Chapter 106

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 106

Chapter Title: Chapter 12. Husband's Temptation

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Yulken glared at his master with narrowed eyes.

"Not only did you disappear for a whole week, but now you're slacking off too?"

He looked ready to ruthlessly critique Arpad's qualifications as Crown Prince at any moment.

"Do you have any idea how much Her Highness the Crown Princess suffered alone in your absence? And the moment you return, you laze about! It's heartbreaking that this is the extent of Her Highness's husbandly fortune...!"

"...Enough, Yulken."

Yulken was clever, and even quicker on the uptake.

He sensed that Arpad wouldn't let his usual nagging slide this time.

Yulken pouted his lips and muttered a twisted "Nyeh" in response before piling up a mountain of documents and vanishing.

Fled would be the more accurate term.

Arpad's mood was that foul right now.

Wouldn't it be stranger if a man rejected by his wife before he could even confess felt good?

Arpad halfheartedly glanced at the documents Yulken had left behind, then pulled out the object that had been grating on his nerves the whole time.

The ring he'd hastily taken (snatched) from Hilia.

'To think she'd still have the engagement ring from that Ludwig bastard...'

And last night, when he'd entered her bedroom, Hilia had been staring at this ring with a complicated expression.

'As if she still harbored lingering feelings for whoever gave it to her...'

Crunch! The sturdy edge of the ebony desk shattered under the force of his grip.

As if that someone were the desk itself.

It was then.

Arpad thought he saw one of the three gems on the ring sparkle.

"?"

At the same moment, darkness rushed toward him.

In an instant, the feel of the solid floor changed, and so did the movement and temperature of the air. A thick stench of blood pierced his nostrils.

A pitch-black sky, where even the stars had hidden away, bore an ominously crimson moon.

Gazing up at it, his lips moved of their own accord.

"I've always been afraid of when I might lose my mind. Especially during the Crimson Moon when Mother passed."

These weren't words from his present self. Nor from any memory.

But they sounded like something he would say.

Just who was he saying this to now?

As if answering his question, his vision shifted. His eyes met violet ones streaked with fear and tears.

A face that looked far sharper and more gaunt than now.

'Hilia!'

It was unmistakably her.

And he... had a knife to her throat.

"...Gasp!"

When he came to, Arpad was still in his study.

Ludwig's engagement ring remained in his hand, and the shattered ebony desk edge was just as he remembered.

A profound bewilderment and doubt dominated his mind.

Once, while lying beside Hilia as he fell asleep.

And now, while holding the ring from her former fiancé.

In both visions, Hilia had looked at him with eyes full of fear or pain.

A thick fog of confusion enveloped Arpad's head.

'What the hell is this?'

His mood was utterly rotten. Anxious, uneasy, horrific.

He couldn't bear to wrestle with the documents any longer and bolted from the study.

Ignoring Yulken's pitiful cries from the adjoining room, where he'd been waiting for the papers to be processed.

When he arrived at the Ivory Bedroom, it was empty.

"......"

Something similar had happened last time, hadn't it?

Feeling his mood sink even lower, Arpad called over a passing maid.

"Where is Her Highness the Crown Princess right now?"

"She's having tea time with guests in the Crystal Pagoda in the eastern garden."

Not far. A place he could reach immediately.

"What guests?"

No one could stop or refuse Arpad's intrusion, no matter who they were.

But he couldn't hide the way his lips tightened at the maid's answer.

"She's meeting with the Duchess of Musen and the young duke."

"......"

The Musen young duke—that man.

The one who'd dared to give Hilia an amethyst jewelry set.

'He was already an eyesore, but now he grates even more.'

Impatience surging, Arpad quickened his steps.

Osan Mountain crystal glass is an exceedingly rare treasure.

As clear as water yet as sturdy as steel despite being glass, it's prized all the more for it.

The structure in the eastern garden, crafted entirely from Osan Mountain crystal glass, was nicknamed the Crystal Pagoda.

Rare flowers and trees surrounded it, making the pagoda gleam like a massive jewel within.

The Duchess of Musen gazed at the pagoda and its surroundings in rapture and said,

"This is my first time being invited here. It's truly an honor, Your Highness."

Hilia smiled softly.

"You'll be coming and going like it's your own home soon enough."

She was pleased to see Hilia wearing the amethyst necklace and brooch.

'She's openly showing her favor toward me.'

But one unusual thing about the Crown Princess caught her eye.

The Duchess of Musen asked carefully. She simply had to.

"But, Your Highness, what is that beautiful ring? It seems like no ordinary piece."

The duchess's eyes gleamed sharply.

Hilia realized anew.

'Ah, since the star of Sttilia is pale purple, the duchess must like it.'

The duchess had opened the topic first, and around them were a few friendly noblewomen she'd brought along.

The perfect situation to spread rumors.

Hilia covered her mouth with her left hand, making the ring especially visible.

"Oh, he gave it to me yesterday."

"Oh my goodness!"

"It does look like something extraordinary."

Then, a sudden voice came from the corner of the garden.

"If I may, Your Highness the Crown Princess. Isn't that jewel a holy relic?"

A man's voice, but unmistakably a clear tenor.

Even so, Hilia felt the hairs on her body stand on end.

'This voice...'

Her heart thudded ominously, and her mouth went dry.

But she couldn't ignore it. Hilia turned her head.

His jet-black hair, long like the night, was neatly tied to one side, and his elegant gray eyes shone calmly.

His sacred white robes bore the emblem of the Main Temple gleaming gold on his shoulder.

Just as she remembered.

Sir Beltein and the imperial knights reacted in shock, blocking the pagoda's entrance.

"Who are you?!"

"An intruder?!"

They were stunned.

They hadn't sensed his presence at all until he spoke.

The noblewomen, led by the Duchess of Musen, let out small gasps. Their eyes sparkled.

"Oh! Archbishop Bio!"

Only then did the knights understand why they hadn't detected him.

It was only natural for someone with divine power strong enough to ascend to archbishop.

The noblewomen chattered freely, without caution.

"How did you come here, Archbishop?"

"I heard you were on sabbatical in the east."

"I've been neglecting my faith, but now that the archbishop is here, I can rediscover my devotion."

Archbishop Bio responded to their fuss with calm politeness, in a very familiar manner.

"I returned not long ago. On my way back after meeting His Imperial Majesty, I got lost while touring the gardens and happened upon this place."

He bowed lightly, apologizing to the hostess, Hilia.

"I must have startled you by barging in so suddenly. My apologies, Your Highness the Crown Princess."

Everyone watched Hilia and the archbishop with keen interest.

"But you said it was a holy relic just now?"

"Is it really, Archbishop Bio?"

"Does Her Highness the Crown Princess possess a holy relic?"

As a priest awakened to divine power, it wasn't strange for him to recognize one on sight.

Hilia greeted him calmly, as if unperturbed.

"A pleasure to meet you, Archbishop Bio. May the justice of the Heavenly God be with you."

"The honor is mine, Your Highness. May the rays of the Heavenly God's light shine upon your shoulders."

She acted as if it were their first meeting, but Hilia knew about this man.

The youngest ever to become archbishop across all temples on the continent, destined to shatter every record and claim the highest position.

'And one of Evangeline's strongest allies...'

He was also the one who had helped her when she fled to the temple to avoid marriage after her first regression.

Hilia had trusted and relied on him wholeheartedly, only to be brutally betrayed.

Archbishop Bio had dragged her into a holy trial under vile pretenses, which led to her being stripped of everything and imprisoned in a remote monastery in her second life.

"This sinful woman lured countless men into the temple under the pretext of seeking sanctuary and even tried to seduce me."

The bitter sense of betrayal and wounds from that time surged up again.

Her vast experience let her hide it outwardly. But she couldn't calm her churning heart.

It was then. Someone she hadn't expected—or even imagined—appeared and blew away all her anxiety.

"For an archbishop to lose his way in the imperial palace. It seems the Main Temple skimps on priest training."

"Your Highness the Crown Prince!"

"Y-Your Highness!"

As everyone rose in surprise, Arpad strode over and stood beside Hilia.

Pretending to naturally greet his wife with a kiss on the cheek, he whispered low enough for only her to hear.

"Just nod if you need my help, Hilia?"

"...!"