10. My fate changed at the wedding venue.

“I’ve secured a witness for now. It’s the person who testified about the priest’s murder and handed over the seal to me. Was it Priest Verbium? I even have the letter you sent to find that person. Don’t worry, they’re being safely protected.”

“I see.”

They were in the same boat, for better or worse. Satin sat facing Rublier.

The week’s reprieve gained from the state funeral was far too short to recover her weakened body, but with the uncertainty of when the trial would resume, there was no time to dawdle.

Three days had already passed since the end of the state funeral. It had been exactly three days since Satin and Rublier stayed in one place to discuss future plans.

If he had jumped into this danger out of lingering love and attachment, Satin wouldn’t have welcomed Rublier’s participation, but Rublier eased Satin’s burden by expressing it as the duty of a guardian family.

Moreover, unlike Gjorn who had relied entirely on Satin, Rublier was actively immersed in unraveling the oracle.

“Satin, are you uncomfortable somewhere?”

Sitting for a long time made Satin unconsciously rub her lower abdomen, feeling a slight ache.

The human heart is truly cunning.

All the symptoms she had attributed to stress while in prison now culminated in pregnancy.

Even if her hands tingled slightly, her chest felt tight, or her stomach felt a bit sore, she thought it all might be pregnancy symptoms.

Satin quickly removed her hand from her belly.

“No.”

“Let’s lie down.”

“I said I’m fine.”

“Still, let’s lie down for a moment. They say you still need to be very careful.”

“If there was going to be a problem, it would have happened already. The baby is said to be very strong…”

Her refusal was futile.

An arm suddenly approached, laying Satin down and propping a cushion under her head. After neatly raising her legs and placing a cushion under her knees, he covered her with a blanket. The series of actions showed the practice in his hands.

While Rublier didn’t argue with any of Satin’s opinions, he was uniquely stubborn about Satin’s discomfort.

Rublier had placed plenty of cushions and blankets all around the house. It was to make Satin comfortable to lie down anytime.

Somehow, the distance between them had become very close. His face was above hers.

It was a familiar composition. It would have been a signal for a married couple. If this had been the bedroom, or even if it wasn’t, in the past, as soon as their faces were this close, Rublier would have kissed her, and Satin would have wrapped her arms around his neck to embrace him.

But now it was different. Satin buried the back of her head deep in the cushion and lowered her eyes coldly. Rublier also neatly withdrew his hand after attending to Satin’s comfort.

Satin carefully stroked her lower abdomen under the blanket. These days, she was finally starting to feel the pregnancy bit by bit.

Coming from a family famous for its rarity of children, Satin had thought it would take years for her to have a child.

Even when her sense of smell became sensitive and she vomited every day, she thought it was because of prison. She never imagined pregnancy.

It might not be in the shape of a child yet, but it’s a child that inherited Rublier’s genes nonetheless.

Are the genes of someone who started learning the sword from age five ordinary genes? Just the fact that it settled without any problems in a body that was embarrassingly weak to call strong, and under extreme stress, shows this child was born with extraordinary health.

So there’s no reason to be so anxious…

“…Huh?”

Neigh! Suddenly, a horse’s cry echoed in front of the house. Satin was startled.

Rublier immediately stiffened his face. Everyone had been careful not to make loud noises in a house with a pregnant woman.

“What was that just now?”

“The horse’s cry sounds familiar. It seems to be a guest I know. I’ll go out and be back.”

“A guest? So suddenly?”

“Don’t worry. It’s a good person.”

Satin, who had been tense thinking it might be a servant from the Papal Palace coming to announce the trial, was relieved to see Rublier confidently stating it was a welcome guest and going out.

* * *

“Commander.”

As expected. Rublier faced the guest without any sign of surprise or bewilderment.

The lieutenant jumped off the white horse. The black horse that followed behind recognized its owner and approached, shaking its head.

Rublier reached out to stroke the head and mane of the huge black horse. The horse neighed happily.

“I’m here to report my return.”

Rublier casually waved off the lieutenant’s salute.

“You’ve got the wrong person. I’ve left the Knights, you know.”

“I know. I heard the news quite late because I was in the East. And I’ve come to the right place. The people at the Ka Dillon mansion said you were here. When I returned to the Papal Palace after completing my mission, they told me to temporarily take the position of Paladin. Does this make any sense?”

Rublier chuckled at the lieutenant’s grumbling.

The lieutenant looked somewhat curiously at Rublier, who smiled and waved his hand nonchalantly.

When serving him officially in the Knights, he was a strict and stern superior, but meeting him outside the Knights, he seemed much more human.

Rublier’s actions in taking Satin out of the Great Temple were also a huge topic within the Knights.

The subordinates who were suddenly mobilized by Kirion’s order and touched Satin, only to be hit and knocked down, had been dumbfounded all along.

Only a handful of knights who knew the reason why Rublier had left first showed an “I see…” reaction to Rublier’s sudden action.

“Marriage, divorce, and remarriage, is the Commander trying to set an unprecedented record?”

The lieutenant agreed. Recently, Caldeblanca had no peaceful days. If Rublier were to remarry Satin in the midst of this, it would truly cause a great commotion.

The black horse kept rubbing its head against Rublier. The lieutenant resentfully glanced at the black horse that wouldn’t leave Rublier’s side.

“This one has a bad reputation. Why did you leave such an ill-tempered and eccentric beast for anyone to ride? Some knights tried to ride it, but it shook them all off its back. I, as the lieutenant who served you, asked if it would go to its master, thinking it might recognize my face, and it behaved docilely, so I brought it along.”

The black horse remembered its owner and the stable where they had stayed for a while.

The claim that it had been violent to other knights was contradicted by how docilely it followed when Rublier took the reins and led it to the stable.

After staring incredulously at the black horse, the lieutenant soon changed his attitude to a serious one and informed Rublier of new news.

“Did you know? His Eminence Vitalis has left. He said staying in the capital seemed to only cause unnecessary division.”

This was news from the lieutenant who was entering and exiting the Papal Palace as the temporary Commander in place of Rublier. It was the latest update from inside the Papal Palace.

“Is that so?”

“The Knights have also split into three factions. Those who want to follow you, the Commander who has trained us all along, those who think it’s right to follow His Eminence Kirion, and those who say they don’t know and want to wait and see. People are surprisingly agitated. It’s not certain, but it seems Cardinal Conchent also has doubts about His Eminence Kirion. I heard he called the priests from the Great Temple for a meeting and is staying at his residence, continuously postponing the trial date.”

That’s why there had been no movement to summon Satin even after the state funeral ended. If even Cardinal Conchent, a devout servant of the Papal Palace, harbored distrust towards Kirion, this was a very significant change.

Rublier, who had been listening to the report while standing outside, gestured towards the house.

“Come in.”

The lieutenant hesitated.

“Is it alright for me to enter?”

“I think Satin should hear this story too. But don’t expect much hospitality. Satin needs to rest, and there aren’t many people in this house.”

“Ah, is your wife’s health better?”

The lieutenant naturally asked about Satin’s well-being. Rublier paused for a moment but smoothly recovered from the silence.

“She doesn’t like being called that. Be careful with your words.”

“I… I thought you were going to remarry. I’m sorry.”

Rublier pulled his lips bitterly. Remarriage was not an immediate issue.

Satin was very clear-headed and didn’t show much emotion, but she still wandered around the house and fields, or unconsciously looked for Larie at every moment.

It seemed to come out like a habit, even though she was aware of Larie’s death.

Suddenly, familiar footsteps approached. Rublier turned around. Satin had already come out and was standing at the doorway.

“Hello. I’m Nathan. I serve… served the Commander in the Holy Knights.”

The lieutenant hurriedly greeted her. Coming from a humble noble family, he had become a knight early through the entrance exam, and except for his family, most of his daily life was spent with his colleagues, so meetings requiring social skills were very rare for the lieutenant.

While he might know the etiquette for dealing with superiors, it had been a really long time since he had to use the manners for dealing with a noble lady like Satin. For a moment, he forgot what he should do next.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Satin Del Mare.”

Satin naturally extended the back of her hand. It was a kindness to ease the lieutenant’s burden about etiquette.

The lieutenant quickly pressed his lips briefly on the back of her hand.

Although he had served as Rublier’s lieutenant for a long time, today was the first time he saw Satin in person. Instinctively, numerous issues surrounding Satin flowed through his mind.

Some had said that Satin was as seductive as Delilah, swinging between her husband and former fiancé, while his colleagues who had been mobilized for the trial had commented that she was unexpectedly tough for her age, firmly opposing Kirion even in an unfavorable trial.

However, she was still a young lady with a youthful appearance. It was hard to believe that she had endured such malicious rumors and a major life event like a treason plot alone.

Even though it wasn’t a rumor he had spread, and he had actually warned Rublier about the rumors, the lieutenant somehow felt sorry.

“Let’s go in, Satin. I was about to invite him into the house. It’s news you should hear too.”

The lieutenant watched Rublier taking care of Satin with an unfamiliar feeling.

Rublier, who had cautioned to be careful with how to address Satin, stretched his arm far behind Satin’s back, guarding against her possibly brushing against anything.

The strange distance, unable to quite touch Satin yet unable to move away, caught the eye.

As a result, it was Rublier who kept bumping into things here and there instead of Satin.

The lieutenant noticed Satin’s gaze briefly glancing at Rublier’s hand while he was momentarily distracted.