

“It’s okay, you can sit down. It’s been a week, but I was still worried.”

The maid sat down in a chair and said with a pale face,

“I’ve been having nightmares lately. Dreams where I become an evil spirit and harm people.”

Olentia stroked the slightly trembling maid’s back. The reason she was having such dreams was probably because her energy had been completely drained when the evil spirit clung to her. How great must the shock have been for her to tremble in fear even during the day and have nightmares?

Pieta had said that the demons had been preparing to intervene in the human world.

How on earth was such a tremendous attack supposed to be stopped? By herself, whom Pieta thought had the strongest holy power? It was completely nonsensical.

The appearance of evil spirits she had seen in her prophetic dream somehow seemed unstoppable.

Olentia calmed the maid and left the servants’ quarters. Perhaps thinking that her face had turned as white as the maid’s just now, Podion stood for a moment, examining Olentia’s face.

As the tall Podion bent down, Olentia looked at him with round eyes.

“I’m fine, Sir Podion.”

Despite her words, Podion continued to examine Olentia’s face before withdrawing. When he came close, there was quite a sweet chocolate scent. He was said to enjoy desserts occasionally, but perhaps it wasn’t just occasionally but often. She thought it was a scent that suited Podion quite well.

“The scandal article is a problem, but it seems madam’s worries have deepened since the appearance of the evil spirit.”

Podion had accurately pointed it out. Olentia was terrified of the appearance of evil spirits she had seen in her prophetic dream. Even though she could use holy power, she wouldn’t be able to stop all the evil spirits that might appear throughout the entire Bonus Empire.

Pieta, who had entered the dog’s body, didn’t seem like she would solve it, so what should be done about this?