“Ah…”
“Luca, he will become a paladin and live as a single person, so there is nothing I can do, but Luna…”
“Luna might want to be single too.”
She recalled the promise the Grand Duke made to Luna before the war broke out.
“His Highness said that Luna should marry someone she loves, and that marriage is not obligatory for her. But if he says he will make Luna’s child his heir, he is forcing Luna to take on the obligations of marriage and succession.”
“Oh, I see. It’s difficult, it’s difficult.”
The Pope sighed, and the moment their eyes met, he smiled broadly and patted her shoulder.
“I’m still looking into ways. Don’t worry.”
The Pope added, glancing at the Grand Duke who was seriously discussing something with Sir Daniel.
“I can’t wait to see that guy struggle with parenting again.”
Although she acted as if she hated the Grand Duke, she knew that he actually felt sorry for him. She was hard on the outside but soft on the inside, which seemed to be a family trait.
“Thank you, Your Holiness.”
“Just call me Giselle.”
The Grand Duke and Sir Daniel narrowed their eyes as the two of them appeared with bellflowers on their heads, smiling.
“What are you doing here?”
“We talked about old times.”
As Giselle smiled mischievously, the Grand Duke pulled her closer and said,
“Whatever Giselle said was a lie. You know?”
“Okay? I said that if the two of you decided to get married, I would readily give you a marriage license. Is that also a lie?”
“…What Giselle says is a lie, but what His Holiness says is always true.”
She asked again before the two started arguing.
“What were you two talking about so seriously?”
“I was trying to figure out how to get out of here.”
Judging by the way Sir Daniel sighed while answering, it seems he couldn’t find a solution.
“It would be better to wait one more day.”
“That’s right. It’s a problem if you wander around hastily and get lost or cross paths.”
“There is enough food and water, so there will be no problem holding on.”
So they spent another day in the hole, but there was no sign of anyone coming down from the hole.
“What happened?”
At this point, everyone became puzzled.
“There is no way the Grand Duke’s family would abandon the Grand Duke…”
Sir Daniel nodded his head at her words and added:
“There is no way the Vatican would abandon the Pope.”
“Well, shouldn’t we point out the fact that none of the priests and paladins who care so much for His Holiness, God’s favorite, threw themselves here?”
He was pointing out the fact that when the Vatican criticized the Grand Duke for keeping the Pope in a squalid place, when the Pope fell down the secret passageway, no one threw themselves at him to catch him.
“This really makes me think a lot.”
Giselle narrowed her eyes and glared at the Grand Duke.
“If I die, the next pope will be Luke?”
“Ah, then before that, I hope you will correct the discipline within the Vatican for our Luca.”
Giselle glanced at the Grand Duke again and rested her chin on his, deep in thought. Then, suddenly, he grins and says something like this.
“Hmm… It wouldn’t be so bad if I died here.”
“Huh, what do you mean? You have to live until the end. I have to live!”
Was his mental strength depleted after being locked up for so long? Could it be that depression is caused by lack of vitamin D due to lack of sunlight? Startled by the sound of wanting to die, she jumped up and rolled up her sleeves.
“There must be a way up.”
Wouldn’t it be possible to climb up the crystals and roots on the wall of the pit? She was about to climb on the broccoli to try it, but the Grand Duke followed her and stopped her.
“Hazel, Giselle doesn’t really mean to die.”
“Yes?”
The only way to escape from the position of Pope, which was a permanent position, was through death. Only after hearing Sir Daniel often talk about wanting to fake his death and start a new life did she come down from Broccoli.
“But is it really not possible to climb up the wall?”
“We thought about that too, but it’s impossible. I don’t know how firmly the roots and crystals are embedded, and since they fell quite far away, there is no guarantee that my physical strength will last until they all climb up.”
She nodded at Sir Daniel’s logical words.
“I need to get out of here quickly…”
They couldn’t just wait for help. In the end, they decided to look for the exit of this crypt on the third day. Just in case, she cut the vegetables into bite-sized pieces, wrapped them well in strawberry leaves, took them with her, and set out on her way. She left the bedding as it was, intending to search for only half a day and then return to its original location. Since they couldn’t get lost, they marked every path they passed, just like Hansel and Gretel did.
She drew a map so that she could find her way back. And so that if anyone came to rescue them, they would know where they have gone. They did that, but it didn’t bring much benefit. The crypt continued endlessly like a maze. And…
“Ouch, it’s here again!”
She only encountered giant earthworms countless times. She thought the identity of the noise they heard above was an earthworm. As soon as the sound of the soil collapsing got closer, an earthworm popped its head out from somewhere.
“It’s gross!”
No matter how much she loved animals, she found it difficult to love giant bugs. She didn’t know if it’s fortunate or unfortunate that earthworms didn’t have brains and couldn’t communicate with her.
“Again? Ha, no matter how much I cut, there is no end.”
“Didn’t the earthworm run away when it heard the sound of a person?”
“Maybe we are too small.”
“Anyway, moist soil is a good environment for earthworms to live in.”
She chased away the earthworms by shooting hot flames, which the earthworms didn’t like, but the three of them cut them down with swords. Puzzled, she asked the Grand Duke.
“You can’t use your holy power here?”
“Because it’s not a monster.”
Giselle continued the Grand Duke’s brief explanation.
“Magic power works even on non-monsters, but holy power does not.”
“But isn’t the fundamental force the same?”
“The fundamentals are the same, but the beliefs are different. The Vatican placed numerous restrictions on the development of sacred power only in the direction of blocking magical power. So, unlike wizards who have developed a variety of useful skills, there isn’t much we can do.”
“It’s a conservative place.”
The Grand Duke added, swinging his sword at the earthworm that appeared again.
“Anyway, what is this smell?”
Giselle suddenly sniffed her nose. Come to think of it, she could smell the meat cooking?
“Oh, this is it.”
The Grand Duke, who was looking around, stabbed something with the tip of his sword and lifted it up. It was an earthworm corpse that had been burned to a golden brown color by the flame she shot.
“Who wants worm steak?”
No one raised their hand.
In the end, they couldn’t find an exit and returned to their starting location. There was no sign that anyone had come looking for them. They decided to pack their bags and go further, with the intention of moving camp tomorrow.
“Phew…”
Now this ‘camping’ was no longer fun. As she sat in front of the bonfire and took a deep breath, the Grand Duke asked her with concern.
“What’s the matter?”
“I was worried about the chestnuts.”
“Why those two?”
“If the royal family finds out that Your Highness is trapped here, won’t the chestnuts be in danger?”
“It won’t be like that. The kids might be safer if I’m gone.”
“Why?”
“Because Luna and Luca are young and pose no threat to the throne.”
“Oh, well…”
She delivered the news to the chestnuts again today using sensory transfer magic. The children, who were outraged that there was still no rescue help, angrily declared that they would send someone to Billund as soon as the sun rose. It would take a long time to get from there to here. She hoped she could get out before then. They had come quite far today. After wading through the tangled oysters and feeling hungry, they sat down and ate.
“Giselle.”
“Yes?”
“Do you want some carrots?”
The broccoli stalks that Giselle was chewing like celery looked so tough that she held out a piece of carrot from her bag.
“Thank you.”
They sat side by side crunching carrots.
“By the way, raw carrots should be eaten dipped in mayonnaise. It’s a shame.”
“Mayonnaise? “What is that?”
There was no mayonnaise here. So what do they eat carrots with? People here didn’t even know the beauty of tuna mayo.
“Mayonnaise is a soft and thick sauce. It’s made with eggs and… ”
She explained to Giselle how to make mayonnaise and what it tastes like. However, this was not a taste you could guess just by hearing it.
“I can’t send it to you because it spoils easily, but I will definitely give it to you next time you come to the Grand Duke’s residence. It’s perfect for French fries.”
“Oh, I like fried potatoes.”
It turned out that Giselle also had a hobby of eating. As they chatted about various potato dishes, they naturally felt miserable as we were only munching on raw carrots. When she returned, she would eat freshly baked bread dipped in a stew with thick soup and well-cooked ingredients. Then, she would melt her body in a hot bath and fall asleep comfortably in a cozy bed.
While chatting amicably about this with Giselle, she suddenly made eye contact with the Grand Duke sitting across from her. His expression looked dark as he stared at her.
“Your Highness? Why are you doing this?”
The moment she called him out of concern, the Grand Duke’s expression darkened even further.
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Translator Note:
Hello there! This is RJR. I hope you liked it <3
If you like my work please support me with Ko-fi or Patreon. Next post will be released on January, 20.
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