IDIBC Chapter 84

Judith Fan Monzania (2)

At her low but cold command, I closed my eyes for a moment.

It was as clear as day that once I steeled my resolve and left, everything would fall back into its rightful place. Yet why couldn’t I bring myself to think of leaving easily?

Even if Judith’s words made sense, I couldn’t follow her wishes. I still hadn’t met Ricardo. Though there was clearly an end between him and me, I still wanted to ask him one last time.

Whether our end was right now, right here.

That end wasn’t for the saintess sitting before me or God to decide. The end between us two was solely a matter between the two of us.

When I opened my eyes again, confusion no longer lingered in them.

“Only the one who granted me permission to stay in this mansion can send me away.”

“Ah, I see now—you’re being this arrogant because you trust the Duchess of Rochester? No matter how much of a duchess she is, she cannot place you on the same level as me.”

“…….”

“Do you think the Grand Temple will sit idly by? Is what you truly want to make Rochester, whom God especially loves, turn away from God, to violate the thousand-year promise with the imperial family, and to betray the trust of the empire’s people who have believed in and supported this family?”

Judith seemed to notice that my eyes no longer wavered. She struck like ripples disturbing a lake that had been calm just moments before.

Her words carried clear legitimacy, as if the real one had appeared to drive out the fake occupying her rightful place.

“Do you think that just because you’ve completed the Young Duke’s manifestation and awakening, you can covet my position?”

No matter how much I searched within myself, I had no words except that I would not leave but stand firm.

Even Sabrina’s firm voice that had encouraged me, saying I’d done nothing wrong, couldn’t exert its power. My chest ached as if tears would come the moment I let my body relax.

“If I had met him first, this would have happened naturally. Whatever wicked thing you did to ruin things like this, I mean that if I had met him first, such a thing would absolutely never have happened.”

I turned my gaze away from her and simply looked up at the distant sky.

Was what she said true? If she had met Ricardo first, would everything have flowed according to God’s providence? After letting my meaningless gaze rest on clouds that changed shape at will and flowed swiftly on the wind, I met her eyes again.

“That God…”

As I parted my lips with difficulty, the blue light identical to mine rippled as if meeting a massive sea wind.

“Is He a God solely for the saintess?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I suddenly became curious whether God’s existence exists only for the saintess.”

“…….”

“I didn’t commit any wicked acts to awaken the Young Duke. So it occurred to me that my meeting the Young Duke first might also be God’s will.”

The woman’s face, which had been like a quiet morning garden, cooled icily.

“What are you babbling about right now?”

Though my body flinched at the temperature that changed so drastically it made me doubt my ears, I didn’t back down.

“I understand what you’re saying, Saintess. But my resolve hasn’t changed. When an accurate oracle comes down and the Young Duke commands me to leave, then… I’ll leave without regret.”

Clear mockery appeared on her face. The woman who had been sending me a fiery gaze shifted her eyes to somewhere beyond my shoulder, then leaned her body slightly toward me.

“By whose authority?”

A chill ran through me at her cold voice that brushed past the nape of my neck like a snake.

“You think you can just leave whenever you want to leave? Lienne Rowe Fennel. You’re nothing but a witch who has defied God’s will, usurped my work as saintess, and bewitched the Rochester family.”

“…….”

“What happens to someone who dares to take the saintess’s place? A witch’s fate is nothing but burning at the stake. Before long, you’ll be burned alive in flames.”

As she pulled away from me, tears streamed down her cheeks.

‘What, what?’

The one who heard what was or wasn’t a threat wasn’t her… Was her heart pained because she said I would burn to death? After all, she is a saintess… isn’t she?

“What are you doing here right now?”

At a heavy voice that appeared out of nowhere, my head automatically turned toward the sound.

“Rica…?”

Our eyes met immediately. His jet-black eyes blazed as if on fire. Come to think of it, had it only been three days? Since I’d seen his face.

With his hair neatly swept back as if he’d been to a formal occasion, dressed impeccably, I couldn’t believe this was the same man who had laid his head on my lap three days ago, laughing foolishly.

Even in this situation, my heart raced uncontrollably when our eyes met. At the thought that surged up—that I had been waiting so much for this man—I couldn’t look at him anymore.

With feelings both flustered and sorrowful, unable to add another word, I turned my eyes back to the saintess.

She had already risen from her seat and was trembling, her slender body shaking. Tears streaming transparently down her face, she kept her gaze fixed only on Ricardo.

Her appearance was so desolate that I suddenly felt like a thorough perpetrator, and even I held my breath.

“Lienne, I asked what you’re doing here?”

Ricardo didn’t cast a single glance at the saintess.

“Ah, I… I…”

As I was about to say something, the saintess’s pitiful voice was heard.

“It’s me, Ricardo. Your companion.”

Though immersed in grief to the point of sorrow, her voice was full of conviction. My clenched fists naturally tightened.

“You finally show your face.”

As her voice continued, Ricardo slowly raised his head. Even that brief moment when the two locked eyes was unbearable—their appearance together looked perfectly matched.

“I am your pitiful woman who, fearing the saintess’s star might not rise again, clung to God in tears every night.”

Even as the woman spoke tearfully, Ricardo gave no answer. Looking at the saintess with an indifferent, cold gaze, Ricardo reached out and grasped my wrist.

As he pulled with force, the chair made a loud rattling noise. Like a paper doll, I was led by him to stand behind him.

I could only see Ricardo’s back as he tilted his head slightly, with no way to know what expression he wore.

“Were you here? I didn’t notice.”

‘What?’ At the clearly dismissive words, I raised my free hand to cover my mouth. The unexpected continued after that. Ricardo turned sharply toward me without even offering her the slightest courtesy.

“Why didn’t you come yesterday?”

“Wh-where?”

“Freddy said you didn’t return to Hyacinth yesterday.”

“Ah…”

“I told you not to go out without my permission.”

I slightly frowned. I couldn’t easily judge whether what he was saying was appropriate for this situation.

“If I hadn’t met Sabrina Fennel on the way to the winter estate, I wouldn’t have known where you went or who you met.”

Because he was treating the saintess as if she didn’t exist, I couldn’t even cast my gaze past his shoulder. I couldn’t even imagine what expression the saintess was making right now.

“What do you think you’re doing right now?”

Then a sharp voice came from behind Ricardo. At her outcry, his expression changed all at once. Ricardo slowly turned his head from me.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

I could see the shocked woman’s face color changing moment by moment.

“H-how can you act like this in front of me? How can you ignore me so thoroughly when I’ve lived my entire life waiting for you?”

Ricardo’s broad back visibly expanded as he took a deep breath.

“What… are you?”

It was a chilling voice that reminded me of the day we met again. No, perhaps it was a cold voice I’d never heard before.

It was a coldness that would freeze a person’s heart to the bottom—one that made me both want to know and never know what expression he wore.

I could feel the clear hostility even from where I stood behind him.

But why? From her reaction, it seemed the two were meeting for the first time now.

“How dare you summon my fiancée, recognized by Rochester, so carelessly? You just stay quietly within this mansion. Until that damned God babbles something to you.”

At the overbearing command, the saintess’s anger turned to fear in an instant. She stepped back hesitantly. Ricardo, who had been holding my wrist until then, led my arm again. I truly could do nothing but follow him.

Though we escaped her sight, neither he nor I hastily brought up any words.

How far had we walked?

The shadow of the horse Ricardo had ridden cast a long shadow over ours.

“May I ask why you went out?”

The man who had been furiously angry just moments ago turned toward me with a face I couldn’t quite describe—hard to believe it was the same person. At a glance it seemed indifferent, but his eyes were deeply sunken. As if afraid to hear the answer.

“Have you already given up… on me?”

“N-no, that’s not it.”

Isn’t that what I should be saying? He stopped abruptly in place. At his behavior of examining my face from every angle, I unconsciously averted my gaze from him. The hand holding my wrist trembled slightly.