The desire in John’s gaze was very blatant. Her face turned red.
“Suddenly?”
“There’s no such thing as sudden.”
John raised the corners of his mouth slyly.
“How long have we been married?”
“….”
“It’s time to do what’s right between a couple, right Madam?”
What’s right between a couple…
“It’s not like we’re on bad terms.”
What he meant was very clear. John’s hand brushed her shoulder with a subtle desire. And then slowly ran down her spine.
Even with her clothes on, the sensation John gave her was clear.
Even the fluff stood on end. His handsome face looked even more seductive today. She felt like she could be completely captivated if she let her guard down.
“As you all know, the Duchy Blanchett has no relatives right now. That’s why our role is more important.”
She thought it would come someday, but she didn’t think it would be right now.
‘It-it’s so sudden.’
His delicate yet firm fingertips caressed her back as if he was handling an expensive piece of art. She couldn’t help but gasp.
“Of course, none of that matters.”
“Then?”
“I want you.”
John’s red eyes stared at her without blinking.
She felt like everything about her was being dug up by his sharp gaze. John whispered softly in a low voice.
“Do you want me?”
“I…”
Her voice froze without her knowing. She tried to calm herself down by touching the hem of the blanket, but her hands became tense.
“Me too, you.”
‘I want you. I like you, I love you.’
‘I wish your hands wouldn’t stop.’
The back of her back where his hands touched flinched with a strange sensation. He knew how nervous she was, and she knew too. She couldn’t hide her body’s reactions.
Knock, knock.
Their lips touched lightly enough to tickle.
“Don’t say anything.”
Their eyes met, and John smiled with the corners of his eyes slightly curled.
“You don’t have to say anything more.”
“…What?”
“Is there still some hesitation in your heart?”
John’s forehead touched hers. He, who had been sweeping her waistline, cupped her cheeks with both hands and looked into her eyes. His long eyelashes and sharp eyes became a little closer.
When she first saw him, she was afraid of John’s eyes.
The eyes of a predator. They were cruel eyes that never missed their prey.
She felt like they would tear her to pieces if they caught even the slightest gap.
John was the same now. No matter how much he loved her, his nature was cold and indifferent.
Lying to John was useless.
She looked up at him blankly and said.
“That’s right.”
“What are you afraid of?”
His eyes were arrogant and confident, as if he was saying that he would take away all her fears. She felt the confidence that only someone who had achieved everything and won could have.
She smiled faintly at him.
“I don’t think I deserve that.”
“Is it because of the illness?”
That was a completely unexpected answer. However, John seemed to have read her confusion as if he had found out.
“It’s because of the sleeping princess’ illness.”
‘…It’s all better.’
In fact, she rarely slept for long after that.
‘Should I tell him that I’m all better now?’
She didn’t want to lie to John anymore. But the lies that she had pretended not to know in the past blocked her mouth. She laughed at herself inwardly.
‘Will John still treat me like he used to after hearing all my stories?’
This was a different story from Libertan’s abuse. Even if John no longer seeked revenge on her, it was the same.
‘There’s no more trust left between us.’
[The beautiful monster ended up killing the bride.]
She thought of <Beautiful Monster> that she couldn’t finish reading. Even after killing the bride, the monster couldn’t let go of his feelings for her and endlessly yearned for her affection.
[Why was I born a monster? Wasn’t it because I wanted to be born a monster too?]
The dead bride then laughed and mocked the beautiful monster.
[That doesn’t mean you’re not a monster anymore. You’re a monster.]
[Then what should I have done? If you were born a monster, you shouldn’t be loved by anyone?]
[At least you should have told me that you were a monster!]
[Then would you have loved me?]
Of course, the dead woman didn’t answer that question. Dead people couldn’t talk at all.
John promised her in a sad, low voice.
“Don’t worry about illness or any other problems.”
“How can I do that?”
“That’s okay. I’ll take care of everything.”
John let out a light laugh and leaned closer.
“You just have to think about your own feelings.”
Through the gap in his unbuttoned shirt, she could see his straight collarbone and firm muscles. His provocative body that she had seen before came to mind and her cheeks flushed again. But she didn’t avoid his eyes and spoke as calmly as she could.
“What if I don’t know my own feelings at all? What would you do then?”
John chuckled.
“It’s true that it hasn’t been decided yet.”
“Why do you think so?”
“If you’re sure, you can’t doubt it anymore.”
Somehow, she never thought that those words would come out of John’s mouth.
“If that’s what you’re feeling, then I have no choice but to try harder.”
“Even though John tried his best?”
“You already love me.”
John slowly sat up and crossed his legs.
“You just have to make sure, what’s so hard about that?”
He added a playful tone to be considerate of her.
“I’ll make it harder for you to come over to me and break away.”
The more John yearned for her and showed consideration for her, the more she felt like she was sinking into a swamp.
‘Should I have told John everything from the beginning?’
She should have taken such a risk with a man who only saw her as a target for revenge.
‘Maybe I couldn’t do that.’
John now was different from John then.
‘John now… values me a little bit.’
But even if he found out the truth, the truth that she deceived him from the beginning, would he still value her? John has already achieved his original goal of revenge.
On the other hand, she was useless. If John’s heart left, she couldn’t stay here.
‘Why am I so complicated?’
She thought she loved John, but she was calculating things about him again. She felt disillusioned and disgusted, but she couldn’t help but reconsider.
“No. You don’t have to do that.”
She forcibly turned her head away from her feelings.
“I was just flustered because the situation was so unexpected today.”
“Then?”
“I like you too, John.”
She hugged John tightly, who was sitting there, and kissed him on the cheek.
“After the trial is over, I want to be a real couple with you.”
John froze for a moment. He blinked slowly, opened and closed his lips a few times. Then he pulled her face in and kissed her deeply.
Their breaths mingled.
He who had been ferociously exploring her as if he was going to take her breath away, pulled his lips away and said.
“I have to end this right now.”
* * *
The Empress couldn’t wait long and secretly sent her an invitation.
‘I knew this would happen.’
How anxious must she have been, having someone who was taking advantage of her weakness stay still. Since she had called her secretly, she only received the location from the guide and moved.
‘Shouldn’t I move with you? The Empress might have used some tricks in the palace.’
‘But having an overt escort might feel like a threat to the Empress.’
After much thought, Betty decided to stay far away as a secret escort and escort her.
There was a sacred garden near the entrance to the Empress’s palace. It was a garden decorated with a statue of the god Athena.
‘Cardinal Simon?’
Cardinal Simon was praying in front of one of the statues.
‘It would be annoying if we were to deal with him, so let’s pretend not to see him.’
She tried to go back without thinking much, but Cardinal Simon, who had opened his eyes, called her.
“What’s going on, Duchess Blanchett?”
“I was passing by on business.”
“You have business at the palace… I suppose so.”
A black light appeared behind Cardinal Simon. When she looked closely, she felt it was not Cardinal Simon, but inside the statue.
‘What is that?’
She tilted her head because she had never seen it before, but Cardinal Simon seemed to have taken it in a different sense.
“Does Duchess Blanchett believe in Athea?”
“Yes.”
Just as all the people of the empire believed in Athea, I was also a believer in Athea. Regardless of my lack of faith.
“Why would someone like that reject the saint?”
“Didn’t the saint reject me first?”
“Don’t you think there was some problem with the duchess that made her step forward?”
Cardinal Simon asked her with a blank expression. She thought he was accustomed to making her a villain again, but somehow his face looked strange.
‘Why do you look so anxious?’
When she looked closely, she saw that his hands, which were lowered under his long priest’s robe, were clenched into fists and shaking. She looked into his eyes and asked him because she found that a bit strange.
“Do you really believe that?”
“Then I distrust the saint?”
“Cardinal Simon knows the answer best. What would I know?”
Cardinal Simon kept his mouth shut. The black light inside the statue grew darker. She walked past Cardinal Simon and toward the statue.
“If you see something black, dig it up. It might be related to your curse.”
If it was related to the curse, it might be better to do it in front of a cardinal who could use divine power.
Cardinal Simon, who had been watching her quietly, asked her.
“What are you trying to do now-”
“But there’s one thing I want to ask you.”
Instead of looking back at Cardinal Simon, she stared at the black light inside the statue.
“Does Cardinal Simon believe in the saint or in Athea?”
“Why all of a sudden-”
“I saw something strange.”
She poked the chest area of the statue with her index finger.
Kururuk-
The black light of the statue faded and shattered. There was a pattern left where it had shattered.
‘This, I think I saw it in the barrier where the crown prince was.’
“…This is ridiculous.”
Cardinal Simon asked her, his face pale.
“Why, why is there something so unclean on Lady Athea’s statue…”
“I don’t know. I just touched it because I saw something strange.”
Cardinal Simon asked, his breathing ragged.
“Isn’t this something that Duchess Blanchett planned?”
“Wasn’t it Cardinal Simon who was standing in front of this statue?”
There were other statues around here.
“That’s…”
Cardinal Simon couldn’t make any more excuses. He was a suspicious and smart man. So he seemed confused at himself.
“Think as you wish.”
She left the shocked cardinal and moved to the Empress’s Palace.
‘If I keep this up, there’ll be chaos if I’m late.’
* * *
Cardinal Simon stared blankly at the spot where Estelle had disappeared. Something unbelievable had happened.
‘How could something so dirty come out of the Athea statue?’
Athea statues were all made in the Holy Land. So there’s no room for a defective product to come in. Especially if it’s the palace garden.
‘And that appearance just now.’
Estelle was touching the Athea statue.
Estelle, who was pessimistically looking at the collapsing Athea statue, felt both nobility and divine power.
‘Why does she feel like a saint?’
It was even more strange when compared to the divine power she felt from Saint Stella.
That can’t be…’
But the indisputable truth was engraved in his mind. Aside from whether Estelle was a saint or not, there was one clear fact.
Stella was strange.
The same went for the saint who was surrounding Stella. It was an action that did not follow the doctrine.
‘The Duchess Blanchette, who was rumored to be a wicked woman…’
Simon looked down at the statue of Athea with anguished eyes. Fortunately or unfortunately, the face of the broken statue of Athea was intact.
It was truly strange.
The statue of Athea basically has a solemn expression to express the majesty of the god. However, the broken statue seemed to be smiling.
As if it was cheering on Simon’s path.
* * *
The empress looked at Duchess Blanchett.
‘What is her intention?’
The wicked woman who had spread all kinds of evil rumors. A foolish adopted child with only a pretty face. Now, other evaluations followed, but one thing was certain.
Everyone was paying attention to this woman.
‘What weapon are you trying to threaten me with again…’
The empress, who was originally not good at fighting, said with her teeth clenched.
“I can stop the crown prince on my own, but I can’t stop the purification ceremony ball itself. Even if I try to minimize it as much as possible…”
“You don’t have to do that.”
Estelle smiled brightly.
“I wish you would hold the ball bigger and grander. So that everyone can attend and see the greatness of the saintess.”
That was a response the empress hadn’t expected.
‘If the saintess’s honor goes up, Duchess Blanchet will be in trouble?’
Estelle just smiled at the empress.
‘What are you trying to do?’
The empress would never find out Estelle’s true intentions.
Estelle’s goal was not the quick downfall of the saintess.
‘Maybe Saint Stella is the one who put a curse on me.’
Then there was only one thing Estelle had to do now. Make Saint Stella shone even more, and made her commit more reckless acts.
“Your Majesty, please help the saintess perform the purification ritual well.”
The next day, the purification ritual began in earnest.
—————————————————————
Translator Note:
Hello there! This is RJR. I hope you liked it <3
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