Aaron’s face, standing among the territory’s residents, looked more comfortable and beautiful than ever before.

The smile at the corners of his mouth was so compassionate and pure that it seemed unfair to compare it to the Pope’s.

She was gradually learning that he was someone who could be infinitely stern when needed, but genuinely open-hearted when showing kindness.

She also liked how clearly he drew his boundaries. She steeled her resolve to contribute what little strength she had, hoping not to be pushed beyond those lines.

With the departure date set for two days from now, today was essentially the last day for their agreed-upon outing.

‘If today remains quiet too, there’s nothing to be done. I’ll just have to be more careful.’

She had planned to show the Pope a vulnerability to create an opening, but human plans don’t always proceed smoothly.

Divine assistance was necessary, so she decided not to be disappointed with the outcome. The best approach was to faithfully continue to the next step.

It was just as she was calming her restless feelings and casually raising her eyes.

She felt a gaze extending blatantly from the edge of the crowd.

Lucilia stared in the direction her intuition pointed, and caught the gloomy energy of a swamp in a woman’s green eyes.

‘You are this country’s ill omen! You’ll turn the entire nation into a wasteland!’

‘So you’re the one working under the Pope’s orders. I hope you try to harm me today.’

Captured by this strong premonition, Lucilia naturally turned her attention elsewhere.

She then gazed contentedly at Aaron, who was repeatedly promising the residents that he would definitely return safely, as they wished him good fortune.

All her attention remained focused on the woman.

Since joint military training with knights and soldiers was scheduled for the afternoon, they couldn’t spare much time.

Growing impatient, Lucilia quietly took Aaron’s hand.

“Let’s go back now.”

For a brief moment, a puzzled look crossed Aaron’s face. When she scratched his palm with her index finger, he recognized it as their predetermined signal and nodded.

Lucilia came out to the street with Aaron.

Then she watched for an opportunity to separate from him.

Thanks to his insistence on personally escorting his wife, the knights were maintaining their distance.

None of the knights would doubt their master’s abilities, so they would be quite surprised by what was about to unfold today.

Lucilia glanced at a knight receiving a bag of jerky from the butcher, then surveyed her surroundings.

When she couldn’t find an opportunity, Aaron naturally changed direction.

He called over some children who were playing nearby.

The children, immediately recognizing Aaron, gathered around him with sparkling eyes. There was both admiration for the brave knight and longing for the wealthy nobleman.

They seemed to think that since he was wealthy, he might buy them something delicious.

Sure enough, when the words they were expecting came from Aaron’s mouth, the children’s faces lit up with smiles.

“You’ve been playing so hard your faces are covered in dirt. Aren’t you hungry?”

“I’m hungry!”

“Me too, I’m hungry too!”

The children chattered in unison, hoping Aaron would open his purse.

“Then I’ll go buy something for you.”

Not missing the opportunity amid the commotion, Lucilia let go of Aaron’s hand and moved away.

Just across the way, she spotted a stall selling roughly baked scones. If she moved too far from Aaron, the knights would quickly follow, but fortunately, it wasn’t that great a distance.

At most, perhaps ten steps away from Aaron…

‘Please move, woman.’

As she desperately murmured this while taking one step after another, the woman approached, pushing through the crowd.

When everything unfolded as expected, both fear and exhilaration sharply coursed through her body.

Curious about what circumstances could make someone hate her so much, she secretly swallowed hard when she saw the woman’s protruding belly.

‘She’s pregnant. She shouldn’t get hurt…’

Lucilia pretended not to notice and asked the merchant about the price.

“How much for all of these?”

“Eek! You want to buy all of them? Haha! I can’t charge the baroness too much. I’ll gather all of them, including the freshly baked ones, and give you a fair price!”

The man, brushing off his hands covered in oat flour, hummed a tune as he gathered the scones together.

“Excuse me… don’t you have any scones to sell to me?”

The merchant and Lucilia glanced at each other, then at the woman’s belly.

It felt like earning the resentment of an unborn child to refuse her harshly.

The merchant seemed to feel similarly, as he hesitated briefly before smiling at Lucilia with crinkled eyes.

His awkward smile contained a plea to make an exception just this once.

Since buying scones wasn’t her real purpose anyway, she gladly yielded.

“How about this? Let her choose as many as she wants first, and then I’ll buy whatever is left.”

“As expected, the baroness’s heart is as vast as the land of Tudra! Quickly now, thank the baroness.”

At the merchant’s urging, the woman placed her hand on her bulging belly and bowed.

As her head rose, her green eyes naturally seeped into Lucilia’s pupils.

‘I lost my baby because of you. You cursed the lord and caused his death. You killed my child too!’

Her bony hands wrapped around her belly trembled.

There was no baby in her womb. She had probably stuffed rounded cloth inside her clothes.
Lucilia’s heart ached with pity for the woman who denied reality due to overwhelming grief.

Even knowing this, she was about to swallow the lump in her throat, unable to offer words of comfort, when:

‘This is all because that witch is still breathing! Die, just die!’

The hallucination that surged like a tidal wave was enough to make her skin crawl.

The woman, having inwardly spewed curses, pulled out a fist-sized stone from the basket on her arm and rushed at Lucilia.

“Disappear this instant!”

Lucilia screamed as if startled, but didn’t run away.

To think she was in a situation where she wanted a stone to strike her head.

It was ridiculous, but she had to accept it humbly.

As she backed away with a surprised expression, the woman persistently followed, raising her arm high.

Lucilia pretended to stumble awkwardly, giving the woman an opening to attack.

But the expected pain didn’t come.

Instead of from Lucilia, a shrill scream erupted from the woman’s mouth.

“Aaaagh!”

Making her preparation to have her forehead split seem foolish, Aaron had leaped forcefully and caught the woman’s wrist.

Just before it could strike her head, the merciless stone narrowly missed its target.

Aaron easily subdued her by pressing on a joint with just his thumb.

He was about to check if Lucilia was alright but avoided looking into her eyes, fearing she might be frightened by the murderous intent lurking within him.

When he pressed a certain point on the woman’s wrist, the stone dropped from her grasp with a thud.

“Let go of me! If you keep that woman by your side, even you, Baron, won’t be safe. Calamity will befall Tudra too!”

As the woman caused a commotion, people began to grow agitated one by one.

It was true that strange rumors had persisted since Lucilia’s arrival in Tudra.

The greenhouse fire at Tudra Castle, the foreign invasion, a maid’s falling accident, the baron’s death.

With one inexplicable incident following another, even those who hadn’t been suspicious before were beginning to have doubts.

However, despite these bizarre occurrences, since the future lord Aaron hadn’t abandoned his wife, they had to believe his decision was correct.

Who would question when a husband hadn’t declared his wife guilty?

Although they tried not to be hostile toward Lucilia, the outcome remained unchanged. Disappointment spread across people’s faces at the behavior that seemed to invite dark clouds.

“That woman cursed me and caused my baby to die! It was moving so vigorously… hic, hic…”

The woman reached into her clothes, pulled out a bundle of cloth, and threw it to the ground.

“My husband was also killed by those Mrangel bastards last time. My baby was everything to me, my only hope. Aah! Ahuhuhu! It’s all because of that woman!”

The woman wept loudly while being restrained by Aaron.

Her desperate wailing evoked sympathy from the crowd. Many people’s eyes turned red, and some even glared at Lucilia.

After hearing the woman’s story, they seemed convinced that the witch was the source of their misfortunes.

Lucilia covered Aaron’s hand with hers.

“Please forgive this person.”

“I cannot. I’ll release her only after investigating and determining there’s no one behind this.”

“No blood was shed, so that should be enough. There’s no need to increase anxiety before an important mission.”

“That’s precisely why I cannot.”

Even though they had agreed to quietly resolve it if she got hurt…

Lucilia’s clear face filled with bewilderment at Aaron’s resolute response.

‘This isn’t what we agreed to.’