Favorite Doll - ✿ dusk blossoms ✿

Daymond was a small rural village.

Although she had come out with Emma the other day, between buying underwear and going to the temple, and with what happened in between, she hadn’t been able to properly sightsee.

Besides, where was this? It was right in the novel.

The scene entering through Charlie’s retina was nothing short of a wonderland.

“Light! The light is flying around!”

On one side of the square, the light released by a merchant caught Charlie’s attention.

“Light?”

Charlie, full of excitement, shook Hector’s hand, which was interlocked with hers.

“Over there.”

As if her mouth corners weren’t hurting,

Charlie, with a bright smile, kept grinning.

Hector looked down at Charlie intently.

“Is that magic too?”

“Yes.”

“What is it?”

“It’s Light.”

“Light…”

Charlie, who had repeated after Hector’s words, pondered.

“Is magic fascinating?”

“It is.”

The magic Charlie was pointing at was basic magic that even Gold-rank could do.

In other words, it was magic that Hector didn’t even need to lift a finger for.

“…I see.”

A meaningful smile spread across Hector’s face.

But Charlie, distracted by sightseeing, didn’t notice it.

At that moment, Charlie pulled Hector.

“It’s cotton candy! Let’s go eat that.”

If one were to compare their strength, Charlie would fall far short. Yet Hector was pulled along lightly as if he were a paper doll.

[You will need a lot of coins.]

The clinking sound flowing from the coin purse Tanner had prepared was left behind like their afterimage.

* * *

Inside the Grand Temple.

The Pope’s snow-white vestments exuded holiness.

The crosier, the bishop’s staff, symbolized his authority as God’s representative.

Cedric approached Michael, who was about to head to the square for the ceremony.

“I seek an audience with Your Holiness. May Areis’s blessing always be with you.”

The crosier made a thud as it hit the marble floor at the blocked steps. Then, a cold gaze stared at Cedric, who was bowing his head.

“What brings the Commander of the Imperial Guard here?”

Instead of telling him to raise his head, Michael asked about something he already knew.

The Pope was a being even the Emperor had to show respect to. Therefore, Cedric, a duke, couldn’t raise his head without Michael’s permission.

Cedric answered while keeping his waist bent.

“I am here to assist Your Holiness today.”

Michael’s gaze swept over the imperial guards filling the front of the temple.

“Is this surveillance from Emperor Kaisis Graham, or intimidation towards me?”

“……”

Cedric’s face, drained of blood, hardened. The cardinals following behind couldn’t hide their shock.

It was because they were not unaware of Kaisis’s temperament.

Michael’s assisting priest, Rapha, sighed deeply at the major incident.

Cedric said,

“How could we dare to do that? We just wanted to protect and serve Your Holiness…”

“The temple only receives God’s protection and guidance.”

Michael cut off Cedric’s words.

His agitated voice echoed fiercely off the high walls of the temple.

“Not content with leading armed soldiers into the temple, are you now telling me to follow a mere duke of the empire?”

Cedric, still unable to raise his head, felt stiffness spreading down his spine.

“Am I to understand that it is truly Emperor Kaisis Graham’s will to disregard God and order such insolence?”

“……”

It hadn’t even been a year since Michael took the Pope’s seat.

Originally, it was customary for the previous Pope to receive a divine revelation to choose the next Pope.

Whether they really received a revelation or if it was determined by power relationships and interests, the selection process was mysterious.

However, the previous Pope met a sudden death without naming a successor.

The temple had no choice but to wait for God’s revelation according to tradition, and the name engraved on the stone was Michael.

The temple and the imperial family were truly shocked.

This was because Michael was just a novice priest.

But it was a divine revelation that could neither be deceived nor hidden.

Moreover, after ascending to the Pope’s seat, Michael continued to distance himself from the imperial family.

He still hadn’t conveyed Kaisis’s prayers to God.

“Since when has the door of the Grand Temple opened without my permission?”

Despite Michael’s angry words, the cardinals didn’t even blink. Rather, they seemed anxious, trying to gauge Cedric’s reaction.

Michael’s position within the temple was not very good.

Michael, who had neither power nor influence, was even of common birth.

The temple was at the level of rejecting Michael as a Pope who was no different from a scarecrow.

But the power held by the Pope was absolute, so they couldn’t openly ignore him.

“I will question responsibility for this matter when I return.”

Michael swept past Cedric, his vestments fluttering.

“You, come here and stay. God tells me so.”

* * *

Charlie’s festival sightseeing had somehow turned into a food tour.

Where was all this going in that small body?

The cotton candy was just the beginning. After devouring pancakes, grilled octopus, snowflake candy, sandwiches, macarons, and fruit juice, Charlie now held a skewer in her hand.

Leon and Tanner, following behind, were also eating the same skewers.

Hector had noticed their presence long ago.

But he didn’t bother to stop them.

It was because he needed someone to evacuate Charlie if anything happened.

Unaware of this situation, Charlie bit into the skewer with a bright expression.

Hector’s lips curled up at the sight of her chewing, unaware of the sauce on her cheek.

“You’ve got something there.”

Hector took out a handkerchief and wiped Charlie’s face.

With one hand holding Hector and the other holding the skewer, she had no hand to wipe with.

Of course, she could have let go of the hand she was holding, but that option didn’t exist for Hector in the first place.

“Did I?”

Charlie obediently accepted Hector’s touch.

Then, in a less crowded alley. An exotic-looking tent came into view.

Between the open tent flaps, the sight of a gloomy woman touching a crystal ball was so typical. Charlie couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Want to get our fortune told?”

Hector, following Charlie’s gaze, soon spotted the fortune-telling tent.

“It’s surely someone without holy power just spouting plausible nonsense.”

Despite his scathing criticism, the hand wiping the sauce was infinitely gentle.

After confirming it was clean, Hector put the handkerchief back and earnestly cautioned out of worry.

“Those are all scams, so never believe them.”

“Come on, who says I believe it? It’s just for fun.”

* * *

And so, inside the fortune-telling tent,

Charlie was sitting in a chair, and behind her stood Hector with his arms crossed.

Two shadows with ears perked towards the tent were also present.

“Let’s see, let’s see…”

As the fortune-teller started shuffling the cards, Charlie looked around.

From the velvet cloth covering the table to various unidentifiable decorations here and there. It was exactly the scene that comes to mind when thinking of a fortune-telling place.

The middle-aged woman with a hood pulled over her head in front of her. It was the most typical.

How long had the cards been moving in the fortune-teller’s hands?

The fortune-teller clicked her tongue.

“You have no luck with men. It’s your fate to attract only men inferior to you.”

Cracks appeared on Hector’s face.

Charlie, who didn’t see him, leaned forward a span.

“Worse?”

Why, of all times, did our potato Thomas flash through her mind at this moment?

Charlie frowned. Then, a thought suddenly occurred to her and she continued.

“By any chance, does it show who I’ll marry?”

“I can see if I look.”

At that moment, Hector, who was about to say let’s go, stopped.

Curiosity filled his red eyes as they lowered.

“But marriage fortune is a bit expensive.”

“How much?”

“A hundred trangs.”

“Eh?! Why does the price jump twenty times?”

“Marriage fortune goes against God’s will… Anyway, that’s how it is. And because of you, I might have to close shop today. In all my life, I’ve never seen someone with such a leaky fate.”

“……”

Wait a minute?

Bad luck or whatever.

Isn’t this method of laying groundwork to raise curiosity and then demanding additional money a very common tactic?

Charlie’s narrowed eyes scanned the fortune-teller.

“If you don’t want to see, then don’t. I’d prefer that since I don’t have to repent.”

Even threatening now?

This is just as Hector said, spouting plausible nonsense…

“Here’s a hundred trangs.”

“……?”

Hector took out ten gold coins from his pocket and tossed them onto the table.

“Your Gra… No, why?”