— Artua people reveal their short-sighted thinking by fearing the grand ducal house’s power of territorial subsidies and punishment more than God’s authority to judge souls.

— The grand ducal house’s heir is particularly utterly debauched, and when embroiled in s*xual scandals, has no qualms about consuming a priest’s holy power to please his fiancée.

Combined with today’s events and the rumors he’d heard, it would be complete.

⟨I heard Alec Artua’s return from subjugation was delayed because he was satisfying his disgusting s*xual preferences away from his fiancée’s eyes.⟩

⟨Good heavens. Is that true?⟩

⟨Ahem! Priest. I may look like this, but I lead one of the top three trading companies in the South.⟩

⟨Of course I know Wilmer Trading Company’s wealth.⟩

‘Master Wilmer isn’t someone who would spread false rumors. Since it’s come to this, shall I slip in what I saw today? I did receive a request anyway.’

But this time too, reality thoroughly betrayed Joseph’s delusions.

What appeared before him waiting in the reception room was Alec Artua carrying his fiancée like precious treasure.

‘That man is Count Alec Artua, the next grand duke who inherited five northwestern territories……’

The man was beautiful enough to mesmerize even Joseph, who had met countless nobles.

His blonde hair, exactly like that impudent brat’s, was brilliant even in the dark reception room, and his blue eyes were so sharp they were frightening to meet directly.

For such a man to serve his fiancée like a slave……

Joseph thought perhaps the rumors might not all be true and bowed his body.

“Priest Joseph, who serves God with his humble body, greets Count Alec Artua who will inherit Artua’s glory. I heard your fiancée was ill and came without delay……”

“To spout such nonsense as soon as you arrive. The shamelessness of temple people is amazing every time I see it.”

“……My apologies.”

Joseph approached Isabel, vowing to repay this humiliation someday.

But Alec stubbornly insisted he ‘couldn’t lift the blanket covering Isabel’s body.’

“You want me to treat her like this?”

“Then, should my fiancée expose her body to you?”

The madness was so extreme it wasn’t even infuriating.

At least the fiancée seemed to be a normal person with proper sense, closing her eyes tightly in embarrassment.

Encouraged by that reaction, Joseph tried to protest slightly.

“I am a priest who has dedicated everything to God. What the count worries about will absolutely never happen, so if I could examine the affected area……”

“……”

“Th, ahem. Since your fiancée is so beautiful, you must want to be careful, and more careful…… hehe.”

“Do you need to run your mouth to use holy power?”

“No! I’ll treat her right away.”

Joseph swallowed his resentment and activated his holy power. Since it was his first time treating an invisible wound, he had to waste a considerable amount of holy power.

‘I will definitely tell Master Wilmer about this incident.’

As soon as he received the order to leave, he left the reception room without looking back. Regardless, Alec was only focused on harassing his fiancée.

“Alec, wait. What are you doing without leaving, mmh.”

“Don’t worry about my sister’s affairs, I’ll handle them myself. I need to check if the treatment was done properly. I’ll need to check your stamina too.”

“You didn’t do this just to……”

“Allow me. Hurry.”

Joseph vowed to definitely inform the Great Cathedral of those people’s lewd behavior.

***

After the priest left, Alec clung to Isabel under the pretext of checking her wound and tormented her for hours.

“You seem to have gotten a bit strange, mmh, from hunting monsters.”

“Then you’ll have to check directly where I’ve gotten strange…… Hah.”

Using all sorts of excuses to hold Isabel, he only let her go after dawn broke.

She looked out the brightened window, muttered ‘This is crazy……’ and fell asleep as if fainting.

“Sleep well, Isabel.”

After kissing his exhausted lover and getting up, it was six in the morning. His subordinate who discovered him leaving the bedroom hurriedly followed.

“Lord Alec. Are you returning directly to the grand ducal house?”

“Yes. Did you deliver the message to Enoch?”

“Yes. He seems to have arrived at the mansion first. And regarding the priest you mentioned, we checked and our people are already attached to him. And this is a document summarizing what happened before we arrived.”

Alec’s face changed completely as he checked the report his subordinate handed him in the carriage.

“What did Rania do?”

***

Upon arriving at the grand ducal residence, Alec first went looking for his brother. Not the youngest sister who was cute and lovable enough to be forgiven for anything, but the one twelve years older than her. The second son who had lived four years less than him yet acted like an adult.

“Young Master Enoch just arrived and went up to his bedroom.”

As he strode up the stairs and entered the third floor, Enoch’s guard knight Jeanne greeted him.

Alec pretended not to notice her strangely disheveled knight uniform and accepted the greeting.

“It’s been a while, Dame Jeanne. Where’s Enoch?”

“He’ll be out shortly.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Enoch came out to the corridor. Though he looked ready to explode at any moment, his momentum softened as soon as he spotted his brother Alec.

“Did you just arrive?”

“Yes. I checked what you conveyed on the way here.”

“I didn’t have time to investigate further either, so I only know up to what you told me. Is the source Lady Isabel?”

Alec nodded. Both brothers’ faces became quite serious.

“It seems our parents were involved.”

“Or they condoned it. Otherwise, rumors wouldn’t have remained like this until now. They would have been dealt with long ago.”

He roughly ran his hand through his hair while recalling the information sheet he had received from Isabel. Enoch also nodded while sweeping back his hair.

“They say both are in the office, so let’s go right away.”

The place the two brothers headed together was the grand ducal couple’s office.

“Mother. Father.”

“We have something to discuss.”

The couple looked at their two sons who suddenly visited, then turned their heads as if by agreement. Soon the sound of warm tea filling teacups was heard instead of morning greetings.

“Wife. Look. Haven’t I gotten better at brewing tea lately?”

“Anyone listening would think I criticized your tea-brewing skills.”

“I’m saying this because I want to show off that I’ve been particularly devoted to you lately.”

When the grand duke poured tea with precision and begged for praise, the grand duchess burst into laughter with a helpless expression.

“Yes. You’re overflowing with devotion. The tea is delicious too.”

“I should have shown this to that fellow who used to show off in front of you when all he could do was brew tea.”

“Are you talking about Viscount Albert? How long will you keep bringing up someone who’s already dead?”

“It bothers me that the best thing that bastard did in his life was dying early. No wait. Come to think of it, even that was pathetically inadequate of him. With such a short life, how dare he send a marriage proposal to someone……”

“Stop talking about something that happened over thirty years ago.”

The couple’s appearance as they chatted about old memories or resentful past was like a painting.

They looked so affectionate that Alec momentarily forgot his purpose for visiting his parents and expressed his hurt feelings.

“Won’t you even greet us? We know how to drink tea too!”

Enoch subtly stepped away from his brother. It was because the grand duke looked at Alec with displeasure.

“Alec. Don’t think I forgot when you made your parents worry by coming home late without a word and rushing to the marquis’s mansion. But now you come in the morning, raising your voice. Is this how I raised you?”

“Ahem. Hmm.”

“Enoch, you’re the same. Do you think you become innocent by looking at your brother mockingly like that? Do you think we don’t know you took Jeanne and wandered outside the mansion all day yesterday as soon as Nia fell asleep?”

Alec, who had been receiving his brother’s disdainful looks until just now, glared at Enoch in disbelief.

“You told me yesterday you were too busy to rest. Were you busy playing with Jeanne?”

“It’s not like that.”

“What do you mean it’s not. You don’t tell me……”

“That’s not what’s important right now.”

Alec, who had recalled Enoch’s guard knight coming out of the bedroom in disheveled clothes, shut his mouth. As Enoch said, it wasn’t immediately important.

“Mother, Father. If you were hurt, we apologize. But about Rania.”

“Hurt?”

The grand duke’s eyebrows rose endlessly, but Alec continued speaking with a shameless face.

“I heard that recently there have been false rumors about Rania circulating among the nobles.”

“Did you come to boast that you just now learned about the rumors spreading?”

“So you both knew after all.”

“Do you want to blame us for not telling you in advance?”

The response that followed suggested it was their fault for only learning about it now, and a strange tension filled the room.

The couple was generally affectionate toward their two children, but they didn’t feel the need to coddle them even on days like today when they came demanding answers like creditors over Rania’s affairs.

“Why don’t you calm down and sit down?”

“Calm down?”

“Do you really think we failed to control our retainers’ tongues?”

“Then did you deliberately create false rumors?”

“To catch those who would spread rumors harmful to the grand ducal house, but to use Rania for such a thing. You went too far.”

At the sight of Alec and Enoch competing to raise their voices, the grand duke’s eyebrow shot up to one side.

“Then.”

“You could have tested them with other rumors. Like stories about me……”

At his son’s retort, the grand duke snorted.

“Alec. Rumors about you are already overflowing, so they wouldn’t be very effective.”

“Your Highness. Father!”

“Do one or the other. Either call me father or address me as king.”

“Father. What I mean is, Rania is only eight years old. But why are you controlling the household using a young child’s name and even attaching people to priests?”

“Priest? Ah. You must mean Priest Joseph dispatched from the central region.”