As soon as they entered the building where the room was located, the noisy atmosphere subsided in an instant. No one else could enter except for Pope Proness, Saint Belladonna, Cardinal Nicholas, and a few priests.

Only the sound of her and the Pope walking side by side echoed through the corridor leading to Belladonna’s room.

“……”

Belladonna glanced up at the Pope beside her with a dazed feeling.

She hadn’t expected his resolve not to send her back to Griblata to be this firm. Her shoulder, which he gripped, felt heavy and painful.

“Belladonna, do you have something you want to say?”

The Pope spoke, sensing her gaze. Belladonna swallowed hard and pondered.

If I speak now…

“I actually had something to tell you as well.”

But before Belladonna could finish her thought, the Pope spoke first.

“Can you give me your divorce papers now? I think it would be better to make sure.”

At the Pope’s words, her heart sank. On her first day in Astanya, she had vaguely evaded his question about the divorce papers, and there had been no further discussion since.

She had been inwardly relieved that there seemed to be no mention of it even until the end of the birthday event, but now the inevitable had come… Belladonna bit her lower lip and anxiously rolled her eyes.

‘I left the divorce papers in Griblata…’

Wanting to make her intentions clear to Escalion, Belladonna had left the divorce papers with his signature conspicuously on the desk in the office.

So no matter how much she looked, they weren’t here…

When there was no answer from Belladonna, the Pope spoke again.

“Hm? Belladonna. Isn’t it about time you remembered where you put the divorce papers?”

Belladonna nodded, forcing a smile to her lips.

When they arrived in front of the room, the Pope stepped back and gestured with his chin for her to open the door. Belladonna turned the doorknob with trembling hands and opened it.

“I’ll wait outside, so bring them out.”

The Pope said, standing in the corridor. Belladonna looked into the room where the divorce papers couldn’t possibly be, then moved her feet.

What should I do? Should I say I left them behind after looking? Should I say I lost them on the way…? Would he get angry then? Her mind was in turmoil with complex and anxious thoughts.

Belladonna, who had entered the room in a daze, slowly moved her hand to rummage through the luggage she had brought.

But it was a meaningless gesture since there was no way the divorce papers could be here anyway.

“Are you not done yet?”

As she forcibly spent time, the Pope’s urging voice could be heard from outside.

Belladonna hesitated, then picked up a pen and paper from the bedside table.

[I’m sorry. I can’t see where the divorce papers are. I might have left them in Griblata, can I go back to retrieve them?]

Is, is it okay to write this…?

Belladonna, who had been quietly looking down at the note she had written, crossed it out with thick lines.

It seemed too obvious that she wanted to use the divorce papers as an excuse to return to Griblata, so it didn’t seem right.

[I’m sorry. I can’t see the divorce papers right now, but I’ll look for them a bit more.]

For now, it seemed better to get past today like this and try to buy some time.

After finishing writing, Belladonna exhaled resolutely and went out of the room.

When she handed the note to the Pope standing in the corridor, his gaze turned downward.

She thought he might get angry or irritated right away, but the Pope seemed unexpectedly calm after checking the contents of the note.

“I see.”

The Pope took the note she held out.

Then can I rest for today? My legs have been shaking a bit since earlier…

As she stood awkwardly watching his reaction, the Pope clenched his hand holding the note and crumpled it randomly.

Belladonna startled and raised her head.

“I thought I told you countless times since you were young that you should take good care of your belongings, but it seems you haven’t improved much even as an adult, Belladonna?”

His eyes gradually filled with cruel malice.

Seeing this, Belladonna’s body began to tremble. It was an instinctive fear.

No, surely not… Belladonna felt her breath catch as she raised her eyes.

But contrary to her concerns, the Pope took a deep breath and turned his head away.

“I’ll let it slide just this once.”

“……”

Hearing those words, her trembling body slowly calmed down.

For now, she felt relief wash over her that she had managed to get through this safely.

At that moment, the Pope, who had been rolling the crumpled paper in his fist, spoke again.

“But if the papers are missing next time… You should be prepared.”

“……”

“Well, if something like you becomes a nuisance, I can just replace you.”

Belladonna swallowed hard.

She couldn’t understand the Pope’s last words, but she had to force her stiff neck to nod.

[This is the timeline separator]

In the training grounds of Griblata Castle, Escalion, who had just finished a round of training, sat down on the floor with a thud and asked.

“Greyham, what day is it today?”

Greyham, who was sitting across from him wiping his sweat, replied grumpily.

“Is your sense of dates blurry? You asked the same question yesterday.”

“How many days has it been since His Majesty the Emperor’s birthday?”

“You asked that exactly the same way yester-”

“Today marks exactly ten days since then.”

Hazel quickly answered, cutting off Greyham’s grumbling response.

Escalion’s face hardened upon hearing Hazel’s answer.

“Oh, your face has become even more grim.”

“Please stop, Vice Captain!”

Hazel scolded Greyham, who had started snickering at Escalion’s expression.

Greyham tossed the dagger he was holding up and down as he spoke.

“The Holy Maiden must be quite busy, huh? She hasn’t returned to Griblata even though the event is over.”

“She must have visited Astanya after a long time, so the believers probably keep coming to see her. My Lady must be finding it hard to leave because she’s concerned about those believers!”

“Is that really it? Or is it because Astanya is much more pleasant to live in than here?”

At those words spoken like a joke, Escalion’s face fell even further.

Seeing Escalion’s face, Hazel grabbed Greyham’s arm and pulled him away.

“Stop saying unnecessary things and come out! I’m asking you to help with the cleanup!”

“What vice captain helps with trivial cleanup? You do it yourself.”

“Ah, come on!”

As Hazel finally dragged Greyham away, the surroundings became quiet at last.

Escalion lowered his head to the floor and sighed.

He could see the beads of sweat falling from the tips of his hair, creating round marks on the ground.

Ever since Belladonna left, her last words, spoken with difficulty, had been echoing in his mind like a mantra.

She said she would return, so he waited.

She said she would come back after the birthday event was over, so he endured the long days and just waited.

But it had already been ten days since that damned birthday event ended.

During that time, there hadn’t been a single line of news about Belladonna from Astanya.

‘Was it a lie after all?’

A bitter sentence floated in his mind.

Perhaps she had changed her mind as soon as she returned to Astanya.

Returning to an environment incomparably better to live in than the harsh and cold Griblata, her weak resolve might have quickly disappeared.

Damn it, useless thoughts were popping up at a time like this.

Escalion frowned as he scratched the back of his head irritably.

Maybe it was as Hazel said, and she had many things to take care of in Astanya.

It could really be that the believers were holding her back for a while because she couldn’t bear to leave them.

She was a person with a soft and kind heart, after all.

Yes, that must be it.

Belladonna would soon return to Griblata.

But after a few more meaningless weeks passed, everything became certain now.

Escalion entered the quiet office and picked up the calendar on the desk.

What day was it today? And how many days had passed since the birthday event?

Even Greyham, who had been jokingly saying it was the 11th day, 12th day since the birthday event ended, fell silent at some point.

Hazel started to watch his mood even more carefully. They knew it too.

That she wasn’t coming back.

That Belladonna was staying in Astanya.

“……”

Escalion, who had been standing blankly in the center of the office, suddenly raised his head as if he had just woken up and moved his feet.

He walked to the desk, roughly pulled open the bottom drawer, and took out the divorce papers from inside.

It was what Belladonna had deliberately left conspicuously on his desk before leaving.

She left even this behind, and in the end…

A bitter taste lingered in his mouth.

“Ha……”

Realizing betrayal always felt dirty, but her betrayal was the kind that left a deep wound.

Escalion felt the ground giving way beneath his feet again and stood firm by tensing his thighs.

Foolish me, I’ve been deceived again.

After standing still for a moment, looking down at the divorce papers with only his signature on them, he turned around.

Escalion came out into the corridor and said as he went down the stairs.

“Wolf.”

“Yes! My Lord.”

Wolf, who had been standing in the lobby, quickly moved his feet and ran up to him.

“Prepare the carriage. I’ll be away from the castle for a few days.”

“Understood. Where are you going? Who will accompany you? If you briefly hand over the remaining work, I’ll make sure to finish it without any problems.”

Despite the barrage of questions, his mind was simple.

“Astanya. I’m taking only Greyham and Hazel.”

“Yes, understood. …What?”

Wolf, who had been taking out his notebook to write down the instructions, belatedly looked up in surprise.

Astanya was where My Lady was. What business did the Lord have there…?

“Ex, excuse me… May I ask what the purpose of the visit is? I, I want to inform the knights.”

At Wolf’s cautious question, Escalion replied without any change in expression.

“There’s something left behind that I need to return.”

“What was left behind…?”

“This.”

Escalion waved the paper he was holding in front of Wolf’s eyes.

Soon, Wolf’s face turned pale as he realized what kind of document it was.

In the end, the Master…!

“N-No, you can’t!”

Wolf, who had blurted it out, hurriedly added as if making an excuse.

“Come to think of it, there’s a mountain of paperwork to process, the territory needs to be tightened up after being loosened by the birthday event, there’s a simple subjugation scheduled, and there’s a meeting with Marquis Eraise next week, so it would be quite unreasonable for you to leave your post now!”

But Escalion didn’t give any answer to that and turned back towards the stairs, saying:

“We depart at the earliest time preparations are ready tomorrow morning.”

The affairs of Griblata that Wolf was reciting didn’t matter to him at all.

He had to go find his ungrateful wife who had hit him on the back of the head again and didn’t return.