Despite hearing the answer from her master’s own lips, Karen couldn’t regain her composure for a while.

Unsatisfied with Aaron’s response, she anxiously approached Rombon.

“Has the young master consumed something bad?”

“No. He ate properly and digested everything.”

Rombon, meeting Karen’s agitated gaze directly, relayed the facts without embellishment.

Karen then stood right in front of Lucilia. She seemed too shocked to realize her disrespectful attitude.

“How could the saint possibly marry? And why specifically our young master? Is this even permissible? Do the Papal Office and the Royal Palace know about this?”

Though she didn’t intend to interrogate, her successive questions made Lucilia take a step back.

In truth, the questions weren’t directed at Lucilia. Karen was simply thinking aloud, unable to make sense of the situation.

Seeing no sign of resolution, Aaron signaled the butler, indicating they should wrap this up and go inside.

However, the butler also seemed unwilling to conclude matters so simply.

Hans’s voice was just as agitated as Karen’s.

“What is all this about… How do you plan to explain such a tremendous incident to the Baron?”

“Strictly speaking, it wasn’t an incident I caused.”

“And you didn’t notify us in advance. The Baron will faint from shock when he finds out.”

“Since father’s illness is severe, I thought it would be better to inform him a bit later. The shock would be the same whether he hears it now or earlier.”

He was always blunt, but not to this extent. It was infuriating how he discussed his own marriage as if it were someone else’s affair.

Hans and Karen simultaneously let out deep sighs.

Having introduced her as his fiancée, he should at least escort her inside.

But the self-important young master left Lucilia standing alone as he ascended the stairs first.

Though they wanted to hear the full story from Rombon, even that was impossible as he had gone to the training grounds where the other knights were waiting.

Left to handle the aftermath, the two awkwardly greeted Lucilia.

“Pleased to meet you. I am the mansion’s butler, and this is the head maid.”

“Allow me to formally introduce myself. I am Karen Miriam. I oversee the servants and manage the household affairs.”

When Lucilia smiled awkwardly, Karen burst out again.

“The young master has gone too far this time. How could he bring the saint here in such a state?”

It seemed her reason had finally returned.

A fear flashed across her face—the fear of divine punishment for mistreating the saint.

She complained that they could surely afford a new dress, so why had they treated her so carelessly?

And that wasn’t all.

She made a fuss about how they could announce marriage news in such a manner.

Karen’s voice was as harsh as her appearance, making Lucilia feel as if she were being scolded in Aaron’s place. Lucilia found herself in an awkward position.

“Sigh. I got excited and spoke unnecessarily to you, Saint. Please forgive me. But… how did you get injured?”

When Karen’s sharp gaze fell on the blood-stained saint’s robe, Lucilia was at a loss for words.

She couldn’t bring herself to say she had nearly died after being accused of being a witch.

As she remained silent, Karen’s wrinkled eye corners soon rose in shock.

“Were you perhaps attacked on the way to Tudra?”

“Tsk tsk! Who would dare attack the knights with the young master present? Both the young master and Sir Penia looked calm, didn’t they?”

Hans, responding in Lucilia’s place, realized there must be some unpleasant circumstances and grabbed Karen’s arm to stop her.

Sensing the situation, Karen called a maid to prepare bath water and guided Lucilia to the bedroom.

Lucilia’s first journey in Tudra concluded with indescribable fear and burden.

The fortress, built high with gray bricks, seemed to project a distant future.

The glory of the past had already been carried away by the wind.

Surviving and returning to her family home—that was her only hope.

* * *

She met Aaron again during dinner the next day.

He said he couldn’t attend to her because he was handling accumulated official duties, but it was clearly an excuse.

Aaron had already done enough by saving the nearly-dead saint and bringing her here.

A soft voice mingled with the sound of meat being carved.

“I can’t thank you enough for your great help. Thanks to you, I slept well for the first time in a while.”

“I’m glad.”

Despite his indifferent response, Lucilia maintained her smile.

She understood perfectly how suffocated he must feel.

He had to abandon his promising future because of one alleged witch. It was natural for him to be angry and unwilling to deal with her.

‘Please wait a little longer. I will make this marriage as if it never happened.’

Her father held the key to this situation.

If by chance the bond with the Pope was permanently severed, she planned to beg the King to nullify the marriage, and if even that failed, she would discuss divorce with Aaron.

But there was a mountain to climb before that.

As the meal was ending, Aaron put down his cutlery.

“After dinner, we will visit my father.”

For a moment, Lucilia’s hand froze.

The inevitable had finally arrived.

Though Tudra was part of Marquis Teneri’s domain, the Baron had been delegated authority, making him the actual person in charge. The residents of the estate would recognize the Baron as their lord.

Lucilia, as both a saint and the Marquis’s daughter, had always received greetings from the Baron. But now the hierarchy had been reversed.

She had to humbly accept the fact that she needed to pay respects to the Baron, now her father-in-law.

Though she had prepared for this, when actually facing it, her composure wavered momentarily.

Aaron’s face, seated far across from her, flickered in the candlelight.

He was impeccably neat, like a scene from a fine painting.

She had the illusion that he was appreciating her from an unreachable distance.

Lucilia clasped her trembling hands and answered.

“Yes, of course. I should have visited him as soon as we arrived at the mansion.”

“Yesterday, my father was too mentally shocked to be ready to meet someone new.”

She couldn’t even imagine how surprised he must have been to hear that he had to accept a woman branded as impure as his daughter-in-law.

And it wasn’t just the Baron. All the servants and knights in the mansion felt the same way.

When they first arrived at Tudra Castle, the truth of the incident had not yet been revealed. That’s why Hans and Karen had treated Lucilia with proper respect.

But sensational rumors spread like wildfire on dry kindling.

Before she could even recover from her journey, rumors had spread, leading to maids arguing outside her door.

They were busy passing off the task of bringing in bath water, each telling the other to go in.

She could have admonished them based on human decency, but she felt too guilty to step forward.

Because she had no way to prove she was still the saint.

She should have protested her false accusation, but with nothing properly clarified, no solution was in sight.

Even she didn’t understand the full details of the incident.

Lost in thought, she ended up carving the meat messily.

Suddenly, she wondered about Aaron’s feelings.

How much must he hate this situation?

Even sharing a meal must be disgusting to him?

Would he be swallowing his revulsion at the thought of sharing a bed with a woman who had become a cursed entity?

“The young lord… must also be unprepared, right?”

“What do you mean?”

“Living together with me.”

He slowly raised his gaze.

His eyes moved and then stopped at the vase placed in the center of the table.

It seemed like he was drawing a line, saying he couldn’t spare even a glance for someone like her.

Lucilia continued in a calm tone, trying not to reveal her trembling emotions.

“Right now, I need to rely on you to stay alive. Once the situation stabilizes, you can make an excuse and send me back to my father’s house.”

“By excuse, you mean…”

“First, I’ll ask my father what happened. If the situation doesn’t improve, you can drive me out on the grounds that I cannot produce an heir.”

By now, her father must be running around trying to find a way to save her.

It seemed he had arranged her marriage to Aaron as a temporary measure to save his daughter who was about to be executed…

She wondered how long the King would continue to support her father, especially over the Pope, who was the spiritual pillar of the kingdom’s people.

The King might have granted her father’s request to check the Pope’s power, who wielded influence backed by the old religion, but the King was the type to weigh both sides whenever convenient.

Even if it took time, once her father could ensure her safety, she was determined to set Aaron free.

Though the stigma of having taken a witch as his wife would remain as a lifelong guilt.

She was simply sorry to Aaron.

“I can’t continue to be a burden to you.”

“That’s for me to decide. Whether to drive you out or not, and if so, when.”