He held her slender waist and slowly helped her right herself.

“Thank you……”

She thanked him awkwardly and steadied. But Grand Duke Evander still did not release the hand around her waist. He pulled her closer to him instead and struck an affectionate pose.

“Smile. All of this is a performance we need for our revenge.”

His hand held her waist firmly.

And the distance between them was close enough to feel his breath.

Alicia’s lips stiffened and she could not bring herself to smile.

Amid the cheering, the carriage slowly began to leave the castle.

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

The Taron Temple is located on the outskirts of the capital.

It’s the largest temple in the North, dedicated to the head priest Delpiro, it received thousands of worshippers in a single day.

Clip-clop, clip-clop. People gathered to watch the carriages heading toward the temple.

The streets were filled mostly with ragged figures.

They were people who had gathered to beg from the nobles visiting for the nuptial mass.

“Please show us mercy, noble ones!”

“Please spare even a coin for our children who are crying from hunger!”

Hands outstretched in desperation. But the nobles’ carriages passed by, leaving nothing but cold wind in their wake. One of the people spat on the ground.

“Pfft. Heartless creatures. You wouldn’t treat an animal like that!”

“Exactly. Look at those fat horses. What kind of world is it where a beast lives better than a person.”

“It’s because those at the top are useless. If you’re a Grand Duke, shouldn’t you be doing something about the people’s hunger?”

The people’s laments, full of resentment, filled the road.

“Watch your mouth. His Highness the Grand Duke’s carriage is coming.”

“Let it come! Even if I die today, I’ll say what needs to be said!”

“You fool, it really is His Highness the Grand Duke’s carriage.”

“……What? Eek.”

The people, startled at the sight of the Grand Duke’s carriage, quickly bowed their heads.

Their bodies flattened to the ground in fear.

But their eyes burned with an anger born of long hunger that could not be hidden.

“Your Highness the Grand Duchess, it is dangerous. Please step back from the window.”

Lieutenant Derick, serving as escort, quickly pushed back the people crowding around and spoke. When Alicia looked at him, Lieutenant Derick offered a polite smile.

“The public mood has been quite volatile lately. It would be best to be cautious.”

Alicia shook her head.

“The volatile public mood is not the people’s fault. Those who are truly at fault are elsewhere.”

Lieutenant Derick nodded.

“You are right. Nobles have never been interested in anything beyond filling their own bellies. The priests who cry out that they are children of the gods are no different.”

There was a bitter edge in Lieutenant Derick’s words.

Alicia’s gaze, laced with a sigh, turned toward the people.

More precisely, she was looking at the anger and pain in their eyes.

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

The carriage arrived at the temple entrance.

The sight of the people, more wretched than anything recorded in history, drew a deep sigh from Alicia.

‘The domain is struggling, they said, but it seems far worse than I imagined.’

Eyes full of resentment were directed at the Grand Duke.

But it was not only the people suffering from hunger who felt this way.

The priests with their protruding bellies were no different.

The Taron Temple boasted an enormous scale.

Beneath its high ceilings, sunlight filtered through the stained glass and painted the interior in vivid colors. But despite the splendor, the atmosphere inside the temple was cold.

“What on earth was His Highness the Grand Duke thinking when he chose to marry?”

“My thoughts exactly. Taking a country bumpkin young lady who lacks the dignity of a Grand Duchess as his partner. Tsk, tsk.”

“It’s going against the will of the gods. That is why the principality has come to this sorry state.”

The priests preparing to officiate the nuptial mass spoke in an unbroken stream of disparagement. Not one of them accepted Alicia as Grand Duchess.

In other words, the priests too were on Helena’s side.

A short while later, Grand Duke Evander and Alicia stood before the altar and the nuptial mass began in earnest.

“By the authority granted by the gods, I shall begin the nuptial mass.”

A bishop stepped up to the altar, leaning on a gleaming gold-trimmed staff. An ornate gold robe embroidered with intricate patterns, white hair, and a deeply lined face spoke to his age.

In that moment, Alicia’s lips began to tremble faintly.

It has been a long time, Bishop Armonius.

He was a central figure in the Holy Order, one of Helena’s staunchest allies, who would later rise to become a candidate for the position of Pope.

Aside from the absence of wrinkles and a somewhat livelier bearing, he looked little different from thirty years hence.

Alicia pressed her trembling lips together and looked at the bishop. On the altar, Bishop Armonius proceeded with the mass.

“In the name of Delpiro, I bless all who have gathered today for His Highness the Grand Duke’s nuptial mass.”

The sermon proceeded naturally, and a solemn mood settled over the room. The nobles and people gathered in the temple nodded along to the bishop’s words. And finally, the bishop opened the scriptures and began the blessing address with force in his voice.

“We bless the heir who shall be born through the sacred union of His Highness the Grand Duke and Her Highness the Grand Duchess. May the grace of the gods always be with you both and with the new life yet to be born.”

A blessing address offered in advance for the heir to be born between the two of them. But at those words, a flame kindled in Alicia’s eyes.

A blessing for a new life.

It was a word that could never have come from Bishop Armonius’s lips.

‘When my child died…… what was it you said to me?’

Back then, when she had been screaming in grief over the loss of her child, when she had gone to him unable to bear the guilt, he had looked down at her with eyes full of mockery and said,

‘Unborn soul, for the sin of your foolish mother, you too shall be consumed in the fires of hell.’

A curse that still rang clearly in her ears.

The bishop who had spoken those words was standing before her, daring to offer a blessing.

“……”

Her lips trembled, and her fingertips shook as though they might convulse. Her heart ached at the sight of the bishop smiling his benevolent smile.

Then, in that moment, someone quietly took her hand.

“……”

A man was looking at her without a word. It was Grand Duke Evander.

[You must endure.]

His hand, wrapped firmly around hers, seemed to say exactly that. The warmth gently soothed the grief surging inside Alicia.

Alicia’s chest swelled and then slowly, slowly settled.

She pressed down hard on the rage that had been about to burst free. Only then did it feel as though she could breathe, and she let out a long, shallow breath.

“Phew……”

Bishop Armonius’s prayer continued in the name of the head priest.

But what built up in Alicia’s heart was nothing but anger, grief, and the desire for revenge.

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

Their two hands were clasped tightly together.

Grand Duke Evander released them only after they stepped outside.

“It is nearly over.”

Even having sensed Alicia’s rage, Grand Duke Evander asked nothing.

All that remained was for each of them to make their vow of devotion to the head priest Delpiro.

Grand Duke Evander held out a small leather pouch.

“You will likely need this for the next part.”

Inside the pouch were gold coins.

“I’ll see you shortly, then.”

Grand Duke Evander entered through the left corridor, and a priest approached to guide Alicia through the right.

“This way, Your Highness the Grand Duchess.”

After a long walk through a corridor adorned with fine marble, they arrived at an offering hall where a large golden urn stood.

“Past Grand Duchesses have always followed the teachings of the gods and acted with devotion. They expressed their hearts toward the gods with gratitude in these glorious moments.”

The desire for a large donation was plain to see. Alicia held back a laugh and asked in return.

“Are you asking me to make a donation?”

“All things shall be used according to His plan. In doing so, your sins shall be forgiven, Your Highness the Grand Duchess, and your name shall be entered into the book of blessings.”

“Ah, so that was His will. Then does giving more earn a greater blessing?”

At Alicia’s words, one corner of the priest’s mouth curled upward.

“Of course. For that is ultimately the expression of Your Highness the Grand Duchess’s heart toward Him.”

“And yet something seems strange. The scriptures clearly state that the wealthy and the poor are equal before the gods. That grace is bestowed equally upon all, regardless of wealth.”