12. Your Only Flaw

 Late afternoon. In front of the guest reception room door in the Southern Temple’s annex, Rarien had been hesitating for quite a while. 

 ‘I’m so nervous I might faint.’ 

 Her hand, raised to knock, kept freezing in mid-air, trembling repeatedly. 

 Inside the reception room waited the Grand Duchess of Reinhart — in other words, Nicholas Reinhart’s mother. The entire temple had been thrown into chaos by this unannounced visit from another heavyweight patron. 

 Moreover, the high priests were away from the temple for ritual matters. Nicholas was gone as well. 

 The arrow naturally pointed to Rarien. 

 It made sense. She was currently Nicholas Reinhart’s official assistant, and among the nuns at the Southern Temple, Rarien had the most experience in attending to and handling protocol for distinguished guests. 

 Above all, the Grand Duchess of Reinhart had specifically requested Rarien by name. 

 If it had been an ordinary distinguished guest, she wouldn’t have been this nervous. But the thought of meeting the mother of the man she love made her heart feel like it would burst. 

 ‘Why did she request me? How does she even know about me?’ 

 The word ‘request’ particularly bothered her. 

 ‘Could she know something about our relationship?’ 

 Anxiety overwhelmed her. If she hadn’t committed any sins, there would be no need to feel anxious, but she had already devoured her holy priest of a son. Her already pounding heart began to beat even faster. 

 ‘No, don’t jump to conclusions before confirming anything.’ 

 It’s natural to call for an assistant, right? Whatever the reason, it wasn’t something she could avoid anyway. Rather, acting uncomfortable out of guilt would seem more suspicious. 

 Still, there hadn’t been any distinguished guests Rarien couldn’t handle so far. 

 Madam Rosalie, Lady Evotte, and Nicholas Reinhart too. 

 No matter how demanding or troublesome they were, it was the same. 

 She received a curse from one, an erotic novel from another, and took the virginity of the last one. 

 ‘Though the results were different in each case, I managed somehow, so there’s no need to be afraid.’ 

 Rarien took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. Then knock-knock- she tapped on the door. 

 “Your Highness, this is Rarien Claude.” 

 “Come in.” 

 At the gentle voice from inside, Rarien swallowed hard and carefully entered. 

 On the sofa sat a noble lady who appeared undeniably aristocratic and elegant. 

 ‘…They look alike.’ 

 Unlike Nicholas, she had platinum blonde hair and blue eyes, but her features were identical. She looked so much like Nicholas that one could believe she was a female version of him. 

 Not only her beautiful appearance but also her overwhelming presence was exactly like Nicholas. 

 ‘His Excellency would have been an incredible beauty if he was born a woman.’ 

 She was dazzling just to look at. So beautiful that Rarien’s fingers itched to draw her. Rarien thought she had made the right choice to wear her glasses, though they felt heavy. 

 Under the gaze that looked her up and down, Rarien lowered her head.

‘Why is she staring at me so intently?’ 

 She was too nervous. 

 “Sit down, Rarien. Hey, William. Please prepare some tea.” 

 “Yes, Madam.” 

 Perhaps because she was excessively tense, she hadn’t even noticed there was an employee present. 

 The middle-aged man seemed to be a butler, judging by his skillful tea service. 

 Rarien nervously sat across from the Grand Duchess of Reinhart. The tension made her joints feel like they were creaking. 

 Splash—

 After filling Rarien’s teacup, the butler refilled the Grand Duchess of Reinhart’s cup as well. Steam was rising from the freshly brewed black tea. 

 When the Grand Duchess of Reinhart grasped her full teacup. 

 ‘Surely, she’s not planning to throw the tea in my face?’ 

 Her mind was already racing to extremes. A scene from Sera Evotte’s recommended book <That Maid’s br*asts> came to mind. 

 The maid Melody, who had a forbidden love with the young duke, is discovered by the duchess. 

 And there’s a scene where the angry mistress pours hot tea on her. 

 “How dare you!” 

 “Kyaaah!” 

 Ugh, that must have hurt. Just imagining it made her shudder. Rarien watched the Grand Duchess of Reinhart’s teacup with anxious eyes. 

 “Hmm, the tea has a nice aroma.” 

 Fortunately, nothing like that happened. 

 “Drink. It’ll get cold.” 

 “Yes, yes!” 

 Rarien lifted the teacup with trembling hands. Her throat was so dry that she gulped down the hot liquid without even tasting it. 

 When the butler offered more tea, she declined. Just in case she did throw tea, at least one of the two cups needed to be empty. 

 ‘I still can’t relax.’ 

 Perhaps because she had read trashy novels with similar situations. She couldn’t put her mind at ease. 

 “William, get me that.” 

 “Yes, Madam.” 

 The Grand Duchess of Reinhart was looking for something. 

 ‘That’? What could she mean? 

 ‘Could it be a purse of gold coins?’ 

 In <That Maid’s br*asts>, there was a description of Melody being struck across the face with a purse of gold coins the mistress threw while demanding they separate, splitting her lip. It was a sad and terrible scene demonstrating the class difference. 

 ‘If she’s going to hit me anyway, I’d prefer a check to a gold coin purse….’ 

 Paper would hurt less than metal. If only her lip split, that would be fortunate — worst case, her nose could break or teeth could fall out. A check seemed better than gold coins no matter how she thought about it. 

 “Rarien Claude, please break up with our Nicki.” 

 While the Melody in the novel refused, saying she could never separate from him,

 Rarien had no intention of being so defiant. 

 “Your Highness, I’m going to die soon anyway. Couldn’t you just let me be for exactly one month?” 

 Maybe if she appealed to pity with her terminal condition in the most pitiful tone possible? 

 She’s generous enough to make large donations to the temple, after all. 

 “I’ll only have s*x with your son until right before I die. Please.” 

 …Was she really going to beg like this? It was nonsense from the start. 

 “Absolutely not. To dare to corrupt and carnally know my son, the Inquisitor will judge you.” 

 What if the Grand Duchess said the same things as His Excellency did back then? 

 Oh please, anything but that. A chill ran down her spine making her toes curl. 

 “Thank you.” 

 Contrary to her imagination, what the butler handed over was sugar. Watching her pour sugar into the teacup, Rarien could finally relax a bit. 

 “This is unexpected.” 

 The Grand Duchess of Reinhart stirred the sugared tea with a teaspoon for quite a while before getting to her point. 

 “Pardon?” 

 “It’s the first time Nicki has had a female assistant. He’s so particular that he only takes on men after thoroughly verifying they’re not homosexual.” 

 Verifying if they’re homosexual? Did he actually receive confessions often? 

 ‘…What kind of life has His Excellency been living?’ 

 Rarien vaguely understood why Nicholas had been so extremely wary of her at first. 

 He had said he hated others, and that made sense too. 

 The Grand Duchess of Reinhart moistened her lips with tea and set her cup down on the table. 

 “Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter since you’re a nun.” 

 “……” 

 Her heart sank. 

 “At least you won’t be able to trouble our Nicki with matters of lust.” 

 Since this was the normal way of thinking, and she was the abnormal one, Rarien had nothing to say. 

 From that day, with exactly one month left in Rarien Claude’s life, her uncomfortable cohabitation with the Grand Duchess of Reinhart began. 

***

 The Grand Duchess of Reinhart was subtly different from all the distinguished guests Rarien had dealt with before. 

 Her first agenda was to inspect Nicholas Reinhart’s bedroom. 

 It wasn’t strange for her to be curious about how her only son lived, but her reaction wasn’t typical. 

 “What a pervert.” 

 Pervert? Had she noticed the countless acts of s*x that had taken place here? The startled Rarien held her breath.

“How consistently ill-mannered my Nicki is. From the choice of bedding to the furniture arrangement, it’s exactly like our home, isn’t it, William?” 

 “Yes, the young master truly hasn’t changed.” 

 William the butler calmly agreed. 

 “Ah, Rarien. Please keep it a secret that I came into the bedroom. Nicki would hate it if he knew.” 

 “Yes.” 

 The Grand Duchess of Reinhart, who had been examining here and there, stopped in front of the large bed. Sensing something off, she tilted her head for a moment, then picked up a pillow and started sniffing it. It was exactly the pillow Rarien always slept on. 

 “Strange. The scent has changed oddly. Has he started using perfume or something?” 

 She can smell that? 

 He doesn’t use perfume. Besides, while living with Nicholas, they always used the same soap and fragrance oil, so logically, they should smell the same. There might be individual body scents, but basically that was how it worked. 

 It was truly a beast-like sense of smell. Nicholas’s sense of smell was definitely inherited from his mother’s side. 

 “That’s impossible, Madam. The young master detests perfume.” 

 “Right? I thought it was strange too.”