Clever Luna had already figured out that the princess’ intention was to win the hearts of the Grand Duke’s favorite younger siblings and remain at the Grand Duke’s residence even after his return. Honestly, this was what she thought.
‘I think it’s already ruined?’
Not only Luna, who was as wary as her brother, but even Luca, who has relatively low barriers, distorted his face when the story of the dukedom came up.
“Oh my, the nanny was like that too. This is my first time hearing it.”
Even though the Duchess was caught, she pretended like nothing happened. Hazel was smiling on the outside, but she was upset on the inside. She was going to imitate Hazel and start as a tutor. It seemed like she thought she was planning to become a Grand Duchess like a princess and start with a nanny.
‘Even if you give me something like that, I won’t take it. Just give me the Grand Duke and I will be grateful. It would be even better if you add the chestnuts as a bonus.’
“Actually, Bella has received countless requests from all over the empire to come as a tutor. But I refused because I was sad to send my only daughter away.”
The Duchess kept trying to sell herself by acting like a fool. Luna, who had been listening in silence while looking at the woman, suddenly grinned.
“As the Duchess said, it would be polite to gladly accept her favor.”
The Duchess and her princess looked surprised at the unexpected permission, probably knowing that the business had already failed. The employees of both families were also surprised. Of course, she wasn’t surprised as she knew Luna well.
“Hazel.”
“Huh?”
“As of tomorrow, I will hand over the responsibility of managing our class schedule to the princess.”
Hazel nodded.
“Then I will only trust Miss Bella.”
Luna curled the corner of her eyes and smiled, and what she said sounded like this to her.
‘Let’s see how many days it lasts.’
While trying to set a trap, she ended up walking into it. The Duke family seemed to have completely forgotten that Chestnuts were famous nanny exterminators throughout the empire. The moment the Grand Princess and the witch left and only the Duchess remained, the smile disappeared from the Duchess’s face.
“Bella, if you marry the Grand Duke, you will have to deal with her sister-in-law first.”
“How?”
“Encouraging early marriage is also a good idea.”
No matter what method was used, getting rid of the Grand Princess seemed essential for her daughter’s smooth married life. Of course, before that, they had to get rid of the witch.
“Olga.”
The Duchess summoned her most loyal maid and gave her lengthy instructions.
“I need to investigate the witch. From the oldest records to the most recent. Everything small, including facts about past crimes, people who frequently visited the cabin, places she often visited, etc.”
Know your enemy to win. It was something her husband used to say.
* * *
From the imperial army’s garrison, black smoke from burning the dead continued to rise.
“Well, mother…”
“Tea, I’d rather… Ugh, kill me…”
This place was a living hell, echoing with the moans and sobs of those who were lucky enough to be transported from the battlefield to this fortress. Elliot headed to the southern gate of the fortress like a murderer covered in the blood of both enemies and allies. The situation he witnessed when he came to the battlefield was far more desperate than he had imagined from the duke’s letter alone. The Billund army not only used all kinds of monsters as summoners, but even mobilized necromancers to manipulate corpses. As the number of dead increased, Billund’s military increased. An ally who died yesterday became an enemy today and swung a sword at him. So he had to burn the body. However, it was impossible to collect all the bodies from the battlefield, so Billund’s monster army grew in size like a snowball day by day. Because of this, the war was at a standstill. In fact, just maintaining its position against the Billund Army, which had an overwhelming advantage, was propaganda for the Imperial Army.
‘But if things continue like this, the empire will soon lose.’
The longer this war dragged on, the more advantageous it was for Billund’s army.
‘This is a foolish waste of life. If I wipe them out with my holy power, it will be a war that will end once and for all.’
“Elliot, don’t forget that if you become the emperor’s slave, your younger siblings will not be spared the misery.”
When he secretly used his holy power on the battlefield, Daniel’s nagging words lingered in his ears.
‘I never thought the day would come when I would miss your nagging.’
The area in front of the southern gate was crowded and noisy. As the people who saw him bowed respectfully, a person was seen giving a blessing to the kneeling soldiers in the middle of the crowd.
“Your Holiness, this way.”
Elliot only gave a formal greeting and guided Giselle to the Grand Duke’s station.
“How is it?”
“Life is still attached.”
After that, Giselle said nothing. The fact that he was unusually pale and his eyes were red was probably not due to illness.
“I have something important to share with the Grand Duke, so please wait here.”
Giselle defeated all the paladins and priests who followed her and followed Elliot into a barracks. The moment she walked through the thick curtains draped inside the double barracks, a terrible bloody smell and a painful groan came out. When even the medics staying in the barracks went out under Elliot’s instructions, Giselle burst into tears she had been holding back and headed to the bed where the patient was lying.
“Daniel.”
Daniel, who had bloody bandages wrapped all over his body, did not recognize Giselle and continued to moan in pain as if he did not hear her.
“Eww…”
“Oh my god…”
The claim that she had come to boost the morale of the imperial army was only a facade, but Giselle had rushed to the battlefield a month later to save her lover. Daniel was attacked by a swarm of monsters two days ago and suffered fatal burns. His condition was so severe that even his healing potions were of no use. He was worried that seeing this would cause him to break down, but Giselle was quite resolute. She wiped away her tears and squeezed Daniel’s hand, which was tightly wrapped in her bandages. Soon a miracle occurred. The affected area that was exposed on her face had healed. His moans and heavy breathing subsided. Daniel opened his eyes, which had never been opened before, and he clearly called out to his lover.
“Giselle?”
Giselle’s eyes filled with tears again.
“Bye my love.”
Giselle gave her tearful kiss to the man who treated her as his lover, thinking that he was her dream. Daniel recovered enough to sit down and eat in the blink of an eye. However, he did not fully recover. Giselle had such powerful healing powers that she was able to restore Danielle to her original state in an instant, but she thought of the impact it would have on the patient’s body, so she decided to use her healing powers on multiple occasions. Elliot asked Danielle, who was scooping up her stew, her large chunks floating around, into her mouth.
“How does it taste?”
“It’s the worst.”
“Good. Your sense of taste is fine.”
Daniel chuckled at his joke. Elliot gave instructions to the priests outside him and even joked with Giselle, who had just returned.
“Giselle, please don’t let me regain the strength to nag you not to use your sexual power.”
Daniel laughed again and muttered.
“I can’t do it this time, even if I have the energy.”
This was because Elliot disobeyed his words and used his sacred power to save Daniel.
“I told you to set up my barracks near here.”
It was expected that Giselle would stay close to Daniel, but her next words were unexpected.
“I’ll have to stay here for a while and treat the wounded. You’re the Pope and you can’t hide in the safety of the rear.”
“Not because you are the Pope, but because you are the Pope. Go back to the safety of the rear.”
Daniel let go of the spoon and he came out more assertive than ever.
“This is a battlefield. I don’t know when this fortress will fall. If you make a mistake here, the Vatican will lose its leader.”
“You’re worried about me dying, not the leader of the Vatican.”
Daniel was speechless for a moment and then closed his eyes.
“That’s right, so please go.”
“I am? Am I worried about you dying? If I told you to leave here, would you?”
“Giselle, I am a knight. No knight abandons the battlefield and runs away.”
“Then I am the Pope. There is no Pope who just watches paladins die.”
Giselle, who was continuing their inconclusive argument, muttered to herself.
“I actually want to die here.”
“What?”
Not only Daniel but Elliot was also shocked.
“I’m not saying I really want to die.”
Giselle waved his hand and started talking about something that seemed completely unrelated.
“Luca said that to me at the Vatican the other day. He said he actually wanted to be Pope.”
That was a story Elliot also knew. The Pope was a lifelong position, so he couldn’t resign at will until he died. Giselle was only in her mid-20s, so the chances of Luca becoming the next pope were slim. So, it was actually Elliot who gave Luca another dream of becoming a Holy Knight.
“Actually, before I left the Vatican, I convened a secret meeting and decided on Luca as my successor. If I pretend to die here, Luca will fulfill his dream of becoming Pope and I will fulfill my dream of living a normal life.”
Giselle smiled bitterly as she looked at the two men with gloomy faces.
“I just thought so. How can you say this to people who face the crossroads of life and death every day? You’re out of your mind.”
Elliot couldn’t criticize Giselle with such words. She was a person who was forced to walk down a path she did not want after falling overnight from the lover she promised her whole life to. Also, today she witnessed the shocking sight of her lover nearing her death, so she felt skeptical about everything.
“Then I’ll have to go back to my barracks, so get some rest.”
Elliot left her so that the two, who were tired of life, could return to being lovers just for today.
“Ha…”
Eliot let out a deep sigh as he laid his body on her bed, the bloody smell not going away even after washing. Giselle’s words about wanting to leave everything and be with Daniel never left his mind. Elliot suddenly came to understand his feelings painfully. He wanted to be by Hazel’s side. Like Giselle, his wishes were simple. Elliot’s thoughts, as was his wont, turned to his last memory with Hazel.
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Translator Note:
Hello there! This is RJR. I hope you liked it <3
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