As if squeezing through a very narrow gap, the devastatingly crushed voice gradually regained its form.

The more she spoke, the more she felt her terribly closed throat opening little by little.

Escalion, who had been watching Belladonna straining with a flushed face, quickly turned to approach the side table.

With hasty hands, he picked up the kettle on the side table, poured water into an empty cup, and returned to her with quick steps to hand it over.

“Stop talking for now and drink this.”

“…”

As she received the cup from him and swallowed the lukewarm water, she felt her throat, which had been tightly blocked as if forcibly sealed, become a little more comfortable.

Escalion, confirming that Belladonna was breathing more comfortably than before, exhaled in relief and looked at her.

At that moment, a chilling premonition that this might be the last chance enveloped Belladonna.

Belladonna raised her head without delay, looked straight at Escalion, and opened her mouth.

“For a while… it’s true that my, my voice didn’t come out. I don’t know when it comes out and, wh, when it doesn’t.”

Although speaking had become much easier than before, it hadn’t completely returned to its previous state.

Belladonna continued to stammer out words in a still hoarse, pitifully thin voice.

“What are you saying?”

“At this rate, ri, right tomorrow, ugh… I, I might lose my voice again.”

“Stop.”

Escalion raised one hand to cover his eyes.

“It looks hard for you to speak. You don’t have to speak if it’s difficult, don’t strain yourself. I understand now that your silence towards me wasn’t intentional…”

“I don’t want… to leave…”

At Belladonna’s words, Escalion stopped speaking.

Standing still as if frozen for a while, he lowered the hand covering his eyes.

The deep golden eyes hidden behind it turned towards her.

Escalion’s face, letting out a small sigh, seemed as if he didn’t know what to say himself, or as if he had already decided on an answer but couldn’t bring himself to speak it.

Feeling anxious at his lack of response, Belladonna opened her mouth again.

“I… I don’t want to… leave Gribblata…”

“You’ve been longing for Astanya from before. Why are you saying this now?”

She had never longed for Astanya.

If he felt that way, it was only because Gribblata was significantly colder than where she had been living and everything was unfamiliar and strange.

“Besides, isn’t attending the Emperor’s birthday celebration the main purpose? As the Saint, you must fulfill your role.”

The role of the Saint.

Remembering when the Pope mentioned that word while showing his dirty teeth, her head felt dizzy.

“Then, can’t we… go to Astanya… together?”

Belladonna impulsively asked.

No matter how stifling and unpleasant Astanya was, she thought it would be okay if Escalion was with her.

Just a moment, why didn’t I think of this before?

If he would go to Astanya with her, they could buy time before the divorce, and the Pope wouldn’t be able to treat her recklessly.

She could even reduce the time in the confessional using the excuse of time with her husband…!

“I’m not going to Astanya.”

But as if throwing away Belladonna’s rising expectations, Escalion immediately replied.

“Because I can’t be away from Gribblata for long.”

“…”

“Well, that’s just an excuse. To be honest, I want to settle things with you here. I don’t want to drag out a meaningless relationship in a drawn-out manner.”

Settle…?

At his unexpectedly firm resolve, Belladonna lost her words and stared at Escalion.

“Bella, you don’t know how much willpower it takes for me to let you go. Several times a day, I regret my decision, and then I resolve myself again.”

“…”

“The will I build up all day, enduring a day without you, crumbles easily like a sandcastle that collapses at the slightest wave when I see you. And you don’t know how miserable that makes me feel.”

Belladonna lowered her head.

She could understand how betrayed he must have felt, how painful it must be for the married life he had started with great determination to fall apart so quickly.

“But you’re toying with me as if mocking such a person. Because of you, my mood goes up and down several times a day.”

“…”

“Thanks to you, I don’t know what to do, but the one thing I’m sure of is that you need to leave Gribblata.”

Escalion stared at Belladonna clearly as he spoke.

“For your sake, and for mine.”

Belladonna bit her lower lip and clenched her fists.

The one thing she was sure of was that leaving Gribblata was definitely not for her sake.

At that moment, she felt her throat, which had been able to produce a little voice, gradually narrowing again.

Ah, no…!

Feeling urgent, Belladonna raised her head and forced out her voice.

“I, can, can explain. Even if I can’t… now…”

Escalion was still looking at her with darkly sunken golden eyes.

“I, I’ll definitely come back. I won’t sign… the divorce papers… you sent through Wolf. Once the birthday… celebration is safely over, so, somehow I’ll… come back to Gr, Gribblata…!”

With each sentence she uttered, her voice grew progressively smaller.

Belladonna looked at him with pitiful eyes.

Finally, Escalion spoke in a low voice.

“Cardinal Nicholas and the Pope will be standing in the way.”

“I know.”

A sound close to a whisper came out.

Belladonna guessed that would be her last words.

It wasn’t just Belladonna who thought so.

Escalion stared blankly at Belladonna, who had lost her voice again.

A heavy silence settled between them.

Belladonna bit her lower lip. In that miraculous moment, she could only hope that at least her true feelings had reached him.

“…If you keep approaching me like this, I don’t know what I should do. I don’t even know what more you want from me.”

Eventually, Escalion, who had been silent, spoke with a confused face.

He lowered his head and spoke as if sighing.

“Fine, you said you’d come back, so come back.”

“…”

“I might be stupid enough to give my wife one more chance.”

In his golden eyes, an indescribable emotion swirled.

Belladonna silently looked at him for a long time.

“My lady, are you sure it’s alright if I don’t accompany you? Although the Papal Office will help with everything, so there wouldn’t be much for me to do even if I went…”

Nod, nod.

Belladonna turned to look at Cindy, who had come out with her arms full of luggage, and nodded.

She moved her steps while keeping an eye on Cardinal Nicholas, who was already seated in the carriage.

Even if she tried to forcibly bring Cindy along, it was clear that Nicholas wouldn’t allow it.

“Please give me the Saint’s luggage.”

At that moment, one of the priests standing behind the carriage stepped forward and held out his hand to Cindy.

Cindy, taken aback, handed over the luggage bag to him, blinking her eyes.

The priest easily lifted the luggage received from Cindy and loaded it into the carriage.

“Is, is that person also a priest?”

At Cindy’s whispered question, Belladonna turned to look at the priest in white robes.

The tall priest with very short hair looked somewhat familiar, but she didn’t know his name well.

Perhaps he was someone I often encountered at the Papal Office or one of those who attended to me.

Or maybe we took classes for believers together.

“He’s handsome…”

Cindy’s eyes sparkled as she couldn’t take her eyes off him.

Is he? Belladonna glanced at the priest who had finished loading the luggage and was now heading towards the back carriage, but quickly averted her gaze.

“Saint, please come here!”

At that moment, Cardinal Nicholas called out, extending his hand from the window.

Belladonna forced a smile at him and moved her steps.

“My lady, have a good trip! It’s fortunate that Astanya is a much warmer place than here. When you get there, you should catch up with people you haven’t seen in a long time, eat lots of delicious food, and come back, okay?”

Beside Cindy, who was waving her hand with excitement and a broad smile, Wolf bowed his head, looking somewhat uncomfortable and awkward.

“My lady, please travel safely.”

Belladonna nodded to them and then got into the carriage.

As the carriage door closed and they were left alone, Nicholas changed his expression completely, frowning as he opened his mouth.

“What could be keeping Lord Diete so busy that he can’t even see you off properly? To think he just showed up at breakfast for a formal greeting and disappeared right away…”

“…”

“Does he think he’s really built some kind of rapport between us just because he mingled a bit at the banquet…”

Belladonna stared at Nicholas with cold eyes, moving only her blue pupils.

It was ridiculous how he acted tough when Escalion wasn’t around, when in front of Escalion he couldn’t say a word and just fumbled about.

‘…And I suppose this is how it started.’

Saying things to her that he would never dare say in front of others.

People who treat her like an emotional trash can, showing their dirty inner thoughts without any consideration for the listener’s feelings…

Belladonna looked at Nicholas, who was closing his eyes and leaning back in the carriage seat, with tired eyes, and then turned her gaze away.

“My lady! You might get dizzy, so take a nap!”

Cindy, who had approached the carriage, stuck her face through the window and kept talking.

Belladonna reached out her hand towards her, smiled, and nodded.

Cindy grasped her outstretched hand tightly and smiled brightly.

“Come back safely! I’ll be really bored without you here, my lady.”

That’s right, I will come back.

I will return to Gribblata.

Belladonna, who had given Cindy a gentle smile, looked up at the large Gribblata castle visible behind her.

Even if he hadn’t come out to see her off personally, she felt that Escalion might be listening to the sound of the carriage being prepared.

Belladonna strengthened her resolve once again as she thought of him.

‘When I return to Astanya, I will definitely find a way to fully regain my voice.’

“Well then, we shall depart!”

With someone’s voice as the signal, the carriage slowly began to move its wheels forward.

Belladonna assumed a comfortable position, preparing for the dizziness that would begin as soon as the carriage passed through the portal.

‘Astanya…’

Astanya, which she would be visiting after about three months, felt nothing but unfamiliar.

It seemed that Gribblata felt much closer in comparison.