How could she and the crown prince become family?

Could it be…a marriage?

“….”

Irene’s eyes widened in shock. It seemed impossible, yet she couldn’t think of any other way, and it made her uneasy.

I need to clarify this.

“What does it mean that I’m going to become family with His Highness the Crown Prince?”

No longer as afraid to ask Carlos, Irene inquired boldly.

“You will have dinner with the pigeons this evening.”

An utterly unexpected reply came back. The response was baffling, but even more startling was the notion of having dinner with the pigeons, the priests.

There had been a commotion in the morning with a witch trial, and a priest had been killed just a while ago.

And now, dinner with them?

Even a threeyearold child unfamiliar with the world would know that it wouldn’t be a peaceful dinner.

“Are you going to kill all the priests?”

Was he planning to silence them?

Frightened by the horrific scene she had witnessed earlier, Irene asked urgently, and Carlos smiled, smirking.

“Even if I were to kill the priests, it would have nothing to do with you, so why are you so scared?”

His violet eyes gazing at her were chilling.

Irene realized Carlos didn’t believe her statement that she had rejected the priest’s offer to help her escape.

Given her seemingly supportive comments about the priest, it was natural that he would be suspicious.

“I, I mean…”

Knowing that she had to explain quickly to avoid further misunderstanding, Irene was too scared to articulate her thoughts properly.

“I mean, that is, I…”

Carlos looked down at Irene, who was pale and repeating the same words.

In fact, he knew that Irene had rejected the priest’s offer to help her escape.

He had heard it on the way to meet Irene with Zerdin.

But unfortunately, he also heard that she wanted to escape, which greatly displeased him.

After saving her life and treating her so well, she still wanted to escape.

This is why he hated humans.

“I’m not having dinner with the priests to kill them.”

…It made him even more unhappy to be stuck with such a human.

Carlos suppressed his rising irritation and anger and continued.

“It’s to formally introduce you to the priests.”

As she was wondering how to gain Carlos’s trust, Irene belatedly understood his words and asked.

“Weren’t you…already introduced as a lover?”
“It’s a temporary measure to quash the rumors that you’re a witch. To ensure that the temple side never pulls this kind of nonsense again, we need a status that can do so.”

“Status?”

“Yes.”

Irritation tangled in his purple eyes sparkled.

“At dinner tonight, I’ll introduce you to the priests as royalty.”

Clink—[dash]

The sound of a silver knife falling noisily echoed throughout the dining hall.

The waiting maid quickly brought a new knife, but the priest was half out of his wits, just staring at Kalos.

The other priests were the same. Trope, who hadn’t completely lost his rationality, questioned in a trembling voice.

“You just said… royalty?”

Kalos nodded, holding a wine glass.

At that moment, the eyes of Trope and the other priests all simultaneously turned to Irene.

Her unkind gaze made Irene quietly lower her head and fumble with her salad.

“How could that woman be royalty…”

Tap, clink.

The wine glass that Kalos forcefully set down couldn’t withstand the force and shattered into pieces. The red wine flowing down his hand looked eerily like blood.

“Mind your words.”

The purple eyes looking at them sent chills down their spines.

“She’s not a commoner.”

“As Duke Esper said, Irene is the greatgranddaughter of my great aunt Princess Emel, who fell in love with an imperial knight long ago and left the imperial palace.”

Zerdin interjected.

“About a month ago, I heard that Irene was in the Silas territory, so I asked Duke Esper to bring her… I never thought they’d become lovers.”

Zerdin made a flower vase shape with his hands, resting his chin on them, and looked at Irene with a mischievous smile.

“People are unpredictable, aren’t they, Irene?”

Irene awkwardly smiled and nodded her head. She was originally supposed to use familiar terms like ‘big brother,’ but that felt too awkward, so she couldn’t.

“Her family is still mine, so if you have any questions or issues with her in the future, come to me. You may also seek the Crown Prince.”

Between the imperial family and the temple, the unspoken rule was not to mention each other unless it involved major offenses like rebellion or blasphemy.

In other words, Zerdin’s words could be interpreted as a warning never to touch Irene again.

“Why is there no response?”

Trope, already struggling with Kalos, became even more burdened when the crown prince joined in, and stammered his reply.

“I cannot immediately comment on that part, so I will report to my superiors and get back to you.”

“Just answer now.”

Kalos, having wiped all the wine from his hand, spoke.

“The response from your superiors will be the same as yours anyway.”

“…….”

“Unless you want to make enemies of the Esper family and the imperial family.”