Since he had been cold rather than treating her as a wife all this time, it wasn’t easy to erase the distance between them at once.

He looked around.

Suddenly, he thought it was fortunate that they weren’t in Tudra.

To be nice to Lucilia in front of Hans or Karen, wouldn’t he need to put on thick skin?

Even though he was the master and they were servants, their years together made him feel uncomfortably self-conscious.

The villa was also staffed with Aaron’s people, but it was true that he felt less conscious around them since they only occasionally received their master.

With heavy steps, he tread on the carpet, and Lucilia swallowed hard with a flushed face.

“Shall we depart?”

Aaron stood still, holding his bent arm in the air.

Lucilia didn’t know what to do when this usually distant person showed kindness. She felt honored for being allowed to enjoy what she should have been entitled to.

Only after his sturdy arm moved up once in the air did her slender arm intertwine with his.

Aaron, who had maintained silence until they arrived at the palace, left just one remark before getting out of the carriage.

“Since there was an unfortunate incident yesterday, I’m prohibiting you from going out during our stay in the capital.”

He didn’t interrogate her, nor did he examine the wound.

The matter was resolved so simply that she felt embarrassed for having worried he might search for the child and punish him.

* * *

The banquet hall of the Caldman Kingdom was renowned for its splendor.

The ceiling paintings, colored with various stone powders, embodied immutable meaning, while the floral vine patterns decorating the walls were all gilded to express dynamism.

Every year on Founding Day, Lucilia attended the banquet as a saint. Along with the Pope, she prayed for and blessed the prosperity of the Caldman Kingdom.

Today she was attending as the wife of Young Baron Artnal, but the relationships were more complicated than before.

She had to meet the family that had severed ties with her and face the Pope as an ordinary—no, a wicked—being.

And that wasn’t all. Her relationship with the King was even more delicate.

Previously, she had been respected even by the King as God’s person, but now she was indebted to the King.

The King needed the power of the New Religion to keep the Pope in check. So he had recruited Aaron, who had close ties with the New Religion, the emerging power.

That was why he invited the abandoned Lucilia to a public place to personally acknowledge her.

The gift of the villa and the nonsensical debutante were all results of the King’s calculations.

Even so, it was an immense blessing for Lucilia.

Lucilia also thought of her father, who must be anxious.

‘Father must be as nervous as I am.’

He had forced his daughter into marriage using his power, but Aaron’s influence, far from diminishing, grew stronger by the day, which must have been bitter for him.

Aaron allied with the King. Her father clinging to the King to survive.

What an amusing relationship it was.

Her father, who once dominated Aaron, now feared the consequences so much that he had handed over his beloved Tudra in its entirety.

In contrast to the gloomy inner workings of humans, Hersha Hall boasted the pinnacle of brilliant beauty.

Lucilia surveyed the scene where sunlight, passing through glass windows, struck the gilded decorations and sparkled.

Though they say gold is eternal, past glory was nothing more than a spring flower.

Having withered so futilely, what could be more empty?

At that moment, whispers stimulating her ears pushed away her deep reflections.

“Over there, isn’t that the saint?”

“You should speak correctly. How long has it been since she was excommunicated…”

“Anyway, that’s her. I heard she married Young Baron Artnal, and she’s changed beyond recognition.”

People gossiped that she had become secularized and was obsessed with outward appearances, or questioned how she could be so dignified after defiling God’s name.

Everyone was grinding the rumor mill. At the same time, clear envy surged within.

They seemed disappointed that, contrary to expectations, she appeared beautiful rather than wretched as befitting someone who had fallen.

Judging by appearances alone, she was much more radiant and vibrant than before.

Aaron had adorned her with valuable items to make her look that way.

To fulfill her husband’s intentions, she couldn’t allow herself to be intimidated.

Lucilia straightened her trembling legs, leaning on Aaron’s arm.

All eyes in the assembly turned to Lucilia, who was causing a stir with her entrance.

Next, as if drawn, gazes moved to Marquis Teneri and his family.

Lucilia also moved her eyes following people’s gazes.

It had truly been a long time.

She had thought that even if her father didn’t, her mother and brother would be heartbroken seeing her.

But why could she read such inner thoughts?

Lucilia gazed blankly at her mother’s face.

She hadn’t seen her face for so long that she couldn’t count the days.

Naturally, she should have been overwhelmed with longing, unable to control flowing tears, but reality was very different.

‘It’s because of you. Because of you, our family has been shamed. Why didn’t you just die? Then we wouldn’t have had to humiliatingly surrender Tudra or return governing rights to His Majesty.’

Her mother’s thoughts struck her ears as if spoken aloud.

Was there not even a grain of pity for her daughter?

Had she ever felt sorry?

Had she initially pitied her but turned resentful the moment power slipped away?

Rumors that her sacred power had disappeared seemed to have already covered Caldman. That’s why they met her eyes so defensively.

Lucilia had to bite the inside of her cheek hard to hide her shock and sorrow.

She sent a faint smile toward her mother, pretending not to have noticed anything.

Eventually, she also greeted her brother with a nod.

Her brother was no different.

‘You should have stayed hidden away, why did you come here! The moment you appeared, everything became a mess! Can’t you see people laughing at me?’

Unrefined sincerity was topped with intense dissatisfaction.

He resented Lucilia. He blamed the reversed situation on her.

One would think they would feel sorry that she had been innocently sacrificed.

The reunion of the excommunicated daughter and the Teneri Marquis family.

What better topic could there be to hold people’s attention?

The nobles, who should have been busy asking after each other’s well-being in small groups, did not leave their places.

If they missed this fascinating spectacle, they wouldn’t be able to participate in the conversations that would heat up the social scene in the future.

As her teeth clenched, she tasted a stinging blood in her mouth.

Lucilia desperately clung to Aaron’s arm.

Hoping he wouldn’t dislike it.

“I’m a bit thirsty.”

‘Please take me somewhere else quickly.’

‘Please help me escape from these people who have made me a spectacle.’

“Do you think there’s a place to hide?”

His question, uttered while staring straight ahead, was intensely cold.

Lucilia flinched her shoulders at his chilling rebuke that could have frozen her limbs.

As she wondered if she had made him look foolish with her cowardly behavior, he added:

“They are people who have nothing to do with you. Be courteous, but don’t be subservient.”

Her stinging heart softened gently.

Though his tone was utterly cold, he was advising her objectively to that extent.

Thanks to Aaron, she could escape the whirlpool of emotions she had inevitably been caught in as a human being.

It was fine even if he didn’t comfort her kindly or express frustration on her behalf.

In Lucilia’s eyes, Aaron was more upright than anyone.

He wasn’t intimidated even among the numerous nobles who could trip over each other. No, she even got the feeling that he treated them as worthless humans.

Her weak heart gradually hardened with Aaron’s steadfastness.

Whether they gossiped about Lucilia’s lowered status or praised Aaron for his achievements on the battlefield, the low-quality murmurs bounced off the wall and flew away.

Lucilia walked to the middle of the banquet hall without removing her hand from Aaron’s arm.

At last, the central door opened, and the chamberlain raised his voice.

“His Majesty the King and Her Majesty the Queen!”

The air, which had been unsettled by Lucilia’s appearance, was instantly ordered.

The royal couple displayed their usual majestic and elegant dignity. What had changed was the way they looked at Lucilia.

The reverence toward the saint had disappeared, and they reluctantly showed goodwill based on newly formed interests.

“Congratulations on your marriage.”

The young King no longer looked up to Lucilia.

He showed just the right amount of courtesy toward a loyal subject’s wife, nothing more.

One might have thought he would be pleased at the completely reversed status, and sure enough, there was a fleeting glimpse of joy at finally having the noble saint under his feet.

Out of consideration for the King, Lucilia bent her knees with her eyes lowered.

“I am deeply honored, Your Majesty. Everything is thanks to Your Majesty’s grace.”

The King looked down arrogantly at the top of Lucilia’s head and nodded languidly.