Worried that he might change his words, I quickly said, “I’m afraid it might disturb you. What if I accompany you, and it leaves a mark on your reputation.”

Hubert laughed as if he found me admirable.

“Don’t worry about that. I hope it turns out to be a fun trip.”

That’s the only problem I’m not worried about. Especially with who I’m going with.

I ‘shyly’ crossed my legs. It felt weird, like I became my perfect past self.

Contrary to the awkward feeling, this submissive appearance, thankfully, had an effect.

Watching Hubert satisfied, I secretly smiled in satisfaction.
The temple date was perfect, flowing effortlessly. I followed Hubert with a smile or an exclamation, and he spoke to me even more affectionately than usual.

“I’m worried that Lady Alice seems quite upset.”

“Alice has been with me a lot. Don’t worry about it.”

This time, I felt something strange about the turn of events.

‘Has my subtle hinting worked?’

Whatever the reason, it was clear that Hubert’s interest in Alice was not the same as before.

‘It will be difficult to completely distort their relationship with this.’

As I acted more obediently than before, or even more than before, it was challenging to hold back laughter in between to show him that I was relieved.

“Be careful, Eg.”

Hubert grabbed my hand.

The old temple had broken parts all over the floor, so we had to stick together while moving.

Apart from these small inconveniences, there was no time spent idly during the date.

There was nothing that seemed like divine substance in the temple. The hope of finding stones infused with spirits like during Leo’s time had to be abandoned.

However, the murals drawn all over the temple walls captivated our attention. I instinctively stored the murals in my mind, even though it was challenging to gauge when they were drawn.

As soon as we left the temple, I swiftly entered the carriage, using the excuse of changing my clothes.

Thud.

Closing the carriage door, instead of changing my clothes, I pulled out the notebook I had brought and began to frantically flip through it.

‘I need to write everything down while the memories are vivid. Ah, the mural I saw in the second space! How did it look?’

The blank spaces in the notebook started to fill up quickly.

Shuffle.

The sound of turning pages was unusually loud.

Giovanni’s gaze did not leave the notebook I brought.

Finally, after scrutinizing every page, he stared at me.

“Is this all?”

“There were some minor records, but I couldn’t remember them, so I couldn’t write them down. If you want to see the temple again, I thought it might raise suspicion. So, I recorded only the essential things.”

“You drew quite well.”

“I practiced a lot.”

Giovanni opened the notebook again. Then, with a serious expression, he pointed to a section that was unfolded.

The black ink of the fountain pen drew meticulous lines.

It was the shape of a lying person.

“This was a picture painted on the central wall of the temple.”

“When I found it, it was colored in blue.”

“…….”

“The meaning of the picture…”

Was my interpretation correct?

After hesitating for a moment, Giovanni spoke first as he examined the picture.

“It seems like a cannibal.”

My face stiffened.

“…Yes.”

The reason this picture stood out more than others was that it depicted a cannibal.
Our gazes simultaneously turned to the notebook. A giant and a small figure, both painted in blue, were depicted. The small figure was kneeling, bowing its head to the giant.

At first glance, it seemed like a mourning for death, but it wouldn’t be so if there were no blood around the mouth and torn flesh.

“Was there a human sacrifice? It seems like a record the royal family wouldn’t appreciate.”

“We’ll remove it before making it public.”

I murmured with a confident tone. Ordinary citizens would never see this mural in their lifetime.

Thinking of Hubert, who initially didn’t want to show me the mural, I looked back at the drawing. More accurately, I saw a giant being eaten by the small figure. There was a mark on its forehead.

‘In the mural, it looked like blue droplets.’

To avoid arousing Hubert’s suspicion, I acted uninterested, but the moment I saw the mural, I was deeply shocked.

The blue droplet on the giant’s forehead.

It reminded me of the blue tattoo that appeared whenever the priestess used her power.

I glanced at Giovanni. He furrowed his brow, trying to understand the drawing in the notebook.

‘Does it have something to do with that?’

After a while, Giovanni nodded.

“To know precisely, we need to consult the interpretation of a sorcerer, but this drawing seems to symbolize ancient tribal rituals.”