I thought rumors couldn’t be trusted, but perhaps looking at the relationship between the two, it might be true. The secret story of that lady and the Crown Prince.

Hayden, who was in charge of the diocese of the capital’s temple, was still observing the situation with a smiling face.

He was busy measuring how much of all the news coming to his ears was true and how much was false.

“Clearly, when I saw it with my eyes, the Crown Prince seemed to have feelings for her.”

To him, the truth and falsehood were very clear.

It wasn’t difficult to distinguish that it was true that the Crown Prince was thoroughly captivated by the rumored woman. And that the rumor that she was a very terrible villainess was false.

But the most important thing here was something else.

“Is it the Hersher ducal family, or that brazen young lady?”

The Odoi family was one of the stubbornly aristocratic families.

So Hayden had only heard about Clea’s existence until now, and only now was meeting her for the first time.

He recalled the young lady who had visited the temple seeking him quite a long time ago.

“In the eyes of the believers, between Aria Hersher and Clea Odoi, who seems to be the better person?”

The believers who heard the question looked as if to say, why ask such an easy question.

Seeing the expressions of the believers, Hayden inwardly sighed, anticipating what they would say.

“Of course, it would be Lady Aria. It’s hard to find a noble young lady as kind as her.”

“That’s right. Just look at the amount she donates to orphanages and temples, it’s different from other nobles.”

“She should be the one to become the Crown Princess.”

Hayden maintained his smiling face.

While inwardly thinking.

‘With such lack of discernment.’

He doubted whether the people before him were truly devoted to God like himself.

The discernment of the believers who immediately chose Aria between the two was that flawed.

Certainly, Aria had a very good public image.

But Hayden knew that was just image-making.

‘That young lady had visited the temple a long time ago, avoiding people’s eyes.’

Hayden vividly remembered the incident from the past.

She, who appeared at the temple in person while still a student at the academy, was someone who could easily gain others’ favor on the surface.

However, he saw something flowing from her inner self.

At that time, Hayden wasn’t sure about what he had seen. He had tried to dismiss it as a misperception.

But with what Aria directly said, he inevitably came to know the truth.

‘If she becomes the Crown Princess, this empire will probably become like a candle in the wind.’

The person with the most greed wasn’t Clea.

Conversely, the person with the least greed wasn’t Aria either.

So Hayden was very pleased with the current situation.

Because if Aria Hersher really becomes the Crown Princess, the future of the empire would be bleak.

“Then let me ask the opposite. Does Lady Clea seem as evil as you’ve heard?”

He preferred to explain kindly rather than scold others.

Because rather than reproaching them for not knowing, explaining like this didn’t hurt each other’s feelings.

The believers who heard Hayden’s question didn’t answer immediately like before.

They organized their thoughts while hesitating and then answered.

“She didn’t seem that bad.”

“Rather, her impression was so different from the rumors that I wondered if she was really the Lady Clea I had heard about.”

Contrary to their answers, the expressions of the believers weren’t that good.

Hayden remained quiet while knowing what they were worried about.

In the end, it was the believers who spoke first.

“But wouldn’t it be better for him to be with Aria Hersher?”

The marriage partner people wished for Admund was still Aria Hersher.

It was a question of whether people’s perception would change even if she showed them that she had repented for her past sins through this incident.

“By that logic, isn’t Aria Hersher a woman who stole another person’s fiancé?”

“Diocese head?”

“To be precise, since she never had him, it’s not stealing. Still, Aria Hersher is also at fault for not pushing him away.”

He emphasized fairness while expressing neutrality.

Saying that we shouldn’t just focus on one person’s fault. That we should also point out the faults of others.

The believers couldn’t help but be flustered by his words.

The image Aria Hersher had built up was close to that of a saint.

People couldn’t even think that there could be fault in someone who comforted others’ mistakes.

While they were flustered, Hayden quietly sank into thought.

‘I wonder if the person who poured evil onto Clea Odoi is really the woman I know.’

Thinking it would be hard to be certain without seeing her again, he was even considering stepping outside the temple after a long time.

To confirm the truth.

But before that, some news reached Hayden’s ears.

“No, what business does that person have coming here?”

It was the moment when the smile disappeared from Hayden’s face for the first time.

* * *

Clea, realizing that the temple was very noisy, woke up with disheveled hair.

She looked to her side while fixing her hair.

Beside her was Admund, still sound asleep.

Clea smiled pleasantly at the warm temperature emanating from him.

‘How unusual, he’s still sleeping.’

Except for the first day, Admund had always woken up first, but now he was sleeping deeply, oblivious to the world.

Finding it curious, Clea poked the cheek of Admund lying next to her with her finger.

Seeing him furrowing his brows, laughter escaped her.

She tried to get up first. But someone pulled on her wrist as she tried to rise. She fell back onto the bed powerlessly.

She turned her head and spoke to Admund, whose eyes were now fully open.

“You’re awake.”

“I was already awake.”

“Then why didn’t you get up earlier?”

“I didn’t want to let go.”

With those words, Clea tried to get up from her seat again.

However, Admund still held her wrist and wouldn’t let go.

“I want to get up.”

“Why?”

“I’m curious about the situation outside.”

There was still a little more time needed until the repentance.

The reason was that this repentance, unlike usual, had to be shown in front of people, so there were many things to prepare.

But now, rather than preparing something, it seemed noisy in a different sense.

Admund suggested ignoring it.

“Shouldn’t we still look into it?”

Since Hayden had looked into the curse, she wanted to examine the temple in detail while staying here. Clea quietly got up from her seat.

Admund, worried about her, began to change clothes following Clea.

Clea, who had already changed into indoor clothes, went outside without waiting for Admund.

It was an action taken with the thought that since this was a temple, no major problems would occur.

“Clea.”

“Ha, to think I’d see you here.”

“I missed you, Clea.”

As soon as she opened the door, Clea immediately realized she had made a wrong judgment.

Because the figure immediately visible made her feel unpleasant.

Lloyd Percy, the man who was once her fiancé.

He was now in front of Clea’s eyes.

And uttering very disgusting words.

Looking around, she could see quite a number of believers with troubled expressions.

The place where she was now located was a place where only temple officials could enter.

‘Yet he’s here, so he must have forced his way in.’

Clea folded her arms and observed the situation.

It was simple how Lloyd had come this far.

Since it would be difficult for the temple officials to chase away the son of a duke, he must have just pushed his way in.

Clea had another question.

“Did you perhaps hit your head? I’m sure I told you before. Let’s never meet again.”

“Clea, you and I are engaged.”

“That was broken off the moment I left the Odoi family.”

“No, before the contract between families, we were good together.”

Hearing Lloyd’s nonsense, Clea’s expression distorted.

At the same time, she suspected if he had eaten something wrong.

Because it was the first time he spoke like this.

It was always the original Clea who claimed their relationship was good, while Lloyd always denied it.

Even after possessing her, she had never once hung onto their relationship.

Not only was Lloyd not worth that much, but she was also the one who wanted to end this relationship more than anyone.

“I don’t know what your purpose is, but if you think that was a good relationship, you’re not qualified to love.”

“Clea.”

As Lloyd called her name, Clea’s expression grew even colder.

Not just her expression, but she could feel her body, which had been warm, growing cold from the fingertips.

The pain she hadn’t felt for a very brief moment while being with Admund now appeared fully in her heart.

Despite Clea’s icy gaze, Lloyd tried to approach her.

The believers, not knowing what to do, were just pacing anxiously.

They didn’t want to block the son of a duke and deal with the aftermath.

“What on earth is this?”

But then, a chilling voice was heard from somewhere.

“Admund.”

Admund, who had come out dressed, was asking in a coldly calm voice as he saw the situation unfolding before his eyes.

While directing his gaze precisely at Lloyd.

“I asked what this is about.”