Chapter 46. You Got Married Again, Didn’t You?

“Y-y-your Highness, why!”

Lambros looked at Theo as if he was seeing an evil spirit.

His face was filled with bewilderment, as if he had encountered something he shouldn’t have seen here.

Theo found such an attitude truly absurd.

“You never used to come to the temple! Said you shuddered at the mere thought of it!”

But Lambros continued speaking with a dumbfounded expression, unable to read Theo’s feelings.

Theo’s expression instantly twisted.

“What?”

“Ah, n-no! That’s not what I…”

Lambros lowered his eyes upon seeing Theo’s cold gaze.

Beads of cold sweat formed on his forehead.

As Lambros said, Theo had neglected the temple.

His mother had ended her life at the Daphne Temple, specifically at the main temple in the ‘Eye of the Storm’.

Theo had thoroughly ignored the existence of gods.

However, that wasn’t something for a mere High Priest to point out.

Theo looked down at Lambros with a cold expression, hands behind his back.

“Is there any reason I shouldn’t come?”

“Eek! N-no! In the Phaenyx Principality, where would Your Highness not be allowed to go?”

“Then guide us. I came with the Grand Duchess.”

“Ah, yes. I see. With the Grand Duchess… Eh? Her Highness the Grand Duchess?”

Lambros tilted his head before clapping his hands.

“Ah, right! You got married, didn’t you?”

“……”

“Since you didn’t even hold a wedding ceremony this time, I completely forgot!”

Ah, right. You got married, didn’t you?

Theo wondered for a moment if he had heard wrong.

He glanced at Yuelina. She was standing with her head bowed, hands clasped together.

Theo bit his lip as he looked at the High Priest.

“Are you playing games with me?”

“Ah, no! Th-that’s… Since I’ve only been at the temple… I-I’m sorry!”

Lambros quickly approached Yuelina.

He felt he wouldn’t survive if he stayed in front of Theo.

“Y-your Highness the Grand Duchess. Please forgive my rudeness. I made a mistake.”

“No, it’s fine.”

Yuelina forced a smile as she looked at the High Priest’s face.

“Huh!”

The High Priest slowly opened his mouth.

White, fine hair and pink eyes. And even wearing holy garments…

Though it was clearly an unfamiliar face he was seeing for the first time, she was beautiful, and somehow familiar.

Lambros frowned.

This was his first time meeting Yuelina. But he couldn’t shake off this sense of déjà vu.

More precisely, it felt like he had read about her somewhere.

When Lambros’s gaze on Yuelina deepened, Theo cleared his throat and spoke.

“How long do you plan to keep us standing here?”

“Ah, I-I’m sorry! Then shall we proceed with prayers first?”

Lambros suddenly came to his senses and explained about the prayer room.

The temple’s prayer rooms were single-person rooms separated for men and women.

Usually, when nobles visited for the first time, they would read a short text about Goddess Daphne and convey their wishes to Daphne — a simple procedure.

“Yuna. Would you like to pray?”

“Yes?”

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

However, Theo preferred that Yuelina didn’t have to pray.

Yuelina wasn’t even a citizen of the principality, so she didn’t need to believe in Goddess Daphne.

Above all, he didn’t want to force anything on Yuelina.

Moreover, Theo himself had no intention to pray.

Lambros wore a bewildered expression at Theo’s words.

The Phaenyx Principality was under the protection of the Daphne Temple.

Yet the Grand Duchess visits the temple for the first time and won’t even pray?

As the High Priest overseeing the Phaenyx Temple, this was unthinkable.

“If you’ll allow it, I’d like to offer prayers.”

“Then I’ll wait here.”

Lambros, who had been full of worry, felt relieved at Yuelina’s words.

Theo handed Yuelina a veil. Yuelina tilted her head curiously.

“What is this?”

“It’s what you wear on your head while praying.”

Theo spread the veil wide and placed it on Yuelina’s head.

The white veil decorated with snowflakes covered her fine white hair.

Watching this, the High Priest remembered where he had seen Yuelina.

The Saintess.

Yuelina’s appearance was identical to the Saintess’s description.

Lambros rubbed his eyes vigorously and looked at Yuelina again.

Theo could guess what Lambros was thinking from his incredulous gaze at Yuelina.

He probably thought she resembled the Saintess.

He whispered, keeping his voice low enough for only Lambros to hear.

“I know what you’re thinking. Keep your mouth shut.”

“Eep!”

“Don’t say a word.”

Under Theo’s fierce pressure, Lambros nodded and moved forward.

Theo, Yuelina, and Asarim followed Lambros into the temple interior.

The prayer rooms were on the second floor.

While Theo and Asarim sat in the waiting room, Yuelina stood in front of a single-person room with the priest.

“Your Highness the Grand Duchess, please open the door and enter. You’ll see a paper placed inside.”

“Yes.”

“And if you have anything you wish to say, Goddess Daphne will be listening, so speak freely.”

Yuelina nodded with a slightly tense expression.

She took a deep breath, placing her small, delicate hands near her chest.

Wearing the veil, her small frame made her look even more like a round, cute, fragile herbivore.

“Whatever you say in the private room, no one but Goddess Daphne will hear. Please speak comfortably.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Lambros opened the single room door and showed Yuelina in.

After confirming the door had closed, Theo stood up from his seat.

“Lambros.”

Theo’s voice struck the back of Lambros’s head.

Lambros hurried over to him, extremely tense.

Theo glanced at Asarim.

Asarim had turned his head away, as if uninterested in what Theo was doing.

After observing Asarim’s behavior, Theo led Lambros to a spot slightly away from him.

The extremely nervous Lambros wiped his cold sweat while watching Theo’s expression.

Theo spoke with a calm expression.

“Since you’re also in charge of the northern temple, you must have been permitted to read the forbidden books.”

“…Ah, yes. That’s correct.”

“We’ll talk about that book later. We have guests now.”

“Yes. I understand.”

“Until then, make sure you don’t voice your thoughts. For the sake of the Phaenyx Temple and your own well-being.”

Theo emphasized this while firmly pressing down on Lambros’s shoulder.

Lambros’s jaw trembled under the pressure.

“O-of course.”

Lambros said he would tidy up the temple while waiting for Yuelina to finish her prayers and went outside.

His retreating figure looked pathetic, almost like he was running away.

Theo returned to the waiting room where Asarim was sitting.

The waiting room in the center of the second floor was a spacious, circular area without corners.

On either side were doors leading to the single-person prayer rooms for men and women facing each other.

The doors were also arch-shaped, creating a warm and soft atmosphere.

Just then, sunlight began to shine through onto the marble benches installed below the walls.

The sunlight gradually approached Asarim, who was sitting with his back against the wall.

His chocolate-colored hair sparkled.

Theo stared intently at him.

That expression.

When Yuelina wasn’t around, Asarim’s gaze was always directed downward.

His golden pupils were large and unusually clear.

That made him look dangerous. It was hard to gauge what he was thinking.

When he smiled, he was as bright as the sun, but when he didn’t smile, he was as dark as a shadow.

It seemed as if a thin boundary formed around Asarim when he wasn’t smiling.

And Asarim rarely smiled when Yuelina wasn’t around.

More precisely, he was indifferent to everything.

Even when he spoke kindly to others or curved his lips upward, his eyes never smiled.

Theo sat far apart from Asarim and crossed his long legs.

“Why did you want to come to the temple?”

At Theo’s quiet voice, Asarim’s head tilted slightly.

Yuelina had said that Asarim wanted to see the temple.

At that time, Theo had focused on the fact that Asarim would just look around the temple and leave.

So he had answered without thinking and put it into action like this.

However, he kept getting caught up on the fact that Asarim had first told Yuelina he wanted to see the temple.