“No. She hasn’t answered yet. She asked for time to think and returned to the West Tower, not coming out even a single step.”

Letting out a deep sigh, Felton finally exploded before Seiden, pouring out his agitated voice.

“You know this is nonsense, Commander! Duke Lylester couldn’t possibly have defeated a rockdragon……! Something, something must be wrong. Or he must have pulled some trick again. Ha, this is absurd. God would never allow such a person. Never……”

“……”

“This marriage must never be allowed to happen.”

Felton bit his lip as if the mere thought filled him with indignation.

Geril Lylester. Felton knew him as well as Seiden did. Geril was far too inadequate to be the man for someone as noble as Bellota.

“Did you verify the holy relic?”

When Seiden, who had finally regained his reason, asked a proper question, Felton answered with a voice that seemed both pleased yet bursting with indignation again.

“We did it right there.”

At that, Seiden’s eyebrows creased ominously. Felton bit his lip as he recalled that day.

* * *

It was Cardinal Rubert who stepped forward, unable to bear watching the frozen Bellota.

“Duke Lylester. Pardon my presumption, but verifying the divine oracle is the duty of the Grand Temple. We have an obligation to verify the holy relic you have brought. The Saintess’s decision should come after that.”

At Rubert’s polite statement, Geril bowed his head with a small smile and slowly rose from his seat. Among the two objects, Geril handed over the black stone that he claimed to have taken from the rockdragon’s corpse.

“Your words are proper. Of course, I will submit to the Grand Temple’s verification.”

It was a markedly different attitude from during the judging at the hunting festival. Cardinal Rubert received the black stone with a dazed expression, then handed it to the equally dazed priests standing by, instructing them to begin the verification.

After the priests carefully took the black stone and left the mass hall, Cardinal Rubert turned back to Geril. His gaze moved to the holy relic that had not yet been handed over to them.

“And that holy relic……”

As the Cardinal carefully began speaking, trying his best not to disturb Geril’s mood, Geril let out an exaggerated “Ah” as if he had forgotten about it. He had clearly been waiting for this moment of attention deliberately.

“This one doesn’t need verification from the priests.”

When Geril smiled leisurely, bewilderment settled on the priests’ faces. No need for verification?

“Because we can verify it right here in this place.”

Even Bellota looked at Geril with a hardened expression, unable to understand his words at once. The gazes of countless believers focused silently on Geril all at once. Geril, thoroughly enjoying those gazes, gripped the holy relic in his palm.

“Let me show you. The blessing that God has bestowed upon me.”

As Geril spoke thus and slowly turned over and opened his hand holding the holy relic, an unbelievable thing happened. Great confusion arose in the mass hall at the miracle Geril performed.

“The window, outside the window……!”

“Everyone look outside! What is that?”

“This can’t be. Oh God. Oh God!”

Rubert and Felton also stared with frozen eyes at the long window that filled one wall of the mass hall. Bellota likewise remained frozen, her gaze caught by that unbelievable sight.

The stained glass, which had been filled with majestic colors in the darkness of night, was rapidly brightening and shining brilliantly. The mass hall, which had been relying on lamps lit here and there due to darkness until just moments ago, was being brightly illuminated as though they were at a morning mass with sunlight streaming in. The brilliant light settling in the mass hall was something that could never be created by human power.

While everyone remained unable to move, overwhelmed by the scene so holy it was frightening, the mass hall door swung open and someone rushed in, shouting urgently.

“The sun outside! The sun is rising!”

At the novice priest’s cry, several of those inside finally collapsed where they stood. Everyone knew that what had risen outside that stained glass was the sun. And what had made it rise was……

“……”

Bellota slowly shifted her trembling gaze to look at Geril. Still firmly gripping the holy relic, Geril was looking at Bellota with a relaxed and leisurely smile. A small light flickered and passed through Geril’s gently curved eyes.

It was the persistent ambition of a man who had finally claimed everything.

* * *

After that day, Bellota did not come out anywhere nor meet anyone.

During that time, the story of Geril bringing the Rockdragon’s heart spread throughout the empire, becoming a legend. Everyone celebrated the birth of one who had earned the right to become the Saintess’s man, and together awaited the future of the couple to be. Everyone had no doubt that Bellota would eventually accept Geril’s proposal.

While the entire empire was wrapped in rosy excitement, only Seiden was falling into an abyss alone. Though Seiden had gone to find Bellota several times since that day, she met with no one, and that included Seiden.

Nevertheless, Seiden kept repeating the act of going to stand in front of Bellota’s tower every night for several hours, only returning to the temple at early dawn. Even during this time, Bellota did not come out of the tower.

While everyone waited for Bellota’s answer, the atmosphere in the temple was unsettled. Among them, the most uncomfortable place was definitely the Holy Knight Order. The holy knights were a group who knew Geril’s true nature well from what they had seen in Selento.

“Did you cry again, Philip?”

When Kabillon discreetly asked upon discovering Philip with reddened eyes just like yesterday, Philip denied it with a serious expression.

“No, I didn’t.”

“But your eyes are red like you’ve been crying?”

“It’s allergies.”

“Your nose is swollen like you’ve been crying too?”

“My allergies are severe.”

“I haven’t seen you have allergies in all these years, though?”

“Ah! I said no!”

When Philip finally snapped, all the holy knights turned to look at him in surprise. Having committed the insubordination of daring to get angry at the vice-commander and still unable to contain his anger, he finally bit his lip and whimpered.

“I said no…… Why do you keep doing this……? No, I said no….. When someone says no……”

Kabillon, startled by Philip’s shoulders trembling with frustration, patted his shoulder.

“Okay, sorry, sorry. I must have seen wrong. You’re right, it’s allergies. Severe allergies. You’ve caught a very bad case of allergies.”

“Hic…… That’s what…… I said……”

“Yes, yes. Ah, Philip didn’t cry. Listen up everyone. Our Philip Rivet is a strong man who never sheds a single tear.”

Kabillon clicked his tongue inwardly while comforting the dark-skinned man who was disgustingly sniffling.

These past few days, Philip had become extremely sensitive, with reddened eyes and nose whenever he had the chance, and sometimes glaring at something as if upset or sighing. While such behavior was actually funny and cute, there were times when he would stare into empty space with a deeply sunken face without saying anything, which truly evoked sympathy.

It clearly showed the face of a man experiencing a hopeless one-sided love, and it struck a chord between men.

All the holy knights knew that Geril was the cause of the allergies making Philip cry. Though not as much as Philip who followed and admired Bellota, the holy knights also found it distasteful that Geril would become Bellota’s man.

“Ha, but will the Saintess really marry that guy?”

When the tactless Ren suddenly asked while Philip was still sniffling, Philip’s face, which had just begun to calm down, hardened. When Kabillon gave him a look that said to shut up, despite having been teasing Philip himself just moments ago, Ren raised his eyebrows and asked again.

“What? Of course they will, right?”

At that, Philip finally exploded and ran out of his seat.

“Aaaaargh!”

The holy knights, well accustomed to this bizarre scene by now, didn’t even glance at their crazy youngest member and continued their discussion.

“Since it’s a divine oracle, of course they will. When have you ever seen the Saintess defy God’s will?”

“What happens if you defy a divine oracle? Will disasters occur?”

“Well, wouldn’t they? Sigh, may God’s mercy be with the Saintess who must become the wife of such a pathetic man.”

“No, but strictly speaking, marrying Duke Lylester isn’t the divine oracle, is it? Bringing the rockdragon’s heart only earns the right to propose, not to win the Saintess, right?”

“Hey. That’s the same thing! He moved the sun, didn’t he? If she doesn’t marry someone who brought something like that, isn’t that defiance?”

“I heard the sun only rises in areas where that holy relic is? Does that make sense? Honestly, I can’t believe it until I see it with my own eyes. Ha, how could anyone… the sun.”

“Since things have come to this, I wish he’d lend it to us when we go on subjugation. If it just didn’t get dark, we could cut the subjugation period in half.”