Manus intended to keep Byron busy, but Byron wasn’t the only one with intuition. Reading the anxious look on Manus’s face, Byron instinctively knew.

That Lydia was doing that reckless act right now.

“No thank you. I’ll wait nearby. Just tell me where she is, and I’ll go there.”

“She’s with an important visitor. There’s no rush, so why not wait patiently?”

“It’s an urgent letter. Count Bayern said it was a time-sensitive matter.”

“You didn’t mention that earlier?”

Manus tried to block him while Byron tried to push through. Manus then called priests to drag Byron away.

“Take this person somewhere quiet so he can calm down.”

“Yes, High Priest.”

Byron struggled not to be dragged away but couldn’t overcome the young priests. He was dragged away, wailing as if he had lost his country.

“You can’t do this, High Priest! You can’t! Oh, Miss Lydia, oh, what will our young master do if you’re gone!”

“Who said anything about going? The Goddess will protect her!”

Manus shouted back, forgetting his dignity. The young priests had no idea what was happening.

Why would Priestess Lydia die? And who was this “young master”?

Anyway, following the high priest’s orders, they locked Byron in a prayer room. Just as Byron collapsed in the prayer room, shedding tears and beginning to pray, Wellington was standing dumbfounded with the scalpel in his hand.

“……That’s it?”

* * *

The will-writing, the prayers, the struggle as some tried to carry out the plan while others tried to prevent it—all became unnecessarily dramatic.

Removing the holy relic was unexpectedly easy. As soon as the scalpel touched the protruding area, the holy relic popped out, and the wound was smaller than a pinky fingernail, not even requiring stitches.

Lydia woke up from the anesthesia, heard the story, and secretly burned her will. She felt embarrassed for being so dramatic.

“Thank you so much. I’ll live virtuously. I’ll make lots of donations. Oh, and I’ll build you a really nice temple.”

Though embarrassed, she felt like she could fly. She had removed the holy relic with no ill effects on her body. The toxicity must have been completely purified. At that moment, Lydia missed Arsen.

She longed for his handsome face, his firm embrace, his warm body temperature. When they met, she would truly do everything.

Lydia was certain that when Arsen heard this news, he would be surprised but truly happy. However, that was just her not knowing Arsen well enough.

Arsen, who had been avoiding the messengers in the forest under the pretext of hunting demonic beasts, came down from the forest when the sixth messenger arrived at the borderlands.

He still hadn’t caught a rabbit, but they had no choice since they’d run out of food.

Arsen led the Black Wolf Knight Order and the soldiers from Count Wonde’s territory toward the capital. Moving at a pace neither slow nor fast, Arsen’s group passed through the city gates.

The soldiers rested near the gates while Arsen was immediately summoned by the emperor. Only after being thoroughly scolded by Richard, whose complexion had darkened since they last met, was he able to go see Lydia.

“Sir Arsen!”

Having received word that Arsen was coming, Lydia had been waiting desperately for him in front of the temple doors. When Lydia called his name and ran toward him, not caring about anyone else’s gaze, he should have noticed something strange.

But he was so distracted by seeing the Lydia he had only imagined in his mind that he couldn’t harbor any suspicions.

He simply embraced Lydia, kissed her soft hair, and breathed in her scent. No matter how much he drank her in, he remained thirsty—was this a thirst that could only be quenched by consuming Lydia?

In truth, he wasn’t completely satisfied yet. That would probably only happen after he held her in his arms and left no part of her untouched by his lips.

In his eagerness to do so, Arsen failed to realize that he was walking quite boldly into Lydia’s bedroom. No, he realized it, but his thoughts didn’t extend to recognizing it as a problem.

Once inside the room, they were alone, and they chose to express their reunion with bodies rather than words, making deep thought impossible.

When he finally sensed something was off, it was when he had briefly left the bed to pour water for Lydia.

Suddenly looking at the window, he remembered that he hadn’t climbed through that window today.

“Lydia, this is bad.”

“What is?”

“Other priests must have seen me entering your room.”

“Oh, that.”

Lydia shrugged her shoulders and grinned. Then she beckoned to Arsen with fluttering hands, telling him to come here quickly.

As if enchanted by that gesture, he approached, and Lydia took his hand and gently placed it on her chest.

“Um, Lydia?”

“Here, feel here carefully.”

Ignoring Arsen’s confusion, Lydia pressed his index finger firmly. His fingertip felt a small, bumpy scar that hadn’t been there long. He hadn’t noticed it in the darkness.

“……You didn’t actually do it?”

That reckless act?

“Don’t say anything to Priest Byron. I removed it before he arrived.”

Byron must have been embarrassed by his crying and wailing, as he didn’t scold Lydia much for removing the holy relic.

“It really came out quickly! It wasn’t dangerous at all. It didn’t even hurt.”

Just looking at the scar, so small it was barely visible in the dark, he could tell it hadn’t been dangerous.

But the mere fact that a blade had touched Lydia’s body made Arsen feel as if all the blood was draining from the top of his head.

“So I’m not a saintess candidate anymore.”

Though it hadn’t been officially announced yet, discussions within the temple had concluded. The Mermaid’s Tear removed from Lydia’s body was claimed to have been found by High Priest Manus after receiving a revelation in a dream.

Some high priests looked suspicious but couldn’t raise objections. In the end, Manus was elected as the new pope, though his enthronement ceremony was postponed due to the sudden outbreak of war.

After that, Lydia attended the chapel a few more times to pray, but she was no longer chosen by the holy relic and naturally settled into the role of oracle messenger.

She declared she would return to secular life, and except for a couple of strict elder high priests, everyone agreed.

So this meant—

“Once the war ends, we can get married.”

That’s what she meant.

Lydia thought Arsen would naturally be happy. She could have told him in a letter beforehand, but she judged it better to tell him while showing the ridiculously small scar. Plus, by showing her healthy appearance, she firmly believed Arsen would smile brightly as if he had never worried.

“This time, let’s have the wedding in the county, not the capital. Oh, it won’t be a county then. It will be a grand duke’s domain……, Sir?”

Unlike Lydia, who smiled at the thought of both having a wedding and receiving a grand ducal title, Arsen’s expression grew increasingly rigid.

“Why, why did you do it?”

“Do what? The grand ducal title? That’s rightfully yours—”

“No, removing the Mermaid’s Tear.”

What seemed like a small wound to Lydia’s eyes wasn’t to Arsen. Any wound on her body was serious to him.

Kedrick had scolded him for being overprotective about such things, but seeing the wound with his own eyes, he couldn’t just let it go. Especially if that wound was because of him.

“I told you it didn’t hurt at all. It wasn’t dangerous.”

“It could have been dangerous, couldn’t it? You could have died.”

Having a conscience, Lydia couldn’t deny this.

“You must have known that. Why did you go that far?”

“Why? Because I wanted to be with you, of course.”

“If that’s the case, didn’t I promise to find a way? Did you have so little faith in me?”

Lydia felt a surge of emotion at Arsen’s cold voice. She had mustered great courage, and all she got in return was an angry voice.

“So did you find a way?”

Her voice came out sharp.

“Or do you hate that I can leave the temple? Was it just right meeting secretly like a thief every night?”

“Is that really how you saw me? I found a way to be with you until you’re sick of me, even if you hate it.”

“What is it?”

“Becoming a holy knight to serve you.”

Become what? A holy what? A holy knight? Lydia was so dumbfounded she couldn’t speak.

“A holy knight? Are you crazy? Have you lost your mind? You’ve finally restored your family’s honor, and you’d throw it all away to enter the temple?”

Lydia was angry and relieved at the same time. Relieved that she had stopped Arsen’s ridiculous idea before he could try it.

“What kind of restoration is that!”

“None of it matters compared to you.”

He could throw it all away.

“You can say it was nothing now, but what if something had gone wrong? What then?”

What if Lydia had died?

“I lose you but receive a grand ducal title, so I should live somewhat satisfied?”

“That’s……”

Lydia, who hadn’t thought that far, had no excuse and bit her lip. A heavy silence fell between them.